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The events of 1972 led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon, who resigned after a web of political spying, sabotage and bribery was exposed by the media.
Among the most prominent voices linking Trump and Watergate is Nixon lawyer John Dean, then described by the FBI as the "master manipulator of the cover up".
"I have been hearing echoes of Watergate ever since this presidency started," he told the BBC.
"We are not at Watergate 2.0 yet but we are certainly seeing trends and [Jeff] Sessions dissembling in front of the Senate is just another one."
The name, Watergate, refers to an office and hotel complex in Washington where five men were arrested in June 1972 trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The break-in was traced to Nixon supporters. The Senate investigated and in April 1974 President Nixon released edited tapes of his conversations about Watergate. In July the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to hand over the tapes and the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved impeachment.
In August, Nixon admitted he had been aware of the cover-up and had tried to halt the FBI's inquiry. Four days later, he became the only US president to resign.
But are there really parallels between the Trump administration's alleged links to Russia and what happened 45 years ago?
One similarity is that the DNC, the target of the Watergate break-in, was also targeted in last year's US election campaign, when emails were stolen and leaked.
US intelligence agencies say Russia was behind the DNC hack, though Russia denies any involvement.
Russia is believed to have wanted Mr Trump to win the election. An unverified report apparently compiled by a private intelligence firm claimed Russia had compromising information on Mr Trump and was in a position to blackmail him.
Some commentators - including former President George W Bush's ethics lawyer Richard Painter - now fear the Russian connection could make Watergate seem trivial.
"The facts now in this investigation are much worse than the facts in the early stages of Watergate, which was a simple break-in ordered by mid-level campaign officials - not by the president," Mr Painter told Vox.
"Here we have facts that are much worse: We have a foreign power that has orchestrated a break in. It's a much worse situation than the outset of Watergate."
The alleged falsehood told by Mr Sessions has also fired up Watergate comparisons.
One of Mr Nixon's attorney generals, John Mitchell, was later jailed for offences including perjury for his role in the scandal.
His replacement Richard Kleindienst was not implicated in Watergate but pleaded guilty in 1974 to failing to testify fully to the Senate about favouritism shown to a communications company during his confirmation hearing.
"It's pretty clear listening to his testimony that [Sessions] certainly wasn't truthful when he was before the Senate and I don't think that's simply going to disappear because he's recused himself from partaking in any of the investigation as attorney general. That's going to continue," Mr Dean said.
"These eerie echoes of Watergate keep coming," he added.
Mr Sessions is now facing calls for him to quit over his recently-admitted contact with Sergei Kislyak - the same Russian official whose phone calls with Mr Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn led to Mr Flynn's resignation last month.
Mr Flynn's exit prompted veteran journalist Dan Rather to say on Facebook: "Watergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now."
It is alleged that Mr Flynn discussed diplomatic issues with Mr Kislyak before assuming his role at the White House. It is illegal for private citizens to conduct US diplomacy.
Some commentators are now calling for a Watergate-style bipartisan Senate select committee to investigate links between Mr Trump's administration and Russia.
"I would immediately get a special prosecutor on the case," said Mr Dean.
Mr Trump's January dismissal of the previous attorney general Sally Yates also led to comparison's with Nixon's infamous "Saturday night massacre" during Watergate in 1973, when he fired an independent special prosecutor, triggering the resignations of attorney general Elliot Richardson and his deputy Gen William Ruckelshouse.
Nixon and Mr Trump are believed to be the only US presidents to have dismissed an attorney general. | The row over the US attorney general's denial that he met a Russian official when he had in fact done so is leading to comparisons with the most notorious political scandal in US history - Watergate. | 39151803 |
The UN's cultural body reminded Australia that it must submit an updated report on the reef's state of conservation by 1 February 2015.
The decision comes amid continued controversy over a plan to dump dredged sediment in the reef's marine park.
Both the Australian government and environmentalists have declared victory over the decision.
In a statement on Wednesday, Unesco said it was concerned about "planned coastal developments, including development of ports and liquefied natural gas facilities".
Kishore Rao, from Unesco's World Heritage Centre, said the organisation welcomed Australia's progress in managing the reef.
Queensland's environment minister Andrew Powell called the deferred ruling a "win for logic and science rather than rhetoric and scaremongering".
He told Australia's ABC: "I am extremely comfortable that we will tick all the boxes that Unesco is seeking us to tick."
Meanwhile the Australia arm of environmentalist group WWF said the UN body had "put Australia firmly on notice" to take stronger action to protect the reef.
"This is a victory for the millions around the world who say our reef is not a dump," said campaigner Richard Leck.
But local media report that the Australia government does not intend to halt its planned dumping of three-million cubic tonnes of dredge sediment.
Reef authorities granted permission for the dumping in January as part of a project to create one of the world's biggest coal ports.
Unesco later warned that the reef could be put on its World Heritage in Danger list, given the range of "significant threats" affecting the reef.
Australian officials have stressed that the project has been downsized to one-twelfth the size of what was previously proposed.
The government has also promised to meet a requirement that the water quality be improved.
Scientists have warned that the sediment could smother or poison coral.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral structure, rich in marine life.
It stretches for more than 2,600km (1,680 miles) along Australia's eastern coast, containing 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc. | Unesco has delayed a decision on whether Australia's Great Barrier Reef should be declared as endangered. | 27917529 |
"I want to teach everyone British sign language - the whole world."
Faiza, 11, says: "If children learnt more sign, it would mean I'd try to play with them more. Communication would be easier.
"If my hearing friends didn't sign, I would feel lonely and sad."
For these deaf children at Blanche Nevile School in north London, helping hearing peers learn British sign language (BSL) is a chance to break down barriers and make new friends.
Their school shares a site with Highgate Primary School, and the schools work in partnership so that deaf and hearing children can learn alongside each other.
While BSL was recognised as a language in its own right 14 years ago, it is not included in the national curriculum in England.
Now, an online petition set up by Wayne Barrow, who grew up with deaf parents, is aiming to change that.
"I feel so passionate about this - growing up with deaf parents, I have seen the struggles and barriers of communication between them and other people," Mr Barrow says.
"If we can teach kids some of the basic signs, such as directions, money et cetera, it would make a big impact on a deaf person's life."
His views are backed up by children at Highgate Primary, who see the benefits of learning BSL.
Ivy, nine, says: "It can help deaf children. Seeing everybody sign would make them happy, and it would be easier for them to communicate.
"Sometimes, when it's really noisy at home, my sister and me start signing."
Amelie, 11, says: "When you're older, if you were to go deaf or if you had a child that was deaf, it would be easier to remember your signs because you would have learnt it at a young age."
Emma Illife, senior BSL teacher at Blanche Nevile, says using sign can help hearing people express themselves more freely.
"They [hearing children] don't know about facial expressions, they don't know about pointing, it's kind of rude to be overly expressive - but it's the deaf way," she says.
"I encourage the hearing children to be confident with developing their use of facial expression, body language and movement, it really helps with the clarity of their communication."
The Department for Education in England has responded to Mr Barrow's petition, saying: "BSL was recognised as a language in its own right in 2003.
"Whilst it is not a mandatory part of the curriculum, schools are free to teach it if they choose to do so."
Of course the reality is that schools are busy places, and teachers already have their work cut out with a demanding new curriculum to get to grips with.
While learning BSL may be a great idea in principle, it may not be practical for the vast majority of schools.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, says: "While we strongly believe that schools should be inclusive places to learn, it would not be possible to add BSL as a mandatory part of the national curriculum given the many other demands on schools' curriculum time.
"Something else would need to be cut."
But he adds: "Now, support for schools to provide it as an extra-curriculum option would be a promising idea."
"It had never occurred to me that my child could be deaf, and what I went through following that discovery I can only describe as a form of grief."
For Katherine Mount, finding out her new baby was deaf meant many of the hopes she had had for him were taken away.
"I couldn't even sing to him at bedtime," she says.
While she learnt BSL to communicate with her son, she found the absence of signing ability within the community made it difficult for both of them.
"I became Ethan's window to the world, his interpreter, when all I really wanted was to parent him," Ms Mount says.
" And can you imagine how frustrating that is for a young kid?
"Every time he ever wanted to speak to any hearing child or they were trying to talk to him he had to look to his mother to translate."
Ms Mount has signed Mr Barrow's petition, saying: "This would give real access to friendships and everyday stuff for kids like Ethan.
"I can't tell you how much he has missed out on through other people's unfamiliarity with sign language."
The petition currently has more than 21,700 signatures. A petition needs to have 100,000 to be considered for debate in Parliament.
Should BSL be compulsory in schools? Join the conversation - find us on Facebook
Video Journalist: Hannah Gelbart | "When I meet hearing children who can sign, I feel happy and confident," says Emmanuel, seven. | 38979904 |
The council has produced a blueprint to restructure its organisations to give more power to the staff closest to the communities they serve.
But this could place a question mark over the roles of hundreds of middle managers.
Councillors will debate the proposals next week before they go out to consultation with unions.
The chief executive of Edinburgh Council, Sue Bruce, and her team have been working on the plans for more than a year.
The council needs to make big savings - £138m by 2017 - but is stressing these moves aren't simply about saving money and are separate from proposals on the local budget for local services.
The plan would aim to reorganise the management structures to make them simpler and organise local services around different areas of the city.
This could help speed up decision making and make services more responsive to local needs while the implications for staff are significant. However it's unlikely the public would notice any immediately obvious changes.
However supporters argue these changes would be the right thing to do even if there was no pressing need to save money.
It will be some time before staff learn how they personally might be affected by the proposed changes.
They could leave a question mark over the current roles of hundreds of middle managers, though the council has a policy of no compulsory redundancies.
No figures have been produced for how the overall size of the council's workforce may change through the plan but it is likely the headcount will fall.
In general, councils have cut staff through voluntary redundancies, early retirements and leaving vacancies unfilled.
If the scheme goes ahead, changes would start to take place in about a year's time.
The proposed changes were due to be unveiled last month but were delayed so they could be finalised.
On Thursday the public spending watchdog expressed "growing concern" over how the council might deal with budget reductions.
The Accounts Commission said the council needed to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing its staff.
Some at the council were known to be disappointed by the timing of the commission's report as it drew attention to challenges the council knew it faced.
Budget decisions will be taken by councillors in February.
Options being considered include cutting the amount spent on sport and leisure centres and library opening hours. | Proposals have been revealed for a radical shake-up of the way council services in Edinburgh are run. | 30333919 |
The situation is a "national scandal" says commission chairman Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.
The UK government should aim to cut the number of low paid workers by one million by 2020, the commission said.
It recommended that the government should pay its own workers a "living wage".
The commission is an independent body that brings together business, trade unions and civil society.
It said that "the majority of people in poverty in the UK are working".
"Is it right somebody should work all the hours that God gives them and still be in poverty? That cannot be right," Archbishop Sentamu told the BBC.
Out of 13 million people living in poverty in the UK, 6.7 million are in a family where someone works, the commission said.
The commission's definition of a living wage is "an hourly rate of income calculated according to a basic cost of living in the UK and defined as the minimum amount of money needed to enjoy a basic, but socially acceptable standard of living".
In 2014 the UK living wage rate stands at £7.65 an hour, and the London living wage is set at a higher rate of £8.80 per hour, to take account of the higher cost of living in the capital.
By contrast, the national minimum wage currently stands at £6.31 an hour.
Archbishop Sentamu said that the government is the biggest employer of low-paid people, and so should look at pay levels during procurement, and that private sector companies that are capable should also pay.
In response Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "The only real way of achieving sustainable increases in living standards is by focusing on economic growth, employment and reducing taxes for the low paid. This is exactly what we are doing."
The commission's research shows that there are currently 712 employers across the UK accredited as paying a living wage.
Service industries such as accountancy, banks and construction firms could boost the pay of 375,000 workers if they agreed to pay the national living wage.
"Working and still living in poverty is a national scandal," said Archbishop Sentamu.
"For the first time, the majority of people in poverty in the UK are now in working households.
"If the government now commits to making this hope a reality, we can take a major step towards ending the strain on all of our consciences. Low wages equals living in poverty."
BBC business editor Kamal Ahmed said that the living wage, which the commission says should be voluntary for the private sector, is distinct from the statutory national minimum wage.
"The living wage is much more about what it actually costs to live," he said. "It's about 20% higher than the minimum wage."
Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy and external affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce, said many firms were returning to economic growth, looking at raising pay levels "after a tough period for business".
He said firms should be supported and encouraged to help pay their staff the living wage, but without "facing compulsion or regulation, which could lead to job losses and difficulties - particularly for younger people entering the labour market".
He added: "Some businesses simply cannot afford to pay a living wage just yet - which is why the commission rejected a compulsory living wage.
Representatives of small businesses pushed back against the recommendations of the report, saying that a higher minimum wage would add to cost pressures for small firms.
Mike Cherry, policy chairman of the Federation of Small Business, told the BBC: "At least half of our members pay at or above the living wage."
He said that some sectors such as retail, construction and care homes, can only afford to pay at or just above the minimum wage.
One small business owner, Wayne Grills of Pizza Planet, a small pizza takeaway in Devon said: "I would say that I have a moral responsibility to make sure that they [staff] take home a sensible wage that I can afford, because if I wasn't in business, they would be either working elsewhere or without a job."
Small business director Glen Miller of Antique Pine Imports in Chester said: "I think if you're able to pay, then you should. It just sends out the right message to the staff and the customers, and everybody feels more valued." | Millions of people in poverty live in UK households where at least one person works, the Living Wage Commission has said. | 27981975 |
He said Ukraine was "seeking objectives that are practically terrorist".
Crimea's two million people have been severely affected since the pylons were damaged on 22 November. Anti-Russian activists have been blamed.
Ukraine said Tatar activists would need to allow repairs before the power supplies could be resumed.
The loss of power to Crimea has sparked a reduction of coal supplies to Ukraine from Russia and from the pro-Russian rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.
Crimea in the dark
Mr Medvedev was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying: "The region (Crimea) has been left without electricity as a result of, in fact, energy manipulation, actions by the Ukrainian authorities.
"And legally speaking, what was done is an act of sabotage, that is to say, the destruction of industrial facilities, seeking objectives that are practically terrorist."
Speaking at a meeting with deputy prime ministers in Gorky, he said Ukraine's actions had "endangered the lives and health of many people".
Mr Medvedev said the construction of an "energy bridge" from Krasnodar to Crimea was being speeded up.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said Ukraine would meet 20% of Crimea's power supplies once the Kakhova-Tital electricity line was repaired.
But that could only happen at a time agreed with the activists, he said, stressing that Ukraine had asked them to permit repairs.
Mr Demchyshyn said that as soon as the line was repaired, "supplies of coal will also be resumed" to Ukraine.
Only 30% of Crimea's electricity is generated locally - the rest comes from Ukraine, Russia's government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
A state of emergency was imposed in Crimea on Sunday, and Monday was declared a non-working day.
It is still not clear how exactly the pylons were damaged in Kherson, a Ukrainian region adjacent to Crimea.
Crimean Tatar activists suggested that the pylons were blown down by the wind. But Ukraine's state energy company, Ukrenergo, said the damage was caused by "shelling or the use of explosive devices".
The activists accuse Russia of abusing Tatar rights and denying them a voice since a pro-Moscow government was installed in Crimea.
Images on social media show Ukrainian flags on some damaged pylons - and Crimean Tatar flags on others. | Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev has accused Ukraine of "sabotage" after damage to key electricity pylons deprived Crimea of power. | 34967093 |
Achieving such temperatures is necessary to study fundamental properties of matter and the strange effects caused by quantum mechanics.
The new method relies on "optical lattices" of atoms from which only the hottest atoms are selectively removed.
The approach, reported in Nature
, may be well-suited to create memory for future quantum computers.
The limits of low temperature have been constantly pushed in recent years, and the current best lies somewhere in the nanoKelvin regime - that is, within just billionths of a degree of "absolute zero" at zero Kelvin or -273.15C.
That ultimate limit is set formally as the lowest possible entropy, or disorder, that is achievable.
Optical lattices are an ideal system in which to attain temperatures ever nearer that limit. The peaks and troughs of intensity in crossed beams of light form a kind of "egg-crate" structure in which atoms are inclined to remain in the troughs - a point of lowest energy.
As the atoms are added to each trough - or each point in the lattice - it becomes more difficult to add another, in a situation called a blockade.
But researchers from Harvard University have invented a modification to this effect called orbital exchange blockade.
It is a way to cool these assemblages of atoms that could be extended to the picoKelvin regime: within trillionths of a degree of the coldest possible temperature.
The team carefully adjusted the intensity of the crossed light beams. The trick was to do so in such a way that only the most energetic atoms in each lattice site absorbed energy from the light fields, becoming more energetic again.
By adjusting how frequently the light beam intensities were changed, the team was able to remove these "hottest" atoms from the system, leaving only the "coolest" ones behind.
The approach removed entropy, or in other words, reduced the overall temperature of the lattice.
In an accompanying article in Nature
, optical lattice expert Gretchen Campbell from US measurement agency Nist points out that this ability to specifically address single lattice sites, and potentially to cool to never-before-achieved temperatures, may make the approach useful in quantum computers.
These devices, still in early developmental stages, would make use of the slippery nature of quantum states to perform computation at incredible speeds.
But like any computer, they would need memory, and optical lattices that keep delicate quantum information preserved in cold atoms could be a suitable solution. | Researchers have developed a clever way to achieve the lowest temperatures ever recorded on Earth. | 16285036 |
Hannah Macleod and Ellie Watton helped GB overturn a deficit but Australia were 4-2 up with 20 minutes to play.
Sophie Bray stretched to pull a goal back but GB failed to convert further chances as the home side held on.
The second match is on Sunday, again at Bunbury, before the series moves to Perth for the remaining four games.
The teams are in the same pool for the Rio Olympics this year and will meet again before that at the Champions Trophy in London in June. | Kathryn Slattery scored twice as Australia's women beat Great Britain 4-3 in the first of a six-match series in Bunbury, Western Australia. | 35564443 |
The 38-year-old was found in Lake Road with a serious neck injury after police were called at 3:30 BST. He is being treated at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham.
Two men, aged 19 and 20, have been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.
Police said it was believed the incident may have been drugs-related.
St Mary's Road from Woodlands Street and parts of Kingston Road and Lake Road remain shut.
Police initially closed St Mary's Road, Fratton Road, Kingston Road and Lake Road to traffic and pedestrians.
Fratton Road has since reopened. | A man is in a life-threatening condition following an assault in Portsmouth. | 37653024 |
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The Jamaican, 29, lived up to his billing as the saviour of athletics as he held off the challenge of the two-time drug cheat to win in 9.79 seconds.
Pre-race favourite Gatlin had to settle for silver in Beijing.
"Coming back from injury I've had a lot of doubters, it's been tough," Bolt said after winning a ninth world title.
He added: "For me to come to the championships and defend my title is a good feeling.
"I definitely think this was my hardest race. I've been through a lot this season."
Bolt, back at the scene of his first triple Olympic triumph in 2008, called his Munich-based doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, "a lifesaver".
He also insisted he did not feel the pressure to win for his sport, only to continue his own global domination.
And that looked on course to end after the semi-finals when Gatlin clocked 9.77secs, while Bolt almost tripped out of the blocks and had to fight all the way to the line to snatch the win.
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"After the semi-finals my coach [Glen Mills] said, 'You are thinking about it too much. There's too much on your mind, all you have to do is remember is that you've done this a million times so just go out there and relax'. That's what I did."
There was a surreal moment before the final when "the world's fastest piano player" was brought out to play a tune for 9.58 seconds - Bolt's world record time.
The Jamaican's reaction was a shrug of bemusement as he showed no sign of nerves on the start line.
Instead, Gatlin was the one to feel the pressure. And the 33-year-old said he "gave away" victory.
"I stumbled in the last five metres, my arms were a little flailing," he said. "You have to come out and run and over the last five metres. It wasn't my day.
"Anyone who goes to the line to go against Usain has to be ready to go to work. In those five metres I let things get away from me. It cost me the race.
"I leaned a little too far forward and I got a little off balance."
Americans Trayvon Bromell and Canada's Andre de Grasse, who are both 20, shared bronze in 9.92secs.
Meanwhile Gatlin will have an opportunity for revenge when he and Bolt go head to head over 200m, with the final taking place on Friday.
BBC Sport commentator Steve Cram said Bolt "may have even saved his sport" with his victory over Gatlin.
But British sprinter Adam Gemili told BBC Radio 5 live: "It was important but I don't think he saved athletics, it was just a battle of two sprinters and technically who's better.
"Everyone was a bit biased towards Usain Bolt yesterday and the majority of us are glad he delivered. " | Usain Bolt has described his World Championships 100m final victory over Justin Gatlin as the "hardest race" of his career. | 34035838 |
I was part of a BBC team who had come to film a report on volcano monitoring.
Getting to witness an awakened Etna was about as exciting as it gets for a science correspondent. I just didn’t intend to have quite such a close encounter.
The conditions were perfect - blue skies and barely any wind. And as we travelled towards the snow-covered summit, the thunderous booms as Etna spewed magma from its south-east crater reverberated all around.
We had come to see a lava flow that had appeared overnight. A giant stream of rock, glowing red, was oozing down the slopes - and we had been taken there by a scientist from Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, who was monitoring its progress.
Dozens of tourists had also been brought by Etna’s guides to see the spectacle.
The lava was so slow moving it’s not usually considered dangerous, and the fierce heat as the rocks fizzled and crackled preventing anyone from getting too close.
But about 20 minutes after arriving, a burst of white steam emerged from the lava – it didn’t make much of a noise or look especially threatening – but the guides started asking people to move.
Then, moments later, there was an explosion. The lava had mixed with snow and ice, and boiling rocks and boulders were flung up high into the air. They started to rain down in every direction.
Everyone started to run, pelted with the deadly, hot debris. But it was impossible to see – steam from the explosion had caused a whiteout.
I fell as I was trying to get away, trying to cover my head. All I could hear was the thud of rocks hitting all around.
I truly thought that we were going to die. Somehow, our camerawoman Rachel Price kept on filming – her footage is astonishing.
Even when a boiling rock fell into her coat, quickly burning through her clothes and reaching her skin, she kept the camera rolling.
Producer Alison Francis, too, was hit by falling debris – her coat was peppered with burns where rocks had struck, and her hat saved her from a more serious strike to the head.
Amidst the chaos, the sound of an engine rose, and the driver of the snowcat vehicle that had taken us up the slopes started to beep its horn to help us locate it.
Dodging more flying rocks, we got on. A guide screamed in agony from a dislocated shoulder, others were bloody, burned and bruised – but we had all managed to escape.
Badly shaken, I spoke to the volcanologist whose work we had been filming. Bleeding from a hit to the head, he told me it was the most dangerous incident he’d ever experienced at Etna, which he’d spent 30 years studying.
As we took stock and spoke to the medics who had quickly appeared on the scene, it was astonishing to realise that there were no serious injuries or even deaths.
Watching Rachel’s footage back, we can see that we all had an extremely narrow escape. It reminded us just how dangerous these forces of nature can be.
Follow @BBC Morelle on Twitter | When we arrived in Sicily, we discovered that we were in luck: Mount Etna had just started to erupt again. | 39303126 |
The figures, from Stormont's Department of Enterprise, show spending of £403.5m compared to £472.6m in 2013.
However, there was a 21% increase in R&D spending by higher education institutions.
Overall, across the private and public sector R&D spending was down by 5% to £602.3m.
The report cautions that variations can occur from year to year due to the influence of one or two large scale projects, either starting or finishing.
It said this likely contributed to the decline in business R&D expenditure over the year.
The total number of companies spending on R&D increased over the year from 534 firms in 2013 to 657 in 2014.
The concentration of spending also moved away from the largest firms - the 10 biggest spending companies accounted for 43% of the total spend, compared to 60% in 2013.
Almost two thirds of R&D spending in Northern Ireland was by externally owned companies.
However, locally owned firms reported an annual increase of 24% in their R&D spending.
The Confederation of British Industry's director in Northern Ireland, Nigel Smyth, described that figure as "really encouraging".
"Almost 550 locally owned companies are now investing in R&D. This bodes well for the future growth of the economy which is increasingly been driven by innovation."
Mr Smyth added: "It is vitally important for the future growth of the economy that we continue to support more investment in R&D both in our companies and in our universities." | Spending on research and development (R&D) by Northern Ireland companies fell by 15% in 2014, according to an official report. | 34883896 |
Cars scraped their bumpers while disembarking and stranded passengers waded through water when it broke down on its first weekend in operation.
It remains suspended on the orders of the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA).
Mainstay Marine said it was working on an "enhanced" training programme for the crew.
More on this and other stories from across the South of England
Stewart Graves, managing director of Pembroke-based Mainstay Marine, said there had been concerns crew were struggling to operate ferry systems but a new training scheme includes a test at the end to ensure they "absorb" what was learnt.
The service was suspended on 14 May. At a meeting of East Cowes Town Council on Thursday, local businesses claimed it had been a "unmitigated disaster".
Shop owner Angela Booth, said: "We got a wonky banger that is slower, more dangerous and completely unfit for purpose".
Mr Graves said: "I'm comfortable the slipway is at the right angle and the ramps are suitable for safe off-loading. It's all due to positioning - being placed on the slipway and lowering to the right angle.
"I feel comfortable the vessel is fit for purpose and will be a success with the enhanced crew training."
Isle of Wight Council said it was working with the manufacturer to "resolve the issues identified during the live testing".
"It was anticipated that during the first couple of weeks, that there would be some issues to be ironed out that could not be identified until the vessel was back in service and in full use," the authority said.
An MCA spokeswoman said it was "waiting on remedial action" before surveyors would reassess the service.
A launch is being used to ferry foot passengers while drivers face a 10-mile road diversion. | The maker of Isle of Wight's troubled new floating bridge has insisted it will be a "success", despite its continued suspension. | 39999651 |
From five Manx locations, the service carries out about 450 coastal patrols each year and responds to 200 requests for assistance.
The five men have each completed more than 30 years' service.
Tim Baker MHK praised their commitment, saying they had all shown "outstanding community spirit".
The five awards:
First clasp for 30 years' service
Jeffrey Kelly, Section Leader at Peel Coastguard
Simon Cooper, Station Officer at Peel Coastguard
Andrew Cunningham, Deputy Station Officer at Douglas Coastguard
Anthony Kelly, Station Officer at Ramsey Coastguard
Second clasp for 40 years' service
James Kneen, Station Officer at Douglas Coastguard
A government spokesman praised the recipients for the "vital role they have performed".
About 80 volunteers support the full-time coastguard service, which is part of the Department of Infrastructure's Ports Division.
Mr Baker said the Isle of Man has a "proud tradition of helping people in their time of need" and coastguard volunteers devote many hours of their own time each year to help protect seafarers and members of the public".
Stations in Douglas, Ramsey, Peel, Port Erin and Castletown provide a response within 20 minutes to any part of the Manx coastline. | Five coastguard volunteers have been praised for their "outstanding community spirit" after receiving long service awards on the Isle of Man. | 39856164 |
Sixteen championship events across 12 Commonwealth Games sports will take place in 2017, including athletics, gymnastics and swimming.
And some events will act as qualifying opportunities for the Gold Coast 2018 Games.
A selection of the Team Scotland events will be live streamed by BBC Scotland later this year.
"Almost every athlete who competes for Team Scotland at the next Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and onwards to 2022 and beyond, will have competed in their sport's Scottish Championships on their path to international success," said chair of Commonwealth Games Scotland Paul Bush.
"So when we are watching these events we are watching Team Scotland's future stars in action.
"I am particularly delighted that BBC Scotland has recognised the important role that the Team Scotland Series will play in showcasing the best of Scottish sport and the build-up to Gold Coast 2018 and would like to thank them for their support."
Glasgow 2014 gold medallist Kimberley Renicks will be among those competing in Saturday's judo event at Meadowbank Sports Arena.
And retired judoka Euan Burton, who was Scotland's flag bearer at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, said: "The Scottish Open has always played a part in the development of Scottish judo athletes. All our medallists from Team Scotland in Glasgow 2014 had utilised the event at some stage along their performance pathway.
"In all sports, that goal of competing in the Commonwealth Games is a progressive journey, which includes the key milestone of a Scottish Championships. The Team Scotland Series is a great way to highlight the importance of these events. I'm really proud that judo is the sport to kick it all off on Saturday."
14 January: Scottish Open Judo Championships
28 January: Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships
4 March: Scottish Table Tennis Championships
4 March: Scottish Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1 April: Boxing Scotland Elite Championship Finals
29 April: Hockey Scottish Cup
1 June: Scottish Open Table Tennis Championships
3 June: Scottish Netball Finals
30 June: Scottish Open Swimming Championships
14 July: Scottish 50m Shooting Championships
24-29 July: National Bowls Championships
26 August: Scottish Beach Volleyball Championships
26 August: Scottish Athletics Championships
September: Scottish National Bowls Championships
November: Scottish National Track Cycling Championships
9 December: Scottish Short Course Swimming Championships | Saturday's Scottish Open Judo Championships in Edinburgh launches the new Team Scotland Series. | 38604884 |
Even Benitez's critics at Chelsea, and you do not have to look far to find them, cannot lay blame for their Champions League elimination at the Spaniard's door as they were effectively out when he succeeded Roberto Di Matteo.
So this left Benitez with the task of securing a place in the Premier League's top four and attempting to win the FA Cup, Europa League and Capital One Cup.
After a hard-fought, but just about deserved, FA Cup quarter-final win against Manchester United three of those targets remain within Chelsea's reach and Benitez's remit.
The good:
The bad:
Being a personality that encourages extreme reactions, he was wasting his time suggesting there should be some measure applied to the Blues' progress throughout the season.
He said: "After getting a draw against Manchester United in the first FA Cup game, beating Steaua Bucharest and West Ham we were the best in the world. We lost at Southampton and were the worst in the world and today we won so we are the best in the world. We have to have balance."
Balance and Chelsea do not belong together so Benitez can forget that. Examine the facts, though, and they suggest he may yet leave those at Stamford Bridge who have railed against his presence from the moment he walked through the door something to remember him by.
They remain in the top four, have now secured an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City for the right to face either Wigan or Millwall in the final, and have a winnable Europa League quarter-final against Rubin Kazan on their agenda.
No-one can suggest Benitez is shaping up for a blaze of glory because failure to qualify for next season's Champions League would undermine everything and would be a wound that could not be healed by any silverware, even though that would not harm his own CV as he seeks his next post.
For all the enjoyment a trophy might bring, it would actually do Benitez more good than Chelsea. The season will be judged in the framework of Champions League qualification but at least there is still the promise of something tangible at the end of this most uneasy of arranged football marriages.
Benitez was able to revel in the sound of silence at Stamford Bridge as he overcame his old rival Sir Alex Ferguson (yes there was a handshake) to leave United with only the formalities of completing a 20th title triumph to occupy them for the remainder of the season.
He was not the recipient of a single approving cheer or comment for the victory but there were no banners to be seen and no abusive chants to be heard. In other words, as good as it is ever going to get for Benitez as he comes to the close of his time at Chelsea.
And his body language, especially in the second half, gave the lie to those who suggest he is passing through without a care for the club.
Benitez, on the basis that he is many things but not daft, will have known what would have awaited him had it gone wrong against United after fielding a weakened team in what may yet prove a crucial league defeat at Southampton.
He left John Terry, Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres on the bench at Stamford Bridge and came out on top - so perhaps, quietly under their breath, Chelsea fans may just be pleased with their manager's day at the office.
The first 45 minutes looked like leftovers from players who had played 48 hours earlier, or less in Chelsea's case. Dull and lifeless, it only emerged into the light in the second half, illuminated by two moments of undisputed world class.
Chelsea's winner came four minutes after the restart. Juan Mata's vision and precision to find Demba Ba was matched by the striker moving off Rio Ferdinand's shoulder to show perfect technique, athleticism and timing to hook a right-foot finish past David de Gea.
Just as crucial as the goal was a piece of breathtaking brilliance from Blues keeper Petr Cech on the hour mark that drew instant comparisons with all the great saves. When Javier Hernandez applied a flying header to Danny Welbeck's cross at the far post and directed it high and back across the goal, Cech seemed to defy all logic by arriving in time to stretch out a hand and turn it over the top.
The Blues are just one match away from their fifth FA Cup final in seven seasons. They lifted the trophy in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Chelsea are now unbeaten in 29 FA Cup games (excluding penalty shootouts). It is the longest ever run without defeat by a single side.
Words cannot do full justice to the magic of the moment. Hernandez smiled in the knowledge he could not have done better and with a nod of appreciation to the keeper. It revived memories of Cech's save against Andy Carroll against Liverpool in last season's FA Cup Final - but the immediate instinct was that this was even better.
So Benitez relied on that quality but he was also deeply involved in his technical area. Tic-tac to players in all parts of the pitch, instructions and hand signals that meant nothing to his team but perhaps calmed his own anxiety, and frantic tactical adjustments as the game entered its final phrase.
Of course victory over United and Ferguson means much to him but he looked involved as Chelsea manager as well as on a personal basis.
For all his calls for balance, Benitez will know his time at Chelsea moves on a match-by-match basis. This was a good one - and there may even be better ones ahead. | Rafael Benitez might have thrown a few extra eggs into the pudding by describing Chelsea's season so far as "great" - but suddenly things are not shaping up quite so badly for "The Interim One." | 21997881 |
Trinity led at half-time, Mason Caton-Brown and Kyle Wood tries putting them 10 points up before Stevie Ward and Tom Briscoe replied to go two behind.
Briscoe's second and Joel Moon's score put Leeds in front but Liam Sutcliffe's missed goals kept Trinity in it.
Ben Jones-Bishop's late score set up a nail-biting finale, but Rhinos held on.
Wakefield saw their seven-game winning run brought to an end by the Rhinos, but there was ample evidence from both teams that they could be involved in the end-of-season mix-up.
There was anticipation and expectation about this derby in front a packed crowd at Belle Vue, with both sides locked on 22 points coming into the game.
Buoyed by their home crowd, Trinity started brightly with the rapier-like Caton-Brown streaking away for a long-range intercept score, and Wood's jinking scoot got him over for a second.
Leeds' forwards paved the way for Ward's score, while Briscoe's first was a backs-inspired move that put the winger in out wide.
There was no let up to the intensity, or the pace, as handling errors punctuated some breathless attack after the break.
Rhinos showed the more ruthless execution, as another flowing move put in Briscoe, and Moon capitalised on a defensive mix-up to poach the fourth score.
Chris Chester's side never buckled and their reward was a slick Jones-Bishop score at the corner, and despite a late flurry there were no further points to show for the effort.
Wakefield Trinity: Grix; Jones-Bishop, Arundel, B. Tupou, Caton-Brown; Williams, Finn, England, Wood, Allgood, Ashurst, Hadley, Sio.
Replacements: Batchelor, Annakin, Hirst, Fifita.
Leeds: Golding; Briscoe, Watkins, L. Sutcliffe, Hall; Moon, McGuire; Singleton, Parcell, Cuthbertson, Ward, Ablett, Jones-Buchanan.
Replacements: Ferres, Galloway, Garbutt, Mullally.
Referee: Phil Bentham (RFL) | Leeds Rhinos edged an absorbing West Yorkshire derby against Wakefield to climb up to third place in Super League and leave Trinity fifth. | 40178062 |
The winners will top World Cup Group A and earn a comparatively easier course to the final than the losers, who will face South Africa in the quarter-final.
Gatland has made six changes to the team that beat Fiji 23-13 last time out for Saturday's encounter at Twickenham.
"You win this group and potentially your road through to quarters, semis and finals is easier than the other side of the draw," he said.
"We're desperate to finish off well and win this group, and hopefully give ourselves potentially a second seed team in the quarter-finals."
The key changes to the team see Samson Lee and Paul James return to the front row in place of Tomas Francis and Gethin Jenkins, while Justin Tipuric and Sam Warburton team up in the back row.
George North moves to centre from wing, where Liam Williams returns. Gareth Anscombe gets the nod over Matthew Morgan at full-back.
Of all the Wales changes, the front row selection was perhaps the least surprising.
Despite winning both matches, Wales struggled at the scrum against England and Fiji. Australia's eight had no such problems as they outmuscled England.
"Paul James has had a calf strain so he needed to play. We needed to give him some time," said Gatland.
"Given Gethin Jenkins' history in the past, with three or four games in a row he has broken down so we wanted to make sure we kept him fit and fresh potentially for a quarter-final.
"It's great Samson is back from that injury. He's that typical old-fashioned northern hemisphere tight-head. He's pretty squat and built like the proverbial brick out-house.
"I think with the amount of work we've done there we're confident it will go well."
Gatland said blind-side specialist Dan Lydiate was being rested to protect a sore eye though "he would have played if it was a final."
His absence sees Wales pairing two specialist open-side flankers in Tipuric and Warburton, with Taulupe Faletau continuing at number eight.
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Even without the suspended Michael Hooper, Gatland knows Australia will present a formidable challenge at the breakdown.
"Justin Tipuric deserves an opportunity because he's been absolutely outstanding in the warm-up games," added Gatland.
"It just gives us options. The balance we've had with Sam at open-side and Dan and Taulupe that's outstanding as well.
"It's horses for courses and probably the way the Australians with [David] Pocock - I know Hooper's out - but it's matching them at the breakdown."
Anscombe was in Gatland's extended squad for the tournament before injuring an ankle in training and missed out on selection.
Injuries to Scott Williams and Hallam Amos opened the door for the former Chiefs player to return, and he gets the nod ahead of James Hook and Morgan, who was full-back against Fiji.
"Matthew Morgan got a knock last week and wasn't able to do full contact until later in the week," said Gatland.
"Gareth has played a lot at full-back- I think two years ago he played the Super Rugby final for the Chiefs at full-back. He's experienced and has the pedigree there.
"It was a chance to put Liam [Williams] back on the wing and a chance to shift George [North] into the centre.
"I like the mix of the backline."
North was at centre when Wales last met Australia in November, and in 2011 said he felt North's long term future was in midfield, not on the wing. | Coach Warren Gatland says Wales are "desperate to beat" Australia. | 34481032 |
Cooper's decision was widely expected after he helped Dr Crokes win the All-Ireland Club title last month.
The All-Ireland club medal completed all the list of major honours available to the eight-time Allstar.
Cooper, now 33, made his Kerry senior debut in 2002 and played in four All-Ireland winning teams and helped his county win four National League titles.
That included a Division Two title in his debut season with the Kingdom.
Cooper, who was nicknamed the Gooch, scored a remarkable tally of 23 goals and 283 points in his 85 championship games for Kerry and has to be regarded as one of the greatest forwards in gaelic football history.
A statement from Kerry GAA described Cooper as "an exemplary sportsman".
"He endeared himself not only to the Kerry faithful but also to the wider GAA community where he was the perfect role model for our youth," added the statement.
Cooper described his his career as "an amazing journey and one that I never wanted to end".
"However, I feel that this is the right time for me to step away from intercounty football," said the Dr Crokes star.
"To my Kerry team-mates that I have soldiered with throughout the years, thank you for your guidance, patience and friendship.
"I feel extremely lucky to have experienced so many wonderful highlights with you all.
"To get the opportunity to play with, and against, some of the greatest players in the history of the GAA has given me memories that I will always treasure."
Cooper added that he was "fortunate to work with some outstanding Kerry managers" and also thanked the Kerry county board and fans for their support.
The 33-year-old added that he will continue to play for his club. | Kerry football great Colm Cooper has announced his retirement from intercounty football. | 39489550 |
Scottish Renewables said thousands of posts could go as a result of changes to UK government support schemes.
But it added that most firms feel positive about the future, with many having diversified overseas.
The UK government made a commitment at the general election to scrap onshore wind subsidies.
It said the renewables industry had been "a strong success in Scotland thanks to UK government support".
The Scottish Renewables poll found that its members predict of 16.9% decrease in full-time equivalent posts in Scotland over the next year.
Around 21,000 people are currently employed by the industry in Scotland.
Jenny Hogan, the group's director of policy, said government action was needed to give companies confidence to invest.
"Renewables are the largest source of power in Scotland, providing enough energy to meet more than half of our electricity needs, and the sector currently employs around 21,000 people here," she said.
"For Scotland's renewable energy industry to continue providing jobs and ever-greater reductions in carbon emissions, government must act quickly to give companies the confidence they need to keep investing in our sector."
Case study: Enercon UK
The wind turbine manufacturer and project developer employs 155 people in Scotland.
It expects its staff numbers to fall by up to a third over the next 12 months as employees move abroad to work in other countries where Enercon is active.
Country manager Richard Hatton said: "Government policy on onshore wind, leading to a much smaller market, reduced orders and a reduction in requirements for staff across the business."
Ms Hogan added: "These results show that changes to, and closures of, support schemes are having an impact on our members and on the numbers of employees within their businesses.
"The UK government is rightly excited about the economic opportunities presented by the impacts of the global shift to low-carbon energy, but it's really important we don't forget about the jobs in our renewable energy sector today.
"Onshore wind and solar are the two cheapest forms of electricity, but ministers are refusing to allow them to access long-term contracts for power, which will result in a marked slowdown in investment and a decrease in employment, as our survey has suggested."
A total of 46 companies took part in the anonymous survey. A total of 47% of those who responded felt either "positive or quite positive" about the future.
Ms Hogan said: "Obviously, many businesses in our membership are worried about the future and the lack of a business case for investment in parts of our sector.
"However, it is also clear that firms are working hard to diversify in many different ways, for example opening up overseas markets and moving into new areas such as energy storage and low-carbon heat."
Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, said: "These are worrying findings and underline the urgent need for the UK government to clarify its plans to support renewables and the thousands of people now employed in the sector.
"Scotland has incredible natural renewable energy resources, but if it is to maximise the economic opportunities on offer, the UK government must provide energy companies with a clear route to market.
"However, given we're part of the GB energy market, this is not just an issue for Scotland. As a net exporter of electricity, Scotland plays a key role in helping the whole of the UK in cutting its carbon emissions.
"If we are to be able to plug in to the cheapest and cleanest forms of power generation then it's vital our political leaders north and south of the border do all they can to support renewables."
A UK government spokesman said: "The renewables industry has been a strong success in Scotland thanks to UK government support, worth £730m per year.
"In our last funding round, over 40% of successful UK projects were based in Scotland."
The Scottish government's energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: "We are determined to help support the sector in the face of destabilising, ill-judged policy changes made since 2015 by the Conservative UK government.
"Indeed, we have strengthened our own commitment in our draft Scottish Energy Strategy." | One in six jobs in Scotland's renewable energy sector could be lost within the next 12 months, according to an industry body. | 39153225 |
Sheron Nichols, 54, poured lighter fuel through the letterbox of Christopher Edwards after he complained about her leaving rubbish outside their flats.
She pleaded guilty to arson with intent, saying she was drunk at the time.
The fire caused £59,000 of damage and Mr Edwards spent a week in hospital for smoke inhalation.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Nichols, of Itchen Road, had accused Mr Edwards of being a "grass" after he wrote to the council to complain about her mess.
Prosecutor Nicholas Gareth Jones said: "She left items in communal areas, causing a hazard.
"She held a grudge against him and said 'I am going to get you, you grass.'"
Mr Edwards said he felt "depressed and upset" after the incident.
"Every day my life has been damaged because of what has happened to me," he told the court.
James Evans, defending, said Nichols was drunk at the time.
"A sober Sheron Nichols would not have committed the offence," he said.
Judge David Wynn Morgan told her: "Your attack upon him was deliberate, it was vindictive, and it was wicked. It has severely damaged his life." | A Newport woman has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for setting fire to her neighbour's home. | 38558073 |
James Anderson set England on the victory trail by removing Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman inside the first hour in a brilliant spell of swing bowling.
Captain MS Dhoni and Praveen Kumar delayed the inevitable with an entertaining partnership of 75 but Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan mopped up the tail as India were bundled out for 244.
England's victory by an innings and 242 runs gives them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and provides emphatic confirmation of their new status as the best team in the world.
India began the day in a hopeless position, still 486 runs adrift of making England bat again after the home side had racked up 710-7 in reply the tourists' 224.
And their predicament worsened when Anderson's first ball of the day was angled across Gambhir, caught his outside edge and was snaffled by Graeme Swann stooping low to his left at second slip.
Dravid played at a full length delivery that moved away off the seam and was caught behind, although replays showed the bat hit his foot and not the ball.
Laxman was out to an almost identical delivery, the ball brilliantly angled in to the batsman and moving away off the seam before taking the outside of the blade.
Suresh Raina looked to be getting on top of Swann as he carted him for two fours in a row, but England's off-spinner responded by firing down a flatter delivery that trapped the left-hander on his crease.
At the other end, Sachin Tendulkar remained unflustered through the mayhem, timing the ball to perfection with eight boundaries and raising the prospect of a defiant century.
But on 40 not out, disaster struck as the Little Master was run out backing up a Dhoni drive. Swann got his hand to the ball and deflected it on to the stumps, with replays confirming the bails were off just before Tendulkar was able to ground his bat.
With the crowd - hundreds of them in fancy dress - singing and dancing in the stands, Kumar got into the party mood by smashing Swann into the stands three times.
He cracked 40 off 18 balls before one slog too many picked out Ravi Bopara at cover to leave India eight down.
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Ishant Sharma was lbw to Broad and Tim Bresnan completed the job when last man Sreesanth was caught in the gully.
Andrew Strauss and his team united in a joyous huddle in the middle before shaking hands with the entire India team as they left the field.
After basking in the glory of third straight thrashing of India, England's minds will turn to inflicting a series whitewash when the fourth Test starts at the Oval on Thursday.
Listen to Jonathan Agnew and Geoff Boycott's review of the final day's play on the TMS podcast. | England demolished India at a delirious Edgbaston to usurp the tourists at the top of the world Test rankings. | 14516554 |
Natalie Hemming, 31, was last seen alive in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire on 1 May. She was found dead on 22 May.
Paul Hemming, 42, pleaded not guilty to murder, alleged to have taken place between 30 April and 4 May, when he appeared via video link at Luton Crown Court.
He is due to stand trial in October.
Mr Hemming, of Alderney Avenue, Newton Leys, was remanded in custody.
Ms Hemming's body was found in a wood at Chandlers Cross, 30 miles from their home, on 22 May. | The partner of a mother-of-three, whose body was found in woodland three weeks after she went missing, has denied her murder. | 36761764 |
A Warriors win would all but guarantee them a first Champions Cup last-eight place while Tigers' loss to Racing 92 last week put them out of contention.
"We were all embarrassed and frustrated by the performance in Paris," said Mauger ahead of Saturday's match.
"Everyone has to look in the mirror and ask if they are giving it everything."
Leicester sit fifth in the Premiership but have lost three of their five matches in Europe this term, including a 42-13 reverse at Glasgow's Scotstoun Stadium.
"If we can put Glasgow under a bit of pressure, hopefully it will be good enough to swing a result," Mauger said.
"We'll be excited about getting back down to Welford Road. We've shown in fits and bursts that we can be a quality side."
Mauger highlighted his team's failure to "front up" in Paris and their sluggishness off the line as key failures in a match in which he felt Tigers "were not at the races".
But the New Zealander told BBC Radio Leicester that there was a determination to make up for it against Gregor Townsend's side, with fly-half Owen Williams and lock Dom Barrow likely to be available for the hosts and his "front row stocks coming back to life".
"The guys care," he added. "It's not through a lack of effort. We can make it easier on ourselves. Once we start executing the details, hopefully our game will click. We owe it to ourselves and to our loyal supporters."
The New Zealander also revealed that, with Matt Toomua and Manu Tuilagi injured, he is looking at France international centre Maxime Mermoz to strengthen his team. | Glasgow Warriors can expect to feel the brunt of Leicester Tigers' wounded pride when they visit Welford Road, according to Tigers coach Aaron Mauger. | 38679222 |
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) allowed one of the suspects to be questioned by the media at a news conference in Kabul.
Another four men, who it is said were planning another attack in the city, were also quizzed by journalists.
Six members of the same family were killed in the supermarket attack.
This was the first time that the NDS - which has a reputation of brutality - has brought detainees before the media.
First to be introduced at the press conference was Mohammad Khan.
Handcuffed and wearing an orange jump suit, the former telecoms worker explained how he helped 21-year-old Pakistani suicide bomber Mohammad Shoaib carry out the attack last month.
He took the bomber to a hotel for a couple of nights and organised an explosives vest before transporting him by taxi to the store.
The shop was popular with foreigners and is not far from the British and Canadian embassies.
The target he said, was two French VIPs, although in the end it was only civilians who died.
Among them was human rights lawyer, Hamida Barmaki, her husband and four children. Her two-year-old son was shot in the head.
Mohammad Khan said he was working for the Haqqani network, an insurgent group which has carried out a number of attacks in and around Kabul.
Amid jeers from Afghan journalists, he said he thought only foreigners would be killed.
"After the attack I heard that all the casualties were Afghans. I apologise to all Afghans for what I did. Now I understand that I did something very bad. I really regret my actions."
The intelligence service arrested him after tracing a call made by the bomber to his mobile phone.
At times giving somewhat confused evidence, Mr Khan said that he had been paid $300 for helping to carry out the bombing.
Four other men accused of planning an attack near a military base in the city were also brought forward.
One 17-year-old, Mohammad Ullah, said that he had been drugged and brainwashed after attending a madrassa in Pakistan.
"They gave us injections in both arms," he said.
"The colour of the drug was red. After we received it we started enjoying what they were saying about suicide attacks, it felt good, and our emotions were telling us to take part."
Missing from the line-up was Talib Jan, the man who allegedly recruited Mohammad Khan for the supermarket attack.
He had refused to repent, said the NDS, and had planned the attack along with others from his cell in Kabul's Pul-e Charkhi prison - where he is serving a three-year sentence for "terrorist activities". | The Afghan intelligence service has detained men it believes carried out the bombing of a supermarket in Kabul which left 14 people dead. | 12417018 |
Thirteen winning tickets in the National Lottery draw of 27 August remain unclaimed - five of them are £1m wins.
It was a bumper draw that day. There were 67 extra winners in addition to the normal 21 prizes owing to a raffle draw celebrating Team GB's success at the Rio Olympics.
It may have been that players failed to check those extra draw details. It may have been that they were away from home as it was a Bank Holiday weekend in much of the UK. Either way £5.6m is going to lottery good causes if those winners do not make a claim in the next couple of months.
Overall, only 3% of National Lottery prizes go unclaimed. That is a fraction of the sum that people miss out on through unclaimed benefits or compensation.
In today's automated world, why do many of these payouts still require people to make a complaint and a claim?
Nearly £2bn in redress was paid to consumers of financial services in the first half of the year.
While the industry watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, holds data on the success of compensation schemes in reaching those entitled to payouts, it does not publish all of it.
One of the biggest unknowns is the number of people affected by mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), and the amount they should receive. This loan insurance was sold on an industrial scale to people who did not want or need it, or who could not claim.
As a result banks have paid out £25bn in compensation in the past few years. Estimates suggest the total bill, were all sales paid back, could be £100bn. An estimated nine million people in the UK could still make a complaint.
So why not simply pay everyone back?
The reason is clear from consultation into a proposed deadline for PPI compensation claims.
"We remain of the view that not all PPI was mis-sold and that, properly sold, PPI could meet some consumers' genuine credit protection needs," the FCA says during the consultation.
So, the FCA says that, in effect, every case must be taken on its merits, and that requires people to make a complaint, despite consumer groups claiming that a huge number of mis-selling victims are missing out.
"We do not consider that there are strong grounds to significantly depart from this complaints-led approach now," the FCA adds.
One of the most controversial compensation cases was the payouts for those mis-sold credit card and identity theft protection by insurer CPP.
Seven million people were eligible for compensation and received letters inviting them to make a claim for compensation. Some consumer groups argued that the letters looked like junk mail.
By the time the claims window expired, more than four million people had missed out. Only a third of those eligible received compensation, averaging £190 each. Just one submitted claim was rejected.
Any kind of dispute that puts the onus on individuals making an initial complaint can be "incredibly stressful" says James Walker, founder of consumer website Resolver.
"Lots of the people I speak to tell me they have simply given up. What is frustrating is people don't realise that the rights they have when it comes to taking things further are actually quite strong," he says.
"You don't have to suffer in silence for long periods of time if you want to escalate your complaint and there are lots of free ombudsman schemes that can help you."
He points to cases such as a pensioner who parked his car to go to the doctors, oblivious of a parking restriction notice that was obscured by a fence. He received a ticket, followed by debt collection notices, but after more than a year in dispute received £350 in refunds and compensation.
Despite these cases, there is a move in some industries for compensation to be paid automatically more often.
In October last year, Virgin became the first train company to automatically compensate some passengers if they are delayed. Travellers using its services on the West Coast mainline - and who book their tickets via the company app or website - receive automatic repayments.
Research has shown that most rail passengers do not bother to claim compensation, even when it is due - a situation that led to a so-called super-complaint by consumers' association Which?.
In the airline industry, where passengers must make a claim for compensation following delays, an estimated 70% of those who have a right to a payout do not claim, according to a comparison website.
Communications regulator Ofcom is also investigating the use of automatic compensation when phone or internet services fail. At present, customers tend to go through one of two ombudsman services.
Proposals to be published by the regulator in the new year are aimed at providing "easier redress" when something goes wrong.
Arguably, the most significant change in redress for consumers may result from the 2015 Consumer Rights Act.
UK consumers may be included automatically in a legal claim for damages in a US-style class action and so receive automatic compensation if the case succeeds. A £14bn legal claim filed against Mastercard seeking damages for anti-competitive card fees is the first significant test of these new rules.
Unclaimed payments are not always in the form of compensation.
Billions of pounds in benefits is unclaimed every year by those entitled to the money.
Up to £4.6bn of Housing Benefit went unclaimed in 2014-15, according to the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Families entitled to the benefit but not claiming it missed out on an average of £3,000 per year.
Some 1.4 million households failing to receive Pension Credit are missing out on £2,000 a year, the figures show. Entitlements worth thousands of pounds a year were also going unclaimed for employment and support allowance (available to those who are unable to work owing to illness) and jobseekers' allowance.
The DWP says that a lack of awareness of these entitlements and the "perceived stigma" of claiming benefits were thought to be among the reasons that people failed to make a claim.
Some of these payouts will become automatic under the new Universal Credit benefit, which is being gradually introduced across the UK.
Later in life, many people could miss out on retirement income, with millions of pension savings pots lying dormant. These are often small pots of savings from workplace pensions when employees spent a short period of time in jobs and have moved home since.
All this amounts to billions of pounds available to claim - and claim legitimately - without the need for a lucky lottery win. | A glorious summer of sunshine and sporting success should have been even better for more than a dozen lottery players. | 38318435 |
Nyomi Fee, 28, said another boy had injured Liam in the days leading up to his death.
However, Nyomi Fee accepted at the High Court in Livingston that she had not sought medical help for Liam when she knew he had a leg injury.
Nyomi Fee and Rachel Fee deny killing the two-year-old at a house near Glenrothes in Fife in March 2014.
The pair also face allegations that they neglected Liam and abused two other children, one of whom they blame for killing Liam, while in their care over a two-year period.
The women, who are both originally from Ryton, Tyne and Wear, deny all the charges against them.
Nyomi Fee said in the days before Liam's death another boy had told her that he had stood on the toddler's legs and thrown him across the room.
She said in another incident Involving the same boy Liam had fallen out of the cot and after that she noticed he was not bearing weight on his leg.
She checked symptoms on the internet, but did not seek medical advice, and accepted in this she was guilty of neglect.
When asked if she had caused the fatal injuries to Liam, Nyomi Fee said: "No, never."
Nyomi Fee said she played no part in inflicting his fatal injuries and was "in complete shock" when she realised he had died.
Nyomi Fee told jurors she tried to resuscitate the two-year-old but was "gutted" when it became clear that "he wasn't coming back".
She denied concocting a story about what happened that night with another child and insisted she had dialled 999 for an ambulance within two or three minutes of discovering Liam.
Fee, the first witness to give evidence for the defence, was in the witness box for a second day.
Questioned by her defence QC Mark Stewart, Fee told how she went into Liam's room on the Saturday in question and found his buggy in a different place, and he was "very white".
She said: "I picked him up by his arms and tried to make him wake up, and I screamed on Rachel."
She said she put Liam on the floor and was "constantly trying to get him to wake up".
Fee said she phoned 999 within "two to three minutes tops" and suspected that Liam was dead.
"He was really white, he was lifeless, there was nothing," she told the court.
Mr Stewart asked whether, in the time she was in the room with Liam, she had ever "caused him any injury or ill health by any act or deed".
"No, none whatsoever," Fee replied, adding she heard a child in the house say they had strangled Liam.
Mr Stewart asked about her emotions at the point when she found Liam.
"I was absolutely devastated," Fee told jurors.
On her efforts to resuscitate the child, she added: "It wasn't working. He wasn't coming back, I'd lost him."
Nyomi Fee was giving evidence in her defence.
The prosecution case closed last week. | One of the women accused of murdering toddler Liam Fee has told the trial she did not assault the child. | 36322729 |
The decision came after four team mechanics narrowly avoided being hit by petrol bombs during a clash between protesters and police on Wednesday.
Team boss Bob Fernley said: "We have to ensure the crew are comfortable."
"It would have been wrong not to go ahead with the race because it would mean in the future when there is any unrest, you would have to do the same thing. I was here in the dark, my sons went to various villages because they wanted to see what was going on, my wife was out shopping. There is so much unrest in other parts of the Middle East, far beyond anything you're seeing here."
In a separate incident on Thursday, Sauber became the second team involved in a roadside incident.
A bus containing 12 of their mechanics took to the hard shoulder after encountering a burning bottle in the road and seeing masked men running towards their lane.
Sauber confirmed that nobody from the team was hurt and they did not regard it as an attack on their vehicle.
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said he had offered Force India a police escort from the track following their incident on Wednesday.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Ecclestone said: "I said if they were the slightest bit concerned, whatever time they would normally leave the circuit, I will be here and travel in their vehicle back to the hotel, without any escort or police.
"If they want an escort, they can have police, I am happy to travel without. I don't think they have any need to be concerned."
Ecclestone and the Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have worked hard to present the Gulf state as safe.
The incident on Wednesday came as the Force India team members were returning from the track to their hotel at about 2000 local time on the main highway from the track to the capital, Manama.
Ecclestone said he did not want to comment on the incident because he was not there.
He insisted it was "absolutely 100%" the right decision to go to Bahrain, pointing to recent riots in Spain and crime in Brazil as examples that other countries had problems.
Asked if he felt Bahrain were blurring the boundaries between sport and politics by using a "UniF1ed" slogan to promote the grand prix, Ecclestone said it was "not for us to decide how somebody wants to use the race. We're not here to give an opinion on how this country should be run - or any other country".
Fernley told BBC Sport Force India fully supported the Bahrain Grand Prix but safety was paramount.
He said: "We are doing the best we can to make sure the crew is safe. There will be protests, it was an unfortunate incident and when it happens to your team you have to deal with it in a proper manner."
Asked how he felt about the teams being told Bahrain was safe, Fernley said: "We all know there is a very slight risk with coming here."
Not all the teams are staying in central Manama - McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes are all in a resort complex about two miles (3km) from the track. | Force India chose not to run their cars in the second practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix so they could return to their hotel before dark. | 17785335 |
At first glance, the ramshackle fishing port of Eyl looked much like it did in 2009, when I first drove down a narrow canyon from the surrounding plateau, accompanied by armed security guards, and walked across the white sands towards the sea.
But this time, the hijacked vessels moored offshore were gone - so too were the conspicuously expensive 4 x 4 vehicles with tinted windows that we had seen racing past us.
"We knew it was wrong. But we did it anyway," said Farah, a man in his 30s, who walked across the beach to show me his fishing boat.
He admitted he had been a shore-based pirate leader in Eyl, running a crew of 23 men who had hijacked a Turkish fishing boat and a South Korean cargo vessel in 2008.
"They dropped the ransoms from a small plane into the sea," he explained - $1.8m and $2m (£1.3m) in turn.
"We spent it, or gave it away. The religious leaders and the government persuaded us to stop. I would never become a pirate again. I am just an ordinary fisherman now," he said, although that seemed at odds with his noticeably expensive clothes.
As we spoke, local officials at the edge of the village were marshalling a crowd.
They started to chant slogans - mostly aimed at foreign fishing trawlers, which they said were plundering Somalia's coastal resources, and making it impossible for them to make a living from fishing.
If the protest seemed a little contrived, the frustrations in Eyl are certainly not. I joined a group of men in the local teashop, who bitterly condemned the lack of development, and employment.
"If I don't get a job soon, then yeah, sure, maybe I can go back to piracy. Anything can happen. All these people can be pirates," said unemployed teacher Daoud Ali Mohamed, 28, gesturing around the room.
For years it has been an accepted truth that in the long term, Somali piracy can only be conclusively dealt with onshore.
The foreign warships patrolling off the coast - and the armed guards now present on many vessels - have been effective, but the pirates "are not dead, but dormant now, so they will come definitely... straight away, no question about it [as soon as the warships leave]," said Puntland's Counter-Piracy Minister Abdalla Jama Saleh.
Find out more about Puntland
Four hours drive away from Eyl, in Puntland's capital, Garowe, a brand new prison is the most visible sign of the outside world's attempt to fight piracy ashore.
The UK is among a group of European nations that paid for its construction.
"It's already reduced piracy. It helped young people to see that other colleagues are in prison... for long, long sentences. It's a warning signal. And it is to rehabilitate inmates," said Abdirizak Jama, from the United Nation's Office on Drugs and Crime.
But although the prison looks clean and impressively secure - a particularly important advantage in a region where prisons raids and escapes are commonplace - the 17 convicted pirates I saw all appeared to be "foot soldiers" rather than pirate leaders.
"I do not deserve to be here," said 20-year-old Yusuf Galgal, who'd been caught at sea and put on trial in the Seychelles. "I was underage when I was sentenced."
The cells also contained a number of convicted members of the militant group al-Shabab, including Aweil Ali Farah, 27, who was sentenced to death.
"I was a school teacher. Someone had a grudge against me and told the police. I'm not in al-Shabab. They're terrorists, fundamentalists, Islamists. I'm waiting for the death penalty. I'm worried," he said, showing where he'd written: "There is no justice here," on his red prison uniform.
In his heavily guarded compound on a nearby hilltop, Puntland's President Abdiweli Ali Gaas urged the international community to do much more, both onshore and at sea.
Accusing the west of "double standards," the president said foreign navies were only concerned about stopping Somali piracy - which more or less halted in 2012 - and were doing nothing to tackle the "highway robbery" of foreign fishing trawlers [largely Iranian] plundering Somalia's natural resources.
"This may rekindle the issue of piracy," President Abdiweli warned.
But the issue is complicated. After decades of internal conflict, Somalia is still struggling to negotiate the terms of its reintegration as a nation-state.
Different administrations have been issuing fishing licenses, and while Puntland believes it is currently being cheated of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, there are deep concerns about corruption.
"There's uncertainty between the federal government [of Somalia] and regions [like Puntland] for fishing companies regarding the validity of licenses and who to buy from," said Alan Cole, who heads the UNODC's anti-piracy programme in East Africa.
Puntland now has its own well-trained Maritime Police Force, funded by the UAE. But it is far too small to patrol even a portion of Somalia's coastline - the longest on the continent. | In northern Somalia, government officials are warning of a revival of piracy, unless foreign nations - and the naval armada patrolling the coast - do more to help create jobs and security ashore, and to combat illegal fishing at sea. | 33822635 |
Pietersen, who was sacked in February, claims there was a "bullying culture", where players were forced to apologise if they made mistakes in the field.
Vaughan said the "bowlers' cabal" has been a "problem for several years".
"The likes of Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad have been disrespectful to fielders," he wrote in the Telegraph.
Vaughan, 39, who captained Pietersen in England's 2005 Ashes-winning team, added: "No one drops a catch on purpose. How would they feel if every time they bowled a bad ball everyone turned to them and said: 'What the hell are you doing?'"
Vaughan said he had encountered a similar situation in his early years at Yorkshire, where he would "hate" fielding because he was "scared" of making a mistake.
"The irony is that James Anderson has spoken about how difficult it was for him when he first played for England," Vaughan added.
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"So I hope these bowlers know what they are doing to the guys around them, especially the inexperienced ones."
Nottinghamshire fast bowler Ajmal Shahzad, who played one Test and 11 one-day internationals for England, agreed with Pietersen's assessment of cliques in the dressing room.
"I wish I could have socialised with my peers a bit more and been accepted a little bit more," Shahzad, told BBC Radio 5 live.
"Off the pitch you would go off and socialise with your friends in the team, and there were maybe two or three cliques who would stick together. I guess these cliques are not a healthy thing to develop."
Pietersen, whose new book is published on Thursday, also accused wicketkeeper Matt Prior of being a disruptive influence on the team.
Former England spinner Swann described Pietersen's claims as "codswallop". He added that the book was "the biggest work of fiction since Jules Verne".
Pietersen had his England central contract terminated in the wake of the 5-0 Ashes defeat in Australia, as the England and Wales Cricket Board set out to create a new "team ethic".
Speaking to the Telegraph on Monday, he claimed he had been "marginalised and demonised" by England and that ex-coach Andy Flower "ruled by fear".
Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott said Flower had failed to man-manage Pietersen.
Boycott told BBC Radio 5 live: "I have played in a lot of teams. The best captains I played with could be forthright when they wanted to be but understood the different needs of the members of the team.
"The real leaders can handle different types of people. It has been quite obvious for some time that the England set-up has not been able to handle KP. KP maybe has part of the blame but if you are someone like Andy Flower, you're not out there scoring runs, so your job is to pull all the players together."
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Former England captain Mike Gatting said: "Think of bullying KP, I'm not sure that's quite right. He's a larger than life character, he is his own person at times and he gets on and does things," he told 5 live.
"Maybe he didn't like what was being done, but he was captain remember, for a short time. Sadly that didn't last long. So he had a chance to actually mould something in that team and he didn't take it."
Former England batsman Allan Lamb told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's quite sad to hear but I think it's something that's gone on. In every dressing room you are always going to have someone who is upset."
Asked if there was any chance Pietersen could make an international return, Lamb said: "I can't see that happening. I can't see the ECB taking him back after this."
Watch Kevin Pietersen's full interview with BBC Breakfast. | Ex-captain Michael Vaughan has backed Kevin Pietersen's claims that England's bowlers were an intimidating clique, adding they could be "disrespectful". | 29517817 |
About 600 people attend 23 social and support groups run by the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO).
But with 24,601 people receiving miners' pensions in Wales, CISWO hopes more could benefit from joining.
At a group in Pontlottyn, Caerphilly county, the organisation's Phil Williams described it as a "lifeline".
"A lot of people don't come out of their house and don't see people from week to week," he said.
"The groups are a lifeline both socially and mentally."
Mr Williams, now 57, was the third generation of his family to work underground, spending 18 years at Bargoed and Taff Merthyr collieries as an electrician.
"I was frightened [when pits began closing]. I had been there since school and knew nothing else," he said.
"This was a mining village. We need to preserve it. We don't want to live in the past but a lot of sacrifices were made and these valleys were built on coal mines.
"We would be sitting in a field now if it wasn't for the collieries."
CISWO, set up to help former coal industry workers and their families, also offers advice on things like benefits, accessing hardship grants, disability issues and mining-related disease.
But for many, the biggest opportunity it provides is bringing people together, as Mr Williams added: "Many just like the chance to sit down and reminisce.
"What people forget is it wasn't just the pits closing.
"There were shops, the newsagents where miners picked up their papers and snuff every morning.
"The pit was just the hub, the biggest employer. Places like Pontypridd, Blaina, Tredegar have turned into ghost towns - a lot of the community spirit has gone.
"Organisations like Communities First have tried to revive it but there is so much apathy in many areas."
Henry Hodges, now 86, left his home in Witney, Oxfordshire, on his 17th birthday and travelled to Aberbargoed, working in Ogilvie and Pengam collieries.
"I remember writing home and describing this huge place, with shops everywhere, on both sides of the road," he said.
"But now there's just a few shops, there's not much left."
Mr Hodges worked as a collier's helper and, despite the dangers enjoyed it as he was working with horses which helped to bring the coal up.
"I can remember thinking that there were two holes, one to go down, one to go up. What if something happened to them and you got trapped?" he said.
"But I didn't find it scary. I saw a lot come from towns and cities, stand at the top of the hole and say 'I'm not going down there'. But I stuck it for 12 years."
Mr Hodges is one of just four men in a group of 31 at Pontlottyn, with the mostly female contingent widows of miners.
"A few of the groups are women only and when men come, they can become intimidated," said Mr Williams.
"I can remember going to a group at the top end of Bridgend and a father and son came in and said 'we are looking for the miners group'. They were hoping to talk about old times with other old pit workers."
While wives and widows may not have worked underground, their memories of the hardships and tragedies are still very strong.
Gaynor Denner's grandfather, John Jones, fell in love with India when serving there and planned to take his family to live there permanently - but died in the Senghenydd mining disaster in 1913.
"My grandmother was one of the youngest widows - with four children, the youngest born nine months after the explosion," she said.
"She also lost a son on the railway line. They were playing, but a little girl fell and was scared. He went to help and was knocked over."
Mrs Denner also remembered washing her dad's back "black with coal" from Ogilvie Colliery and when her husband Donald started there.
"The pit head baths were open then, so he never had to wash at home. But there were accidents - broken arms, legs," she said.
"On the week we were supposed to be getting married, he had the bottom of his spine knocked out and spent months in Caerphilly Miners' Hospital.
"He was bending down and something fell off the roof on to him, knocking him to the edge. If he had been a bit further over, he would have been hit off and had it."
While she was glad when the mines closed, with the air cleaner, she said "nothing was put in their place", with her grandchildren now struggling to find work in the area.
Employment is not the only thing that has gone - Linda Evans, 67, remembers people taking food and coal to poorer families and giving bread and jam to youngsters playing outside.
"You don't see children on the streets playing any more. There were always little girls pushing dolls in prams," she said.
"Pontlottyn was packed with kids at night but now they're not allowed out. There were dances but nothing now, the cinema's gone."
While the pits are now long-closed, they continue to cast a long shadow over many communities in the south Wales valleys. | It is about 30 years since many of south Wales' collieries closed but for some older people, their demise has left a void that has never been filled. | 38200092 |
Eric Ruddy, 64, and his wife Carol, 54, were found dying in their Elswick home in December. He had been stabbed and beaten, she had been strangled.
Their 28-year-old son, Martin Ruddy, denies two counts of murder.
The prosecution at Newcastle Crown Court said he staged a burglary and injured himself to cover up his tracks.
Mr Ruddy told police that he had been watching television with his parents when two or three men had forced their way into the property in Bentinck Street.
However, the court heard that his life was "spiralling out of control", with mounting debts.
He was also the sole beneficiary of his parents' will and stood to benefit from their savings of more than £80,000.
The trial continues. | A man accused of murdering his parents at their Newcastle home said they were attacked by intruders who also injured him, a court has heard. | 33048826 |
The birds, that live around Bishops Court Estate in Clyst St Mary, near Exeter, and are mistaking their reflections for rival birds.
The peacocks are thought to be wild and have been targeting dark-coloured vehicles.
Local residents said in recent years the birds had increased in number and grown more aggressive.
Penny Hill, a business support manager at a nearby business estate, said her Audi TT was repeatedly violently attacked by a peacock.
"The pecking has completely ruined the paintwork and it is going to cost around £500-£600 to fix," she said.
"They're attacking the car because it's mating season and they think the reflection is another bird which it's jealous of.
"I just want to know who owns the birds because they need to be restrained or re-homed."
Stephen Fricker owns a business on the same estate and has had his company car damaged by the birds.
"It's very frustrating they scratched all down the driver's side and had a good go at the boot," he said.
"It was that aggressive the bird ripped its own claw off and left the car covered in blood."
Mr Fricker said he had tried lots of ways to deter the birds but was unsuccessful.
"We put a mirror out so it would attack that but they still went for the cars, we're now having to use a car cover," he said.
"We've got two choices - shoot the poor things or re-home them, and they are beautiful creatures so we don't want to kill them."
Local residents are now contacting animal authorities to see what can be done. | Peacocks in a Devon village have been attacking cars by scratching and pecking at the paintwork. | 32319050 |
One of the stones crossing the River Dove has become partially submerged while a second has been moved to the side following recent heavy rain.
The National Trust has asked people to use a footbridge further downstream if they want to cross the river.
The stepping stones attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
They were last closed to walkers four years ago when two stones were dislodged by floodwater causing tree branches and debris collecting behind them.
Derbyshire County Council said engineers would visit the site to assess the damage before it knew how long the stones would be out of action.
Updates on this story and more from Derbyshire
Dovedale stepping stones | Walkers in the Peak District have been told not to use the famous Dovedale stepping stones because two have been washed out of position. | 38220379 |
Gareth Mattson fatally shot three birds with an air rifle in Withybush Woods in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, last October. Another was seriously injured.
He had been due to stand trial at Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court on Wednesday but changed his pleas.
Two men, aged 19 and 24 and a 13-year-old boy also admitted killing the swans at hearings in March.
The court heard Mattson had worked on a dairy farm for 14 years and took a group of men and the boy onto private land near the woodland to shoot rabbits on 19 October last year.
It was on returning through the wood in the evening that the group started shooting at the pond, but Mattson claimed he initially did not see the swans because it was dark.
Mattson pleaded guilty to being in possession of a loaded air rifle in a public place and to intentionally killing or injuring a wild bird.
The court was told his actions had caused problems in his family and he was "deeply remorseful".
He was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and was told to pay £525 in costs.
The swan is a protected species in the UK and it is a criminal offence to harm one. | A 33-year-old man has been given a suspended jail sentence after he admitted killing a family of swans. | 39638665 |
"Post-truth" has been nominated as the word of 2016 by Oxford Dictionaries, but how can the media, or you, get better at telling reality from propaganda and mistakes?
The US election, particularly its winner Donald Trump, and particularly the support for him on social media, has pushed fake news to the forefront, as well as highlighting the potential influence it can bring.
For example, Mr Trump claimed the election would be "rigged". The BBC debunked the claim in late October and similar claims ahead of the 2008 vote.
The CCTV supporting the "rigged" theory came from the Christian Times Newspaper, a fake news site not to be confused with the Christian Times (which is a newspaper).
Likewise, there is no such newspaper as the Denver Guardian, despite its website making claims about leaked emails from Hillary Clinton.
Look at the parallels with the story of Denzel Washington's supposed praise for Donald Trump: a dubious website, an unverified source, and replication and attention through social media. Then larger news organisations report what is happening on social media and add credibility to the story without fact-checking.
Equally, Trump was hit before the election by a claim repeated on social media that he had said in 1998 Republicans were "dumb". It was not true, reported CNN, a news organisation which has been heavily criticised by Trump.
After the election came the news Trump was born in Pakistan. No, he really was not. It did not stop some international agencies from repeating the claim.
Perhaps the most notorious example was the conspiracy theory spread about Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington DC, which led to a man taking an assault rifle to the premises, determined to investigate for himself.
Away from the US elections, fake news breaks down into two wider categories: That which was fabricated and that which was exaggerated or mistaken.
Was a Chinese zoo about to name a gorilla Harambe McHarambeface? Absolutely not, and the Boston Leader, as with the Denver Guardian or Christian Times Newspaper, appears to be the single source of the news.
The potential appeal of the story was huge. The Leader's article brought together two of the most-talked-about stories: the death of Harambe the gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo and the public vote for the British Antarctic Survey to call a vessel Boaty McBoatface.
To prove a point about the ease of making up a story people would want to believe on social media, two young Russians dreamt up a billionaire on Instagram and marketed his non-existent life to the world.
One of them later posted online: "How easy it is to deceive people, and how those who should carefully check information actually don't."
Away from deliberate fiction, exaggeration and mistakes have added to the news-which-was-not in 2016.
Did a Malaysian fireman marry a snake? No, it was a story which appeared to grow wilder somewhere along the relay chain of information from local media to international news.
At least one newspaper website still has the story up, another has taken it down.
Take a look at this image: is it from the attack on Brussels in March?
No, it is from an attack at Domodedovo Airport, Moscow.
Some UK and international newspapers tweeted and published several images in the first hours after the attack which could be traced back to the 2011 attack and another from the same year in Minsk, Belarus.
When man-made or natural disasters happen, old footage can resurface. In the rush to add information or gain attention - from wildfires to warzones - video and photographs can be misattributed or mistaken.
But sometimes there is no pressure and images are deliberately misrepresented.
For example, several outlets at several times sought to utilise the uptake of the Facebook Live video-streaming service this year. 'Live' feeds from space on 26 October saw Unilad and Viral USA clock up over 43m viewers for old, looped images from the International Space Station. Initially, people did not question it.
A week later, Interestinate and USA Viral posted four-hour videos which they claimed to be a live ascent of a 1,999ft (609m) tower. Again, it was not questioned, it gained thousands of shares and reactions, and millions of views, each turning up in the timeline of other Facebook users. However, it was not true.
So whether you read, repeat or repost news in 2017, here are things to ask yourself:
We have also produced this guide to reporting fake news on social media and Google News has launched a fact-check service.
Produced by the UGC and Social News team | In a year in which feelings have appeared to outrank fact, some news has turned out not to be fact but fiction. | 38168792 |
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In the current system the best teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy qualify, plus the next three highest placed teams in the league table.
Four Irish provinces have qualified for Europe's top flight this season, with only Scarlets from Wales.
But Zebre, who finished below Wales' three other teams, have made the cut.
Scottish team Edinburgh also finished above Zebre, but will be in the second-tier European Challenge Cup in 2016-17 with Ospreys missing out for the first time in their history.
"I think it's wrong," Williams told BBC Wales' Scrum V.
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"It's the top seven in the league irrespective of what country you are from should get into the Champions Cup for the next season.
"With all due respect to Zebre they're not going to make any impact in the Champions Cup at all next season.
"If one team finishes seventh and the other one's 11th and they get in above you, that just doesn't seem right to me at all."
Cardiff Blues finished seventh and miss out and even Wales' lowliest team Newport Gwent Dragons finished above Zebre in the table.
Zebre's final day victory over Dragons saw them pip Treviso to secure Champions Cup qualification.
As recently as the 2013-14 season, Wales was guaranteed three teams in the top flight with Blues, Scarlets and Ospreys playing in that season's competition.
In October 2013, the new qualification system was agreed with Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales all guaranteed one club in the Champions Cup with four other places for the Pro12 based purely on position in the final table.
In the first year under the new arrangement in 2014-15, Ospreys and Scarlets qualified, as they did for the current season.
But within three years of the new rules being introduced Wales will have only Scarlets in the tournament next season. | Former Wales captain Martyn Williams says the Pro12's top seven teams should qualify automatically for the European Champions Cup. | 36244339 |
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It was a first defeat in 11 Wimbledon semi-final appearances for the seven-time champion.
Afterwards, the 34-year-old saluted all corners of Centre Court, prompting speculation that he might be bidding farewell for good.
"To be very clear for you, I hope to be back on Centre Court," said the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
"It was a thank you for the crowd. That's what I was going through, not thinking that this might be my last Wimbledon."
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Raonic, the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final, will face Britain's Andy Murray in Sunday's final.
Federer's semi-final defeat followed a marathon five-set win over Marin Cilic in the previous round, in which he came back from two sets down and saved three match points.
The Swiss world number three is enduring the toughest year of his career. He missed the French Open because of injury, bringing an end to a streak of 65 successive appearances at Grand Slam events stretching back to 1999.
He has also failed to add to his 88 tour titles this year, suffering his longest drought since 2000, and arrived at Wimbledon having suffered back-to-back semi-final losses in Stuttgart and Halle.
Federer, who had surgery earlier this year on the same knee he hurt on Friday, will be 35 next month.
He has not beaten world number one Novak Djokovic at a Grand Slam since the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2012, when he went on to win his last major title.
"It's a dream to win my eighth title here but it's not the only reason why I play tennis," said Federer, who will represent Switzerland at the Olympics next month, injury permitting.
"I know Wimbledon is important, but it's not everything. I have played 10 sets [against Cilic and Raonic]. It's very encouraging for the season. I was insecure coming into Wimbledon." | Roger Federer said he had no intention of retiring after losing to Milos Raonic in the semi-finals at Wimbledon. | 36751760 |
The all-rounder made 67 as the hosts posted a daunting 241-7 on a sluggish pitch at Worcester.
Perry then took 2-16, claiming the early wickets of Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor as England fell to 30-3.
The hosts lost their last six wickets for just 29 as they were bowled out for 152, with Kristen Beams taking 3-13.
With a Test and three T20s to follow over the next month, England will need to rectify their batting issues if they are to compete with an increasingly threatening Australian side.
If all those matches are completed, England must win the Test and one T20, draw the Test and win two T20s, or win all three T20s to retain the Ashes.
The ODIs also saw points for both sides given towards the ICC Women's Championship with Australia further extending their lead at the top of the table, while England sit fourth.
Meg Lanning picked up from where she left off in Bristol as the Australia captain once again provided an injection of pace to her side's innings.
Following days of rain, the visitors struggled to 83-1 from their first 25 overs on the slow New Road pitch.
Wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy was promoted up the batting order after the fall of Australia's second wicket, Nicole Bolton (40), making a quick-fire 17 off 18 balls before being caught-and-bowled by Heather Knight.
It brought Perry out and her 85-run fifth-wicket partnership with Lanning changed the course of the match.
England vice-captain Knight had spoken of the importance of the hosts taking their chances to get the Australia captain out after the second ODI in Bristol.
However, they failed to learn from their mistakes as a run-out chance with Lanning on five was missed, before Lydia Greenway dropped the 23-year-old on 46.
Jenny Gunn, picked in place of Kate Cross, finally had the right-handed batsman dismissed as she was caught at long-on for an impressive 85.
Perry (67), who had been happy to rotate the strike, attacked the ball more aggressively and reached her seventh 50 in eight innings as Australia posted a daunting 241-7.
And when Edwards was sent back to the pavilion after just two minutes when she was bowled out by Perry, the signs looked ominous for England.
All-rounder Perry picked up her second wicket in as many overs, removing Taylor before the recalled Lauren Winfield was run-out to reduce the home side to 30-3.
Knight (38) dug in before being bowled by Jess Jonassen, having walked across her stumps when attempting to sweep.
Requiring boundaries, Katherine Brunt (31) came out ahead of Natalie Sciver and hit the first maximum in the series, swiping across the line and clearing square-leg off Jonassen.
But, having shared a 51-run fifth-wicket partnership with Greenway (45), the pair perished in consecutive overs as Australia took complete control and finished the match in style. | A superb performance from Ellyse Perry helped Australia claim an 89-run victory over England as they took a 4-2 lead in the seven-match Ashes series. | 33675178 |
The Republic of Ireland's power grid operator EirGrid is to submit a planning application for the long-delayed scheme.
It has already said overhead lines are the most cost-effective option for what will be a second connection between the two networks.
They will join between Woodland, County Meath, and Turleenan, County Tyrone.
Environmental and health campaigners had wanted the cables placed underground.
Exact details of the application, to be submitted to An Bord Pleanála, will not be disclosed until a ten-week public consultation process starts on 16 June.
The project, which will take three years to complete, was meant to have been ready by 2017.
EirGrid is submitting the application for the southern half of the project.
In Northern Ireland, the lead is being taken by System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) and a separate planning application is before the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC).
But its public inquiry was adjourned several years ago pending the submission of detailed environmental information that has only recently been provided.
In a statement, the Department of the Environment said: "The information will be advertised in the local press, giving the public opportunity to make comment."
It will also consult with public bodies before requesting that the PAC resumes the inquiry.
But a timetable has yet to be set.
The inter-connector project has three purposes - to deliver security of electricity supply to Northern Ireland, reduce costs to consumers and help achieve targets on renewable energy. | Plans for a £250m electricity inter-connector across the Irish border will take a step closer later. | 33049416 |
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has said its lawyers have advised that now is the time to review its position.
The council is one of six signed up to a waste incinerator that had its planning permission refused last year.
The plant, near Glengormley on the outskirts of Belfast, was to have dealt with black bin waste from all six council areas.
It was turned down by the then environment minister Mark H Durkan, on the grounds that it could discourage recycling and might pose a risk to health.
The consortium behind the plan has appealed the decision to the Planning Appeals Commission.
The five other councils have voted to support the appeal.
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council met on Thursday night to vote on its position.
The proposed recycling and incinerator plant is in its area.
It decided to defer its decision.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the council said it wanted new information about the duration of the contract and the tonnages of waste involved.
"This will allow the council to make a final decision as to whether the business case is in the best interests of our ratepayers," it said.
The council said that because much of the detail of the waste agreement had predated the formation of the new super councils, "the council's legal advice is that it is an appropriate time to determine the council's commitment to the project".
It concluded by saying that it believed the appeal could not proceed without the agreement of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. | A council is to reconsider its commitment to a controversial waste incinerator plan in County Antrim. | 36441364 |
The rankings are calculated over a 12-month period but six of Murray's rivals have accrued more points this year.
"When we start on 1 January, it's back to square one," said the Briton, who is in Indian Wells having won his first title of the year in Dubai last week.
The 29-year-old beat Fernando Verdasco to win the title for the first time.
But a fourth-round defeat by Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open in January means Murray has ground to make up on Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin in the 2017 rankings.
He is, however, likely to retain the number one ranking until at least the French Open.
"I felt like I wasn't a bad player just because I lost a match at the Australian Open," he told BBC Sport after a 16-hour flight from Dubai to Los Angeles.
"Australia wasn't my tournament but I took a break after that, chatted to my team about things that I needed to work on, worked on them, and got to Dubai early.
"I played some good stuff where I hadn't played well in the past. So that gave me a bit of a boost coming here, which is also a place where I haven't played my best."
Murray was the runner-up to Nadal at Indian Wells in 2009, but in the past six years has suffered early defeats at the hands of Donald Young, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and - in last year's third round - Federico Delbonis.
The thin desert air makes the ball fly and jump off the court, and last year played havoc with the Scot's serve. He held back, for fear of missing, and was beaten in the second match he played.
His preparation had also been far from ideal. On the Sunday before an event due to be staged outdoors in 30C desert heat, Murray spent four hours and 54 minutes beating Kei Nishikori in the Davis Cup on an indoor court eight time zones away in Glasgow.
However, this year's warm up in Dubai was much preferable and Murray was enthusiastic when talking about Great Britain's Davis Cup quarter-final in France.
That tie was secured in February when Britain beat Canada 3-2 without their leading player and will be held after the Miami Masters, which follows Indian Wells.
"It will have been a long stretch, but to get matches on clay is a positive thing - and my team are more pro it," Murray said.
"If I'd gone to Canada, it would have been bad news because physically I was not ready. I was struggling a little bit with the illness so it was a good thing I didn't go."
Having overcome shingles, Murray now has the awkward desert conditions to overcome, but has been given a favourable draw in Indian Wells.
While his quarter is far from treacherous, the bottom quarter includes Novak Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Nick Kyrgios and Alex Zverev. | World number one Andy Murray says he has "work to do this year" after falling "behind" six other players over the course of 2017. | 39215475 |
Three trains crashed at Quintinshill on 22 May 1915, one of which was carrying hundreds of Leith-based soldiers.
The Princess Royal and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attended the ceremony at Rosebank Cemetery in Leith.
Descendants of those who died and former members of the Royal Scots were also at the service.
The soldiers who were on the troop train were from the Leith battalion of the Royal Scots.
Following the ceremony, troops paraded along East Claremont Street where Princess Anne took the salute.
The service was led by Rev Iain May, minister of South Leith parish church.
One of his relatives was caught up in the disaster.
He said: "Around 50 of the soldiers who died in the crash were members of my parish and when I was looking through the names for this service that I discovered my namesake, John May.
"It turned out he was my grandfather's older brother.
"He was 24 when he died, which is the same age as my son, and looking at photographs from 100 years ago he really looks like my son, which really brings it all home to me."
The chain of events began at 06:50, when a troop train packed with 500 soldiers of the Royal Scots, travelling from Larbert in Stirlingshire, crashed into a passenger service which was stationary on the main line near the border between Scotland and England.
Just over a minute later, an express train travelling north crashed into the wreckage of the first crash.
Gas from the lighting system of the troop train's old wooden carriages caught fire and it took 23 hours to extinguish.
More than 200 soldiers were killed, as well as 12 civilians, although some remains were never identified and the exact death toll is uncertain.
In addition to the deaths, there were 246 people injured.
The two signalmen controlling the line were both sent to prison.
Services have already been held in Larbert and Dumfries.
During World War One the rail network was put under enormous strain. Old carriages, unsuited to high speed travel, had to be brought back into service to transport the troops.
The carriages which transported The Royal Scots that day were lit by gas. The hot coals ignited the gas tanks and set off a huge fire.
There were reports that some trapped soldiers were shot rather than suffer the pain of being burnt to death.
Those soldiers from The Royal Scots who survived the crash looked so destitute when they returned to Edinburgh that they were taunted by schoolchildren who thought they were enemy prisoners of war.
While the signalmen responsible for the crash at Quintinshill were both jailed, they served just over a year in prison and were reemployed in the railways after their release.
The Quintinshill Rail Disaster: Tragedy on the Home Front | A memorial service has been held in Edinburgh to commemorate the deaths of more than 200 people in Britain's worst rail disaster in Dumfries and Galloway. | 32857898 |
Officers sealed off part of Scarrel Road on Tuesday afternoon.
Jamie Lee, 22, died after a "targeted attack" during a large-scale incident in nearby Ballantay Terrace on Saturday. Five other men were injured.
A Police Scotland spokesman said he was unable to confirm if the latest incident was linked.
Detectives, who earlier issued a photo of Mr Lee, are treating his death as murder.
A 62-year-old man was shot and four others received more minor injuries during the incident near a play park at about 20:00 on Saturday. Police said it had involved up to 15 people.
It is believed the men involved were known to one another and sought each other out in targeted attacks.
It is understood no firearms were involved in the incident on Tuesday. | Police have been dealing with an incident in the Castlemilk area of Glasgow, close to where a man was shot and killed at the weekend. | 40577079 |
Max Clark's try and two Tom Homer kicks put Bath 11-8 up at half-time, Sarries responding with a Lozowski penalty and Sean Maitland's touchdown.
Lozowski levelled with a drop-goal, only for Homer to kick a third penalty.
Bath, urged on by a crowd of 14,509, survived to move to within three points of Sarries at the summit.
Victory lifts Todd Blackadder's side up to second in the table, although Wasps can draw level on points with Saracens at the top if they secure a bonus-point win at Worcester on Sunday.
While both sides had a number of stars still on international duty - with Owen Farrell among four Saracens players with the England side at Twickenham and Jonathan Joseph one of three Bath men in the same team - the Premiership outfits still welcomed back a bevy of talent.
Wales number eight Taulupe Faletau, making just his third Bath appearance since moving from Newport Gwent Dragons, was explosive in what amounted to little more than another cameo appearance for the Blue, Black and Whites before being forced off with concussion.
England lock Maro Itoje, back in action for Saracens after six weeks out with a hand injury, was a physical presence throughout for the league leaders, but Bath's stubborn defensive line was rarely breached, despite constant pressure.
Still, Saracens had their chances to take something from the match, but Alex Goode missed a penalty and Lozowski's kick at the end fell short of the mark, as the Londoners suffered just their second league defeat of the season.
Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder: "We overcame a psychological hurdle today.
"We were outstanding in the first half, but we had to absorb a lot of pressure in the second half. The defensive performance showed the desire - the players worked so hard for each other.
"It's a psychological hurdle of winning and beating a really good side, and we will be better for that."
Saracens boss Mark McCall: "In the first half, we were poor and lucky to be maybe only three points behind at half-time.
"Bath were clearly the better team in that first half, but the second half, I thought we turned it around well.
"We had them under a lot of pressure and we had a lot of field position, and we couldn't capitalise on it. We had two or three very good chances. It's disappointing that we weren't able to score.
"I think everyone will agree, we probably should have got something more out of. Maybe a draw would have been a fair result."
Bath: Homer; Rokoduguni, Clark, Tapuai, Brew; Bowden, Fotuali'i; Catt, Dunn, Lahiff, Charteris, Attwood, Garvey (capt), Ellis, Faletau.
Replacements: Batty, Obano, Palma-Newport, Grant, Mercer, Allinson, Hastings, Wilson.
Saracens: Goode; Maitland, Tompkins, Barritt (capt), Wyles; Lozowski, Spencer; Lamositele, Brits, Figallo, Itoje, Hamilton, Rhodes, Burger, Wray.
Replacements: Saunders, Barrington, Koch, Flanagan, Brown, Wigglesworth, Bosch, Earle.
Referee: Greg Garner. | Alex Lozowski failed to kick a last-gasp penalty for Saracens as Bath held on to beat the Premiership leaders in front of a record support at the Rec. | 38149429 |
The company needs money to plug a gaping hole at its US nuclear unit Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.
Due to the woes at Westinghouse, Toshiba is struggling with debt that some warn might threaten its future.
One investor said management had turned Toshiba "into a laughing stock".
"You have no clue what's going on," the investor added, speaking at a shareholder meeting that approved the sale of Toshiba's NAND flash-memory unit.
The company has twice postponed its annual earnings and is now expected to file a net loss of 1tn yen ($9bn, £7.bn), which would be one of the biggest losses in the country's corporate history.
What went wrong at Toshiba?
Westinghouse files for bankruptcy protection
The Japanese conglomerate estimates its memory business to be worth $18bn (£14bn) and plans to sell parts or all of it.
According to media reports, the potential buyers for the memory chip unit include US firms Western Digital and Micron Technology as well as South Korea's SK Hynix.
Thursday's shareholder meeting saw chief executive Satoshi Tsunakawa and other managers face angry questions about the chaotic past few months.
"How can something that was supposed to be a pillar turn into a hole," one of the shareholders asked about the firm's nuclear business.
Toshiba president Satoshi Tsunakawa apologised for the situation.
"We apologise to all stakeholders, including shareholders, for causing this trouble and worry over our nuclear business," he said.
Westinghouse has suffered huge cost overruns at two US projects in Georgia and South Carolina.
By having the subsidiary file for bankruptcy protection in the US, Toshiba hopes to shield itself from even more costs in the future. | Toshiba's management has come under fierce criticism from shareholders, despite investors approving plans to sell its valuable memory chip unit. | 39441070 |
Eriksson, who led England from 2001 to 2006, has known Hodgson for more than 30 years.
"He is very organised, knows his football and has been successful in many countries," Eriksson told BBC Sport.
Full Hodgson factfile
"He will do a very good job, I am sure. Back him up and help him."
The duo's friendship began in the late 1970s, when they were both managers in the Swedish league. Eriksson was at Degerfors, while Hodgson was in charge of their rivals Halmstads.
And in the 1990s they again faced each other, in Italy's Serie A, when Eriksson was at Sampdoria and Hodgson at Inter Milan.
"I have known Roy very well for many years, I am a friend of his," Eriksson said. "Tomorrow I will phone him to congratulate him."
And Eriksson strongly disagrees with accusations Hodgson does not have a big enough personality to be England manager.
"I don't think that's fair," he said. "He is a good man and has charisma, of course he has."
He also disputed claims Hodgson had failed in his two most high-profile jobs, at Inter Milan and Liverpool.
"Liverpool, I don't know what happened there," he said. "And at Inter, they had him back for a second spell at the club, so he can't have done a bad job."
The Swede said Hodgson would just have to accept he could not please all sections of the media and fans all the time.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"It's always like that, isn't it?" he said. "When I took that job, I wasn't English and some people never accepted that. But why shouldn't people be behind him at the start?
The 64-year-old admits he had originally expected Harry Redknapp to get the England job, but is confident Hodgson has the attributes to succeed.
"When I think about it, it's actually not a surprise," he said. "Roy is English and has huge experience of international football. I think it is a very good choice.
"West Brom have been doing extremely well under him and he will try to play good football with England, of course.
"He is starting a little bit more than a month before the Euros start and shouldn't be judged on that tournament, although I am sure England can do well there under Roy." | Sven-Goran Eriksson has urged fans to back his friend Roy Hodgson, insisting he will a big success as England manager. | 17912004 |
They hope to fool Scottish corncrakes flying from Africa to spring breeding grounds in the highlands.
Rathlin is in the flight path of the migrating birds, which were once common here, but have all but died out.
There is still a breeding population in Scotland and the RSPB hopes some may return to the County Antrim island.
Corncrake numbers began to decline in Northern Ireland with changes to farming.
Their crek-crek call was a signal that summer was on its way.
But a move from hay to silage hit both habitat and bird numbers.
The corncrake is reluctant to break cover.
That meant silage, which is normally cut from the edge to the middle of the field, posed a big risk as birds sought shelter in the middle of the crop and fell foul of machinery.
RSPB Northern Ireland volunteers have been planting strips of nettles around the edges of fields on the island.
They grow early and will provide cover for calling males from the end of April.
If a male is heard, the farmer will be eligible for a grant to delay the harvesting of his ground.
He will also be encouraged to cut from the centre of the field to the edge, to let the birds escape into the field margins.
Gregory Woulahan, head of reserves with RSPB NI, says ten calling males on the island would be a sustainable population.
"Now that's a lot of birds to get in at any one time. But the RSPB has been leading a project in the Nene Washes in the east of England where we actually reintroduced corncrake.
"That's still to be proven if it works or not.
"And if it does work there is that potential here on Rathlin if we got the right amount of habitat for them."
Rathlin last had a calling male in 2014, but a helicopter landed in the same field and scared it off.
A handful of sightings are reported in Northern Ireland every year. The last one was at Articlave near Coleraine.
There is also a small number of the birds in some places in the Irish Republic, including the islands off the County Donegal coast. | Conservationists are planting nettles on Rathlin Island in an attempt to trick an endangered species into landing and breeding there. | 35718644 |
Roosters coach Trent Robinson described Pearce's behaviour as "unacceptable".
The club are investigating and have informed the NRL.
In the video, Pearce, 26, appears to try to kiss a woman, who accuses him of wetting himself after rejecting his advances, before allegedly simulating a sex act on a dog.
"At the Roosters, we can't accept that and we won't," said Robinson. "Over the next couple of days we will come to a conclusion with the NRL."
The incident is said to have happened at a house party on Australia Day.
An NRL spokesman said the league's integrity unit "will work with the Roosters to ensure the matter is dealt with appropriately".
Half-back Pearce, the son of rugby league legend and NRL commissioner Wayne Pearce, looks certain to miss the trip to England for the World Club Series clash with St Helens at Langtree Park on 19 February.
In a statement, the Roosters said Pearce, who has played State of Origin rugby for New South Wales, will not train until the club "concludes its internal investigation".
In 2014, Pearce was fined £9,800 and suspended after an incident in which he was arrested and ejected from a Sydney nightclub.
England coach Steve McNamara is assistant coach at the Roosters. | Sydney Roosters captain Mitchell Pearce has been stood down from training after footage of him apparently committing lewd and drunken acts was broadcast. | 35419593 |
Carrington had presented the BBC Radio 2 show since 1981 during a broadcasting career that spanned more than 70 years.
Carrington, broadcasting as usual from his Perthshire home, thanked his loyal Friday evening listeners at the end.
The 90-year-old revealed his plans to retire last month for health reasons after a second heart failure.
It was also revealed that he had suffered from cancer and Alzheimer's disease in recent years.
He opened his last show with The Johnny Mann Singers' Up Up And Away, the same song that started the first one on October 4, 1981.
At that time, the show was titled All Time Greats and was broadcast on Sundays.
Carrington started every show with the jolly greeting "Evening all, from home in Perthshire", invariably worked in a mention for what his cat Golden Paws Sam was doing that evening, and always signed off by saying "bye just now, from Desmond Carrington".
Every week, listeners would be guided through an eclectic mix of music from several different eras, usually based around a single theme.
For many years the show was pre-recorded but it went live in 1997 on the evening of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when Carrington contacted the Radio 2 controller, because he was concerned that the theme he had chosen that evening would not be appropriate.
The show went live that evening and has done ever since, including once when Carrington had undergone heart surgery just two days earlier.
In his final show, he played the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's version of Impossible Dream, and afterwards urged all of his listeners to "dream the impossible dream".
"A sentiment I thoroughly endorse even if it is impossible," he said.
He closed the show with Mel Torme's That's All, and said "the whole thing would have been quite pointless" without the listeners.
He pointed out that he had now been "rabbiting away on the wireless for 70 years" and "there comes a time to hang up the headphones and for me this is it".
Carrington began his broadcasting career in 1945 with British Forces Broadcasting Station and was first heard on BBC Radio in 1946 as a member of the BBC Drama Repertory Company.
During the 1950s and 1960s he had some success as a film and TV actor, and played Dr Chris Anderson in Emergency-Ward 10 for six years - but was also widely recognised as the face of adverts for Daz washing powder.
In 1967, he appeared in the children's film Calamity the Cow, which was notable as it also featured an appearance by aspiring young actor Phil Collins, who later decided that his future also lay in music.
Carrington also compered one episode of Come Dancing, the 1970s predecessor of Strictly Come Dancing.
BBC director general Tony Hall paid tribute on Carrington's retirement, saying: "Desmond has made a huge contribution to BBC radio as part of his remarkable 70-year career.
"He is a natural broadcaster who exudes great charm, and his weekly programme brings joy to listeners both at home and around the world.
"On behalf of everyone at Radio 2, the BBC and all of his millions of listeners, I'd like to thank him for his incredible service and wish him well."
Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan added: "I want to thank Desmond for his extraordinary contribution to Radio 2 over four decades. He is a unique broadcaster and has always been a central character in the Radio 2 family. We will miss him, as will his adoring audience."
Carrington's Friday evening slot will initially be filled by a series called Sounds of the 50s - which will run until the end of the year.
Then from January, Tony Blackburn - whose return to the station was announced this month - will present a new hour-long show each Friday evening. | Broadcasting legend Desmond Carrington has ended his final The Music Goes Round show with his trademark sign-off "bye just now". | 37806532 |
Some of the organisation's key personnel have links to the UDA.
Speaking on Sunday Politics, Emma Little Pengelly, an architect of the fund, said she was satisfied a robust process of checks was carried out.
BBC NI's Spotlight programme last week examined the control the UDA exerted in some loyalist communities.
It also looked at how funding from Stormont was going to organisations linked to the UDA.
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister has also questioned the allocation of social investment funding to groups with loyalist and republican links.
However, Ms Little Pengelly said: "There is a system of checks and balances and there were concerns about how quickly this scheme delivered.
"One of the reasons why it wasn't quick was because of the number of checks and balances included in terms of getting this money out.
"They have gone through a full business case, economists, the governance has been scrutinised.
"If we weren't satisfied by that, then this money would not be going out to this organisation."
Chris Lyttle of the Alliance Party, said the social investment fund had been "beset by a lack of openness".
"There have been difficulties from day one in relation to the programme," he said. | The chair of the assembly's finance committee has defended the allocation of almost £2m of social investment funding to Charter NI. | 37602440 |
But the SNP leader said the "reality" was going to be a Conservative majority government.
In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Neil, she also said the cap on public sector pay rises was not "sustainable".
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out a coalition between a Labour government and the SNP after 9 June.
In a speech in Glasgow, Mr Corbyn attacked what he said was the SNP's "obsession" with an "unwanted and unnecessary" second independence referendum.
In her BBC interview, Ms Sturgeon said the Labour leader was not "credible as an alternative prime minister".
Asked whether her party would back Labour in key Budget votes if there was a hung Parliament, she said: "We will work for progressive policies and we will work for the policies we put forward in our manifesto."
If there was a hung Parliament, she said "of course we would look to be part of a progressive alliance that pursued progressive policies" but predicted this would not be the outcome despite polls showing a narrowing of the Tories' lead.
"Voting Labour in Scotland risks letting the Tories in," she said.
Ms Sturgeon said she did not agree with Mr Corbyn's plans to raise corporation tax - a key source of funding for Labour's manifesto pledges.
And asked about her predecessor Alex Salmond's claim that Labour was "copying" key SNP policies, she added: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
The SNP launches its manifesto on Tuesday, and Ms Sturgeon promised to "get Scotland's voice heard".
She gave what she described as a "clear hint" on public sector pay, which is currently subject to a cap, saying future settlements should "recognise the cost of living pressures that public sector workers are having to live under".
The Scottish government's public sector workers are currently restricted to an average 1% pay rise in line with the rest of the UK, although it has offered extra help for the lowest paid.
Ms Sturgeon was also quizzed on her party's record in government in Scotland, where it controls devolved policies such as health and education.
"I don't sit here and say that we're perfect," she said of the performance of Scotland's schools, but she insisted progress was being made.
The SNP leader, who is pushing for a second referendum on Scottish independence before the Brexit process has been completed, also set out her bid to keep Scotland in the EU.
She said it was her aim to maintain full EU membership, although if independence was secured after the UK had left, an interim arrangement might be needed to maintain single market membership.
Labour's shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner rejected the idea of a progressive alliance, telling BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "If Labour were to be the largest single party, then the honourable thing to do in my view is to govern as a minority government."
He said other parties would then be challenged to back Labour's "progressive" policies by voting for them.
The Tories claimed Ms Sturgeon's comments meant Mr Corbyn could be "propped up" as prime minister by the SNP during Brexit talks.
Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: "Nicola Sturgeon has underlined the danger presented by the SNP at this election.
"She confirmed what everybody in Scotland knows - she wants to get up on 9 June and use the election result to manufacture the case for another referendum.
"And she confirmed that the SNP would back Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister if there is a hung parliament.
"We know she would demand a referendum in independence as part of any deal with Labour. And given Jeremy Corbyn has said he's 'absolutely fine' with a referendum, we know he'd be willing to roll over."
Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie said: "Nicola Sturgeon says Jeremy Corbyn isn't a credible candidate for prime minister but is prepared to make him prime minister. It's an absurd position.
"Liberal Democrats have ruled out any coalitions. There will be no coalition with Theresa May and her plan for a damaging hard Brexit and a cold hearted plan for the country.
"There will be no coalition Jeremy Corbyn and his plan to support that damaging hard Brexit." | The SNP would try to form an alliance to pursue "progressive policies" if the general election results in a hung Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon says. | 40078647 |
Monmouth MP David Davies said Velothon Wales lied when, he claims, it told him MPs backed the event.
About 15,000 cyclists will join in Sunday's race through Newport, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Cardiff and Caerphilly.
Organiser Andy Taylor said: "The person who spoke to David [Davies] got their wires crossed and thought we'd spoken to MPs. That isn't the case."
He added: "We do accept responsibility for that specific error with regards to that conversation with the MP David Davies."
Velothon Wales said its team did "their best" to give "clear information" and "never intended to mislead anyone".
Mr Davies launched the stinging attack during BBC Radio Wales' Jason Mohammad programme on Wednesday.
"The arrogance of this organisation - they're telling lies to people," he said.
"They told me that all MPs support it, and that was a lie, they back-tracked when they found out that I was an MP."
Some roads will be shut for the race and infuriated residents say they will be trapped indoors all day, and some business owners say they will lose thousands of pounds.
Mr Taylor said the consultation process had been going on for about a year: "We've been working with the local authorities to try and put together a race route which affects as little people as possible.
"In most circumstances people can get out and find alternative routes." | An organiser of a major bike race has taken the blame for the confusion over who had been consulted about the route. | 33099208 |
A bold claim, some might say, but Cheltenham Town boss Gary Johnson was keen to play up the significance of Monday's pre-season friendly against Bristol City.
Family trophies are not normally up for grabs, and the Johnson Cup is certainly a unique prize.
The father-son bragging rights eventually went to son Lee, as Championship side Bristol City won 2-1, but what did it mean to him to win a first 'trophy' of the season against the League Two club?
"It does make me cringe a little bit," City's head coach, 35, told BBC Radio Bristol. "I'm trying to be serious here and my dad's playing the media a treat, like he always does, but it's all good fun.
"Whatever we're playing, however small the game - table tennis, tiddlywinks - we try to beat each other.
"Actually, it probably did give it a little bit of spice, whether it was that or the players wanted to impress. And it was nice and funny that my mum comes down and presents a trophy."
Town boss Gary, 60, added: "We thought we'd make it a little bit special."
Former Oldham Athletic boss Lee had been looking for a touch of revenge, having lost 4-0 to then-Yeovil Town boss Gary the last time they met, in a League One match at Boundary Park in 2014.
After that resounding victory, dad Gary declared himself the holder of the Johnson Cup.
However, Lee can now take the silverware home to proudly display on his own mantelpiece.
The good relationship between the two clubs was clear to see on Monday and Bristol City even allowed Austrian goalkeeper Ivan Lucic - who was on trial before a proposed move from Bayern Munich - to play in goal for Cheltenham.
The question that remains is: When will the two managers' teams meet again? | "This is bigger than the Johnstone's Paint Trophy!" | 36892696 |
Forward Marshall has retired aged only 26 after being out of action all this season and playing just five games for the club in 2015-16.
Last September, Connacht's Ireland prop Nathan White was forced to halt his career for similar reasons.
"Unfortunately, my time as a player has come to an end earlier than I would have wished," said Marshall on Tuesday.
"It has been a difficult time not being able to play since the injury but having had some time away from the game, I can appreciate how fortunate I've also been in my career."
Two arm injuries restricted Marshall to only a couple of appearances in the early part of 2015-16 and he then suffered a head injury late in Connacht's Pro12-winning campaign after signing a contract extension last March.
Dublin-born Marshall has not played this season and after taking medical advice, has now decided to end his career.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Connacht head physio Garrett Coughlan and the medical team who have given me wonderful care and support over the past eleven months," added Marshall.
"I am looking forward to continuing in my financial studies and the new career path that is ahead of me, but I will always be appreciative of the lessons that Willie [Ruane] and Pat [Lam] taught me during my time at Connacht Rugby."
Marshall won 10 Ireland Under-20 caps and made 20 appearances for Leinster before moving to Connacht prior to the 2015-16 season.
The back row forward played for an Ireland XV in a non-cap game against the Barbarians in May 2015 before representing an Emerging Ireland team in the Tbilisi Cup in Georgia later that summer.
Connacht coach Pat Lam described the former Leinster player as "an excellent team man".
"I have no doubt that he will go on to achieve great things in his business and life pursuits going forward," added Lam. | Ben Marshall has become the second Connacht player this season to have his career ended by a concussion injury. | 38815547 |
30 November 2015 Last updated at 14:08 GMT
Coventry Cat Group, which is run entirely by volunteers, can accommodate 100 cats at its centre in Allesley, and in foster homes. However, they say they are now at capacity and turning away stray animals on a daily basis.
Pat Whitehouse, from the charity, said she believed the reasons for the sudden rise in abandoned animals was a combination of hardship and ignorance.
"Most cats aren't intentionally stray, it's just that they are victims of society," she said. | A Coventry cat rescue charity says it had to close its doors after being inundated with abandoned cats and kittens. | 34966106 |
For children in Syria, Eid al-Adha would usually mean new clothes and shoes, home cooked meals with family, and gifts.
But for the past few years for the children of Aleppo caught up in months of intense bombardments and massacres, Eid has turned into a more subdued celebration.
The clothes are simple, and the family dinner table is now half empty.
Amid the chaos, small pleasures are sacred, as illustrated in pictures from the Aleppo Siege Media Centre.
They show children in the run up to Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, which begins in Syria at sunset on Monday evening.
The cruel irony is the human sacrifice many in the besieged city have had to make.
They play together in the street, an old bomb now used as a climbing apparatus.
The Aleppo Siege Media Centre is a collective of doctors and media professionals that document attacks in the city.
The group was responsible for the footage of five year old Omran Daqneesh sitting in an ambulance following an airstrike in Eastern Aleppo which went viral in August.
Abdulkafi Alhamdo a professor in Aleppo described seeing children as their pictures were being taken.
"I walked around and saw children in their new clothes playing together. It is fantastic to see life from the ashes of war.
"The children of Aleppo are still alive, they didn't give up. It seems that they are the ones who give us hope to carry on.
"They run, play and laugh. I like them so much because they are so patient and courageous.
"When they hear there is a helicopter in the sky, instead of running away, they ask where while looking up at the sky."
For months Aleppo has come under intense aerial bombardment by Syrian government troops backed by Russian forces.
The latest target was a market in rebel-held Idlib which killed up to 60 people and injured dozens of others as they shopped for Eid, while at least 45 died in strikes in Aleppo.
The areas were targeted hours after the announcement of a ceasefire which was due to begin at sunset on Monday .
By Rozina Sini, BBC'S UGC and Social News Team | What is it like celebrating Eid in a warzone? | 37336604 |
The incident happened in the Gurez area of Bandipora district on Monday evening, an army officer said.
India and Pakistan have often accused each other of unprovoked firing along the disputed border.
A ceasefire agreed in 2003 remains in place, but the neighbours often accuse each other of violating it.
Monday's incident happened days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Indian-administered Kashmir.
An Indian army officer said Pakistani troops fired machine guns and grenades.
Correspondents say there has been an escalation in hostilities between the neighbours since last year, with some of the worst violence in a decade being recorded during this period. Both sides have accused each other of starting hostilities.
Kashmir, claimed by both countries in its entirety, has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years and the South Asian rivals have fought two wars over the region. | Pakistani forces have killed two Indian soldiers in firing along the de facto border that divides Kashmir between the two countries, India's army has said. | 34707217 |
The study, by the UN and the government on the most recent available data, said almost all the deaths were murders.
More than half of those killed were young men under the age of 30 - two-thirds were described as black.
The Brazilian Congress is debating a controversial bill that would limit access to firearms.
Gun crime murders have been dropping in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo but rising in the north and northeast of the country.
The northern state of Alagoas is the most violent, with fifty-five gun deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants.
The report says a slow justice system and flawed police investigations as well as the widespread availability of firearms are to blame.
It says Brazil has become a society which tolerates guns to resolve "all sorts of disputes, in most cases for very banal and circumstantial reasons."
A law to ban the carrying of guns in public and control illegal ownership came into effect in 2004.
It tightened rules on gun permits and create a national firearms register, with strict penalties for owning an unregistered gun. | A report on violence in Brazil says around 42,000 people were shot dead in 2012 - the highest figures for gun crime in 35 years. | 32747175 |
People who performed better on rhythmic tests also showed enhanced neural responses to speech sounds.
The researchers suggest that practising music could improve other skills, particularly reading.
In the Journal of Neuroscience, the authors argue that rhythm is an integral part of language.
"We know that moving to a steady beat is a fundamental skill not only for music performance but one that has been linked to language skills," said Nina Kraus, of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois.
More than 100 teenagers were asked to tap their fingers along to a beat. Their accuracy was measured by how closely their responses matched the timing of a metronome.
Next, in order to understand the biological basis of rhythmic ability, the team also measured the brainwaves of their participants with electrodes, a technique called electroencephalography. This was to observe the electrical activity in the brain in response to sound.
Using this biological approach, the researchers found that those who had better musical training also had enhanced neural responses to speech sounds. In poorer readers this response was diminished.
"It turns out that kids who are poor readers have a lot of difficulty doing this motor task and following the beat. In both speech and music, rhythm provides a temporal map with signposts to the most likely locations of meaningful input," Prof Kraus told BBC News.
The brainwaves recorded matched the soundwaves, she said. "You can even take the recorded brainwave and play it back through your speaker and it will sound like the soundwave.
"It seems that the same ingredients that are important for reading are strengthened with musical experience. Musicians have highly consistent auditory-neural responses.
"It may be that musical training - with its emphasis on rhythmic skills - can exercise the auditory-system, leading to less neural jitter and stronger sound-to-meaning associations that are so essential for learning to read," added Prof Kraus
John Iversen of the University of California in San Diego studies how the brain processes music. He was not involved with the research but agreed that musical training could have important impacts on the brain.
"This study adds another piece to the puzzle in the emerging story suggesting that musical-rhythmic abilities are correlated with improved performance in non-music areas, particularly language," he said. | Moving in time to a steady beat is closely linked to better language skills, a study suggests. | 24124158 |
Grace Mugabe, 52, is claiming diplomatic immunity after she was accused of assaulting a model last week.
She had been due to take part in the first ladies' programme at the summit.
The authorities say she remains in South Africa and her request for immunity is under consideration.
Police want to interview Mrs Mugabe about an alleged assault at a hotel in Johannesburg.
She is accused of hitting a 20-year-old woman over the head with an extension cord.
Police expected her to turn herself in on Tuesday, but she failed to show up.
They set up a "red alert" at the country's borders to try to ensure she does not flee the country.
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said: "We, in terms of South African police, [have] already put tabs on the borders in relation to her leaving the country, so there is no question about that.
"So tabs have been put, a red alert has been put, so she is not somebody who has been running away."
South African Airways, which is owned by the South African government, says its flight from Zimbabwe's capital to Johannesburg was unable to take off as scheduled on Saturday morning.
The airline says Zimbabwean authorities are demanding a "foreign operators permit" to allow them to operate in Zimbabwe, despite the fact the route has operated for more than 20 years without one.
The restrictions come as South Africa's government considers whether to grant diplomatic immunity to Mrs Mugabe.
The first lady's whereabouts are not known but she is believed to still be in South Africa.
Mrs Mugabe has not commented on the allegation. | The wife of the Zimbabwean leader, Robert Mugabe, has failed to appear at the start of a regional leaders summit in South Africa. | 40986500 |
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said consultations were continuing, but did not give details.
Clashes began a week ago when President Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of a failed coup.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was sending a special envoy to help foster dialogue.
He said his decision to send Ambassador Donald Booth followed a phone conversation with President Kiir on Thursday.
"Now is the time for South Sudan's leaders to rein in armed groups under their control, immediately cease attacks on civilians, and end the chain of retributive violence between different ethnic and political groups," Mr Kerry said.
Hundreds of people have already died in fighting across the country.
Although Mr Kiir has said he is ready for dialogue, Mr Machar told French radio he was only ready to "negotiate his [Salva Kiir's] departure from power".
On Friday, President Kiir met foreign ministers from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda who had travelled to the capital Juba to mediate in the crisis.
He told them he agreed to "unconditional dialogue" to stop the violence.
"We had a very productive meeting with his Excellency President Salva Kiir and we will continue consultations," Mr Adhanom, who led the delegation, told reporters before returning to the talks.
As the violence escalated, Ugandan troops flew to Juba on Friday to help evacuate their citizens.
Military sources quoted by Reuters said they would also help secure the capital, which is about 75km (50 miles) from Uganda's border.
A number of other countries are also evacuating their nationals from South Sudan.
And with the fighting spreading to South Sudan's oilfields, China National Petroleum - one of the main operators - said it was evacuating workers back to Juba.
President Kiir, a member of the majority Dinka ethnic group, sacked Mr Machar, who is from the Nuer community, in July.
He said that last Sunday night uniformed personnel opened fire at a meeting of the governing party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Violence then broke out in Juba and has since spread across the country, pitting gangs of Nuer and Dinka against each other and sparking fears of a civil war.
The whereabouts of Mr Machar, who has denied trying to stage a coup, remain unknown.
Thousands of civilians have flocked to UN compounds seeking shelter from the unrest.
The UN on Friday condemned an attack on its compound in Akobo, Jonglei state, a day earlier in which two Indian peacekeepers and at least 11 civilians were killed.
The UN mission in South Sudan, Unmiss, said some 2,000 armed youths believed to be Nuer surrounded the base and opened fire "in the direction of Sudanese civilians of the Dinka ethnic group who had sought refuge in the compound".
Unmiss said all its personnel - along with civilians and members of non-governmental organisations - had now been airlifted from the base.
France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said there were fears of another assault as armed youths gathered near the UN compound in the town of Bor, in Jonglei, on Friday.
Jonglei state has seen some of the worst violence since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011, with hundreds killed in periodic clashes between rival heavily-armed ethnic militias sparked by cattle-rustling.
Following decades of conflict, weapons are widely available across much of South Sudan.
South Sudan's government insists the clashes are over power and politics, not between ethnic groups.
President Kiir said the majority of those arrested after Sunday's alleged coup attempt were Dinka, not Nuer.
The oil-rich country has struggled to achieve a stable government since becoming independent. | African mediators trying to avert civil war in South Sudan say they have held "productive" talks with President Salva Kiir. | 25474478 |
The pink stretch Hummer caught fire on the A289 Wainscott bypass in Strood at 16:12 BST on Thursday.
The group of 10 and 11-year-old pupils from Shears Green Junior School in Gravesend were on their way to a bowling party organised by parents, Kent Online reports.
Nobody was injured. Firefighters confirmed it started accidentally.
A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "The fire is believed to have started accidentally at the rear of the vehicle and destroyed the interior of the vehicle." | A limousine taking primary school children to an end of year party erupted in flames. | 40679674 |
10 July 2017 Last updated at 15:42 BST
There is a team of over 30 people who mow, mop (yes, mop!) and paint the lines on the courts every single day during the tournament.
That's a lot of green fingers - 300 to be exact!
Ayshah went to meet Grant, who's in charge of the grass, to find out some secrets… | Did you know there are 40 grass courts at Wimbledon and that they grow the grass every year? | 40554645 |
The site of the Bridgwater Union Workhouse in Bridgwater, Somerset, is being replaced with a primary school, due to open in September.
County councillor William Wallace said it was "right we don't forget the past" and the opening of a new school would be "a bright new chapter".
The workhouse was built in 1837, at a cost of £7,500, and housed about 300 people.
After the repeal of the Poor Law in 1930, and the eventual abolition of workhouses, the site became a hospital and registry office.
The medical site was relocated to the east side of the town in the 1980s and parts of the old buildings demolished.
Sedgemoor District Council and Somerset County Council decided to demolish the remnants of the site in the Northgate area because it was "not possible or affordable to redevelop the existing building".
Councillors said a new school was "much needed in the town" due to a 20% increase in demand for school places in the past five years. It will have 14 classrooms and a nursery.
Bridgwater's mayor Graham Granter said: "Life in the workhouse was very harsh, and it is better that there is a new school on the site, rather than the remnants of the workhouse.
"The bricks used to make the memorial came from the hospital workhouse building, so it is a lasting reminder of those times." | A memorial dedicated to a former Victorian workhouse has been unveiled. | 40763463 |
Rebecca Fox was in labour and being taken to hospital by her mother Sandra on Thursday when she realised her baby was coming sooner than expected.
They pulled into Chiswick police station's car park where they were joined by a police staff member and a PC, and Bobby was born in the car.
The Met Police said both mother and child are doing well.
Staff member Jacky Brosnan said she "heard a lady outside in the car park shouting" so she looked out of the window "and there was another younger woman in the car with her feet on the dashboard".
She then rushed downstairs, grabbing PC Holly Foran along the way, and they went out to help.
"Within two minutes a baby boy was born," she said.
A doctor who happened to be passing checked over Ms Fox and her baby before they were taken to hospital by ambulance. | A baby who was unexpectedly born outside a west London police station has been named Bobby by his mother. | 40408620 |
The stretch of the famous prom had been closed between Adelaide Street West and Talbot Square since March.
The revamp, which includes improving sea defences and tramways, is costing an estimated £250m.
The resort's famous tower is also being overhauled. It is due to be completed in the autumn.
Councillor Fred Jackson, deputy leader of Blackpool Council, said: "It has been a long wait and we do thank the people of Blackpool, and the visitors, for putting up with these works that have had to take place.
"We are delighted that the promenade is now open again."
He said he new road layout was "very unusual" and motorists and pedestrians would have to learn to "share the space as nobody has the right of way".
"It works on the continent very well," he said.
One short section of the prom is still restricted one-way, but that is expected to be finished by Friday. | Blackpool's promenade has reopened to traffic, after being closed for more than three months as part of multi-million pound regeneration work. | 13856062 |
But its rulers face the delicate task of responding to pressure for reform while combating extremist violence.
Named after the ruling Al Saud family, which came to power in the 18th century, the country includes the Hijaz region - the birthplace of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad and the cradle of Islam. This fact, combined with the Al Sauds' espousal of a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, has led it to develop a strongly religious self-identity.
The harsh punishments in the Wahhabi interpretation of Islamic law include public beheadings for a range of crimes, and these continue to attract criticism from international rights organisations.
Saudi Arabia was established in 1932 by King Abd-al-Aziz - known as the Lion of Najd - who seized Hejaz from the Hashemite family and united the country under his family's rule. Since his death in 1953 he has been succeeded by various sons.
The Al Saud dynasty's monopoly of power meant that during the 20th century successive kings were able to concentrate on economic modernisation and on developing the country's role as a regional power.
It has always been in the ruling family's interests to preserve stability in the region and to clamp down on extremist elements. To this end, it welcomed the stationing of US troops in the country after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Saudi Arabia profile - home
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
But the leadership's refusal to tolerate any kind of opposition may have encouraged the growth of dissident groups such as Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda, which benefited from popular resentment against the role of the US in the Middle East. Members of the large Shia minority, who form a majority in oil-rich Eastern Province, have become increasingly vocal in their demands for civil rights.
After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001 - carried out mainly by Saudi nationals - the Saudi authorities were further torn between their natural instincts to step up internal security and pressure to allow a greater degree of democracy.
In 2003 suicide bombers suspected of links with al-Qaeda killed 35 people - including a number of foreigners - in the capital Riyadh. The targets of other attacks have included foreign workers and, since the rise of the Sunni extremist group Islamic State, the Shias of Eastern Province.
Demands for political reform have increased. Municipal elections in 2005 were a first, limited exercise in democracy. But political parties are banned - the opposition is organised from outside the country - and activists who publicly broach the subject of reform risk being jailed.
Calls for social change are on the rise, too. Activists for women's rights have become more vocal, focusing on practical campaigns such as the right to drive. Social media users are also testing the limits of freedom of expression.
Saudi Arabia sits on more than 25% of the world's known oil reserves. It is capable of producing more than 10 million barrels per day; that figure is set to rise. | One of the most insular countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has emerged from being an underdeveloped desert kingdom to become one of the wealthiest nations in the region thanks to vast oil resources. | 14703476 |
The film, starring Denzel Washington, opened the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday night.
Speaking before the film's world premiere, director Antoine Fuqua said: "I just wanted to see Denzel Washington on a horse.
"Everyone else fell in place around that idea."
Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke also star in Fuqua's retelling of John Sturges' 1960 western classic.
Vincent D'Onofrio, South Korean star Byung-Hun Lee, Mexico's Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Native American actor Martin Sensmeier make up the rest of the septet.
Asked about the film's casting in the light of the current debate in Hollywood about diversity, Fuqua said: "It wasn't to make a statement. We don't talk about it because you guys [the media] talk about it.
"My idea was: Denzel Washington walks into a room and the room stops, Clint Eastwood walks into a room and the room stops. Is it because of the gunslinger or because of the colour of his skin? So we let the audience decide."
Washington, who worked with Fuqua in Training Day and The Equalizer, said he had never seen the Sturges movie, which starred Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen.
"I didn't keep away from it. I just didn't know how it would help me.
"[Not seeing it] allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do. Instead of trying not to do what someone else did."
The 1960 western was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese-language film Seven Samurai.
In Fuqua's action-packed version, seven gunslingers protect the town of Rose Creek from the deadly grip of industrialist "robber baron" Bartholomew Bogue, played by Peter Sarsgaard.
"The most important thing was to stay true to the DNA of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai," Fuqua said.
"You can't do the same thing every era. Westerns change all the time. If we were sticking to just one way of doing something then all westerns would be all white guys looking like John Wayne.
"Westerns change with the time we're in, so we made our film based on the world we are living in."
In its review, The Hollywood Reporter described The Magnificent Seven as "efficient but uninspired".
"It would seem that ethnic variety was the guiding principle more than anything else, the obvious irony being that it's now a rainbow coalition of misfits defending an all-white town against all-white villains way out west in 1879," wrote Todd McCarthy.
Variety's chief film critic Owen Gleiberman said the film "hits all the right buttons but misses the fun of the original".
The Guardian's three-star review described The Magnificent Seven as "strenuously-topical".
"Denzel Washington's classic western hero is commandingly cool and supported by a rakish Chris Pratt," wrote Jordan Hoffman.
But, he added, "there's a great deal of waiting around for something to happen".
The Magnificent Seven is out in the UK and US on 23 September. | The director of the remake of western The Magnificent Seven says he wasn't trying to make a statement with the film's diverse casting. | 37307798 |
PC Simon Salway, 39, of Hertfordshire Police, was convicted of six charges of misconduct at Luton Crown Court in January and jailed for three years.
After the dismissal hearing, Assistant Chief Constable Bill Jepshon said "corrupt" Salway abused his position.
He said the force was looking at seizing Salway's pension and trying to support his victims.
Salway was jailed following an investigation by the Hertfordshire Constabulary's professional standards unit.
Mr Jepshon said: "At a hearing at Bedfordshire Police HQ before Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, Simon Salway was officially dismissed from Hertfordshire Constabulary.
"His dismissal is a symbolic step in ridding the force of a corrupt officer who callously took advantage of the position of trust placed in him without any concern for the consequences of his conduct.
"As an organisation we will continue to support his victims in any way we can."
Salway, from North Hertfordshire, joined the force in 2003 and was based at Hatfield Police Station.
After winning the trust of the women, he flirted with them before sending them sexual messages, the court heard in January.
Judge Richard Foster told him: "Over a period of some seven years, you used females with whom you came into contact in such circumstances as an opportunity to pursue a sexual relationship.
"Domestic violence is one of the greatest unreported crimes and misconduct such as that in this case can hardly encourage victims to come forward to the police." | A police officer jailed after having sex with domestic violence victims he was working with has been sacked. | 35885436 |
In August last year, ANA said it would pay some $25m (2.5bn yen; £16m) for a stake in the Burmese carrier.
ANA Holdings is the parent company of Japan's All Nippon Airways.
In a statement, ANA said rising competition in Myanmar was one reason for cancelling the deal.
"Competition between new and old airlines in Myanmar has intensified," ANA said, "bringing rapid changes in the external environment, and calling into question the assumptions made at the time of the original decision."
It also said it had been unable to reach an agreement on capital participation with AWA.
The deal was part of ANA's plans to expand its business internationally.
At the time, it would have been the first investment in a Myanmar-based commercial airline by a foreign airline.
AWA, which is based in Yangon, was launched in 2011 and operates domestic flights within Myanmar.
It also offers flights to Chiang Mai in Thailand and has plans to further expand its international service.
Since political reforms have led to the easing of international sanctions in Myanmar, many foreign firms have looked to the country for business opportunities.
After a 12-year hiatus, All Nippon Airways resumed its service between Japan and Myanmar in October 2012. | Japan's ANA Holdings (ANA) has cancelled its plan to buy a 49% stake in Asian Wings Airways (AWA), an airline based in Myanmar, also known as Burma. | 28560924 |
David Woodhouse, 65, of Rothwell Avenue, Grimsby, was found guilty of three counts of rape and 12 indecent assault charges following a trial at the town's Crown Court.
Humberside Police said the girls were abused over a six year period.
Woodhouse, who denied all the charges, was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.
Det Insp Peter Thorp said the conviction followed a "painstaking investigation" led by Det Helen Garrod.
"His two victims suffered the most unimaginable experiences that no child should ever have to and showed incredible courage and bravery throughout the investigation.
"I sincerely hope the victims will now be able to rebuild their lives again."
He added he hoped it sent a "strong message to those victims who have never come forward but suffered abuse at any point in their lives." | A man who raped and sexually abused two young girls in Grimsby during the 1980s has been jailed for 18 years. | 36750478 |
It will be built on the site of the force's old offices in Ripley, north of Derby, after plans were approved.
Both organisations said it would save money in the long term and lead to improvements in the way they worked together.
Building is due to start in April next year with work expected to be finished by February 2017.
Derbyshire police said their current buildings were coming to the end of their useful life.
Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Charles admitted that while new headquarters were initially more expensive than repairing the old ones, it would allow further savings in the future.
He added: "Sharing headquarters with the Fire and Rescue Service in this way will allow both our organisations to adapt more easily to change and improve our ways of working, including making best use of technological advancements that are so important to efficiency."
Roland Hosker, chairman of the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) panel, said: "DFRS's current headquarters is no longer fit for purpose and restricts the opportunities to develop new and more efficient ways of working. "
The existing building, at Burton Road, Littleover, is being sold to help fund the new project.
Additional funding is being sought from government transformation grants for "joint blue light" schemes. | Derbyshire's police and fire service are to share a purpose-built £14.5m headquarters. | 30340286 |
Karla Hornby and Jordan Jackson were by the pool on holiday in Benidorm last Saturday when her waters broke.
She was taken to San Juan Hospital in Alicante where she gave birth to son Freddie by emergency caesarean section after his heart stopped beating.
Ms Hornby said it was a "nightmare" but Freddie who weighs 2lbs was doing well.
The 29-year-old said she and her partner, from Breightmet, were planning to have a week away to relax and she had been told she was OK medically to fly.
She said: "We didn't think it would be a problem. It was only two hours away [on a plane] and only a week but then my waters went at the side of the pool.
"I couldn't believe it, I was in total shock.
"He's absolutely beautiful, he's perfect but he's just so, so small. He's only 2lbs but he is only on a tiny bit of oxygen, he's not on anything else, no antibiotics or anything.
"He is doing so well."
"Hopefully he should put on weight soon and we can get him fat and bring him home."
Insurers have agreed to pay medical costs and for a hotel but Ms Hornby is having to use a wheelchair and said the accommodation was too far away from the hospital.
Her best friend Lisa Johnston, who said it could take at least three months for Freddie to be strong enough to take him home, has started fund-raising to help with the couple's living costs including finding a hotel nearer the hospital in the meantime.
Some women choose not to travel in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy because of the exhaustion and nausea they experience. The risk of miscarriage is also higher in this stage of pregnancy.
Most airlines will not allow women to travel after week 36 of pregnancy, or week 32 if they are pregnant with twins or multiples. This is because the likelihood of going into labour is higher.
Women are advised to check with their airline and insurance company that they will allow them to travel while pregnant.
Source: NHS Choices | A couple from Bolton whose baby was born 12 weeks prematurely on holiday in Spain have said they could be stranded in the country for three months. | 32463516 |
The quarrel, over last month's killing of Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur, had resulted in both countries banning each other's citizens from leaving.
Two North Koreans wanted for questioning are believed to have been allowed to leave Malaysia.
Malaysia has also released Mr Kim's body to Pyongyang.
North Korea is widely suspected to have orchestrated Mr Kim's murder.
Mr Kim was the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The late Kim Jong-il's eldest son was passed over for the leadership and was living outside North Korea at the time of his death.
The nine Malaysian nationals were met by their relatives and a large media contingent at Kuala Lumpur airport early on Friday.
Those who have returned include the country's counsellor to North Korea, Mohd Nor Azrin Md Zain, embassy staff and their families.
The counsellor said that when Pyongyang told them they could not leave North Korea, "we were very concerned especially since we had committed no wrong".
But he added they were "not particularly harassed" by North Korean authorities. "We were given the assurance that life could go on as normal," he said.
They were flown home in a business jet plane piloted by members of the Malaysian air force.
Following Mr Kim's killing on 13 February, North Korean officials demanded that his body be handed to them immediately without an autopsy.
Pyongyang reacted angrily when Malaysia refused their requests.
Malaysian authorities said they had the right to conduct an autopsy as he had been killed on Malaysian soil, and said they would only release the body to Mr Kim's family.
This prompted a war of words where North Korea's ambassador Kang Chol accused Malaysia of colluding with "hostile forces", allegations which Kuala Lumpur dubbed as "delusions, lies and half-truths".
Kang Chol was expelled and the Malaysian ambassador to North Korea was also recalled.
Pyongyang then said it would ban all Malaysians in North Korea from leaving until the "situation was resolved", which Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak called an "abhorrent act" that effectively held his citizens hostage.
Kuala Lumpur enacted a tit-for-tat exit ban on North Koreans.
Malaysian officials have not hesitated in branding the return of their citizens as a triumph of diplomatic deal-making.
On Friday morning Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman told reporters: "There can be no substitute for diplomacy, for level-headedness in dealing with such situations, and this has served Malaysia well in this instance."
But the exact circumstances of how the deal was struck remain unclear. Correspondents say that Malaysia appears to have acceded to North Korea's wishes to get the Malaysians released.
Mr Najib had said earlier that, after challenging negotiations, all North Koreans would be allowed to leave Malaysia - which probably includes those wanted by Malaysian police for questioning.
Japanese news agency Kyodo said two men resembling two wanted North Koreans were seen on a Beijing-bound flight transporting Mr Kim's body on Friday.
The men are thought to be Hyon Kwang Song, the second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Kim Uk Il, an employee of North Korea's state airline Air Koryo.
The two men were previously reported to have been holed up in the embassy and refused to take part in investigations.
Malaysian Insight quoted Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali as saying that authorities allowed two North Korean diplomats to leave "to secure the safe release" of the Malaysians. He did not name the diplomats.
He told the news portal that they were not suspects in Mr Kim's murder and were only needed to "assist in investigations".
Mr Kim's body was released to North Korea and flown to Beijing, where North Korean officials are expected to receive it.
Malaysia had previously said they would not release the body until a request came from family members.
On Thursday, Mr Najib said a formal request had been received from the family, but did not give further details.
Mr Kim's own family previously lived in Macau but they are now thought to be in hiding.
His son Kim Han-sol appeared in a video earlier this month confirming he was with his mother and sister at an unspecified location.
It was with barely disguised relief that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the deal with North Korea to release Kim Jong-nam's body, after what he described as "sensitive" negotiations posing many challenges.
Dealing with a regime that, in Malaysia's view, was holding its citizens hostage and had carried out a lethal chemical weapons attack inside its main international gateway was a delicate task.
Malaysia appears to have given North Korea what it wanted - the body and the North Korean suspects sought by the Malaysian police - in order to get its nine citizens back safely.
To that end, North Korea has refused to recognise that the body was that of its supreme leader's half-brother, or to cooperate in clarifying the role of its agents in the attack.
But by permitting a letter from an as-yet unnamed family member in North Korea to be forwarded to Malaysia, authorising the body's release, there is at least tacit acknowledgement from Pyongyang that the body is indeed Kim Jong-nam - something the Malaysian authorities say they have already confirmed through DNA samples obtained from his relatives outside North Korea.
But with all the North Korean suspects in the attack now apparently out of Malaysia it is not clear how the investigation can move forward.
The two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese, who smeared the nerve agent on Kim Jong-nam's face are in custody facing murder charges, but we do not know how much they have been able to tell the Malaysians.
Nor do we know how much the Malaysian authorities have learned about that nerve agent.
They believe it is VX, a substance so dangerous it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction, but it is not clear how much they have consulted with allies, or shared their findings with the international organisations that monitor chemical and biological weapons. | Nine Malaysians who were prevented from leaving North Korea have arrived home, after the two countries struck a deal to end a diplomatic row. | 39451595 |
Arla Foods have been granted planning permission by Aylesbury Vale District Council for a £150m complex on 70 acres (24 hectares) on land at Aston Clinton.
The site could process about 10% of the milk needed in England.
Arla Foods said 700 new jobs would be created but local residents fear existing roads would not be able to cope with the extra traffic.
The dairy could be in operation by the end of next year. | A plan to build one of the world's largest dairies has been approved in Buckinghamshire. | 15040069 |
Police are looking for three males and three females in connection with the attacks on six women on 10 September.
Authorities initially investigated the incident as a possible hate crime after a Scottish tourist's traditional Muslim clothing was set on fire.
But of all six victims, only one was wearing Muslim attire.
The 35-year-old tourist, from Glasgow, was returning from sightseeing when she realised the clothing on her arm had been set ablaze and she saw a man next to her with a cigarette lighter.
She was able to pat out the fire.
The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force had been assisting in the investigation, but police said the incident was no longer deemed "bias-related".
The other reported attacks included a woman who said a suspect tried to light her leg on fire; a teenage girl walking with her mother who said someone tried to set her shirt alight; and another woman whose skirt was set on fire by a suspect in a nearby group.
Two women also reported a man holding a lit lighter close to their arms as they headed down into the Bryant Park subway the same night. | The investigation into a fire attack on a Scottish Muslim woman in New York City last week has now broadened to five other incidents. | 37388789 |
The naval vessel is taking the cargo, including mustard gas and components of the nerve agents VX and sarin, to international waters to be destroyed.
The materials were transferred from a Danish vessel to the US ship earlier on Wednesday, at the port of Gioia Tauro.
Syria agreed to the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile last year.
The deal - backed by the UN and brokered by the US and Russia - was struck amid the threat of US air strikes, triggered by a sarin gas attack on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.
The shipment marks the closing phases in the operation to destroy Syria's toxic arsenal.
The Danish vessel, Ark Futara, docked on Wednesday morning, carrying the materials and accompanied by Italian coast guard ships and a military helicopter.
The transfer of the cargo to the US ship was completed amid tight security, with access roads to the port sealed off.
Cranes were seen lifting large containers on to the US navy ship, MV Cape Ray.
The US vessel is equipped with a plant where the bulk of the chemicals can be neutralised by the process of hydrolysis.
During hydrolysis, the chemical agents are broken down with hot water and then further neutralised with sodium hydroxide - also known as caustic soda or lye.
The BBC's Rome correspondent, Alan Johnston, says this process will only begin after the American ship has steamed far out to the sea - because of its hazardous cargo.
Any remaining waste is expected to be buried on land, in purpose-built facilities.
Italy's Environment Minister, Gian Luca Galletti, said on Twitter that he was proud of his country's "contribution to international security", adding that the operation at Gioia Tauro was transparent and environmentally safe.
However, a trade unionist at the port told AFP he was concerned about the transfer. "This is not a routine operation, it's a military operation and we are very worried," Domenico Macri said.
"If there's an accident, a container breaks or falls, the substances which would come out could do serious damage," he said. | A US ship carrying deadly material from Syria's chemical weapons programme has left Italy in the final phases of the destruction of the arsenal. | 28125684 |
England struggled to break Slovakia's resistance in this opening World Cup qualifier - even when they were reduced to 10 men after captain Martin Skrtel's 57th-minute dismissal for a foul on Harry Kane.
Allardyce claimed before the game that he might be satisfied with a draw against a Slovakian side who shut England out in a 0-0 group-stage draw at Euro 2016 - but that would not have been the case had they failed to profit from their numerical advantage in Trnava.
Lallana had been England's best hope of a goal as he struck the post and forced a fine save from Slovakia keeper Matus Kozacik before his decisive intervention seconds from the final whistle.
Liverpool's midfield man had failed to score in his 26 previous England appearances but snatched the winner here as his low shot squeezed under Kozacik just as Slovakia thought they had survived a spell of sustained pressure near the end.
Lallana's winner sparked scenes of wild celebration on England's bench - but this was as much out of relief as any other emotion. Nothing can disguise that this was a largely pedestrian and colourless display until a late surge of pressure against a tiring Slovakia side without key defender Skrtel following his deserved red card.
England often laboured and it took until the 65th minute to muster their first shot on target through captain Wayne Rooney, a reflection of their failure to capitalise on superiority when measured in territory and possession.
Too often, this performance offered up a painful reminder of the flaws England demonstrated at Euro 2016, with striker Kane not only short of confidence - and buffeted throughout by Skrtel before his red card - but also starved of decent support and supply.
It is, however, a time for realism. This is an England team who left France in humiliation in the summer. Those ills were never going to be cured in 90 minutes.
For all the faults on display, this was a crucial if very unspectacular win - a very small building block in restoring confidence.
Allardyce suggested before the game that captain Rooney would be restored to a more offensive role here in Trnava and that the experiment of using him in midfield, a ploy that became a narrative throughout Roy Hodgson's dismal Euro 2016 campaign, was over.
And yet here he was, back in midfield with Eric Dier and Jordan Henderson as a defensive shield - often dropping far too deep to make any real impact.
Allardyce's strident defence of Rooney's ability and selfless team ethic showed how much he admires the 30-year-old Manchester United captain but it was noticeable England had more drive once Dele Alli was introduced into the number 10 role.
It is early days for Allardyce, and he is clearly counting on Rooney after confirming him as his captain. It remains to be seen, though, whether Rooney is used again in midfield or whether this was simply a decision taken for a potentially hazardous opening qualifier.
After the game, Allardyce said it is "not for me to say where to play Wayne Rooney", adding that "he did play a little deeper than I thought he'd play today".
Media playback is not supported on this device
England's opening match under Allardyce was greeted with cries of "same old same old" from social media observers - and even those of us watching from close quarters in Trnava would have trouble making a case to the contrary.
Henderson still looks short of England class, Raheem Sterling worked hard to little effect and Kane's struggles continued until he was mercifully substituted.
And yet it is unrealistic - as well as unfair on Allardyce - to suggest he can simply stroll into the wreckage of Euro 2016 and put matters right in a matter of days.
Yes, England might have benefited from the presence of Manchester United teenager Marcus Rashford as an option from the bench and Allardyce's reluctance to use Jamie Vardy surprised some, although the Leicester City striker's strength is on the counter rather than against the blanket Slovakian defence we saw here.
It is the start of a new regime and anyone expecting Allardyce to apply an instant fix is living in the realms of fantasy.
England's rehabilitation will take time. Allardyce and the Football Association will take this win all day long after the pain of France.
England's next match will be Sam Allardyce's first on home turf as his side play Malta in another 2018 World Cup qualifier on 8 October.
Match ends, Slovakia 0, England 1.
Second Half ends, Slovakia 0, England 1.
Tomas Hubocan (Slovakia) is shown the yellow card.
Adam Lallana (England) is shown the yellow card for excessive celebration.
Goal! Slovakia 0, England 1. Adam Lallana (England) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.
Foul by John Stones (England).
Jan Durica (Slovakia) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Matús Kozácik (Slovakia) because of an injury.
Offside, England. Daniel Sturridge tries a through ball, but Theo Walcott is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Daniel Sturridge (England) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Kyle Walker.
Offside, England. Wayne Rooney tries a through ball, but Theo Walcott is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Adam Lallana (England) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by John Stones.
Dele Alli (England) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Frantisek Kubik (Slovakia).
Attempt blocked. Wayne Rooney (England) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Daniel Sturridge.
Substitution, England. Daniel Sturridge replaces Harry Kane.
Attempt blocked. Dele Alli (England) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Danny Rose.
John Stones (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Frantisek Kubik (Slovakia).
Substitution, Slovakia. Filip Kiss replaces Dusan Svento.
Attempt blocked. Harry Kane (England) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt saved. Adam Lallana (England) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by John Stones.
Attempt missed. Theo Walcott (England) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left.
Adam Lallana (England) hits the left post with a left footed shot from outside the box. Assisted by Wayne Rooney.
Foul by Kyle Walker (England).
Tomas Hubocan (Slovakia) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Slovakia. Frantisek Kubik replaces Robert Mak.
Attempt missed. Wayne Rooney (England) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high from a direct free kick.
Substitution, England. Theo Walcott replaces Raheem Sterling.
Dele Alli (England) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Jan Durica (Slovakia).
Attempt blocked. Harry Kane (England) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Dele Alli.
Attempt blocked. Dele Alli (England) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Wayne Rooney.
Corner, England. Conceded by Norbert Gyömbér.
Corner, England. Conceded by Matús Kozácik.
Attempt saved. Raheem Sterling (England) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Eric Dier.
Corner, England. Conceded by Tomas Hubocan.
Attempt saved. Wayne Rooney (England) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Danny Rose.
Foul by Wayne Rooney (England). | Adam Lallana spared England's embarrassment with an injury-time strike as Sam Allardyce's reign started with victory in Slovakia. | 37207681 |
John McIntyre, 51, attacked 39-year-old Alison Lyons when she found him standing in her bedroom at the flat in Greenock, Inverclyde, in August.
He also stabbed Ms Lyons' work-mate, 20-year-old Matthew Power.
At the High Court in Glasgow, McIntyre was jailed after he admitted assaulting the pair to the danger of their life.
Judge Lord Turnbull jailed McIntyre for what he called "serious conduct".
The court heard how McIntyre slipped into the flat while Ms Lyons and two guests were asleep.
When she awoke and realised he was there, she asked him what he was doing.
McIntyre, from Greenock, then stabbed her twice in the stomach with a vegetable knife taken from her kitchen drawer.
He then climbed on top of Mr Power and struck him with the blade before feeling from the flat.
Ms Lyons suffered a punctured bowel and her gall bladder had to be eventually removed.
Mr Power suffered wounds to his chest and wrist. Medics discovered the knife had come within millimetres of his heart.
McIntyre later handed himself into police having been identified as the attacker. | A man who stabbed his former partner after he turned up uninvited to her flat-warming party has been jailed for five years and four months. | 30520165 |
The lorry was travelling along Osmaston Road when it collided with Suzey Fletcher's car, pushing it into the front of her house.
The terrace property was severely damaged and Ms Fletcher said she has "lost everything".
Since then, the family has been living in temporary accommodation.
The family has been living in temporary accommodation since the crash while the council tries to find a long term solution.
Ms Fletcher said after five weeks, she and her family were desperate to find somewhere to call home and to get some normality back into their lives.
She said their car, house and possessions had all been lost in the the crash.
Describing the crash, she said: "There was an absolutely horrendous bang, I went into the hallway to see what the noise was and there was just smoke, fuel and dust, it was horrendous."
She said she then got out the back of the property by climbing over the wall.
Luckily, her children were at school at the time, she added. | A mother in Derby says she needs somewhere for her six children to call home after a lorry crashed into their house five weeks ago. | 34715369 |
But you've probably never seen one of these...
Yep, that's right. Google Street View has evolved into "Camel Cam".
The trial in the United Arab Emirates' Liwa Desert has made it possible for each and every one of us to carry out a virtual tour of those sandy dunes from the comfort of our own homes.
The company says using using camels meant they could take "authentic imagery" with minimal disruption to the environment.
Street View now covers parts of around 230 countries.
But the project's had its fair share of controversies since it started in 2007.
When it launched in the UK, many people were appalled at what they saw as an invasion of their privacy by a Big Brother American business.
In the village of Broughton, near Milton Keynes, residents chased a Street View car away and accused Google of trying to peer through their windows.
In Germany, the reaction was much stronger, with entire streets blanked out as residents rebelled against the idea.
The company responded by saying "it's not like we are driving in one place at one time, it's not like a camera is pointing at you all the time".
In 2010 it also came out that some of the cars had been collecting data from unsecured wi-fi networks and that some emails and passwords were accidentally downloaded.
The company apologised and promised to learn from what had happened.
But at least one thing Google can rely on this time, surely there won't be any such complaints in the desert.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Most of us have seen one of these at some point... | 29540190 |
The 52-year-old woman was initially treated for a heart attack by paramedics at a house in Lees Street, Manchester, at about 05:40 BST.
But doctors discovered she had a neck injury after an examination at hospital and then sedated her.
A 34-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assault.
She remains in police custody. | A woman has been left in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a serious neck injury in a suspected assault. | 28913155 |
His absence could prompt a recall for Sam Byram, while Andre Ayew is expected to start in attack after scoring as a substitute at Bournemouth last weekend.
Leicester midfielder Nampalys Mendy remains a doubt with a knee injury.
Danny Drinkwater is available despite ruling himself out of England duty because of a minor ongoing injury, believed to be a groin problem.
Alistair Mann: "Thoughts of Atletico Madrid will somehow have to be discarded as Leicester have four demanding league fixtures before they can once again indulge in a little fantasy football.
"If the Foxes aren't careful, they could find themselves remembered as the first Champions League quarter-finalists (and, who knows, maybe further than that!) to be relegated in the same campaign.
"It's away from home where their season has particularly imploded, winless on their travels in more than a year and with just three points accumulated on the road.
"Hosts West Ham are by no means completely clear of trouble yet either, with results in their inaugural season in the London Stadium of particular concern. It all points to a fixture that's simply brimming with possibilities."
Twitter: @alistairmann01
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: "Leicester is a different team from four weeks ago. They really played extremely well, especially against Sevilla, when they got a great result for them and for English football in general.
"In all those three games, against Liverpool, against Hull and against Sevilla, they looked lively - and of course those kind of results, three wins on the spin including qualifying for the quarter-final of the Champions League, has given them a massive boost."
Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare: "I haven't banned talk of the Champions League but after the [Sevilla] game the focus, what I wanted, has been on West Ham.
"The talk straight after the game was to improve the away record. We want to move away from (the relegation zone) because it is tight down there but we can't look too far ahead."
West Ham are on a poor run of four games without a win and I think Leicester's revival will continue.
Prediction: 0-2
Lawro's full predictions v boxer Anthony Crolla
Head-to-head
West Ham United
Leicester City
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. | West Ham captain Mark Noble has been ruled out of Saturday's game against Leicester because of a dead leg. | 39240120 |
The plans will unite three existing sites with ageing buildings into a new building at Parc Y Werin.
Many Gorseinon residents have opposed the new school being built there.
"We've handed petitions into the Senedd and Swansea City Council, with well over 3,000 signatures", said former Welsh international footballer Leighton James, who grew up using the park.
Local residents claim that the park is the only public open space with sports pitches in the town.
About 6.5% of the park will be covered by the new building, with new pitches being created for the school set to be available for community use, the planning committee was told.
The plans were narrowly passed by the planning committee, with 6 in favour and 5 against.
"This has never been about losing Parc y Werin because the park is not being lost," said Rob Stewart, council leader.
"The new school will help protect and enhance the park and provide additional benefits for the whole community for play, recreation and sport." | Swansea council has approved controversial plans for a new £6m primary school in Gorseinon. | 35052210 |
Plenty of half-truths (and outright non-truths) were uttered during the Clinton-Trump debate last week, and Tuesday's Kaine-Pence head-to-head saw outright denial of statements that had been made on the record - and on camera.
ABC's Martha Raddatz and CNN's Anderson Cooper, who will moderate the second presidential debate on Sunday, face a sizeable challenge. Will they manage to respond correctly to any lapses in truth-telling by the candidates?
One man has some advice for them.
Joe Navarro estimates that he conducted 13,000 interviews while working for the FBI, during which plenty of people tried to mislead him.
Before his retirement in 2003, he also taught advanced counterterrorism interview techniques for the bureau. The man knows how to weed out the truth: so what does he think?
"The difficult thing about lying is we all do it, and we have all done it from a very early age," Navarro says. "As a species, we are very deceptive - if you want your mother's attention, you might pretend you hurt yourself."
The way a sentence is framed may hint whether a lie is being peddled, but so may the way it is delivered.
"If you ask a question, does it cause some sort of psychological discomfort, and if it does, how does it manifest in the body?
"The body reveals in real time your psychological discomfort. Do they purse their lips? Do they begin to touch their neck? Do they increase their smoking?"
Neither candidate is likely to light up, though - neither smokes, and all buildings at Washington University in St Louis, which is hosting the debate, are no-smoking zones.
"What we tried to do is to start with open questions," says Navarro, now an author and public speaker. "'What's your experience of this?' 'What do you think about this?' You hold back that which you are certain about.
"I would allow them to say whatever they want, and once they have said it, cut them off sharp and say 'No, that is not accurate, that doesn't match up with the truth, and here's why.'
"By cutting them off sharp, what in essence you are doing is putting them at a psychological disadvantage that they, thus far, have not had."
"You don't want to create an atmosphere - but journalists have a responsibility not to tolerate nonsense. At some point, you have to make clear you are not going to tolerate this and that this is a serious session."
One suggestion Navarro has is for the moderators, when presented with a lie, to insist on not moving forward until that fact is clarified. Doing so would shake up the candidates keen to say as much as possible while the clock is ticking.
"Such a dramatic challenge would be revolutionary," he says.
"You have to remember, when you are dealing with high-status individuals there is a lot of narcissism, self-entitlement and being used to not being challenged, putting other people down," Navarro says.
"Even the most favourable ones have some of that. Confront them with the facts. With narcissists, they don't know how to handle that, so they come back with rage. The smart person will try to find another answer.
"But what I have found is that moderators are ill-prepared with the facts to make the challenge, and that they are worried about fighting the clock."
The key, Navarro says, is to not be ruled by emotion - the calmest person is likely to come out on top.
"The moderators will be as much on trial as the candidates themselves. People are wondering what they are going to tolerate." | Debate season has arrived, giving fact-checkers plenty of work. | 37432146 |
Halifax's annual pocket money survey, which involved more than 1,200 children and 575 parents, found on average children got £6.55 - the highest level since the credit crisis began in 2007.
But while parents gave boys aged between eight and 15 an average of £6.93 a week, girls got £6.16.
Boys were also more likely to complain and ask for more, the survey said.
The 13% difference is up from just 2% last year, Halifax said.
The survey found about 40% of children thought they should be given more money - but boys were more likely than girls to complain and think their parents should give them a rise.
Claudia Hammond, psychologist and author of Mind Over Money, said the attitude reflected adult behaviour.
"Like with men and women, it might be that boys are asking for money more. It's interesting that in the survey, the boys think they deserve more money as well," she said.
"Also, what is going on with the parents here? It's unlikely you've got twins where there's a boy and a girl and the parents have decided to pay them different amounts.
"These are all averages and so it does mean that people are making very different decisions without maybe having kids of both genders and deciding perhaps that the boys need more - which is interesting.
"I think parents will be surprised and probably don't realise they are doing this."
London children receive the highest amount of pocket money with youngsters in East Anglia getting the least, according to Halifax.
Children are also becoming savvy savers, the research suggests, with a rise in the number of children putting cash aside up to 79% from 70% in 2015.
Almost one in eight (12%) now save all of it, up from 10% last year.
But they might be taking their lead from parents, with nine in 10 saying they encourage their children to save some of their pocket money.
The annual study - which has been compiled by Halifax since 1987 - shows that parents, on average, start giving their children pocket money between the ages of six and seven.
Giles Martin, head of Halifax Savings, said: "It's reassuring to see that the average weekly amount has reached a nine-year high.
"It's likely it'll be a few more years until we reach the dizzy heights of £8.37 in 2005 though, when we saw the highest average pocket money since our records began." | Boys received 13% more weekly pocket money than girls in the past year, a survey suggests. | 36440161 |
It emerged on Sunday that the Team Sky rider has been notified of a potential discrepancy in his biological passport.
He raced for Endura prior to joining Sky in October 2012.
Endura defended their anti-doping policy, one they stressed Tiernan-Locke has been fully compliant with.
They said in a statement: "Endura Racing's culture has always been entirely at odds with cheating in any form including the use of PEDs [Performance Enhancing Drugs] and nothing in Jonathan Tiernan-Locke's conduct during his 2012 season with the team gave rise to concerns that his approach was at odds with this in any way."
Tiernan-Locke enjoyed the best year of his career in 2012, winning the Tour Mediterraneen and Tour du Haut Var early in the season, before becoming the first British winner of the Tour of Britain in 19 years last September.
But a report in France raised doubts over his performances early in the season, prompting Endura and Tiernan-Locke to make a request to the International Cycling Union for the Devon rider to be put on a biological passport.
As a UCI Continental-level team, Endura were not part of the UCI's biological passport scheme.
"Endura, with the full support of Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, made a request to the UCI to be allowed to pay to have him put on a biological passport in order to counter the rumours of performance enhancing drugs that circulated after his wins in Tour Mediterraneen and Tour du Haut Var in 2012," the team added.
"However this request was refused by the UCI."
An individual, electronic record for each rider, in which results of all doping tests are collated. Passport for each rider contains:
Source: UCI
Endura also said that Tiernan-Locke was made available to both Team Garmin-Sharp and Team Sky in April and May last year - two teams who had shown interest in him - for physiological testing and no adverse results were reported.
They also added that irregularities in biological passport data can be caused by tiredness and ill health.
"At this early stage, without detailed information, it would be inappropriate to speculate on the reasons for inconsistencies in Jonathan Tiernan-Locke's biological passport data," Endura said.
"It is known that there are many possible legitimate causes including fatigue and ill-health, both of which we understand he has suffered from in the last year." | British cyclist Jonathan Tiernan-Locke wanted to undergo extra testing to counter rumours of performance-enhancing drug use after wins in 2012, his former team has said. | 24344429 |
The feasibility report, commissioned by the charity Crisis, looked at piloting the Housing First support system aimed at reducing homelessness.
Finding people a home "improves well-being" and is more cost-effective than hostel placements, it said.
LCR Mayor Steve Rotheram said it could "change how we tackle homelessness".
The study, funded by the UK government and the charity Housing First, said the "current system is failing some of the most vulnerable homeless people, who often struggle with the rules and conditions, stress, and lack of security in hostels".
It said they needed "higher levels of support as a result of poor mental health, substance misuse, physical or learning disabilities or a history of offending".
Adopting the Housing First scheme could save LCR between £1.18m and £4.02m annually by 2023/24, the report claims.
It estimated LCR - which includes Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, Wirral and the Cheshire borough of Halton - would have to spend about £12,600 per user annually if implemented.
The study by the charity Crisis and others found that in April this year more than 500 people in the Liverpool city region had been using homeless services for a year.
Of these, 15-20 were considered long-term rough sleepers in Liverpool itself, the council said.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: "For the most vulnerable rough sleepers, the best approach is to support people into a stable home of their own as soon as possible and shape personalised support around them."
Along with LCR mayor Steve Rotheram, he called on the UK government to consider the "radical new approach", which has been used in Scotland, Denmark, Finland, France, Canada and the US.
Mr Rotheram said: "I recognise the enormously valuable work being done by agencies... but as this report makes clear, there are limitations to the current system, which mean that all too often the most vulnerable rough sleepers are falling through the cracks."
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said the study provided "valuable evidence for consideration by our new Homelessness Reduction Task Force". | Providing long-term rough-sleepers with a place of their own could save the Liverpool City Region (LCR) up to £4m a year, a study has found. | 40583017 |
West Mercia Police admitted failings over its previous dealings with Jamie Reynolds, who was later jailed for hanging 17-year-old Georgia Williams.
The force called in the police watchdog because Jason Conroy allegedly throttled a teacher in March 2013.
He was later jailed for strangling 18-year-old Melissa Mathieson in Bristol.
A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said: "We received a referral from West Mercia Police in January 2015.
"It concerned the police handling of allegations made against Jason Conroy in connection with an incident in Shropshire in March 2013.
"The IPCC investigation was paused due to the criminal prosecution of Mr Conroy but has now resumed following his convictions."
Reynolds, described in court as having morbid sexual fantasies, tried to strangle a girl in 2008, before going on to hang Georgia five years later.
The force and social services were criticised in a serious case review last week after it emerged they knew about the earlier attack.
A subsequent investigation resulted in misconduct meetings for four officers and a member of police staff.
Reynolds is now serving a rare whole-life term in prison after a judge said he had the potential to become a serial killer.
Conroy allegedly throttled a teacher at a school in Shropshire in March 2013, but it was not reported to police at the time.
A West Mercia Police spokesman said: "Police were made aware of the incident several months later as an officer attended the address for a separate matter."
It is understood the officer advised the victim no action could be taken as a time limit had passed.
Conroy, 18, strangled Melissa Mathieson last year at the Bristol centre where they both lived and was jailed for a minimum of 19 years.
His trial at Bristol Crown Court was told he had indicated as a child he wanted to have sex with a dead woman and he was described as having an "abnormal sexual drive". | A police force criticised for not doing more to stop a porn-obsessed murderer is being investigated over its handling of another man who went on to kill. | 34587161 |
Newport council led a search for the mislaid honour after the service but seven-year-old Ffion had found it outside McDonald's on High Street.
"Ffion picked it up thinking it was a brooch and asked her dad to put it her pocket," said her mother Melanie Ralph.
"When we knew it was the missing MBE, Ffion was incredibly proud to help."
Newport's remembrance parade on 12 November started at High Street at 10:30 GMT and travelled to the war memorial on Clarence Place for a service.
Ffion and her friends from the 10th Newport East (St John's) Brownie group also took part in the commemoration and she found it on her way home.
"Ffion loves brooches and badges and took a shine to it when she saw it on the ground," said Mrs Ralph.
"But we were later told about a Facebook appeal to find a missing MBE, and my husband, Neil, said 'I think that's what Ffion picked up'.
"We didn't know, however, where Ffion had put it and she was asleep, but we asked her when she woke in the middle of the night and Ffion said it was in the car.
"So you can imagine my husband rummaging around in the car in the pitch black in the dead of night looking for someone's prized possession.
"Luckily, he did find it and Ffion was glad she could make someone's day and give the honour back." | A Newport girl has said she is "incredibly proud" to have reunited a lost MBE brooch with its owner after it was lost at a remembrance parade. | 37990255 |
3 July 2017 Last updated at 10:33 BST
It's made an ash cloud that reaches 2,000 metres above the volcano's crater.
That's more than five times the height of the Empire State Building in New York!
A huge crater is created on top of the volcano after the first eruption blows the top of it off.
People living nearby have been given advice about how to protect themselves from the ash.
There are more than 3,000 volcanoes in Mexico, but only 14 are considered to be active. | Popocatepetl is a big volcano in Mexico and it's been erupting since Saturday - throwing lots of ash, water vapour and gas into the air. | 40478185 |
Joan Daws, 64, was pinned to the wall of the lift by a weighing chair at The Laleham care home in Herne Bay, Kent in October 2013.
KCRH Limited ran the home and admitted health and safety failings before Canterbury magistrates in February.
Fining the firm, Judge James O'Mahony said at times justice fell short as no amount of money could bring her back.
He said the court was "not a perfect place for justice in such cases".
"If I were to impose a fine of millions it would not bring her back and I am profoundly sorry for the family," he told Canterbury Crown Court earlier.
The care home has changed ownership since the death of Mrs Daws.
Live: More news from Kent
She became trapped in the lift while moving a chair used to weigh patients.
In 2015 an inquest jury found her death could have been avoided if a lift safety sensor had been in place at the time.
The inquest was told Mrs Daws screamed as the equipment became caught and the lift descended through the floors.
The court heard the lift had been installed in 1972 and KCRH chose not to install a safety sensor offered by the lift servicing company in April 2002 that would have halted the lift in the event of a problem.
Judge O'Mahony said the state of the lift was "a long-standing and systemic failure of duty of care" towards the staff and any lift users on the part of KCRH.
Speaking after the hearing earlier, Mrs Daws' family said the pain of her death remained with them every day.
Her daughter, Amanda Fuller, said: "Nothing will bring my mum back.
"Their negligence caused her death and I hope that pains them every day."
Her son, Simon Daws, added: "It's deeply upsetting to realise that the opportunities were there to stop this accident happening." | The former owners of a care home, where a worker was fatally crushed in a lift, have been fined £60,000. | 39748520 |
Alistair Patrick Llewelyn made a brief appearance at a magistrate's court in central Kenya after handing himself in at a police station on Tuesday.
The film of the alleged assault has been widely shared on social media.
Mr Llewelyn had been transporting Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto shortly before the incident happened.
In a packed court in Engineer town, the pilot appeared calm as he denied the charges of assault and creating a disturbance, the BBC's Robert Kiptoo reports.
He has now been remanded in custody and will make his next court appearance on Monday.
The deputy president had been flown by Mr Llewelyn to Nyunyu Njeru in Nyandarua county, in central Kenya, on Sunday, where he attended a church service.
The pilot was filmed approaching a policewoman and shouting at her that she is not doing her job by failing to control a crowd that was milling around the helicopter.
The policewoman's response is not audible.
The pilot then grabs her baton, swears at her and moments later shoves her.
Mr Ruto described the incident as "unacceptable and regrettable".
The deputy president had been flown by Mr Llewelyn to Nyunyu Njeru in Nyandarua county, in central Kenya, on Sunday, where he attended a church service. | The pilot filmed pushing a Kenyan policewoman who failed to stop people crowding round his helicopter has denied committing assault. | 35649707 |
Kuchar, 37, winner of the event in 2013, had gone ahead with four birdies in five holes from the 11th but found a bunker off the tee at the last.
He carded a two-under-par 70 to share the lead with compatriots William McGirt and Gary Woodland on 14 under.
World number one Jason Day is three back, with Rory McIlroy five adrift.
Day, who clinched his third PGA Tour victory of the season at the Players Championship last month, had moved to within one of the lead but his chip at the 18th rolled back past him into the fairway and resulted in a double bogey for a round of 68.
Journeyman McGirt, bidding for his first PGA Tour victory in his 165th career start, put himself in contention with three birdies in the closing five holes in a 64.
Play was suspended for two hours, 29 minutes because of bad weather, but resumed just in time for the final groups to complete their rounds before darkness fell at Muirfield Village.
Thunderstorms are forecast for Sunday afternoon, prompting tournament officials to send the players off in threesomes in the final round. | American Matt Kuchar missed out on the outright lead after bogeying the final hole in the penultimate round of the Memorial Tournament in Ohio. | 36454509 |
Improvised weapons such as sharpened cutlery had been used during fights at Cookham Wood in Rochester, they found.
An unannounced inspection found an increase in the number of boys needing hospital treatment for head injuries.
Prison officials said they had taken measures to improve safety and behaviour since the inspection.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons said that at the time of the inspection in May, Cookham Wood held 166 boys, most aged 16 and 17.
About 10% of the boys had been convicted of or charged with murder or manslaughter.
The number of violent incidents was very high and in the six months leading up to March 2015 there had been 61 assaults and 92 fights, some of which were very serious.
Assaults on staff had almost doubled since the last inspection with 21 in the preceding six months, some resulting in serious injury.
However, the inspectors found levels of self-harm had fallen and health care had improved.
Chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick said Cookham Wood reflected systemic problems across young offenders institutions.
"The welcome fall in the number of children in custody means that those who remain represent a more concentrated mix of very challenging young people, held in a smaller number of establishments that are increasingly unsuitable to meet their needs, and cared for by a staff group beset by shortages and a lack of training for their complex and demanding role," he said.
"A much wider political and policy response is needed if we are to fulfil our responsibilities to care for these, our most damaged children, safely and help them to grow into adults who are valued, not feared."
Michael Spurr, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, said: "Cookham Wood manages an increasingly complex group of boys.
"Since the inspection, staff numbers have increased; a new education contract has been introduced; staff have been trained in new restraint techniques and safeguarding measures have been strengthened, all of which have had a positive impact on safety and behaviour.
"Tackling violence and providing a safe environment remains the governor's biggest challenge and top priority and work will continue to improve standards even further." | Prison inspectors have expressed concerns about levels of serious violence directed at staff and inmates at a Kent young offenders institution. | 34318879 |
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Rhys Patchell's penalties put the Blues 6-0 up but a Jack Conan try helped the home side move 10-6 up with Isa Nacewa moving beyond 400 points for Leinster.
Another Patchell penalty cut the lead to 10-9 by the break and his two further kicks put the Blues 15-13 up.
But Nacewa's third penalty and a late penalty try proved enough for Leinster.
After retaking the lead with Nacewa's 65th-minute penalty, Leinster dominated the next 12 minutes of action and the clinching penalty try came after Blues skipper Josh Navidi had been sin-binned for coming in from the side as the home side were camped on the visitors' line.
Four-times champions Leinster opened their campaign last weekend with a 16-9 defeat in Edinburgh with the Blues earning a 61-13 bonus-point win over perennial Pro12 struggles Zebre.
Patchell's two early penalties gave the Blues a 6-0 advantage at the RDS with his second effort from just inside his own half.
However, Leinster, minus their 16 Ireland World Cup squad members, regrouped to dominate possession with flanker Josh van der Flier and centre Ben Te'o both particularly prominent.
Veteran Nacewa's first penalty brought up his 400 points for the Irish province and they were ahead by the 16th minute as Conan burrowed his way over after a break by the lively Te'o.
Nacewa's conversion increased Leinster's lead but the Blues produced remarkable discipline to withstand further pressure and then snatched three points before the break as Patchell slotted another long-range penalty.
After having 76% of the first-half possession, Leinster increased their lead to 13-9 thanks to a second Nacewa penalty but the visitors continued to show great resolve as two Patchell penalties put them 15-13 up.
At that stage, a remarkable rearguard action win appeared on for the visitors but Leinster reasserted themselves in the closing 15 minutes as Nacewa's third penalty was followed by their clinching penalty try following Navidi's 75th-minute sin-binning.
Leinster were already camped on the line when the Blues skipper was yellow carded and from the resultant line-out, another maul ended up with referee Ben Whitehouse signalling the penalty try, which Nacewa converted.
Patchell attempted to snatch a losing bonus point with a late ambitious drop-goal attempt but was off target.
TEAMS
Leinster: Isa Nacewa (capt); Garry Ringrose, Ben Te'o, Noel Reid, Fergus McFadden; Cathal Marsh, Luke McGrath; Michael Bent, Aaron Dundon, Jamie Hagan; Ross Molony, Mike McCarthy; Dominic Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Cian Kelleher for McFadden 61, Isaac Boss for McGrath 55, Peter Dooley for Bent 76, Bryan Byrne for Dundon 60, Royce Burke-Flynn for Hagan 48, Tadhg Beirne for McCarthy 76, Daniel Leavy for van der Flier 76
Not Used: R. Byrne.
Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Aled Summerhill, Tom Isaacs, Gavin Evans, Owen Jenkins; Rhys Patchell, Tavis Knoyle; Sam Hobbs, Kristian Dacey, Craig Mitchell; Jarrad Hoeata, James Down; Josh Turnbull, Josh Navidi (capt), Manoa Vosawai
Replacements: Lewis Jones for Knoyle 71, Gareth Davies for Hobbs 69, Scott Andrews for Mitchell 70, Lou Reed for Down 68, Ethan Jenkins for Vosawai 42
Not Used: Ethan Lewis, Thomas Davies, Garyn Smith.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Assistant Referees: Eddie Hogan-O'Connell, Jonathan Peak (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Peter Ferguson (IRFU)
TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU) | Leinster earned their first win of the Pro12 season but had to battle hard to beat Cardiff Blues despite dominating possession for most of the contest. | 34223616 |
The Midlands stands to lose six MPs and 63,400 voters in two separate, but not entirely unconnected, projects to redesign and reconstruct our electoral machinery. We are told both are aimed at fairer voting. Campaigners warn they could have the opposite effect.
First, the review of our constituency map.
The Boundary Commission for England has started work on radically redesigning it as part of the government's drive to reduce the number of MPs by 50 to 600.
It also aims to iron out some of the disparities in the sizes of constituencies so each has no fewer than 71,031 and no more than Why equal votes are an unequal struggle78,507 voters.
This would bring them up to date with population shifts, otherwise known as 'the demographics'', to make sure a vote cast in any one constituency weighs more or less the same as one cast in any other.
In the process, even in this smaller Parliament, it is estimated to be worth up to 20 more seats to the Conservatives as the number of constituencies in urban areas with falling populations is reduced and the number in surrounding suburbs and shires where populations are growing, is increased.
But critics warn this 'snapshot' effect may itself be misleading: populations in some urban areas such as inner city Birmingham are now rising fast.
Some of our most hotly-contested marginal 'see-saw' seats are bound to be redrawn: Wolverhampton South West, which Labour's Rob Marris reclaimed from the Conservatives at the last election, has an electorate of just 57,301. Gloucester, a Labour seat through three successive general elections, has been held by the Conservatives Richard Graham since 2010: it has an electorate of very nearly 80,000.
The case for at least a measure of standardisation would appear unanswerable. But how exactly it takes effect is proving increasingly controversial.
Many of our key seats look set either to disappear altogether or to undergo fundamental alterations when the Boundary Commission for England publishes its proposals in the Autumn. Already there is speculation that this could be the opportunity for local Labour activists to 'purge' MPs who have spoken out against Jeremy Corbyn: Tristram Hunt (Stoke Central), Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East) and Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) are among the prominent names being bandied about.
The Commission's Secretary, Tom Hartley said: "We will need the help of residents in all regions to ensure our proposals take account of local ties and best reflect the geography on the ground."
And that's where the two separate electoral projects I mentioned earlier begin to interact.
The other factor in play here is known as Individual Electoral Registration or IER, which was vigorously opposed by campaigning organisations including the Labour Party.
It warned it would lead to millions of people disappearing from the electoral rolls altogether: people such as students or others living in multi-occupancy accommodation who had until now been registered among lists of voters.
The government said making voters register as individuals would deal with anomalies such as the 'phantom voters' who still appeared on the lists even though they had moved away or died.
But campaigners were suspicious. They said you didn't need to be obsessed with conspiracy theories to see a Tory plot to remove predominantly Labour-supporting voters including students from the electoral register.
And now from the Office for National Statistics come the figures which show that there has indeed been a 1.5% fall in the number of people registered to vote here in the Midlands, down from 4,363,741 to 4,300,343. Falling numbers are reported in 47 of our 63 constituencies.
What's more, the two seats witnessing the biggest falls both have significant student populations: in Birmingham Selly Oak, adjoining the University of Birmingham. the electorate is down by 6.7% and Newcastle-under-Lyme, home to Keele University, has seen a fall of 4.6%.
The "Hope not Hate" campaigner John Page describes it as "the biggest single act of electoral disenfranchisement in our history".
When I interviewed him on the "Sunday Politics" recently, he wondered: "Why on earth would the government want to do a boundary review based on undercounting of voters? We will be stuck for a generation with the number of votes at 1st December 2015 when everyone knows that's under-representation."
Now that the electoral numbers have been duly crunched, published and the boundary review put under way, we'll be returning to this in our programme this weekend.
Joining me in the studio will be two MPs who have witnessed more than their share of constituency boundary upheavals on their own home turf.
The Attorney General, Jeremy Wright must have one of the most chequered constituency histories of any of our MPs. When he was first elected in 2005 he was the Conservative MP for Rugby and Kenilworth. But in 2010 with boundaries redrawn he switched to Kenilworth and Southam. Now it is set to be redesigned yet again, straddling the border between Warwickshire and the West Midlands as the new seat of Kenilworth and Dorridge.
Steve McCabe was elected Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green in 1997. But after the 2010 boundary changes he switched to the Selly Oak seat which, as we have seen, is home to thousands of students and where the biggest fall in the electorate has been reported after Individual Voter Registration.
Also joining us will be Mick Temple, Professor of Politics at Staffordshire University to explain the political significance of the changes and their effects on the student communities with whom he works.
And I hope you can join us too. That's "Sunday Politics Midlands", BBC One, this Sunday 6 March 2016. | Suddenly it's politics by numbers: predominantly negative numbers. | 35691125 |
Critics argue that the sport is directly contributing to a rapid fall in the number of hen harriers, an endangered species of raptors.
The birds prey on red grouse chicks as part of their diet.
Animal rights activists argue that gamekeepers who manage the moors where the birds are reared kill hen harriers to preserve their grouse stocks.
It's thought that there are only three breeding pairs of hen harriers left in England.
Countryside groups and the government say that grouse shooting is a legitimate activity that brings significant benefits to the rural economy.
They also argue that gamekeeper management helps other moorland bird species.
They say that by keeping fox numbers down, other species of birds such as lapwings, curlews and golden plovers are allowed to flourish.
The online petition against grouse shooting has been organised by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), the wildlife presenter Chris Packham and environmental campaigner Dr Mark Avery.
In a statement, the LACS said: "Momentum against grouse shooting is surging amid reports of continued raptor persecution and environmental damage linked to intensively managed grouse moors … the petition looks set to reach 100,000 signatures - which could trigger a debate in parliament."
Jeff Knott, head of nature policy at the RSPB said that the illegal killing of birds of prey "tarred the reputation of every grouse moor estate and every shooter."
"There are also serious concerns about the environmental damage caused by other management practices these moors increasingly rely on, such as the draining and vegetation burning of the natural landscape, and the large scale killing of mountain hares."
The organisation recently pulled out of the governments' Hen Harrier Action Plan which attempted to reach an agreement between parties on both sides of the debate.
The RSPB said it "failed to deliver the urgent action needed". It now wants a licensing scheme to be introduced.
The Countryside Alliance argues that grouse shooting has huge benefits for the rural economy.
"With £100m invested annually in conservation by grouse shoots in England, Wales and Scotland the Glorious Twelfth is indeed a glorious day," they said in a statement, referring to the date that the season opens.
"Grouse shooting brings many benefits to the countryside in terms of conservation and the economy.
"Landscape-scale conservation means internationally threatened wader species are 3.5 times more likely to raise a chick to fledging on moors managed by gamekeepers and with tens of millions of pounds invested in remote rural communities every year by moorland managers and travelling grouse shooters the Glorious Twelfth is a day for the shooting community to be proud."
There is no sign that the government intends to alter the law. In its response to the online petition, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the government is "working with key interested parties to ensure the sustainable management of uplands, balancing environmental and economic benefits, which includes the roles of sustainable grouse shooting."
The red grouse and hen harrier issue inspires deep emotions in those interested in rural affairs. The former international cricketer Sir Ian Botham, who leads the Don't Forget the Birds campaign, says that the RSPB position is "allowing foxes to kill birds."
Sir Ian and the wildlife presenter Chris Packham are engaged in a bitter public row.
Mr Packham has called for Marks and Spencer and Iceland not to stock red grouse, saying it is "toxic".
Sir Ian has responded by saying that "the best friends of Britain's endangered wild birds are gamekeepers," and that Mr Packham should "spend more time with the birds and away from the cameras."
The grouse shooting season runs from August 12th to December 10th.
In June, the National Trust banned shooting on land it owns in Derbyshire.
Follow Claire on Twitter @BBCMarshall. | More than 80,000 people have signed an online petition calling for a ban on grouse shooting as the season starts. | 37049675 |
The Electoral Commission confirmed it has now received two invoices for the monument, which listed the party's election pledges, totalling £7,830.
They include £1,575 haulage costs, and £270 for a stone mason to erect it.
Labour blamed an "admin error" for failing to submit the invoices before data of 2015 election spending by all the parties was revealed this week.
Much of the subsequent reporting of the various parties' election campaign spending highlighted that the "Ed Stone costs" had not been revealed. Labour said there had been an "administrative error" and that it would be quickly rectified.
The Electoral Commission has said it will investigate the late submission.
The maximum sanction the Electoral Commission is able to impose for a breach of the rules is £20,000.
Ed Miliband unveiled the 8ft stone carving on the final weekend of the 2015 General Election campaign, saying that it would be installed in the garden of Downing Street to remind the party of its duty to honour its six main election promises.
The move was met with near universal derision and what happened to what became known as the "Ed Stone" has been unclear. Various unconfirmed reports have suggested it is in a warehouse in London or has been destroyed.
The Electoral Commission told the BBC that it would be looking into the issue of the receipts being submitted late "in line with its policy".
It was unable to confirm how long the investigation might take, saying sometimes it has to go back and ask for more information, and each incident is dealt with on a case by case basis.
Spending on the stone was not included in the Electoral Commission data released on Wednesday.
Labour said at the time: "Due to an administrative error these invoices were not included with other items of campaign spend. We have informed the Electoral Commission and will seek to rectify this error as soon as possible."
Labour spent £12m on the campaign, the watchdog's figures show, compared with £15.5m spent by the Conservatives.
In total, £39m was spent by the UK's six largest parties on the campaign, an increase on the £34.4m spent in 2010 but lower than the record £42m spent in 2005.
Although comfortably outspending Labour over the regulated period - between 23 May 2014 and 7 May 2015 - the Conservatives spent less than in 2010, when their budget was £16.6m. In contrast, Labour spent more than in 2010, when their total outlay was £8m.
A breakdown of the figures show the Conservatives spent 27.7% of their budget on "unsolicited material", such as flyers, and 23.2% on advertising while Labour spent 61% of their budget on "unsolicited material" and 7.6% on advertising.
Unsolicited material: £15.04m
Market research and canvassing: £7.61m
Advertising: £6.86m
Rallies and other events: £2.49m
Overheads and general admin: £2.02m
Transport: £1.67m
Campaign broadcasts: £866,000
Media: £329,713
Manifestos: £318,880
Source: Electoral Commission
Spending on rallies accounted for 13% of Labour's total expenditure compared with the Conservatives' 5% while the Conservatives spent 30.1% of their budget on market research and canvassing, against Labour's 7.7% outlay.
The Conservatives spent £1.2m on advertising on Facebook in the year before the poll while Labour spent just over £16,000.
The figures do not cover some administrative spending, for instance on staff, while spending by individual candidates is reported separately.
The SNP reported the biggest rise in spending compared with 2010, when their expenditure totalled £316,000. In contrast, the Lib Dems' spending fell from £4.7m in 2010 to £3.5m last year.
The UK Independence Party spent £2.8m while the Greens spent £1.1m. UKIP spent the least per vote gained while the SNP spent least per MP won. | The Labour Party is to be investigated for being late in submitting receipts for its widely-mocked "Ed Stone". | 35384041 |
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