News Daily: Trauma care overhaul 'saving lives' and prison takeover

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Trauma centres praised

If you find yourself a victim of a life-threatening incident - such as a road accident, shooting, stabbing or terror attack - your chances of surviving have risen by a fifth since 2012, thanks to a shift in how care is delivered. As our health correspondent Nick Triggle puts it, NHS reorganisations are not very popular but, according to independent researchers, the creation of 27 designated major trauma centres (MTCs) across England has saved an extra 1,600 people in that period.

If it's safe to do so, patients are taken to these centres - even if they're significantly further away than the nearest hospital. Once there, they're more likely to be cared for by senior doctors and get quick access to scans and treatment to stop severe bleeding.

Scotland is working on opening four MTCs - although they have been delayed. Wales is also still without one, and there have been warnings that lives are being lost in its absence.

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'Inhumane' jail taken over

The government has been forced to step in and take over the running of Birmingham Prison. Inspectors said action was vital after the jail - run by private firm G4S - fell into a "state of crisis", with violence being perpetrated with "near impunity". Some inmates were too scared to emerge from their cells, a report said, while groups of staff had locked themselves in their offices and parts of the prison were found to be filthy, with blood, vomit and rat droppings on the floor. As our home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw has pointed out, well-functioning prisons need strong leadership, hence why a new governor is being brought in, along with extra staff and a cut in capacity.

Last week, prisons minister Rory Stewart said he would resign in a year if conditions didn't improve at 10 target prisons. While it's not on that list, Birmingham will not be returned to G4S until ministers feel "sufficient progress" has been made.

Low income struggle

The National Living Wage was introduced with great fanfare in 2016 by then Chancellor George Osborne. However, a study today suggests it still isn't enough to provide a family with the minimum income for a no-frills lifestyle in which all basic needs are met. The Child Poverty Action Group says a couple working full time with two children would be £49 a week short. The government insists the living wage is making the lowest paid better off, but the CPAG says it must unfreeze tax credits to help top up wages. The BBC recently looked at the UK's highest and lowest earning towns - see where yours sits on the list.

Fighting the WhatsApp fake news war

By Soutik Biswas, India correspondent, BBC News

Mobs have lynched at least 25 people across India after reading false rumours spread on WhatsApp. Now the authorities in one Indian state, Kerala, are fighting back. In a state-run secondary school in the sticky coastal city of Kannur, some 40 students have thronged a classroom for an unusual lesson. As the uniformed boys and girls in separate rows slide into their seats, there's a question on the projection screen for them to answer: What is fake news? Students read the answer aloud from another slide.

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What the papers say

The papers are delighted by the story of a British woman who fell off the back of a cruise ship in the Adriatic Sea and spent 10 hours in the water before her "miracle rescue". The Sun says the "lucky girl" was rescued less than a mile from the spot she "tumbled" into the sea. The Daily Mail asks: "How did she survive?" Elsewhere, students receive their GCSE results this week and the i says marks are being "distorted" by the exam regulator. The paper warns that exams have been made "far tougher" - but grade boundaries have stayed the same. And as the government prepares to publish details of its planning for a no-deal Brexit, the Daily Telegraph says ministers intend to give EU migrants the right to stay in the UK - regardless of whether the same offer is made to British citizens abroad.

Daily digest

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Lookahead

Morning Salih Khater due in court charged with attempted murder after allegedly swerving his car into cyclists and pedestrians outside the Houses of Parliament

Today Third Test between England and India continues

On this day

1989 More than 50 people die when a pleasure cruiser - the Marchioness - packed with young party-goers, collides with a barge on the River Thames

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All that's wrong with Nintendo's heavy-handed ROM crackdown (Wired)