News Headlines - 23 August 2013

▽BBC News - Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer is to retire from the technology giant within the next 12 months. Shares in Microsoft, criticised for its slow response to the booming market for mobile devices, leapt 9% on the news.

▽Radioactive groundwater at Fukushima nears Pacific - The Washington Post

Deep beneath Fukushima’s crippled nuclear power station, a massive underground reservoir of contaminated water that began spilling from the plant’s reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been creeping toward the Pacific. Now, 2 1/2 years later, experts fear it is about to reach the ocean and greatly worsen what is fast becoming a new crisis at Fukushima: the inability to contain vast quantities of radioactive water.

▽BBC News - Margaret Thatcher Grantham statue drawings unveiled

Drawings of three possible statues of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have been released by Grantham Museum.

▽BBC News - Fast moving snails spread deadly dog disease across UK

Despite their lethargic reputations, snails can travel at a relatively speedy one metre per hour, say researchers... But scientists are worried that the fast-moving snails are spreading a parasite that is deadly for dogs.

▽BBC News - Celebrations as Denmark's Little Mermaid turns 100

Celebrations have been taking place in Copenhagen in around the world, marking the one hundredth anniversary of the city's iconic Little Mermaid statue.