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The company and Brazilian petrochemical firm, Braskem, have agreed to pay at least $3.5bn (£2.8bn) to the authorities in the US, Brazil and Switzerland.
The US Justice Department said it was the largest foreign bribery case yet.
Odebrecht will pay fines of at least $2.6bn and Braskem will pay $957m for bribery across the globe.
One of the biggest examples of corruption involved Odebrecht paying bribes to officials of Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, which is itself at the centre of a huge corruption scandal.
Odebrecht executives have signed a deal to cooperate with that investigation into Petrobras - known as Operation Car Wash - naming more than two hundred politicians allegedly involved in the kickback scheme.
William Burck, a lawyer for Odebrecht, said the company was "glad to be turning the page and focusing on its future".
Earlier in December, the company apologised for being part of corruption scandals that have already led to its former chief executive, Marcelo Odebrecht, being sent to jail for 19 years for paying $30m (£21m) in bribes to Petrobras officials.
US deputy assistant attorney general, Sung-Hee Suh, said: "Odebrecht [the firm] and Braskem used a hidden but fully functioning Odebrecht business unit - a 'Department of Bribery,' so to speak - that systematically paid hundreds of millions of dollars to corrupt government officials in countries on three continents."
The US authorities said that starting in 2001, and lasting for more than a decade, Odebrecht paid $788m (£627m) in bribes to government officials, their agents and to political parties in several countries, to win business orders.
The US Department of Justice said: "The criminal conduct was directed by the highest levels of the company, with the bribes paid through a complex network of shell companies, off-book transactions and off-shore bank accounts."
Braskem took part in the scheme and between 2006 and 2014, and paid about $250m (£201m) into Odebrecht's bribery system, US authorities said.
The money was used to bribe politicians and their parties in Brazil as well as to officials of Petrobras.
The result, said the US Justice Department, was that Braskem obtained cheap deals when buying Petrobras materials, obtained contracts with Petrobras, and also gained sweetheart tax deals in Brazil.
"These resolutions are the result of an extraordinary multinational effort to identify, investigate and prosecute a highly complex and long-lasting corruption scheme that resulted in the payment by the defendant companies of close to a billion dollars in bribes to officials at all levels of government in many countries," said US attorney Robert Capers.
"In an attempt to conceal their crimes, the defendants used the global financial system - including the banking system in the United States - to disguise the source and disbursement of the bribe payments by passing funds through a series of shell companies," he added.
Braskem is jointly owned by Odebrecht and Petrobras. | Brazil's biggest construction firm, Odebrecht, has admitted in the US to bribing officials to secure contracts. | 38397289 |
Senior councillors in York have agreed to spend £10m to improve access to an 86-acre (35-hectare) site behind the city's railway station.
The York Central site has been earmarked for more than 1,000 homes as well as offices and retail space.
Council leader James Alexander said previous attempts to attract developers had stalled because of poor access.
"The city has been talking about [this development] for a generation," Mr Alexander said.
"The land is landlocked by railway lines and marble arches you can't get construction traffic underneath.
"Let's just sort out the first access point to get onto the site and start the work, and then developers and investors will want to come on board."
The bridge would link the teardrop-shaped site, which is directly behind the railway station, to the A59.
A report put to the Labour-run council's executive on Tuesday evening said the £10m would come out of its economic infrastructure fund, to "boost short and long-term growth through investment in infrastructure".
It said several other developments in York were moving forward, such as Hungate, British Sugar, and the site of the former Terry's factory, but the York Central site needed "financial support" from the council.
It added that as well as 1,083 homes, the development would create 8,000 full-time jobs by the time it is completed.
Councillor Ian Gillies, leader of the Conservative group, said he "welcomed" the investment in the bridge, which he said sent a "good message".
But he said it would not be enough on its own.
"For the site to take off in any significant form it will need central government or European grants," Mr Gillies said.
"It's so big, there's an awful lot of decontamination from the site's former uses in the railway industry that needs to take place before any building can begin, so I think more funding is needed to progress the site before a developer takes it on." | Funding has been approved to build a bridge which it is hoped could "kick-start" development of brownfield land. | 25217157 |
The visitors were on the front foot in the opening stages but it was Torquay who broke the deadlock when Moore tucked the ball into the bottom corner.
The Gulls doubled their lead on the hour mark when Moore nodded in from Dan Sparkes' cross.
And Moore, who also scored on his Torquay debut against Wrexham at the weekend, netted his third when he headed in another Sparkes cross.
Former England youth international Curtis Obeng made his debut for Solihull Moors after signing for the West Midlands side earlier in the day.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Torquay United 3, Solihull Moors 0.
Second Half ends, Torquay United 3, Solihull Moors 0.
Shepherd Murombedzi (Solihull Moors) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Substitution, Torquay United. Nathan Blissett replaces Kieffer Moore.
Substitution, Torquay United. Shawn McCoulsky replaces Dan Sparkes.
Goal! Torquay United 3, Solihull Moors 0. Kieffer Moore (Torquay United).
Substitution, Solihull Moors. Darryl Knights replaces Omari Sterling-James.
Substitution, Torquay United. Sam Chaney replaces David Fitzpatrick.
Luke Young (Torquay United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Goal! Torquay United 2, Solihull Moors 0. Kieffer Moore (Torquay United).
Substitution, Solihull Moors. Harry White replaces Akwasi Asante.
Courtney Richards (Torquay United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Connor Franklin (Solihull Moors) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Second Half begins Torquay United 1, Solihull Moors 0.
First Half ends, Torquay United 1, Solihull Moors 0.
Goal! Torquay United 1, Solihull Moors 0. Kieffer Moore (Torquay United).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Kieffer Moore scored a hat-trick as Torquay beat Solihull Moors to leapfrog their opponents into 16th place in the National League table. | 37983025 |
The Channel Tunnel operator tweeted that the shuttle had been stopped following the incident on the French side at about 05:00 BST.
The death comes days after about 150 migrants tried to storm the Channel Tunnel terminal in France.
Passenger services have now returned to normal following earlier delays, Eurotunnel has confirmed.
John Keef from Eurotunnel said: "Migrants were seen onboard a truck shuttle approaching the tunnel at about half-past-five this morning.
"We brought the shuttle to a controlled stop [and] cut the electrical power overhead.
"Police conducted a search at the end of which they found a migrant dead from injuries sustained probably from trying to jump on to the shuttle."
It is the second migrant fatality in as many weeks following the reported death of an Eritrean while trying to get on a train at Coquelles last month.
Operation Stack, where lorries are parked on the M20 and non-freight traffic diverted off the motorway, was re-introduced from 13:00 BST according to Kent Police.
Kent Police said the M20 was closed between junctions eight and 11 coastbound for non-freight traffic to allow lorries to be parked on the carriageway.
At 19:00 BST, Eurotunnel confirmed it was operating a normal timetable in both directions, with five departures per hour for freight traffic.
The Freight Transport Association has written to David Cameron saying urgent action was need to tackle chaos at Calais.
Chief Executive David Wells said the situation at the French port was "deplorable" and "spiralling out of control".
"We have been calling on both the British and French governments to intervene for some time, and are now asking the prime minister to give the matter his urgent priority, and to implement plans to alleviate the crisis," he said.
He added the cost of the disruption was running into "hundreds of millions of pounds each week".
Damian Green, the Conservative MP for Ashford and former immigration minister, said Calais was "the problem".
"[Migrants] should not be allowed anywhere near the trains or the tracks or the trucks," he said.
"That's a policing matter for the French authorities. All we can do is urge them to perform that policing function better." | A migrant who is believed to have jumped onto a freight train heading for Britain has died, Eurotunnel has said. | 33422109 |
The incident happened on the B4591 between Newport Bridge and Queensway at about 14:00 BST.
The A4042 Kingsway was shut in both directions but has since reopened.
Traffic had been affected between the M4 and the A48 Southern Distributor Road. | A Newport road closed after a pedestrian was hit by a car has reopened. | 35920051 |
Theunis Wessels was "fully aware" of the twister but "wasn't worried at all", his wife Cecilia, who took the photo, told the BBC.
She said the tornado was about 2km (1.25 miles) from their house in Three Hills, Alberta - much further away than it appeared in the photo.
The storm was quickly gone, she added.
Mrs Wessels told the BBC she was sleeping in the house on Friday - but then was woken by her nine-year-old daughter who was concerned that her father would not abandon his lawn-mowing and hide inside from the tornado.
"My daughter was the most upset, saying 'Mum, what we gonna do?'"
Mrs Wessels came outside to check on her husband, who continued mowing.
He said "Everything is OK," and he looked "calm, in control," she recollected.
She added that he had some knowledge about twisters as he had recently attended a seminar organised by a storm-chasing association.
Many town residents were taking pictures of the tornado, and Mrs Wessels decided to post hers on Facebook and also sent them to her mother in South Africa.
She said her mother was very worried about her son-in-law, asking: "Why are you letting him outside? Please stay safe."
Very soon the picture began causing a storm on the social media.
One user wrote: "This is the craziest picture! Lol. I'm glad that the tornado didn't come down on your house!", while another described Mrs Wessels' husband as "the Chuck Norris of lawn mowers!"
Mrs Wessels said her photo had already been shared 3,500 times in two days, and she had received 256 friend requests.
She said Friday's tornado was moving east - away from the house, and was gone in less than five minutes.
It caused no injuries in the town, and only minor structural damage was reported.
Local authorities only issued a tornado warning after she had posted her pictures, Mrs Wessels said. | A picture of a man in Canada calmly mowing his lawn with a menacing tornado swirling in the background has gone viral on social media. | 40155229 |
The 24-year-old tighthead will join the Premiership side, who play their home games in Coventry, after seeing out the rest of the season in the Pro12.
Moore, who has won 10 Ireland caps and been part of the past two Six Nations triumphs, missed last autumn's 2015 World Cup through injury.
"I am excited about the challenge ahead in the Premiership," said Moore.
"However, up until the move I am fully committed to Leinster and I would like to thank everyone here as well as the Leinster fans for the support they have shown me."
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young and his coaching team have first-hand experience of Moore's talent, having faced them in the European Champions Cup this season.
"Marty has already proven his international pedigree with Ireland and, at only 24, he has plenty of years ahead of him to continue his development and become a top-class tight-head," said Young.
"We already have talented tight-heads at the club, but his addition will strengthen the depth we have in this key position."
Moore is Wasps' first signing for next season, although they have already announced that stand-off Alex Lozowski will join Saracens.
Wasps released Samoan international tighthead prop James Johnston earlier this month to allow him to join Worcester Warriors. | Wasps have signed Ireland international prop forward Marty Moore from Leinster for the 2016-17 campaign. | 35402664 |
Blake Ross was found during a search by Police Scotland.
He had last been seen in Howdenhall at about 15:15 on Saturday.
Earlier a spokesman for Police Scotland said the teenager's health was not at immediate risk. | A 13-year-old boy who was missing in Edinburgh without his medication has been found. | 38957119 |
The museum unveiled its collection of Piper's unpublished images online, but many of the locations remain unknown.
Piper originally began taking the photographs when he worked with John Betjeman on Shell county guide books.
Piper captured black and white shots of ruined abbeys, churches, old shop fronts and country inns.
The Tate has published nearly 6,000 of these photographs, which capture Britain's countryside and architectural heritage from the 1930s to the 1980s.
The museum said the collection "brings to light an important yet lesser-known area of Piper's work".
Many of the places depicted were documented by Piper, who died in 1992, when Tate acquired the collection in the 1980s.
But while research is ongoing, locations in nearly 1000 photographs remain to be identified, the museum said.
People can help spot buildings or landscapes they recognise via the museum's website. | The Tate in London is asking for the public's help to identify buildings and landscapes in nearly 1,000 photographs taken by artist John Piper. | 33863300 |
The provision is for an expected penalty over the sale of financial products linked to risky mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis.
RBS, which is 72% state-owned, has now put £6.7bn aside to cover litigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
It means the bank is set to report a loss for 2016, the ninth year in a row that RBS has lost money.
Chief executive Ross McEwan has been trying to end RBS's legal wrangles so that the government can sell its stake in the bank, which was the result of a £45.5bn bailout during the financial crisis.
Ministers have shelved plans to sell further shares in the lender, in part because of uncertainty over the scale of the potential DoJ fine.
In a statement, Mr McEwan said: "Putting our legacy litigation issues behind us, including those relating to US residential mortgage-backed securities, remains a key part of our strategy.
"It is our priority to seek the best outcome for our shareholders, customers and employees."
RBS's potential US penalty could fall anywhere between $12bn and $20bn, experts say.
It remains to be seen whether the new US administration takes a tougher or more lenient approach to misconduct by European banks.
RBS said it was uncertain about the "duration and outcome" of the investigations into its mortgage selling activities before 2008 - including whether a settlement with the Department of Justice (DoJ) could be reached.
It also said it could face "additional provisions and costs" and that other "adverse consequences may occur".
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the cost of US litigation was the biggest in a long line of problems for the bank.
"Today's announcement gives the market an additional steer, directly from RBS, as to what the cost of US litigation may be.
"However, the additional provisions will take a toll on the bank's balance sheet, which it was already busy repairing after it failed a Bank of England stress test last November."
He added: "RBS is heading in the right direction, but progress is slow, profitability is elusive, and a return to private ownership is in the long grass."
Most of the big banks have faced litigation over claims they mis-sold toxic mortgage-backed bonds in the run-up to the financial crash.
Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $5.3bn and $7.2bn to settle their respective mis-selling cases in January.
The DoJ is suing Barclays for alleged mortgage securities fraud after the bank walked away from negotiations in December. | Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside a further $3.8bn (£3.1bn) to cover fines in the US, the bank has said. | 38754626 |
All 49 seats were contested, of which the Tories took 41, compared to the 36 they won in 2013.
They gained Buckingham West from Labour group leader Robin Stuchbury and Ivinghoe from Lib Dem group Leader Avril Davies.
UKIP lost all four seats they were contesting - two to the Tories and two to the Lib Dems.
The Liberal Democrats are the second largest party on the council with four seats, down from five in 2013. There are three independent councillors.
Labour has a single seat on the council - gaining Booker/Cressex & Castlfield from the Conservatives.
The Conservative share of vote this year is 53.1% compared to 41% in 2013.
The Lib Dem percentage of the vote has risen from 14.9% to 18.6%.
Turnout in the Buckinghamshire election was 34.8%.
In the 2013 election, UKIP and Aylesbury was one of the big stories as they gained five seats in the town to become the official opposition party in Buckinghamshire.
Four years later, the remaining UKIP councillors have lost their seats.
Leader Andy Huxley and Chris and Brian Adams have been defeated, along with Phil Gomm who went independent in 2015 but stood again for UKIP this time.
Paul Irwin, who also crossed the floor from UKIP in 2015, has retained his seat in Stone and Waddesdon for the Conservatives. | The Conservatives have extended their control of Buckinghamshire County Council with five more councillors. | 39821645 |
New sportscars, a four-seater and a small SUV are in the pipeline as the UK company tries to reverse falling sales in the face of stiff competition from larger premium carmakers.
"The brand has to be relevant," chief executive Andy Palmer told a press conference at the Geneva Motor Show.
Aston Martin sales have fallen to about 4,000 from 7,300 in under a decade.
"Aston Martin must be less dependent on a narrow portfolio and one type of customer," Mr Palmer said.
The company's cars may be synonymous with James Bond, but the brand is a favourite among middle-aged sportscar enthusiasts.
Mr Palmer, recruited last year from Nissan to draw up a new strategy for loss-making Aston Martin, said he wants to make the company "relevant to a customer who would never before have considered buying an Aston Martin".
The investment in new vehicles would be the largest in the carmaker's 102-year history, he said, although no details have been released.
Mr Palmer's plans are ambitious, as he hopes to take sales of the core sportscar models back up to about 7,000. However, he said sales would be capped at this level to retain Aston Martin's exclusivity.
Aston Martin underlined its new strategy by unveiling its DBX concept car. It would be the first all-electric, four-wheel drive Aston Martin.
Mr Palmer said that when Aston's design team set to work on the new DBX they had in mind a customer who was a young lady, American - and rich. What's more, the designers dubbed this fictitious customer "Charlotte".
"She's an attractive lady, cool, in her 30s," Mr Palmer said.
It meant that the interior and ergonomics of the new car had to be slightly different than if the designers were targeting a man. "Of course, we will see a lot of guys buying the car as well. But the DBX is about reaching a new market."
The carmaker also showcased its long-awaited Vulcan, a racetrack-only car that will cost more than £1.5m. Mr Palmer said only 24 Vulcans would be made. | Aston Martin plans to broaden its range of cars to attract more female buyers as well as younger drivers. | 31710283 |
Officers working on a missing person inquiry made the discovery in Market Street late on Wednesday.
Police Scotland said a 39-year-old man had now been charged in relation to murder and was expected to appear at Forfar Sheriff Court on Monday.
Officers later said a woman had also been detained in relation to the incident.
No formal identification of the remains has yet been made.
Det Supt David McLaren, of Police Scotland, said: "As part of our ongoing enquiries into the discovery of human remains in Montrose on Wednesday 4 November we are speaking to a number of people as we conduct our investigation.
"Further to the 39-year-old man who has been charged, a woman is also detained in relation to the incident.
"We continue to carry out forensic work at several addresses in Montrose and those investigations are likely to go on for some considerable time." | A man has been charged with murder following the discovery of human remains at a house in Montrose. | 34744863 |
Security expert Chris Vickery got access to River City Media's (RCM) data via back-ups accidentally left online.
The database included more than 1.3 billion records detailing email addresses and personal information.
RCM has not responded to accusations it is involved in sending out junk mail marketing messages.
In a blog, Mr Vickery said he had "stumbled upon a suspicious, yet publicly exposed, collection of files" that he had been able to view because whoever had put it online had forgotten to protect it with a password.
As well as a massive database of personal data, the files are said to include internal messages sent by staff at RCM and documents about its business practices.
The BBC has sent emails to RCM asking for comment on the allegations but has not received any response.
Mr Vickery said the information showed the different ways in which the company tried to outwit security measures designed to prevent it sending lots of messages.
In marketing materials found in the data back-up, RCM allegedly said it had the ability to send up to one billion messages per day.
It also detailed many other ways the company is believed to have skirted systems designed to stop spam.
Information about the net addresses and domains used by RCM were now being added to widely shared systems that helped block spam, said Steve Ragan, who helped Mr Vickery analyse the data. | A US company has been accused of being a prolific spammer by security researchers who got access to its internal database. | 39180026 |
Prescott, who played for St Helens, Hull and Wakefield and for England and Ireland, was diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei in 2006.
The full-back was given only months to live but battled the disease and in 2009 was awarded an MBE.
Prescott also raised thousands of pounds for charity through the Steve Prescott Foundation.
Before England's World Cup match against Fiji at the KC Stadium on Saturday, a minute's silence for Prescott turned into a minute's applause before chants of 'There's only one Steve Prescott'.
Born: 26 December 1973, in St Helens, Lancashire
Playing career: St Helens (1993-1997), Hull FC (1998-1999, 2001-2003), Wakefield (2000)
Honours: Challenge Cup (1996, 1997) with St Helens
International: England (1996), Ireland (2000)
Retirement: Injured his knee while representing Lancashire against Yorkshire in 2003. Forced to retire the following year.
He retired through injury in 2004, after spending a year out of the game with a broken kneecap, and following his diagnosis set up the foundation in 2007, which has to date raised more than half a million pounds.
In 2012 he embarked on a remarkable challenge with former Great Britain international Paul Sculthorpe that consisted of running the Paris Marathon, cycling from Paris to Calais, rowing across the English Channel, cycling from Dover to London and finishing with the London Marathon. It was the third time Prescott had completed the famous London race.
Rugby Football League chairman Nigel Wood said: "Our thoughts are with his family at this terribly sad time.
"The word 'hero' is overused in sport but Steve was just that: a role model for every young rugby league player during his distinguished playing career and an absolute inspiration to all of us off the field.
"Throughout his long illness Steve was never anything other than dignified, noble and brave, not least during his fantastic charity work through the Steve Prescott Foundation which raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for good causes, including the Rugby League Benevolent Fund.
"Steve touched on the lives of a great many people and enriched both rugby league and the whole of sport with his engaging personality, unselfish efforts and his stoicism in the face of such an aggressive and cruel illness.
"We are all very fortunate to have been associated with Steve. He is going to be much missed."
Craig Murdock - former Hull FC and Hull KR scrum-half and close friend of Prescott, speaking to BBC Radio Humberside:
"Steve was a great bloke, we knew this day was coming, he's got over so many hurdles, it's a sombre, sad day. This was one fight he just could not win but boy, he gave it his best shot.
"It will affect the whole rugby world. His first thoughts were always for other people and I'm so blessed I can call him my friend.
"He had some great days at the KC Stadium and he will be looking down on it today.
"He was such a winner. In the gym, on the field, but off the pitch he was good fun and we had some great times away from rugby league."
England Rugby League said on Twitter: "We are very saddened to hear the news of Steve Prescott who has passed away. You were an inspiration to so many."
Former Hull FC star Sean Long said: "RIP Steve Prescott, the words hero and legend are used loosely these days but not in his case! Inspiration, brave, courageous."
Olympic boxing gold medallist Luke Campbell said: "RIP to Steve Prescott, legend of a rugby player. Legend of a human being."
Craig Murdock, former Hull FC and Hull KR scrum-half and close friend of Prescott, told BBC Radio Humberside: "It's a very sad day. Steve was a great bloke, we knew this day was coming, he's got over so many hurdles, it's a sombre sad day.
"It will affect the whole rugby world. Hopefully some of the players out there can put in a performance because he has done so much for the rugby world.
"His first thoughts were always for other people and I'm so blessed I can call him my friend. He was such a winner."
Ex-Warrington stand-off Lee Briers - a former team-mate of Prescott at St Helens - said: "Horrible news about Steve Prescott an unbelievable inspiration and friend."
Media playback is not supported on this device
St Helens-born Prescott started his professional career with his hometown club and made 117 appearances, scoring 52 tries, in five seasons at Knowsley Road between 1993 and 1997.
The full-back scored two tries as Saints beat Bradford to win the 1996 Challenge Cup final and helped them retain the showpiece trophy against the same opposition 12 months later.
Prescott left Saints at the end of the 1997 season and had two spells at Hull FC, either side of a season at Wakefield, before suffering his career-ending injury in 2003.
After making his international debut with England he transferred nationalities and played for Ireland, qualifying through his grandparents.
His father Eric was also a professional rugby league player in the 1970s with St Helens, Widnes and Salford.
Prescott is survived by his wife Linzi and two children. | Former Super League international Steve Prescott, who battled a rare form of stomach cancer, has died aged 39. | 24881113 |
Lego Worlds is available now, at £11.99, via the Steam gaming platform. Its final release, featuring classic and modern playsets and popular mini-figures, is expected in 2016.
Features will be added in response to feedback from players of the game.
Lego already sells Minecraft playsets so gamers can physically build their virtual creations. And Lego Worlds will invite fans to do the same in reverse.
Tom Stone, managing director of TT Games, which will release Lego Worlds, said it "embodies the physical, Lego brick-building fun that consumers have enjoyed for decades, on a digital platform that delivers an entirely new type of experience with the beloved bricks".
"From the brick-by-brick editor, to discovering an expansive range of items, characters and creatures to populate your worlds - the creative possibilities are endless," he added.
Daniel Goldberg, who has written a book about the growth of Minecraft, said he "was surprised that it has taken them so long".
"Minecraft is exactly what Lego should have done 10 years ago," he said.
"I'm sure it will be a massive success for them."
Markus Persson, the Swedish video games developer who came up with Minecraft, has made no secret of his enthusiasm for Lego, and the admiration appears to be mutual.
Speaking last year, David Gram, Lego's marketing director, said: "Minecraft is digital Lego. We only wish we had invented it."
Mr Goldberg thinks Mr Persson, known as Notch, will be "flattered" by the game.
"Lego was his favourite toy as a child and was the main inspiration behind Minecraft, so it is nice to see things coming full circle," he said.
"I don't think that there will be any animosity. Games developers in general tend to be flattered when someone copies an existing game."
Lego is marketed at children but also for a hardcore of adult enthusiasts.
Minecraft, which was bought by Microsoft last year, has also managed to appeal to both adults and children.
"The audience for Minecraft, has proved itself to be quite big, so I'm sure there will be room for both games," said Mr Goldberg. | Danish toy company Lego has launched a rival to popular video game Minecraft. | 32973814 |
The government announced plans to carry out tests on 600 buildings across the country after the Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington, west London, on 14 June.
External cladding has been identified as a potential factor in the rapid spread of the fire, which is thought to have left at least 80 people dead.
Details are continuing to emerge about how many high-rise buildings are affected and their locations.
Cladding that was put up on three towers in Granville Road in 2012 is to be removed after failing the tests.
Councillor Richard Cornelius, leader of Barnet Council, said the panels were similar to those used on Grenfell Tower but the insulation material used was non-combustible.
"In addition, fire stops have been installed at each floor level and around each window," he said.
"While the difference in the cladding system at Granville Road mitigates the fire risk, we are not prepared to take any chances with the safety of residents."
Cladding on seven buildings in Brent had failed fire safety tests
They include the housing association tower block, Elizabeth House. Elizabeth House does have extra safety features, such as sprinklers, so Brent Council has said there is no immediate risk to residents. London Fire Brigade has also advised it is not a risk.
A decision is due to be made soon on whether to remove all the cladding.
Two buildings in Cambridge have failed cladding sample tests but details of which buildings these are have not been released.
Cambridge City Council has said it runs one building taller than six storeys which has cladding but this block "meets all current building regulations".
Residents have been evacuated from four blocks on the Chalcots Estate in Swiss Cottage, with five buildings failing cladding safety tests.
Camden Council said it was forced to evacuate the blocks because not only did the external cladding fail tests but there were multiple other fire safety failures as well.
Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid said more than 1,000 fire doors were missing from five blocks in the borough and a number of stairways were not accessible.
Decorative window capping is to be removed from a high-rise block in Doncaster.
Doncaster Council said the capping on the external stairwell windows of Silverwood House was being removed as a precaution, adding in a letter to the residents: "We do not believe there is any danger."
The capping was found to have "some fire retardant properties", the letter added.
It follows a review of the fire risk of the council's nine blocks of flats.
One unidentified tower block has failed a fire safety test.
The council said none of its buildings is clad in the same or similar materials to those used at Grenfell Tower.
The council is having further tests carried out on the panels on Shepherd's Court, where a fire broke out last year.
A report into the blaze last August highlighted the external cladding as a probable cause of the fire spreading up six floors. No-one was injured.
Four buildings in the area have failed fire safety tests.
Cladding will be removed from a 22-storey tower block, River Apartments, in Cannon Road.
Newlon Housing Trust says the building's panels "are of the type over which concerns have been raised" and will be replaced with a "suitable, rigorously tested alternative".
Outer cladding - made of two thin aluminium sheets with polyethylene filler in between - them is being removed from Clements Court tower in Cranford, said to have cladding .
Hounslow Council leader Steve Curran said the insulation material was non-combustible - unlike that used on Grenfell Tower but that the council was now looking into how "best and swiftly" it could be removed.
The council is to remove cladding from Braithwaite House after it was found to have cladding made of aluminium composite material (ACM).
It is also stepping up safety measures which include fire safety patrols taking place day and night until the panels are removed.
The council has also sent samples of cladding from blocks on the Harvist Estate and Brunswick Estate for testing but has not yet had the results.
The council sent samples from all 31 of its blocks that are fully or partially clad and more than six storeys high.
Samples of cladding used on three buildings in the area have failed the fire safety test.
Lambeth Council has only commented on one so far which it said was "built, owned and managed by Network Homes, a housing association, rather than Lambeth Council".
The council has ordered the removal of cladding from three buildings in New Cross following advice from the London Fire Brigade.
The buildings affected are Gerrard House and two at Hatfield Close.
Andrew Potter, chief executive at Lewisham Homes, said: "We are working closely with the London Fire Brigade to ensure residents are safe in their homes and will put 24-hour fire safety patrols into each of the buildings."
The council says it is removing cladding from Marwood Towers, in Everton, as a "precautionary measure" after it failed a safety test.
It says fire marshals will be deployed while the work takes place on the building, which has been retro-fitted with sprinklers.
A spokesman for One Manchester housing group said it was taking "immediate action" to remove all cladding made from aluminium composite materials.
In total, 16 of the housing group's high-rise tower blocks have failed safety tests. The company previously said it would remove cladding from five of their buildings but added its insulation was not flammable.
It said there are no plans to evacuate for the blocks - Westcott Court, Duffield Court and Fulton Court in Hulme and Platt Court and Worsley Court in Rusholme, Manchester.
Elsewhere in Manchester, 78 panels are being removed from one area of the Village 135 development in Wythenshawe.
The new building has decorative cladding on its top levels in one part, and tests have shown it could be made of similar materials to those at Grenfell Tower.
Four additional buildings have failed cladding tests in Manchester, bringing the city's total to 20.
Student accommodation, St James' Point is one of two buildings in the city to have failed fire safety tests.
The building has Reynobond PE cladding, which is the same as that used on Grenfell Tower.
The council said it was working with both the fire service and the building's owners following the test results.
Three tower blocks in the borough were found to have panels that caused concern, the Department for Communities and Local Government said.
They have been named as Ferrier Point, Nicholls Point and Tanner Point.
A block of flats in Norwich has failed a fire safety test.
Brennan Bank, a development near Norwich City Football Club, was the first to be tested and residents have been told remedial work is planned soon.
Broadland Housing also said cladding at Brennan Bank contained an aluminium composite material.
Oxford City Council has said two tower blocks will have their cladding removed, to be replaced with "non-combustible material".
The rain-screen cladding on Evenlode and Windrush Towers, in Blackbird Leys, has been identified as "a risk" after testing.
Neither building will have to be evacuated.
Three blocks on the Mount Wise Tower estate were found to have cladding made from similar material to Grenfell Tower, which is due to be removed by the end of November 2017.
John Clark, chief executive of Plymouth Community Homes, said it was committed to removing and replacing the cladding as soon as possible but it was a "large and complex programme of works".
He added that extra safety measures were being introduced, such as a sprinkler system, which would be installed in the next few months.
The city council is removing cladding from Horatia House and Leamington House in Somerstown "as a precautionary measure".
Twenty-nine blocks of flats have so far failed safety tests in Salford - more than any other area, according to the latest figures.
Cladding started to be removed from nine tower blocks, containing more than 850 flats, on 25 June.
Mayor Paul Dennett said: "We decided not to wait around and now the test results have come back it has just confirmed that this was definitely the right call to make."
Two high-rise buildings in Merseyside have failed fire tests and cladding is being "removed immediately", a housing firm has said.
The cladding, on Cygnet and Wren House on St James Drive, Bootle, will be removed to ensure the safety of tenants "as a precautionary measure", landlords One Vision Housing said.
The government says two buildings in Sefton had also been identified as being at risk.
Sheffield City Council said cladding installed in a refurbishment of the 16-storey Hanover House, in Broomhall, had failed tests and would be taken down.
The council said the cladding was not the same type used at Grenfell Tower.
The council has already pledged to install sprinkler systems in its 24 tower blocks.
One unidentified tower block in the borough has failed a fire safety test.
The council said none of the council-owned buildings had the same cladding as that used at Grenfell Tower.
One unidentified building has failed a fire safety test.
The council said no combustible cladding materials or cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower were on its tower blocks.
A number of the council's high-rise tower blocks will be fitted with sprinklers.
Two unidentified buildings have failed a fire safety test.
A council statement said: "We do not have the same cladding system anywhere on our council tower blocks but we do have some aluminium or similar facing that we are investigating on some of our lower blocks and we are arranging urgent checks to see whether any further action should be taken."
Work to remove cladding from three buildings at Kennedy Gardens in Billingham will begin "as soon as physically possible", a social housing company has said.
"We had specified that the cladding should be fire-retardant, and following tests that have shown that this is not the case," Thirteen Group chief executive Ian Wardle said.
The company said it was safe enough for residents to remain in their homes.
Cladding on five high-rise buildings in the St Peter's area of Sunderland has been removed.
Housing association, Gentoo, said the material had been removed as a precautionary measure, even though none of its buildings had the same cladding as Grenfell Tower.
The council said one tower block - Chaucer House - has failed a fire safety test.
A joint letter from Sutton Council, Sutton Housing Partnership and London Fire Brigade to residents, said they "are satisfied that your homes are still safe".
Tower Hamlets Council said cladding on Denning Point tower block "did not fully comply with the requirements" of the safety tests.
The building has the fire-retardant version of the ACM panels, according to a joint statement from the council and owners EastendHomes.
A 24/7 fire patrol has been introduced to inspect communal areas through the night.
Another, unidentified, tower block, is also affected.
Trafford Housing Trust said five tower blocks have failed fire safety tests and it is working with Greater Manchester Fire service to decide what action to take.
The buildings are Pickford Court, Clifton Court and Grafton Court, all in Old Trafford, and Empress Court and Princess Court, both in Stretford.
There are 24-hour wardens in place in the blocks and Trafford Housing Trust has changed its fire drill advice from "stay put" to a managed evacuation.
One unidentified building in the borough has failed a fire safety test.
The council says no blocks in the area use the same cladding as was installed at Grenfell Tower.
Two buildings with cladding have failed fire safety tests in Wandsworth, with cladding to be removed from Castlemaine Tower in Battersea.
London Fire Brigade has said it is safe for residents to remain in the building while the work is carried out but fire marshals will be on duty in the block 24 hours a day as an additional safety measure.
The second high-rise, Sudbury House, has been deemed safe for people to remain in their homes, .
The cladding is due to be removed "as quickly as possible" according to the council. | Cladding on 181 high-rise buildings across 51 local authority areas in England has failed fire safety tests, latest figures reveal. | 40396448 |
Organisers said on Monday that the new race will take place in the centre of the city after the German government announced alternative plans for the disused Tempelhof airport.
"It is fantastic news," said Formula E chief Alejandro Agag.
The world's first fully electric series is now in its second season.
The new layout - subject to approval by city authorities - will wind around Strausberger Platz, in the east of the city, towards Alexanderplatz with the pit lane on Karl-Marx-Allee. | Formula E has found an alternative venue for its Berlin race in May after its previous location was made into a shelter for refugees. | 35582294 |
The latest strike on Tuesday and Wednesday will affect emergency care for the first time.
More than 100,000 outpatient appointments and planned operations are set to be delayed because of the action, NHS England says, while essential care is being provided by consultants and other senior staff during the strike.
My beautiful and previously vibrant 21-year-old daughter has a tumour in the pituitary gland in her brain.
This has caused her to develop Cushing's disease, which has had devastating effects on her body - she is exhausted, her skin is breaking down and scarring, her hair is falling out, her muscles are weak and she is at risk of diabetes and osteoporosis.
She was diagnosed in early November and originally promised surgery to remove the tumour before Christmas but had to wait, which was very frustrating as her health continued to deteriorate and the increasing number of scars all over her body will be with her for life.
She was finally given a planned date for surgery last month and was due to be admitted to King's College Hospital [on Tuesday].
Despite reassurances that everything would go ahead, as her surgery is now urgent because the tumour has gone into overdrive, she has now been called to say that this is cancelled and they have no idea about when this will be rebooked.
Understandably, Hannah is devastated and very annoyed about this.
We all support the fight of the junior doctors to have safe working patterns and cannot understand why [Health secretary] Jeremy Hunt will not realise that you cannot work 12 days in a row and still make sensible life-and-death decisions.
I am an advanced nurse practitioner, and, over my 38 years in nursing, I have seen how dangerous sleep deprivation in doctors can be.
Following open heart surgery, I was due to have a further follow-up appointment and scan with my consultant on Wednesday.
This has now been rearranged.
I am left in a situation of not knowing if my medication is appropriate, if I am on the mend and recovering as I should.
I am unsure if I can return to work as normal, and I cannot go on holiday abroad until allowed to do so.
Whilst I am totally supportive of the hospital and staff who have "repaired" me, and forever grateful, I do not support the strike and believe the BMA [British Medical Association] are amateurish in their dealing with the government.
They do not understand that in negotiations neither side gets what it wants.
They are losing public support and, indeed, for me, have lost the fight.
It is all about wages and nothing else.
Junior doctors are no longer held in great esteem, just another group whinging about their lot.
I would support them more if they did not strike and pursued their cause in a different way - but, for me, they have blown it.
Find out the latest on the all-out strike
What patients need to know
The dispute explained
Will services actually be safer during the walkouts?
I was due to have a spinal block procedure on Thursday.
I have been waiting months for it and am in pain all the time.
The procedure was meant to help ease the pain.
So, when I received the letter saying it was postponed, it almost reduced me to tears.
I am frustrated and desperately disappointed.
I had been counting down the days ahead of it, and now I have no idea when I will get it.
It said in the letter that it was "due to unforeseen circumstances" and they will contact me again.
I support the junior doctors' right to strike, but it's just disappointing that I won't have this done now.
Last time I had a pre-op for prostate, the junior doctors went on strike.
I saw men crying because their operations were being cancelled.
This time, they didn't tell me it had been cancelled because of the strikes - but I am putting two and two together.
Junior doctors do not seem to care about what they are doing to the NHS.
They are doing a lot of damage.
Time is important for me.
I am on hormone treatment, so my cancer should be kept steady.
My sister was a matron.
She would never have tolerated this.
You don't walk out of the NHS.
We feel they do not particularly care.
It is more about politics than health.
It is OK to have a go at Jeremy Hunt, but they have to put the patients first.
There have to be alternatives to going on strike.
Compiled by Michael Ertl | Patients who have had appointments cancelled the week of the all-out junior doctors' strike have told the BBC why they support or oppose the walkouts. | 36127641 |
It is part of its ambitious foray into health technology, spurred in part by the personal interest of co-founder Sergey Brin.
Last year, Google became the main investor in Calico, a firm dedicated to developing medicines to extend life.
Latest acquisition Lift Labs will join Google's research division Google X.
The spoon developed by Lift Labs is equipped with sensors that detect tremors and cancels them out by as much as 70%, according to the firm.
The technology it uses is similar to image stabilisation features in cameras that compensate for shaky hands when taking a photo.
The firms announced the deal on the search giant's social network Google+ but did not reveal the financial terms.
"Today we're welcoming the Lift Labs team into Google X. Their tremor-cancelling device could improve quality of life for millions of people," said Google.
For its part, Lift Labs wrote: "Google will enable us to reach even more people living with Parkinson's or essential tremor who could benefit from using tremor-cancelling devices every day."
Google is gradually increasing its health portfolio. In January it unveiled its smart contact lenses that measure glucose levels in tears to help monitor people with conditions such as diabetes.
And in July it announced an ambitious science project - Basline Study - to collect anonymous genetic and molecular information to create a picture of what a healthy human should be like.
For co-founder Sergey Brin the move into healthcare is a personal one. His mother developed Parkinson's and, after gene testing, he found that he has a higher than average chance of getting the disease.
Meanwhile his fellow co-founder Larry Page, who suffers from a rare vocal cords problem, is interested in how big data can help solve some of the world's most problematic diseases. He has made public his hope that people would overcome privacy fears to make their medical records available to researchers.
Google's semi-secret research facility Google X was set up to work on cutting-edge technology. Other projects include Google's driverless car, balloons to deliver broadband and Google Glass. | Google has bought a biotech company that has developed a spoon designed to make life easier for people with diseases such as Parkinson's. | 29155888 |
Ashley Olsen, a 35-year-old artist from Florida, was found dead on Saturday with neck bruises and scratches.
Italian police have vowed to find Olsen's killer and have questioned her boyfriend.
Police in Italy were criticised for how they handled a murder case involving another American, Amanda Knox.
British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in 2007 in Perugia, Italy.
Her roommate, the American Ms Knox, and her then-boyfriend, were convicted of the murder, acquitted, convicted again and acquitted again.
News agency ANSA said she was found strangled but have not named an official cause of death.
"I can't imagine a person would hurt her," Amy, a friend of Olsen's who would not give her surname, told the Associated Press news agency. "We've got a great community here of people and everyone loved her."
Georgette Jupe, another friend who knew Olsen because they lived in the same area and both had beagle dogs as pets, said she hopes for Olsen's sake the investigation is "more clear" than in the Amanda Knox case.
Olsen was an artist who worked in fashion and had moved to Florence a few years ago, she said, where her father worked as a professor.
"She was always with her dog, always sitting on the steps of Santo Spirito with friends," said Ms Jupe, referring to the Santo Spirito church in Florence.
Another Florence resident, Alexandra Lawrence, said the first thing she thought of when she heard of Olsen's death was the Amanda Knox story.
"You never want it to get to that point," she said. | Police are giving "maximum attention" to the investigation of the death of an American woman in Florence who was found strangled in her apartment. | 35284224 |
Eight boring machines have been cutting their way through earth to create 26 miles (42km) of tunnels.
Services, which are due to start in 2018, will run as far west as Reading in Berkshire and as far east as Shenfield in Essex.
During a visit to the Crossrail site at Farringdon, David Cameron said the project was "an engineering triumph".
Boring machine Victoria's breakthrough at Farringdon on Wednesday night completed tunnelling through the capital.
The prime minister, London mayor Boris Johnson and transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin walked through the tunnel at Farringdon to take a closer look at the tunnelling machine.
Mr Johnson said the completion was "an historic day" and marked "a huge success for the whole of the UK economy".
Construction of Crossrail began at Canary Wharf in London Docklands on 15 May 2009, with tunnelling work starting in May 2012.
At the peak of construction machines were aiming to complete 100 metres of tunnelling a week.
The fastest day of tunnelling was on 16 April 2014 when boring machine Ellie completed 236ft (72m) between Pudding Mill Lane and Stepney Green.
Crossrail's tunnels are made up of more than 200,000 concrete tunnel segments, with each weighing 3.4 tonnes.
Millions of tonnes of excavated material is being shipped to Wallasea Island in Essex to create a nature reserve.
Ten new Crossrail stations are being built in central London, London Docklands and Abbey Wood, south London.
Crossrail is Europe's largest construction project with thousands of workers operating on dozens of sites.
It is estimated the scheme, which will serve 40 stations, will generate at least 75,000 business opportunities.
The Crossrail project is 65% complete and engineers will now continue upgrading existing stations and building new stations in central London and London Docklands. | Tunnelling work across London for the £14.8bn Crossrail scheme has been finished. | 33002819 |
Paul Ryan was announced as Mr Romney's choice for vice-president in one such state, Virginia, on Saturday.
The pair are going on to tour North Carolina, Florida, Ohio - and Mr Ryan's home state of Wisconsin.
Mr Ryan vowed to save the country from "high unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt".
But Mr Obama's campaign has said Mr Ryan stood for what they called "flawed" economic policies that would repeat "catastrophic" mistakes.
Mr Ryan is chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee and authored a controversial alternative budget to counter President Barack Obama's plans in 2011 and 2012.
Profile: Paul Ryan
How media sees choice
Mr Romney, 65, formally unveiled his 42-year-old running mate before hundreds of cheering supporters at the retired battleship USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia.
In a slip of the tongue, the former Massachusetts governor introduced Mr Ryan as "the next president of the United States", before correcting himself to say he meant vice-president.
"I didn't make a mistake with this guy," he added.
Mr Ryan told the crowd that he and Mr Romney would "restore the greatness of this country".
"Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background and the character that our country needs at a crucial time in its history," Mr Ryan said.
"Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim, and they need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment."
Tight race
Prompting one of the loudest cheers from onlookers, he said: "Our rights come from nature and God, not from government."
By Mark MardellNorth America editor
After Mr Ryan was revealed as Mr Romney's running mate in Norfolk, the men stopped in Ashland, Virginia, before embarking on the next step of their tour of swing states, flying from Virginia to North Carolina.
In a little over two weeks' time, Mr Romney will be formally confirmed as the Republican nominee at the party convention in Tampa, Florida.
Mr Ryan chairs the budget committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and is seen as likely to add electoral firepower on what are expected to be the key election issues - jobs, the economy and the budget deficit.
Recent opinion polls suggest a close race between Mr Romney and President Obama, with Mr Obama tending to have a slight lead in most surveys. | The US Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, and his running mate are touring key states that they need to win in November's election. | 19231142 |
Cavendish, the Tour's green jersey winner in 2011, has agreed a deal to support the team next year.
"I'm 30 next year so the chances get slimmer, but I never stop striving to want to do it," said Horton.
"Mark putting his name to the team will allow us to be in the shop window at bigger races."
Horton is one of Guernsey's greatest-ever cyclists and helped Madison Genesis to their first-ever Tour Series title earlier this year.
"One of the things I like about Madison Genesis is they're constantly pushing as a team to develop and push the boundaries," Horton told BBC Radio Guernsey.
"They're not happy at just being one of the best teams domestically in the UK, they want to do something different and to have someone like Mark Cavendish put his name to the team shows how well admired Madison Genesis are." | Tobyn Horton says Mark Cavendish's decision to help coach riders on his Madison Genesis team could help achieve his dream of riding the Tour de France. | 34866988 |
Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
They show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax.
The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.
French President Francois Hollande hailed the "good revelations" which would "increase tax revenues from those who commit fraud".
The documents show 12 current or former heads of state and at least 60 people linked to current or former world leaders in the data.
They include the Icelandic Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugson, who had an undeclared interest linked to his wife's wealth. He has said he will not resign.
The files also reveal a suspected billion-dollar money laundering ring involving close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), said the documents covered day-to-day business at Mossack Fonseca over the past 40 years.
"I think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents," he added.
The documents also shed light on how Mossack Fonseca offered financial services designed to help business clients hide their wealth.
One wealthy client, US millionaire and life coach Marianna Olszewski, was offered fake ownership records to hide money from the authorities. This is in direct breach of international regulations designed to stop money-laundering and tax evasion.
An email from a Mossack executive to Ms Olszewski in January 2009 explains how she could deceive the bank: "We may use a natural person who will act as the beneficial owner… and therefore his name will be disclosed to the bank. Since this is a very sensitive matter, fees are quite high."
Ms Olszewski did not respond to the BBC's questions.
In a statement, Mossack Fonseca said: "Your allegations that we provide structures supposedly designed to hide the identity of the real owners, are completely unsupported and false.
"We do not provide beneficiary services to deceive banks. It is difficult, not to say impossible, not to provide banks with the identity of final beneficiaries and the origin of funds."
The data also contain secret offshore companies linked to the families and associates of Egypt's former President, Hosni Mubarak, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
Also revealed is a suspected billion-dollar money-laundering ring that was run by a Russian bank and involved close associates of President Putin.
The operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
The documents reveal for the first time how the bank operates.
Money has been channelled through offshore companies, two of which were officially owned by one of the Russian president's closest friends.
Concert cellist Sergei Roldugin has known Vladimir Putin since they were teenagers and is godfather to the president's daughter Maria.
On paper, Mr Roldugin has personally made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from suspicious deals.
But documents from Mr Roldugin's companies state that: "The company is a corporate screen established principally to protect the identity and confidentiality of the ultimate beneficial owner of the company."
The Kremlin spokesman said it was clear the main target of the reports was Mr Putin, as well as Russia's political stability ahead of parliamentary elections.
Dmitry Peskov dismissed the investigation as insinuation and speculation, and suggested many of the team of journalists behind it were actually former US state department and CIA officials.
Mossack Fonseca data also show how Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson had an undeclared interest in his country's failed banks.
Leaked documents show that Mr Gunnlaugsson and his wife bought offshore company Wintris in 2007.
He did not declare an interest in the company when entering parliament in 2009. He sold his 50% of Wintris to his wife for $1 (70p), eight months later.
The offshore company was used to invest millions of dollars of inherited money, according to a document signed by Mr Gunnlaugsson's wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, in 2015.
Mr Gunnlaugsson is facing calls for his resignation, but said on Monday that this was not something he was considering.
He apologised for his poor performance in an earlier interview, when he walked out after a question about Wintris.
The prime minister stressed that his wife had always paid taxes in Iceland.
He says he has not broken any rules and his wife did not benefit financially from his decisions.
Mossack Fonseca says offshore companies are available worldwide and are used for a variety of legitimate purposes.
"If we detect suspicious activity or misconduct, we are quick to report it to the authorities," it said. "Similarly, when authorities approach us with evidence of possible misconduct, we always co-operate fully with them."
Jennie Granger, a spokeswoman for the UK's tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), said the organisation had received "a great deal of information on offshore companies, including in Panama, from a wide range of sources, which is currently the subject of intensive investigation".
She said the ICIJ had been asked to share all its data with HMRC. | A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. | 35918844 |
It's not just the physical armour, which along with platform boots makes bassist Gene Simmons around seven feet tall. Their self-confidence hubris is almost impossible to dent.
"You can be three or 73 and a Kiss fan," declares guitarist Paul Stanley, who along with guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer make up the rest of the band.
"Our fans are celebrating our jubilant approach to life and the fact we don't take rubbish from anybody and you can come out a winner.
"So they're an army, they're a team, they're a tribe, and as time goes on we become more iconic.
"Even with a change of member the band become stronger and it shows that nothing can stop Kiss. "
Since the band have been going for 36 years, maybe they've earned their right to their hubris.
Since their formation in New York during the glam rock era, they've sold a hundred million albums.
The original line up of Simmons, Stanley, Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss put on face paint to create four characters - Demon, Starchild, Spaceman and Catman. It's endured and become a trademark.
This year they released their first studio album for 11 years, Sonic Boom. It's been acclaimed for its "original and youthful" 70s sound - possibly something to do with the band using analogue tapes for the recording.
"We did such a successful tour two years ago and the band never felt better," explains Stanley.
"And there came a time when we looked at each other and thought it shouldn't just be about celebrating our past, and it was time to write another chapter.
"Sonic Boom is arguably the best thing we've done in 25 years. It's four people going into the studio and committing to making a great album.
"You can't make a great record when you're going, 'How can this band make me more famous?' You've got to think: 'How can I pay tribute to this great institution? And I believe Sonic Boom is a classic album - it's not a retro album at all."
Self-deprecation isn't in the band vocabulary - but fans don't mind at all. The group have attracted a devoted following known as the Kiss Army.
"Without our fans we're nothing," says Simmons. "There is a relationship and love and respect between fan and band that is unequalled.
"On the other hand they have the highest expectation. If you think you can go out there, sit on a rug and strum a few songs on an acoustic guitar, good luck to you."
The fans may love it, but gigs can be an endurance test for the band. Running round in armour and stacked heels is hard at any age - but Simmons is now 60 years old.
"Try walking around in these for two and a half hours," he says, pointing to his enormous boots.
"This is not a sympathy ploy, by the way. We're proud of our energy, we welcome any band that has the courage to get on stage with us. U2, Rolling Stones - we like you very much. Come play with us."
Simmons may also be a reality TV star - his family are in the Gene Simmons Family Jewels series on US TV - but by far the most lucrative part of Kiss's career has been their merchandising.
They are the number one merchandise band in the world - selling everything from dolls of themselves, to snooker cues, rubber ducks and even branded coffee.
They also helpfully sell fridges which can double up as a coffin for devoted members of the Kiss Army. As Simmons once remarked: "Planet Kiss sounds a lot better than Planet Earth."
"Our job is to give the fans what they want," argues Stanley. "It would be selfish of us not to.
"When other bands complain about what we do, it's because they're so damn boring that nobody wants one of their T-shirts or a doll or a Mr Potato Head, whatever. We work in a way that if you don't like the merch, don't get it."
Surprisingly for a band so focused on their own product, they confess they see the UK as "the holy land" because it's produced so many of their musical heroes.
"We are dyed in the wool Anglophiles," maintains Stanley. "Growing up - we wanted to be in The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things."
"Don't forget Slade," adds Simmons, with a completely deadpan face.
"For a small country - there must be something in the water," Stanley continues. "It's frightening how many great acts come out of the UK."
Simmons agrees: "Song writing is alive and well over here. Keane write terrific songs, Arctic Monkeys are great.
"But we're waiting for stars. We want to see the new Marc Bolan, the new David Bowie before he went all disco - when he was Ziggy, he ruled the world. We're looking for people like a rock'n'roll Lady Gaga - get out there and make a spectacle of yourself.
"We ourselves are proudly entertainers. Yes, we made it this far with our music, but on stage we pummel you, we deafen you, we blind you - and we leave you smiling."
Kiss play Birmingham NEC on May 11 and Wembley Arena on May 12 and 13th. | It's difficult finding a chink in the armour of US hard rock band Kiss. | 10105684 |
Six of the girls were "seriously" injured, mainly with broken bones, police said. The crash, involving a yellow Peugeot car, happened at about 15:20 GMT on Friday near Belvedere Academy.
The driver, a woman in her 80s, was not injured and is helping police with their inquiries.
Officers are appealing for witnesses.
Pupils at the independent girls' secondary school for 11 to 19-year-olds had just finished for the half-term break when the crash happened as buses arrived to collect them.
A passer-by witnessed the collision on Belvidere Road and reported that the vehicle mounted a kerb and struck a number of children.
Seven of the girls, aged between 11 and 13, were taken to Alder Hey children's hospital by ambulance.
A 16-year-old with minor injuries was taken to The Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
One 13-year-old suffered a fractured hip and another girl, also 13, sustained two broken arms. An 11-year-old suffered a head injury.
Supt Mark Wiggins, of Merseyside Police, said officers from the force's specialist roads policing team were continuing their investigation.
"Eight people were injured during the collision, thankfully none critical or life threatening. We are working with the Highways Agency, witnesses, the injured girls and the driver, to piece together exactly how this collision happened," he said.
All roads in the area reopened shortly before 19:00 on Friday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the roads policing department on 0151 777 5747. | Specialist road investigators remain at the scene of a crash near a Liverpool school in which eight girls, aged between 11 and 16, were hurt. | 35568862 |
Sean Anderson said they would leave the Malheur complex on Thursday morning, in a live broadcast on the internet.
Earlier, the FBI moved in on the group, which had been entrenched for 40 days.
They are protesting against federal government control of local land. One activist died in an earlier confrontation with police.
Agents were placed behind barricades near the self-styled militia's encampment, an FBI statement said.
Inside the Oregon refuge with the militiamen
A 'militiaman apart'
All four of the militia - a husband and wife and two other men - were said to be present during a discussion, broadcast live online, about how they would put down their weapons and walk out of the refuge at 08:00 local time (16:00 GMT).
They will meet a Nevada lawmaker, Michele Fiore, and a preacher who are travelling to meet them. Ms Fiore, a Republican member of the Nevada state assembly, was also on the live conference call.
She said that the FBI had "given us their word that they are going to stand down tonight" on the understanding that the four would leave the complex in the morning.
The live stream of events inside the refuge has been a strange mixture of prayer and paranoia, of fear and defiance.
The occupiers have repeatedly accused the federal government of persecuting them and they have attacked President Barack Obama for trying to "take away guns from people who are depressed".
With tens of thousands listening, the militia revealed that they had been eating well, talking about hearty cooked breakfasts, pork fried rice and steaks.
At one point, an occupier compared himself to the Scottish patriot William Wallace, suggesting that he too would rather die than give up his freedom.
"Remember Braveheart? Braveheart took it to the end even when he was tortured," he said.
At other times members of the quartet have sounded despairing, repeatedly expressing the fear that they will be shot dead.
As well as Mr Anderson, 48, the other occupiers have been named as Sandy Anderson, 47; David Fry, 27; Jeff Banta, 46.
The four had refused to leave despite the arrest of the group's leader Ammon Bundy last month. He has urged those remaining to stand down.
On Wednesday night Ammon's father, Cliven Bundy, was arrested by the FBI at Portland International Airport.
Local media reported that he faces federal charges in relation to a 2014 confrontation at his ranch. The stand-off between federal agents and Mr Bundy's supporters was the culmination of a two-decade dispute over grazing rights on federal land.
The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was seized early in January. The armed takeover was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers accused of burning federal land.
It developed into a wider protest demanding the return of government-controlled land to locals.
Mr Bundy and others were arrested late in January in a confrontation with police that left one of the activists, LaVoy Finicum, dead.
The FBI said its agents moved in on the four on Wednesday after one of them drove a vehicle outside barricades erected by the group.
"We reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County," the statement said.
In October, a federal judge ruled the sentences on two Oregon ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, for burning federal land were too short and jailed them for about four years each.
Angered by the ruling, Nevada native Ammon Bundy began a social media campaign backing them and travelled to Burns, Oregon, organising meetings.
His group attracted supporters from across a number of states and Mr Bundy called it Citizens for Constitutional Freedom. On 2 January the armed militiamen took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge - and widened the range of demands.
It is an extension of the Sagebrush Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s that demanded the transfer of federal land in many western states to local control.
Mr Bundy's own father - a Nevada rancher - had been involved in a protest over cattle-grazing rights in 2014. One policy is to try to persuade ranchers to tear up their federal grazing contracts.
Although many local residents are sympathetic with its cause, many also oppose the occupation of the refuge. Even the local ranchers who are serving the longer sentences distanced themselves from the militia.
The term has a complex history and generally refers to those outside the official military who can be called on in times of need. The US Constitution refers to the president having command of "militia of several states" and that Congress "can call forth militia" to tackle insurrection and invasion.
Those who form such militias cite the constitution and various references in federal and state law as granting them legality. | The four armed occupiers of a US government wildlife reserve in the US state of Oregon are preparing to surrender, a member of the group says. | 35547168 |
Currently, blankets in use on the rail network are washed every two months.
The new blankets, designed by the National Institute of Fashion Technology, will be able to withstand being washed every day, a senior railway official told reporters.
The issue of "smelly" blankets was even taken up for discussion in the parliament last week.
The chairman of the upper house of the Indian parliament Hamid Ansari had said it was more advisable for passengers to bring their own linen.
The Press Trust of India quoted a railway official as saying that the new blankets would be introduced on a few "premier" trains before being rolled out across the service.
The state-run Indian Railways operates more than 12,000 trains, carrying some 23 million passengers every day. | Indian Railways is to introduce new "lightweight" blankets that will be washed every time they are used. | 35800443 |
The Oscar winner is urging film lovers to help the campaign to raise the final instalment for the £450,000 project.
The National Library of Scotland's moving image archive will move to Glasgow's Kelvin Hall in the autumn.
Film producer Iain Smith, actors Brian Cox, Alan Cumming and Bill Paterson are also backing the campaign.
Mr Scorsese, who set up the World Cinema Foundation, said: "Moving image archives hold our common memory.
"For that reason, we need to care for them, and treasure them. That is our obligation. We owe it to future generations.
"Films shouldn't be locked away and neglected in a vault somewhere. They need to be protected and preserved, but they also need to be seen, studied, and enjoyed.
"I enthusiastically support the efforts to develop the Scottish Moving Image Archive, and I urge you all to support this vitally important initiative."
Scotland's moving image archive is the national collection of amateur and professional films which reflect Scottish life, society, industry and culture from the 1890s to the present day. It holds over 46,000 items in total.
In the autumn it will move from its current home on an industrial estate at Hillington outside Glasgow to a purpose-built facility at the Kelvin Hall.
The central location in Scotland's largest city will make it easier for the public to visit and take advantage of the new facilities for exploring the archive.
The fundraising campaign will help to create improved viewing and learning areas including videowalls to showcase films, a public drop-in area, a curated content area, research space, viewing booths and manuscript consultation space.
There will also be a small cinema to "provide a high quality screening experience".
Visitors to the Kelvin Hall will also be able to access digital content from across the library's 24 million items and explore a permanent exhibition space.
Dr John Scally, National Library of Scotland librarian said: "The move to the Kelvin Hall will provide the perfect showcase for our moving image archive and for our wider digital collections.
"It is important to have such high profile endorsements for the developments we are planning. We will be working hard to raise the funds needed to make this into a memorable destination for visitors." | Movie director Martin Scorsese has called for help to raise £250,000 for state-of-the-art technology to view and study Scotland's national film archive. | 35460096 |
The 24-year-old has featured five times for the Spitfires since joining from Leyton Orient this summer.
Centre-back Essam began his career at Gillingham and had spells at Crawley Town and Dover Athletic, before moving to Orient in the summer of 2015.
Woking are currently 22nd in the table, having won one of their opening eight league games of the season. | National League side Woking have signed Eastleigh defender Connor Essam on a 93-day loan deal. | 37309034 |
Former Oldham Athletic midfielder Jack Tuohy, 20, denies five sexual offences against a child in 2015.
The girl told Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court she "told a little lie" about her age on Facebook, which resulted in her being listed as 17.
But she remembered telling Mr Tuohy on Snapchat she was 14, the jury heard.
During cross examination, the girl also accepted her profile picture at the time made her appear older, and agreed she was "pouting a little bit".
But she denied the suggestion she had been trying to make herself look older.
Mr Tuohy first met the "football mad" girl at a schools tournament hosted by the League One club in 2015, the court heard.
The prosecution claims he went on to groom her before sexual activity took place in his car.
Paul Hodgkinson, defending, put it to the girl that it was she rather than his client who initiated contact shortly after the tournament and that she had known him for "some considerable time".
The court heard the complainant had "liked" a number of photographs of the defendant which he had posted on social media before the schools day at the club - one dating back to 2013.
The girl accepted she had liked the photographs but said that did not necessarily mean she did so before the tournament.
Mr Hodgkinson accused her of concealing her age because she wanted to "keep hold" of Mr Tuohy as a boyfriend - a claim she denied.
Mr Tuohy, of Shaw in Oldham, denies two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming.
The trial continues. | A schoolgirl told a professional footballer accused of sexually abusing and grooming her that she was 14 years old, a court has heard. | 39045838 |
The killer has been identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, a member of the Ankara riot police. It was not clear if he had links to any group.
The incident happened a day after protests in Turkey over Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey's president said the attack was aimed at hurting ties with Russia.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and, in a video message, said that they both agreed it was an act of "provocation".
He said that those who wanted to harm relations between the two countries "would not achieve it".
In televised remarks, Mr Putin said the act was "undoubtedly a provocation aimed at disrupting the normalisation" of bilateral ties and the "peace process in Syria".
A group of Russian investigators will arrive in Turkey to look into the case, Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The UN Security Council strongly condemned ambassador Andrei Karlov's murder, while Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was appalled by "this senseless act of terror".
While there were protests in recent days about the situation in Aleppo, on a political level the Turkish and Russian governments have been co-operating in the ceasefire operation, the BBC's Turkey correspondent, Mark Lowen, reports.
Before the attack happened, a meeting of the Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers had been planned for Tuesday in Moscow.
But now it seems the political fight over Syria's future has spilled over into public hatred, our correspondent says.
The attack was swiftly condemned by other countries:
The movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen has also condemned the attack and rejected any links to the attacker, according to an adviser quoted by Reuters news agency. Turkish officials blame the movement for July's failed coup aimed against Mr Erdogan.
Several hours after Mr Karlov was killed, a man was arrested for firing a pump-action shotgun in front of the US embassy in Ankara. The state-run Anadolu press agency said he fired around eight shots into the air early on Tuesday. No-one was hurt.
The US missions in Ankara, Istanbul and Adana will remain closed on Tuesday.
The ambassador had been attending a photo exhibition called "Russia as seen by Turks".
Video of the event shows Karlov making a speech when gunshots ring out. Eight bullets are said to have been fired.
The camera pulls back to show a smartly dressed gunman, wearing a suit and tie, waving a pistol and shouting in Arabic and Turkish.
He can be heard yelling "don't forget about Aleppo, don't forget about Syria" and uses the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is great). He is said to have died in a shootout with police soon afterwards, but details have not been given.
Karlov was rushed to hospital but his death was later confirmed by the Russian foreign ministry.
Karlov, 62, was a veteran diplomat who had served as Soviet ambassador to North Korea for much of the 1980s.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he had a posting as Russian ambassador to South Korea before returning to the North for five years in 2001.
Taking up the Ankara posting in July 2013, he had to grapple with a major diplomatic crisis last year when a Turkish plane shot down a Russian jet close to the Syrian border.
Demanding a Turkish apology, Moscow imposed damaging sanctions - notably a freeze on charter flights by Russian tourists - and the two countries only recently mended ties.
Condemning the attack as an act of "terrorism", Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Turkey had given assurances that there would be a comprehensive investigation, and those responsible would be punished.
"The memory of this outstanding Russian diplomat, a man who did so much to counter terrorism... will remain in our hearts forever," Ms Zakharova said. | A Turkish policeman has shot dead Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, apparently in protest at Russia's involvement in Aleppo. | 38369962 |
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Ronnie Coulter, 48, from Wishaw, was tried and acquitted of murdering 32-year-old Surjit Singh Chhokar in 1999.
These facts came out as defence QC Donald Findlay questioned Mr Chhokar's former partner Elizabeth Bryce.
Mr Coulter denies murdering Mr Chhokar, of Gowkthrapple, North Lanarkshire, and blames two other men.
He has lodged a special defence blaming his nephew Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery.
On day four of the trial, Mr Findlay asked 56-year-old Ms Bryce if Ronnie Coulter was sitting in the dock alone when she gave evidence in March 1999, and she replied: "Yes."
Mr Findlay then said: "So there was no Montgomery in the dock and no Andrew Coulter," and Mrs Bryce replied: "No."
The QC went on: "At the time of that trial, Ronnie Coulter was acquitted of the charge of murder wasn't he," and she said: "As far as I know, yes."
The jury was then told that Ms Bryce also gave evidence in 2000 and Mr Findlay said: "This time there was no Ronnie in the dock. It was Montgomery and Andrew Coulter," and she replied, yes.
Mr Findlay then produced the original indictment against Ronnie Coulter in which he was charged with stabbing Mr Chhokar, along with others unknown.
The jurors were also shown the indictment for the trial in 2000.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC asked Ms Bryce, who was giving evidence for a third day: "Did you give evidence at two trials," and she replied: "Yes."
Mr Prentice then asked: "Mr Ronnie Coulter stood trial and was acquitted, is that correct," and Ms Bryce replied: "Yes."
He then said: "David Montgomery and Andrew Coulter stood trial on the second occasion and they were acquitted, is that correct," and Ms Bryce said: "As far as I know."
In evidence, Ms Bryce said that she was contacted by police in August 2012 as part of an investigation into the death of Mr Chhokar.
The court later heard from PC David Rattray, who was the first police officer on the scene.
He said that he found Mr Chhokar lying injured on the ground and his partner Ms Bryce in distress.
The officer said that while at the scene, and in an ambulance en-route to Law Hospital in South Lanarkshire, Ms Bryce only gave him the name of one of the three men she said were involved.
He was asked by defence QC Donald Findlay: "Did she name Andrew Coulter," and he replied: "Yes."
The QC went on: "It seems she didn't say anything to indicate she knew the names of the other two," and PC Rattray said: "No."
Ronnie Coulter denies murdering Mr Chhokar by repeatedly attacking him with a knife or a similar weapon and a further charge of forging Mr Chhokar's signature on a £100 giro cheque.
He also denies breaking into Mr Chhokar's home at Caplaw Tower, Gowkthrapple, on the day of his death and stealing a cooker and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by destroying or disposing of a knife and clothing.
The trial before Lord Matthews continues. | A jury has been told that a man is standing trial for a second time over a murder in North Lanarkshire in 1998. | 37317294 |
The 21-year-old and three others were allegedly involved in a disturbance in the VIP section of Livello in October.
Newcastle Magistrates' Court heard an amateur footballer, Wesley Erskine, was hurt during the incident.
Geoffrey Forrester, defending, said the allegations would be "seriously contested".
The court heard Mr Erskine, had been on a night out in Newcastle with his teammates when violence broke out.
Keith Laidlaw, prosecuting, said: "Mr Wesley Erskine suffered injuries when bottles were smashed and bottles where thrown around by a number of the defendants in this case."
Jamar Collins, 21, from Bristol, Jean Coly, 23, from Liverpool, and Joan Jacob, 45, from Newcastle, also appeared in court.
All three are charged with violent disorder and Coly an additional charge of wounding with intent.
All four were granted unconditional bail and will appear at Newcastle Crown Court on 3 May.
The Jamaica-born winger joined the club in 2012. | Newcastle United winger Rolando Aarons has appeared in court charged with violent disorder over a bar brawl in the city. | 39489942 |
Thousands of actors and participants are taking part in the Green Fields Beyond event.
It also focuses on the role of the women, dubbed "Munitionettes", who worked on the production lines
The tank was designed by William Tritton and Walter Wilson while working for Lincoln agricultural engineering firm Fosters.
Click here for live updates from the event
A small number of Mark 1 tanks from Lincoln were used for the first time on 15 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.
The name of the event is taken from the unofficial tank regiment motto "Through Mud and Blood to the Green Fields Beyond".
Celebrations began on Friday night with a preview of tonight's performance at Lincoln Castle attended by 1,500 people.
Elsewhere, crowds were being entertained with music, storytelling, poetry and historical talks. | Celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's first World War One tanks are taking place. | 36815169 |
Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members will hold a 24-hour strike from 17:00 BST on 4 June and a 48-hour strike from 17:00 on 9 June.
Staff had been due to walk out last week in the row over pay, but the union's executive suspended the action when Network Rail offered a new deal.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the strike action was "unnecessary and unreasonable".
Union reps met on Thursday to discuss the latest offer but it was rejected, leading to the announcement of fresh strikes.
The RMT's 16,000 members at Network Rail work across the company's operations and maintenance.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said they had been left with "no option" but to start the industrial action.
He said: "Our rail staff deserve a fair reward for the high-pressure, safety-critical work that they undertake day and night and the last thing that we need is a demoralised, burnt-out workforce living in fear for their livelihoods and their futures and the message has come back loud and clear that that is exactly how they feel about the current offer from Network Rail."
Mr Cash said there was a "massive mandate" for the strike, showing the "anger of safety-critical staff across the rail network at attacks on their standards of living".
Network Rail originally offered a four-year deal of a single £500 payment followed by three years of rises in line with RPI inflation.
The new offer was for two years, with a 1% rise this year and a rise of about 1.4% next year. There would be no compulsory redundancies for the duration of the agreement.
The RMT claimed each day of the strike would lead to Network Rail paying compensation of £30m to train companies.
Mr Cash added: "With no shortage of cash in the bonus pot and to compensate the private train companies, it is no wonder that our members take the view that 1% is wholly inadequate and fails to recognise the massive pressures staff are working under to keep services running safely at a time when the company is generating profits of £1bn.
"It is our members battling to keep Britain moving around the clock, often in appalling conditions, and they deserve a fair share from Network Rail for their incredible efforts."
He said RMT would remain "available for talks", calling for Network Rail to improve their offer.
Mark Carne, Network Rail's chief executive, said: "Our people know that there are ways to improve the way work is done. I have always said that if we work together to realise these benefits there is the possibility to increase pay.
"We are therefore ready to get around the table with whoever the RMT consider can speak on behalf of their members. It is clearly unacceptable for the RMT to massively disrupt the travelling public with strike action when we are ready to continue talks."
Network Rail said it will now restart its contingency planning with train operators, ahead of the planned strike.
Mr McLoughlin said "millions of hardworking people" would be disrupted by the strike.
He added: "Over the past four years Network Rail staff have enjoyed pay rises eight times higher than other public sector workers. By any measure RMT members already get a fair deal.
"It is very disappointing that RMT has now rejected a deal delivered through Acas talks that the union's leadership agreed was a reasonable offer.
"The government will do everything it can to help keep people and goods moving during the strike."
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), which also suspended a strike planned for the bank holiday weekend, is to ballot its 3,000 members at Network Rail on the new offer.
TSSA official Lorraine Ward said: "With the expected cuts in the public sector from the new Tory government, our members were as much concerned about job security as they were about pay.
"This offer means there will be no compulsory redundancies at NR for at least the next two years. Given the current climate, we think this is a major advance."
The result of the ballot will be announced on 13 June. | Network Rail workers are to walk out in June after a pay offer was rejected. | 32920794 |
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Saudi Arabia had confirmed munitions bought from the UK in the 1980s had been dropped.
Since 2010 it has been illegal under British law to supply the bombs, which put civilians at risk by releasing small bomblets over a wide area.
Labour said it was "deeply worrying" cluster bomb use had been confirmed.
The UK is supporting the Saudi-led coalition which is fighting the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen.
In a statement to MPs, Mr Fallon said the UK had not supplied any cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia since 1989.
But he added that Saudi investigations had concluded that some UK-made cluster bombs had been dropped.
The BL-755 bombs will no longer be used by the coalition, he added.
Source: United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
Amnesty International, which says it has documented the use in Yemen of a cluster bomb manufactured in the 1970s, has called on the UK to trace weapons made and sold before the ban.
Earlier the Saudi state news agency reported a coalition spokesman saying cluster bombs were only used against "legitimate military targets".
He added: "It has become apparent that there was limited use by the Coalition of the UK-manufactured BL-755 cluster munition in Yemen.
"This munition was used against legitimate military targets to defend Saudi towns and villages against continuous attacks by Houthi militia, which resulted in Saudi civilian casualties." | Cluster bombs made in the UK have been used in the conflict in Yemen, the government has confirmed. | 38364694 |
Campaigners Action For Rail organised protests at more than 100 stations, including in London, Birmingham and Glasgow, as commuters returned to work following the festive break.
It comes after ticket prices in Britain rose an average of 2.3% on Monday.
The government said fare rises had been "fairly balanced" between passengers and taxpayers.
The union-backed Campaign for Better Transport held a protest at London King's Cross station, which was attended by shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry.
Mr McDonald said: "We've now seen a rise of 27% since 2010 and wages haven't kept pace with this at all.
"There is another way of doing this. We don't have to have a system that just is predicated from extracting value out of passengers all the time.
"It's about time they were put first, ahead of profits."
This year's rise in fares is the highest since January 2014, when they increased by 2.8%.
Figures vary between operators, with fares on Virgin Trains East Coast services rising by 4.9%.
The government uses the previous July's retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation to determine increases in regulated fares, which was 1.9%.
Regulated fares account for about 40% of all tickets and include season tickets on most commuter routes and some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys.
Train operating companies set the prices of other tickets but are bound by competition rules.
The increases do not apply to Northern Ireland.
Bruce Williamson, of independent campaign group Railfuture, called on the government to use the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) - currently 0.6% - for regulated fare rises, rather than RPI, claiming it is a "much more accurate figure" for measuring inflation.
But the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators, said about 97p in every pound paid by passengers was going back into running and improving services.
RDG chief executive Paul Plummer added: "Money from fares is helping to sustain investment in the longer, newer trains and more punctual journeys that passengers want."
Virgin Trains East Coast said an overhaul of its pricing strategy meant there would be 10,000 more discounted advanced fares available every week.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: "We are delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for more than a century, providing more seats and services.
"We have always fairly balanced the cost of this investment between the taxpayer and the passenger." | Protesters have gathered at railway stations across Britain demonstrate against train fare rises. | 38497351 |
The responses were part of a consultation into Third Energy's application to frack at a site near the village of Kirby Misperton in Ryedale.
North Yorkshire County Council said: "The scale of the concern is unknown at this point".
The matter would be referred to the police if needed, it added.
The council is in the "process of verifying the identification of people and organisations that have made representations" about the shale gas application at the KM8 well site.
It had raised concerns "some 'en masse' representations from objectors have included emails and letters unbeknown to the owner of the email address or the named person on the letter and that personal data may have been used without consent".
A council paper said the irregularities were discovered because each consultation response was acknowledged by the council.
The consultation into plans to extract shale gas on land near Kirby Misperton ended on Wednesday.
The council had received 2,465 letters or e-mails by 8 October.
The next meeting of the planning and regulatory functions committee is on 20 October. | An investigation has been launched into how objections to plans to frack for shale gas in North Yorkshire were sent "unbeknown" to the persons named. | 34537165 |
Ford's net profit was $1.9bn (£1.2bn) in the July-to-September period, compared with $1.1bn for the same quarter in 2014.
The strong revenue growth came mostly from sales in North America, where the F-150 truck and Explorer sports utility vehicle helped drive the increase.
Other markets were not so successful, Europe and South America both saw pre-tax profits decline.
Shares of Ford were up 1.18% ahead of the market opening.
Despite a pre-tax loss of $182m Ford's market share in Europe grew by 30%.
Market share was also up in Brazil, where a slumping economy has made it difficult for the company to turn a profit.
The profit from US truck and SUV sales is a positive sign for Ford, which spent heavily on boosting truck production and preparing for the launches of new SUVs. | US carmaker Ford has reported a near-doubling of its third-quarter profit. | 34646936 |
But Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), said there was an "east-west" divide with numbers of the mammals at an all-time high on the west coast.
Last year only 29 were counted in the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary.
Numbers have also dropped dramatically around Orkney and declined in the Moray Firth and Dornoch Firth.
The research was carried out by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews. Scientists there have been documenting the decline of harbour seals on the east coast since 2000.
In the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary Special Area of Conservation, which was set up in part to protect the harbour seal, the population has fallen 90% in 15 years, with a decline of 75% around Orkney over the same period.
In contrast, the population of seals has risen by 60% or more in some parts of the west coast in the last six years.
John Baxter, principle marine adviser with Scottish Natural Heritage, said: "It's great to hear that harbour seal numbers on the west coast are doing so well but it's of real concern that numbers on the east coast continue to drop so dramatically.
"It's still not clear what's causing the decline but we're continuing to work with colleagues at Marine Scotland and SMRU to try to get a better understanding of what is going on."
There are two species of seal in Scotland - the harbour seal and the grey seal, but only harbour seal numbers are declining. Some conservationists blame their falling numbers on increasing competition with the larger and more numerous grey seal.
Harbour seals - also known as common seals - are found in cold and temperate waters throughout much of the northern hemisphere. Scotland is home to 36% of the European population.
Adult harbour seal males weigh about 85kg and measure about 145cm in length. Females weigh about 75kg and are about 135cm long, not much smaller than the males, in fact it is very difficult to tell the male harbour seals from female harbour seals. Grey seals are bigger than harbour seals. Adult males weigh up to 300kg and can be 200cm long, while adult females weigh up to 180kg and are about 180cm long. As well as being smaller than grey seals harbour seals have more dog like or "spaniel" appearance while grey seals have a long sloping "Roman" nose.
Source: Scottish Natural Heritage | The population of harbour seals on the east coast of Scotland and Northern Isles has declined by up to 90% in the past 15 years, according to a report. | 34788427 |
The Shanghai Composite traded erratically, but closed down by 2.5% to 3,080.42 points.
The market volatility in China came as the country's National Bureau of Statistics revised its annual economic growth rate for 2014 to 7.3%, down from 7.4%.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index closed down 1.2% to 20,583.52.
Mainland shares have fallen 40% since mid-June when the sell-off began, while Chinese regulators continue to take more steps to stabilise erratic trading.
China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiochuan, told financial leaders at the G20 summit over the weekend that the markets had almost completed their correction after a steep rise in the first half of the year.
"The stock market adjustment is already roughly in place and financial markets can be expected to be more stable," Mr Zhou said in a statement from Turkey.
Other Asian markets were mixed on Monday despite stocks in the US, which headed lower on Friday after US jobs figures were released.
Friday's much-anticipated jobs figures showed unemployment fell to 5.1% last month, the lowest since April 2008.
The jobs report is the last before the US Federal Reserve meets later this month to decide whether to increase interest rates.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei opened lower on Monday, down 0.65%, but finished the day closing up 0.38% at 17,860.47.
Economist Angus Nicholson from IG Markets said in a note that there were two main factors driving Asian trading on Monday, "the delayed response to Friday's non-farm payrolls number out of the US and the reopening of the Chinese stocks markets after a four-day break".
"Both of these factors are likely to spur further selling in Asian markets today, with the outcome of the [mainland] Chinese market reopening being the greater cause for concern," he added.
In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.2% at 5,030.40, while South Korea's Kospi benchmark index closed down 0.15% at 1,883.22 points, after closing down 1.5% on Friday. | China's markets were volatile for much of Monday as mainland stock exchanges reopened following a four-day weekend. | 34171201 |
Organisers want more police presence in Levenshulme, Manchester, following the attack on the 31-year-old at Cringle Park shortly before midday on Monday.
The march followed a similar event in the area after a 12-year-old girl was raped in a nearby park in September.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it had "increased patrols in the area" and was "doing everything in our power" to find Monday's attacker.
However Pauline Johnston, from the Love Levenshulme community group, said: "I don't think what they've done has been sufficient at all."
"We want patrols to be stepped up day in and day out, not just reactively."
One marcher said: "We work really hard to make it a beautiful place for everybody to share and we won't have people frightened out of it."
Another participant commented: "I don't think anyone should be scared to walk through their own park, especially in broad daylight." | About 100 people have marched in a park where a woman was raped. | 38044201 |
Government forces say they have made a tactical retreat from the centre of Sangin.
A spokesman for Helmand's governor confirmed the district police and governor's headquarters were now in militant hands.
Almost a quarter of British troops killed during the UK's combat mission in Afghanistan died defending Sangin.
Hundreds of members of the Afghan security forces died there in recent fighting.
Separately, at least nine local policemen were killed in an "insider" attack in Kunduz in the north early on Thursday.
A guard who officials say was linked to the Taliban reportedly gave access to insurgents at a security checkpoint located on the Kunduz-Kabul highway. The attackers took weapons and ammunition with them.
The Taliban already control large chunks of Helmand but the fall of Sangin underlines the security challenge facing the Afghan government and its Western allies.
Sangin's capture shows the Taliban's growing strength in the south and it has symbolic significance for the US and Nato, which lost more soldiers there than in any other district in Afghanistan.
Since security responsibility was handed from Nato-led troops to Afghan forces in 2013, hundreds of Afghan security forces have lost their lives defending the district.
There are now two possibilities. Afghan troops, with the help of US special forces and aerial bombing, might try to recapture Sangin, following a pattern seen elsewhere.
Or the government will leave the city to the Taliban - as they have done with a few other districts in Helmand, a centre of the insurgency - and focus on defending the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgents had captured Sangin and "key outposts" overnight. Taliban forces had already surrounded the district headquarters.
A spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry said troops had been pulled back to their main garrison on the orders of the army chief of staff.
Reports say foreign forces have begun bombarding the area, which has been fiercely fought over for more than a decade.
On the road to the crucial Kajaki dam, Sangin was the scene of heavy British and US military casualties before Nato combat forces left Afghanistan in 2014. | The Taliban have captured the crucial south Afghan district of Sangin after a year-long battle, officials say. | 39365330 |
In a statement, the parents of Eilidh MacLeod said: "Words cannot express how we feel at losing our darling Eilidh."
Eilidh was one of two teenagers from Barra who were reported missing in the aftermath of the attack.
Her friend Laura MacIntyre, 15, is in hospital with serious injuries.
It is also believed a father-of-two from South Lanarkshire is among the seriously injured.
Prayers have been said for Piotr Chylewska at his parish church, St Bride's RC Church in Cambuslang.
Eilidh and Laura, pupils at Castlebay Community School, were among thousands of people who had attended a show by US singer Ariana Grande.
Eilidh's parents said: "Our family is devastated and words cannot express how we feel at losing our darling Eilidh.
"Eilidh was vivacious and full of fun. She loved all music whether it was listening to Ariana or playing the bagpipes with her pipe band.
"As a family we would like to express our thanks and gratitude for the support and kind messages we have received at this difficult time."
A minute's silence was held at 11:00 across Scotland to remember the victims of the attack.
A crowdfunding page set up to help the girls' families, originally set at £2,000, has raised more than £26,000.
The girls were accompanied on their trip to Manchester by family members. Their parents flew to the city following the attack.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that support would be in place on Barra for anyone who needs it, and for as long as it is needed.
Ms Sturgeon said the death of Eilidh and the "horrific" injuries suffered by Laura would be felt in a way that was "much, much more intense" in the close-knit island community.
She said Scottish government officials had contacted Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - Western Isles Council - to see what further assistance they could offer.
The council's education director, who is an educational psychologist, is already on Barra, and will be joined later on Thursday by a further educational psychologist and an NHS clinical psychologist.
Ms Sturgeon said: "Between them they are going to be focusing on the support that the families and those who were closest to these two girls will need.
"Their aim will be to keep things as normal as possible for the school that the girls attended, but to make sure that there is the support in place for young people who are going to need it."
The first minister also pledged that support would be available "not just today, next week or next month, but for as long as it is needed".
And she expressed her "anger and disbelief" at leaks to the media in the US of sensitive intelligence about the Manchester attack investigation, which Ms Sturgeon said was "completely unacceptable and cannot be defended".
The BBC understands that police investigating the attack have stopped sharing information with the US in order to prevent further leaks.
Other party leaders also paid their respects to the victims of the attack during the subdued session of first minister's questions.
Police Scotland, which has sent extra officers to Barra, said at least 41 people from Scotland were at the Manchester Arena during the suicide attack.
Troops have been deployed at Ministry of Defence and civil nuclear sites across Scotland to free up armed officers after the UK's terror threat level was raised to critical.
But Chief Constable Phil Gormley said there was currently "no foreseeable prospect" of Police Scotland asking for soldiers to publicly patrol in Scotland, as they are doing in some areas of England.
Mr Gormley said security arrangements around upcoming events such as the Scottish Cup Final, the visit to Scotland of former US president Barack Obama, the Edinburgh Marathon and the Lisbon Lions memorial events in Glasgow had been reviewed to ensure they were "fit for purpose".
But he said he was confident the force had "sufficient firearms capability to meet all foreseeable threats and demands going forward".
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar confirmed that additional support had already been made available to staff and pupils at Castlebay Community School, where the girls were pupils.
A comhairle spokesman said; "We are continuing to closely monitor events. We are mindful of the impact on pupils and staff at the school and are providing all necessary support."
On Wednesday the head teacher at the school, Annag Maclean, said staff and pupils were "in shock, feeling numb and struggling to come to terms" with a "violent attack targeted at young people". She said all their thoughts were with Laura and Eilidh and their families.
The local authority said it was also having discussions with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) regarding the exceptional circumstances for pupils sitting exams in the coming week.
The Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, Bishop Brian McGee, has travelled to Barra to visit the school and to offer support to Laura and Eilidh's families.
The Church of Scotland's Rev Dr Lindsay Schluter, minister for Barra and South Uist congregations, has also offered support. | The family of a 14-year-old girl from Scotland have confirmed that she was one of the 22 people killed in Monday's suicide bomb attack at the Manchester Arena. | 40027796 |
This morning Greece confirmed that it was sending a letter to the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. It was a formal request to extend the loan agreement by six months.
The Greeks were offering significant concessions. They said they would refrain from taking any unilateral action that would undermine fiscal targets. They agreed that officials from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - formerly called the troika - would supervise compliance with the deal.
This was a significant step. Although the Greek prime minister has announced the troika as dead, officials from those institutions would still very much be active.
Greece also pledged to meet its financial obligations to all creditors.
The Greeks clearly expected that this would form the basis of a settlement.
Shortly after they had sent the letter it was announced that eurozone finance ministers would meet in Brussels on Friday afternoon.
The financial markets responded positively. They saw the meeting as a positive sign. Officials in Athens were briefing that they expected a deal Friday.
Then, in Brussels, there was the usual midday briefing by the European Commission.
The spokesman Margaritis Schinas revealed that Jean-Claude Juncker, the Commission President, had been involved in intense talks with the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Mr Juncker, we were told, "sees in this letter a positive sign, which, in his assessment, could pave the way for a reasonable compromise in the interests of the financial stability in the euro area".
Brussels appeared to be giving its backing to the Greek letter.
Less than an hour later there was another briefing in Berlin at the finance ministry in Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin.
An official, speaking on behalf of the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the Greek letter was "not a substantial proposal for a solution".
He went on: "In truth it aims at bridge financing, without meeting the requirements of the programme."
For the Germans there is a point of principle here. They want Athens to stick to commitments made by the previous Greek government.
Secondly, they fear that Greece will gradually weaken some of the austerity conditions that were at the heart of the existing bailout deal. Berlin wants cast-iron assurances that Greece won't rehire public sector workers, for example.
So there is tension between Brussels and Berlin and mistrust between Berlin and Athens.
Some in Greece are already angry, believing they are being asked to capitulate and their election result ignored.
It may be difficult for the Tsipras government to concede more. All the time pressures are mounting.
If there is no deal, the current bailout agreement will expire at the end of the month and Greece could run out of money shortly afterwards.
Today the Italian Finance Minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, warned: "We have to send a signal that the euro is irreversible.
"If a country were to leave, it wouldn't just mean one less country in the union but the transformation of the euro into a mechanism that can be undone." | After hours of fast-moving developments, a deal to settle the Greek bailout crisis hangs in the balance. | 31539857 |
The Polish defending champion overcame Finals debutant Pliskova in 78 minutes.
French Open champion Garbine Muguruza avoided a whitewash at the event as she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6 6-0 6-1 in their dead rubber.
Russian Kuznetsova was already through as group winner with Muguruza out after defeats in her first two matches.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
Kuznetsova, who only qualified for the tournament with victory at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Saturday, will meet Slovak world number eight Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday's other semi-final.
Radwanska had match point in her group-stage defeat to Kuznetsova earlier this week and the world number three looked in good form as she racked up a seventh successive straight-sets win over Czech Pliskova.
"She is playing amazing tennis this year," Radwanska told BT Sport when asked about her meeting with Kerber.
"She has been on fire, playing unbelievable on every surface. I have nothing to lose and have to be 200% to beat her."
The busy schedule that Kuznetsova put herself through to qualify for the event appeared to catch up with the 31-year-old as she faded badly in defeat to Muguruza.
"To go to the limit, you need to push yourself hard, but I want to do that tomorrow," Kuznetsova said. | Agnieszka Radwanska will play world number one Angelique Kerber in the WTA Finals last four after beating Karolina Pliskova 7-5 6-3. | 37800825 |
When 15-year-old DeKendrix Warner accidentally stepped into deeper water while wading in the Red River in Shreveport, he panicked.
JaTavious Warner, 17, Takeitha Warner, 13, JaMarcus Warner, 14, Litrelle Stewart, 18, Latevin Stewart, 15, and LaDarius Stewart, 17, rushed to help him and each other.
None of them could swim. All six drowned. DeKendrix was rescued by a passer-by.
Maude Warner, mother of three of the victims, and the other adults present also couldn't swim.
The US has almost 3,500 accidental drownings every year, almost 10 a day.
But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fatal drowning rate of African-American children aged five-14 is three times that of white children.
A recent study sponsored by USA Swimming uncovered equally stark statistics.
Just under 70% of African-American children surveyed said they had no or low ability to swim. Low ability merely meant they were able to splash around in the shallow end. A further 12% said they could swim but had "taught themselves".
The study found 58% of Hispanic children had no or low swimming ability. For white children, the figure was only 42%.
"It is an epidemic that is almost going unnoticed," says Sue Anderson, director of programmes and services at USA Swimming.
The swimming body would like all children to be taught to swim.
Parents' responsibility
"We would like it to be like seatbelts and bicycle helmets," says Ms Anderson.
But the situation in the US can vary hugely even within a single state.
Unlike the UK, where learning to swim is enshrined in the national curriculum except in Scotland, the ultimate responsibility in the US often lies with parents.
"I would love to make it a rule like they have in the UK," says Cullen Jones, a gold medallist in the freestyle 100m relay in Beijing, and a spokesman for USA Swimming's Make a Splash campaign.
"It isn't a requirement, it isn't a priority in the US."
Jones's mother took him to swimming lessons after he nearly drowned at a theme park aged five. By eight he was swimming competitively.
The Make a Splash campaign is targeting all non-swimmers and their parents but there is a particular focus on ethnic minority families.
Fear factor
Many black parents are not teaching their children to swim.
Some might assume the fundamental reasons would be lack of money for swimming lessons or living in areas where there were no pools, but the reality is more complex.
"Fear of drowning or fear of injury was really the major variable," says Prof Carol Irwin, a sociologist from the University of Memphis, who led the study for USA Swimming.
Typically, those children who could not swim also had parents who could not swim.
"Parents who don't know how to swim are very likely to pass on not knowing how to swim to their children," says Ms Anderson.
In focus groups for the study, Prof Irwin said many black parents who could not swim evinced sentiments like: "My children are never going to learn to swim because I'm scared they would drown."
The parents' very fear of their children drowning was making that fate more likely.
The major reason behind the problem could lie in the era of segregation says Prof Jeff Wiltse, author of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America.
"The history of discrimination… has contributed to the drowning and swimming rates," says Prof Wiltse.
In his work he identified two periods of a boom in swimming rates in the US - in the 1920s and 1930s when recreational swimming became popular and the 1950s and 1960s when the idea of swimming as a sport really took off.
The first boom was marked by the construction of about 2,000 new municipal pools across the nation.
"Black Americans were largely and systematically denied access to those pools," he notes.
"Swimming never became a part of African- American recreational culture."
In the northern US that segregation in pools ended in the 1940s and early 1950s, but many white swimmers responded by abandoning the municipal pools and heading off to private clubs in the suburbs where segregation continued to be enforced.
"Municipal pools became a low public priority," he notes.
After the race riots of the 1960s, many cities did start building pools in predominantly black areas, says Prof Wiltse, but there was still a problem. Many of the new pools were small - often only 20 by 40ft (six by 12m) and 3.5ft (1m) deep.
"They didn't really accommodate swimming. They attracted young kids who would stand in them and splash about. There really wasn't an effort to teach African-American children to swim in these pools."
Although there are many poor or working class white children who cannot swim for similar reasons, swimming has gained an image as a "white sport".
"It is [seen as] a country club sport that only very rich kids get to participate in. The swimming pool is [seen as] a very elitist thing to have in your backyard," says Prof Irwin.
Bishop Larry Brandon, of the Praise Temple Full Gospel Baptist Cathedral, knew the Warner family, and is now persuading other pastors and ministers to use their pulpits to promote swimming.
Shreveport has quickly established a new swimming programme in the victims names and there is a drive to challenge misconceptions about swimming.
As well as the fear factor, Prof Irwin's study found that appearance was also a reason for African-Americans avoiding swimming.
Black respondents, far more than white or Hispanic respondents, were sometimes concerned about the effect chlorinated water would have on their hair.
"African-American women, many of them if they go the beauty shop and get their hair fixed they are not going to swim," says Bishop Brandon.
Perhaps the most alarming thing is that the studies suggest that those who cannot swim - like the Warners and Stewarts - often spend time in pools and other swimming sites.
"Kids are going to be by the water, they love being by the water, and that's something that we really need to make a priority," says Jones.
"Here everybody knows how to drive a car. It should also be a rite of passage to learn how to swim." | A month ago, six African-American teenagers drowned in a single incident in Louisiana, prompting soul-searching about why so many young black Americans can't swim. | 11172054 |
The Exiles should then have hosted Crewe Alexandra the following Saturday, but because of work on the Rodney Parade pitch that contest will now be played at Crewe's Gresty Road.
The first home game is set for Saturday 26 August against Chesterfield.
Mike Flynn's side are at Wycombe Wanderers on Boxing Day and home against Exeter City on New Year's Day.
They will now host Crewe on Saturday 24 March.
Newport finish the regular league season at Carlisle United on Saturday, 5 May, hoping that they will not need a repeat of last season's dramatic last-day win to avoid relegation. | Newport County will travel to take on Stevenage in their opening League Two game of the 2017-18 season on 5 August. | 40352405 |
It follows the resignation of chairwomen Susan O'Brien, who stepped down after the deputy first minister began formal proceedings to sack her.
The In Care Survivors group said the handling of the inquiry and accusations of government interference had been "traumatising" for abuse victims.
John Swinney denied interfering and said due process was being followed.
Mr Swinney had begun formal proceedings to sack Susan O'Brien QC over inappropriate comments she reportedly made at a training event in February.
He said that Ms O'Brien had "revealed views" which child abuse trauma experts had judged to "indicate a belief system that is incompatible with the post of chair of such an inquiry".
However, when she stepped down on Monday, Ms O'Brien claimed the Scottish government was interfering in the inquiry, a claim also made by Prof Michael Lamb, who resigned last week from the panel.
Helen Holland, a spokeswoman for In Care Survivors, told the Good Morning Scotland programme: "I think it's been awful, and the people who are most affected by this are the survivors themselves - the very people who should be protected."
She added: "There was a lot of talk about re-traumatisation for survivors. This whole event has been traumatising for survivors. Last week I spent just two nights constantly on the phone to survivors, phoning with concerns that they had about the whole thing."
Ms Holland said survivors were most alarmed by accusations of interference in the inquiry by ministers.
She said: "We need answers. We need to know exactly what happened, exactly what the interference is and at what level that interference has been there. At every step of the way, everybody who has been involved with this since 2007 has said there needs to be absolute independence from government."
"I would be lying if I sat here and said I had faith in the inquiry. As it stands at the moment, no. But it can be rectified if it's dealt with properly."
Mr Swinney, who is due to meet survivors on Thursday, denied undue interference and insisted government was trying to ensure costs associated with the inquiry were appropriate.
He said: "The government has an obligation to make sure that public money is used effectively and wisely.
"One of the issues that we were concerned to be persuaded about was, was it really necessary for counsel - members of the Faculty of Advocates - to do all of the taking of evidence from individuals? Couldn't that be done by other individuals who were professionally trained to do so, which would have been done at a lower cost?"
"The government has a proper responsibility in terms of the Inquiries Act 2005 - the law - the make sure that public money is being used appropriately for the inquiry and we have got an obligation to ensure that we manage the cost."
By BBC Scotland health correspondent Eleanor Bradford
Deputy First Minister John Swinney says the row is, in part, due to the fact the Scottish government has been trying to keep costs down by limiting the number who give evidence to the inquiry's lawyers, or whether someone else could take the evidence instead.
Expensive inquiries always draw public criticism, but placing limits on the way evidence is gathered also raises concerns.
The recent Penrose Inquiry into contaminated NHS blood supplies limited the amount of evidence submitted.
Out of hundreds of people who were infected, Lord Penrose allowed only six to give oral evidence to the inquiry.
That led to a widespread belief amongst survivors that it was biased from the start, and when the report was finally published they branded it a whitewash.
Yet it still cost the taxpayer £12m.
Mr Swinney also denied he had been slow to react over the allegations surrounding Susan O'Brien.
He said he was not made aware of her "unacceptable" remarks until May. He added: "I can well understand the concerns of survivors groups.
"Officials wrote to Ms O'Brien on 20 May indicating that I was considering terminating the appointment in respect of some remarks that had been reported to me."
He insisted: "I've gone through due process. I wanted to make sure that I acted properly and fully and in a transparent way in handling this matter."
Ms O'Brien's resignation leaves the inquiry, which concerns historical allegations of child abuse in Scotland, with only one panel member. It is scheduled to last four years. | A survivors' group has said they have lost confidence in the Scottish government's child abuse inquiry | 36711301 |
Manager Pete McGrath told BBC Sport NI that Cullen's broken thumb looks "problematic" for the Ulster preliminary round game in Enniskillen.
However, McGrath is confident that inspirational midfielder Donnelly will line out against the Saffrons.
Donnelly is "recovering well" from a hamstring injury sustained 11 days ago.
"We would be very confident that Eoin will make the game against Antrim," said McGrath at Wednesday night's Ulster Championship launch in Armagh.
"He damaged his hamstring in training but thankfully not too severely."
The Erne men earned a comfortable 1-13 to 0-8 victory over the Saffrons in last year's Ulster quarter-finals despite being without Donnelly, who was ruled out by a hand injury.
However, McGrath is keen to have Donnelly available as the counties prepare for their third Ulster Championship meeting in as many years.
"Eoin is key to how we play," admitted McGrath.
"He had a really, really top-rate league campaign for us. He is a very potent leader on the field and leads by example.
"His ability to win high ball, his mobility on the ball, his ability to carry the ball into opposition territory, all makes him key to how we play."
After defeating Antrim a year ago, Fermanagh were beaten 1-20 to 0-13 by eventual Anglo Celt Cup winners Monaghan in the Ulster semi-final but the Erne County regrouped to produce a thrilling qualifiers run which was eventually ended by Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
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Matching those heroics looks a tall order for Fermanagh this year but McGrath insists his team are an improved outfit heading into the campaign after they impressively retained their Division Two league status in the Spring.
"I think going into the championship this year, we are actually better prepared than we were last year after we had played in Division Three.
"We had a seven-match campaign of tough games with high physicality and high intensity and the standard was a lot higher than in Division Three last year.
"Staying in Division Two was very important to us. We actually finished fourth in the division if you look at the final table.
"We were more than happy with that so a lack of confidence is not going to be an issue for us."
While McGrath is at pains to emphasise his respect for an Antrim side that had little difficulty in navigating their way out of Division Four during the Spring, the Fermanagh boss insists that aiming for the Erne County's first ever Ulster senior title is a "legitimate aspiration" this summer.
"We are one of the teams in Ulster that I think, should have, and have the right to have legitimate aspiration towards winning an Ulster title.
"I firmly believe Fermanagh have that capability. Now having said that, probably every other team in the province will feel the same and they are perfectly entitled and right to do that." | Fermanagh look likely to be without full-back Che Cullen in their Ulster SFC opener against Antrim on 15 May but Eoin Donnelly is expected to be fit. | 36214955 |
Cardiff West Labour MP Kevin Brennan told the prime minister: "The House will have surprised to find that the manner of his death has been by a drone strike against a British citizen in Syria."
Mr Brennan said there would be questions about what happened from MPs and the family. He asked Mr Cameron to be "as forthcoming as he can with explaining the nature of the threat that this 21-year-old man posed to the United Kingdom in the light of the action that he has outlined to the House today."
The prime minister said he would be as forthcoming as he could be but said he was restricted "because of operational sensitivities and national security reasons."
In his statement, he told MPs: "Both Junaid Hussain and Reyaad Khan, were British nationals based in Syria who were involved in actively recruiting ISIL sympathisers and seeking to orchestrate specific and barbaric attacks against the West including directing a number of planned terrorist attacks right here in Britain, such as plots to attack high profile public commemorations, including those taking place this summer."
The prime minister's official spokeswoman later made clear that the threat against commemorations included those that took place before the August 21 operation. Asked if the threat was against the royal family, she said: "The threat was against Britain and the security of the British people."
The prime minister insisted what he called a "precision airstrike" against Khan was "entirely lawful" although the government will not publish the attorney general's advice. | There was a widespread sense of shock among MPs as they returned to Westminster to hear David Cameron outline the details of the killing of Reyaad Khan. | 34179543 |
Since the augmented-reality app launched in July, Pokemon Go has swept up gamers in a craze of monster-catching across the world.
Just a week after its release in the US, Apple said the game had broken the App Store record for most downloads in a week. Gamers chasing down the likes of Pikachu and Snorlax have filled public spaces - such as New York's Central Park - with congregations of people wandering about with phones in hand.
But now, a month since Pokemon Go's release, independent analysis suggests its popularity has plummeted.
Some churn was only to be expected - the huge publicity it generated was always going to have attracted players who would briefly try it out and then set it aside.
However, the drop-off occurred during a period when the app was launching across much of Asia and Latin America as well as France.
No official figures on Pokemon Go's downloads have been made public, but according to data compiled by Axiom Capital Management, more than 10 million players have turned away since mid-July.
Pokemon Go's Daily Active Users (DAUs) - an industry metric that determines how many people switch on an app each day - suggested that the game edged close to 45 million users on 17 July. By 16 August, that figure fell to just above 30 million.
This would imply that Pokemon Go has lost more than 10 million daily active users in a month, which equates to nearly a quarter of its DAUs.
Crucially, this is during a phase where Pokemon Go was launching across Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines and dozens of other countries, meaning that the fall in popularity had significantly offset growth in new territories.
Pokemon Go's downloads, engagement, and time spent on the app per day are all in decline too, according to Axiom's data.
Nevertheless, in Apple's UK App Store charts, Pokemon Go is currently in seventh place in the "free" category, and still in first place on the "top-grossing" chart. The game is similarly popular on Google's Play store.
Nintendo, which owns about a third of The Pokemon Company, has seen its share price fall about 3% in the wake of Axiom's report.
In the context of the volatility of Nintendo's share price in the past month, that 3% drop isn't too drastic. The Kyoto-based firm's valuation surged upon Pokemon Go's release and subsequently plummeted when it warned investors that the game's popularity wouldn't make a significant change to its revenues.
Axiom senior analyst Victor Anthony said the decline should curb concerns that Pokemon Go would weaken the usage of other popular smartphone apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. In July, independent analysis of Android app usage showed that Pokemon Go had overtaken Twitter in the US.
"The declining trends should assuage investor concerns about the impact of Pokemon Go on time spent on [other apps]," Mr Anthony wrote.
Considering the finite capacity of Android and iOS owners, as well as the extraordinary speed with which Pokemon Go caught on, a decline in popularity of some kind was almost inevitable.
"It's rare for games to explode in popularity like Pokemon Go has, but a drop in users was always expected after a big launch," said Craig Chapple, editor of mobile games trade publication PocketGamer.Biz.
He told the BBC: "Players do typically churn from these free-to-play games. Another recent launch, Supercell's Clash Royale, is also being hit by a decline in active and paying users, but it's still making millions of dollars every day."
However, the sheer speed with which Pokemon Go appears to be losing players should raise concerns, Mr Chapple said.
"The numbers, if accurate, do raise some questions about long-term retention in Pokemon Go - whether or not players are finding enough variety and fun in the core experience right now to stick with it."
He added: "But it's important to note it continues to be a top-grossing game in most countries, so players are still spending and enjoying it."
It's difficult to say whether Pokemon Go's decline would have been so steep had its developer Niantic not removed a core feature from the game.
At the start of August, ardent players aired their grievances at Niantic after the developer reduced the functionality of the game's "nearby" feature. Before the game's update, players were able to look at a list of Pokemon creatures and estimate how close they were.
At the same time, Niantic also cracked down on third-party websites such as Pokevision that let players see where the creatures were located.
Axiom's data suggests the decline in Pokemon Go's popularity commenced mid-July - more than a week before the controversial removal of the nearby feature - but retention rates fell sharply following the update.
Niantic was, by its own admission, caught off-guard by the sheer popularity of Pokemon Go, but it has pledged to continue supporting the game with bi-weekly updates.
"Running a product like Pokemon Go at scale is challenging," the developer recently wrote on its blog.
For now, the game has yet to be released across many parts of Asia and Africa, which could improve its usage figures once the game arrives in those territories.
However, Mr Chapple believes that fewer people playing Pokemon Go in the West could diminish the game's social aspect, which in turn would make it a less attractive game for those who stick around.
"Pokemon Go is unique. At the moment it relies on people in your local area playing with you, not someone on the other side of the world. If the numbers continued to drop so dramatically, who will be left to play you in your small, local town?" | It is quite possibly the biggest gaming phenomenon of the smartphone age - but is Pokemon Go's popularity dwindling? | 37176782 |
Special Report: The Technology of Business
Rooted in tech
Tech finds profit in poo in Dubai
Bringing Lebanon's designers online
Words of wisdom
Tracking Miss Daisy
Cars and trucks drive themselves, and there's hardly ever an accident. Robots root through the earth for raw materials, and miners are never trapped. Robotic surgeons rarely make errors.
Clothes are always brand new designs that day, and always fit perfectly, because your home fabricator makes them out of recycled clothes from the previous day. There is no laundry.
I can't tell you which of these technologies will start to work in this century for sure, and which will be derailed by glitches, but at least some of these things will come about.
Who will earn wealth? If robotic surgeons get really good, will tomorrow's surgeons be in the same boat as today's musicians?
Will they live gig to gig, with a token few of them winning a YouTube hit or Kickstarter success while most still have to live with their parents?
This question has to be asked. Something seems terribly askew about how technology is benefitting the world lately.
How could it be that since the incredible efficiencies of digital networking have finally reached vast numbers of people that we aren't seeing a broad benefit?
How could it be that so far the network age seems to be a time of endless austerity, jobless recoveries, loss of social mobility, and intense wealth concentration in markets that are anaemic overall?
The medicine of our time is purported to be open information. The medicine comes in many bottles: open software, free online education, European pirate parties, Wikileaks, social media, and endless variations of the above.
The principle of making information free seems, at first glance, to spread the power of information out of elite bubbles to benefit everyone.
Unfortunately, although no one realised it beforehand, the medicine turns out to be poison.
While people are created equal, computers are not.
When people share information freely, those who own the best computers benefit in extreme ways that are denied to everyone else.
Those with the best computers can simply calculate wealth and power away from ordinary people.
It doesn't matter if the best computers run schemes called high frequency trading firms, social media sites, national intelligence agencies, giant online stores, big political campaigns, insurance companies, or search engines.
Leave the semantics aside and they're all remarkably similar.
All the computers that crunch "big data" are physically similar. They are placed in obscure sites and are guarded like oilfields.
The programs that the best computers are running are also similar. First comes the gathering of freely offered information from everyone else in the world.
This might include scanned emails or social media sharing, sightings through cloud-connected cameras, or commercial and medical dossiers; there's no boundary to the snooping.
In order to lure people into asymmetrical information relationships, some treat is often dangled.
The treat might be free internet services or music, or insanely easy-to-get mortgages. The targeted audience eventually pays for these treats through lost opportunities.
Career options will eventually narrow, or credit will become insanely tight.
Ordinary people, or more precisely people with only ordinary computers, are the sole providers of the information that makes the big computers so powerful and valuable.
And ordinary people do get a certain flavour of benefit for providing that value.
They get the benefits of an informal economy usually associated with the developing world, like reputation and access to barter. The formal benefits concentrate around the biggest computers.
More and more ordinary people are thrust into a winner-takes-all economy. Social media sharers can make all the noise they want, but they forfeit the real wealth and clout needed to be politically powerful.
In most cases there was no evil plot. Many of the people who own the top computers are genuinely nice.
I helped create the system, and benefit from it. But nonetheless, it is not sustainable.
The core problem starts with philosophy. The owners of the biggest computers like to think about them as big artificial brains. But actually they are simply repackaging valuable information gathered from everyone else.
This is what "big data" means.
For instance, a big remote Google or Microsoft computer can translate this piece, more or less, from English to another language. But what is really going on is that real translations, made by humans, are gathered in multitudes, and pattern-matched against new texts like this one.
A mash-up of old translations will approximate the new translation that is needed, so long as there are many old translations to serve as sources. Real human translators are being made anonymous, invisible, and insecure.
As long as we keep doing things the way we are, every big computer will hide a crowd of disenfranchised people.
As it happens, the very first conception of digital networked communication foresaw a way out of this trap. I am referring to Ted Nelson's early work, dating back to 1960.
The first idea of networked digital media included a universal micropayment system, so that people would be paid when data they added to a network was used by someone else.
This idea is anathema to the current orthodoxy. If you are bristling, please give what I'm saying a chance.
Just because things have a cost, that does not mean they can't be affordable. To demand that things be free is to embrace an eternal place for poverty. The problem is not cost, but poverty.
Monetising information will bring benefits that far outweigh the inconvenience of having to adjust one's worldview.
Consider the problem of creepiness. Creepiness is when you don't have enough influence on your information life.
Government cameras track you as you walk around town, despite wars having been fought to limit the abilities of governments to do that.
Aside from governments, every other owner of a big computer is doing exactly the same thing. Private cameras track you as often as government ones.
Privacy regulations attempt to keep up, but face dismal odds. Does anyone believe such regulations have a chance?
But what if you were owed money for the use of information that exists because you exist? This is what accountants and lawyers are for.
The government should not be able to spy on you for free any more than the police should get free guns or cars. Budgets create moderation.
If the biggest computers had to pay for information, they wouldn't cease to exist.
Instead big computers would have to earn their way by providing new kinds of value. Spying and manipulating would no longer be business plans, because the raw materials would no longer be free.
In fact, the owners of the biggest computers would do fine in a world of monetised information, because that would be a world with a growing economy.
In a world of free information, the economy will start to shrink as automation rises radically. This is because in an ultra-automated economy, there won't be much to trade other than information.
But this is the most important thing: a monetised information economy will create a strong middle class out of information sharing - and a strong middle class must be able to outspend the elite of an economy for democracy to endure.
While the open information ideal feels empowering, it is actually enriching those with the biggest computers to such an extreme that it is gradually weakening democracy.
Jaron Lanier is a renowned designer, engineer, inventor, musician and author. He coined the term virtual reality and created the world's first immersive avatars. The Encyclopaedia Britannica lists him as one of the 300 greatest inventors in history. His latest book is called Who owns the future? | Imagine our world later in this century, when machines have got better. | 22658152 |
"Video-pills" are already used, rather than endoscopes, as a less intrusive way of looking inside patients.
The spectrum of visible light they use, however, has restricted medics to conclusions based on what they can see.
Glasgow University researchers have now used fluorescent light for the first time to expand the diagnostic capabilities of the video-pill.
The pill is not yet in clinical use but developers are keen to expand the systems to new areas such as ultrasound.
Research associate, Dr Mohammed Al-Rawhani, said: "The system we've developed is small enough and power-efficient enough to image the entire human gastrointestinal tract for up to 14 hours.
"We've confirmed in the lab the ability of the system to image fluorescence 'phantoms' - mixtures of flavins and haemoglobins which mimic closely how cancers are affected by fluorescence in parts of the body like the intestines, the bowel and the oesophagus.
"The system could also be used to help track antibodies used to label cancer in the human body, creating a new way to detect cancer.
Dr Al-Rawhani added: "It's a valuable new technique which could help clinicians make fewer false positives and negatives in cancer diagnosis, which could lead to more effective treatment in the future."
The fluorescence imaging technique is already an established diagnostic tool in medicine but it is known to be expensive and bulky, usually confining it to laboratories.
However, the university's School of Engineering team has managed to use fluorescence imaging in a small pill form for the first time using an advanced semiconductor single-pixel imaging technique.
Project leader Prof David Cumming, the university's chair of electronic systems, said: "We've played an important role in developing the technology behind video-pill systems and this is an exciting new development which offers a valuable new resource for gastrointestinal imaging.
"There's still some way to go before it will be ready for commercial production and clinical use but we're in early talks with industry to bring a product to market.
"We're also interested in expanding the imaging capabilities of video-pill systems to new areas such as ultrasound in the near future."
The team's research has been published in the journal, Scientific Reports. | Scientists have developed a new type of swallowable camera that could better help detect throat and gut cancers. | 35132571 |
Lizeth Villanueva, 13, was handed the award by her teacher during a mock ceremony at the school near Houston.
A local education official described the incident as "a poor attempt at poking fun".
But the student's mother told a local news channel: "It doesn't look like a joke to me."
The fake certificate, signed by the teacher, was handed out the day after the terrorist attack at a concert in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people, including children.
Lizeth's mother contacted Houston's KPRC 2 channel about the mock ceremony, conducted with students in the advanced learning programme at Anthony Aguirre Junior High in the town of Channelview.
"It was not a joke," Lizeth told KPRC 2. "I do not feel comfortable being in the same classroom with [the teacher]."
The Washington Post reports that other awards included "most likely to cry for every little thing" and "most likely to become homeless", all of which were greeted with laughter from several teachers gathered in the room.
Lizeth told the newspaper she had not been back to school since.
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The school district released a statement apologising for "the insensitive and offensive fake mock awards that were given to students".
"The teachers involved in this matter have been disciplined according to district policy," it said.
The incident comes days after another high-profile "terrorist" allegation was resolved in Texas courts.
In 2015, Muslim schoolboy Ahmed Mohamed, then 14, was arrested in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, after his teacher said a homemade clock looked like a bomb.
His arrest prompted a social media outcry and he switched to another school in the aftermath.
But the discrimination case brought by his family was thrown out by the courts earlier this month. | Teachers at a school in Texas are being disciplined after handing out an "award" declaring one student "most likely to become a terrorist". | 40064966 |
The Swans have enquired about the availability of Olsson, who joined Norwich from Blackburn in 2013.
But Neil says Swansea must increase their bid if they are to sign the 26-year-old Swedish international.
"We are not looking to lose Martin but everybody's got their price and they did not meet the valuation we have for Martin at the moment," said Neil.
"There was a bid last week and, since then, there's not really been any contact.
"Everybody's got their price. I don't want to lose Martin. He's been good for us this season."
Olsson has made 23 appearances for Norwich this season and has started three of Sweden's Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Swansea's current left-back Neil Taylor, the subject of bids from Crystal Palace, is also understood to be of interest to West Bromwich Albion. | Swansea City have not met Norwich City's valuation for left-back Martin Olsson, says Canaries boss Alex Neil. | 31060135 |
Consumer group Fairer Finance said people who paid for their funerals in advance could find their relatives faced extra costs after they died.
It also accused the industry of high-pressure sales tactics with vulnerable consumers, and claimed there was a danger of some firms collapsing.
The funeral industry itself said it was already campaigning for change.
The Fairer Finance study called for proper regulation of funeral plans, suggesting that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) should play a role.
The report was commissioned by Dignity, one of the biggest providers. It said the scale of unscrupulous sales practices in the market was significant and growing.
However it also says that buying a funeral plan from a reputable provider can provide good value for money, as it locks in current prices.
The average cost of a pre-paid funeral plan is about £4,000, according to the report.
But many plans do not cover costs such as embalming, limousines, a funeral service, a wake, burial plots or memorial stones.
In some cases, families are left having to find an extra £2,000, even though they expect such items to be included.
Many customers buying such plans are elderly or vulnerable, and will not be around to check whether the product met their expectations, Fairer Finance said.
As many as 1.2 million people in the UK have pre-payment plans, and the industry is growing fast - up by 350% over the last 10 years.
Sales representatives have targeted at least six million adults over the age of 50, using what the report describes as "high-pressure" techniques.
Some people have been subject to aggressive telephone marketing or in-home visits, it claimed.
In a telephone survey, nearly half of those contacted by sales reps said they felt as if they had been "pushed" to buy a plan.
In some instances, funeral plan firms pay commissions and fees of up to £1,000 for each policy sold - around a quarter of the total plan cost.
The report also said there was very little transparency over what happens to clients' money after they had paid it.
The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) said it had been campaigning for tighter rules since November last year.
"In our view, the current lack of comprehensive oversight is allowing sharp sales practices and a lack of transparency to flourish in parts of the market," said Alison Crake, president of the NAFD.
"Members have reported numerous instances to us where funeral plan providers have not acted in the best interests of either the public who have paid for funeral plans, or the funeral directors who will care for them."
The industry is currently subject only to voluntary regulation, by the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA), and there is no ombudsman service for consumers to complain to.
However, the report argues that funeral plans are financial products and should therefore be regulated by the FCA. | Thousands of people could be let down by poor funeral plans they don't understand, a new report has claimed. | 40518578 |
The Grecians are second-from-bottom in League Two and have not won at home since April, one of only two wins at St James Park in the whole of 2016 so far.
"I understand the dissatisfaction with a number of the supporters," he said.
"But it's important those people stay behind the team as this is a supporter-owned club, everyone's in it together and we have to have that mentality."
City conceded a late goal to lose 1-0 at Wycombe on Saturday - their eighth defeat in 11 league games after an injury-hit start to the season.
"There's a lot of will in the squad and a lot of effort and people behind them and we've just got to keep going with it," Tisdale added.
"We're going through one of those periods where that's all we can do.
"There's no point shirking it, but I believe in the players, they've put some real work in and we've just got to take that into next week." | Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale has urged fans to keep giving his struggling side their backing. | 37541003 |
Its offer of 22.35p per litre, a cut of 0.8p, reflected "very high levels of supply" from UK farms coupled with "weak global demand", the firm said.
Muller, which has its UK headquarters at Market Drayton, Shropshire, said the offer was from 7 September.
Farmer Paul Rowbottom, who has previously organised protests, said it was "a disgrace".
The Market Drayton factory employs more than 700 staff and produces about 1.5bn pots of yoghurt every year, as well as butter and other dairy products.
Dairy farmers in Britain had increased the milk supply by 1.6bn litres in the last 12 months compared with the same period two years ago, the company said.
It said it was seeing a "significant imbalance between supply and demand" in the UK and globally and this was "weighing heavily" on the value of milk produced by farmers.
Head of milk supply for Muller UK and Ireland, Martin Armstrong, said the firm would "work collaboratively with our farmer board to align supply with demand".
In a statement released by the company, the Muller Wiseman Milk Group board, representing dairy farmers, said its role was to ensure the firm was "under no illusions" about the position farmers "find themselves in" and its discussions were "constructive and robust".
Mr Rowbottom, from Ipstones, Staffordshire, who has been part of Farmers For Action protests, said: "They're still encouraging farmers to produce more milk because there's a volume-linked bonus because the more they collect, the more they get... Some farmers are paid more than others."
He said the company would be better off to "cut [its] supply of milk and pay more to farmers". | The milk price paid to farmer suppliers is to be reduced by dairy company Muller UK and Ireland. | 33816177 |
The hoard was discovered in Bedale, North Yorkshire, in 2012 and includes a gold sword pommel and silver neck ring and collar.
The Yorkshire Museum launched an appeal in January to raise the funds to buy the hoard, which was valued at £51,636.
It has since received enough public donations and grants to keep the treasure on display in Yorkshire.
Natalie McCaul, from the museum, said: "The hoard is an incredible and intriguing find and one that we can now carry out research on to hopefully shed new light on Viking life in this part of Yorkshire."
As well as the pommel, neck ring and collar, the hoard contains a silver armlet, 29 silver ingots, two other silver neck rings, gold rivets and half a silver brooch.
Archaeologists believe it dates from the late ninth or early 10th Century. | A museum's campaign to buy a Viking hoard worth more than £50,000 has been successful. | 27502976 |
That is the message on just one of a series of postcards - addressed to Grans and Grandpas, Mums and Dads - on the Vote Remain stall at the student union cafe at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
It highlights one of the biggest questions of this referendum campaign: will the young, who tend to be in favour of staying in the EU, be outvoted by the old, who tend to be in favour of getting out?
Critical to that will be whether the young bother to vote at all.
Research carried out for the Hansard Society suggests just over a third of 18- to 24-year-olds intend to or are certain to vote, compared with well over two thirds of the over-75s.
Chatting to students at UEA, you discover why.
You hear all the same old reasons you hear at election time:
It is, in other words, a mixture of apathy, ignorance, and scepticism about the entire political process.
"I didn't even know it was on the 23 June, so now I know," one student tells me. "So with this vote, do we determine the decision, the public? Oh great, OK."
Some even say they will vote "next time". There may, though, be no second chance.
If Britain votes to leave the European Union, it is unlikely we will be given the opportunity to change our minds within a few years.
If we vote to remain, it is more likely that there will be a second vote - under pressure from those unhappy with the result first time.
But, just as in Scotland, they will be told that this was that once-in-a-generation possibility and they blew it.
No wonder, then, that so much energy is being put in, particularly by the Remain campaign, to persuade young people to register to vote by the deadline of 7 June.
Facebook, Twitter and even Tinder, to which Prime Minister David Cameron himself has turned, are all being used to try to capture their attention before it is too late.
Amy, an officer at the student union, tells me: "The main problem for us as a student union to get students involved is the lack of motivation, and the tangible argument and quick sound bite, for them to get involved."
Those under the age of 35 are roughly twice as likely to vote to stay in as those over the age of 55, but why?
Is it that they see the practical benefits of membership of the EU - whether cheaper mobile phone calls or easier travel or opportunities to study abroad?
Is it that the young are more liberal in their attitudes - particularly to immigration?
Are they more sceptical about the leading Leave politicians - such as Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson?
Or is it simply that membership of "Europe" is seen as like the weather - ie it just is what it is?
Perhaps it is a mixture of all four.
It is striking that those people who approached me on campus to tell me that they were in favour of leaving were pretty ideological - from left and from right.
Some saw the EU as a "neo-liberal institution" enforcing the will of big business.
Others saw Brussels as quite the reverse - a bureaucratic corporatist socialist body stopping Britain having the freedom to govern ourselves and trade as we like.
Those political arguments are, though, very much in the minority.
For most people, this referendum - like so much politics - is pretty irrelevant compared with the other concerns of day-to-day student life.
So what may determine the future of these young people is not whether they have that slice of Battenberg with Gran but whether they can convince themselves that this is a vote that is a once-in-a-generation decision that will affect the rest of their lives. | "Dear Gran, can I come round for a slice of Battenberg and a cup of tea… and persuade you to vote to remain, with me, on 23 June?" | 36324560 |
"We gig relentlessly," says frontman Steve Garrigan. "Even when we have days off we'll find a place to play."
The band are ostensibly promoting their second album, Coming Up For Air - but admit that touring keeps them afloat.
"We've never really had a big hit worldwide, but we have a big fanbase," Garrigan says. "At the moment, our live shows are what's driving us."
After racking up 222,137 miles on the road in 2015 alone, Garrigan shares the highlights and horror stories of their world tour.
I was out in Brisbane in a place called Lone Pine - which is actually a koala sanctuary. I got to hold a koala and feed the kangaroos, which was amazing, one of the things on my bucket list, but I didn't wear any sun cream.
Now, I have very pale and pasty Irish skin, so I ended up getting sun stroke. Before I went on stage that night, I could barely stand up. I was so dehydrated. My legs were shaking the whole time.
The only thing that got me through that gig was adrenalin but, even so, I dropped a few songs from the set, went straight to the hotel and spent the next day in darkness covered in after-sun and drinking buckets and buckets of water.
Our first time playing Glastonbury, two years ago, we were playing the John Peel tent and we were super-excited. The tent was packed, people were trying to get in and they couldn't make it. For us, it was a career-defining moment.
But when we play, we use these things called in-ear monitors, so we can hear everything we're playing. They were working perfectly and we were rocking out - but the crowd started chanting "off, off, off".
We were like, "Oh my God. That was our 30 seconds on stage at Glastonbury and we were terrible. I guess we'll go back to our day jobs and give up the dream."
But it turned out the PA system wasn't working and the crowd couldn't hear anything. They were actually chanting "up, up, up".
It worked out for the better in the end, because the crowd felt for us and they got back on our side.
We get a lot of presents from fans in Japan and America. Lots of cup cakes - I don't know why.
But I once said I'd like it if fans brought us socks. I've run out of socks before and when you're on a tour bus and you're wearing socks that are two or three days old, it can smell like a festival gone wrong.
So I put a tweet out and then fans started turning up and giving me socks. I haven't had to buy a pair of socks in ages. I've had them thrown at me on stage. Tom Jones gets knickers and I get socks.
Any time we have off, we'll spend in the studio. We wrote and recorded our last album in eight weeks. This next one, we're going to take a little more time. We're experimenting a bit with different sounds but it's still my voice, we're the same musicians. It'll still sound like Kodaline.
We're very aware that bands come and go. Every album could be our last, but our dream is to have a career that could span the rest of our lives. But you can't tell the future.
If you can do a good gig at a festival and hold a good crowd, I think it makes you better musicians and performers.
If we got to a stadium, that would be the dream. We got a taste of it, actually, when Ed Sheeran invited us on stage in Croke Park in Dublin. We played one of our songs, called All I Want, and the whole stadium sang every word back to us. It was 80,000 [people] and I almost fainted with the nerves.
Festival food is hit and miss. If you get there after everybody's gone in and they're running out of food, you get the stuff that's been sitting out all day.
The best catering I've had so far was at a festival in Poland. It was a sit-down thing with waiters - all very fancy, and we're not very fancy people. I had a carbonara, which is pretty standard, but do you ever eat something and they do something tiny, like add an extra spice, and it makes the whole dish taste a million times better?
I don't know what it was, but it was the best carbonara I've ever had.
At V Festival this year, it was my birthday so the lads brought a cake on stage - but they forgot to light the candles!
One of the crew just handed me the cake and I was like, "what am I supposed to do with this?" I had 20,000 people singing Happy Birthday to me, which was a bizarre experience. I was kind of embarrassed.
We were over in LA and we got the opportunity to go into the studio with Johnny McDaid - who used to be in Snow Patrol. Somebody told us he was engaged to Courtney Cox, which we didn't really know about, but we went over to her house, stayed a few days and we ended up writing Love Will Set You Free.
After that, we were hanging out and Courtney said she'd love to direct the video for it. We didn't really take her seriously but then she kept asking and we ended up shooting it in her house. We had some of our friends over from Dublin - girlfriends and fiancees - and I think she did a really good job capturing our personalities.
We are huge fans of Friends. We've all got the box sets at home, and we were quite nervous about meeting her at first. But she's very chilled out and very cool and she puts you at ease.
Luckily, we didn't call her Monica - but we were very, very aware of that.
Kodaline begin a 10-date UK tour in December, culminating with four nights at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. | Irish quartet Kodaline are among the hardest-working bands in rock, playing 106 shows in the last six months. | 34462926 |
Madden, 57, was a coach at Stockport for 13 years and also held the number two position at Fleetwood Town.
The former Bury, West Bromwich Albion and Blackpool striker won the National League title during his spell with the Cod Army.
He joins a side that sit 16th and have moved out of the relegation zone since Dino Maamria took over in November. | Southport have appointed Craig Madden as their assistant manager after Gary Finley left the National League side. | 35650871 |
Last month four other employees of the same bookshop and publishing house, including its owner, went missing.
Their colleagues believe they have been detained because of their work.
Freedom of the press is guaranteed in Hong Kong, but many in the publishing industry say they are beginning to feel pressure from mainland China.
The latest associate to be reported missing is the man who raised the alarm when his colleagues disappeared in October.
Mr Lee spoke to the BBC when his colleagues disappeared but did not want to disclose his full name at the time fearing reprisals.
He failed to arrive home on Wednesday evening and his wife has been unable to reach him. She told the BBC she is deeply afraid.
One of his colleagues said Mr Lee was taken away by unknown men and the fear is that Chinese officials have reached beyond mainland China to punish them for their work, our correspondent Juliana Liu in Hong Kong reports.
Two of the previous four men who disappeared were last seen in Shenzhen, mainland China, where their wives live; one was last seen in Hong Kong; and the other, the owner of the publishing house, was last heard from by email from Pattaya, Thailand, where he owns a holiday home.
The Causeway Bay Bookstore sells gossipy paperbacks that are highly critical of the Chinese leadership and are said to be popular among mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong.
The bookshop's troubles are not unique. Last year, Hong Kong publisher Yiu Mantin was sentenced to ten years in prison in China on smuggling charges his family believes were retaliation for publishing a book highly critical of President Xi Jinping. And in November, two Hong Kong journalists were tried for selling political magazines in nearby Shenzhen. | Another associate of a Hong Kong bookshop specialising in titles critical of the Chinese government appears to have disappeared. | 35208879 |
The hosts opened the scoring through Liam Enver-Marum's strike in the 20th minute but were pegged back six minutes later when Omari Sterling slammed home a powerful half-volley.
Moors took the lead when Asante got his first from the penalty spot and shortly after netted his second to double the visitors' lead, but Dan Sweeney managed to pull one back for Solihull before the break.
But Asante latched on to a through-ball by Ryan Beswick to seal the league's first hat-trick of the season and all three points.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Maidstone United 2, Solihull Moors 4.
Second Half ends, Maidstone United 2, Solihull Moors 4.
Bobby-Joe Taylor (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Jamie Coyle (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Jack Paxman (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Solihull Moors. Darryl Knights replaces Omari Sterling-James.
Substitution, Solihull Moors. Harry White replaces Akwasi Asante.
Yemi Odubade (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Maidstone United. Jay May replaces Ben Greenhalgh.
Substitution, Maidstone United. Nathan Mavila replaces Jack Evans.
Dan Sweeney (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Maidstone United 2, Solihull Moors 4. Akwasi Asante (Solihull Moors).
Second Half begins Maidstone United 2, Solihull Moors 3.
Substitution, Maidstone United. Jack Paxman replaces James Rogers.
First Half ends, Maidstone United 2, Solihull Moors 3.
Goal! Maidstone United 2, Solihull Moors 3. Dan Sweeney (Maidstone United).
Goal! Maidstone United 1, Solihull Moors 3. Akwasi Asante (Solihull Moors).
James Rogers (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Maidstone United 1, Solihull Moors 2. Akwasi Asante (Solihull Moors) converts the penalty with a.
Goal! Maidstone United 1, Solihull Moors 1. Omari Sterling-James (Solihull Moors).
Goal! Maidstone United 1, Solihull Moors 0. Liam Enver-Marum (Maidstone United).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Akwasi Asante's hat-trick secured Solihull Moors' first win in eight matches as they triumphed at Maidstone in the National League. | 37459941 |
The scheme hopes to safeguard the future of the Torwoodlee Tower near Galashiels which dates back to 1601.
A fundraising campaign was launched in 2001 to generate the resources necessary to consolidate the building.
A two-year £150,000 project is now able to get under way which should help to make the structure safe to view.
The tower plays a part in the history of Galashiels and its annual Braw Lads' Gathering celebrations.
James Pringle, the 14th and current laird of Torwoodlee, said: "In 2001 we launched a campaign to raise the funds we needed to consolidate this romantic ruin.
"That year was the quincentenary of 1501 when we first came to Torwoodlee and it seemed a very apt moment to be thinking of the next 500 years.
"Now, thanks to the generosity of the Fallago Environment Fund, Historic Scotland, local people and Pringles around the world, we are in a position to undertake the two year project to stop the tower falling down any more."
He said when the project was finished the tower would be "safe for people to look at and admire once again". | A project has started to try to stabilise a historic Scottish Borders tower which has fallen into an "increasingly precarious" condition. | 32121365 |
The alleged victim, then a teenager, said he had met Stephen Port, 41, via the gay dating app Grindr and went to his home in February 2012.
He said he felt "very dizzy" after drinking the wine, then briefly woke up naked and realised he was being raped.
Mr Port, of Barking, denies 29 charges including four murders and seven rapes.
The charges relate to 12 men over three-and-a-half years.
The Old Bailey jury heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had come to London to meet a friend but when the friend did not turn up he contacted Mr Port.
His first impression was that the accused, who he met at Barking station before being driven to Mr Port's home, was "quite polite, friendly, nothing that would ring any alarm bells to me".
As they watched a DVD Mr Port offered a small glass of red wine, the court heard.
The man told the court the drink "tasted bitter, which I attributed to it being cheap wine."
The complainant told the court he "noticed a sludge in the bottom of the glass" and that "you could tell it used to be powder".
Mr Port said the wine must have been "off" and offered him another drink, jurors heard.
The complainant said he quickly felt "very dizzy and tired" and had a "very sinister" feeling.
He fell asleep on the sofa and the defendant suggested he went to bed, the court heard.
The man next recalled briefly "waking up naked, face down" being raped by the defendant, the court heard.
"I don't recall stopping him. I wasn't in the position to stop him," he said, as he was "only half aware of what was happening."
When prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC asked whether he had agreed to have sex with Stephen Port, he said: "No I hadn't."
The man woke the next day feeling "frightened because I couldn't remember large portions of the night".
The jury was told: "I knew I needed to get out of there as soon as possible because I didn't feel safe in the situation I was in."
Mr Port behaved as if "nothing had happened", said the complainant.
Later, when he contacted Mr Port via Grindr and accused him of spiking his drink, the accused denied the allegation and was dismissive about threats to visit a doctor to prove it.
The man came forward in 2015 after reading that Stephen Port had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The trial continues. | A man accused of four murders and several sex attacks raped a man who passed out after drinking spiked red wine, the Old Bailey has heard. | 37609477 |
But Shaun Edwards, Wales' defence coach, raised the matter five days after England's 25-21 win at Twickenham.
"To be honest I'm just still in a bit of disbelief that you can lose a game of rugby having scored three tries to one," he said.
"I tried to explain to my mother, who's from Wigan, and she just didn't understand it."
England's win - the only match in this year's tournament where the losing team scored more tries than the winners - was the fourth leg of a potential Grand Slam.
Wales face Italy in Cardiff on Saturday in their last match of the 2016 Six Nations, aiming for a win to claim second place behind England.
In the circumstances Edwards' comments could easily invite accusations of sour grapes, particularly after a game when Wales missed 26 tackles - his area of responsibility.
But the scoring in rugby union is already under official scrutiny.
Edwards' reference to his mother living in Wigan points to his roots in rugby league, where he represented Wigan and Great Britain.
Under that sport's scoring system, the match in Twickenham would have been an 18-18 draw.
Media playback is not supported on this device
World Rugby - union's governing body - is currently trialling a scoring system in semi-professional and amateur rugby.
It is the one used in Wales' lower leagues where a try is worth six points and all kicks two.
In top level rugby a try is worth five points, a conversion two points and penalties and drop-goals three points.
Wales would have beaten England 24-20 at Twickenham if that system had been in force.
Pontypridd's Alex Webber scored the first six-point try in Wales in his team's 68-32 win over Llanelli on 5 September, 2015.
When the experiment was announced it was said to be aimed at encouraging attacking rugby and keeping the ball in play for as long as possible.
England World Cup winner Josh Lewsey, at the time the Welsh Rugby Union's head of rugby, said: "I am delighted the Welsh Rugby Union is taking a lead in the world game in regards to these law trials.
"Internally, we were already exploring innovative ways in which we could increase 'ball in play time', the focus on skill acquisition and match intensity.
"As such, these law trials are a superb fit for our intentions."
There are few who would argue Wales were the better side at Twickenham and England butchered a couple of golden opportunities in a dominant first-half.
Edwards was unhappy with Wales' first 40 minutes, but claimed the statistics could be interpreted positively.
"We conceded one try away against England and if you look at that stat it's not a bad performance," he added.
"Technically there were certain aspects of our defence which I was disappointed with in the first half, mainly our one-on-one tackling against their number 11, 14 and 15. But statistically one try [conceded] away against England is not a bad effort.
"Was I happy at half-time? No I wasn't. Did we perform a lot better second half? Yeah we did.
"I'm under no illusions. We were not on our game in the first half but I still can't get my head around how we can score three tries, they can score one, and we can still lose."
Down in the Swalec League at places like Glais and Rhigos and Brynmawr and Blaenavon they might agree.
Possibly not in Teddington. | In a week of disciplinary controversies, rugby's scoring system has not been top of the Six Nations agenda. | 35835975 |
Jacob Cook, 30, from Woodhall Spa, unwittingly spent four months chatting online with an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old school girl.
During the chats, Cook offered to talk the girl through "her first masturbation" and "take her virginity".
He was jailed for three years at Lincoln Crown Court.
Cook, a university graduate, believed he was chatting to a "bored" 13-year old called "Tiny Dancer" on the Kik app.
Mark Watson, prosecuting, said Cook made sexually explicit suggestions to the girl after asking about her experiences of sex.
The defendant told the girl he was a rugby coach, and referred to himself as a teacher in a bid to "gain a degree of trust from her", he added.
"It is perfectly plain that he believed he was talking to a schoolgirl," Mr Watson said.
During a subsequent investigation, detectives discovered Cook had applied for clearance to work coaching children and his case became a priority.
After his arrest, Lincolnshire Police found over 200 pornographic images of children, as well as photographs featuring bestiality on his mobile phone.
Cook, of King Edward Road, Woodhall Spa, admitted attempting to incite a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity between 1 December 2015 and 31 March 2016.
He also admitted three charges of making a total of 230 indecent images of children and a further charge of possession of extreme pornographic images.
In addition to his jail term, Cook was handed a seven-year sexual prevention order. | A rugby coach with "a self-confessed interest in young girls" has been jailed after he was caught by a police sting operation. | 39454633 |
Bashir Naderi, 19, who has lived in Cardiff for nine years, had his deportation temporarily halted by a judge just hours before his flight.
Lawyers made a judicial review application and have told him there have been "positive developments".
The Home Office said it would not comment on individual cases.
Celebrities and politicians have backed Mr Naderi's appeal, while people from across the world have signed an online petition.
"We have been so amazed at how Bash's petition has raised nearly 13,000 supporters," said Nicole Cooper, Mr Naderi's girlfriend.
"We had no idea this could be done and are so grateful.
"Whilst this news represents a significant development after weeks of uncertainty and anxiety, Bash and his family are aware that this is a starting point rather than an outcome.
"However, it provides an opportunity to present the overwhelming evidence in support of Bash's case."
Miss Cooper, 24, thinks the Home Office is deporting him now he is an adult and launched an online petition to give to Home Secretary Amber Rudd to support Mr Naderi's case
Mr Naderi, who was a painting and decorating student at Cardiff and Vale College until his threatened deportation, has lived with his adopted family in the Cathays area of Cardiff since arriving in the UK.
His mother paid for her youngest son to be trafficked to the UK aged 10 after his father, an Afghan police officer, was murdered by the Taliban. He has not spoken to his family in Afghanistan since.
Mr Naderi's solicitors launched a judicial review and Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens is working with his legal team to keep him in the city permanently.
Welsh musicians Charlotte Church and Cerys Matthews and former Olympic medal-winning athlete Jamie Baulch have backed Mr Naderi's campaign.
AMs Jenny Rathbone, Julie Morgan and Lynne Neagle showed support to his cause on the Senedd steps by wearing a blue ribbon - the symbol his supporters have adopted.
"Bash's name being mentioned in the House of Commons, the Senedd, schools, colleges and universities not just in Wales but all over the world, all of this is greatly helping our cause and bringing attention to Bash's plight," added Miss Cooper. | Friends of a student told he faces being sent back to his home-land of Afghanistan say the Home Office has agreed to review its decision. | 38011733 |
Anastasiya Kapachinskaya, Inga Abitova and Denis Alekseyev tested positive for banned substance Turinabol.
Kapachinskaya claimed silver in the women's 4x400m relay, while Alekseyev took bronze in the men's 4x400m.
Their medals had already been reallocated by the International Olympic Committee, with Great Britain set to receive bronze in both events.
The GB women's quartet - Christine Ohuruogu, Kelly Sotherton, Marilyn Okoro and Nicola Sanders - finished fifth but have moved to third as a result of both third-placed Russia and fourth-placed Belarus being disqualified due to subsequent failed tests.
The men's four - Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney - moved from fourth to third when the IOC stripped third-placed Russia of their medal in September.
The Russian Athletic Federation has now handed out its own discipline to the three athletes, who each admitted their guilt to world governing body the IAAF.
In addition, Kapachinskaya tested positive for stanozolol and her retested sample from the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu also came back positive.
Abitova, who came sixth in the women's 10,000m in Beijing, was the only one of the trio whose offence did not see medals reallocated.
British Athletics is now in possession of medals that can be presented to the men's 4x400m team.
A ceremony could be held at the World Athletics Championships in London in August or at the Anniversary Games in the same city a month earlier.
But, as the World Championships is an IAAF event, the IOC would have to give permission for any presentation to take place as Olympic medals fall under their jurisdiction.
British Athletics does not have possession of medals for the women's 4x400m team yet as legal proceedings are ongoing regarding athletes in their race.
Sotherton is also due to receive a heptathlon bronze from the 2008 Games after being upgraded, while Goldie Sayers was also moved up to third place in the women's javelin.
Both are also waiting on legal proceedings to conclude before their medals can be handed out.
The IOC is retesting hundreds of stored samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics using improved testing techniques.
Russia was accused in a World Anti-Doping Agency report last year of state-sponsored doping. Its athletics team was barred from last summer's Rio Olympics and remains banned. | Russia has banned three athletes for four years each as a result of retested samples taken at the 2008 Olympics. | 40358220 |
The board generally grants premises extended hours at Christmas and New Year, unless there are reasons for refusing permission.
It has now started public consultation on a plan to apply the same approach to other times of the year.
Extended hours may also be made more readily available during big events.
These include the Royal National Mod.
Board chairwoman Maxine Smith said: "We are looking for as many people as possible to take part and let us know their views."
The consultation period runs until 17 April and the board will consider the responses at a meeting in Inverness on 12 May. | Highland Licensing Board is asking the public whether extended opening times should be available to pubs and clubs on Burns Night and Halloween. | 31750435 |
The image, one of three taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, shows the Queen surrounded by her five great-grandchildren and her two youngest grandchildren.
Viscount Severn is the younger child of Edward and Sophie, the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The couple decided to give their children the courtesy titles as sons or daughters of an earl, rather than the style prince or princess. It is thought this decision was made to avoid some of the burdens of royal titles.
Lady Louise Windsor is the elder child of the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
Mia Tindall was born in January 2014. She is the daughter of the Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall and former England rugby player Mike Tindall.
Princess Charlotte is the daughter of William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. She was born in May 2015. She is fourth in line to the throne and is known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.
Savannah is the eldest daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips and was the Queen's first great-grandchild.
Prince George of Cambridge was born in July 2013. The eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, he is third in line to the throne, after his grandfather and father. His full name is George Alexander Louis.
Isla is the second daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips. Her father is the son of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. | A photograph of the Queen with young Royal Family members has been released to mark her 90th birthday. | 36100927 |
It was a split second in front of the goalkeeper in a match in Brazil's lower league that changed Lira's life forever.
Only 342 people were in the stadium that night for Goianesia v Atletico Goianiense, but Lira's superb goal captured on video travelled the world and became a hit, winning 2015's Fifa Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal scored in 2015.
Lira was soon hired by a bigger football club and his career seemed on the rise.
But in a turn of events he decided to retire from the sport at the age of 27, and is now playing video games instead.
Even more surprisingly, he is making more money as an e-athlete than he ever did as a real footballer.
"I always dreamed of making a living as a video game player, but I never thought it would come true. But it did," he says.
During a side event at the Fifa Award ceremony in Switzerland, footballers were challenged to play a match of EA Sports' Fifa game against the world champion.
Most players, like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, declined the offer. But Lira thought he had nothing to lose. To his own surprise, he beat the world champion 6-1.
Before the award, he had become disenchanted with his own profession. Players in Brazil's top leagues can get good salaries and become millionaires if they are spotted by rich European clubs.
But in the Brazilian lower leagues life is hard.
Lira spent the last few years earning 3,000 reais ($880; £700) per month in the weeks that he could find work. Some years he spent up to seven months unemployed. He had four serious injuries in his career.
He had even retired from football and was working in his mother's restaurant when he got an invitation from Goianesia and decided to give the sport one last go.
The goal he scored for the team earned him plaudits and fame. But just a few weeks after the glitz and glamour faded, he was again playing for a small club and suffering from all the same old problems - and having trouble paying his bills.
"People think that because I was a Puskas winner I had a huge salary. It was never the case."
But his good performance in the e-sport match in Switzerland did not go unnoticed. A sports marketing firm in the southern town of Porto Alegre saw potential in Wendell Lira and offered him a five-year contract as an e-athlete.
He now makes money by playing in championships, hosting a YouTube channel with tips for players and selling sponsorship for his online programme.
His channel has almost 250,000 subscribers and millions of views, and Lira says he is making well above his old salary.
Brazil is one of the fastest growing markets for gaming in the world. A report by the consultancy Newzoo says Latin America is the second fastest growing region in electronic game revenues, after South East Asia.
The region has 110 million gamers who spent $4.1bn in 2016 - some 20% more than the previous year.
And video games are not only an entertainment option for players - people are now watching them in stadiums and on television too.
Last year, more than 10,000 people attended the League of Legends final in a football stadium in Sao Paulo.
The country's top TV sports channel is now broadcasting some tournaments live.
Now traditional football clubs are looking for ways to cash in.
Santos, the club that made Pele famous, has recently gone into partnership with an e-sports firm to sponsor teams. It now has e-athletes playing Rainbow Six and Counter Strike.
Its marketing department fears that young audiences are flocking more to video games rather than to football clubs, and that they need to reach out to them in this new environment.
Bruno Andrade, who manages the Santos Dexterity e-sports team, says it is a hard task to run the business. Money is still scarce - funding comes through cash prizes, online channels or sponsorship.
Another challenge is to manage teenagers in a career that is not well-established yet. Santos Football Club provided its e-sports arm with a psychologist.
"Many people still don't understand that this could be a lasting career and they need professional help to guide them," says Andrade.
Some top stars in the game are playing full-time and making six-figure sums.
Brazil's top e-athlete, Gabriel "Kami" Bohm, is reportedly worth 1 million reais ($290,000; £230,000).
There are teams that train and live together under one roof.
But these are still rare cases. Most players are still struggling to make ends meet.
Wendell Lira says his routine is very hard - he trains several hours every day to win cash prizes in online tournaments and stay relevant on YouTube.
But, he says, it is still much easier than the gruelling world of football - where he had to deal with physical pain and long trips. | Former Brazilian footballer Wendell Lira will never forget the day he beat Lionel Messi. | 38262547 |
Striker Saido Berahino could start after being an unused substitute on his return from illness last time out.
Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should be fit despite limping off early in the midweek game against Southampton with a hamstring injury.
Laurent Koscielny, who missed that match with a calf problem, will be assessed ahead of Saturday's game.
Simon Brotherton: "With four wins from the last five games, Arsenal appear to be hitting form at just the right time as they try to extend their remarkable run of continuous top-four finishes to 21 seasons.
"They're on the outside looking in at the moment, but the scrap with both Liverpool and Manchester City above them promises to go to the wire.
"They need to keep winning and hope for the best, so I'm sure there are places they would rather be than Stoke this weekend.
"It's seven years since they last won there in the league. The 3-1 victory in February 2010 came thanks to two goals in added time, but it was also the game in which Aaron Ramsey suffered a broken leg."
Twitter: @SimonBrotherton
Stoke manager Mark Hughes: "We know that everything has to go for us if we are to finish in eighth spot, but if we win our two games then we will give ourselves a fighting chance of doing that.
"Things at times maybe haven't gone the way we would have liked this season, and that is for many reasons, but we still have a chance of finishing the season in our highest ever Premier League position.
"We see ourselves as a top-10 club, and if we do fall short this season then we will put our hands up and acknowledge that, but I can assure you we will be far stronger next season."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "Traditionally there is a fierce rivalry and they had always a very direct game against us.
"Overall, I must say as well that they have had good teams. Stoke are now regular participants in the Premier League for years, and that means that anybody who goes there is in trouble.
"We have to show character again. We know we have to play to win the games, so let's keep the focus on the way we want to play and on our team spirit."
The Potters will not roll over, but I think the Arsenal fans can leave their 'Wenger Out' banners at home this weekend.
Prediction: 0-2
Lawro's full predictions against tennis world number one Andy Murray
Head-to-head
Stoke City
Arsenal
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale at the University of Salford that is used to predict the outcome of football matches. | Stoke have no new injury worries, with only long-term absentees Ibrahim Afellay and Stephen Ireland sidelined. | 39827551 |
12 March 2015 Last updated at 11:55 GMT
They were joined by this four metre long alligator.
These snaps were posted on the Florida club's web page.
The cheeky reptiles often visit the course but stay well away from humans.
Watch the video to see more. | Golfers on a course in the US found themselves being watched by an unusual spectator. | 31851465 |
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said schools that don't comply may face lawsuits or lose federal aid if they do not comply.
One senior Republican politician has condemned the move as the "beginning of the end" of the current school system.
In a separate move, the president also strengthened protections for LGBT people receiving health care.
The federal government is fighting the state of North Carolina in court over a law requiring people to use toilets according to their gender at birth.
However the Obama administration education and justice departments say public schools must respect transgender pupils' gender identity even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.
"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Ms Lynch said.
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Campaigners hailed the move.
"This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools," said Chad Griffin from Human Rights Campaign, a gay, lesbian and transgender rights organisation.
But the directive, which has been sent to all public schools, was immediately rejected by senior Republican Party politicians meeting at a convention in Texas.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said: "This will be the beginning of the end of the public school system as we know it."
"President Obama, in the dark of the night - without consulting Congress, without consulting educators, without consulting parents - decides to issue an executive order, forcing transgender policies on schools and on parents who clearly don't want it," he told 5NBC television.
A new gender identity comes into force as soon as a parent or guardian notifies the school that their child's identity "differs from previous representations or records" and must be respected even if it makes others uncomfortable, the directive says.
Ms Lynch said North Carolina's new state law had echoes of policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.
The federal government and the state are suing each other over the law, which the federal authorities say violates the Civil Rights Act.
North Carolina's Governor Pat McCrory has said the law is a "common sense privacy policy" and that the justice department's position is "baseless and blatant overreach".
However, many businesses and entertainers have criticised the measures as discriminatory.
Musicians have cancelled concerts in the states and several companies have pledged to curtail their business in North Carolina.
Last month a US appeals courts ruled that a Virginia school policy that barred a transgender pupil from using the boys' toilet was discriminatory.
On Friday afternoon, President Obama and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gave the LBGT community further protections when receiving health care.
A new rule in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act guarantees equal treatment for transgender people by insurance companies and health care providers.
It states people must be treated in line with their gender identity, including access to facilities such as toilets, and given the same treatments which are available to their chosen gender.
The rule applies to all federal funded health care and insurers.
The Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said the measure was a step towards "realizing equity within our health care system and reaffirms this Administration's commitment to giving every American access to the health care they deserve."
Transgender Americans can make civil rights claims if denied coverage or care based on their sex, which will be assessed by HHS's Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
HHS said the new rule was the first federal civil rights law that tackled sex discrimination in government-funded health care. | The Obama administration has told schools to let transgender pupils use toilets matching their gender identity. | 36286111 |
Fears that dozens of companies providing these pensions are too small to survive were explored in a recent BBC investigation.
Now Pensions Minister Ros Altmann has told MPs that legislation is needed to "ensure proper protection" for savers.
She said that she was pushing for a slot for a law to be proposed.
"We know that doing nothing is not an option," she told the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Workers are being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by employers in a rolling programme set out by the government, although employees are free to opt out.
So-called Master Trust schemes, which manage pensions, are popular with the 1.8 million small employers with fewer than 30 staff who are currently signing up staff under the auto-enrolment programme.
Only five have some kind of kitemark, and The Pensions Regulator told the BBC that there was a risk that some of the smaller schemes might not survive, putting savers' money at risk.
This was confirmed by Baroness Altmann, who said that there were concerns over some of the smaller operators among the 72 Master Trusts in the UK.
She said that savers' pensions could be affected if these trusts went under, because the wind-up costs faced by the trusts could effectively eat into these savings.
Protection required a new law, she said, adding that she was "pressing for a pensions bill" to do so. This has yet to be put into the government's legislative programme.
MPs on the committee asked why this protection was not in place when the auto-enrolment system was set up.
Charlotte Clark, director of private pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), admitted that the number of trusts that had been set up had taken the DWP by surprise. | A new law is needed to protect workers' savings held by companies that provide auto-enrolment pension schemes, a minister has said. | 35762881 |
Carol Rowley, 56, died at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, on 14 February, 2013 after a battle with cancer.
Her family says that what happened on the day she died differs from what was recorded in her medical notes.
The hospital said it was co-operating with West Mercia Police's investigation and no wrongdoing had been found.
"It would appear from certain records that certain treatments have been given which just did not occur," her husband Alan said.
"The picture of what we saw on the night, in the evening and the morning varies quite dramatically from what we read in records."
Mrs Rowley, who had incurable cancer, was taken to hospital by ambulance after becoming dehydrated following chemotherapy on 13 February.
Hospital notes state she was given fluids for dehydration at 19:00 - but this was before she had arrived at hospital, her family said.
She later collapsed after being given morphine and was sent to be resuscitated. Her husband says she was given an injection, but there is no record of this.
"A member of staff present lifted her gown and gave her what I fully believe was an injection just under my wife's breast," said Mr Rowley.
"Within seconds my wife was breathing."
The family claims she received little attention from 03:00 and was not given diamorphine at 05:54, as stated in her notes.
She died 45 minutes after having a dose of diamorphine at 08:00.
Her family says it was told she had had a reaction to the morphine, but there is no evidence of this in her notes and it has since been denied by the hospital.
Staff and family members have been interviewed by police, who told the BBC their investigation was ongoing.
Julia Clarke, director of corporate governance at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), said: "We have been fully co-operating with police since their enquiries began in 2013.
"To date there have been no findings of any wrongdoing. In light of the ongoing police enquiries it would be inappropriate for us to comment further." | The death of a woman in hospital is being investigated by police after her family made complaints about her care. | 40288846 |
David Strang said the evidence was clear that such sentences did not cut crime and called for a "more creative approach" to community-based options.
Since 2010 the Scottish courts have operated a presumption against prison sentences of three months or less.
The Scottish government has yet to publish its response to a consultation on increasing that to 12 months.
Speaking on the BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Strang, who was formerly the chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, said sending more people to jail to serve shorter sentences would result in reconviction rates spiralling as well as an increase in offending.
He said: "The evidence is very clear that if you want to reduce crime then you don't send people to prison for a short time.
"People who are released from a short sentence of less than 12 months, over half of them are reconvicted within one year.
"So I would have thought that one purpose of the criminal justice system is to prevent future crimes, to reduce reoffending, and that if you send someone to prison then the damage that that does leads to them reoffending more than if you had given them an alternative."
Mr Strang called for a more creative approach to community-based alternatives to prison, including fines and payback orders, which he said were much cheaper and far more effective.
He said that keeping a convict in prison for a year costs between £30,000-40,000 in Scotland, whereas a community payback order costs less than £10,000 a year.
The Scottish courts have a presumption against imposing prison sentences of three months or less unless it can be shown that no other alternative is appropriate.
Mr Strang said he understood that ministers were inclined to back plans to increase the period to 12 months.
He added: "I think there is quite a punitive attitude in Scotland in that somehow people feel that unless someone is sent to prison then they haven't really been dealt with properly for their crime.
"It's really important to get the message over that that's not the case. We should only be imprisoning people who need to be for the sake of either the seriousness of the offence that they've committed or particularly to protect the public from harm."
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: "Short-term prison sentences can play an important role in our justice system, and it would be ludicrous to end them.
"We cannot fetter judges' discretion without full consideration of the consequences and wider policy context.
"There are many offences and circumstances where a custodial sentence of up to 12 months could be an appropriate punishment, and we need to allow judges the choice to hand down such sentences if they deem it necessary."
A Scottish government spokesman said the prison population remained "unacceptably high" and that it was setting out plans to invest in community sentences and electronic monitoring.
He added: "We have consistently stated that the consultation responses on extending the presumption against short prison sentences would inform our decisions and it is only right that we take the time to consider these views.
"We'll continue to discuss how best to take this forward with the relevant stakeholders.
"There will, however, always be some crimes where a custodial sentence is absolutely justified." | Scotland's chief inspector of prisons has called for an end to jail terms of less than 12 months. | 40768115 |
Thick smoke could be seen rising from the area, where there is also a base for African Union (AU) peacekeepers.
Local journalists said one of the bombs was detonated by a suicide attacker near a checkpoint. Another blast hit the airport's perimeter wall.
Those killed were believed to include security guards at the checkpoint.
The militant Islamist group, al-Shabab, has said it was behind the blasts and its target was the AU force's headquarters.
The AU mission in Somalia condemned "these senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis".
Al-Shabab has carried out frequent attacks in Somalia, including in Mogadishu, in an attempt to oust the UN-backed government.
The group, which is allied to al-Qaeda, has been pushed out of most of the main towns it once controlled, but analysts say it remains a potent threat.
It has been increasing its attacks ahead of planned elections in Somalia.
Hotels have been attacked by car bombs and then armed assault teams over the past few weeks.
The large airport area in Mogadishu is a secure "green zone" for UN operations, the AU peacekeeping force and foreign embassies.
The Somali government, with the help of AU forces, is fighting al-Shabab militants in several parts of the country. | At least 13 people have been killed in two car bomb attacks near an entrance to the airport in Mogadishu, Somali police say. | 36892048 |
The Australian singer announced the film, called Sister, at Venice Film Festival, said the Hollywood Reporter.
Furler said she had initially been "embarrassed" about her ambition to get behind the camera.
But, after making a video for her song Chandelier last year, she realised she was "pretty good" at directing and "felt a little bit braver".
Ziegler, 12, starred in a trilogy of videos for Sia, including the controversial Elastic Heart, which co-starred Shia LaBeouf.
The singer said her film was based on a one-page story she wrote eight years ago. She was initially "too embarrassed to tell anyone I wanted to make a movie, because I thought it would be seen as a vanity project, because I was a singer" but overcame this after trying her hand at directing.
The screenplay was a collaboration with children's book author Dalles Clayton, and she said she really enjoyed "the creative process".
She added that although film-making is different from songwriting, she found there were similarities.
"For me, the process was basically, I work out the movie. I'll act it out, I'll have the dialogue already in my head."
But she stressed she was not a "technical person", adding: "Like, when I sing, I just want to sing the melody and write the lyrics. I don't want to have to do production, which is very technical. I don't enjoy that."
The media-wary star, 39, often obscures her face and turns her back on the audience.
She performed on the Graham Norton show last year facing the back of the stage, telling Norton that while she was ambitious she did not want to be famous, as she had famous friends and did not like the way they had to live their lives. | Singer Sia Furler has revealed she is directing a film starring her frequent collaborator, dancer Maddie Ziegler. | 34185890 |
Timothy Tyrone Foster was convicted of molesting and killing a white 79-year-old retired schoolteacher in 1987.
But the court on Thursday overturned his conviction after ruling that the prosecution had broken the law.
Foster may now face a retrial, 29 years after his death sentence.
A law introduced in 1986 made it illegal in the US to pick jurors based on the colour of their skin.
But the following year all four black members of the potential jury pool in Foster's case were struck from the pool by prosecutors, leaving an all-white jury.
Non race-related reasons were given for striking the black members of the pool, but prosecution notes released to Foster's lawyers in 2006 revealed racial motivations, the Supreme Court said.
The notes show that the prosecution marked the names of black prospective jurors with a "B", highlighted them in green, and circled the word "black" on their juror questionnaires, Reuters news agency reported.
According to Foster's lawyer, Stephen Bright, one handwritten note titled "Definite Nos" listed six people, of whom five were the remaining black prospective jurors, the Associated Press reported.
The sixth was a white woman who made clear she would never impose the death penalty, Mr Bright said.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the notes "plainly belie the state's claim that it exercised its strikes in a 'colour blind' manner".
The eight justices of the Court voted 7-1 in Foster's favour. The sole dissenter was Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative and the only black member of the court.
Foster, who was 18 at the time of the murder, was accused of breaking into the home of Queen Madge White, breaking her jaw, sexually molesting her and then strangling her, before stealing items from her house. | The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a black death-row inmate, finding that state prosecutors in Georgia unlawfully excluded potential black jurors from his trial. | 36362438 |
It is here in the north of the country that the United Nations has declared a famine. It is here that the fighting between government and rebel forces has driven so many into hunger and homelessness. And it is here that UK aid is being carefully targeted from the air.
To watch these bags of cereal and pulses and food substitutes pour from the bellies of ageing Russian transport planes that have been hired by the aid agencies is to witness an absolute good. For without it, more people in this war-ravaged, hunger-stricken country in central Africa would starve to death.
I watched the Ilyushin planes lumber slowly into view alongside Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, who had travelled many hours to see what impact the money she had authorised was having on the ground.
Despite the controversy over her £13bn aid budget, Ms Patel insisted that Britain's humanitarian spending gave it influence in the world.
First the planes practise a low pass over the drop zone, marked by a large white cross. They make another wide circuit to let nearby villages know an aid delivery is on its way. And then, at around 300 metres above the ground, they begin to drop their cargoes.
Each plane can carry about 30 metric tonnes of aid, about 600 sacks. They make three passes, dropping 200 sacks each time. These are not parachute-born crates, just individual bags hurtling towards the ground. Like some dreadful game of pass-the-parcel, each sack is bagged seven times to stop it exploding on impact.
To watch this, to see the gleam of hope in the eyes of those waiting below, is a moving experience. For many of them, without this aid, they would be forced to live off what nuts, leaves and water lilies they can forage, none of which provides adequate nutrition.
"UK aid is providing a much-needed lifeline to people who have been persecuted, driven off their homes, forced to flee," Ms Patel told me. "The aid that we are providing right now is the difference between life and death."
Yet the problem is this. Each plane contains food enough for only 2,000 people a month. The cost of the planes is astronomic and there are only seven in the region that the World Food Programme can operate.
There is a scarcity of available food aid because there are so many other droughts in the region. Each drop has to be negotiated with local community leaders and armed groups, whose permission is needed to ensure that any fighting is put on hold. The hungry will come only if they feel safe.
The distribution centre on the ground - a temporary, pop-up affair - can exist only for a few days before the security risks become again too great.
Any food drop in a government-held area has to be matched by one in territory held by the rebels. The amount of aid has to be roughly equal in size to avoid accusations that the aid agencies are taking sides.
In other words, this aid that falls from the sky may help people who are the hardest to reach in a severe humanitarian crisis. But it is expensive, complicated and, as aid workers repeatedly told me, not nearly enough.
There are three road corridors into South Sudan along which aid can travel by truck. And this can be more efficient. One truck alone can carry as much as a Russian transport plane.
Yet trucks have deal with checkpoints, fighting and simple banditry. And soon they will lose the roads when the rains come and render much of the country impassable. So there is, aid workers say, a race against time to build up aid dumps before the weather closes in.
Such is the reality of delivering British and other aid in the north. To the south, in the capital, Juba, the UK is funding much of South Sudan's only children's hospital - its medicines, its water tanks, its solar panels. Here doctors are seeing rising numbers of children with acute malnutrition. And inevitably they need more resources, above all more space.
On the day we visited, in one ward alone, there were 43 children sharing 21 beds. I spoke to Rhoda, a 50-year-old woman who had brought in her granddaughter 10 days previously. Cecilia, only 18 months old, arrived severely malnourished. Her mother had died and Rhoda had no milk to feed her. But, she told me, Cecilia's fever and diarrhoea had abated after a few days of milk and porridge.
Further south, the problem is one of refugees. More than a million South Sudanese have fled the country to escape the fighting. We travelled to northern Uganda where on average 2,000 people are pouring over the border each day. Last week there was one 24-hour period when no fewer than 7,000 refugees came across.
Uganda - unusually - welcomes refugees and gives them a plot of land with shelter and access to services. Here millions of pounds of UK aid is being spent to provide some of the basic infrastructure. Yet here again the scale of the crisis outweighs the humanitarian response. Last August there was next to nothing at the main refugee settlement at Bidibidi. Now, it is the largest such settlement in the world, home to more than 270,000 people.
Clearly, the scale of the humanitarian challenge is huge and growing. But the aid agencies report that the United Nation emergency response for South Sudan is hugely underfunded, with some international donors showing reluctance to stump up the cash. So this is a crisis that many expect to get worse before it gets better. | In the dusty, baking emptiness of Leer in South Sudan, bags of British food aid fall from the sky to relieve the hunger below. | 39600613 |
The England coach has picked United's Marcus Rashford, 19, in his squad.
The teenage striker will now miss the Under-21 European Championship this summer - something Mourinho wanted.
"I'm not in a position where I can make decisions to keep people happy. I'm not going to achieve that," said Southgate.
"The key is not the relationship with Jose, it's the relationship with Marcus. I didn't speak to him [Mourinho] about it. I let him know where I was heading at the end."
Mourinho said last month Rashford should not go to the Euros as "it does not make a lot of sense to drop levels".
The FA previously indicated young players needed tournament experience.
Rashford has instead been called up for the World Cup qualifier against Scotland on 10 June and the friendly against France three days later.
He played 58 games for United and England this season, scoring 11 goals, having broken into his club's first-team last term.
Just four months into his first professional season in February 2016, he was selected for Euro 2016 by England manager Roy Hodgson and has gone on to win eight caps.
Rashford led the line in United's Europa League final win over Ajax and came on in the EFL Cup final triumph over Southampton.
Southgate said he "wants a good working relationship with the clubs" but has to make decisions "that are right for England".
The former international defender added: "I have got to make decisions that are right for England seniors long term, I'm always mindful of what is right for the players.
"Respectfully, none of the managers are going to be around in 10 years, or it's very, very unlikely, and I think people like Marcus Rashford will be.
"So there's always going to be some collision at some point on that and some disagreement on that." | Gareth Southgate says trying to keep Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho happy would be "fairly difficult" - and that he will not stop making decisions "that are right for England". | 40100528 |
Alcohol problems still amount to more than half of all substance misuse cases in Wales, according to Public Health Wales.
Heroin accounts for nearly a fifth of cases.
But is cannabis - just under 10% of cases - something we should still be worried about in Wales?
HOW MANY ARE USING CANNABIS?
Cannabis use peaks in the late teens and early 20s, and then declines with age, according to the Home Office's Crime Survey.
The most recent crime survey suggests cannabis use has dropped in Wales, with 6.1% claiming to have taken the drug in the last year.
At a high point in 2003/04, this was 10%.
Across England and Wales, 2.2 million are estimated to have taken cannabis in the last year.
This compares with an estimated 21,000 of 16 to 59 year olds taking heroin and 768,000 who took cocaine.
Men are twice as likely as women to smoke cannabis.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND CANNABIS
The latest Welsh government survey of health behaviour of pupils aged 11 to 16 in Wales found:
Across England and Wales, the number of 16 to 24 year olds using cannabis in the last year is estimated to being around 950,000. The Home Office's Crime Survey also suggests a long term "significant fall" - from 25.8% in 1996 to 16.3% in the most recent survey.
CANNABIS AND TREATMENT
Figures for referrals to drug treatment centres for cannabis show an increase over the last five years - to 1,556 people in Wales in the last year.
The average age is 20 and around half were under 19.
The numbers of the under 15s has started to fall but health officials have noticed a slight increase in those aged up to 24.
Included is the use of cannabinoids - synthetic variations of the drug - and stronger skunk cannabis.
Public Health Wales said young people may not be aware of this distinction and the issues around synthetics.
Josie Smith, head of its substance misuse programme, said: "If you've purchased it from head shop, you don't categorically know what you're taking. 130 different varieties have been identified and it can have a much more potent effect on the brain while neither its health and chronic effects are known."
Sarah Walsh, of Drugaid Cymru in south east Wales, said the number one reason for drug referrals of young people was still cannabis - both for physical and mental health issues.
"Physically, some of the young people we work with will complain of a negative impact on their chest and breathing," said Ms Walsh.
"Their concentration and motivation can also be affected which could be due to their cannabis use.
"Mental health problems can also be presented by some of the young people we work with, such as feeling paranoid or anxious.
"In some more extreme cases, we have dealt with drug-induced psychosis where cannabis has been one the drugs used by the young person. However, this has been when used with a number of other substances."
CANNABIS AND CRIME
The National Police Chiefs' Council is expected to publish a report in the next few days looking at the scale of criminal activity relating to cannabis.
Altogether in England and Wales, nearly half a million cannabis plants were seized in the last year, a drop of 11%.
In 90% of seizures, fewer than 50 plants were involved.
Figures have suggested a fall in the number of raids.
South Wales Police could not provide figures but said they are committed to enforcement regarding all illegal drugs.
Det Supt Simon Davies, head of force intelligence and organised crime at South Wales Police, said: "The cultivation of cannabis and the direct links to organised criminality are very evident and officers are regularly uncovering premises across our communities which contain many hundreds of cannabis plants.
"Arrests are frequently made and those accountable are placed before the court.
He said they wanted to encourage communities to provide intelligence "to allow us to take disruptive action".
North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick has pledged not to "go soft" on enforcing even smaller cannabis offences.
"My approach to drugs in general and cannabis in particular remains as it was: If the use of them is illegal according to law the police should enforce the law," he said.
"If a police force were to decide which laws to enforce and which not to enforce, it would be usurping the function of Parliament.
"The people we serve have every right to expect us to provide a professional and comprehensive service and in relation to cannabis so long as it remains an illegal drug North Wales Police will continue to enforce against its use."
THE LEGALISATION DEBATE
The question of whether cannabis should be legalised has been intensely debated in recent months.
Although the Home Office said it has no plans to change the law on cannabis, MPs debated the issue after a petition calling for legalisation drew more than 220,000 signatures.
An all-party group wants the UK to try out a controlled system where licensed premises sell labelled and tested cannabis.
Long-time campaigner for legalisation Newport West MP Paul Flynn said politicians have been cowardly over the issue.
Meanwhile, drugs smuggler turned author Howard Marks in a recent BBC interview maintains cannabis is better legalised than left to the criminal world.
PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR LEGALISATION?
The most recent YouGov poll of 1,600 people in March found 49% were against legalising cannabis; 32% were in favour and 18% did not know.
A 2013 poll for the Transform drugs policy group - which wants a controlled legalisation - found 53% backed a regulated legalisation or decriminalisation for possession and only 14% wanted tougher enforcement. | New figures show more than 1,550 people were referred for treatment for cannabis use in Wales in the last year. | 34571036 |
Bombs fell on Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury during an attack by Zeppelin airships on the night of 31 March-1 April 1916.
Twelve people were killed in Suffolk, with further deaths in Essex.
A service of commemoration was held at Bury St Edmunds cemetery at midday. More on this and other stories from Suffolk
Bury St Edmunds, where seven people died, was believed to have been targeted because it was a base for the Suffolk Regiment and home to the Robert Boby engineering plant, which manufactured shells.
Fatalities from an earlier Zeppelin raid on the town, in 1915, were restricted to a dog.
Ron Murrell, of Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, said: "It would have been terrifying to hear these bombs going off around you - the shock would have been like a spaceship turning up today.
"It would have had an effect on the morale of British soldiers serving on the western front knowing their families back home were at risk, and it would have bolstered morale in Germany."
Five people were killed in Sudbury - four civilians and an off-duty soldier.
Shirley Smith, Sudbury Town Council employee and co-author of No Glorious Dead, said: "It was the first time it brought terror on to the home front and the impact of the war was felt by civilians."
That night, the fleet of airships also dropped bombs on Braintree, Chelmsford and Brentwood in Essex.
A spokesman for Braintree Museum said four people were killed in the town that night, but accurate records for civilian casualties were not kept everywhere.
Ian Hook, curator of the Essex Regiment Museum in Chelmsford, said: "They were such a shock to British civilian life because we regarded ourselves as an impregnable island defended by the world's greatest navy.
"These Zeppelin air raids suddenly changed people's perceptions and they realised we were vulnerable to attack from the air." | Civilian deaths inflicted by German airships during World War One have been remembered on the 100th anniversary. | 35938019 |
Ms Dugdale, who is one of four gay party leaders in Scotland, said Holyrood is "now considered the gayest parliament in the world"
In her column for the Daily Record newspaper, Ms Dugdale said "the rainbow flag" was "flying higher than ever".
Tory leader Ruth Davidson and UKIP Scotland's David Coburn are also gay, while Green Patrick Harvie is bisexual.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell also came out earlier in the year.
The Scottish Labour leader spoke out about her personal life for the first time in an interview for the Fabian Society, revealing that she has "a female partner".
She added: "I don't talk about it very much because I don't feel I need to. My private life is my private life, that's the thing I just have that nobody else gets to touch, and that gives me the strength to be calm elsewhere."
After winning support from opponents including Ms Davidson, Ms Dugdale said she was pleased with the "tremendous" backing she had received.
She wrote: "I've been bowled over by the tremendous support I've received this weekend after I decided to share with the world that I'm in love with a woman.
"The Scottish Parliament was once referred to as the rainbow parliament because of the kaleidoscope of party colours represented. Whilst the number of greens and socialists might have fallen back, the diversity of our parliament remains.
"In fact it's now considered the gayest parliament in the world.
"Whilst the rainbow flag might be flying higher than ever above Holyrood, we can take pride in the fact it's been there for LGBT Scots since day one." | Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale says she has been "bowled over" with support since revealing she is gay. | 35960152 |
But the chancellor said there must be "business as usual, life as normal" for Britons as the UK left the EU.
"Many things would look similar" the day after Brexit - on 29 March 2019 - as the UK moved gradually towards a new relationship with the EU, he said.
The EU has said it is too soon to discuss a transitional deal.
A European Commission spokesman said: "We are about to discuss the specifics of separation and once this is done to the satisfaction of everyone, we may move to the second step."
The UK is due to leave the EU at the end of March 2019 but there has been increasing talk of a "transitional" or "implementation" stage to smooth the process, before a new long-term relationship with the EU comes into force.
This could mean a period during which some EU rules would continue to apply to the UK after it has technically left the bloc. Newspaper reports have suggested these could include the free movement of people, something that was seen as a key issue in the vote to leave the EU.
Mr Hammond also appeared to acknowledge that it could mean new trade deals with non-EU countries could not be signed during that period.
The chancellor told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the length of any transitional deal would "be driven by technical considerations".
Beneath the surface, Chancellor Philip Hammond had been arguing for a transitional arrangement to avoid choppy waters in 2019. There is no longer any dissent in the ranks - that concept has been agreed by the Cabinet.
In return, the chancellor has acceded to demands by ministers who voted to leave the EU that any transitional phase must be completed by the scheduled date of the next general election - June 2022.
But have other disagreements so far escaped the political sonar?
Read more from Iain
On Thursday, immigration minister Brandon Lewis said it was a "simple matter of fact" that EU free movement rules would not apply after 2019.
Mr Hammond said this was correct because freedom of movement was an EU concept and the UK would leave the customs union and single market on 29 March 2019.
But he said the question that needed answering was what happened next, so that British people and businesses could "get on with their lives" without "massive disruption".
He said he hoped that, in the immediate aftermath, goods would "continue to flow across the border between the UK and the EU in much the same way as they do now".
On whether EU citizens would continue to be free to enter the UK, he said it would be "some time before we are able to introduce full migration controls between the UK and the European Union".
"That's not a matter of political choice, it's a matter of fact. We have to put in place quite a lot of new infrastructure, we will need a lot of new people, we will need new IT systems... This is going to take a while to deliver."
He said Britons wanted to know they would still be able to "go about their business" after March 2019, from buying European goods to going off on holiday, adding: "The government's job is to make sure that our economy can go on functioning normally, that people can go about their businesses as usual... that is our focus."
Some of Mr Hammond's colleagues who campaigned for a Leave vote have accepted that an "implementation period" after Brexit is likely.
The Conservative MP and Leave campaigner Nigel Evans said any transition period should end as soon as the UK had arrangements in place, saying: "This is not going to be seen as a ruse whereby some people who might have liked us to remain in the European Union can see this as an opportunity to keep us half in.
"That's not going to happen. We are, in all but one or two transitional arrangements, going to have left the European Union by March 2019."
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour had been calling for "appropriate transitional arrangements" which the chancellor "now appears to accept".
"However, in light of the clear divisions this week within the Cabinet, I hope the chancellor was not merely speaking in a personal capacity," he said.
"I also hope that this is the final burial of the flawed proposition that 'no deal' is a viable option."
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said a transition period was only "kicking the can down the road".
"All the problems associated with a hard Brexit, leaving the single market, leaving the customs union, they will simply be confronted two years later."
Meanwhile, Malta's PM Joseph Muscat has said he is "starting to believe that Brexit will not happen", according to the Guardian. | Any "transitional deal" in the period after Brexit must end by June 2022, the time of the next general election, Philip Hammond has said. | 40747747 |
Queen's Park FC said Harry the Hoopo's head had recently been taken from the the JB McAlpine Pavilion, the Glasgow club's youth and community facility.
On Twitter, the club said: "To date we have received no ransom notes. We beseech you all to leave no stone unturned in the hunt for Harry's head."
Queen's Park appealed for anyone with information to get in touch.
The club plays at Hampden Park and is currently in Scottish League Two. | Scotland's oldest association football club has appealed for help in tracing the missing head of its mascot. | 35410783 |
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The 23-year-old, who has won 41 international caps and captained the German club, joins for a reported £35m on a long-term contract.
"I'm very proud to be joining Arsenal," said Xhaka. "I cannot wait to move to London, represent this special club and play in the Premier League.
"I will give everything to help Arsenal win trophies and make the fans happy."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: "Granit Xhaka is an exciting young player, already with good Champions League and Bundesliga experience.
"We have been watching him for a long time now and he is a player who will add quality to our squad."
Xhaka, who scored six goals in 108 Bundesliga appearances, will join up with his new team-mates after Euro 2016, which runs from 10 June to 10 July.
The former Basel player is Arsenal's first signing since the end of a season in which they finished runners-up to Premier League champions Leicester.
Experienced midfielders Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky and Mathieu Flamini are set to leave Emirates Stadium this summer.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Arsenal have signed Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach. | 36378192 |
Mark Crockett made the explosive device after checking into a chalet at Logierait Pine Lodges near Pitlochry, Perthshire, in February.
The 53-year-old wrote a suicide note and a letter to police explaining how the nail bomb had been constructed.
Crockett, of Falkirk, admitted making the device. Sentence was deferred.
The High Court in Aberdeen heard that concerned staff called out paramedics before the caterer carried out his plan to end his own life at the holiday park.
Managers had visited his lodge when he failed to check out of the chalet and discovered he had a head injury and was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
One of the paramedics called to the property read a note in the lodge which said: "I am dead. Please do not enter.
"There is a nail bomb on the light blue bag. This is for London Borough Barnet social services. You are blessed. Change your ways."
The holiday park was evacuated.
Advocate depute Alyson Forbes said Crockett had contacted his local social work department and informed staff that he was not coping well at the end of 2014.
He was involved in a dispute with family and concerns were raised about his mental health. On 2 February he headed off on a two-day trip to stay in the chalet near Pitlochry.
Police were called after he was discovered in the lodge two days later.
Glue, screws and a metal container filled with sugar were recovered during a search of the lodge. The device had a fuse which could be set alight causing it to explode.
However, further examinations showed that the device would have failed to work properly.
More than 400 morphine tablets were recovered during searches of the lodge and his Falkirk home, along with cannabis and Tramadol. Some of the drugs had been prescribed to his late mother before she died in 2011.
Defence lawyer Tony Lenehan said his client had reached the point of "emotional collapse" when the incident happened.
He said: "He simply went there with the intention of ending his own life with his mother's morphine tablets and he had assembled the device.
"The metal cylinder is an aftershave tin. I think it would be reasonable to describe the construction of it as somewhat inept."
Crockett also pled guilty to being in possession of morphine, cannabis and Tramadol. Sentence was deferred until 7 January. | A former hospitality manager sparked a major incident at a Scottish holiday resort after building a nail bomb with sugar, a court has heard. | 35042046 |
Dan Tuohy, Sean Reidy and Paul Marshall all touched down before Craig Gilroy secured the bonus point before half-time with a fine solo effort.
A Sam Christie try reduced Treviso's deficit but Peter Browne, Gilroy and Lewis Stevenson then crossed the line to ensure a convincing scoreline.
Ireland wing Andrew Trimble made a record 190th appearance for Ulster.
The Irish province were determined to bounce back from a disappointing defeat away to the Scarlets three weeks ago and took only seven minutes to get the scoreboard rolling as lock Tuohy stretched over for a try, Stuart McCloskey converting.
McCloskey knocked over a penalty, before Reidy rumbled over following a good drive by the forwards after Robbie Diack won possession at the lineout. McCloskey again added the additional two points.
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The visitors suffered a double setback when tighthead prop Rupert Harden and number eight Robert Barbieri were sin-binned within two minutes either side of the half hour.
Ulster made good use of their numerical advantage when Marshall picked the ball up from a scrum and darted over after a trademark jinking run.
Gilroy then produced a contender for try of the season when he ran from inside his own half and showed devastating pace to weave his way through the Italian side's defence and touch down.
After the break, slack play by Ulster allowed Chris Smylie to offload the ball to half-back partner Christie, who finished impressively, Jayden Hayward converting.
Second row Browne barged over from a couple of yards out for his team's fifth try and McCloskey's successful conversion put 27 points between the sides.
Gilroy grabbed his second, diving over in the corner after a fine passing move involving Roger Wilson and McCloskey. Peter Nelson's conversion bounced off the upright and over the posts.
Stevenson got in on the act by scoring his first Ulster try with three minutes remaining, touching the ball down after a driving maul, Nelson adding the extras.
TEAMS
Ulster: Ludik; Trimble, L Marshall, McCloskey, Gilroy; Nelson, P Marshall; Warwick, Herring (capt), Herbst; Browne, Tuohy; Diack, Reidy, Wilson.
Replacements: Paul Jackson, Black, Ross, Stevenson, Ross, Shanahan, Arnold, Scholes.
Benetton Treviso: Hayward; Nitoglia, Iannone, Pratichetti, Ragusi; Christie, Smylie; Zanusso, Santamaria, Harden; Naude, Palmer; Barbini, Budd, Barbieri.
Replacements: Bigi, Alberto De Marchi, Ferrari, Montauriol, Andrea De Marchi, Steyn, Lucchese, Ambrosini | Ulster ran in seven tries as they romped to an emphatic win over Treviso in the Pro12 game at Kingspan Stadium. | 34394694 |
He is in hospital in Lille, northern France. His life is not in danger.
French media say he was injured by five police bullets when his BMW hire car was chased and stopped on the A16 motorway near Boulogne.
Earlier six soldiers were injured - three seriously - when a BMW was driven at them in a Paris suburb.
The soldiers were attacked in a pedestrian zone, outside an apartment block where they were staying in Levallois-Perret. None of their injuries are considered life-threatening.
The Paris prosecutor described Wednesday morning's attack as "attempted killings... in relation to a terrorist undertaking".
France, involved in the fight against so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has frequently been the target of attacks by Islamist militants.
A state of emergency in force since November 2015 includes highly visible patrols under Operation Sentinel, numbering some 7,000 troops.
The suspect in Lille was on police records because of an earlier minor infringement, but he had normal French residency status. The intelligence services did not know of him, French media report.
He was unarmed when he was cornered by police on the motorway some 260km (162 miles) north of Paris.
He is a resident of Sartrouville, in the north-western suburbs of Paris, French media report.
There is an intense debate now about Operation Sentinel, since President Emmanuel Macron called for it to be reassessed. Some critics say the operation makes the security forces easier targets for terrorists.
On 13 November 2015, 130 people were killed in a night of attacks in Paris, and more than 100 have been killed in jihadist attacks since.
Wednesday's attack at about 08:15 local time (06:15 GMT) took place in a pedestrian zone near the soldiers' base on the Place de Verdun in Levallois-Perret.
Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the car had been driven deliberately at the troops and the attack had been carried out by a "man on his own".
It was driven slowly until it came within 5m (16ft) of the patrol before accelerating towards them, he said. | The man wounded by French police after an alleged attack on soldiers has been identified as a 36-year-old Algerian who was not on a watch list. | 40885324 |
Councillor Rob Nolan, who voted against the plans, said the Truro development would cause traffic chaos and "deal a major blow" to traders locally.
The move has been welcomed by sports fans and other supporters.
On Thursday, councillors voted 11-8 for the plans which include a supermarket funding a 6,000-seater stadium.
Liberal Democrat Mr Nolan, chairman of Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee, said: "It's despairing. Truro is a vibrant and successful shopping centre. On a dream we've perhaps dealt it a major blow."
He described the decision as a "great day for sport, bad day for traders."
Truro business leader Simon Hendra shares that opinion. He said the vote left him "bemused" that councillors went against planning officers' advice to refuse the plans, and that "the retail reports say it'll do a lot of damage."
However, independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek - who voted for the plans - said this had come after many years of efforts to build a stadium.
"There's no other scheme on the table and as planners we have to take that balance. We came up with the right decision," he said.
The Cornish Pirates rugby club, Inox Group, Truro and Penwith College and Henry Boot Developments were behind the plans for the multi-use stadium.
It is expected to cost £10m with £2m promised by Truro and Penwith College and the other £8m from a deal still to be done with a supermarket and other retailers.
Among conflicting views on BBC Radio Cornwall's Facebook page, Christian Ford said: "Sort your lives out Cornwall!! Come on, I'm Cornish. Move with the times. Cornwall needs a stadium, more interest, jobs, events, future music venue etc.. Wake up!"
Bill Spears commented: "Truro will become a place to avoid like the plague. The traffic is an absolute nightmare." | The approval of plans for a retail development which will pay for a sports stadium in Cornwall has caused "despair", a planning chairman said. | 33742351 |
Scott Van Zyl was killed last week on the banks of the Limpopo river, said Sakkie Louwrens, director of a South-African crime-fighting NGO.
He said Mr Van Zyl disappeared during a hunting safari last week.
His death is the latest in a series of fatal crocodile attacks in Zimbabwe.
Mr Louwrens told the BBC that Mr Van Zyl had gone on a hunting trip on the Zimbabwe-South Africa border with a local tracker and a pack of dogs.
He said the pair left their vehicle and went in different directions in search of crocodiles.
A search and rescue operation was launched after Mr Van Zyl's dogs returned to their camp without him.
The hunter's footprints were traced to river bank alongside his discarded rucksack. He was married, had two children and took foreign clients on hunting trips.
Mr Louwrens said staff from the Heritage Protection Group - an organisation which he heads and helps police fight crime in South Africa - informally helped the Zimbabwean authorities conduct the search.
"Permission was given for three Nile crocodiles in the area to be shot, and one of them contained Mr Van Zyl's remains," he said. "Subsequent DNA tests have proved the remains to be those of Mr Van Zyl."
At least four fatal attacks by crocodiles have been reported in Zimbabwe this year.
One conservation group meanwhile has condemned the circumstances of his "senseless" death.
"[He] shouldn't have been hunting in the first place. Animals in the wild… are wild! They are living, thinking beings with instincts for survival," a statement by One Green Planet said. | DNA tests on the carcass of a crocodile shot in Zimbabwe have confirmed that it contains the remains of a missing South African hunter, an investigator has told the BBC. | 39658126 |
Indonesian law bans keeping endangered animals, whether dead or alive.
Cahyo Kumolo, the home affairs minister, proudly displayed his five stuffed Sumatra tigers and two Malayan sun bears during a televised tour of his home on 12 February.
There was a public outcry following the TV appearance.
Only 500-600 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild. Malayan sun bears are also rare; while there are no reliable figures for their population levels, they are classed as being "vulnerable".
The authorities say Mr Kumolo will not face punishment because he has surrendered his collection to the state. The stuffed animals are now being held by a conservation agency in Jakarta. | A government minister in Indonesia has given his collection of stuffed animals away after being accused of breaking the law by having them. | 35581228 |
Troops broke through IS defences and reached the eastern district of al-Zahra, which they say is now 90% under their control.
Special forces have been fighting the jihadists in the streets and alleys.
Meanwhile, the UN says there is growing evidence of IS atrocities in and around Mosul.
It has already expressed concern for the estimated 1.5 million civilians living in the city amid reports of mass killings and people being rounded up for use as human shields.
The battle so far
On schedule but not exactly to plan
How IS sells the battle for Mosul?
In another development on Friday, the first convoy of vehicles carrying hundreds of civilians fleeing the fighting around Mosul arrived at a camp east of the city.
The BBC's Karen Allen, who is at the camp, said many had not left their villages since IS took over more than two years ago.
Government and Kurdish forces began a US-backed offensive on 17 October to drive out the jihadists.
They have already retaken dozens of villages and towns in the surrounding area.
Troops from the Counter-Terrorism Service began their push towards al-Zahra, formerly known as Saddam district, at 07:00 (04:00 GMT), advancing rapidly after breaking down IS defences, said BBC Arabic's Feras Kilani, who is with the elite force.
Inside al-Zahra, militants continued to fight back and a coalition air strike was ordered to destroy an IS position.
There were no civilians to be seen but commanders repeatedly instructed troops via walkie-talkies to spare them any harm.
A military spokesman said IS was putting up stiff resistance.
"The battle is currently going on, the enemy is using snipers, car bombs and directed missiles," said Lt Gen Abdel-Wahab al-Saadi.
"God willing, we will return fire and will liberate the neighbourhood (of al-Zahra) soon."
Residents who spoke to our correspondent said IS had been expecting the attack and had withdrawn two days earlier, leaving behind four pockets of resistance to slow down the government advance.
Iraqi forces trying to enter another Mosul suburb - Karama, south of al-Zahra - had to partially pull back when IS launched fierce resistance.
"We weren't expecting such resistance. They had blocked all the roads," said one officer, quoted by AFP news agency.
"There are large numbers of jihadists. It was preferable to pull back and devise a new plan."
There were also fierce clashes in the nearby district of Intisar on Friday and Iraqi forces said most of it was now under government control.
The UN human rights office (UNHCR) provided more evidence on Friday of human rights violations taking place in and around Mosul.
It said that IS had shot around 50 of its own fighters for desertion on Monday and added that 180 government employees may also have been killed by the group.
Mosul satellite images reveal IS barricades
UNHCR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said that more than 1,000 civilians were reportedly taken from the town of Hamam al-Alil to Tal Afar, possibly for use as human shields, and families in Hamam al-Alil were told to hand over children, especially boys over the age of nine, in an apparent attempt to recruit them as child soldiers.
"Apparently they have also been using loudspeakers mounted on the back of pick-up trucks or at the back of vehicles, and threatening severe punishment for families that do not comply with their order," she said.
A contingent of 200 Iranian Kurdish women fighters have joined the fight against IS around Mosul, Reuters news agency reports.
They are now part of a larger unit of some 600 fighters aligned to the Kurdistan Freedom Party.
"We are working hand in hand with the men who are fighting, our brothers, we fight together and co-operate with each other," said one of the women, Karin.
"We work together to protect our land from any threats it might face." | Iraqi government forces have battled their way into another suburb of Mosul, the northern city held for more two years by the Islamic State (IS) group. | 37872392 |
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