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American Noah Lyles, 19, equalled the world-leading time of Wayde van Niekerk by winning in 19.90 seconds.
Lyles' compatriot LaShawn Merritt was second in 20.27, with Gemili crossing in 20.35 after being run down following a fast start.
Elsewhere, Jamaica's Elaine Thompson won the women's 100m in 10.78, which is the fastest time of the year.
Thompson, who won 100m and 200m Olympic gold in Rio, streaked clear to finish ahead of the United States' Tori Bowie (11.04).
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas ran a world-leading time of 49.77 in the 400m, as Britain's Anyika Onuora (53.98) finished last.
There was disappointment for another Briton, high jumper Robbie Grabarz, who cleared his first attempt at a height of 2.20m but went out after three failures at 2.24m.
In the men's long jump, South Africa's Luvo Manyonga set a Diamond League record of 8.61m. | Great Britain's Adam Gemili claimed third place in men's 200m at the Diamond League event in Shanghai. | 39906400 |
Keane Wallis-Bennett, 12, died at Edinburgh's Liberton High School in April 2014 when a changing room wall in a gym collapsed.
The Crown Office said the decision not to prosecute "may be reconsidered" if further evidence came to light.
A fatal accident inquiry will now be held into Keane's death.
No-one else was injured in the incident, which involved a freestanding "modesty wall" in the changing room.
Keane's death was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive and Police Scotland.
Liberton High School, which has about 650 pupils, was built in 1959, and the PE accommodation was refurbished in the mid-1980s.
The gym hall where Keane died has since been demolished, with £2.5m spent on new facilities.
A statement from the Crown Office said: "After giving the case careful consideration, Crown Counsel have concluded, based on the available evidence, that there will be no criminal proceedings brought as a result of the death. Should additional evidence come to light that decision may be reconsidered.
"Crown Counsel have decided that it is in the public interest to hold a fatal accident inquiry to examine the full circumstances surrounding this tragic death to help avoid such an incident happening again in the future.
"The fatal accident inquiry will have an opportunity to consider the safety of internal freestanding walls."
A date has not yet been set for the inquiry. | No criminal proceedings will be brought over the death of a high school pupil who was killed when a wall collapsed onto her, prosecutors have said. | 38092717 |
Do you remember the context? It was the 2010 UK General Election. The Leaders' Debate.
"Nick" refers to Clegg, N, he who led the Liberal Democrats at the time. The vocal agreement came - repeatedly - from Labour's Gordon Brown as he sought to marginalise David Cameron.
In the event, of course, Mr Clegg ended up agreeing with Mr Cameron sufficiently to form a coalition which survived for five years before the Lib Dem leader ended up, with decided reluctance, advising his colleagues to go back to their constituencies to prepare for oblivion.
Things move on, the centre cannot hold. But today in the Scottish Parliament there was a consensual contagion of a rather different kind.
Willie Rennie, he who presently leads the Lib Dems in Scotland, agreed not once but four times with Alex Neil, the Social Justice Secretary.
This level of harmony is so rare that Mr Rennie felt moved to apologise, with a wry smile. More generally, Mr Rennie's remarks caught the tone: a desire to make things work in the interests of the Scottish people.
The topic, with faint irony, was the new welfare powers proposed for Scotland - including the prospect of abolishing the so-called bedroom tax.
Remember that? Willie Rennie certainly does.
When it was introduced by the UK Coalition (part-owner, Nick Clegg), it caused considerable discomfiture to his party in Scotland. To the extent that, in one memorable conference debate in Dundee, only one Scottish Lib Dem hand was raised in support of the policy (still haven't found out who it was - my search continues).
Water under the bridge, however, according to the Scottish Lib Dem leader. Mr Rennie recalled that he had played a role in ensuring that it proved possible for the devolved Scottish Government to fund measures to mitigate the impact of the policy in Scotland.
And, perhaps shivering mentally at the memory, he plainly felt happier aligning himself with Mr Neil's determination to put fairness and dignity at the heart of the new welfare agency which will run eleven benefits due to be devolved to Holyrood.
This measure is the flip side of the tax powers which are due to be implemented from 2017, if feasible.
No firm date yet for the benefit plan but it will certainly be after that tax date, given that Mr Neil has promised legislation to set up the new system by April 2017 - with, inevitably, a period of preparation thereafter.
It was a thoughtful, cautious speech by Mr Neil. Perfectly sensibly, he said that folk didn't want to hear high oratory on this. They wanted benefits, paid on time and in full. That, he said, would be the number one priority.
The Scottish eleven includes, primarily, benefits to help those with disabilities plus carer's allowance, the Sure Start maternity grant, severe weather support and several others. Some £2.7bn expenditure, currently.
There was consensus elsewhere too.
Neil Findlay welcomed the Minister's assurance that the system would aim to treat folk with compassion. Mr Findlay also contrived successfully to place his remarks in an historic and social context, recalling that benefits had first been contemplated "to end destitution".
For the Conservatives, John Lamont had warned over the weekend that over-generous provision might provoke a "benefits stampede".
He eschewed such language today, perhaps responding to the mood in the chamber, while still urging the Scottish government to provide "concrete proposals" on implementation and cost - and noting that the objective should be to "discourage welfare dependency".
Will today's consensus last? No. Nor should it. The offers are beginning to emerge. As well as scrapping the "bedroom tax", Mr Neil promised to increase the carer's allowance to the level of support for jobseekers.
Labour leaders say they'll match that and also offer a full grant to pupils going from care to higher education plus a doubling of the maternity grant.
And the competition over funding grows. Should there be changes to Scottish income tax? If so, at what rate or rates? Paid by whom?
Those and many other related issues will provoke debate between the parties in the run-up to May's election and beyond. Bring it on, as someone once said in a very different context. | Do you remember the phrase "I agree with Nick"? | 35699116 |
The England opener hit 148 as England beat South Africa by 68 runs on 5 July in Bristol, where Tuesday's semi-final will also be played.
Despite victory, England conceded their highest one-day total of 305 runs.
"It is going to be a clean slate on Tuesday with a lot more to play for," said Beaumont, 26.
After an opening defeat by India, England won six consecutive matches to finish top of the group, while South Africa finished fourth.
Defending champions Australia take on India in the other semi-final in Derby on Thursday for a place in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
"We have put the loss to India behind us and we have gone from strength to strength as the tournament has progressed," added Beaumont, who is the tournament's top run-scorer with 372.
"The best part of our squad is that someone different steps up every single game. [captain] Heather Knight was excellent against West Indies with a really crucial knock and Alex Hartley with the ball.
"It is really key that everyone is on song for the semi-final - South Africa have a really good all-round team to suit all sorts of pitches, they have a lot of pace up front and then leg-spinners in the middle and some pretty destructive batters."
England have won 18 of their previous 19 one-day internationals against South Africa, who are playing in their first World Cup semi-final since 2000.
The Proteas have the leading wicket-taker in this year's event, with captain Dane van Niekerk, 24, having claimed 15 wickets in her six matches so far.
"We're excited, we know any team that is in the semi-final are going to be tough to beat so we're going to have to bring our very best," said Van Niekerk.
"I don't think there's any pressure on us at all, I don't think most people thought we would be here - in that sense I'm very proud of the girls.
"I'm really excited to be in this position and the girls are really excited for the challenge ahead."
Media playback is not supported on this device | South Africa will "come out hard" in the Women's World Cup semi-final to avenge defeat by England in the group stages, says Tammy Beaumont. | 40634737 |
He told the party conference in Perth that they have a vital role to play in any future referendum.
The co-convener also said local government elections are a chance to "bring power back to people".
The Greens won their second-best ever Holyrood result in May's elections, leapfrogging the Lib Dems into fourth place.
The MSP claimed a second independence referendum is the only way to secure Scotland's place in Europe following the Brexit vote.
He said: "We find ourselves with the results of two referendums which can't fit together. We have a two year old 55% mandate and this year's 62% mandate.
"Even if Better Together and the Leave campaign hadn't lied, the UK which people voted for in 2014 no longer exists."
He issued a rallying cry to party members, saying the Greens have a vital role to play in the campaign. He said: "We must prepare for the next independence campaign, not just to win a Yes vote, but to win a better Scotland.
"Greens will continue to strengthen the case on issues such as currency and industrial strategy."
The party could have a decisive role given the SNP's position as a minority government, particularly given the Greens' support for Scottish independence.
However, they have already lined up with other opposition parties against the government in a number of votes on issues like the council tax and fracking.
He also told delegates in Perth that the local government elections are a chance to "make breakthroughs that help bring power back to people".
He said: "We're also moving into a year in which Scotland will decide how our local communities are run for the next five years; when Holyrood will decide whether councillors will have the freedom to renew and revitalise local democracy, or just hand on more cuts to public services.
"And we're moving into a year in which we'll have the chance to build a fairer economy by sharing the wealth that all of us generate but which has been hoarded by so few for so long." | Patrick Harvie has called on Green party members and supporters to prepare for the next independence campaign. | 37717164 |
Dan DiMicco said Britain was "a friend" of America and was leaving the EU for the right reasons.
Both presidential candidates say they are against present plans for a free trade deal between the US and Europe.
Mr DiMicco called for an overhaul of the global free trade system.
"These are not idle threats," he told the BBC.
"Things have gotten so bad that we will leave Nafta [the North American Free Trade Agreement], WTO [the World Trade Organization] and the Korean Free Trade Agreement if we can't get a fair deal."
He added: "The system was gamed for whatever reasons to begin with, the gaming's got to be removed, and it's got to be balanced for the American worker, American business, the American economy and trade deals are going to be walked away from if they can't be renegotiated to the point where they are net-positive for our GDP and they are positive for our good-paying job growth.
"And it is something Donald Trump is not going to walk away from. He is committed to it."
Mr DiMicco said with the present Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) proposals "on hold", Britain would be at the front of the queue for any future trade deal once the UK has left the EU.
His comments contrast with those of outgoing President Barack Obama, who - speaking before the UK's EU referendum in June - said Britain would go to the "back of the queue" for trade deals with the US if it left the EU.
When asked if the US would do a deal with Britain ahead of the EU, Mr DiMicco told me: "Absolutely.
"First off they are our friends, they have always supported us, and we've worked together, and they are leaving the EU in our estimation for the right reasons.
"They have lost control of their economy, the job creation engine, so why shouldn't we be working with like-minded people before we do a deal with anybody else?" | Britain will be offered a free trade deal before the rest of the European Union if the Republicans win the US presidential election, Donald Trump's trade adviser has said. | 37594928 |
David Byrne was shot at the Regency Hotel on 5 February.
The men, including a father and son in their 50s and 30s, were arrested by police on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Another man, Patrick Hutch, 24, has been charged with the murder of Mr Byrne.
Gardaà (Irish police) believe at least six people were involved in the attack which left two others wounded.
Three days after David Byrne's murder, Eddie Hutch Sr, 59, was also shot dead in his north Dublin flat in what looked like a revenge attack.
Both killings have been linked to a gangland feud in the city. | Police in the Republic of Ireland are continuing to question three men arrested in connection with the murder of a man at a boxing weigh-in in Dublin. | 36349495 |
Bodin's first in the 13th minute was set up by a superb 40-yard pass by Lee Brown, which left the visitors' defence stranded. The winger controlled the ball on the right-hand edge of the penalty area and advanced to find the corner of the net with a low shot.
The 25-year-old's second goal just before the break made it 2-0 and it was no more than Rovers deserved. The busy Stuart Sinclair passed to Bodin, who once again cut in from the right and his cultured left foot did the rest.
After a nervy start to the second half, Rovers went further in front as Ellis Harrison headed home number three from another Brown cross after 61 minutes.
Cambridge pulled one back five minutes later when Uche Ikpeazu stabbed home from close range, but soon after a spectacular 20-yard strike from summer signing Liam Sercombe made it 4-1 to the delight of the home fans.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Bristol Rovers 4, Cambridge United 1.
Second Half ends, Bristol Rovers 4, Cambridge United 1.
Attempt saved. Jevani Brown (Cambridge United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Corner, Bristol Rovers. Conceded by Leon Legge.
Tom Nichols (Bristol Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Jake Carroll (Cambridge United).
Attempt missed. Billy Bodin (Bristol Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt missed. Rory Gaffney (Bristol Rovers) header from the centre of the box is too high.
Foul by Tom Nichols (Bristol Rovers).
Jake Carroll (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt blocked. Billy Bodin (Bristol Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Tom Nichols (Bristol Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Lee Brown (Bristol Rovers).
Ryan Sweeney (Bristol Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United).
Goal! Bristol Rovers 4, Cambridge United 1. Liam Sercombe (Bristol Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Rory Gaffney.
Substitution, Cambridge United. Jevani Brown replaces David Amoo.
Substitution, Cambridge United. Jake Carroll replaces Medy Elito.
Substitution, Cambridge United. Gary Deegan replaces Paul Lewis.
Attempt missed. Byron Moore (Bristol Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top left corner.
Substitution, Bristol Rovers. Byron Moore replaces Chris Lines.
Substitution, Bristol Rovers. Rory Gaffney replaces Ellis Harrison.
Goal! Bristol Rovers 3, Cambridge United 1. Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Harry Darling.
Corner, Bristol Rovers. Conceded by Greg Taylor.
Goal! Bristol Rovers 3, Cambridge United 0. Ellis Harrison (Bristol Rovers) header from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Lee Brown.
Tom Nichols (Bristol Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Leon Legge (Cambridge United).
Attempt saved. Harry Darling (Cambridge United) header from a difficult angle on the left is saved in the bottom left corner.
Foul by Chris Lines (Bristol Rovers).
David Amoo (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
(Bristol Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Adebayo Azeez (Cambridge United).
Corner, Bristol Rovers. Conceded by Harry Darling.
Attempt saved. Adebayo Azeez (Cambridge United) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Corner, Cambridge United. Conceded by Ryan Sweeney.
Substitution, Bristol Rovers. Joe Partington replaces Daniel Leadbitter.
Foul by Ellis Harrison (Bristol Rovers).
Medy Elito (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the attacking half. | Billy Bodin fired Bristol Rovers into the second round of the EFL Cup with a brace of goals as the Pirates saw off Cambridge United at the Memorial Stadium. | 40785767 |
They were travelling to work at the airport on Saturday morning when two attackers riding a motorcycle opened fire on their minivan, said Samim Akhalwak, a spokesperson for the Kandahar governor.
The five women were killed, as well as their driver.
The women were in charge of searching female travellers at the airport.
Ahmadullah Faizi, the airport's director, said the women had been concerned about their security after receiving death threats from people who disapproved of their career.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but women in Afghanistan are often targeted by the Taliban.
Mr Faizi said an investigation was under way but no arrests had been made.
According to the Afghan attorney general's office, there were more than 3,700 cases of violence against women in the first eight months of 2016, and 5,000 cases in 2015. | Five female security staff at Kandahar airport have been killed by unknown gunmen, local officials say. | 38350470 |
About 70 of the 284 pupils at Dearham Primary School in Maryport are off sick after contracting the winter vomiting bug over the weekend.
A spokesman said they were following protocol and those affected have been asked to stay away from school for 48 hours until they are symptom-free.
Public Health England said it was investigating an outbreak among pupils.
Norovirus is one of the most common stomach bugs in the UK and causes diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting. | Dozens of pupils are absent from a primary school in Cumbria due to an outbreak of norovirus. | 35355755 |
The creature, which lives in vast communities around hot vents on the sea floor, will be known as Kiwa tyleri.
The name honours the renowned British polar and deep-ocean biologist Paul Tyler from Southampton University.
Its many hairs host bacteria that the animal harvests to sustain itself, a paper in PloS One journal reports.
"The entire belly of the crab is covered in setae that are designed to brush up and harbour bacteria on a large scale," Southampton's Dr Sven Thatje told BBC News.
The creature's humorous nickname, which references the oft bare-chested US actor David Hasselhoff, will no doubt stick in the public consciousness, but the scientific community's interest in this animal is altogether more serious because its existence raises really important questions about how life survives, evolves and spreads through deep-sea environments.
Kiwa tyleri's habitat is a sharply constrained comfort zone inside what are otherwise fiercely hostile surroundings.
The creature was found on East Scotia Ridge in the Southern Ocean, at a depth of 2,000m.
The waters down there are normally about zero Celsius, and to make a living the crab must crowd around so-called hydrothermal vents.
These are volcanic rock systems that draw water through cracks in the seafloor, super-heat it, load it with dissolved metals and other chemicals, and then eject it back into the ocean.
Specialized bacteria are able to exploit this hot fluid, and a whole ecosystem is then built on top of them.
The crab feeds by "farming" the bacteria on its setae, using comb-like mouthparts to scrape off the microbes so that it can eat them.
What is more, the crab has spines on its legs that allow it to climb the chimney-like structures that are common at these hot vent sites.
This means it can get into just the right position where the conditions for good food production can be maximized.
It is, however, a careful balancing act. Move too close to the vent openings and the crab can encounter temperatures near 400 degrees C; but clamber too far away and the animal will enter the surrounding frigidity of the Antarctic. And for this organism, that would not be survivable.
"Antarctic bottom-water is the coldest seawater you can have. Generally, there are very few crabs and lobsters in the Southern Ocean. And so Kiwa tyleri is essentially trapped in this very narrow envelope," said Dr Thatje. "That is the fascinating aspect of this species."
Pictures returned from East Scotia Ridge a few years ago by the British Isis deep-sea submersible showed hundreds of individuals crammed into every square metre of space inside its temperature sweetspot, which ranges between about 4 and 30-plus Celsius.
Kiwa tyleri is now the third such "yeti crab", as this type of animal is often called, to be described in the scientific literature. A couple of others are waiting to go through that process.
The two previous species - Kiwa puravida and Kiwa hirsute - both live in the Pacific basin, one near Antarctica and the other off Costa Rica.
The thinking is that the Pacific is where the yeti crabs originated before expanding eastwards, perhaps 10-20 million years ago, going into the Atlantic through the Drake Passage that separates South America and Antarctica.
It is presumed they spread along volcanic vent systems, which could have acted like stepping stones to assist their radiation around the globe.
But this is not as straightforward as it sounds. Active vents can be relatively short-lived and the distances between individual sites may be considerable.
Understanding how the yetis did it was a key issue that needed to be addressed by future studies, Dr Thatje said.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | A hairy crab that was dubbed "The Hoff" when it was first found in Antarctic waters has now been given a formal scientific description and name. | 33263621 |
Workers from the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu) have stopped work for 48 hours in a dispute over pay.
The red and green Luas lines are not operating on Thursday and Friday. It is estimated that 90,000 customers will be affected each day.
A further two-day stoppage has been scheduled for next week.
The union is seeking pay rises averaging at 40% for members.
Siptu's Owen Reidy said they were open to negotiation and to spreading the rise over a period up to seven years.
The union said its members believe they are underpaid, particularly when compared to workers doing similar jobs in Irish Rail.
However, Transdev, the private company that operates the Luas, has described the claim as excessive, saying they lost 700,000 euros (£551,000) last year.
Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe told Irish state broadcaster, RTÉ, on Wednesday that major efforts had been made to avert a strike.
He urged both sides to return to the labour court and called for reasonable negotiations. | Thousands of people who use the Luas tram service in Dublin are facing disruption as a two-day strike begins. | 35548240 |
Imbula, 23, scored his first goal since his deadline day move in the Potters' 3-1 win at Bournemouth on Saturday.
"I always pray it's going to work, because you never know," Coates, 78, told BBC Radio Stoke.
"He was well looked at before we did anything. We did a lot of homework."
Coates is now confident the Belgium-born former France Under-21 midfielder can go from strength to strength in the Premier League.
"We are delighted with the start he's made. He's had two good games and to come in and start like that, we're very encouraged," Coates said.
"It's a key position and he's a key player. And we're keeping our fingers crossed it'll work out well for everybody."
Imbula's arrival saw Stoke break their transfer record for the second successive transfer window, following the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri for £12m in August.
But Coates is staying quiet about whether he would be tempted to spend big again in the summer.
"I'm not going to forecast what we might do," he said. "You don't get too far ahead of yourself, you proceed with caution.
"It's different when you've got responsibility for big sums of money - you don't want to make mistakes. Sometimes clubs spend £50m and it still doesn't work out."
Having finished ninth in the Premier League in each of the last two seasons, Coates is hoping 10th-placed Stoke, having narrowly missed reaching the League Cup final, can finish the season strongly once again.
"I never say where we're going to finish," he added. "We're working hard trying to get better.
"We've had a good cup run getting to the semi-finals, which was a great achievement - we were very unfortunate to go out (at Liverpool).
"With the season as a whole, we've got to be pretty pleased. Our points position is probably about where we expect to be, hopefully we can have a good run-in." | Stoke chairman Peter Coates is "delighted" with the impact made by Giannelli Imbula, having watched the player for a long time before his club-record £18.3m transfer from Porto. | 35587320 |
David Thomas, from Leedstown, presented the 23.2kg (51.1lbs) vegetable at this year's National Giant Vegetable Championships.
Mr Thomas said he was "very proud" of the "beach ball" sized cabbage.
The previous record, set in 1925 by Mr R Straw of Staveley, Derbyshire, weighed in at 19.05kg (42lbs).
Growing the huge vegetable took "hours of work", said Mr Thomas, who has been cultivating vegetables competitively for more than 15 years.
"There's no big secret to growing giant veg. You just need the right seeds to start with, plenty of room, good soil and a bit of luck," he said.
Dale Toten, from Somerset, had hoped to take first place in another giant cabbage category at the Malvern Autumn Show, but was forced to settle for third place after an unwitting chef used some of it for confit for hotel guests.
Mr Thomas already holds two world records for the heaviest parsnip and the heaviest cucumber.
He entered 16 vegetables at this year's competition in Worcestershire.
Official UK National Giant Vegetables Championship Judge, Martyn Davis, said: "We are delighted to confirm that David Thomas has broken the previous world record for the world's heaviest red cabbage by almost 10lbs."
The record is yet to be verified by Guinness World Records. | A man from Cornwall has broken a world record that has stood for more than 90 years - by growing the heaviest red cabbage. | 37462646 |
The Tories won 38 out of 62 seats - a reduction of three from their previous figure of 41, captured in the last poll in 2009.
The Liberal Democrats also saw a decrease in seats, dropping by four to nine.
Labour has seen an increase of three seats and now holds seven wards; UKIP have won four seats on the authority after fielding candidates in 61 wards.
The Greens took one seat and independents took three.
Council staff said that the countywide average turnout was 32.9%, down from 43.9% in 2009.
Conservative leader John Hart, who held his Bickleigh and Wembury seat, said he was "delighted" with a "good working majority".
He said: "It shows that our local policies and our manifesto - where we said we would look after the people of Devon - has been listened to by a lot of people."
However, UKIP said national interest in the party showed that people were taking it seriously.
Devon UKIP chairman Steve Crowther said: "I think the people have spoken.
"What I'm finding is the more people call us clowns and fruitcakes, the more people are inclined to give us their vote."
Nearly 600,000 residents were eligible to vote for a total of 313 candidates. | The Conservatives have retained control of Devon County Council. | 22398475 |
Joshua won his title with a seventh-round knockout of Dillian Whyte, and has a perfect record after 15 fights.
"Why not?" said the 26-year-old when asked about meeting Chisora next.
"I need to be fighting people who are hungry and good enough but who I still have a good capability of beating."
Chisora, 31, is a former world title challenger who lost a unanimous decision to Vitali Klitschko in February 2012 as well as suffering defeats by Fury and Haye.
He appeared on the undercard of Joshua's win over Whyte on Saturday, coasting to a third-round win over Croatia's Jakov Gospic.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I could fight Haye, people want me to fight Fury, but you can't just come into professional boxing, show a little talent and be thrown in the deep end," continued Joshua in an interview with Sky Sports.
"I don't need do-or-die type fights yet.
"I need to build myself so that when I get to the top I have been in deep waters, done 12 rounds, been hurt and come back. That is how people become champions."
Haye, who will return to the ring for the first time in three and a half years when he faces Mark de Mori in January, says that he would like to fight Joshua next summer.
"I think Chisora's a good opponent next for Anthony and then me and him in a big fight in the summer," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"I definitely have the superior skill and speed to beat Anthony
"It just down to [promoter] Eddie Hearn and Joshua's people if they are ready for that challenge."
Joshua, who won Olympic gold at London 2012, also said he would also entertain the possibility of a rematch with Whyte despite a rancorous build-up that spilled over into the fight with the pair twice having to be separated after the bell.
"Kevin Johnson and Denis Bakhtov were supposed to give me rounds, but it was Whyte who actually did it, so why not use him again?" he added.
"I learned more against Whyte than I did in all 14 of my previous fights. I enjoyed it - it was a good fight." | New British heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua says he would prefer to fight Dereck Chisora next rather than David Haye or Tyson Fury - former and current world champions respectively. | 35088339 |
Colin Hegarty, from Preston Manor School in Wembley, has reached the final stages of a competition to find the world's most exceptional teachers.
The winner will receive a prize of a $1m (£690,000) at an awards ceremony in March.
Mr Hegarty said it was good to see a competition that "elevated the status of teachers".
The Global Teacher Prize, set up by the Varkey Foundation, the charitable arm of the Gems international education firm, is aimed at "unearthing thousands of stories of heroes that have transformed young people's lives".
The final top 10 shortlist has been published, after entries were received from teachers in 148 countries.
Mr Hegarty is the only UK finalist, alongside teachers from the United States, Australia, India, Finland and Kenya.
The shortlist also includes Aqeela Asifi, who teaches refugees in Pakistan, and Hanan Al Hroub who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp and is now a teacher.
Mr Hegarty describes maths as "quite addictive" and has set up a website with videos teaching how to solve maths problems.
The idea began when one of his pupils had to go overseas to care for his sick father - and Mr Hegarty put materials online so that he could keep up with his maths lessons.
Mr Hegarty, who rejects the idea that some people are inherently "good at maths", says that the subject lends itself to being taught through online videos, because pupils can benefit from looking at something repeatedly until they understand.
He says there is no simple "formula" for what makes a good teacher, but he says that like being a good student, it can be about sticking at it.
"It's about hard work. If you get stuck, just try harder."
Mr Hegarty says this was the lesson he learned from his own family. He grew up in a London council flat and went on to get a first-class degree in maths from Oxford University.
He has already won a UK prize, in the national teaching awards run by Pearson.
Mike Ellicock, chief executive of National Numeracy, welcomed the recognition of the importance of maths teaching, saying: "We know that good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health.
"We also know that there is no 'maths gene'. Instead everyone can use numbers and data to make good decisions - and it is fantastic to see this recognition for Colin's work to enable that."
Last year's global teacher prize winner was Nancie Atwell from the United States, who donated her prize money to her school. Richard Spence from Middlesbrough had reached the top 10.
The awards were presented at a ceremony addressed by former US president Bill Clinton, with contributions from Bill Gates.
Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said he wanted the prize to "shine a powerful spotlight on the incredible work teachers do all over the UK and throughout the world every day".
Since last year's prize, Mr Varkey announced that he was signing up for the Giving Pledge, in which the very wealthy promise to give away most of their money to philanthropic causes.
He is the first education entrepreneur to join the pledging project, set up by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda Gates and investor Warren Buffet.
UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon backed the teachers' prize nominations, saying: "I count my teachers as among the most influential people in my life." | A maths teacher from a London comprehensive has reached the top 10 finalists for a global teaching prize. | 35592440 |
A mobile phone video appears to show three people pushing against the famed "Pillar Rock" until it collapses.
The unique outcropping, also known as the Duckbill, has long been a popular destination for tourists visiting Cape Kiwanda park on Oregon's Pacific coast.
Officials had at first believed that the coastal sandstone pedestal had naturally eroded.
But they are currently re-evaluating that assessment after being shown the video by David Kalas, a visiting beachgoer.
Mr Kalas said that up to eight people participated in toppling it a week ago, but that five had walked away when the remaining group stayed to push it over.
"We confronted them and they said it was a safety hazard," said Mr Kalas, who had gone there to film a summer holiday video with friends.
"They said one of their friends had broken a leg on it. It's like their weird revenge thing", he added.
The pedestal was roughly 10ft (3m) across, and had been a popular destination for tourists seeking photos.
Police and parks officials will meet on Tuesday to discuss possible criminal charges.
A similar incident took place at Goblin Valley State Park in the state of Utah in 2013.
Two Boy Scout leaders received probation and a fine after posting online a video of themselves knocking over a rock formation believed to be about 170 million years old. | Officials at a state park in Oregon are investigating whether a rare rock formation was deliberately toppled. | 37292564 |
Towards the end of the 19th Century America was in the grip of cycling craze. Women in particular embraced the freedom it offered, and the humble bicycle became one of the most powerful symbols of female emancipation.
More than 100 years later, the bicycle is at the centre of another social revolution, challenging the dominance of the car in American cities and even changing the way urban areas look.
According to a report from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, there has been a steady increase in biking across the country over the last 10 years. In large urban areas like Washington, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon, it's risen by as much as 71%
"Washington has become one of the leaders in the US for bicycling," says Greg Billing, executive director of the Washington Area Bicycling Association.
"We've added between 600,000 and 700,000 people to the city in the last decade. What's remarkable is that the level of traffic over that time has remained essentially flat because people are walking and biking more."
But while the bicycle liberated women in the 19th Century, today women make up just 29% of people who use bicycles to get to work.
"One of the reasons is risk aversion," Billing says. "Men are more willing to undertake a risky activity and there is a perception that biking is unsafe."
There were more than 38,000 traffic fatalities last year in the US, and roughly two cyclists are killed every day. While the total number of cyclists killed may seem low in comparison to motorists, those riding bicycles are more likely to be hurt.
The death toll among both have led many cities to adopt Vision Zero, a Swedish initiative that aims to end all traffic fatalities by 2024.
Making roads safe for bikers makes them safe for everybody, says Alex Doty, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists.
"We often talk about a standard we call 8 to 80 - does a grandmother feel comfortable riding on a street with her grandson? If they do, then that's a street that's got it right," he says.
That has spurred a big increase in bike lanes and cycling networks that are transforming the way people navigate cities. Los Angeles now has more than 800 miles of bike lanes. Protected bike lanes have been shown to increase cycling by up to 171%.
"We think in the US that everybody needs a car, but 45% of all car trips are under four miles. That's where people want more choices and in the US we're starting to see a change of attitude among younger people. Far fewer are getting driving licenses than at any time in recent US history," Doty says.
The investment in cycling infrastructure has led to the success of bike share systems, particularly in cities such as Washington where 20% of businesses near a bike share station reported an increase in sales and 70% said they had a "positive impact" on the surrounding area.
But the rapid change has also caused tensions with other road users and some communities who view cycling as an unwelcome sign of gentrification - a phrase used to describe an influx of wealth and changing demographics that displaces poorer residents, especially African Americans.
Last year the United House of Prayer in Washington argued the proposed introduction of a bike lane next to the historically African American church infringed on religious freedom by preventing members from parking.
But the transition in cities to shared bike systems and bike lanes remains a powerful trend that is critical to moving people around, says Kent Larson who heads the Media Lab's Changing Places research group and the CityScience initiative at MIT.
His team is developing a new type of bike that can be used by more people, particularly the elderly and disabled.
"You think of the demographic profile of bike a rider now as quite limited - younger people and more males than females. We are working on an electric vehicle that we think of as democratising bike lanes," he says.
"It's an autonomous bicycle that comes to you wherever you are, drops you off at your destination and goes on its way. It's covered so you're protected from the rain and you don't have to wear a helmet which women often object to."
Ironically, the vehicle is being tested in Andorra because there is no funding to try it out in the US. It's also being made in Taiwan thanks to investment from the government there.
"In Asia, they haven't swung so far towards private ownership of cars and there are quite a lot of bicycles and scooters so it's easier for them to think of new modes of transport," Larson says.
But while MIT may be toying with futuristic designs, the basic shape of the bicycle hasn't changed much since 1892 when Wilbur and Orville Wright opened their first bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, and used the income to finance their experiments in aviation.
"The bicycle was the iPhone of its time. It was the new technology disrupter and attracted these great inventive talents," says Doty. "And as a piece of machinery it has stayed remarkably similar. The Wright brothers would know how to work on a bike in my house today."
That's an extraordinary testament to the power of two wheels that continues to shape the course of American history. | As part of a series on the State of America, the BBC is profiling small businesses that have stories to tell about the way they work, and which say something about a wider national trend. | 36778953 |
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted that 64 "innocent Afghans" were killed and 347 wounded.
A suicide attacker detonated a vehicle and a fierce gun battle followed in one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul for years.
A Taliban spokesman said the group carried out the attack.
It came a week after it said it was launching its "spring offensive", warning of large-scale attacks, although the group fights all year round.
Why are the Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan?
Tuesday's bombing happened during the morning rush hour in Pul-e-Mahmud, a busy neighbourhood where homes, mosques, schools and businesses nestle close to the ministry of defence, other ministries and military compounds.
The blast shattered windows up to 1.6km (one mile) away. A police officer told the Associated Press it was one of the most powerful explosions he had ever heard, and he could not see or hear anything for 20 minutes after.
It appears the initial blast cleared the way for Taliban fighters to enter the area - a commonly used tactic.
It had previously been reported that at least 28 people had been killed and 329 injured.
Mr Sediqqi told reporters that most of the 64 now reported dead were civilians. He said most of the wounded were in a stable condition.
At least 71 Shia worshippers were killed in 2011 in a rare attack on a Shia shrine in Kabul.
Afghan security forces regularly foil similar attacks, correspondents say, but with explosives easily available and bomb-making skills common, it is difficult to prevent all of them. | The death toll from a huge explosion in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday has more than doubled to 64 people, the government says. | 36091046 |
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The 31-year-old German won his first world title on Sunday, beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by finishing second in the final race in Abu Dhabi.
"I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right," Rosberg said.
Rosberg won nine of this season's 21 grands prix, beating three-time champion Hamilton by five points.
"For 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my 'one thing', to become Formula 1 world champion," he added.
"Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I've made it."
The son of Finnish 1982 world champion Keke, Rosberg made his F1 debut for Williams at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2006, finishing seventh.
And when asked if there was any chance of a return, Rosberg added: "No definitely not. End of story. Done."
Hamilton, who had beaten Rosberg to the title in the previous two seasons, said: "He has a family he wants to focus on, and F1 takes so much from you.
"It is definitely going to be strange and it will be sad to not have him in the team next year."
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the news took him "completely by surprise".
"This is a brave decision by Nico and a testament to the strength of his character," he added.
"The clarity of his judgement meant I accepted his decision straight away when he told me.
"We now have to consider options and we will start to look at it on Monday."
Rosberg raced in 206 grands prix, winning 23 and finishing on the podium 57 times.
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BBC Sport chief F1 writer Andrew Benson
Nico Rosberg's decision to announce his retirement from Formula 1 just five days after clinching his first world title is a major shock - but perhaps it should not be.
The German put everything into this season, as he explained in his statement on Friday. The pressure of those last few races was plain to see in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, in the way it peeled off him by degrees in the hours after the race.
While thinking about how hard winning that title was, doubtless his thoughts were also about what it would take to beat Lewis Hamilton to it again. He clearly felt that at the age of 31, with a young daughter, he was not prepared to make those sacrifices again.
All in all, it is a classy move from a classy man.
Read more from Andrew | World champion Nico Rosberg has announced he has retired from Formula 1 with immediate effect. | 38185846 |
Roberts, 30, injured his foot against St Helens in March, but made his return in Saturday's Magic Weekend game against Warrington.
However Roberts was forced to leave the field just before half-time.
"He's ruptured the tendons that attach some of the bones in his foot together," coach Daryl Powell told the club website.
"In some ways it will be less frustrating for him now, as he's been constantly trying to get himself back on the field."
The Tigers are currently seventh in the Super League table, having won seven of their 15 games so far this season. | Castleford Tigers half-back Ben Roberts will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. | 36372013 |
Lucien Bute failed a doping test after last month's majority draw with WBC super-middleweight title-holder Badou Jack, while heavyweight Alexander Povetkin also failed a test this month.
"Someone can get hurt. It's not like it's weightlifting, you're punching each other in the head," said Selby.
Athletes who fail drugs tests currently face a minimum four-year ban.
The International Olympic Committee revealed that 23 athletes who competed at London 2012 - where Lee's younger brother Andrew Selby competed - have failed drugs tests.
"It's coming out more at the moment. Maybe the testing's getting better. A lot more people are getting caught," the IBF world featherweight champion said.
"Some fighters are getting caught taking drugs and they're fighting again. You shouldn't have a loss on your record if an opponent's been found taking drugs."
Selby revealed that he is regularly tested for banned substances.
"I'm on a scheme where I have to give an hour time slot every day (to be tested)," he said.
"If I sleep elsewhere I've got to update my profile, let them know where I'm staying.
"If I didn't give them the information, that comes up as a strike, and if you get three strikes you can get a two-year ban.
"I've got to give them at least three days a week when I'm going to be at the gym.
"It's been two months, but I think there's roughly 200 or 300 athletes. (UK Anti-Doping) said it's the higher-level athletes, and that I'll be doing it for as long as I'm competing.
"I like the system, but they should be doing it to more people."
Selby, who became a world champion by beating Evgeny Gradovich has enjoyed two successful defences against Fernando Montiel and Eric Hunter. | World champion boxer Lee Selby has called for "life bans" for fighters found guilty of doping. | 36401757 |
The closely watched Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 57.6 from 59.4 a month earlier.
The index remains above the 50-mark which indicates growth in the sector.
Housebuilding continued to drive construction activity, but grew at its slowest pace since June 2013.
The weakest construction sub-sector in December was civil engineering, which reported a fall in output for the first time since May 2013.
Despite the slowdown in December, Markit said housebuilders overall had enjoyed their best year since 1997.
Construction companies also reported "a solid increase in new business volumes in December", Markit said.
The survey said anecdotal evidence pointed to strong demand for new residential development and a further recovery in construction firms bidding for commercial projects.
Markit also reported signs that wages might be starting to rise in the sector, with rates paid to subcontractors growing almost as rapidly as November's record-high pace.
Economists are forecasting that after several years of falling real wages, 2015 might bring the first year that the UK sees widespread increases in pay since the 2008 financial crisis.
Construction firms pointed to new housebuilding as a key area of growth in 2015. Uncertainty surrounding the general election later this year - at which the main political parties are expected to outline how they would tackle the UK's continuing budget deficit - was expected to weigh on confidence.
Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, said: "A sharp recovery in housebuilding, as well as resurgent demand for commercial development projects, continued to boost staff recruitment and sub-contractor pay rates across the construction sector in December.
"While new business growth moderated to its lowest for a year-and-a-half in December, UK construction firms are still highly upbeat about their prospects for output growth in 2015." | Activity in the UK's construction sector grew at its slowest pace for 17 months in December but remains robust thanks to continued growth in housebuilding, a survey has found. | 30681316 |
It was in April 2014 when he oversaw Chelsea's 2-0 win at Anfield that caused Liverpool to stumble and lose the title almost on the finishing line - and he was cast in the role of villain again by The Kop on Monday.
Manchester United's stifling, smothering performance in a mediocre goalless draw bore all the hallmarks Mourinho has perfected in a career laced with success, and the travelling fans seemed happy enough at the final whistle.
So what did this attritional 90 minutes say about Mourinho's Manchester United?
In many ways, this was vintage Mourinho, a throwback to his great nights with Chelsea and Inter Milan when opponents had the creativity strangled out of them, floundering on the meticulous defensive organisation the Portuguese had brought into play.
Is it, however, the Manchester United way? It is certainly a far cry from the flamboyance and all-out attacking intent of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Times, however, have changed and so have Manchester United.
Mourinho has not inherited an all-conquering force of former years. Management's arch-pragmatist happily flicked through his old tactical playbook at Liverpool and will make not a single apology for doing so.
For all the social media chatter and criticism from Liverpool fans, where Mourinho's crime appeared to be a refusal to allow Klopp's side to play in a manner in which they would win, United's manager was realism personified.
It was functional, not easy on the eye and brought predictable accusations that Mourinho had parked the bus. He will respond, with justification and a point in his pocket, that United came away with a draw at a place plenty will leave empty-handed this season.
United had only 35% possession, their lowest figure since statisticians Opta started compiling in 2003, although Mourinho returned to Anfield's media room after his main press briefing to dispute the finding, claiming they actually had 42% of the ball.
Juan Mata was confined to the bench, alongside Wayne Rooney, while Marouane Fellaini was back in midfield in a big, physical side designed to give United strength all over the pitch.
And man-of-the-match Ander Herrera was key in midfield, not giving Philippe Coutinho or Roberto Firmino any time or space. The Spaniard made 11 interceptions, the most by any Premier League player this season.
Mourinho deals in realism not romance. And this was a realistic approach - one United's fans who still crave the devil-may-care approach of the Ferguson era will have to get used to.
This was Mourinho's analysis, and it was as far removed from Ferguson's mantra as it was possible to get as he said: "It is not the result we wanted but it is a positive result. It is a result that stops a direct opponent getting three points at home so not a bad result.
"I think it was a positive performance. This is a point that stopped them winning three."
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Former Old Trafford great Paul Scholes helped set the agenda for Manchester United's meeting with Liverpool by saying they have yet to form an identity under Mourinho.
Ironically, United looked more like a Mourinho team against Liverpool than they have at any time since he arrived in the summer.
And yet there is weight to Scholes' observation.
The Portuguese manager has to find a formula to accommodate a squad that still looks to mix-and-match and which has yet to get the best out of £89m midfielder Paul Pogba, who was pedestrian again.
Pogba, the world's most expensive player, delivered one cross that provided United's best chance but which was headed badly off target by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Too often, though, Pogba either lost, or was knocked out of, possession too easily.
Zlatan himself, the ageing centrepiece of United's attacking plan, looked ponderous and off the pace and made a complete mess of their best opportunity, seemingly caught in several minds as he headed wide.
Mourinho has questions to answer before he will be able to present evidence of the identity Scholes desires, although this was a display of real steel and organisation.
It is not just Wayne Rooney's long-term future that is up for debate. Where will he utilise Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mata when they are all available - and does anyone know where £25m Henrikh Mkhitaryan is, let alone where he might play?
Mourinho's United are still, understandably, a work in progress but more cohesion and structure will be expected soon given the money spent in the summer.
For now, though, United can feel a draw at Liverpool represents a glass half full.
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It was exactly a year ago to the day since Klopp took charge of his first game as Liverpool manager, a goalless draw at Tottenham.
And it has been very clear from day one how the German wants Liverpool to play. He wants a passionate, intense, aggressive attacking style that taps into the emotions of The Kop and the extended Anfield, whose towering new stand was gracing its first night game on Monday.
Klopp's approach worked a treat against pliable opponents such as Leicester City and Hull City at home, against whom they scored a total of nine goals, and when facing Arsenal and Chelsea away.
Liverpool did not find it so easy in defeat at Burnley, when manager Sean Dyche ensured his side sat in a rigid defensive shape and let Klopp's team have the ball and against opponents as obdurate and organised as Manchester United.
Mourinho ensured United set about Liverpool from the start, making sure they could not gain momentum and intensity. When it came to high pressing, United started by turning the tables on Liverpool. It worked to perfection as the home side became hurried into making too many mistakes and poor decisions.
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Liverpool will have better days than this but one factor that was made clear is the increasing importance of Adam Lallana, who was only fit enough to start as a substitute.
Klopp's side lacked drive and invention without the fast feet and creation of Lallana and it was no coincidence Liverpool's threat increased from the moment he was introduced for the struggling Daniel Sturridge on the hour.
Liverpool lacked the balance and that swift movement the triumvirate of Lallana, Coutinho and Firmino gives them until that change. It is a sign of Lallana's rapid development under Klopp.
Georginio Wijnaldum's injury also robbed them of composure that would have served Liverpool well in a game Klopp described as hectic - although the German has always given the impression of revelling in hectic.
The rising frustration around Anfield after the stadium started awash with expectation was an illustration of the success of Mourinho's approach - but also perhaps the sound of realisation that Klopp and Liverpool still have plenty of room for improvement. | Jose Mourinho has played the part of killjoy at Liverpool before - and he had no hesitation in puncturing the optimism growing around Jurgen Klopp's side on his first Anfield visit as Manchester United manager. | 37686331 |
Seavan Fried Chicken and Pizza House, in Fratton Road, Portsmouth, was also prosecuted after rat droppings were found in the cellar store and frozen meat was poorly stored.
Company director Binai Ali pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court to a total of 10 offences.
The city council said the business was "an imminent risk to public health".
Out-of-date equipment and rubbish were also stored in the cellar - which hampered cleaning - and the cellar steps were found to be greasy and broken.
The company was fined a total of £10,000 and a £100 victim surcharge, while 34-year-old Ali was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,176, and a victim surcharge of £20.
A spokeswoman for Portsmouth City Council, which brought the prosecution, said: "The condition of the business presented an imminent risk to public health and voluntary closure was necessary until the hygiene standards were improved.
"The court commented that these were serious offences and that there was a danger to public health." | A takeaway restaurant has been fined £10,000 for selling "lamb" doner kebabs that contained beef and chicken. | 37913688 |
Supporters of cleric Moqtada Sadr say they are angry at delays in approving a new, non-partisan government of technocrats.
They broke into the secure Green Zone, home to embassies and government buildings, after weeks of protests.
A state of emergency has been declared.
Iraq's system of sharing government jobs has long been criticised for promoting unqualified candidates and encouraging corruption.
The government is carefully balanced between party and religious loyalties, but the country ranks 161st of 168 on Transparency International's corruption perceptions index.
"Either corrupt (officials) and quotas remain or the entire government will be brought down and no one will be exempted," Mr Sadr said in a televised address shortly before parliament was stormed.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called on demonstrators to leave the 10 sq km (four sq mile) Green Zone and return to designated protest areas.
A state of emergency was declared, leading to entrances to the city being temporarily shut, but no curfew.
After Saturday's dramatic breaching of the walls of the Green Zone and mass entry into parliament, Moqtada Sadr's followers are now settling in for a new phase of their campaign against the political elite.
They have brought their anger and their demands right into the politicians' backyard. Foreign embassies are watching anxiously, too. The security forces fired tear gas to try to stop the influx but there has been no real confrontation so far.
Moqtada Sadr is presenting himself as the voice of the people demanding an end to corruption.
That should make him an ally of the prime minister but his methods seem more like another challenge to Haider al-Abadi's authority.
As darkness fell on Saturday, the protesters could be seen sitting on lawns or in tents near parliament which they had occupied earlier.
Members of the Sadrist militia group Saraya al-Salam were keeping order in the area, news agencies said.
The demonstrators took over parliament after breaking through the blast barriers which surround the Green Zone, toppling sections of the wall.
The push began after MPs failed again to convene in sufficient numbers for a vote on the new cabinet.
Stones were thrown at cars thought to be carrying MPs away from the scene.
Once inside the chamber, jubilant demonstrators took up the seats of the deputies and posed for photos.
Mr Sadr wants Prime Minister Abadi to commit to a plan to replace ministers with non-partisan technocrats.
Powerful parties in parliament have refused to approve the change for several weeks.
Earlier this week, hundreds of thousands of people marched towards the Green Zone to protest against the political deadlock.
Mr Abadi, who came to power in 2014, has promised to stamp out corruption and ease tensions with the Sunni Muslim minority.
A survey by the Pew Research Centre in 2011 suggested that 51% of Iraqi Muslims identified themselves as Shia, compared with 42% Sunni.
Read more: Sunni and Shia, Islam's ancient schism
The Shia cleric and his militia group, the Mehdi Army, gained prominence after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, galvanising anti-US sentiment. Mr Sadr's followers clashed repeatedly with US forces, whose withdrawal the cleric consistently demanded.
An arrest warrant was issued for Mr Sadr in 2004 in connection with the murder of a rival cleric.
His militia was also blamed for the torture and killing of thousands of Sunnis in the sectarian carnage of 2006 and 2007. Mr Sadr fled to Iran during that period.
In 2011, Mr Sadr returned from his self-imposed exile, taking a more conciliatory tone and calling for Iraqi unity and peace. | Hundreds of supporters of a powerful Shia Muslim cleric remain camped outside Iraq's parliament, a day after they stormed it. | 36180184 |
The Belgium international beat England goalkeeper Joe Hart three times in nine first-half minutes, seven days after a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Cagliari.
Mertens drilled his first from a Jose Callejon cut-back and added a penalty before scoring a third from close in.
His best goal, though, was his fourth, a perfectly weighted chip over Hart.
Torino, 3-0 down after 22 minutes, did fight back in the second half, with Andrea Belotti pulling one back before former Tottenham centre-back Vlad Chiriches added Napoli's fourth.
Luca Rossettini and Iago Falque, with a penalty, then scored either side of Mertens' classy effort, but Napoli ensured victory to move up to third.
The last player to score hat-tricks in consecutive Serie A matches was Juventus forward Pietro Anastasi in May 1974.
Lazio climbed to fourth with a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina, but had to negotiate a nervy second half after appearing to take command with Keita Balde Diao's angled finish and a Lucas Biglia penalty.
Soon after the break, the home side needed keeper Federico Marchetti to save a Josip Illcic penalty to maintain their 2-0 lead, and Mauro Zarate then scored for Fiorentina - against his former club - to set up a tense finale. But Stefan Radu scored a third for the home side late on to end any doubts about the result.
Palermo, next to bottom, achieved the most extraordinary comeback of the day - and ended a nine-match losing streak as they came from 3-1 down to win 4-3 at Genoa.
Giovanni Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego, scored two and set up a third for Nikola Ninkovic to put Genoa on course for victory with 25 minutes to go.
But the visitors, for whom Robin Quaison had scored in the first half, made it 3-2 through Edoardo Goldaniga, before striking twice in the final three minutes - thanks to Andrea Rispoli's tap-in and Aleksandar Trajkovski angled drive.
There was still time for Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin to be sent off, as he pushed over Ilija Nestorovski when the Palermo striker prevented him from taking a free-kick quickly.
In Sunday's early Serie A match, Antonio Candreva's first-half goal gave Inter Milan a third successive league win, 1-0 at Sassuolo. Stefano Pioli's side finished with 10 men after Felipe Melo was sent off in stoppage time for two bookable offences.
Bottom club Pescara remain without a league victory after losing 3-0 at home to Bologna, while Crotone stay in the relegation zone after a 2-0 defeat at Udinese. Elsewhere, Chievo beat Sampdoria 2-1.
Match ends, Napoli 5, Torino 3.
Second Half ends, Napoli 5, Torino 3.
Hand ball by Adem Ljajic (Torino).
Attempt missed. Dries Mertens (Napoli) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Allan.
Offside, Torino. Joe Hart tries a through ball, but Maxi López is caught offside.
Foul by Elseid Hysaj (Napoli).
Antonio Barreca (Torino) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Emanuele Giaccherini (Napoli) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Dries Mertens.
José Callejón (Napoli) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Sasa Lukic (Torino).
Offside, Torino. Luca Rossettini tries a through ball, but Maxi López is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Adem Ljajic (Torino) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Goal! Napoli 5, Torino 3. Iago Falque (Torino) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the top left corner.
Penalty conceded by Raúl Albiol (Napoli) after a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty Torino. Luca Rossettini draws a foul in the penalty area.
Corner, Torino. Conceded by Vlad Chiriches.
Offside, Torino. Adem Ljajic tries a through ball, but Iago Falque is caught offside.
Substitution, Napoli. Emanuele Giaccherini replaces Lorenzo Insigne.
Goal! Napoli 5, Torino 2. Dries Mertens (Napoli) right footed shot from the right side of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by José Callejón.
Attempt blocked. Marek Hamsik (Napoli) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Dries Mertens.
Attempt saved. Allan (Napoli) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by José Callejón.
Goal! Napoli 4, Torino 2. Luca Rossettini (Torino) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal following a set piece situation.
Attempt saved. Adem Ljajic (Torino) right footed shot from long range on the left is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Foul by Allan (Napoli).
Adem Ljajic (Torino) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Napoli. Allan replaces Piotr Zielinski.
Sasa Lukic (Torino) is shown the yellow card.
Piotr Zielinski (Napoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sasa Lukic (Torino).
Goal! Napoli 4, Torino 1. Vlad Chiriches (Napoli) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by José Callejón.
Substitution, Napoli. Amadou Diawara replaces Jorginho.
Substitution, Torino. Maxi López replaces Daniele Baselli.
Attempt missed. Marek Hamsik (Napoli) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Elseid Hysaj with a cross.
Emiliano Moretti (Torino) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
José Callejón (Napoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Emiliano Moretti (Torino).
Goal! Napoli 3, Torino 1. Andrea Belotti (Torino) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Marco Benassi.
Substitution, Torino. Iago Falque replaces Lorenzo De Silvestri.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Davide Zappacosta.
Attempt missed. Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Dries Mertens. | Dries Mertens scored four goals - and became the first player since 1974 to score consecutive Serie A hat-tricks - as Napoli beat Torino 5-3. | 38339001 |
How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris hosts the NBC show, which has been renamed Best Time Ever.
But the mixture of stunts, sketches and celebrity cameos was "forced and frantic", according to USA Today.
The Wrap agreed, saying the show's premiere, featuring Reese Witherspoon, was "not as fun as advertised".
"A weekly variety series with Harris as its giddy, self-mocking ringleader is a brilliant idea," wrote its critic.
"But Best Time Ever has been overly optimistically titled."
Former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger served as Harris's sidekick on the first show, which also featured an appearance from singer Gloria Gaynor.
The show also featured a junior Harris look-alike called "Little NPH", similar to the "Little Ant and Dec" characters from the UK original.
Variety's Brian Lowry said Tuesday's show "yielded an energetic but slightly headache-inducing hour" that lacked "any consistent sense of spontaneity".
"The episode only sparked to life when Harris and guest announcer Reese Witherspoon engaged in a climbing stunt," he continued.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the first show "did not come close to fulfilling its promise of being the best time ever".
"Perhaps some notes in modesty needed to be taken from the title of the original series," its critic went on.
Ant and Dec travelled to New York to see the first show being recorded and have been pictured on social media drinking celebratory pints on the set.
The British pair are among the executive producers of the US version and had previously pledged to be "heavily involved" in its production.
Harris, 42, is a popular actor and personality in the US who appeared on Broadway last year in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Yet his recent stint as host of this year's Academy Awards ceremony was much criticised, and even Harris himself questioned whether he would ever be asked back. | A US version of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway has received a lukewarm response from critics, with one calling it "more exhausting than entertaining". | 34267177 |
Following last week's narrow loss to leaders Saracens, Chiefs were beaten 23-17 at Sale Sharks on Saturday.
Exeter, who travel to London Irish next week, are still second in the table, seven points clear of third place.
"There is a little bit of pressure on us, but we have to make sure that pressure comes out positively and we play with great energy," said Baxter.
It was the first time that Exeter have lost back-to-back Premiership matches since January 2014, when they went on a run of four successive losses that ended up costing them a chance of making the play-offs.
"We were one decision last week away from winning the game, that's how tight it was against the team top of the Premiership," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.
"Losing away to Sale with a losing bonus point, who haven't lost here all season - if you look at them in the course of a big season, they're not major things. I'm not going to suddenly go 'two losses means everything's falling apart', it's not.
"But the reality is we do have to go and win at London Irish, because that's a team we should knock over if we want to be a top-four side." | Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says there is "pressure" on his side after a second successive Premiership defeat. | 35577666 |
Mike Nesbitt made the recommendation during a meeting with senior party members.
The announcement comes as part of an ongoing political row over the status of the Provisional IRA that followed the murder of Kevin McGuigan Sr.
Sinn Féin accused the UUP of creating a "crisis", while the DUP said the move was "hypocritical and misleading".
Mr Nesbitt said he had chaired a meeting attended by the party's MLAs, MEP, MPs, senior representatives of its councillors association and its party chairman, and they had endorsed his recommendation "unanimously".
He said the party's ruling body would make a final decision on Saturday and if it was supported then the party would form an opposition.
The Northern Ireland Executive is a power-sharing government drawing ministers from the five biggest parties.
The Ulster Unionist announcement comes as part of a political row that has followed the Police Service of Northern Ireland's assertion that members of the Provisional IRA were involved in the murder of Mr McGuigan Sr.
The 53-year-old ex-IRA man, was killed in what police believe was part of a "fall-out" in republican circles after the murder of former IRA commander Gerard 'Jock' Davison in May.
Police said an infrastructure exists at a senior level of the Provisional IRA, but that there was no evidence that Mr McGuigan's murder was sanctioned by that hierarchy.
On Sunday, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said there was no reason for armed republican groups, such as the IRA, to exist as the movement was committed to peace.
Mr Nesbitt said Sinn Féin had "no credibility and we have no trust and without trust we have nothing".
"The situation can be fixed but we need some clarity about the IRA and its command structure," he said.
He said the DUP and Sinn Féin-led government had been "incapable of delivering positive outcomes".
Mr Nesbitt added that Danny Kennedy, the UUP minister for regional development, would resign if the recommendation was endorsed.
It is very likely that the UUP's ruling body will endorse the plan to withdraw from the executive, given that the party's senior elected representatives are unanimously backing it.
The Ulster Unionists have just one minister - Danny Kennedy - out of 13 around the Executive table.
So the executive will continue to function without the UUP.
But the Ulster Unionists' move will put pressure on the Democratic Unionist Party, the biggest party in the assembly, to take action.
The party executive is expected to make a decision on Saturday.
"We will then form an opposition and offer the voter an alternative as is normal in any democracy," Mr Nesbitt added.
"It has not been an easy decision but we believe it is the right thing to do at this time."
The DUP 's deputy leader Nigel Dodds said the UUP's record in government "is one of crisis and collapse".
"The UUP previously sat in government with Sinn Féin before decommissioning and whenever the Provisional IRA was armed and active.
"For the UUP to try and rewrite history is downright hypocritical and misleading."
He added: "If anyone should be excluded from government in Northern Ireland for wrongdoing it is Sinn Féin, not unionists."
Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly accused Mr Nesbitt of electioneering and trying to "create a crisis". He reiterated his party's comments that the "IRA has left the stage".
"This was a party political broadcast as opposed to trying to resolve situations here," he said.
"This is based in hypocrisy. Last year, he [Mike Nesbitt] walked out with his party and went shoulder-to-shoulder with people connected to paramilitary organisations.
"It is very hard to believe what he is trying to do other than compete with the DUP in upcoming elections.
"This is old hat, there is nothing new in any of this, he believes that he is making a good move towards the elections. It is electioneering."
The Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers said the announcement "was a matter for the Ulster Unionist Party who take their own decisions".
"The government remains fully committed to the devolved political institutions and to the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement," she added.
"Over the coming days, I shall be continuing my discussions with the parties about fallout from the murder of Kevin McGuigan." | The Ulster Unionist Party intends to leave the Northern Ireland Executive, the party's leader has said. | 34063087 |
Lithuanian national Tomas Juska was "poleaxed" outside Cookies nightclub in Dunstable by Cortney Batchelor, Luton Crown Court heard.
The 24 year old suffered a lethal brain injury and died the next day.
Cortney Batchelor, now 22, of Paisley Close, Luton, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, and said he acted in self-defence.
Prosecutor Michael Speak said Mr Juska, who worked for Amazon, was with colleagues at the club in the early hours of Sunday 23 August.
Mr Batchelor, who did not know Mr Juska, was also in the club while his girlfriend Sarah Haynes was working behind the bar.
The prosecutor said: "Mr Juska took an interest in Sarah Haynes and flirted with her. It seems Mr Batchelor was nearby and noticed he was paying attention to her."
Door staff noticed there was "friction" between the two men and, as a result, Mr Juska was told to leave.
The court was told that shortly after, Mr Batchelor also left the club and was heard saying: "I am going to smash him."
Outside the club, Mr Batchelor confronted Mr Juska.
Mr Speak said: "He [Mr Juska] was not looking for a fight and was forced into it. Quite unexpectedly and, the Crown say, for no good reason the defendant punched Mr Juska.
"The tragedy is that Mr Juska hit the back of his head on the ground and that impact caused him to sustain a lethal brain injury from which he never recovered."
When questioned, Mr Batchelor recounted that he left the club and Mr Juska repeatedly said: "Do you want to fight me?"
He told the police he made a pre-emptive strike, said Mr Speak.
The case continues. | A man died from a single punch thrown by the boyfriend of barmaid he had been flirting with, a jury has heard. | 35971249 |
The fast-food chain sold more than 32 million meal boxes containing the plastic "Step-It" bands across North America.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has urged customers to "immediately take the recalled wristbands from children".
McDonald's has issued an apology.
The devices were promoted as devices that would encourage and measure active lifestyles. One counts how many steps the wearer has made, while the other blinks lights when detecting that its user is walking.
The CPSC said McDonald's had distributed the wristbands across the US and Canada between 9 and 17 August. It received more than 70 complaints of skin irritation from customers, including seven reports of skin blistering.
Both devices came with translucent plastic wristband straps, each in a range of three colours.
Those who return the item to McDonald's will be offered a replacement toy and either a yogurt tube or bag of apple slices.
Terri Hickey, a spokeswoman for McDonald's, said: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers, which is why upon learning about concerns with these bands we acted swiftly to stop distribution of these toys."
She added: "We apologise to our customers who were impacted and for the inconvenience this recall has caused."
McDonald's restaurants in the UK did not distribute the bands. | McDonald's is recalling millions of fitness wristbands that it bundled with Happy Meals after customers complained of skin irritation and burns. | 37187666 |
The Orangeman, Coleraine District Master George Duddy, said a union flag was also stolen from the rear of his Drumaquill Road house in Coleraine.
The Orange Order said Mr Duddy was the fourth senior Orangemen whose home had been attacked in the past three weeks.
Police said they are treating attacks in Drumaquill Road, Coleraine, and Blakes Road, Macosquin, as hate crimes.
Mr Duddy, who is also a DUP councillor, said he believed the attacks on his house and that of the Macosquin bandsman were an attempt at "sectarian intimidation".
The words 'say goodbye to the rag' were daubed across the Coleraine councillor's garden wall.
Mr Duddy said he believed he had been targeted because of his religion, his membership of the Orange Order and also because of his links to the DUP.
In a statement, the Orange Order said the attack on Mr Duddy's home was the "latest in a spate of attacks on senior members of the institution in the Coleraine area".
"These deliberate attacks have occurred over the period of the last three weeks with all four members holding office at district level or above.
"Given such a coincidence, it seems we can draw no other conclusion than that these individuals are being targeted solely because of their membership of the Orange institution," a spokesman for the order said.
In a separate weekend attack in Newry, County Down, vandals attempted to set an Orange hall on fire on Downshire Road in the city. | Graffiti has been sprayed on the homes of a leading Orangeman and a bandsman in County Londonderry overnight. | 23655896 |
The search has been suspended after the rescue helicopter was called to a separate avalanche in Lochaber.
Rachel Slater, 24, and Tim Newton, 27, had been climbing over the weekend but were reported missing on Monday.
Attempts to locate the couple had been suspended on Tuesday because of treacherous weather conditions.
The helicopter had resumed the search on Wednesday before being called away.
Conditions were said to have improved "significantly" but the risk of avalanche remained "considerable".
Ms Slater and Mr Newton, from Bradford in West Yorkshire, were thought to have been camping near the Charles Inglis Clark memorial hut on the north side of the mountain.
John Stevenson of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team told BBC Scotland on Wednesday morning that the search operation was being hampered by weather conditions.
It is unlikely teams will be sent out on foot due to "considerable" risk of avalanche.
A search was called off in "atrocious" conditions on Tuesday after two mountain rescuers set off a small snowslide.
Mr Stevenson said: "There has been a lot of fresh snow so the areas we want to look at are still very unstable.
"We wouldn't like to put people in there until we get a bit of settlement in the snow conditions".
Experienced climber Ms Slater is a graduate of Manchester University and is employed as an environmental consultant near Bradford.
In a blog post, she wrote: "I've been around rocks my whole life as my parents are very keen climbers - most of my childhood was spent scrambling around at the bottom of the cliff with the occasional easy top rope."
Mr Newton, originally from Leicester, also lives in Bradford and studied physics at the universities of Manchester and Leeds, according to his Facebook profile.
Friends and fellow climbers have been posting messages on social media praising the search teams and voicing hope that the couple will be found safe.
One wrote on the UKClimbing forum: "Great, enthusiastic young climbers. Such good role models for the sport.
"I've seen them out and about in the past and follow their logbooks cos they climb routes I'd like to. I hope they are found ok. I'm crossing everything and thinking of them and the search teams."
A statement on the Lochaber MRT Facebook page on Tuesday said: "After five hours of searching, it was decided that conditions were too dangerous to continue search which was focused on Coire na Ciste and South Trident Buttress area following a possible sighting of two people fitting their description climbing in this area early Sunday afternoon."
It added: "Two of the rescue team men avalanched traversing below No 3 Gully Buttress."
Anyone who was climbing or walking in the Ben Nevis area over the weekend and saw the couple has been urged to contact police on 101. | Mountain rescue teams have not given up hope of finding two experienced climbers who went missing on Ben Nevis alive. | 35593397 |
The Association of Colleges says 190,000 adult education places will go next year, as funding is cut by 24%.
Courses for health, public services and care, and information and communication technology (ICT) could be hardest hit.
The government concedes total funding has been reduced but says it has prioritised apprenticeships and subjects including English and maths.
The Association of Colleges (AoC) represents 336 institutions in England, including general further education, sixth-form, tertiary and land-based colleges.
It says: "Adult education and training in England will not exist by 2020 if the government continues with its swathe of cuts."
The number of adult students participating in Level 3 courses - including BTecs and NVQs - fell by almost 18% between 2013 and 2014, it says.
And if funding continues to be cut at the current rate, "there will no longer be an adult education system remaining to support students aged 19 and over".
Martin Doel, the AoC's chief executive, said the cuts "could mean an end to the vital courses that provide skilled employees for the workforce, such as nurses and social care workers".
"The potential loss of provision threatens the future prospects of the millions of people who may need to retrain as they continue to work beyond retirement age, as well as unemployed people who need support to train for a new role.
"Adult education and training in England is too important to be lost, to both individuals and the wider economy."
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) acknowledged budget cuts had been made, but said the most important areas had been protected.
"We fully recognise the important role further education plays in getting people the skills they need to get on," a BIS official said.
The official added that more than £3.9bn had been committed to adult learning and further education in 2015-6, including £770m for apprenticeship funding.
"While total funding has been reduced, priority has been given the areas where the most impact can be made - apprenticeships, traineeships and support with English and maths.
"Many colleges and training organisations have responded well to the need to find other income streams for skills provision, and it is this approach that will help them succeed."
Prof Ewart Keep, from Oxford University's department of education, says the AoC's analysis is "alarming, but realistic".
"The latest reductions raise the prospect of provision reaching a tipping point, from which subsequent recovery could be very difficult," he said.
"Cumulative cuts of this magnitude are extremely difficult to absorb, and mean that those colleges and other providers who have a strong focus on adult learners may either go out of business or be forced to re-focus their attention on younger, pre-19 students."
The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) has also supported the AoC's analysis.
NIACE's chief executive, David Hughes, said England was facing "a skills crisis".
"We should all be telling young people to get their state-funded learning in as quickly as they can," he said.
"Once they hit 21 there won't be any support left.
"That is not a great scenario for a society in which people are living longer and wanting to contribute to society and work longer too." | Adult education in England "will not exist by 2020" if government cuts continue, colleges have warned. | 32017137 |
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook's early try helped Saints establish a 6-2 lead but Fouad Yaha and Lucas Albert both went over as the hosts began to get on top.
The 13-6 half-time advantage was cut thanks to winger Adam Swift's score.
But Dragons made sure of the points in emphatic fashion with two Jodie Broughton scores in the corner and tries by Morgan Escare and Tony Gigot.
Shannon McDonnell went over for Saints late on, but the French side still held a significant lead and the victory - which puts them two points behind leaders Hull FC - was assured.
Catalans Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous:
"I'm very pleased with the two points. I've said it a lot this year but I'm not interested in the ladder [league table], if we keep improving every week, then we will keep winning games. That is our objective for the season."
"Lucas Albert is playing very well. There is still a lot of improvement in his game but if he keeps improving like he is doing then we have a very special player.
"Todd Carney settled us down out there late in the game. His game management is outstanding and you could see that out there. I was very pleased with our halves."
St Helens assistant coach Jamahl Lolesi:
"We're doing a bit tough at the moment. We're missing a few key players and the players are down on confidence a little.
"We're missing our half-back and he is a big loss for us so we're having to reshuffle our team.
"Losing Theo Fages at half-time [to a knee injury] didn't help us - that is why Keiron Cunningham isn't here at the moment. He's with Theo.
"We also lost Jonny Lomax before the game as he suffered a tight adductor and that really hurt our attack. It's just not happening for us at the moment."
Catalans Dragons: Escare, Broughton, Gigot, Richards, Yaha, Carney, Albert, Taylor, Pelissier, Casty, Stewart, Horo, Baitieri.
Replacements: Bousquet, Bosc, Maria, Navarrete.
St Helens: Lomax, Owens, Dawson, Percival, Swift, Fages, Turner, Tasi, Roby, Amor, Greenwood, Wilkin, McCarthy-Scarsbrook.
Replacements: Walmsley, Vea, Thompson, Knowles.
Referee: Chris Campbell (RFL).
Attendance: 10,789. | Catalans Dragons moved up to second in Super League table with a stylish victory over St Helens. | 36470737 |
The firm also weathered a decline in bond trading better than rivals, reporting a 4% revenue fall in that business.
Profits were $1.8bn in the quarter, on revenues of more than $9.5bn. Revenues increased 7% year-on-year.
Shares climbed 2.7% in morning trade.
Chief executive James Gorman said the earnings showed "the resilience of our franchise in a subdued trading environment".
The firm's investment management unit, the smallest segment of the business, showed the strongest gains, with a 14% year-on-year rise in revenue.
While Morgan Stanley has grown on an annual basis, its revenues dipped 2% from the previous quarter.
Morgan Stanley said client optimism had dimmed since the start of the year, but it expected US policy changes, including interest rate increases and financial deregulation, to help boost future growth. | Profits at US bank Morgan Stanley increased 11% year-on-year in the second quarter, with gains across its business. | 40659616 |
The 500m-wide Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is the size of 30 football fields.
The $180m (£135m) satellite project will be used to explore space and help look for extraterrestrial life, Xinhua news agency reported.
Advancing China's space program remains a key priority for Beijing.
Scientists are now due to start debugging and trials of the telescope, Zheng Xiaonian, deputy head of the National Astronomical Observation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences told Xinhua.
Sources: Xinhua, South China Morning Post
FAST will replace the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which is around 300m (984ft) in diameter, as the world's largest telescope.
China has stated that its space program has peaceful purposes, but the US Defence Department has said it was pursuing activities aimed to "prevent adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis," reported news agency Reuters.
Beijing is due to launch a "core module" for its first space station in 2018. | China has fitted the final piece on what will be the world's largest radio telescope, due to begin operations in September, state media report. | 36700664 |
Data will now no longer cost more than 70 cents (56p) per megabyte - far less than previous rates.
Meanwhile, calls will be capped at 29c (23p) per minute, plus VAT, under the new rules.
The EU said the regulations were aimed at stopping people build up huge bills after making calls and using data applications, such as maps, while away.
However, price comparison website Uswitch.com warned that no such caps existed for those travelling outside Europe and networks may not alert users if they rack up huge bills.
From 2014, consumers will also be able to choose a different operator abroad in the EU from the one they use at home, under the EU rules.
It is hoped this split-network approach will encourage greater competition. | New rules to prevent "bill shock" when using mobile data in Europe have come into force. | 18671015 |
The 23-year-old comes in as cover for Wigan loanee Dan Lavercombe, who is likely to be out for three weeks after suffering a groin injury in the 0-0 draw against Braintree on Tuesday.
Moore has yet to make his debut for the Cod Army, having signed for the club in February last year.
He will be available for Torquay's trip to Aldershot on Saturday.
Torquay's other two goalkeepers, Grant Fisher or Scott Corderoy, are on non-contract deals after arriving from local non-league sides and neither has played a first-team game for the Gulls. | Torquay United have signed Fleetwood Town's American goalkeeper Brendan Moore on a month's loan. | 35789916 |
Daily two-hour stoppages will be increased to three hours from 28 July after talks with the council failed.
Unite says the council are cutting over 120 jobs and claims members received their notice letters at the weekend.
Birmingham City Council previously said it is in discussion with unions and insists changes are necessary to modernise the service.
See more stories from Birmingham and the Black Country here
Unite regional officer Lynne Shakespeare said there has only been one meeting with the council since strike action began on 30 June.
The meeting took place on Thursday and Ms Shakespeare said all other meetings have been cancelled by the council.
She said union members "feel badly let down by the council" and are "extremely angry" after they received notice letters on Saturday saying their jobs were no longer needed.
Meanwhile, Birmingham residents are increasingly angered by missed waste collections. One Harborne resident said her rubbish had not been collected for over four weeks.
She said Aldon Road looks "disgusting" and criticised the council's response which she said was patronising and unsympathetic.
"The council have no way of dealing with missed collections and no plan of how to fix this," she added.
Matthew Bowater, from Sheldon, has not had his rubbish collected for three weeks.
He said he was "at his wits end" and couldn't follow the council's advice to take waste to recycling points as he doesn not have a car he can use.
Raj Bansal, from Harborne, said his whole street is full of rubbish. He has a newborn baby and said "the rubbish is overflowing" so he is having to keep bags inside.
"If the council had more practical advice, people would be more understanding."
The BBC has approached Birmingham City Council for comment. | Refuse workers in Birmingham are set to strike until September, trade union Unite has announced. | 40630007 |
The assistant in question is a former glamour model.
She was handing out cards assigning the speaking order to the candidates.
Mexico's Electoral Commission said the woman's tight white dress, with its plunging neckline, had distracted attention from important issues.
"We are sorry about the production error associated with the clothing of one of the assistants during the first presidential debate and want to apologise to the citizens and the candidates for the presidency," a statement released by the Commission said.
'Outrageous stereotype'
The Commission said an independent production firm had hired the model, Julia Orayen.
TV producer Jesus Tapia said he had settled for Ms Orayen because she was considerably shorter than the two other women who had applied for the job.
"Given the [short] stature of the candidates I chose her," he said.
He also said that she was what they had been looking for: "A pleasant, young and fresh presence."
Mr Tapia said the dress had been Ms Orayen's choice, and "in the madness of the moment" it had not been checked.
Josefina Vazquez Mota, who is bidding to become Mexico's first female president, said the assistant's dress was "not in keeping with the seriousness of the debate".
Electoral Commission member Lorenzo Cordova said it was deplorable that a stellar event in the electoral process should have been overshadowed by an "outrageous stereotype".
It was the first TV debate ahead of July's poll pitting the four presidential hopefuls against each other.
A second debate is set for 10 June. | The organisers of Sunday's televised presidential debate in Mexico have apologised because of the revealing dress worn by one of the production assistants. | 17984725 |
1 February 2017 Last updated at 16:10 GMT
The PSNI has revealed it will be issuing notices to badly parked cars.
Diane Marks explained the safety issues that pavement parking can cause. | A guide dog owner has warned of the dangers of pavement parking, as a campaign is launched to urge NI drivers to consider the needs of those with disabilities. | 38832883 |
Transport bosses want to build an alternative Metrolink route called the Second City Crossing (2CC) by 2016.
As consultation gets under way, companies have been warned they could face years of "major disruption".
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce is urging small businesses to find out how the proposals will affect them.
Richard Critchley, the chamber's policy manager for transport, agreed congestion was a major problem for struggling businesses.
But he said the construction of a second city crossing was "vital for the future expansion of Metrolink".
"There will be a huge disruption during the construction phase - that's inevitable with any major project like this," he said.
"There will be a number of permanent road closures and they will impact on businesses in the long term so people need to look at these plans now."
If approved, construction of the 2CC scheme would begin in 2013 with the extension up and running by late 2016.
The proposed tram link would take passengers on a new line from St Peter's Square to Victoria Station via Princess Street and Cross Street.
The existing tram stop in St Peter's Square would be moved and a new stop would be created at Exchange Square.
But a section of Princess Street would be closed to all traffic except buses and taxis, effectively cutting the city in two and blocking off an east-west through route via Bridge Street and John Dalton Street.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) acknowledged the difficulties facing small businesses but said its strategy was to support a "strong and prosperous economy".
However, it said that with passenger numbers set to to treble by 2021, an alternative city centre route was "essential" to cope with increased demand created by expansion of the Metrolink network.
A new line to MediaCityUK has recently opened and Metrolink extensions to Chorlton, Droylsden, Oldham and Rochdale will open during 2011 and 2012.
In addition, Metrolink extensions are under way from Chorlton to East Didsbury, from Droylsden to Ashton-under-Lyne town centre, through Oldham and Rochdale town centres and to Manchester Airport.
TfGM is also working with Manchester City Council to accommodate the new tram link with plans to pedestrianise St Peter's Square and relocate the Cenotaph to a position close to the Town Hall.
Public consultation on the crossing and Cenotaph plans will continue until 9 September, details of which can be found on the TfGM website. | Business leaders in Manchester have said plans for a new cross-city tram link are "vital", despite concerns that small businesses could be hit hard. | 13684701 |
But why should the vote be of interest beyond England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
A third of eligible voters in the UK are themselves unlikely to bother to turn up and vote so why should anyone else care? Here are six good reasons.
In brief, because Britain is still a very rich and powerful country that millions of people visit or move to every year; because all its various internal divisions of class, region, wealth, race make it a fun and culturally vibrant place; and, for goodness sake, because nobody has the faintest idea who is going to win.
What the latest national polls say
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The UK continues to be one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and a nuclear power with the fifth largest defence budget in the world. But at this election much of that is at stake.
At least two parties, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats, not only oppose the renewal of the UK's nuclear deterrent but may have the influence to do something about it.
Then there's the fundamental question of Britain's relationship with Europe, with David Cameron promising an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union by the end of 2017, if he remains prime minister.
And let's not forget that the rise of the Scottish National Party is sure to raise at some point the question of independence and the prospect of a somehow diminished United Kingdom.
Could a UK without Scotland or without nuclear weapons or outside the EU still command a seat at the UN's top table, and what would Nato and the US think? These are not entirely fanciful outcomes but real possibilities.
EU holds it breath ahead of UK vote
Every year since 1998, net migration to Britain - the difference between those leaving the country and coming into it - has exceeded 150,000.
In many of those years it has even been above a quarter of a million people. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, immigration has been a big issue at this election just as it was in 2010.
One party, UKIP, is saying Britain must take back control of its borders by leaving the EU, thereby ending free movement for half a billion Europeans, and by introducing an Australian-style points system for judging who should and who shouldn't come in.
UKIP are not going to win the election, but it's worth remembering that the Conservatives are also hoping to discourage EU nationals from coming here through changes to the benefits system, while Labour is promising to crack down on companies that use cheap foreign labour.
Access to the UK is likely to change in some way or another.
Statisticians are not entirely sure, but the UK is still the fifth or sixth biggest economy in the world and the City of London rivals New York as the global centre for financial services.
Apart from the Conservatives (and even they've been rather shy) this election campaign has been pretty hostile to the wealthy and especially those who are foreign and rich.
The opposition Labour party, for example, is promising to raise taxes on expensive properties and to start taxing the global earnings of wealthy foreigners in London, not to mention further bank taxes and an increase in corporation tax.
So there is plenty to think about there for those in the boardrooms of international companies.
The UK's 2.6% growth rate last year made it one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. Unemployment is at 5.6% compared with a eurozone average of 11.3% and the current government's economic strategy was endorsed by International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde.
But Britain's economic problems are far from solved. It still imports more than it exports and still has an enormous budget deficit of £87bn, or 5.5% of GDP.
It's how to tackle this that forms the biggest, most significant, but barely discussed divide at this general election.
Put simply, the Conservatives are promising to get rid of the deficit by the end of another five years in government, exclusively through spending cuts. Labour is committed only to the much vaguer target of reducing borrowing.
The highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies has accused both parties of providing the electorate with at best an incomplete picture of what to expect.
What are the top issues for each political party at the 2015 general election?
Policy guide: Where the parties stand
My last effort to persuade you of this election's significance is that it's just a cracking story with something very odd, possibly even momentous, about to happen.
Most striking, of course, is Scotland. Although it voted No to independence last September, the whole referendum campaign electrified support for the Scottish National Party and the SNP is looking at a landslide on Thursday.
In the short term, at the very least, it could mean the SNP having a huge say in who forms the next UK government.
But beyond that it will surely at some point revive the question of independence. And what will being wiped out in its Scottish heartlands do for the psyche and long-term prospects of the Labour Party?
More broadly nationwide, Britain's two-party system appears under severe threat, with the distinct prospect that between them Labour and the Conservatives will struggle to gain two-thirds of the votes cast. Compare that with their near 90% vote share just 50 years ago.
Will it be a blip, or is Britain heading for an era where, as in Europe, government by coalition is more the rule than the exception?
Winners and losers. Laughter and tears. Celebrities and the general public. Find echoes of the current campaign on a trip through the archive of elections past.
Watch video from the vaults on the BBC News Timeliner
What happens if no-one wins?
Nick Robinson: And the winner is?
Can you build a majority? | Voters in the UK prepare to go to the polls on Thursday in an election seen as one of the closest-fought in years. | 32587879 |
The Manxman will wear the race leader's yellow jersey for the first time if he wins stage one and a victory would help his quest to win a second green jersey.
"To wear yellow for a day would be massive for my career," he said.
But he added: "The green jersey is what I chase in the Tour de France every year. It's what my career goes around."
Cavendish will get the opportunity to claim the yellow jersey because the first stage is a sprint finish for the first time in almost 50 years.
The 28-year-old goes into the race in good form after being crowned Britain's national road race champion for the first time.
The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider will initially race in the white British champion's jersey with red and blue bands.
"To wear the jersey for a year, to represent my country as the champion, that's a massive honour," he said
"Hopefully I'll do it proud and show that Great Britain is a dominant force in cycling."
Cavendish won the Giro d'Italia's red jersey in May to join an elite group of five riders to have won the points classification on each of the three Grand Tours (the third being the Vuelta a Espana).
However, only Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, in 1994, has won most points in both the Tour and Giro in the same year and Cavendish is aware of the threat posed by Peter Sagan, who in 2012 won the points jersey that Cavendish claimed in 2011.
The Briton has the speed to beat Sagan in a straight sprint, but the Slovakian is a better climber and could target intermediate sprint points and wins on hillier stages.
"He's an incredible bike rider, incredible," said Cavendish.
"I've just got to go and not look at other people, just do my own thing. I can't try to stay with him on a climb, so what's the point in thinking about him?
"I've just got to try to win stages and hopefully the green jersey comes from that."
Cavendish has won 23 Tour de France stages, the most of any active rider and fourth on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx, who has 34, Bernard Hinault's tally of 28 and Andre Leducq's 25.
He abandoned his debut Tour on stage eight in 2007 but won four the following year, six in 2009, five in 2010 and 2011, and three in 2012, however he is not focusing on overhauling the trio of riders above him in the record books.
"It's irrelevant," he continued. "Setting targets with great names isn't really the thing to do. One: it's disappointing if you don't do it, and two: it sets a limit to what you can do.
"I will go to win as much as possible, regardless of what number I'm on now and what number I'll be on in the future."
One record Cavendish does have his eye on is that of most final-stage wins, after equalling Merckx's record of four when he won on the Champs Elysees in Paris in 2012.
"I know the finish well and, yes, I'm going for the fifth one," he said. "We'll see what happens."
Britain's Chris Froome is favourite to win the overall title in the three-week race. | Mark Cavendish has targeted wearing the yellow jersey and winning the green points one at the Tour de France, which starts in Corsica on Saturday. | 23052170 |
Some 20 items found include purses, backpacks and part of a laptop case.
There are no labels identifying them as belonging to the 239 people on board the jet that vanished two years ago.
The items were found by US lawyer Blaine Gibson, who concedes they may be irrelevant in the hunt for MH370.
"They may have just fallen off a ship," Mr Gibson told the BBC.
"Still, I found them on the same 18km (11-mile) stretch of beach where I found suspected aircraft parts [of the Malaysia Airlines jet] so it is important that they are investigated properly."
MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 and is presumed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean after veering off course.
MH370: What we know
The personal items found include a white, black and red "Angry Bird" purse, a tartan handbag and part of a black laptop case inscribed with the letters "MENSA".
Mr Gibson, who has has funded his own search for MH370 debris in east Africa, found them earlier in June on Riake beach, on the island of Nosy Boraha in north-east Madagascar.
As well as the personal items, he also found two pieces of debris that may be from the aircraft itself.
He recently found three pieces of debris in that area, having already found another piece of debris in Mozambique in March, which Australian investigators believe is almost certainly part of the missing plane.
Campaigners have released the images on the Aircrash Support Group Australia website to ascertain whether they may have belonged to MH370 passengers.
The group's chair, Sheryl Keen, said the images were being posted "to make sure everyone has the right and opportunity to view these items".
"The nature of aviation investigations [means] usually people don't get to see the nitty gritty of it. But because these have been found by members of the public we're able to take this opportunity to display the objects," Ms Keen said.
Relatives of those on board the plane have expressed frustration at the official investigation into MH370's disappearance.
KS Narendran said that while none of the personal items found belonged to his wife, MH370 passenger Chandrika Sharma, investigators' lack of urgency was disconcerting.
"We don't sense any sense of urgency at any level," he told the BBC from his home in Chennai.
"So what choice do families have but to pull together and help whoever they can?"
He said the current search does not include the only areas of the world where pieces of the aircraft have actually been washed up - beaches on the Indian ocean, thousands of miles from the official underwater sea search.
Australia, Malaysia and China have nearly completed a search of 120,000 sq km (46,000 sq miles) of the Indian Ocean, using underwater drones and sonar equipment deployed from specialist ships.
All the debris is being examined in Australia by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and other experts.
But the countries involved have agreed the sea search will end in the next couple of months unless "credible new information" is found.
Where confirmed or suspected MH370 debris was found
1. A section of wing called a flaperon, found on Reunion Island in July 2015 - confirmed as debris in September 2015
2. Horizontal stabilizer from tail section, found between Mozambique and Madagascar in December 2015
3. Stabilizer panel with "No Step" stencil, found in Mozambique in February 2016
4. Engine cowling bearing Rolls-Royce logo, found in March 2016 in Mossel Bay, South Africa
5. Fragment of interior door panel found in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius in March 2016
6. Fragments including what appears to be a seat frame, a coat hook and other panels found on Nosy Boraha island in north-east Madagascar. | Campaigners for families of those on board missing flight MH370 have released photographs of personal items that washed up on a Madagascar beach, hoping to identify them. | 36571822 |
The Society of Jesus chose Arturo Sosa Abascal, 67, of Venezuela in a ballot on Friday to replace Adolfo Nicolas of Spain, who is retiring.
It is the largest order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church.
Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit and Latin American Pope in 2013, taking the name Francis.
The Catholic Church specialises in coming up with intricate ways of picking its leaders - and then giving those leaders memorable titles.
More than 200 Jesuit electors gathered here in Rome for four days of conversations known as "murmuratio" - or whispering.
These conversations ended in a vote - during which Arturo Sosa Abascal from Venezuela was picked as the new Superior General. The Jesuits' leader wears the simple black vestments of a regular priest. The clothes give the leader the unofficial title of the "Black Pope".
His election is a sign that the Catholic Church continues to look outside this continent for its leadership. His election will be welcomed by his fellow Latin American, Pope Francis, who spent many years himself as a Jesuit priest.
Father Sosa entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1977, according to Catholic News Agency. It said he was appointed Superior of the Jesuits in Venezuela in 1996, guiding the nation through "the stormy waters" of Hugo Chavez's leadership.
The Jesuits were founded in 1540 by St Ignatius of Loyola.
The highly influential order now numbers about 17,000 and its members have strong roles in education and on human rights issues. | The Jesuits have elected a Latin American as their new leader, breaking a tradition of European heads dating back to their foundation in 1540. | 37657388 |
A new book by a leading landscape photographer has captured striking images from south west Scotland.
Galloway is the latest work by Allan Wright who has lived and worked in the area for many years.
It is part of a series of landscape photography books being launched across Scotland this summer.
The Mersehead nature reserve, seaside village of Carsethorn, Southerness, Shambellie woods and Sweetheart Abbey are among the spots included.
"Fleeting, multi-faceted and so often full of surprises, I have never tired of communing with the Galloway landscape, it's amazing and it's just there right outside the door," Mr Wright said.
"In fact, I reckon you could devote an entire lifetime's worth of rambling without exhausting its possibilities and I think most residents and happy visitors know this to be true." | All images are copyrighted. | 39803381 |
"One-nil to The Arsenal" carried an ominous tone when the teams managed by George Graham and Arsene Wenger were at the height of their powers and the titles rolled in for the Gunners.
It was turned back on Arsenal in mocking tones by Manchester City's supporters at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday as for the second time in a week that once-famous advantage was transformed into a damaging defeat.
Arsenal have led by that single goal at Everton and Manchester City before losing 2-1, overpowered and outflanked in both games in a manner that had alarm bells ringing for those who saw familiar flaws being exposed.
So has this last week proved that the early season optimism was only another false dawn for Arsenal and Wenger, or is this simply a stumble?
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Arsenal's weakness under pressure, first at a thunderous Goodison Park on Tuesday and again in the face of a Manchester City side that was simply too intense and talented for them to resist, was something that was supposed to have been cured this season.
And, in Arsenal's defence, there had been promising signs that the obvious soft underbelly that has undermined them in recent seasons had been cured at times this term.
Arsenal were poor at Manchester United on 19 November but hung in and earned a point they did not merit when Olivier Giroud equalised late on. It was the sort of the game they had lost on many other occasions.
And it was only a fortnight ago that Arsenal were being lauded for a stylish, ruthless demolition of West Ham United at the London Stadium, a performance many felt carried the hallmark of potential champions.
The loss at Everton was their first in the Premier League this season since the opening day defeat at home to Liverpool, and in that spell was a 3-0 beating of current leaders Chelsea that was so comprehensive that it convinced Antonio Conte he had to reshape tactically, with staggeringly successful results and 11 straight league wins.
It was an impressive 14-game sequence for Arsenal.
In mitigating circumstances, they have also lost Shkodran Mustafi to a hamstring injury. The Germany central defender has proved an excellent signing since arriving from Valencia in the summer, adding genuine defensive backbone in partnership with Laurent Koscielny.
The last time they suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats was in March 2016 against Manchester United and Swansea City. The last time they suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats away from home was in April 2014 at Chelsea and Everton.
And yet. And yet.
The question Arsenal have failed to answer on so many occasions since "The Invincibles" went 38 games unbeaten to win their last title in 2003-04 is - could they stand it when the heat was on, when the physical and mental pressures were at their height?
At Everton and Manchester City they looked in control at half-time, less so at the Etihad perhaps, and twice they have become unsettled and eventually beaten by teams who have applied sustained pressure.
When it came to the pressure points, Arsenal were brittle and cracked. They have been fragile before and now need to produce hard evidence very swiftly that this is merely a temporary state of affairs and not a revisiting of damaging old habits that refuse to die.
Arsenal looked tired. They were subjected to a fierce physical test at Everton on Tuesday, but every other title contender has been playing this week and they quite simply have to meet these demands if they wish to end that title drought, irrespective of the fact they have Champions League football to factor in where the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool have no European commitments.
Once Manchester City went ahead there was, from an Arsenal perspective, a grim inevitability about the outcome. And, most worryingly of all for Wenger, it seemed like mentally his players knew it.
This talented team has been betrayed by its Jekyll and Hyde nature under Wenger for years and these last two games will have raised all the old questions and doubts.
In the 12 seasons since Arsenal last won the title, in only two of those campaigns has the margin between the Gunners and the champions been in single figures. Twice the gap has been more than 20 points - so a systematic pattern has emerged rather than an extended hard luck story.
The gap to Chelsea is already nine points. Arsenal now have home games coming up against West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace. They cannot allow it to get any wider.
Mesut Ozil is a graceful creator. He can make and score goals and influence games - but when Arsenal needed him as the chips were down at Everton and Manchester City, he went missing.
At Goodison Park, he carelessly squandered a potentially decisive chance when the score was 1-1, and when Ashley Williams powered in to head Everton's late winner, Ozil was heavily criticised for turning away from the challenge, appearing to flinch as the defender charged in.
And at Manchester City, when Arsenal were struggling to gain any foothold and their defence was being placed under constant examination, Ozil's presence could best be described as peripheral. He was on the margins rather than a vital outlet.
Ozil is used by Arsenal's critics, with justification, as the embodiment of the problems that always let them down. He flourishes when the sun is shining but takes shelter when it starts to rain.
As Kevin de Bruyne stepped forward to take the responsibility vacated by the suspended Sergio Aguero, Ozil failed to fill in as Arsenal's other stellar performer, Alexis Sanchez, tired visibly and was starved of service in the second half.
Ozil won only 25% of his personal duels against City, lost the ball 14 times and played just one key pass, where that is rated as a pass that assists an attempt on goal.
The final straw of Arsenal's frustration was a last-minute free-kick mix-up between Ozil and keeper Petr Cech that saw a short ball played rather than the obvious launch into the penalty area.
With that he was gone, down the tunnel and with nothing to strengthen his hand in current lucrative contract negotiations with Arsenal. The serious clubs will look at his performances this week and question whether he has got it in his locker to add to their elite resources.
Ozil has a rare talent that cannot be denied. But on these occasions, like Arsenal, it is also flawed.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman did not spare Wenger's feelings after he complained that referee Mark Clattenburg's performance played a part in their loss at Goodison Park.
He was particularly annoyed by a marginal decision on the corner which led to Everton's winning goal.
Koeman, whose Southampton team beat Arsenal 4-0 at St Mary's last season, said: "I am not surprised by Wenger and his comments. It is the third home game in a row that I have won against Arsenal and three times it was about the referee."
It was the same story at the Etihad Stadium as he turned his ire on referee Martin Atkinson and his officials as Leroy Sane looked barely an inch offside for City's equaliser and Wenger complained David Silva was offside in front of Cech for Raheem Sterling's winner, although it is questionable whether he was hindering the keeper.
Wenger said: "It is very difficult to accept in a game of that stature but, as it is well known, the referees are protected very well like lions in the zoo, so we have to live with those decisions."
Wenger's complaints may be valid, but history suggests it is rather more than errors by officialdom that have been behind their succession of failures to mount a title challenge.
In Wenger's defence, it is only two defeats and the season has only reached December - the problem is that that table will now tell him and Arsenal they will need something akin to a four-game swing to pass, for one, Chelsea while they go on an extended run of success.
After this week, and the manner of Arsenal's defeats, it is an equation that would test even Wenger's endless optimism to the limit. | It was the chant Arsenal's supporters used as a signal of their superiority - a song designed to demoralise opponents in the years when silverware was a common currency. | 38359736 |
The daily title saw average Scottish circulation up to 24,400 in March.
That puts it ahead of the most recent figures for its rival, The Scotsman.
The Edinburgh-based title, in the latest figures available, had average daily circulation of 22,700 between July and December last year. Of them, only 14,200 were sold at full price.
A tenth of its circulation was in multiple copies, distributed in hotels and at airports.
The figures show how newspaper marketing and promotions are changing the shape of the industry, as conventional newsagent sales decline.
Those papers sold below full price are deemed less valuable to the industry, not only because of the lack of cover price revenue but also because advertisers do not see giveaways as reaching people with as great a commitment to read articles and see adverts.
Among British titles, The Times and Sunday Times have led the way in putting their online journalism behind a pay-wall. These have been heavily promoted with special offers, currently including free membership of the National Trust for Scotland and student deals.
The Sunday Times jettisoned most of its reporting staff in Scotland and has a limited amount of Scottish content. The Times continues to employ journalists from its Glasgow office and covering Holyrood, and to produce a Scottish edition.
London-based national titles report their figures separately from most Scottish newspapers, including The Scotsman, and more often. The monthly figures for March show that just under 15,000 of The Times' sales in Scotland were at full price - just ahead of The Scotsman average last year.
According to industry figures compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, that was an 8% rise on the average for March 2015.
Voucher-based sales fell 11% to 3,500, while multiple circulation was up six-fold to 5800.
The Sunday Times had full price sales of 36,000 in Scotland, to which it added 4900 through subscriptions and 5500 through multiple distribution.
Innovative marketing also helped The Daily Telegraph to turn around a long term decline across Britain, by adding 8000 bulk sales.
In Scotland, the Telegraph added 4% full-price sales since March of last year, to reach a daily average of 8300, while voucher-based sales fell 4% since last year to 7,600.
The bigger-selling daily titles in Scotland saw full-price sales for the market leader, The Sun, dip below 200,000. It has fallen by 11% in the year to March.
The Sun had additional circulation of 23,000 through lower-price sales and giveaways.
Its rival, the Daily Record, based in Glasgow, saw full-price sales slip 13% over the past year, to below 168,000. Of them, all but 6000 were sold at full price.
The Daily Mail had average Scottish full-price sales of 83,000 last month, down 4% in a year. In addition, it had a circulation of 3,000 at less than full price or free.
In Scotland's weekly market for newspapers, the Sunday Mail registered 176,500 average full-price sales last month, down 14% in a year, and with fewer than 4000 giveaways.
The Sunday Post sold 121,000 at full price, a decline of 11%.
The circulation figures for The Herald over the second half of last year were just above 32,000, almost all of them sold at full price, and down 13% on July to December of 2014.
The decline was less steep for the Press and Journal, based in Aberdeen, down 6% in a year at 56,400 average daily sales.
Its sister paper in Dundee, the Courier, reported circulation down 8% to 43,000, with fewer than 500 of each title being given away. | The Times and Sunday Times have sharply increased their readership in Scotland by using voucher promotions, bundled offers and bulk distribution. | 36107787 |
The Royal Mint has said that it saw a "surge" in demand for the precious metal following the Bank of England's cut in base rates to 0.25% on 4 August.
During that week the Mint saw a 25% increase in transactions on its bullion website.
It also experienced a 50% increase in sales of gold bars and coins, compared with the previous week.
It is thought investors are turning to gold as cash and bonds offer diminishing returns, exacerbated by lower interest rates.
So far this year, the price of gold has risen by 45% in sterling terms, and 25% in dollar terms.
"Although the stock market has been doing well of late, it didn't do so well at the start of the year, and there was a lot of volatility around the time of the referendum," said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Landown.
"That helps gold."
However he also warned that gold prices will not necessarily continue rising.
"It's worth pointing out gold is by no means a one way bet - in 2011 it was trading at above $1800 an ounce. It's an insurance policy for the rest of your investments and as such should make up no more than 5-10% of your portfolio."
Gold is currently trading at $1344 an ounce.
Earlier this week, the World Gold Council reported that global investment demand for gold hit a record level in the first six months of this year.
However consumer demand in countries such as India and China, traditionally among the strongest buyers of gold, was lower. | It seems the quest for gold is not currently limited to the venues of Rio de Janeiro. | 37059941 |
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Coquelin, 24, was injured during his side's 2-1 defeat by West Brom at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
Arsenal are also without midfielders Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere, as well as forwards Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck.
The Gunners are fourth in the Premier League table, two points behind surprise leaders Leicester City.
"We have players that play in Coquelin's position like Mathieu Flamini and others that can play in his position like Calum Chambers," said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
"Sometimes it is an opportunity for others to show they can do the job."
Arsenal play Dinamo Zagreb at home in a Champions League tie on Tuesday that they must win to maintain their hopes in the competition, before an away game in the Premier League at Norwich City on Sunday.
Coquelin will also miss vital league matches against Manchester City on 21 December and away at Liverpool on 13 January. | Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin will be out for around three months after suffering a knee ligament injury. | 34902280 |
With Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa among the riders to crash out, Aspar Team rider Laverty moved up the field in Texas from 17th spot early on.
Laverty, 29, finished fourth in the previous round in Argentina.
Marc Marquez secured his fourth straight win in the race as he finished 6.107 seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo.
Italy's Ducati rider Andrea Iannone took third spot 10.947 seconds behind Marquez.
Laverty is now ninth in this year's championship on 21 points after also finishing 12th in the season opener in Qatar.
The Toomebridge man managed just nine points last season.
Laverty's performance completed a good day for his family after his brother Michael took a victory at the British Superbikes Championship meeting at Silverstone. | Eugene Laverty secured his third straight points finish of the MotoGP season as he took 12th in the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin. | 36011470 |
World champion long jumper Rutherford has just returned from the Olympics in Rio where he picked up a bronze medal.
He joked: "This is definitely a long jump from my day job, for sure."
Joseph said she was both "scared and excited and apprehensive and thrilled" while Empson said it was "a dream".
Rutherford, Joseph and Empson join singer Anastacia, BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty, former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, model Daisy Lowe, former Hollyoaks actor Danny Mac and Kiss FM DJ Melvin Odoom on the show.
Singers Louise Redknapp and Will Young, presenters Ore Oduba and Laura Whitmore; gymnast Claudia Fragapane and "Judge" Robert Rinder have also been announced.
"Strictly is an iconic show and I have always loved the glamour and the dedication and the entertainment, and this year it suddenly seemed right to take part," Joseph said.
Rutherford added that "taking to the Strictly ballroom is like nothing I have ever done before," while Empson revealed she had "been waiting for years to take part in Strictly".
The last batch of celebrity dancers was announced on Monday night's One Show.
Strictly Come Dancing - The Launch Show will be broadcast on BBC One on Saturday 3 September when the 15 celebrity contestants will discover which professional dancer they will be paired with for the series. | Long jump star Greg Rutherford, Birds of a Feather's Lesley Joseph and EastEnders actress Tameka Empson have completed this year's Strictly Come Dancing line-up. | 37156392 |
The hosts had a strong penalty appeal when West Brom winger Callum McManaman evaded the lunge of Matt Targett.
But with Dusan Tadic a constant threat for the superior Saints, Jay Rodriguez headed wide from the Serbian's cross.
Berahino received a mixed response after coming on as a substitute, but after missing three games, was rusty.
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The 22-year-old's second-half introduction engineered a spark in a largely drab game, and a commitment to defence by both teams ensured little goalmouth incident.
Southampton's point earned them a third consecutive clean sheet for the first time since November 2014, but West Brom have now only scored three goals in five Premier League games.
Reaction to this match and the rest of Saturday's action
Berahino's re-integration came after the England Under-21 international said he would never play under chairman Jeremy Peace again.
The threat came after the club blocked a move to Tottenham, and, after Pulis hinted he may use the forward, he was brought on 10 minutes into the second half.
Despite a few boos as he warmed up, Berahino was given a largely positive reception and injected urgency into the game as the home fans found their voice.
Southampton resisted the West Brom improvement, and Victor Wanyama - who has also been unsettled after interest from Tottenham - offered the Saints added ballast in midfield on his return to the team.
But West Brom will hope that they can keep Berahino onside and they need last season's top goalscorer to get them firing again.
"It was a positive reaction [from the fans]," said Pulis. "We've all made mistakes and looked back and thought we should have done something differently.
"Saido's made a couple of mistakes, and given his time again, he wouldn't make those mistakes, I hope. We move on. It's been very difficult for us because of stuff going on away from football, and then we had the international break."
With the last four previous matches between the two teams yielding only three goals, chances were likely to be at a premium and in a subdued first-half, McManaman's penalty appeal was the biggest talking point.
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The Baggies winger was put clear by Rickie Lambert and as he made his way into the area, Targett lunged at him.
McManaman managed to touch the ball past the Southampton defender, but before contact came, he seemed to fling himself over his opponent in a theatrical manner, perhaps adding to the decision of referee Stuart Attwell, who waved appeals away.
Pulis, who initially joined those appeals, said afterwards that the referee got it right.
"I think Callum McManaman dives first before the player touches him," added Pulis. "I'll be having a word with him about that. It was a good decision by the referee."
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman: "I'm a little bit disappointed because we were the better team. We had a lot of ball possession, we didn't create a lot of chances, maybe the best one was in the first half with Jay Rodriguez. In the second half we were not clinical enough.
"It was like we were the home team today. It was a difficult game, but we expect this, if we can't win then don't lose."
Match ends, West Bromwich Albion 0, Southampton 0.
Second Half ends, West Bromwich Albion 0, Southampton 0.
Offside, Southampton. Steven Davis tries a through ball, but Graziano Pellè is caught offside.
Attempt blocked. Victor Wanyama (Southampton) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Graziano Pellè (Southampton) left footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Dusan Tadic.
Sadio Mané (Southampton) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Claudio Yacob (West Bromwich Albion).
Attempt missed. Craig Gardner (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Salomón Rondón.
Attempt saved. Graziano Pellè (Southampton) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Dusan Tadic.
Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. Jonas Olsson replaces Jonny Evans because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Jonny Evans (West Bromwich Albion) because of an injury.
Attempt blocked. Sadio Mané (Southampton) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by James Ward-Prowse.
Jose Fonte (Southampton) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Salomón Rondón (West Bromwich Albion).
Chris Brunt (West Bromwich Albion) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Sadio Mané (Southampton) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Chris Brunt (West Bromwich Albion).
Attempt blocked. Saido Berahino (West Bromwich Albion) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Salomón Rondón.
Sadio Mané (Southampton) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Claudio Yacob (West Bromwich Albion).
Substitution, Southampton. Maya Yoshida replaces Cédric Soares.
Foul by James Ward-Prowse (Southampton).
Jonny Evans (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Sadio Mané (Southampton) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Steven Davis.
Attempt saved. Graziano Pellè (Southampton) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Steven Davis.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Graziano Pellè (Southampton) because of an injury.
Substitution, Southampton. Sadio Mané replaces Jay Rodriguez.
Attempt missed. James Ward-Prowse (Southampton) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Graziano Pellè.
Attempt missed. James Ward-Prowse (Southampton) right footed shot from the right side of the box is too high. Assisted by Dusan Tadic.
Foul by Victor Wanyama (Southampton).
Claudio Yacob (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. James McClean replaces Callum McManaman.
Attempt missed. Callum McManaman (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Craig Gardner.
Corner, West Bromwich Albion. Conceded by Jose Fonte.
Attempt blocked. Callum McManaman (West Bromwich Albion) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Foul by Jay Rodriguez (Southampton).
Craig Dawson (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. Saido Berahino replaces Rickie Lambert. | Saido Berahino returned to action for West Brom 10 days after threatening to go on strike as the Baggies held on for a draw with Southampton. | 34160768 |
Let's put aside for now the question of how that comes about. Let's find out what the SNP leader might mean.
The term "progressive" was used three times in Ms Sturgeon's conference speech last month, each time as an appeal to people of like mind in other parts of the UK.
She's taken to using it on other occasions, as she emphasises the case for the SNP working with Labour to vote out the Conservatives.
There's no agreed definition of the word.
In taxation terms, it means that more is paid by those who can afford to pay it. By contrast, a regressive tax is one which falls most heavily on those less able to pay.
Progressive spending cuts are those that fall most heavily on those best equipped to bear them. In those terms, it's sometimes seen as fair, or a means for re-distribution.
But it's not just about tax and spending. It can be about changing society, about reform and modernity, in which case it can be used to mean the opposite of conservative.
Tony Blair's followers use progressive in those terms, to avoid being cast as "left-wing" or "socialist", and as it seems to be a comfortable and ill-defined word that often means what the listener wants to hear in it.
That depends what you mean.....
In the USA, conservatives have become the most radical of reformers, challenging the scale of government and favouring the classically liberal freedom of the individual. "Neo-conservative" now, confusingly, means something very similar to "neo-liberal".
The term progressive has a stronger pedigree in the US, being the term for a social movement, then a political movement in the era from 1890 to 1918. Progressives sought to regulate business as the country industrialised, to improve protection of workers, and campaigning for women to have the vote.
Hillary Clinton, currently front runner in the race for the White House, has sought to move away from the term "liberal", as that has become a term of abuse from the right, associated with a big state and the opposite of classic liberalism.
She prefers the term "progressive", though she finds she is under fire from those to her left in the Democrat Party who see the term as their own.
Progressive has not always belonged to the left. In Canada, between 1942 and 2003, there was a Progressive Conservative Party, on the centre right of Ottawa politics. Some provincial remnants remain.
And five years ago, when he was leader of the Opposition at Westminster, David Cameron was arguing for "progressive conservatism". It appeared to mean something modern and fair, with a green tinge and different from his Conservative predecessors.
Two of his ministers, Greg Clark and Jeremy Hunt, had pushed to re-cast Conservatism in that light: "The party has regularly been Britain's progressive party," they wrote in 2007, "in reform, by confronting vested interests and championing the disempowered, oriented towards the future rather than to yearning for the past."
When Cameron's Labour opponent failed to win a majority at the 2010 election, Gordon Brown sought to form a "progressive alliance" with Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.
But, as you'll recall, Nick Clegg formed an alliance with David Cameron, arguing that he was a 'new progressive' rather than the 'old progressives' of the Labour Party. The Lib Dem leader explained this was about the freedom of citizens contrasted with the power of the state.
Things have moved on in five years. It's hard to find any recent talk of 'progressive conservatism'. One analysis suggests, in retrospect, that it has turned out to be more about the Thatcherite form of progress (rolling back the scale of the state) than social justice. David Cameron is less concerned with occupying the centre ground which Tony Blair had previously occupied. He ceded some of that to the Lib Dems during the past five years, while turning his attention to UKIP on the right.
That leaves the field a bit clearer for those on the left, or centre ground of politics, to reclaim the term "progressive". Ed Miliband may know what Nicola Sturgeon means when she calls for a 'progressive alliance'. But the ordinary voter could be forgiven for being a bit confused.
What's the truth behind the politicians' claims on the campaign trail? Our experts investigate the facts, and wider stories, behind the soundbites.
Read latest updates or follow us on Twitter @BBCRCheck | Nicola Sturgeon has offered to be a "progressive ally" with Labour Party leader Ed Miliband after the election, if he needs SNP support to form a government. | 32298768 |
The strongly-worded, non-binding resolution was passed by a majority of MEPs. It called for a ban on funding of political parties in the EU by non-EU "political or economic stakeholders".
Reports say the French National Front (FN) has received loans worth several million euros from a Russian bank.
Russia remains under EU-US sanctions.
The sanctions target Russian state banks, defence and energy industries, and close aides to President Vladimir Putin.
They are expected to be renewed next month, to keep up pressure aimed at defusing the conflict in Ukraine. The West accuses Russia of helping the separatists in eastern Ukraine with soldiers and heavy weapons - something Russia denies.
UKIP members, along with nationalists from France, Italy and some other countries, opposed the European Parliament resolution. The MEPs' votes were reported by the Votewatch Europe website.
In the past, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has expressed some admiration for Mr Putin.
Bulgarian Socialists also voted against the resolution. Russia maintains strong ties with Bulgaria, based on centuries-old shared culture and religion.
In a comment on the vote, UKIP deputy leader Paul Nuttall said his party objected to any EU involvement in party funding.
"UKIP does not support interference by the European Commission in any aspect of funding for British political parties. UKIP supports the laws which are already in place in Britain which prohibit foreign funding of political parties."
The resolution's author was Lithuanian MEP Gabrielius Landsbergis of the European People's Party, the main centre-right bloc.
Much of the text lambasted the Russian government for its crackdown on political opponents, gay activists and civil society groups (NGOs).
It said the parliament "is deeply concerned at the ever more intensive contacts and co-operation, tolerated by the Russian leadership, between European populist, fascist and extreme right-wing parties on the one hand and nationalist groups in Russia on the other".
Such contacts, it said, were "a danger to democratic values and the rule of law in the EU". EU states should "take action against this threat of an emerging 'Nationalist International'," it said.
It referred to a St Petersburg meeting in March between Russian nationalists and other far-right European activists.
The MEPs also accused Russia of "hybrid warfare, deliberately blurring the lines between military/paramilitary activity and political activism".
Russia "can no longer be treated as, or considered, a 'strategic partner'," the resolution said, echoing the official EU position.
The MEPs urged the European Commission to fund "concrete projects aimed at countering Russian propaganda and misinformation". | Anti-EU parties including UKIP have voted against a European Parliament resolution, which condemns Russian human rights abuses. | 33083388 |
After Ms Wang died in 2007, Peter Chan, formerly known as Tony Chan, claimed he was the sole beneficiary of her estimated $4bn (£2.6bn) estate.
The case of the eccentric billionaire widow and her alleged geomancer lover transfixed Hong Kong.
A court ruled two years ago that her estate would go to charity.
The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong reports that during the trial the jurors heard many lurid and colourful stories about the unlikely couple.
They were told, for example, that Chan first wooed Nina Wang, who was then one of Asia's richest women, with a head massage.
When sentencing Chan, Justice Andrew Macrae spoke of the "shameless and unparalleled greed" at the heart of a "well-executed and well-planned" crime, Reuters news agency reports.
"Never once ... have you shown the slightest remorse for your conduct," he is quoted as saying.
Chan, who had pleaded not guilty on charges of forgery and using a forged document, was impassive during the sentencing, Reuters reports.
The self-styled Feng Shui practitioner changed his name from Tony Chan to Peter Chan earlier this year after he converted to Christianity.
Chan fought for years to inherit the property tycoon's multi-billion dollar fortune, claiming he was the sole beneficiary according to a 2006 will.
But a court finally dismissed his claims to the inheritance in 2011, ruling in favour of a charity run by Ms Wang's siblings, Chinachem Charitable Foundation Ltd, whose claim to her estate rests on a will from 2002.
Ms Wang, who was 69 when she passed away, was known for her pig-tails, short skirts and colourful dress sense.
She was the widow of Hong Kong industrialist Teddy Wang, who disappeared in 1990 after being kidnapped. | A court in Hong Kong has sentenced a Feng Shui master to 12 years in jail for forging the will of billionaire tycoon Nina Wang. | 23193420 |
The claim: Part of the reason the pound is weaker is that the markets thought the UK would vote to stay in the EU.
Reality Check verdict: Currency market moves on the day of the referendum suggest that the markets did indeed predict the wrong result, but it is hard to argue that the pound would now be at a different level if they had predicted correctly.
"Already we can see that the forecasts of a disaster for sterling, for equities and for interest rates have not been proven correct," she said.
"The pound is weaker, partly as a result of the markets being wrong on the result of the referendum and partly on the expectation of further interest rate easing."
The pound is at its lowest rate against the US dollar since 1985 and it is hard to argue that that weakness is due to the markets getting their referendum predictions wrong.
You could argue that the pound would not have risen to $1.50 on the day of the referendum if investors had not been expecting a remain vote, but would that have made much difference to its current rate?
"It's come down and it's stayed down, so it seems hard to say this was about a short-term reaction," says Simon Derrick, head of currency research at Bank of New York Mellon.
Mr Derrick adds that much of the reason for the falling pound is that Bank of England governor Mark Carney had been talking about cutting interest rates from their already record low levels and the pound being at levels that make exporters more competitive.
Read more: The facts behind claims about our relationship with the EU | Conservative Party leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom gave a very upbeat speech on Thursday morning, urging her followers to "banish the pessimists". | 36735813 |
Andy Haldane said interest rates could "edge up" if the cost of living continues to rise.
He spoke to residents in Barry, Porth and Ely in Cardiff in the first visit of its kind in the UK.
Mr Haldane told BBC Wales certain issues like economic inactivity needed to be tackled in Wales.
He sits on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, which is responsible for setting the interest rate in the UK.
In 2014, he was voted one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
He said: "We need to look seriously at the possibility of raising interest rates to keep the lid on those cost of living increases.
"For now we are happy with where the rates are, we need to be vigilant for what happens next".
The visit was organised by Citizens Cymru Wales.
Issues raised included affordable housing, the living wage, mortgages, poverty and transport.
Nikki Cole, one of the residents at the meeting in Barry, said her family are finding it difficult.
"I had my son and daughter-in-law in tears last night because they don't know how they are going to manage," she said.
"I had to use my redundancy money to help them, not realising my husband was going to die a year later. For my family and friends it's extremely difficult."
Mr Haldane said transport, skills and economic inactivity were all issues that needed to be addressed in Wales.
"Do young people have the right sets of skills to find a way into the world of work? Levels of inactivity, people not involved in the jobs market, tend to be a bit higher in Wales," he explained.
"Transport infrastructure is a big question - the difficulty of getting around between areas is something of an obstacle to businesses and people in the world of work."
The tour is part of the Bank of England being more proactive in finding out what financial issues people are facing across the UK. | People in Wales are facing a "squeeze" because pay is flat but the price of goods has gone up, according to the Bank of England's chief economist. | 40441968 |
The loose-head has featured 12 times for Force in Super Rugby, having joined them from Western Province in 2014.
Van Wyk, 25, moves to Saints following the departure of Ethan Waller to Premiership rivals Worcester Warriors.
"He's a strong scrummager and still relatively young for a front row forward," Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder told the club website.
"We believe that Francois has plenty of potential to continue improving and are pleased that he will be joining us at Franklin's Gardens next season."
Northampton had already signed fellow prop Jamal Ford-Robinson for the upcoming season, alongside Rob Horne, Cobus Reinach, Piers Francis and Mitch Eadie. | Northampton Saints have signed prop Francois van Wyk for the 2017-18 season from Super Rugby side Western Force. | 39869787 |
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The 18-year-old from Mauchline will partner Blair, 15 years his senior, in the men's doubles at the Emirates.
He said: "Playing with Bob is going to be great experience - a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and a World Championship silver medallist.
"Hopefully, I can gain as much experience as I can from this outing."
Hall made history recently when he won all three available titles at the Scottish National Junior Championships in Motherwell, clinching the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles in the Under-19 category.
He began playing badminton when he was four and went on to attend the Glasgow School of Sport, which enabled him to build towards a career in the sport. He has been training full-time for the past two years at the National Badminton Academy in Scotstoun, Glasgow.
He admits Blair has been "a huge role model" for him and says he is looking forward to playing beside him at the Scottish Open, which has attracted 236 entries from 31 nations in its second year under the Badminton World Federation's Grand Prix banner,
The partnership is invigorating, too, for Blair, who will also defend his mixed doubles title with Imogen Bankier, whom he partnered to a bronze medal at Glasgow 2014.
He told BBC Scotland: "This will be our first outing as a partnership so we're hoping to get a good understanding in practice in the next few days.
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"It's nice the kind of energy that young players bring to the game. When you get older and you've been there and done it quite a few times, you can feed off their energy.
"It's nice to go along that journey with them sometimes.
"In doubles you have to have a good relationship with your partner. You get a new partner and it's quite exciting and it brings back the fresh feeling to the game again and it keeps you going a bit longer."
Glasgow-based Blair played beside Longniddry's Paul van Rietvelde in Prague earlier in November as they helped Scotland reach the finals of the European Team Championships, but Hall is hoping to seize his chance.
"I'm replacing him for this tournament and then we'll see how it goes," he said ahead of his first time in the tournament's main doubles draw.
Hall and Blair are unseeded for the Scottish Open, with Ronan Labar and Baptiste Careme of France given top billing. However, it is from elsewhere in Europe that Blair predicts a strong challenge.
"I think there are a couple of good German pairs [Max Schwenger and Josche Zurwonne, Raphael Beck and Andreas Heinz] and there are some Danish pairs that are quite tricky and tactically sound," he said.
"If we perform at our best and get a bit of home support again I'm sure the nice memories [of the Commonwealth Games] will come back and we'll do well."
On Friday it was announced that , regarded as the sport's most prestigious tournament. | Scottish Under-19 badminton champion Adam Hall plans to learn as much as he can from playing beside Robert Blair at the Scottish Open Grand Prix this week. | 30050678 |
They support her pick of Tim Kaine as a running mate. They want their delegates on the Democratic National Convention floor to be respectful. They urge the party to rally behind the presumptive nominee.
On Monday night Mr Sanders himself gave the party's standard-bearer everything she could have wanted.
After a rock-star welcome from his legions of supporters in the convention hall, the man who only recently joined the Democratic Party made a whole-hearted pitch for that party's soon-to-be nominee.
"Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," Mr Sanders said to raucous cheers from the Clinton faithful, many of whom had been nervously awaiting this exact moment. "The choice is not even close."
Mr Sanders said he would do everything he could to help her get elected and that she would make "an outstanding president". He drew a sharp contrast time and time again with Mrs Clinton's Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
"This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions," he said. "Not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness."
More than that, Mr Sanders had a message for his supporters who have said they may not back Mrs Clinton in the November general election; that it's "Bernie or bust".
"If you don't believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country," he said.
The problem for Mrs Clinton - and, for that matter, for Mr Sanders - is that Bernie delegates aren't particularly keen on taking orders from anyone, even the man whose campaign brought them all to Philadelphia.
Self-styled revolutions can be unpredictable like that. As French journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan once wrote, they do have a tendency of devouring their children.
After Mr Sanders's speech, Sanders supporters took to the convention halls to chant "We won't vote for Hillary" and "This is what democracy looks like".
Under her breath, one Clinton supporter muttered: "This is what losers look like."
The problem for the Clinton campaign, however, is that the Sanders "revolution" is refusing to acknowledge defeat.
At a Monday afternoon rally Bernie Sanders was booed by his own supporters when he told them to back Mrs Clinton. And that was just a preview of the fireworks that would take place when the convention was gavelled to order.
Speaker after speaker who mentioned Mrs Clinton - even in passing - was jeered. When civil rights icon Elijah Cummings took the stage, the Sanders delegates stood, waved signs and chanted against the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal
According to Lauren Steiner, a California Sanders delegate who helped organise the convention-floor demonstration, all of this was planned weeks in advance - in emails, conference calls and in-person meetings. A direct plea via email from Mr Sanders to his supporters, insisting that demonstrations would be counterproductive, was shrugged off.
"Here's the guy that gets arrested protesting segregated housing, and he's telling us not to do a protest?" she asked.
For Ms Steiner and other Sanders delegates, Mr Sanders may have carried their movement for the past year, but the wave he rode will outlive his campaign - and already could be moving beyond his control.
"Bernie Sanders's political revolution does not depend on Bernie Sanders or any one person," Steiner said. "It's millions of people getting up and saying enough is enough, this country belongs to all of us."
Earlier in the day other Sanders supporters from California - a state delegation full of "beautiful troublemakers" in the words of delegate Robert Shearer - spoke about the rocky convention that could be in store for Mrs Clinton.
"We take very seriously the principle Bernie enunciated from early in campaign, that social change comes from the bottom up," said Karen Bernal, one of the leaders of the state's Sanders delegation. "As beloved as Bernie is, he's not running the show."
Norman Solomon, who serves as national co-ordinator of the Bernie Delegates Network, says that more than 80% of the nearly two-thirds of Sanders delegates he polled objected to Mr Kaine, a relative moderate within the party, being the vice-presidential nominee.
"Putting him on the ticket is not reaching out," he said. "If that's reaching out, it's political thumbs put in the eyes of Bernie Sanders supporters."
He says a variety of next steps are on the table - including a walkout during Mrs Clinton's Thursday nomination acceptance speech or an attempt to formally offer an alternate to running-mate Kaine on Tuesday.
While a majority of Sanders supporters nationally have said they will back Mrs Clinton, the true believers here - most of whom have paid their own way to the convention hall to cheer their candidate - are a different breed.
At a pro-Sanders rally on Monday afternoon, some demonstrators told the BBC that they wouldn't mind if Mr Trump won - if it opened the door to someone from their movement to rise to the presidency in four years.
It's a prospect Mr Solomon dismisses, however. He says that Sanders supporters in most states can vote their conscience - but in key electoral battlegrounds, they'll "hold their noses" and opt for Mrs Clinton.
It's not exactly the most rousing endorsement, but it may be the best Mrs Clinton can hope for from this crowd - and, thanks in part to Mr Sanders's efforts Monday night, it might be enough. | Bernie Sanders and his team are saying all the right things for Hillary Clinton. | 36890425 |
They were announced as part of an extra £12bn of spending on defence equipment - part of the government's £178bn overall defence equipment and support budget during the next decade.
Here are some of the main developments in the government's Strategic Defence and Security Review:
4,500 miles (7,200 km) maximum range without refuelling
490 knots (910km/h; 560mph) maximum speed
28 P-8A Poseidon aircraft in use by the United States
2 other countries, India and Australia, have variants of the aircraft in use or on order | Prime Minister David Cameron's defence announcements include two squadrons of F-35 jets for the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, nine new maritime patrol aircraft and two 5,000-strong "strike brigades". | 34897803 |
A taxi advisory group will be set up and the review will take into account the views of operators, drivers and members of the public.
Chris Hazzard said the issues of licensing classifications and metering will have to be looked at.
He said his job was to "provide clarity".
"Metering is going to be central to how we go forward here," he added.
"My job is to provide clarity and to suggest that metering is going to be part of this."
Under current rules, taxis and similar vehicles fall under a number of categories.
Mr Hazzard said he was aware of concerns around licensing classifications for taxis and stated that class C was "intended for use by, for example wedding, funeral and novelty vehicles and not as a general taxi class".
"I am going to look to close the loopholes with class C so if that has questions or issues for people they have to consider that," he said
The review could raise doubts about the future of the Uber operation in Belfast.
A recently enacted law means that taxis need a certified meter and receipt printer but Uber will not install these as it uses its own metering technology.
However, as it stands there is no explicit prohibition on taxis using class C licences.
Uber said it was 'surprised' by Minister Hazzard's comments.
It said that in discussions with his department earlier this year "it was agreed that Uber's model fitted under the class C licence".
New proposals are expected to be brought forward for public consultation next spring, said the Department for Infrastructure. | The infrastructure minister has announced a full review of taxi legislation. | 36983803 |
One patient had his brain surgery cancelled less than two hours before he was due in hospital.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital apologised, saying the procedure is not currently commissioned by NHS England.
However, NHS England claims it is working with the hospital on plans to further develop the service.
David Knowles, 32, was due to undergo a procedure in April that could cure or significantly reduce his epilepsy.
Known as lesion resection, it involves inserting electrodes into the brain to detect electrical activity and carefully removing abnormal brain tissue.
Just 45 minutes after confirmation that he was to come into hospital, however, he was told that the operation had been cancelled.
In a letter to his GP, the surgeon Ramesh Chelvarajah wrote: "Due to funding and commissioning changes that have arisen with the advent of NHS England taking over from the old PCTs, the service has effectively been suspended since February of last year."
Mr Chelvarajah also told the BBC that he has a horrendous waiting list and if and when funding is agreed, it could take up to a year to work through the backlog.
The disagreement is over the tariff - the amount the trust gets paid for the operation.
Mr Chelvarajah said: "The tariff is still a football match between the trust and NHS England."
Mr Knowles, who is having more frequent and severe attacks because his medication is becoming less effective, has, according to the surgeon, up to an 80% chance of a complete cure.
The software engineer is bitter because it is the third time that he has failed to obtain surgery.
Aged 16, he was taken to theatre with a metal cage already implanted in his head, but the procedure was inappropriate. At 21, he was rejected as not suitable for surgery at the last minute.
"To have your hopes raised and dashed is hard," he said.
"I was told that surgery was pretty routine at the QE. Then all of a sudden to find out that it had been cancelled due to funding is pretty diabolical."
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said it had apologised to Mr Knowles for the cancellation of his operation and recognised that it had not met its usual standards of care.
It said that it was not currently commissioned by NHS England to provide this procedure as part of its epilepsy service, but is working towards being able to offer this in the future.
A spokeswoman said: "The Trust is in the process of finalising an agreement with NHS England to fund the capacity for 10 intercranial telemetry procedures per year at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham."
A spokesperson for NHS England said: "Although we cannot comment on individual cases, NHS England does routinely fund epilepsy surgery such as lesion resection and diagnostic work in line with our national specification for neurosurgery care.
"We are currently working with the hospital on their plans to further develop this service for the small number of patients each year with complex and specialised epilepsy needs | Life changing operations for epilepsy have stopped in Birmingham over the past 14 months because of a row over money, a surgeon has claimed. | 28244988 |
It comes as a government-commissioned report sets the recommended levels at 10 micrograms of the vitamin a day.
But officials are concerned this may not be achievable through diet alone, particularly when sunlight, which helps in vitamin D production, is scarce.
Low vitamin D levels can lead to brittle bones and rickets in children.
Limited amounts of the vitamin are found in foods such as oily fish, eggs and fortified cereals.
But, for most people, the bulk of their vitamin D is made from the action of sunlight on their skin.
And official estimates suggest one in five adults and one in six children in England may have low levels.
Now, an extensive review of the evidence, carried out by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), suggests everyone over the age of one needs to consume 10 micrograms of vitamin D each day in order to protect bone and muscle health.
And public health officials say, in winter months, people should consider getting this from 10 microgram supplements, if their diet is unlikely to provide it.
Its main function is to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which are vital for the growth and maintenance of healthy bones, teeth and muscles.
In extreme cases, low levels can lead to rickets in children - where the bones become soft and weak and misshapen as they continue to grow.
In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia - causing severe bone pain and muscle aches.
But there is a balance - too much vitamin D can lead to high levels of calcium in the blood which can cause heart and kidney problems.
Anyone with a chronic condition or taking medication should seek advice from their doctor.
Vitamin D: Q&A - Why do we all need to take a pill a day?
Meanwhile, children aged up to four should take supplements each day all year round, as should babies under one year - unless they already consume this in infant formula.
Prof Peter Selby, at the University of Manchester, welcomed the advice.
He said: "In particular, it dispels any doubt of the place of vitamin D in the maintenance of bone health and should ensure that all people will now be encouraged to receive vitamin D to reduce their risk of bone disease and fracture."
Previous advice that recommended top-up daily supplements for a few at-risk groups, including pregnant or breastfeeding women, and over-65s, still stands.
For example, people whose skin has little exposure to the sun, or who always cover their skin to go outside, should take the supplements throughout the year.
Black and Asian people should also consider the supplements all year round.
Dr Louis Levy, head of nutrition science at Public Health England, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This is a change in advice, previously we have said that babies from six months to five years should have a supplement and only those people at risk of deficiency should take a supplement.
"Previously we felt that everybody would get enough from the sunlight.
"This is new advice based on evidence looked at over the last five years."
He said those who apply sunscreen in the way the manufacturer recommended would not make enough vitamin D.
"When you go out, you do need to have short bursts without sunscreen and make sure that you don't get sunburnt," he said.
NHS England says vitamin D supplements are available free of charge for low-income families, through the Healthy Start scheme.
Separately, health officials in Scotland and Northern Ireland say they have updated their guidance in line with the new recommendations, but only for people aged over six months.
They are currently considering whether to extend the advice to babies from birth.
SACN reviewed a growing body of evidence linking vitamin D to bone and muscle health.
It also looked at studies suggesting Vitamin D levels might have an impact on cancers, cardiovascular disease and multiple sclerosis but found there was insufficient evidence to draw any firm conclusions. | Everyone should consider taking vitamin D supplements in autumn and winter, public health advice for the UK recommends. | 36846894 |
The seven-time major winner joined Raonic's team in May before the 25-year-old reached his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, where McEnroe also did punditry for ESPN and the BBC.
McEnroe was seen with Raonic's primary coaches Carlos Moya and Riccardo Piatti just days before news of the parting.
He said he would step down "for Milos' sake, for ESPN and my sake".
McEnroe added: "When the US Open starts on Monday, he's got his people. I'm pulling for him and want him to do well.
"I'd love to see all the guys play their best because I think it's better for tennis. But it's best to sort of separate at this stage. It will just make life easier for everyone."
McEnroe admitted his media commitments "ended up becoming an issue at Wimbledon", but added he was "open to the possibility" of a second coaching stint should Raonic seek it.
The Canadian faces Germany's Dustin Brown in the first round at Flushing Meadows. | John McEnroe has ended his spell as a coach to Canadian world number six Milos Raonic before the US Open. | 37209143 |
Former communities secretary Sir Eric Pickles said fraud may be overlooked because of "over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion".
He also said voters should provide proof of identity at polling stations.
His review was commissioned by David Cameron in the wake of the Tower Hamlets election fraud scandal in 2015.
In Sir Eric's report, which took 12 months to complete, he argues that "politically correct sensibilities" meant a blind eye was too often turned to voting irregularities in Pakistani or Bangladeshi communities in particular.
Sir Eric's report said he had seen evidence of "pressure being put on vulnerable members of some ethnic minority communities, particularly women and young people, to vote according to the will of the elders, especially in communities of Pakistani and Bangladeshi background.
"There were concerns that influence and intimidation within households may not be reported, and that state institutions had turned a blind eye to such behaviour because of 'politically correct' over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion."
Among his 50 recommendations, he recommends
In an Election Court hearing last year Lutfur Rahman was found guilty of election fraud, and was subsequently forced to step down as the mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London.
Mr Rahman was accused of using "corrupt and illegal practices", and Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey made findings during the trial to suggest that grants had been given to Bangladeshi or Muslim groups in return for support.
Mr Mawrey - who sat as a judge - said Mr Rahman, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, had "driven a coach and horses through election law and didn't care".
However, earlier this year a Met Police investigation concluded it had found "insufficient evidence" that any criminal offences were committed.
Sir Eric said: "Last year's court ruling in Tower Hamlets was a wake-up call that state bodies need to do far more to stamp out corruption and restore public confidence. It was local residents who lost out from the unscrupulous politicians who bullied them and wasted their money.
"Our nation has a proud heritage as the 'mother of parliaments', yet the worrying and covert spread of electoral fraud and state of denial by some bodies threatens that good reputation. It is time to take action to take on the electoral crooks and defend Britain's free and fair elections."
Sir Eric also expressed his dismay that criminal charges were not brought in the Tower Hamlets case, but the Met Police said there had been a "lengthy criminal investigation" before the decision not to prosecute was taken. | Politically correct sensibilities have led the authorities to turn a blind eye to electoral corruption in the UK, a report on the issue has suggested. | 37055521 |
James Brokenshire is travelling to Brussels for meetings with senior EU Commission officials and permanent representatives of EU member states.
He said he wanted Northern Ireland's "particular circumstances" recognised.
He restated the UK government's aim of achieving as "frictionless" a border as possible with the Republic of Ireland.
"I am acutely aware that the ability to move and trade freely across the border is an essential part of daily life for people and businesses on both sides of the border," he said.
Mr Brokenshire also repeated his intention to protect the Common Travel Area between Great Britain and the island of Ireland.
He said: "We want to get the best possible deal for the UK and the best possible deal for Northern Ireland within the UK, recognising Northern Ireland's particular circumstances"
"That is the prime reason for my visit - to ensure Northern Ireland's interests are protected and advanced."
After Brexit, Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK that will share a land border with an EU member state.
How that land border will be monitored or policed is causing concern, particularly among businesses and border communities.
A convoy of protesters staged a demonstration at the border between County Louth and County Armagh earlier this month.
It was also revealed that the Irish government has begun to identify border locations where customs checkpoints could be set up, as part of its Brexit contingency plans.
However, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Enda Kenny has stated said he is confident the EU would not allow "one of the most divisive borders in the world" to be re-imposed. | The secretary of state has said he will "ensure Northern Ireland's interests are protected" when he meets leading EU figures for Brexit talks on Wednesday. | 39122156 |
He died on Tuesday evening after a long illness, his widow Lady Wesker told the BBC.
He first established his reputation with the Wesker Trilogy at the Royal Court theatre in central London.
He wrote more than 40 plays, as well as short stories, essays and poetry over five decades.
One of his most successful plays, Chips with Everything, was inspired by his own experiences in the RAF.
Sir Arnold, who had his plays performed all over the world, was born in the East End of London in 1932 to Jewish communist parents.
He drew on this background for his second play, Chicken Soup with Barley, which was first performed at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry in 1958.
This formed part of an acclaimed trilogy - completed by Roots and I'm Talking about Jerusalem - that brought working class characters and their struggles centre stage.
He was a leading figure in a generation of writers in the 1950s who became known as "angry young men" - a group that included novelists Kingsley Amis, John Braine and Alan Sillitoe.
This was because of the theme of disillusionment running through their work, although he later rejected this label.
Sir Arnold was keen to spread culture to the layman and set up a theatre venue called Centre 42 at the Roundhouse in London in the early 1960s.
In 1961 he was jailed for demonstrating against nuclear weapons.
Jeremy Corbyn paid tribute to Wesker in the House of Commons as a great playwright and "one of those wonderful angry young men" of the 1950s.
"Like so many angry young people (he) actually changed the face of our country," the Labour leader said.
Stephen Daldry, the Royal Court's artistic director from 1992 to 1998, remembered him as "one of the most committed and impassioned writers of his generation".
"He was an adventurer and delight in the rehearsal room, who challenged and stretched every director he worked with," Daldry continued.
"With his passing... we are beginning to lose the voices of a generation that shaped theatre as we understand it today."
The Royal Court theatre tweeted: "With such sadness we pay respect to Arnold Wesker. His brilliant plays shifted something forever at the Court."
Dame Joan Bakewell tweeted that "Arnold Wesker made a terrific difference to theatre in the 50s and 60's: ...also pioneered what became today's Roundhouse activities".
Marcus Davey, chief executive and artistic director of the Roundhouse in north London, added his voice to the tributes being paid.
In the 1960s Sir Arnold helped convert the building - a former shed used to rotate and service train engines - into Centre 42, the first incarnation of the performing arts hub the Roundhouse is today.
"We're deeply saddened to hear that Sir Arnold Wesker has passed away. Fifty years ago he founded the Roundhouse as an arts centre to champion art for all - a passion and a promise we remain committed to, to this day. He shaped arts and culture as we know it and he will be truly missed."
Author Jonathan Freedland tweeted: "Saddened by the death of Arnold Wesker. Studied Chips with Everything as a child; corresponded with him as an adult. Admired him very much." | Leading British playwright Sir Arnold Wesker, who came to prominence in the late 1950s with his gritty, working class dramas, has died aged 83. | 36031849 |
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) walked out at midnight on Sunday as part of dispute over the introduction of new trains.
RMT leader Mick Cash said the strike action was being "solidly supported" by members.
FGW listed changes to its scheduled services, saying it was running 70% of its regular Sunday timetable.
A company statement said: "Trains may be busy and there will be limited food and drink services onboard. Last trains of the day are likely to leave significantly earlier than usual."
The dispute centres on staffing and on-board catering facilities on FGW's new fleet of Hitachi Inter City Express trains, with the union fearing guards and buffet cars will be disposed of.
Mr Cash said: "The union salutes the unity and determination of our members in this long-running dispute.
"Although we have held many hours of talks with First Great Western we have not been able to make enough significant progress over the core issues at the heart of the dispute."
Union members held a 48-hour strike over the same dispute in July and are also due to strike over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Both the union and company said they were available for talks before the next planned strike.
FGW has said the new Super Express Trains would deliver "more seats, faster journey times and more frequent journeys for our passengers".
"Our plans mean more train managers and customer hosts on board our trains, not less," it added.
The company's revised timetable for the strike cancelled at least half of the inter city services with one train an hour between Paddington and Bristol, south Wales and the south west of England.
Trains on the Portsmouth to Cardiff line only ran between Salisbury and Swindon and there was no FGW trains to or from Weymouth.
In the Thames Valley nearly all the suburban services were scheduled to run as normal.
The operator runs train services between London Paddington, south Wales, the Cotswolds, the Thames Valley region and the West of England.
The first Hitachi trains will run on the Great Western main line from 2017 and the East Coast main line from 2018. | Rail services were disrupted as workers at First Great Western (FGW) staged a 24-hour strike. | 34026450 |
But, on Monday, the Scottish international cricket team will play at the 2015 cricket showpiece in Australia and New Zealand.
Of the 14 teams in this World Cup tournament, Grant Bradburn's men are probably rated with the least chance of making any progress.
New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia lie in wait in Pool A.
A few shoots of promise have been sprouting recently in the Scots' camp and perhaps this team can do what the national team has never done before....
...win a game at a World Cup.
Here are the men that will be trying to do it....
Head coach - Grant Bradburn, 48
Assistant coach - Craig Wright, 40
Captain - Preston Mommsen, 27
Vice-captain - Kyle Coetzer, 30
Richie Berrington, 27
Freddie Coleman, 23
Matt Cross, 22
Josh Davey, 24
Ally Evans, 26
Hamish Gardner, 23
Majid Haq, 32
Michael Leask, 24
Matt Machan, 23
Calum MacLeod, 26
Safyaan Sharif, 23
Rob Taylor, 25
Iain Wardlaw, 29 | The words 'Scotland' and 'World Cup' do not go together as often as we would like these days. | 31420168 |
HP is suing Mr Lynch, and Autonomy's former finance chief, following the US computer giant's £11bn takeover of the business in 2011.
The US firm alleges "accounting misrepresentations" led HP to massively over-pay for Autonomy.
But in a filing in London's High Court, Mr Lynch blamed HP "incompetence".
He denied wrongdoing, and accused HP of making statements that were damaging to him and misleading to the stock market.
HP's takeover of Autonomy was a major strategic move for the US company, designed to take it into software.
But HP eventually wrote off three-quarters of the company's value, and accused Mr Lynch and finance head Sushovan Hussain of mismanagement. Both men strongly reject the claims.
In interviews on Thursday with Reuters and the Financial Times, Mr Lynch claimed that documents would show HP's handling of Autonomy after the takeover was "incompetent".
He said divisions within HP were "at war" with each other.
HP said Mr Lynch's lawsuit was a "laughable and desperate" attempt to divert attention from its own $5bn claim and that it "anxiously looks forward to the day Mr Lynch and Mr Hussain will be forced to answer for their actions in court". | Mike Lynch, founder of UK technology firm Autonomy, has hit back at Hewlett-Packard with a $150m (£100m) counter-claim in their long-running dispute. | 34419870 |
Joanna O'Toole, from Manchester, has looked after 12-year-old Amelie Chen, who has a rare debilitating syndrome, for the last four years.
But she was forced to retire after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and given until last Christmas to live.
However, she has continued to volunteer at the city's children's hospital, and has won an award for her "compassion".
Mrs O'Toole was recognised in the patient's choice category of the RCNi Nurse Awards.
Amelie's mother, Lesley, of Stretford, described respiratory specialist Mrs O'Toole as "wonderful and courageous".
However, she said the family was left devastated when they learned Amelie and Mrs O'Toole's time together would be limited.
"I don't know how we will manage without her. It will feel empty without Jo in all our lives," she said.
But Mrs O'Toole insisted she had only done her job.
"I care for children and their families as I would care for my own," she said.
"Lesley's nomination was very touching. It made me very tearful. You have to give the care you would want for your own family. No half measures.
"I was given until Christmas and I am still here. I am living my life like I have always taught the children in my care.
"I have always encouraged them to live their lives, not wait around. They have taught me an awful lot in terms of how to manage the situation.
"I believe that is why I am doing so much better than anyone expected."
Ms Chen, whose daughter has Charge syndrome, which causes a combination of acute physical and mental disabilities, said: "Jo makes me feel safe. She knows our girl so well.
"She has stayed on after her shift finished many times to sit with us.
"She is always positive and offers adult company in what can be a lonely hospital world." | A terminally ill nurse has continued to care for a severely ill child despite being diagnosed with cancer herself. | 39847492 |
Joachim Brolly, 59, was spotted near the Torran Bay Hostel near Ford in Argyll and Bute on Thursday 9 March.
Officers have released an image of the boat in the hope it will jog people's memories.
Mr Brolly is described as white, 5ft 6in tall, of medium build, with short grey hair and clean-shaven.
He was wearing navy trousers, a navy fleece and a navy jacket.
Insp Julie McLeish said: "Extensive searches involving police and fire services along with the coastguard have been carried out in an attempt to locate Mr Brolly.
"Police divers are still conducting searches in new areas of the loch and we would welcome any new information from members of the public.
"If you were in the area of Loch Awe on Thursday 9th March and may have seen the Mr Brolly, or the boat in the image, please get in touch.
"We would particularly like to speak to anyone who was out in a boat on Loch Awe that day." | Police have made a fresh appeal for information about a man last seen getting into a boat on Loch Awe. | 39675204 |
Chloe Tryon's 92 helped South Africa post an imposing 283-7, with Laura Wolvaardt hitting 55 and Sune Luus 52.
Luus then took six Irish wickets as the home side were bowled out for 194 in 44.5 overs.
Kim Garth's unbeaten 72 prevented a bigger hammering for the Irish, with Clare Shillington next best on 29.
Opener Cecelia Joyce contributed 23 but she was one of Luus' six victims as the South African bowler finished with 6-36 from 10 overs.
The Irish had the South Africans in some trouble at 106-5 but Tyron and Luus put on a partnership of 138 for the sixth wicket to put the visitors in control.
All-rounder Garth took three wickets, including Tryon caught and bowled eight short of her century.
After Masabata Klass trapped Gaby Lewis for two, Luus took four straight wickets, including the second Joyce sister Isobel, to leave Ireland on 56-5.
Garth and Shillington responded with a 50 partnership before the latter's dismissal by Klaas began a slide to 141-9.
Number 11 Ciara Metcalfe managed to stay with Garth as the home side put on 53 runs for the final wicket.
The sides, who drew 1-1 in a T20 series earlier this week, play the second ODI at the YMCA in Dublin on Sunday before further matches on Tuesday and Thursday. | South Africa clinched an 89-run win over Ireland in the first game of the four-match one-day series between the sides at Merrion in Dublin. | 36991024 |
The party, which won two seats in Stormont last year, describes itself as the anti-establishment alternative.
It said its' target of gaining seats in the 2 March election has been made easier because of public fury over the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
The party is standing seven candidates and said it was very confident.
Gerry Carroll, who topped the poll in west Belfast last May, said: "Last year, we knocked on doors and we said there is an alternative.
"There's an alternative to austerity; there's an alternative to running down the health service; to running down education and under funding education and it took a while to explain to people.
"But now, you just say three letters - RHI, RHI, RHI."
The party is hoping to take a second seat in west Belfast, to retain the Foyle seat won by Eamonn McCann, and it is aiming to win a seat in North Belfast as well.
"This election is about the record of the executive," Mr Carroll said.
"Sinn Féin want to make it about the DUP; the DUP want to make it about Sinn Féin but, for us, this election is about the record of the Sinn Féin/DUP executive."
The party's manifesto calls for an end to corruption at all levels; an end to links between paramilitaries and the State and the introduction of an Irish Language Act.
They also support rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community; reform of the rates system and an end to privatisation.
Mr McCann claimed Sinn Féin was "spooked" by the People Before Profit Alliance.
"The DUP and Sinn Féin depend on Catholics and Protestants being hostile to one another," he added.
"If that went away and there was no hostility between the communities, what would Sinn Féin and the DUP do?"
Mr Carroll said: "What we're calling for is a different type of politics, a politics which is not about corruption.
"Also, we're calling for the books to be opened; the books for RHI, the books for Nama, Red Sky, Social Investment Fund and all the scandals, because we think the public should have their say and give their verdict on what's been going on." | The assembly election is a once in a lifetime opportunity for smaller parties, the People Before Profit Alliance said at its manifesto launch. | 39040771 |
Abeer Jones from Abergele, Conwy, said new rules meant her mother was not eligible for a humanitarian visa.
Mrs Jones told BBC Wales she could afford to support her mother and had shown proof to officials.
The UK government said applications were considered on individual merits.
Mrs Jones' mother Hayat Ghajar, 70, lives in a bomb-damaged apartment in Aleppo with her two other daughters.
Mrs Jones spoke to BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme on the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of civil war in Syria, saying: "I don't want anything from the government.
"I've been here for 10 years and I've never claimed a penny. I will give my mum half of my meal, I will give her my bed and I will sleep on the floor.
"I'm worried sick about them. I can't stop worrying about them."
Mrs Ghajar is only allowed to apply for a six-month visitor visa, but officials have refused to grant one to her and her daughters.
The family said it was because officials do not believe they can financially support themselves, or that they would return to Syria.
However, Mrs Jones said she provided documents proving she could support the three women.
The programme will show mobile phone footage filmed in Aleppo of the family dealing with electricity, food and water shortages, and fears of further attacks.
Mrs Jones' sister Dania Abozlam said: "It's very cold and I'm very worried about my mum because it's very cold here and we don't have electricity, and we feel very frightened.
"When I go [to work] sometimes I feel afraid. Sometimes I feel I won't be coming to my home. Maybe I will die."
The programme also caught up with Asmaa Al Fashtaki, who arrived in the UK illegally while five months pregnant.
Her son was born in Cardiff, and she waited a year to be reunited with her husband Yasin.
She said: "I know I am coming to here illegally and I said I am very sorry I do that.
"Because we don't have another choice - we are in the war and we should go out of my country. I will be a good woman and my husband will be a good man. We will work and make everything good for this country."
Week In Week Out is broadcast on BBC One Wales on Tuesday 15 March at 22:40 GMT | A woman from north Wales is petitioning the UK government to allow her Syrian mother to join her amid fears she is too frail to survive in the war-torn country any longer. | 35805493 |
The clubs, who are based in Paris and play in the Top 14 league, announced their intention to merge six days ago.
However, Racing 92 president Jacky Lorenzetti said, in agreement with Stade president Thomas Savare, they were "giving this project up".
Stade Francais players began an open-ended strike last week, denouncing what they deemed a takeover in disguise.
They refused to train or play against Castres this weekend, forcing Saturday's game to be postponed, while the French league also called off Racing's game against Montpellier.
Stade Francais supporters demonstrated against the proposed merger at the club's stadium after the initial merger announcement.
"I heard and understood the strong reservations expressed in response to this project," added Lorenzetti.
"In any case, the social, political, cultural, human, and sporting conditions were not in place. Perhaps we had the right plan too soon, only the future will tell."
Players, officials and supporters from both clubs were taken by surprise by the initial announcement on 13 March, with Stade centre Jonathan Danty saying he and his team-mates, who were on international duty with France, thought it was "a joke".
The merger had yet to be ratified by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), who met team representatives on Friday.
Another meeting was also scheduled for Monday, while LNR president Paul Goze and French federation boss Bernard Laporte were also going to meet later the same day.
New Zealand legend Dan Carter leads Racing's list of stars while Italy's Sergio Parisse is on Stade's books.
Stade Francais won the French Top 14 title in 2014-15, while Racing took over as champions the following year, though both are currently in the lower half of the division.
Racing's new 30,000-capacity stadium is due to be completed later in 2017 while their rivals have updated and expanded their Stade Jean-Bouin home to hold 20,000 fans in recent years. | A proposed merger between top French sides Racing 92 and Stade Francais has been called off. | 39321038 |
A member of the public told police they were seen leaving a refrigerated lorry in Brockhurst Crescent, Walsall, close to junction 8 at about 15:15 BST.
Three people were arrested at the scene and three others were found nearby
The 36-year-old Romanian driver is being questioned on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry to the UK.
Two of the men arrested are believed to be Iranian, another is understood to be a 23-year-old Syrian, while two others are thought to be from Vietnam and aged in their mid-teens, West Midlands Police said.
A sixth man is currently being treated in hospital after being found with two broken ankles.
The six were held on suspicion of entering the country illegally and the driver will be questioned on suspicion of assisting illegal entry to the UK, West Midlands Police said. | Six people, thought to be illegal immigrants, are being questioned after several people were spotted jumping out of a lorry next to the M6 on Tuesday. | 33865336 |
The official Sana news agency reported that troops had taken a reconstructed 13th Century castle perched on a hill to the west of the Roman-era ruins.
IS seized the Unesco World Heritage site and adjoining modern town in May.
It subsequently destroyed two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers, drawing global outrage.
The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.
Syrian state media and activists reported that there was heavy fighting between government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, and IS militants on the outskirts of Palmyra on Friday.
In the morning, troops took full control of the so-called SyriaTel Hill on the western edge before taking the nearby castle, known as Qalaat Shirkuh or Qalaat Ibn Maan, a military sources told Sana.
Pro-government Al-Mayadeen TV said the castle, which sits on a 150m-high hilltop overlooking the ruins, was of strategic importance.
Palmyra: Blowing ruins to rubble
Why IS destroys ancient sites
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said the fighting had reached the edge of the ruins.
The UK-based monitoring group added that Syrian and Russian warplanes had struck at least 56 targets inside areas still controlled by IS.
The IS-linked Amaq news agency meanwhile published what it said was video footage from inside the modern town adjoining the ruins on Thursday. It included what appeared to be buildings damaged in fighting or air strikes.
Government forces briefly entered the town on Thursday but were pushed back.
The prospect of its liberation was welcomed by Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, which has described the destruction of Palmyra as a war crime.
"For one year, Palmyra has been a symbol of the cultural cleansing plaguing the Middle East," said its director-general Irina Bokova.
"The dynamiting and pillage of its treasures, to break an entire society, sparked a unanimous indignation and strengthened the unprecedented mobilisation in favour of the values that unite all humanity."
Ms Bokova said Unesco was ready to go to Palmyra as soon as security conditions allowed to evaluate the damage to the ruins and protect what remained.
Recapturing Palmyra would be a significant victory for the government and Russia, which withdrew most of its forces last week after a six-month air campaign against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad that turned the tide of the five-year civil war in his favour.
In addition to its ruins, Palmyra is situated in a strategically important area on the road between the capital, Damascus, and the contested eastern city of Deir al-Zour. | Syrian government forces are reportedly advancing further into Palmyra, battling Islamic State militants for control of the ancient city. | 35898995 |
Media playback is unsupported on your device
17 June 2015 Last updated at 01:04 BST
The National Hurricane Center in Miami has said the storm is weakening now that it has moved inland.
Because the Texas soil remains saturated from last month's historic rainfall, flooding problems are still possible.
BBC Weather reports. | Tropical Storm Bill has made landfall in Texas just weeks after deadly record floods washed out roads and caused towns to be evacuated. | 33160517 |
A Siberian Airlines plane was heading to Novosibirsk, Russia from Tel Aviv, Israel when it was shot down and crashed into the Black Sea on 4 October, 2001. All 78 passengers onboard were killed. The Ukrainian military denied its involvement at first.
However, Ukrainian officials later admitted that its military could have mistakenly shot the plane down during a training exercise, and some compensation was paid to victims' relatives.
A total of 136 people died when three Tupolev civilian airliners belonging to Transair Georgia were hit by rebel missiles and gunfire in the breakaway region of Abkhazia during its war of independence with Georgia.
The first plane, a T-134 flying from Russia, was struck on approach to Abkhazia's Sukhumi airport on 21 September. The jet crashed into the Black Sea, claiming the lives of all five crew members and 22 passengers.
The following day, a T-154 was shot down while attempting to land at Sukhumi airport. The attack killed 108 of the 132 people on board. And on 23 September, passengers were boarding an aircraft at Sukhumi when it was struck and caught fire, leaving one crew member dead.
An Iran Air Airbus A300, which was bound for Dubai, was shot down in airspace above the Gulf on 3 July, 1988. The plane was mistaken for an F-14 fighter plane that had been sold to Iran before the 1979 revolution. An American cruiser, USS Vincennes launched two missiles at the plane, downing it and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard.
Iran condemned the incident, calling it a "criminal act", an "atrocity" and a "massacre", while the US insisted it was a misunderstanding. The case led Iran to begin legal proceedings against the US in the International Court of Justice in 1996. The American government later compensated the families of victims.
A Korean Airlines passenger jet, which was travelling to Seoul, South Korea from New York, was shot down by a Soviet fighter plane on 1 September, 1983, killing all 269 passengers and crew on board. The plane was shot when it veered off-course and strayed into Soviet territory.
Soviet leaders initially denied knowledge of the incident but later admitted the country's role, claiming that the aircraft had been on a spy mission.
Both planes were shot down by in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, by guerrillas in the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (Zipra).
The shootings took place during the country's civil war in the 1970s.
There were 56 people on board Air Rhodesia flight 825 when it came under missile attack on 3 September 1978. Eighteen people survived the initial crash, although 10 of them were later killed by rebels.
Flight 827 was also hit by a missile on 12 February 1979. All 59 people on the plane were killed in the crash.
A Libyan Airlines Boeing 727-200 plane was shot down by Israeli fighters in Egypt's Sinai Desert on 21 February, 1973. It was believed that the pilots got lost due to bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt, resulting in the plane entering Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai desert.
After firing warning shots and giving signals to land, two Israeli fighter jets shot down the plane. Out of 113 people on board, only five, including the co-pilot, survived.
On 23 July 1954 a Cathay Pacific C-54 Skymaster carrying 19 passengers and crew was flying from Bangkok to Hong Kong when it was shot down by a mainland Chinese Army fighter plane off the coast of Hainan Island. Ten people died.
China said it had mistaken the plane for a military aircraft on an attack mission. | Amid reports that a Malaysia Airlines plane which crashed in eastern Ukraine was shot down, the BBC looks at previous incidents involving passenger planes. | 28361223 |
So far this year a powerful spy chief, the Nanjing party secretary and a top diplomat have been placed under investigation.
This suggests there will be no let-up in the campaign that has run relentlessly for two years under President Xi Jinping. So let's take stock of what's happened so far.
On 20 November 2012, soon after becoming Communist Party leader, Mr Xi made a speech.
"Lots of facts tell us that corruption is becoming more and more rampant, and eventually, the party and the country will fall. We have to be vigilant", he warned.
Since then, Mr Xi - who hails from a revolutionary family and is tasked with keeping the party in power - appears to have propelled his anti-corruption campaign forwards with zeal.
And he famously promised to "catch both tigers and flies", making it clear that top ranking officials would not be spared.
Then he followed up: By far the biggest tiger caught so far is Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief. He has been stripped of party membership and handed over to the judiciary.
Ma Jian is also a big tiger: he was in charge of China's intelligence operations.
Another tiger is Ling Jihua, once a top aide to former president Hu Jintao and a hopeful for even higher office.
General Xu Caihou is a big army tiger - he used to be a politburo member and vice-chairman of the military commission.
According to the party's discipline watchdog, in 2014 alone some 23,464 people were disciplined for violating the party's anti-corruption regulations, from all levels of the party and state apparatus.
Wang Min, party secretary of Jinan City, made a televised speech about combating corruption on 18 December 2014; later that day he was taken away for investigation.
A similar fate hit Wan Qingliang, party secretary of Guangzhou. When the probe into him was announced in June 2014, many civil servants under him were at meetings studying a speech he had made the previous day.
Text messages about Wan's fate were passed around and the meetings had to come to a halt.
Many of the fallen officials have been accused of taking bribes - and many apparently prefer cash.
When Wei Pengyuan, a senior Energy Ministry official, was taken away in May 2014, investigators found cash in his house totalling more than 200m yuan (roughly £20m).
This, state media said, became the biggest cash haul in a corruption case since the communists took power in 1949.
Sixteen machines were used to count the cash, and four broke down due to the extensive heat.
Ma Junfei was appointed deputy director of Hohhot Railway Bureau in Inner Mongolia in 2009.
According to media reports, on average he took bribes every other day while on this job, accepting US dollars, Euro, British pounds and gold as well as the Chinese currency, his take totalling 130m yuan (£13m).
In order to hide these bribes, he had to purchase two houses in Beijing and Hohhot.
Ma Chaoqun used to be in charge of Beidaihe City water supplies, in Hebei province.
Nicknamed "water tiger", state media said he demanded money openly from any business opening in Beidaihe that needed to have water connected, including hotels, factories and party and government offices.
If the money was not enough, supplies would be cut off immediately.
After his downfall, cash totalling 120m yuan, 37kg of gold and 68 housing certificates were found in his possession.
Feng Yuexin, who worked as police chief in various departments in Qingdao, was given the death sentence in 2014 for protecting criminal gangs.
When his residence was searched, investigators found 1,853 bottles of Maotai, the national drink of China, among other things.
Feng reportedly loved the spirit, and would go to extraordinary lengths to obtain a good bottle, sometimes at 80,000 yuan a bottle (£8,000 ).
One estimate put the value of his Maotai collection at 2m yuan.
Feng was found to have embezzled public funds.
In December 2013, Wu Zhizhong, a senior official in Inner Mongolia, was given a life sentence for corruption.
Wu had 33 houses inside China and one house in Canada, far beyond what his salary could afford. The keys to these houses filled a handbag, according to Chinese media reports.
On 31 March 2014, Xinhua reported that Gu Junshan, a top PLA official, had been turned over to the military court on corruption charges. This came as no surprise, as it confirmed earlier reports by a financial journal.
Journalist Wang Heyan first broke the news that Gu was in trouble. As chief investigative reporter for Caixin magazine, she pushed hard between 2012 and 2014 to examine Gu's business empire and personal wealth. Her findings caused a stir across the country.
In Gu's house, case after case of Maotai was found, plus a model ship, a basin and a Mao Zedong statue all made of gold.
His mansion is nicknamed "Forbidden City", after the ancient imperial palace, because of its grand style.
Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign has so far won popular support, but ordinary citizens seeking greater transparency have not always been welcomed by the authorities.
The New Citizens Movement made public calls for government officials to disclose their assets.
This did not happen. Instead, group founder Xu Zhiyong was jailed for four years in January 2014 on public disorder charges. Several other members have since been given jail terms.
Foreign newspapers examining Chinese leaders' fortunes, including Xi Jinping's, have also been penalised by the authorities, from having their websites blocked to being refused visas for journalists.
It seems that the anti-corruption battle is complex, and those not singing from the same hymn sheet as Mr Xi are heavily frowned upon. | Only days into 2015, revelations continue to emerge from China on the anti-corruption front. | 30808665 |
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were at the Thiepval Memorial for the event.
Earlier, a UK-wide two-minute silence at 07:28 BST marked the start of the World War One battle on 1 July 1916.
More than a million men were killed or wounded on all sides at the Somme.
The Battle of the Somme, one of WW1's bloodiest, was fought in northern France and lasted five months, with the British suffering almost 60,000 casualties on the first day alone.
The British and French armies fought the Germans in a brutal battle of attrition on a 15-mile front.
At the Thiepval Memorial ceremony, close to the battlefields of the Somme, Prince Charles gave a reading from The Old Front Line by John Masefield who visited the Somme in 1917 and recounted a landscape devastated by war.
This was followed by the hymn Abide With Me.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Reverend Justin Welby, said in a prayer: "On this day we remember all those caught up by the Battle on the Somme; those who faced the terrible waste and devastation, those who fought against all the odds, who endured the clinging mud and squalor of the trenches."
Prime Minister David Cameron read the words of Corporal Jim Crow, 110th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, which highlighted a moment of humanity and mutual respect amid the hell that that part of France had become.
The actor Charles Dance read "Aftermath", a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, which asks "Have you forgotten yet?"
At a vigil in France on Thursday evening, the Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, saying "we lost the flower of a generation".
By Sophie Long, BBC News correspondent
Everything is different here now, compared to this day 100 years ago. That morning thousands of British, Commonwealth, French and German soldiers woke to bright sunshine and birdsong, and looked out on fields mangled by trenches and bombardment as they contemplated what was ahead.
Today rain poured down on 10,000 people sitting on chairs set out in parallel lines, surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns, as they remembered the nearly 20,000 Britons who died here on this day a century ago, and contemplated what had passed.
They looked up at the Theipval Memorial to the missing. Those who gave readings stood between its imposing walls and the names of 72,000 men who fought here, but were never found.
Royalty, heads of state and actors recalled what happened here through the words of those that lived it. So too did serving personnel - some, young men, just like many of the 57,000 who were killed or injured during what remains the worst day in British military history.
At an early-morning ceremony at the Lochnagar crater, which was created by an explosion at the start of the battle in La Boiselle, a rocket was fired to simulate the artillery fire.
This was followed by whistles to symbolise those that were blown a century ago as men scrambled from the trenches.
Ahead of the two-minute silence in the UK, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired guns from Parliament Square for 100 seconds to mark the 100 years since the battle began.
Across the country and at the vigil sites at Westminster Abbey, Edinburgh Castle, the Somme Heritage Centre in County Down, the Welsh National War Memorial in Cardiff, as well as in France, the silence was observed.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall joined leaders from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at a service at the Ulster Tower, a memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division in Thiepval.
The royal couple then attended another ceremony at the preserved trenches at Newfoundland Park Memorial in Beaumont-Hamel to mark the role of soldiers serving with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
The Royal Canadian Artillery brass band played the Last Post during the ceremony under a monument of a caribou, the regiment's emblem.
The Duchess of Cornwall was due to lay a wreath at the grave of her great-uncle, Captain Harry Cubitt, who was killed on the Somme in September 1916 while serving with the Coldstream Guards.
He was the eldest, and the first, of three brothers to die serving on the Western Front.
The 100th anniversary will be marked by Germany in Fricourt, France, where 40,000 Germans are buried.
And in Manchester, a wreath laying ceremony was held at the Cenotaph in St Peter's Square ahead of a national service of commemoration at the cathedral.
Meanwhile, men dressed as World War One soldiers were been spotted in railway stations and on UK streets handing out cards detailing casualties of the Battle of the Somme.
The hashtag #wearehere, which features on the cards, was trending on Twitter as pictures of the tribute were shared before it was revealed that National Theatre head Rufus Norris and artist Jeremy Deller were behind the project.
Entitled We're Here Because We're Here, it was commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the World War One centenary.
At the Westminster Abbey service on Thursday, the Queen was joined by the Duke of Edinburgh as she laid flowers at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.
The tomb holds an unidentified British soldier killed on a European battlefield, brought back and buried in the abbey to honour the unknown dead of the war.
The Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Dr Richard Chartres, said the legacy should be that people worked towards reconciliation to ensure children never endured what the soldiers of WW1 faced.
Society must strive to reach an accord and reject "those who would stir up hatred and division," he said.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry attended a vigil at the Thiepval Memorial on Thursday evening.
Prince William spoke of European governments "including our own" who failed to "prevent the catastrophe of world war".
"We lost the flower of a generation; and in the years to come it sometimes seemed that with them a sense of vital optimism had disappeared forever from British life," he said.
"It was in many ways the saddest day in the long story of our nation."
Prince Harry also spoke at the event, reading the poem Before Action, by Lieutenant WN Hodgson of the 9th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment, who wrote it before he was killed in action on the first day of the battle.
Before the vigil, the three royals climbed to the top of the huge, newly renovated monument designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens to view the battlefield.
The memorial bears the names of more than 70,000 British and South African soldiers who have no known grave.
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones joined personnel from the Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force for the start of a vigil at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.
"Those who fought bravely for our futures should never be forgotten," he said.
In Scotland, an overnight vigil was held at the National War Memorial.
And in Northern Ireland, a vigil was held at the Somme Museum near Newtownards, County Down. A guard of honour, including serving soldiers, was present throughout the night.
The Battle of the Somme was intended to achieve a decisive victory for the British and French against Germany's forces.
The British army was forced to play a larger than intended role after the German attack on the French at Verdun in February 1916.
World War One finally ended in November 1918. | Thousands of people, including members of the Royal Family, have attended a ceremony in France to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. | 36674451 |
The Mancunian institution is celebrating 200 years of treatment and research which has taken it from the most basic of conditions to a centre of scientific innovation.
Founder William James Wilson, from Leeds, set up in the spare rooms of a house "near the top of King Street", rented for £25 per year.
Formally inaugurated as the Manchester Institution for Curing Diseases of the Eye, Wilson was the only surgeon for the first few months.
But as demand quickly grew he expanded his team, servicing patients without fees and relying on donations and subscriptions.
The patient experience during the Victorian period was a far cry from today.
In 1838, patients had to queue in the rain in the back yard of number 3 South Parade, although funds were finally found to erect a shed.
From here the hospital moved to St John Street and in 1865 Queen Victoria gave approval for it to become the Royal Eye Hospital.
As the hospital grew it then moved to the grade II listed building on Oxford Road, which opened in 1885.
In this era treatments included leeching, and records list ailments with unfamiliar names such as eversion, strumulous inflammation and lippitudo, as well as "wounds of the eyeball".
The hospital helped out in both World Wars.
It came under strain during World War One, losing staff to war service and losing 50 beds to the care of the wounded.
Records show that during this period staff still managed to treat 39,000 outpatients and over 2,000 inpatients in 1917.
The hospital was bombed on 23 December 1940, killing two staff members and causing substantial damage.
But today it is one of the largest teaching eye hospitals in Europe and one of only two dedicated eye hospitals in the country.
Run by the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust it treats over 250,000 patients a year.
Following a £500m redevelopment, the Queen opened the new site on Oxford Road in 2012.
The hospital opened its doors to the public to celebrate its bicentenary, giving behind-the-scenes tours of the operating theatres and showcasing its equipment.
Manchester-based artist Lucy Burscough also exhibited her paintings at the open day as part of the Manchester Science Festival.
Nicholas Jones, a consultant ophthalmologist who has worked at the hospital for over 30 years, has also written a history of the hospital to celebrate the bicentenary.
Mr Jones said: "MREH is having a great birthday, and we're delighted to see so many people coming in to join in the fun.
"We are showing cutting edge technology and the high standards of care that we can now offer 200 years after the hospital was created."
21 October 1814: William James Wilson, from Leeds, sets up the Manchester Eye Institution, now known as Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
23 December 1940: The hospital is bombed, killing two staff members and causing substantial damage to the Nelson Street building.
23 March 2012: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh officially open the new Manchester Royal Eye Hospital as part of the Diamond Jubilee tour.
20 November 2013: Manchester Eye Bank reaches 20,000 eye donors, equating to almost 40,000 corneas processed and stored in the bank.
21 October 2014: Manchester Royal Eye Hospital celebrates it bicentenary. | With no anaesthetic and rudimentary instruments, thousands of patients were treated from as early as 1814 in what is now known as the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. | 29714425 |
Teachers marched from Llandrindod High School to county hall holding banners and chanting.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said the strike was on behalf of children "whose right to a good education is being undermined."
Powys council's cabinet member for schools, Arwel Jones said he was disappointed by the union's action.
The authority is consulting on plans to reorganise secondary schools in the mid and south of the county.
Councillor Jones said schools are facing "major challenges" and that strike action would "not deflect their programme but could disrupt the work of school pupils at a crucial time."
Nineteen Powys schools have been affected by the strike - six are fully closed and 13 partially.
NUT organiser Cai Jones said the turnout for the march was "wonderful," with parents and children joining the teachers.
"We walked through the centre of town and the community really got behind us," he said.
"People came out of their shops to show their support and cars beeped as they passed."
The teachers handed a list of their demands to Powys council at county hall and met in Llandrindod Pavilion afterwards to discuss the changes they want to see. | About 200 people have taken part in strike action in Powys in protest over "excessive workload and cuts". | 36101907 |
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks began on Monday and are continuing, according to the network's operator, Jisc.
The attacks "have resulted in reduced connectivity and disruption", says a statement on Jisc's facebook page.
Engineers are working to restore normal service, it adds.
DDoS attacks are malicious attempts to interrupt or degrade an internet-connected service, often by flooding that service with large amounts of network traffic.
Jisc, formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee, is a publicly funded body that provides computer network services to higher education and research bodies.
Its statement says it is using "various blocks and filtering" to limit the impact of the disruption, "but the details of each attack are subject to change".
The body says it has had to limit its tweets "as we suspect that those behind today's DDoS attack are adjusting their point of attack based on our Twitter updates".
It also had to close its own website for a period, as it also came under attack.
"We understand the importance of connectivity to colleges, universities and other public sector organisations," said Jisc executive director Tim Kidd.
"We are doing everything in our power to ensure normal service in resumed as soon as possible, and in the meantime to minimise any disruption that users of the Janet network may be experiencing. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
University of Manchester, one of the universities affected by the attack, said staff and students had experienced intermittent problems accessing external sites.
Emails to staff and students warned them to expect "slow performance or a complete lack of access to external services".
"By flooding the service with excessive network traffic, an attacker is attempting to exceed the capacity of the service, which causes the service to run slowly or become unavailable," the university said.
It added staff and students were experiencing problems with accessing external websites, email, submitting assessments online and external collaboration services for research staff. | University students across the UK have been unable to submit work, after the academic computer network known as Janet came under cyber-attack. | 35043243 |
"The devil that hid in the church" is how one headline in English language daily The Star described him. Headlines in other papers have focused on his rape of babies and toddlers. Several commentators on Facebook and Twitter, both widely used in Malaysia, said the story made them feel "sick".
"Huckle was able to use both religion and his 'status' as a white foreigner to gain the trust of communities eager to accept help in fighting a difficult battle against poverty," said an editorial in The Star. "What a cruel thing to do."
But the dismay expressed is not just over Huckle's abuse. It is also in reaction to the fact that he was able to carry out the abuse for such a long time without detection.
Opposition politicians have demanded the police and government reveal what they knew of Huckle's activities, and what steps they have taken since to prevent others from doing the same.
"As the public gains a clearer picture of the extent of Huckle's vile acts, his victims and their families struggle to regain some sense of dignity and honour to move forward," said a statement from the People's Justice Party. "We can only hope that the authorities can also explain why such a devious individual was not caught sooner, in order to correct these measures for the future."
"The high number of Huckle's victims and the extent of his crimes in Malaysia raised serious questions as to whether our authorities were really in the dark over these abuses," said one human rights group, Lawyers for Liberty. "Were there no warning signs or complaints at all from the victims and family members, church, NGOs or hospitals?"
Some are also asking why the Malaysian authorities were not notified sooner. British police detained Huckle in 2014 after a tipoff from Australian police who had been investigating him. Malaysian police said they were informed of the case by the UK's National Crime Agency only a month ago.
"By not alerting Malaysian police to the misdeeds of Huckle, British police allowed him to roam freely in Malaysia and target children," said one opinion piece in The Malay Mail Online. "If we had been made aware of the depths of his immorality, children could have been saved from the clutches of a horrible man."
Others have wondered if it is because the Malaysian police were not felt to be up to the job. "A telling point in this case is that the Australian Police force did not contact their Malaysian counterparts (and there are parties now who are up in arms over this). It does beg the question, if you are respected as an organisation would you not be approached in the first place?" asked one commenter on Facebook.
Huckle's case has also prompted many to ask why the authorities have not enacted other measures to curb sex offenders.
"The battle against child sex offenders in the country still faces a major stumbling block due to the absence of a national sex offenders registry," wrote Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin in The Malay Mail Online.
Child rights advocate James Nayagam has called for making child pornography and child sexual abuse severe crimes with heavy penalties, and for institutions dealing with children to have standard operating procedures to screen people entering the premises.
Many have also criticised what they see as double standards in attitudes to similar cases at home.
"How can we be outraged at Richard Huckle when we don't have laws banning child marriages?" asked former Bar chairman, Dipendra Harshad Rai, on Twitter. "Richard Huckle and his ilk thrive in Msia because they know our system is broken, corrupted and exposed. So, lets not get too sanctimonious."
Malay Mail Online columnist Boo Su-Lyn echoed this sentiment, comparing Huckle to a Malaysian government scholar, Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin, who was convicted for possession of more than 30,000 images of child pornography in Britain last year, and jailed for nine months before the Malaysian government arranged for him to be repatriated.
Nur Fitri is currently free to roam in Malaysia, and police have said they have no authority to track him because the offence he committed is not recognised by Malaysian law.
"Malaysia cannot just be outraged at one foreigner for violating 22 of our children. We must act with the same anger against our fellow citizens who use outdated cultural and religious norms to justify having sex with... children," she wrote. "There are Richard Huckles among us. Let's not turn a blind eye to them."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | News of British national Richard Huckle's rape and abuse of children in Malaysia over eight years has elicited disgust, anger and despair in the press and social media there. | 36445818 |
She said it was important that the 27 other member states asked themselves what kind of EU they wanted.
Mrs Merkel was speaking before it was confirmed that Theresa May is to become the UK's new prime minister.
Meanwhile Austria's finance minister, Hans Schelling, warned that "Great Britain will become Little Britain".
Speaking as he arrived in Brussels for talks, Mr Schelling predicted that Scotland and Northern Ireland would not leave the EU following the referendum. Both voted against so-called Brexit.
Other EU ministers welcomed the news that Theresa May is set to be appointed the UK's new prime minister, and said they were looking forward to negotiations on "Brexit" beginning.
"The sooner we can sort out this - how can I say it diplomatically - problematic situation, the better," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is the Dutch finance minister and head of the Eurozone group.
"We should enter negotiations as quickly as possible because we need to limit uncertainty," said Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs.
Mrs Merkel was addressing supporters in eastern Germany before it emerged that Mrs May's only rival to take over from David Cameron had dropped out of the contest.
The German leader has previously said that negotiations with the UK can only take place once Article 50 has been triggered by the UK government, the formal mechanism by which a country leaves the EU.
Mrs May for her part has made it clear that she would not be in a rush to trigger Article 50 - but that "Brexit means Brexit".
Britain is likely to push for good access to the EU's single market but many British politicians would also like to control immigration from the EU.
In a television interview on Sunday night, the German chancellor said Britain would not be able to "cherry-pick" the bits of the EU it wants, and leave out those it does not. | The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said negotiations between the UK and the rest of the EU on leaving the bloc will not be easy. | 36764945 |
Mr Matic is just warming up. Soaking up the winter afternoon sun, he delivers an extended eulogy-cum-reverie about the properties of the earth in this part of the country.
For those not initiated in the finer points of what makes one kind of soil better than another, it boils down to this: The Vojvodina soil is rich, dark and anything will grow in it.
The Matic family farm, Brkin Salas, is typical of the traditional Serbian model. It covers eight hectares (19 acres) and the fields are cultivated without the use of chemical fertilisers.
Mr Matic, like other farmers, calls the produce "organic not by paper, but naturally," because although they are passionate about the integrity of their methods, they have never gone to the expense and trouble of applying for official organic certification.
On the terrace in front of the farmhouse, Mr Matic's mother-in-law, Draginja, briskly dispatches, plucks and prepares guinea fowl to sell to local shops and restaurants. In the yard behind the buildings, chickens roam freely - perhaps counting their blessings.
It is a way of life that has changed little over the centuries. But now it is coming under threat.
"From history, people could live on a farm with 10 hectares," says Mr Matic.
"But now people can't live with that. If you don't have 100 hectares you can't live on a farm just from agriculture. You won't have the money you need for life. There are bigger owners,; the price of the produce is too low - and that's not good for small farmers."
"People must go to work somewhere else or for someone else - and they lose that traditional way of life."
Mr Matic and his wife Natasa have found another way to make a small farm work for them. They run Brkin Salas as a farm-stay, with rooms, dining areas and even a small adventure park for children.
Meals are sourced entirely from the local, "naturally organic" produce. And shelves groan under the weight of farm-made jam, ajvar (red pepper relish) and rakija (fruit brandy) for visitors to buy.
To complete the portfolio, Mr Matic also works as a land manager for the Orthodox Church.
But the need for larger domestic farms represents just one of the challenges to Serbia's agricultural traditions. The prospect of European Union membership has also raised concerns about the readiness of the country's farmers for increased competition.
These are still relatively early days in the application process. Serbia formally started membership negotiations two years ago. But so far work has started on only two of the 35 "chapters" dealing with conditions for membership.
At this rate, it will be many years before the EU welcomes Serbia as a member. But it is not too early for the country to feel the force of agricultural competition.
EU sanctions against Russia have led to unintended consequences. Facing an embargo on exporting their produce to one of their largest markets, European famers have been seeking alternatives. Among them is a country which has not joined the sanctions: Serbia.
"It's the biggest problem now in Serbia - very cheap products from the EU," says Dragan Glamocic, a former agriculture minister and current adviser to Serbia's prime minister.
"There are very cheap meats, especially pork, and very cheap milk products. Serbian farmers are very small - they have few hectares, few animals - and they cannot be competitive with the EU farmers. They have much better technology and knowledge.
"At the moment, Serbia is not ready to be in that fight."
Mr Glamocic fears that the recent glut of cheap produce from the EU may just be a taste of things to come, as far as Serbia's farmers are concerned. For a country which has long ear-marked agriculture as a key potential growth sector, that is a worrying prospect.
But there is another, more optimistic school of thought. It holds that Serbia can take advantage of its "naturally organic" heritage and more recent ban on genetically-modified (GMO) crops.
The country is already a leader in the production of GMO-free soy - and could exploit its reputation to find markets in the EU where people are becoming more concerned about food-sourcing.
"It's a paradox - Serbia has had turmoil in the past 30 years, but that preserved our nature and biodiversity," says Srdjan Stankovic, the founder of the Belgrade-based environmental organisation, Supernatural, which also offers a range of traceable produce for sale in its city centre café and shop.
"Serbia has a lot to offer to the EU. We're famous for our food - I think the way forward is to work together and find the best solutions. Standardisation is not the answer - something that works in England won't necessarily work in Croatia."
Mr Stankovic agrees that at this stage, Serbia's farmers are not prepared for the challenges of EU membership.
But he says the country is still in tune with the seasons and the produce each one brings; shopping at farmers' markets is second-nature and strong links to rural roots mean that "everyone has a grandmother in the countryside".
This could all, perhaps, be harnessed to make Serbia into a European brand for quality produce. And at Brkin Salas, Mr Matic raises an eyebrow and smiles as he considers the future.
"I'm not afraid for our people," he says. "We always survive." | "That's the best quality land and soil in Europe," says Goran Matic, proudly waving a hand in the direction of the fields surrounding his farmhouse in Serbia's Vojvodina province. | 35631289 |
Although some celebrate 23 April each year, many English do not know when their patron saint's day is and others appear not to be bothered about it.
So what would encourage more English people to celebrate St George's Day?
Take a look at the suggestions below and send your ideas to [email protected]
It has been called for over and over again but there is still no sign of the government giving way and making St George's Day a public holiday.
In 2007, Graham Smith, who launched the St George Unofficial Bank Holiday campaign the year before, was convinced it would be so within two or three years.
"I'm very disappointed," he said. "It is almost an anti-English sentiment within various governments. This is not aimed at one particular party, they just don't seem to want to grasp English nationalism, they are afraid of it for some reason.
"What we have realised is that England on its own will not get a bank holiday, we are the last in the queue, so it is once Scotland gets independence and they make St Andrew's Day a bank holiday and the Welsh make St David's Day a bank holiday, the pressure will be too much not to make St George's Day a bank holiday.
"So unfortunately the fate of a St George's Day bank holiday rests with the Scottish and the Welsh, when they make their saint's day a bank holiday, then we will get ours."
While Prime Minister David Cameron has acknowledged England's national day has been overlooked "for too long", a Downing Street spokesman said there were "no current plans" to make St George's Day a bank holiday.
From Glastonbury to the Isle of Wight and Scarborough's Acoustic Gathering there has been a massive growth in the number and variety of music festivals.
Revellers love them - the tents, the music, the wellies, the fancy dress, the flags - all of which could easily be fine tuned into a celebration of Englishness.
We do not have to listen to the traditional folk music - although for those who want to, why not?
We could see a gathering of English bands - from rock to punk.
St George's Day may go almost unnoticed in England, but the dragon slayer is also the patron saint of many other countries, cities and regions - where traditions range from street parties and carnivals to the simple act of handing out red roses.
Perhaps the English would enjoy the day more if they held a Brazilian-style street party?
In Rio De Janeiro, the city's party-loving residents celebrate St George, known as Sao Jorge, by donning red and white flowers, holding street parties, processions, and mass candle-lit gatherings complete with songs, drums and fireworks.
Meanwhile in Catalonia, it is custom to exchange roses and books as a sign of respect for St George.
And in Greece, garlands are hung up around houses on most streets while "feasts for St George" are held in towns and cities all over the country.
Gallons of "the black stuff" is consumed around the world every year as people celebrate St Patrick's Day, yet despite England's many fine ales and great brewing tradition, there is no single equivalent.
Every year Germany hosts its successful Oktoberfest - a 16-day festival visited by millions - to celebrate Bavarian culture, with beer, traditional dress and fairgrounds. The English are known for their love of beer - is this the way to encourage a love of St George?
The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has promoted English ales over many years and says more should be made of the English patron saint's day.
"There is no logical reason why it should not be celebrated in the same spirited way as St Patrick's Day," Neil Walker, a spokesman for Camra, said.
"Real ale is England's national drink and a fitting candidate to become the tipple associated with St George's Day.
"So this year, let's all raise a glass to St George with a pint of English real ale."
For all those foodies out there, what better way to start the 23 April celebrations than with a full English breakfast?
This could be followed up with a Cornish pasty for lunch, a formal high tea in the afternoon and finishing off the day with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
Of course this can be interchanged with any number of favourite English dishes: a Devon cream tea, fish and chips, hog roast or a steak and kidney pie, to name a few more.
We have nothing to fear but our cholesterol.
In years gone by, Tintern Abbey, in Monmouthshire, has been lit up in red and green to celebrate St David's Day.
And in 2012 thousands of people turned up to the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, which included a light show projected on to Buckingham Palace.
So is it time to light up some of England's more well-known buildings? Big Ben, York Minster, the Liver building or Birmingham's Bull Ring could be lit up with St George's Flag as an honour for the nation's patron saint. | St Patrick's Day is firmly established in the English social calendar while St George's Day is frequently forgotten. | 27062873 |
Born Teuku Zakaria on 22 March, 1929 in the coastal state of Penang, he is regarded as a prominent icon of Malay entertainment.
P. Ramlee enjoyed fame across South East Asia, even reaching as far as Hong Kong and Japan.
He died from a heart attack, at the age of 44, in a shock to the nation.
"His artistic achievements left a permanent mark on the cultural history of Malaysia," read a statement on Google's website.
An actor, director, producer, singer-songwriter and composer, P. Ramlee wore multiple hats during his career. He contributed to more than 60 films and composed 250 songs.
One of his most famous films was Nujum Pak Belalang. Loosely based on a Malay folk tale, it tells the story of a man and his son who work together to help their village by posing as royal astrologers.
Google said that the doodle, available only on its Malaysia page, highlighted "the Malaysian legend's diverse artistry and shows him as people best remember him" referring to his thin moustache, chequered suit and with his head cocked slightly to the side.
He "was able to reach out to different classes of society, bringing people together with his brand of humour," Andrew Lim, music director of a classical radio station in Singapore told the BBC.
"His comedies use a brand of Malay which brings me back to my childhood. P. Ramlee was so brilliant as a comedic actor because he had perfect timing and was able to deliver his lines in the most natural way," said Mr Lim.
Growing up in Penang, P. Ramlee was said to have been a reluctant student who loved music and football.
However, his studies were interrupted by the Japanese occupation of Malaysia between 1942 to 1945 where he enrolled in a navy school and was taught to sing Japanese songs. After the war ended, he continued his musical studies.
A documentary released in 2010 showed how the entertainer had later been forgotten by the Malaysian entertainment industry and the public who felt his songs and films were no longer relevant or marketable.
"The reason why he became irrelevant was because during that time, there was an influx of other things like Hong Kong and Chinese movies so there was competition," said veteran Malay TV personality Najip Ali.
"He became lost as there were other directors who wanted to establish themselves. But the thing about him was that he was an amazing storyteller and could encapsulate that era."
The documentary also revealed that despite his success, P. Ramlee died penniless.
"While he loved making others laugh, he was someone who had led a very sad life," Mr Lim said.
Today, his contribution are widely honoured. Museums, halls, buildings and even a street in the capital Kuala Lumpur have been named after him.
Recently a musical about the work of P. Ramlee was performed, featuring new singers and composers.
"But after listening to it, you would know that the original songs were far more superior," Mr Ali said.
Sean Ghazi, a Malaysian actor who portrayed P. Ramlee in the musical called him a "Malaysian musical hero."
"He was our renaissance artist, a mixture of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin."
Reporting by the BBC's Heather Chen. | Google has paid tribute to late Malaysian film legend P. Ramlee in its latest animated doodle, on what would have been his 88th birthday. | 39361964 |
The call comes after divorces following October's election.
The vote on the semi-autonomous archipelago was cancelled.
Even so, Tanzania's Daily News reports eight women at a lawyers' meeting said their husbands had divorced them over their voting preference.
Saada Salum Issa, programme co-ordinator of the Zanzibar Female Lawyers Association, told the BBC Swahili service she had concerns about the divorces.
"This is really affecting democracy in the island as women's free choice is being compromised by their spouses' dictation," she said.
Some women had not voted in the poll because of divorce threats, she added.
The Daily News added that women whose husbands had left them were complaining that they had also abandoned their children.
The BBC's Aboubakar Famou in Tanzania says that while the vote at the polling booths is confidential, disagreements most probably occurred after discussions between the couples.
There is little the women can do to challenge the men's actions in Zanzibar where 99% of the population is Muslim, he adds.
Zanzibar maintains a political union with Tanzania, but has its own parliament and president.
Its presidential vote were cancelled by the head of Zanzibar's electoral commission on grounds of alleged fraud.
International observers say the nationwide elections were largely "free and fair", but all groups raised concerns over the subsequent annulment of Zanzibar's local elections.
Population 1.3 million
Area 2,461 sq km (950 sq miles)
Major language Kiswahili, English
Major religion Islam
Life expectancy 58 years (men), 62 years
Currency Tanzania shilling | Husbands who abandoned their children after disagreeing with their wives' choices in Zanzibar's election must provide for their families, a women's rights lawyer has told the BBC. | 34844610 |
The company said it had been cleared by government officials in Senegal to launch an evaluation plan.
Cairn, which made two discoveries in the area last year, estimated fields there could contain more than a billion barrels of oil.
Its evaluation plan will start shortly with a 3D seismic survey.
Later this year it aims to launch a multi-well exploration and appraisal programme.
Edinburgh-based Cairn has a 40% interest in three blocks offshore Senegal (Sangomar Deep, Sangomar Offshore, Rufisque Offshore).
Its partners include ConocoPhillips (35%) and FAR Ltd (15%), with Petrosen, the Senegal National Oil Company, retaining a 10% interest in the exploration phase.
In its latest half-yearly report, Cairn also said that it had started international arbitration proceedings with the government of India over a tax row.
Cairn has been prevented by Indian authorities from accessing the value of its 10% residual shareholding in Cairn India Limited (CIL).
In March, the company received a tax bill for $1.6bn plus interest and penalties, covering the tax year 2006-07, when it was preparing to float Cairn India on the Mumbai stock exchange.
Cairn has contested the bill and plans to seek restitution for losses resulting from the falling value of its stake in CIL.
Due to the lower oil price, its value has dropped from $1bn in December 2013 to $526m, as at 30 June this year.
The lower valuation saw Cairn book a $177.1m impairment loss in its first half, as it reported a post-tax loss of $230m - up from $62m a year ago.
The company generates no revenue because its focus is exploration work.
However, at the end of the first half, Cairn reported a cash balance of $725m.
Cairn's share price was down by about 5% on Tuesday morning. | Oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy has been given the green light to press ahead with a major drilling programme off Senegal in West Africa. | 33973913 |
26 March 2015 Last updated at 07:03 GMT
It's after our big food survey, which showed more than half of kids don't eat any vegetables on a daily basis.
Dr Radha took a moment to reveal how much hidden sugar can be in your food... | All this week Newsround is looking at food, and how you can eat more healthily. | 32035743 |
The Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 52.6, down from August's 52.9, but above the 50 level which indicates expansion.
On Monday, the manufacturing sector recorded its best PMI for two years.
Markit said the latest findings cast doubt on the need for more stimulus action from the Bank of England.
The surveys, which are calculated by speaking to purchasing professionals and business decision-makers across a range of companies, are seen as an early indication of how the economy is performing, since they are released before official GDP data.
"The survey results suggest that the economy has regained modest growth momentum since the EU referendum, with especially strong growth appearing in manufacturing," said Markit's chief business economist Chris Williamson.
"The risk of recession in the second half of 2016 has therefore all but evaporated, and the solid PMI readings for September will cast doubt on the need for any further stimulus from the Bank of England in coming months."
July's survey had shown a steep drop in business activity in the immediate wake of the referendum, but that started to recover in August. In addition, September's survey indicated that new business in services rose at the fastest pace since February and that the rate of job creation had picked up.
However, Mr Williamson pointed out that the pace of expansion had cooled since the beginning of the year, "reflecting widespread concern about the potential future impact of Brexit".
Official growth figures for the second quarter were revised up to 0.7% last week, by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), from an initial reading of 0.6%.
Pantheon Economics agreed that the Bank of England would probably refrain from cutting rates in November but predicted growth would continue to slow in the coming months, "as firms hold back from hiring and investment due to 'hard' Brexit risk and households' real incomes are squeezed by rising inflation".
The PMI survey showed that services firms reported the fastest rate of input price inflation since February 2013 in September, with providers subsequently raising their charges at the fastest rate since January 2014.
The services industry - which includes everything from financial advice to retailers - accounts for about three-quarters of the UK economy. | The UK services sector continued to recover last month, after a sharp drop in activity following the Brexit vote, according to a closely watched survey. | 37560941 |
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