NowMyNews

Universities are to be forced to to deduct marks for poor written English in students' work - and will face tough sanctions if they fail to do so. Under proposals by the Office for Students regulator, universities will be required to teach students 'relevant skills', assess them 'effectively' and ensure that any qualifications they issue are 'credible'. The guidance states that assessments where 'students are not penalised for poor technical proficiency in written English' would be breaking the rules. It also says universities may be in breach of their registration conditions if they fail to 'penalise poor spelling, punctuation or grammar, such that students are awarded marks that do not reflect their performance' in courses where the 'OfS, employers and taxpayers could reasonably expect proficiency in written English'. The move is intended to tackle poor quality courses and comes three months after The Mail on Sunday revealed the us

First came Covid, then the unbearable heat – and now an incoming typhoon could further batter Tokyo's 'cursed' Olympics. Forecasters fear that torrential rain and 56mph winds could hit Japan by Tuesday, leaving only the surfers happy.  Meteorologist Jim Rouiller said: 'That is really all they need. A tropical storm coming right towards Tokyo.' Rowing competitions scheduled for Monday have been brought forward to today as Tropical Storm Nepartak bears down. Surfing is making its debut appearance at the Games and large waves were forming yesterday at the competition site of Tsurigasaki Beach, 40 miles east of the capital.  'There are going to be good waves. There's a strong typhoon off the coast of Japan and we know that the waves are getting bigger,' said International Surfing Association president Fernando Aguerre. But the torrential rain could play havoc with other events, including the dressage, where Britain's Charlotte Dujardin is going for gold.

The BBC faced a backlash from angry Olympic fans after the heat of swimming favourite Adam Peaty was not shown on the main channel. The Corporation has hugely scaled down coverage of the Games, and is able to show only two sports at once.  Yesterday viewers were devastated to miss the 2016 gold medallist and world-record holder's 100m breaststroke heat. Yesterday viewers were devastated to miss the 2016 gold medallist and world-record holder's 100m breaststroke heat Instead, the BBC ran two hours of women's football while Peaty's victory was shown on the red button and iPlayer.  One viewer, Connor Rowden, said: 'BBC have one channel, have to devote it to 90-plus minutes uninterrupted coverage of the football. Potentially GB's biggest Olympic star, Peaty has his minute-long heat hidden behind the red button/online.' Fans managed to watch it live on Eurosport, a European TV network owned by Discovery. One viewer said on social media: 'What are the BBC doin

The row between the Government and the EU over supplies to Northern Ireland escalated last night as the UK called for a 'standstill' period to allow the controversial Brexit protocol governing the province to be renegotiated. The protocol keeps the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic open, but checks must be made on goods from Britain. Brexit Minister Lord Frost called for the standstill over fears of chaos when full checks on a number of products – such as sausages and other chilled meats – come into effect in October after so-called grace periods end.  Last week, the chief executives of six of the UK's largest food retailers said they may have to move supply chains from Britain to the EU if plans for trade with Northern Ireland were not reassessed. Brexit Minister Lord Frost called for the standstill over fears of chaos when full checks on a number of products – such as sausages and other chilled meats – come into effect in October after so-called grace perio

Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, 77, died of natural causes in a California hospital on Saturday at 1:43 am, according to California prison officials.  He was awaiting a death sentence at Corcoran State Prison.  Alcala was convicted of killing seven women in the 1970s, with five murders in California and two in New York. His youngest murder victim was just 12-years-old, whom he abducted as she made her way to ballet practice in Los Angeles in 1979. He later earned the moniker ‘the Dating Game Killer’, and was known for biting his dead victims' naked bodies before photographing them in sexually explicit poses.  He has been linked to over 130 women and children’s deaths, although his exact number of victims remains unknown. The 'Dating Game Killer' Rodney Alcala, 77, died on Saturday of natural causes while awaiting a death sentence in a California prison   Investigators said Alcala used his camera to lure his victims  Alcala pictured during his third trial in the early

Football fans will need to be double-jabbed to be allowed into Premier League matches and those who refuse to get the vaccine could be barred from October under plans being considered by ministers. Boris Johnson risks provoking further criticism from backbench Conservatives as officials seek to extend the future use of vaccine passports from nightclubs to sporting stadiums.  Talks are in an early phase with the Premier League to discuss whether supporters who have not been fully-vaccinated could be refused entry, it is understood. The use of vaccine passports could also be extended to lower divisions and other sports in England as ministers seek to reduce the surge of Covid-19 cases while other restrictions are ended. Out of the approximate 800,000 people who attend Premier League games every week, 210,000 are estimated to be kept out of stadiums under the plans. Only double-jabbed Britons will be allowed to attend Premier League matches and other events with more than 20,000 spectator

Health Secretary Sajid Javid was last night accused of 'frightening' Boris Johnson into making his ill-fated decision to move France into the Amber-plus travel category. Insiders say the decision – which has thrown the plans of thousands of holidaymakers into chaos by requiring them to quarantine for up to ten days even if they are double vaccinated against coronavirus – was taken at a meeting on July 16 attended by Mr Javid, Mr Johnson and senior scientific advisers, but not Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. A source claimed Mr Javid had overreacted to claims that the AstraZeneca vaccine might not work against the South African – or Beta – variant, which is responsible for about ten per cent of Covid-19 cases in France, although many are in its Indian Ocean territories of Reunion and Mayotte. In fact, on the day the decision was taken, new research was available showing a single AZ dose was 83 per cent effective at stopping hospitalisations caused by the South African strain,

Facebook's most influential anti-vaxxer is an osteopathic doctor in Florida who employs dozens of staff to help publish more than 600 vaccine hesitant articles. Dr. Joseph Mercola, 67, earned the top spot in a report about the 'Disinformation Dozen' by the Center for Countering Digital Hate , which has recently been cited by President Joe Biden and the White House.  The CCDH, a non-governmental organization, released a list of  12 online personalities in March that have a combined following of 59 million people and are collectively responsible for 65% of vaccine disinformation, especially on Facebook.  Other people on the list include Mercola's girlfriend Erin Elizabeth, who is the founder of the website Health Nut News, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Biden recently claimed that Facebook was 'killing people' because of vaccine disinformation spreading on the platform. 'They're killing people,' Biden said last Friday. 'Look, the only pandemic we have i