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The five-time champion saw off fellow Englishman Shaun Murphy 13-7 to reach the last eight for the 18th time.
And the 41-year-old said afterwards: "I look at myself as a band or a singer nowadays.
"But I have not had the greatest of seasons and not written a great album this year."
O'Sullivan, who last won the world title in 2013, suggested the slog of tournament play week in week out appealed less than occasional high-profile 'guest' appearances.
"If you want to write great albums every year, then you need to do well on the snooker circuit. I don't see that I need to write a great album anymore, I just need to be a supporting act," he said.
"I don't mind the other players writing good albums, if I can be invited along for half an hour - 'here he is, he is still alive, can still perform' but then I'm happy to fade back into the security of life.
"Maybe I'm a bit like James Blunt. He seems a pretty cool dude."
O'Sullivan will next face Ding Junhui, who took the last two frames for a 13-12 win over fellow Chinese Liang Wenbo.
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It was a good-humoured showing, and a change of tone for the former world number one, who has had an inconsistent season, marked by a fractious relationship with the sport's authorities.
My main aim now is to travel, play exhibitions, do my punditry work and work with people outside the industry
He has been beaten in three finals - by Judd Trump, John Higgins and Mark Selby - and has also played in a number of exhibition matches, written a book and done TV punditry work for Eurosport.
But on the way to winning a record seventh Masters title in January, he lost control by swearing at a photographer and criticising a referee.
Since the tournament at Alexandra Palace in London, he had refused to engage with the media - answering questions with one-word answers, mimicking a robot, and on one occasion responding by singing an Oasis song - in protest at what he has this week alleged were "bullying and intimidation" by the snooker authorities.
He made that claim in an emotional news conference after his first-round win over Gary Wilson but displayed a lighter touch on Saturday after his comfortable win over another former champion in Murphy.
"I am not confident enough of writing brilliant albums every year so I choose to play the tournaments, have some fun and do my best," he said.
"My main aim now is to travel, play exhibitions, do my punditry work and work with people outside the industry - it is fun. I can be like a band who do a world tour - they pitch up, they play and it is all very nice for them because there is no pressure. I enjoy being in that position more.
"I have a responsibility to play at a certain level but you cannot do it all."
A triumph at the Crucible Theatre this year - in the 40th anniversary of the event's first staging here in 1977 - would bring O'Sullivan a sixth world title, taking him level with Steve Davis and one behind Stephen Hendry.
It would also be his 29th ranking title win, taking him second on the all-time list behind Hendry, who has won 36.
O'Sullivan added: "If I was to win it, it would be a great feeling but I have had that five times before. It is nice for a few days, a week or so but then you think, 'is it worth putting 365 days of blood, sweat and tears to hopefully win the world title for that feeling?'
"It is just a game, a few balls and I get the same feeling at the club - it is just a game for me. I have never been driven by records or titles or being the greatest player on the planet." | Ronnie O'Sullivan described himself as being "a bit like James Blunt" after progressing to the World Championship quarter-finals in Sheffield. | 39679501 |
The goalkeeper slid out studs first to challenge Swansea forward Andre Ayew.
The incident was replayed on the Liberty Stadium big screen and provoked an angry reaction from home fans.
Swansea could face a charge as Premier League rules state "the screen shall not be used to show action replays of negative or controversial incidents".
England keeper Butland escaped punishment from referee Robert Madley for his 17th-minute challenge outside the area, having initially played the ball straight to Ayew.
But Stoke manager Mark Hughes was unhappy with the incident being shown on the big screen.
"I didn't appreciate the incident being shown on the videos around the stadium. I thought that was unnecessary," the former Wales boss said.
"I wouldn't like to think it was deliberate, because when those situations happen it causes a reaction in the crowd and we had to deal with that."
A Swansea spokesperson said the replay was because of "human error". The club have made a verbal apology and will now put that in writing. | Swansea City have apologised for screening a replay of a tackle by Stoke City's Jack Butland in their 1-0 Premier League loss on Monday. | 34583339 |
The purchase from Ray Trew was expected to go through on Monday, but a dispute over who pays a loan of more than £1m delayed the deal by 48 hours.
But Hardy posted on Twitter to confirm the issues had been resolved and he would appoint a new boss on Thursday.
"Finally got there guys. New world starts today," wrote Hardy, whose club are 22nd in the league table.
Notts have lost their past 10 League Two matches and have been without a manager since John Sheridan was sacked on 2 January.
The club are also subject of a winding-up petition brought by HM Revenue & Customs and have until 6 February to settle any outstanding debts.
But Hardy, 52, vowed to pay the bill as part of the deal when the takeover went through.
Trew put Notts County up for sale in February after his family were subjected to what he called "foul and mindless abuse" and he made an approach to Hardy, who had previously made two offers to buy the club, in October.
Hardy is chief executive of Paragon Interiors Group and owner of Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club. | Nottingham businessman Alan Hardy has completed the takeover of League Two side Notts County. | 38583229 |
Flames leapt several storeys high above the Interstate 85 highway before the collapse at 19:30 local time (23:30 GMT), reports said.
Residents said they thought the sun had set early or a storm had arrived because of the thick black smoke.
No one was injured and no cars were on the overpass when it fell.
Police stopped traffic and turned cars away from the highway bridge just minutes before it collapsed, according to Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Sergeant Cortez Stafford.
The fire caused widespread traffic jams and road closures, stranding many motorists for hours.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in Fulton County, which covers most of the Atlanta area.
It is unclear what caused the fire beneath the overpass, but the governor told reporters the fire appeared to be fuelled by a large pile of PVC piping stored under the structure.
Georgia Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said the fire began in an area "as a storage location for construction materials, equipment and supplies. The site was a secured area containing materials such as PVC piping, which is a stable, non-combustible material".
Airport firefighters were called in to spray foam typically used in airline crashes on to the flames.
Atlanta police told residents not to drive in order to keep roads clear for emergency services.
Government offices in Atlanta were set to open late on Friday to give people extra time to travel to work.
The interstate is a major thoroughfare in Atlanta, carrying up to 250,000 vehicles per day. It is unclear when it will be reopened. | A huge fire broke out on an elevated highway in the US city of Atlanta on Thursday evening, causing a large section of it to collapse. | 39452926 |
The 26-year-old left-hander from Perth was batting in the nets when she was struck on the back of the head by a ball from team-mate Rene Farrell.
A decision on her availability for the first one-day international at Taunton will be taken on Tuesday morning.
Bolton made 124 on her ODI debut against England in January 2014.
She averages 53.22 from 10 ODIs, having established herself at the top of the order over the past year.
The Age newspaper reports that Bolton, who was wearing a helmet when she was hit, is likely to be replaced by Jess Cameron if she is unavailable. | Australia opener Nicole Bolton is a doubt for Tuesday's first match of the Women's Ashes series after she suffered concussion during training on Monday. | 33602941 |
Emergency officials said 34 miners were working in the area of the blast, about 500m underground. Six injured were brought to the surface soon afterwards.
The incident took place at 12:46 local time (10:46 GMT) at the mine in the Sokal district of Lviv region.
The other 20 miners were initially trapped but were rescued a few hours later, apparently unharmed.
There were 172 miners working at the pit at the time.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared the country to be in mourning. He said all coal mines would undergo new safety inspections.
Ukraine has frequent mining accidents, though this was the first in 2017.
Most of the country's coal is in the Donbas region in the east, in an area currently ravaged by conflict with Russian-backed rebels. | At least eight miners have been killed after a methane explosion in a coal mine in western Ukraine. | 39139632 |
The exotic pet, which is 12 months old, was taken from Lathom Pets and Aquatics in Ormskirk on Tuesday raising concern over his "vulnerable" shell.
Following an appeal, the pet shop revealed on Friday that the tortoise was "anonymously dropped off" at the garden centre tills.
Lancashire Police confirmed it was investigating the theft.
The first thing [the tortoise] did was go straight over to the food bowl to fill up his little tummy, the pet shop reported.
Co-owner Katherine Broxholme said of the incident: "I was serving, chatting..and getting change out of the till for a woman I was serving. The tortoise tank is just a few feet away from the till. We only have five tortoises and when I checked later there were only four."
CCTV footage confirmed a man had taken the tortoise, she added.
Police said the tortoise was valued at £120. | A tortoise which was stolen from a tank in a pet shop has been returned safe and well. | 38704175 |
Moussa is a magnificent tyro at 20, a young man who in the space of a week scored two Champions League goals against Manchester City and one international goal on his debut for France's under-21s and yet, despite all of that, was still over shadowed by his namesake, Karamako.
Thirteen-years-young, Karamoko almost broke the internet over the last few days. OK, not quite, but the reaction to his nine-minute appearance for Celtic's under-20s against Hearts on Monday night was worldwide.
If you search his name using Google you get "about 551,000" items. When you look at the YouTube clips of him playing there have already been nearly 400,000 views on one video, nearly 90,000 on another, more than 60,000 on another and tens of thousands of other hits on various websites around the globe, all showing his dynamic running.
There is a mesmeric quality to him, a mystique as to how he ended up at Celtic and not Barcelona, where these boy wonders usually hail from.
Many media outlets fell over each other to give you the lowdown. Ruud Gullit expressed his astonishment at his ability. A former coach compared him, inevitably, to Lionel Messi. Another gushed that little Karamoko could do 100 keepy-uppies from the age of five.
Ladbrokes went with the flow. As sponsor of the SPFL they should have known better, but people were driven to distraction by the young man and the bookmakers sought to tap into the hype.
However, the firm apologised and closed the book on him having taken no bets.
They offered a range of odds on what Karamoko was going to do next and when he was going to do it - his first team debut for Celtic, his chances of becoming Celtic captain, the likelihood of him scoring more goals than Henrik Larsson or, if you preferred, the chances of him being signed by Barcelona.
The hoopla - so to speak - was moving as fast as the wee man's legs. There's good in this. The boy gets a shot at a much higher level, if only for nine minutes. He's sent a message by his club that they will not hesitate to give him opportunities when the time is right. He's now on the radar of the Scotland international team. That's good, too. For him, for Celtic, for Scotland.
His family get to see their son admired all over the world - and who knows what that might lead to down the line. Maybe nothing, but every big club in Europe will now know of this kid, if they did not know about him already.
Celtic have the feel-good factor of having a boy of great potential. And by giving him those nine minutes, they send a reminder to parents who might be wondering where to send their own child prodigy that the club's academy is the kind of place that nurtures youth and gives youth a chance.
These things tend to sprout legs, though. One minute everybody is marvelling at the natural ability of this lad, the next minute everybody is checking themselves and saying 'Let's not be daft about this, he's only 13' and the minute after that, things get really heavy.
A celebration of a young talent morphs into a debate about the exploitation of children by professional football clubs. Tam Baillie, Scotland's children's commissioner, appeared on Good Morning Scotland on Thursday with some particularly serious comments.
He spoke about the "commodification" of young footballers. In light of Ladbrokes' novelty bets on the future of a 13-year-old, Baillie had a point. He went on to paint a grim picture. It's one he's been painting for a long time.
He spoke about 15-year-olds being held to contracts against their will, he mentioned reports of a "transfer market in children" and followed up by saying that football authorities in Scotland are "not capable of or not willing to exert sufficient regulation for the protection of our children".
That's a fairly thunderous accusation. The Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League said on Thursday night that they were "surprised" at Baillie's comments. Livid would be a more accurate description.
They pointed to the progress that's been made in recent times. The working party set up to examine youth football in Scotland. The changes implemented on the back of a Youth Football in Scotland petition. The appointment, by the SFA, of a Children's Safeguarding and Wellbeing Manager "to ensure that the rights of the child are at the heart of all decisions relating to young football in Scotland". The implementation of a complaints and mediation mechanism - the Young Players' Wellbeing Panel.
That's the vehicle by which Baillie can raise concerns. "If the commissioner has any evidence that could lead to a breach of regulations we would expect to have received communication from him," wrote the SFA and SPFL in their statement of Thursday evening. "To date, none has been forthcoming."
Allegations of a transfer market in kids and of the football bodies ignoring that transfer market is serious stuff. Big allegations demand big evidence, though. Baillie says he has provided it. The football authorities say otherwise. They say they have created the mechanism for him to raise a red flag on anything he does not like and that in the last year, since the working group was created, there has been no red flag.
You would hope, and assume, that young Karamako is oblivious to all of this. You would hope, above all, that he carries on loving his football and playing it with the elan that is so gloriously obvious in the few clips we have seen of him.
Football is a complicated and brutal business, but occasionally it's beautiful, none more so than when you see this kid slaloming through defences with a smile on his face.
Brilliant innocence. Hell mend the person who takes it from him. | Happy days for Celtic; they wait a long time for one Dembele and then two come along almost at once. | 37585138 |
Cheika believes there was "a lot of niggle" from Eddie Jones' side in their opening 39-28 win in Brisbane, the opening match of the three-Test series.
"Niggle is the stuff you do off the ball so you're protected," Cheika, 49, said.
"We probably have to deal with the niggle a bit better."
The Australia coach added: "If someone pulls you down you can't whack a bloke because you know you're going to get caught. We don't want to do niggle, that's not our game."
Cheika said he was "loving" the prospect of the do-or-die clash, with England knowing victory at AAMI Park will give them a first series win down under.
"I love being in this situation. I know that sounds crazy," he said.
"We are in a battle, let's go. After the game in Brisbane, I was miserable, I wanted to cry, [but] I am looking forward to Saturday immensely, I'm certainly not desperate."
Much attention in the build-up has been on the battle at the scrum, following England's dominance last weekend.
Former Australia coach Bob Dwyer has accused England's Dan Cole of cheating at the set-piece, which prompted an obscene tweet towards Dwyer from England player Joe Marler, who is not on the tour.
Dwyer was also critical of England's technique before the decisive World Cup encounter between the teams last October, which Australia won 33-13 to knock the hosts out of the tournament at the group stage.
Marler's team-mate Mako Vunipola says he can "see where Marler is coming from" but is confident referee Craig Joubert will not be influenced by external noise come the weekend.
"We are all human beings. I can't comment on what Marler tweets. You can see where he is coming from, but it's tough. It's one of those things - a reaction," Vunipola said.
"We just have to go out there and do what we can.
"Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have every confidence in Coley. We are very lucky to have one of the best referees in the world, Craig Joubert.
"We trust he will make the calls that are needed. That World Cup [game] is history."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Australia must cope better with England's off-the-ball tactics in Saturday's second Test in Melbourne, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika says. | 36545846 |
Some local UKIP branches have raised concerns candidates from outside Wales would be imposed on them.
UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill said the decision to give party members the final say was "a great victory".
Former Tory MPs Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless will be among the names under consideration.
There have been allegations of splits within the party's top ranks over the issue.
In January, UKIP councillor Kevin Mahoney said he would quit the party if Mr Hamilton, Mr Reckless and Alexandra Phillips, UKIP's head of media in Wales, were selected on the regional lists.
Opinion polls suggest UKIP is likely to win seats in the assembly for the first time at May's elections.
Applications to be regional candidates are narrowed down to a shortlist. Party members then decide the order that those candidates are listed for the four seats in each of the assembly's five regions.
Mr Gill told BBC Radio Wales: "It's gone back to the grassroots, it's gone back to the membership. We have had a great victory here.
"I think it's up to the members to decide for themselves who they want to represent UKIP in Wales."
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "I have long argued that the UKIP members in Wales should get the final say on who represents our party in the Welsh assembly elections.
"These elections in May are our best opportunity to make a breakthrough into UK domestic politics."
This is the first time Nathan Gill has spoken publicly about his "big battle" with the party's national executive committee over the selection of regional candidates.
It's difficult to argue with a system that means local party members will have the final say over who tops the regional list.
If Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless are as unpopular with local party members as some have been saying, then presumably they won't be anywhere near the top of the list.
Nathan Gill has been claiming victory. But bearing in mind this is a party that likes to take the moral high-ground in being above all a grassroots organisation, is it a battle it should have been having in the first place?
Behind the scenes, this has been a damaging row internally for UKIP in Wales. The party will be hoping the decision will heal some of those divisions. | UKIP members will decide the final rankings of regional candidates for May's assembly elections after a row within the party. | 35470132 |
The work has been set to the teenage activist's 2013 UN speech about the right of every girl to an education.
Speak Out, by Kate Whitley, will be performed by the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales alongside the children's choir Cor y Cwm.
The concert takes place at BBC Hoddinott Hall at 19:30 GMT.
Ms Yousafzai, 19, said: "I am honoured and excited that my speech inspired a composer to set it to music.
"As the speech is a call to raise our voices, it makes me very happy that it will be sung by a large choir, that so many voices will rise to share the message of education for all."
Ms Whitley said she felt "very lucky" to have been asked to "write a piece for such an important day celebrating women around the world".
The performance will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 21:30. | A musical world premiere set to the words of Malala Yousafzai will be performed in Cardiff to mark International Women's Day. | 39202868 |
The Trussell Trust said on average people needed 1.7 referrals, suggesting 35,000 individuals received help.
From April to September its food banks gave out 60,458 three-day emergency supplies, a rise of 17% on last year.
Delays in receiving benefits was the most common reason cited for financial hardship.
About 28% of recipients said this was the reason they were in difficulty, the same proportion as last year.
The percentage of referrals due to benefit changes dropped from 18% to 16%.
The proportion of those referred due to low income increased from 18% to 21%.
The trust's Scotland network manager Ewan Gurr said he was worried low income would become a bigger problem in the coming months.
He said: "Difficulties related to welfare benefits are still driving the majority of people to our Scottish food banks but now one in five of those referred is on a low income.
"Among that number is a growing body of people in low paid employment who are simply unable to make the pay cheque stretch far enough when crisis hits.
"The increasing instability of the oil, gas and steel industries has already led to significant numbers of people being made redundant and figures revealed in the last week also show that unemployment has risen in Scotland while decreasing in the rest of the UK."
The trust said it also feared a repeat of last year when low income referrals increased sharply in December as fuel costs became an extra drain on household finances.
Reacting to the figures, SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said they were "alarming".
He added: "The figures also show that UK government benefit changes and delays continue to be the most common reason for people seeking emergency food aid.
"While Tory ministers have their head in the sand on the issue, the Scottish government recognises this link and is spending almost £300m over three years to mitigate Tory social security cuts.
"That any government would consider further cuts to the incomes of the poorest families in our society in the face of such clear evidence of rising poverty is appalling - yet George Osborne is set to plough ahead with £12bn more social security cuts."
A UK government spokesman said: "Our reforms have secured record employment, a near record number of job vacancies and a growing economy.
"We maintain a strong social safety net and continue to spend around £80bn on working age benefits.
"We know that the reasons for food bank use are complex and overlapping and it is spurious to claim that it is driven by changes to welfare.
"Work remains the best route out of poverty and thanks to this government's long term economic plan thousands of people are experiencing the dignity of a job, the security of a wage and the peace of mind that comes from supporting your family, many for the first time."
In terms of food donated, the figures revealed Scotland was second only to the north west of England.
When populations were compared, the statistics also suggested that a disproportionately high number of people were being referred to food banks in Scotland compared to other parts of the UK, the trust said.
Scottish Labour's equality spokesman Neil Findlay said: "In a country as wealthy as Scotland it is unacceptable that more than 60,000 people had to rely on food banks over the last six months. As winter approaches, the need for extra support is only going to increase.
"These figures should act as a wake-up call to both of Scotland's governments. After eight years of the SNP in office, and more than five years of the Tories, the gap between the richest and the rest in Scotland remains unacceptably high."
The Trussell Trust describes itself as a charity "motivated by Christian values." Its 50 Scottish food banks are part of a network of 425 across the UK.
Everyone who comes to its food banks is referred by a professional such as a social worker, health visitor or schools liaison officer. | Food bank use in Scotland has increased to record levels, with more than 60,000 referrals over a six-month period, according to a charity. | 34849661 |
The victims are a British man and a Canadian and an American woman, said the Costa Rican authorities
The catamaran was taking tourists to the Tortuga Island, on the country's Pacific Coast, when it was hit by strong winds and powerful waves.
Survivors said they were given lifejackets shortly before the boat sank.
"We were floating in the ocean. Many people were crying, screaming, asking for help," an unidentified woman told local television.
The Pura Vida Princess was carrying 99 tourists and 10 crew when it sank some 15km (nine miles) offshore.
The accident happened around 09:00 local time (15:00 GMT).
"The captain started to turn the wheel to the left. There were pretty heavy seas and we started to take water on, apparently on the right side," said Todd Olson, a tourist from the American state of Kansas.
"Within a minute it was flipped. Very fast, shocking," he added.
Vice-President Ana Helena Chacon said 106 people had been rescued. She praised the work of the lifeguards, security ministry and the Red Cross.
Earlier reports said two tourists were missing, but Ms Chacon said all the passengers and crew, with the exception of the three casualties, had been accounted for.
"It's a sad day for our country, that receives so many tourists," she said.
The British Foreign Office said it a statement: "We are aware of an incident on a boat off the coast of Costa Rica involving British nationals. We are in close contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance."
The Central American nation is considered one of the safest and most popular tourist destinations in Latin America.
Some 2.4 million foreign tourists - most of them from the US - visited the country in 2013, according to Costa Rica's Tourism Board. | Three elderly tourists were killed in Costa Rica when a boat carrying more than 100 people capsized in rough seas. | 30734867 |
Robert Stewart, 43, committed the offence in his home town of Duns in September last year.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how police spotted 20ft (6m)-high flames leaping from the building and went to help evacuate the area.
Sheriff Donald Corke told Stewart he was also imposing a 12-month supervised release order to protect the public.
The court was told police officers had seen the fire and had gone to help take nearby residents to safety.
While there, they received a call from the control room telling them a man had contacted them from the police telephone outside the station, admitting he had started the fire and would wait for the officers to return.
Defence solicitor, Briony Cruden, said her client had expressed remorse for his actions and lack of consideration for the emergency services.
She said Stewart had a history of psychiatric disorders.
She added that he claimed to "hear voices" and had been "feeling harassed by neighbours for a number of weeks".
"He was at a loss of what to do at this point and thought custody would be a form of escape," she said.
Sheriff Corke told Stewart he did not accept his claim that he had been abused by staff at the store and added: "You cannot be surprised I consider custody to be inevitable".
The court heard that the operation of the Co-op had not been affected by the fire, but it had cost the company about £4,000 for the clean-up. | A man has been jailed for two years after he admitted starting a fire at a Co-op supermarket in the Borders. | 30796995 |
Ahmed Fahour had been widely credited for turning around the government-owned organisation, returning it to profit.
But earlier this month it emerged he earned A$5.6m ($4.3m; £3.4m) last year, 10 times the salary of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The PM described the remuneration as "too high" with politicians saying it was excessive for a civil servant.
At the time, Australia Post defended the payout, saying it included a bonus due to Mr Fahour for steering the business into profit in 2016.
Announcing his departure, the firm made no reference to the controversy.
It said Mr Fahour had developed an entirely new strategy for the business, "focused on investing in the parcels and eCommerce business".
"It was the right strategy which has placed the postal service on the path to a sustainable future and avoiding a taxpayer bailout," chairman John Stanhope said.
A successor has not been named, but the board said it would begin the search for a new chief immediately.
At a press conference after his departure was announced, the outgoing boss said the organisation had been overhauled during his seven years in charge.
"Everybody was writing media releases and articles about the death of mail and email was going to kill us and that it was through," Mr Fahour said.
"But we, the management team and the board, would have no part of that."
Australia Post said that under Mr Fahour's leadership, it had invested in a network which improved services and delivered more than A$4bn in dividends and taxes to the government in the past seven years.
Without the transformation, the postal service was potentially looking at a A$6.7bn bailout over a 10-year period, it added.
Australia Post earned A$197m ($151m; £121m) in first half pre-tax profit for the six months to December 2016. At the same time the previous year, its profit was at $1m. | Australia Post's chief executive has resigned, weeks after controversy over the size of his salary. | 39060532 |
One of the books is a copy of Old King Cole which measures less than 1mm in height!
It was published in 1985 and held the world record for the smallest printed book for 20 years.
It is one of about 80 miniature books which will go on display in Edinburgh until 17 November.
A miniature book is generally defined as one that is less than 7.5cm tall.
In the 1870s, the Glasgow book publisher David Bryce & Son became one of the most successful miniature book publishers in the world.
They found that books sold thousands upon thousands more copies if they were miniature.
Others, like the tiny copy of Old King Cole, are simply published for a bit of fun. | Some of the world's smallest books have been put on display at the National Library of Scotland. | 24144024 |
The three-year study will test whether this basic income is better than current social welfare programmes.
Randomly selected participants living in three communities in Ontario will be given at least C$16,989 ($12,600, £9,850) a year to live on.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said it is time to be "bold" in figuring out how to help society's most vulnerable.
"This is no time to retreat, this is no time for government to cling to the status quo," she said when the pilot was announced on Monday.
Ontario is not the only one trying this policy out.
Finland recently launched its own trial in January, and the Scottish government has expressed interest.
The idea is popular with both progressives and libertarians alike because it has the potential to reduce poverty and cut out red tape.
Ontario's pilot project will roll out in Hamilton and Thunder Bay this spring, and Lindsay this fall.
The program will cost C$50m a year, and will include 4,000 households from across those three communities. Participants must have lived in one of the areas for over a year, be between 18-64 and be living on a lower income.
Single adults will be given a yearly income of C$16,989, while couples will earn C$24,027, minus 50% of any income earned from a job.
By allowing people to keep part of their earnings, the government hopes people will be encouraged to work and not rely solely on assistance.
"It's not an extravagant sum by any means," Wynne said, noting that many people who are struggling in the province are employed part-time and need additional assistance to make ends meet. | Canada's largest province is experimenting with giving poor people a basic income with no strings attached. | 39675442 |
This entitles her to access to health care, education and other welfare services which she had been denied.
As her parents have been out of Cuba for some time, the girl had been unable to claim Cuban citizenship and she had been effectively left "stateless".
This test case will affect other children in such legal limbo.
The case has been going through the South African courts for several years, and the Supreme Court of Appeal's decision came after the government challenged a ruling brought by a lower court.
The BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg says the home affairs ministry had argued that granting the girl a South African birth certificate would open the floodgates to new applications.
The court's judgement is a reaffirmation of existing laws in South Africa which give citizenship to stateless children.
The Supreme Court of Appeal gave the government 18 months to get its house in order and put in place a mechanism for processing similar claims.
Lawyers say the implementation of this ruling would bring South Africa into line with many other countries.
It could also help many of the thousands of stateless youngsters born in South Africa, who are now being put up for adoption and whose birth parents were foreign migrants or refugees, our reporter says.
A spokesman for South Africa's Department of Home affairs said it welcomed the chance to re-evaluate its position.
South Africa is home to many African migrants who have moved to the country for better economic fortunes in one of the continent's largest economies or to seek political refuge. | A top South African court has cleared the way for an eight-year-old girl, born to Cuban parents, to be granted South African citizenship. | 37286815 |
The Conservative politician, nominated by UK PM David Cameron, is in line for a top job running financial services.
On Wednesday, he told MEPs he will act for all 28 EU member states and is not a representative of the City of London.
But the Conservative group in Brussels said Lord Hill would be recalled for a second confirmation hearing next week.
All 27 commissioners nominated by EU states must get the approval of the European Parliament before they can join Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's top team.
Mr Juncker's decision to give Lord Hill the coveted brief in charge of financial services, financial stability and capital markets union was seen as a coup for the UK, given the sector's vital importance to its economy.
But some MEPs worry that he may be too close to City of London interests.
His public cross-examination was broadcast on the BBC's Democracy Live website.
"I am not here as a representative of the City of London, I am here to represent the European interest," he told MEPs at a key hearing in Brussels.
"I have a very clear and simple view - it is in the interests of the EU for Britain to be in it, and for Britain to be in the EU."
The UK's ruling Conservatives have promised to hold an in/out referendum on EU membership in 2017, provided they can renegotiate the UK's membership terms before then.
Chris Morris, BBC Brussels correspondent, writes:
Lord Hill's performance was competent but underwhelming. He made no catastrophic mistakes, but plenty of MEPs in the room were less than impressed by his grasp of the detail.
"Charming but empty," said the Green MEP Philippe Lamberts.
Perhaps Lord Hill should be given the benefit of the doubt - he's had less than three weeks to master a portfolio of considerable technical complexity.
In fact he was probably lucky that many of the questions were less probing than expected.
There were also signs of the difficult political balance Lord Hill will have to maintain in Brussels.
He described himself as a "consensual, pragmatic, European politician" - not a phrase destined to win him many supporters on the Tory backbenches in London.
He promised to work in the general interest of all 28 EU countries, but many MEPs still see him as David Cameron's man.
"I'm a great believer that actions speak louder than words," he told me. "If I'm confirmed, everyone will see that I will approach the job in the way they should expect all commissioners to approach it. I'm very clear that that is my task."
When pressed to disclose any conflict of interest Jonathan Hill stressed that he had cut all ties with his former consultancy businesses in London. "I have no shares in any business at all and am not on the board of any company," he said.
His question-and-answer session with MEPs lasted nearly three hours.
But, according to one MEP, Lord Hill had failed to explain how he thought the financial sector should develop and there were "many critical voices" about his nomination.
Jonathan Hill will not work on the vexed question of bankers' bonuses. That will be the responsibility of the new EU justice commissioner-designate, Vera Jourova from the Czech Republic.
The UK government is challenging the new EU directive on bankers' bonuses in the European Court of Justice.
But Lord Hill will oversee the launching of a new EU capital markets union - a key issue for the UK, as the City of London hosts nearly 40% of the EU's wholesale financial markets.
Lord Hill's career
A capital markets union would aim to make companies in the EU less reliant on banks for finance. Currently in the EU, banks account for about 50% of that finance, whereas in the US, capital markets play a much bigger role in lending to companies.
In written answers to MEPs' questions Lord Hill pledged to act quickly to develop the EU's capital markets "as there is an urgent need to boost and diversify the funding of our economy".
He acknowledged that there were some tensions between member states using the euro and those outside the single currency.
"My task is to work to reconcile those tensions... and make sure that in the banking union the 'euro outs' feel as comfortable as the 'euro ins'," he said.
Some MEPs asked him to prepare an EU-wide deposit guarantee scheme for bank customers, but he said that was not yet on his agenda.
Mr Juncker has shaken up the structure of the Commission, appointing powerful vice-presidents to oversee some key policy areas.
Lord Hill's work will be overseen by Mr Juncker's "right-hand man", Frans Timmermans, and probably also by economics chief Jyrki Katainen, though it is not yet clear to what extent.
Lord Hill will have to ensure the smooth running of the EU's new banking union, including tighter supervision of Europe's banks to prevent anything like the 2008 financial crash happening again. | The UK's candidate to join the European Commission, Lord Hill, has been asked to attend a second hearing of MEPs to assess his suitability for the job. | 29442089 |
Stephen Jones heard the crash from his parents' home near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, on Sunday night.
He jumped into the 12ft (3.6m) deep North Level Drain as her car sank and pulled the driver free in pitch black darkness.
The 34-year-old said his heroics were "what anyone would do".
The woman was unhurt but later charged with drink-driving.
More news from Cambridgeshire
Mr Jones, from Woking, Surrey, was visiting his parents in Parson Drove when they heard "an almighty sound" at about 21:15 BST.
The car had careered through metal railings and plunged into the middle of the water where it started sinking, he said.
"I think the the scary bit was the fact you could hear the person inside the car screaming for help, which was terrifying.
"I went straight into the water and tried to open the doors first of all, but couldn't.
"Luckily the windows were already smashed, so I went underwater and unlocked the doors and just had a feel around.
"I managed to feel someone in there and pulled them out."
Mr Jones said he was in the "freezing, pitch black water" for about four minutes trying to free the woman.
Police, the fire service, an ambulance and air ambulance were all called to the scene and were "amazing", he added.
Mr Jones was later praised by police on Twitter, who wrote: "Steve, thank you for your life-saving actions."
"It could have been an awful lot worse than it was. I just did what any human would have done if you heard screams," Mr Jones said.
"The fire chief told me [the woman] would certainly have drowned if I hadn't gone in to help."
The woman, 58, from Spalding in Lincolnshire, will appear before Peterborough magistrates on 17 May. | A woman whose car plunged into a river was saved from "certain drowning" by a man who dived into the water after hearing her screams. | 39779779 |
Russia said it was continuing to bomb "terrorists" in parts of Syria.
Earlier, almost 100 rebel factions agreed to respect the truce, the main Syrian opposition group has said.
The High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said Free Syrian Army factions and the armed opposition had signed up to the truce from midnight (22:00 GMT).
The temporary "cessation of hostilities" involves government and rebel forces - but not the so-called Islamic State (IS) group and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. On Friday, Nusra Front urged its supporters to intensify attacks against President Bashar al-Assad and his allies.
Meanwhile, UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said that peace talks would resume on 7 March, if the fighting stops and aid is delivered as planned.
Warring parties in Syria were meant to make their intentions known by midday Friday ahead of the pause in fighting.
Announcing the intentions of rebel factions, the HNC said the Syrian government and its allies must not use the "proposed text to continue the hostile operations against the opposition factions under the excuse of fighting terrorism".
The stage is set for the potential implementation of some kind of a ceasefire in Syria.
The Syrian government, the Russians, the US and its allies, along with just under 100 rebel groups, all appear willing to come on board.
But if it goes into effect at all, this "cessation of hostilities" - some prefer to call it a temporary truce - is going to be incomplete, partial, and fundamentally fragile.
Read more from Jonathan
Overnight, Russian air strikes which were "more intense than usual" hit rebel bastions including Eastern Ghouta east of Damascus, northern Homs province and western Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
"It's more intense than usual," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman was quoted by news agency AFP as saying. "It's as if they [the Russians and the government] want to subdue rebels in these regions or score points before the ceasefire."
The Observatory said the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma had also suffered heavy air strikes on Friday, killing eight people, four of them children.
It said the Syrian government had also shelled the area, which is a stronghold of the Army of Islam rebel group.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces were targeting IS, Nusra Front and other extremist groups designated as legitimate targets by the UN Security Council, adding that "the decisive fight against them" would "without doubt, be continued".
Turkey said the Russian and government strikes in the run-up to the cessation gave "serious concerns".
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said Turkey had "played an active role" in drafting the ceasefire but "the fact that Russian planes' bombardments and Assad's forces' attacks on the ground have been continuing... gives us serious concerns about the future of the ceasefire".
The cessation has been brokered by the US and Russia but scepticism has lingered over the plan.
BBC Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says all sides have made it clear they will fight if attacked.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed "great concern" over fresh reports that pro-government forces had dropped barrel bombs on the Damascus suburb of Darayya.
He urged all parties "to refrain from steps that could endanger the ceasefire so close to it coming into effect".
Earlier, US President Barack Obama said the success of the cessation would depend on whether warring parties including the Syrian government, Russia and their allies lived up to their commitments.
Attacks needed to end, he said, and humanitarian aid had to be allowed through to desperate civilians.
"The coming days will be critical and the world will be watching," he added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped the US would also respect the truce.
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed in nearly five years of civil war. Millions more have been displaced. | Russian jets are reported to have intensified attacks on Syrian rebel positions, hours before a cessation of hostilities is due to come into force. | 35667082 |
It shows a rise in satisfaction levels since 2005, especially in areas such as academic support and assessment.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England analysed the results of the annual National Student Survey of more than 2m final-year UK students.
It shows overall satisfaction levels have risen by five percentage points, from 80.2% in 2005 to 85% in 2013.
Satisfaction with "assessment and feedback" rose by 12 percentage points during this period, as did happiness with "academic support".
The results show differences depending on the subject a student chose, with students in creative art and design, computer science and mass communication and documentation less satisfied over time.
Among the more satisfied were those studying veterinary sciences, physical sciences, mathematical sciences and geographical studies.
The study also found that black African students were more satisfied overall than white students, but those from a black Caribbean background were less content.
The analysis covers the core population of students who have been part of the National Student Survey cohort since 2005 - those registered at English, Welsh and Northern Irish universities who are not funded by the National Health Service.
Hefce chief executive, Prof Madeleine Atkins, said: "The NSS is an invaluable source of intelligence for universities and colleges.
"The reports we are publishing today confirm the robustness of the NSS, and the value it adds to UK higher education. Hefce will now work with the other UK funding bodies, universities and colleges, and students, to make refinements for the future."
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "We welcome this research on the NSS, which shows that students have become more satisfied with their higher education experience.
"However, we are not complacent and are looking for institutions to analyse the data published today to improve the learning experience they offer to all students."
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: "Despite unpopular and chaotic university funding changes from governments in the past nine years, students remain satisfied with their degrees and it is the staff in our universities who deserve enormous credit for that.
"Satisfaction remains high even though staff pay has been driven down, workloads have increased and some students expect more for their massively increased fees - despite the fact that money merely covers the funding this government has cut.
"The government and universities cannot continue to simply expect more for less. We need proper investment and commitment to higher education if we are to continue to satisfy students in our universities and be a key player on the world stage." | UK students have become more satisfied with their university experience over the past decade, a study finds. | 28125419 |
While a genetic database of convicted or suspected criminals exists in many countries, China is thought to include anyone, regardless of valid grounds for suspicion.
Ordinary citizens are being asked to have their blood drawn for a DNA sample, Human Rights Watch says.
Vulnerable groups and minorities appear to be a particular target of the push.
Those include migrant workers, political dissidents and ethnic or religious minorities like the Muslim Uighurs in China's far western Xinjiang region.
Xinjiang authorities are reported to have bought around $10bn (£7.7bn) in equipment to step up the collection and indexing of DNA.
Human Rights Watch warned that the collection programme could be used to increase political control.
"Mass DNA collection by the powerful Chinese police absent effective privacy protections or an independent judicial system is a perfect storm for abuses," Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
DNA collection can have legitimate policing uses in investigating specific criminal cases, she explains. "But only in a context in which people have meaningful privacy protections."
"Until that's the case in China, the mass collection of DNA and the expansion of databases needs to stop."
There are plenty of people here in China who would say: "What's wrong with the police collecting your DNA? If you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear."
Yet this is a country without an independent legal system. So, for others, it feels creepy that the state is collecting the DNA of tens of millions of its citizens simply because it can and that many being required to give a blood sample are selected because they belong to a certain target group.
According to Human Rights Watch, police notices describe target populations beyond "suspects and criminals" and include categories such as "focus personnel" (dissidents, activists, those with prior criminal records) or "migrants" (Chinese citizens who travel to a city without official permission to live there).
Ultimately, the question for Chinese people is do you trust the Communist Party with your DNA?
There are those who would add that this enormous data collection from people not connected in any way to a crime is potentially illegal under Chinese law but, as I say, this is a country where the Party controls the courts.
Beijing recently introduced new restrictions in Xinjiang in what it describes as a campaign against Islamist extremism.
The measures include prohibiting "abnormally" long beards, the wearing of veils in public places and refusing to watch state television.
Recent years have seen bloody clashes in the region and the Chinese government blames the violence on Islamist militants and separatists.
Since 1989 when China started collecting DNA, it has amassed the genetic information of more than 40 million people. In the US, the national DNA index of offenders has only 12.7 million offender profiles.
Percentage-wise the US is still ahead of China though, having about 4% of the population indexed while China only has 2.9%. | China is building a vast DNA database with no appropriate privacy protection, human rights activists warn. | 39945220 |
The 19-year-old, who has made 15 league appearances for Posh, will stay at Sincil Bank until 1 January.
Winger Anderson began his career with Crawley before being signed by Peterborough after leaving the Sussex club in 2014.
He has since played non-league football during loan spells at Braintree Town and St Albans City.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | National League club Lincoln City have signed Harry Anderson on loan from Peterborough United. | 37098406 |
Spaniard Clotet, who replaced Michael Appleton in July, saw his new team seal victory with goals from Wes Thomas and Josh Ruffels.
The Latics could have gone in front when Aaron Amadi-Holloway set up Craig Davies, but the striker's first-time shot was saved by visiting goalkeeper Simon Eastwood.
Instead it was Oxford who led after 39 minutes as Jack Payne played a through-ball and, with Oldham appealing in vain for offside, Thomas raced clear and slotted home.
Ryan Ledson went close to adding a quickfire second for the away side, with his 20-yard drive forcing a save from Ben Wilson.
Oxford, who narrowly missed out on last season's play-offs, again showed their attacking threat with a superb move which ended when Payne was smartly denied by Wilson.
Oldham squandered a good chance when Tope Obadeyi slashed off target, but the visitors doubled the lead on 71 minutes as Ruffels collected Payne's pass and fired home from 12 yards.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Oldham Athletic 0, Oxford United 2.
Second Half ends, Oldham Athletic 0, Oxford United 2.
Foul by Tope Obadeyi (Oldham Athletic).
Jonathan Obika (Oxford United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt blocked. Ryan McLaughlin (Oldham Athletic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Ryan Flynn (Oldham Athletic) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Marvin Johnson.
Ousmane Fane (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jack Payne (Oxford United).
Attempt saved. Jonathan Obika (Oxford United) left footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Christian Ribeiro.
Mike Williamson (Oxford United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Tope Obadeyi (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Mike Williamson (Oxford United).
Attempt blocked. Tope Obadeyi (Oldham Athletic) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Oldham Athletic. Courtney Duffus replaces Craig Davies.
Substitution, Oldham Athletic. Ryan Flynn replaces Oliver Banks.
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Mike Williamson.
Goal! Oldham Athletic 0, Oxford United 2. Josh Ruffels (Oxford United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Jack Payne.
Substitution, Oxford United. Canice Carroll replaces Joe Rothwell.
Ryan McLaughlin (Oldham Athletic) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Marvin Johnson (Oxford United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Ryan McLaughlin (Oldham Athletic).
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Curtis Nelson.
Attempt missed. Tope Obadeyi (Oldham Athletic) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high.
Attempt blocked. Ousmane Fane (Oldham Athletic) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Joe Rothwell (Oxford United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Ryan McLaughlin (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Joe Rothwell (Oxford United).
Anthony Gerrard (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Jonathan Obika (Oxford United).
Substitution, Oxford United. Jonathan Obika replaces Wes Thomas.
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Marvin Johnson.
Oliver Banks (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Wes Thomas (Oxford United).
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Ryan Ledson.
Foul by Marvin Johnson (Oxford United).
Substitution, Oldham Athletic. Tope Obadeyi replaces Paul Green.
Paul Green (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Ryan Ledson (Oxford United) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. | New manager Pep Clotet made a flying start to his Oxford career as the U's grabbed a 2-0 victory over Oldham at Boundary Park. | 40760923 |
Long, 26, made his first Premier League start against West Brom two weeks ago.
The ex-Cork City player was again in action for the Clarets in the weekend defeat by Bournemouth and could now be in line for his international debut.
The Republic face Mexico and Uruguay in friendlies, then play Austria on 11 June in a Dublin World Cup qualifier.
Everton midfielder James McCarthy, the subject of verbal exchanges between Republic boss Martin O'Neill and Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, is not included having not played since early March because of a groin injury.
After limited game time for Everton, McCarthy was picked to play in the Republic's World Cup qualifier against Wales on 24 March but pulled shortly before kick-off having felt a recurrence of his injury during the pre-match warm-up.
O'Neill's side take on Mexico in New Jersey on 1 June, before hosting Uruguay at the Aviva Stadium on 4 June.
"I saw Kevin Long play last week," said O'Neill. "He really impressed me, don't discount him. It'll be good to have a look at him."
Cork City player Sean Maguire has not been included, although O'Neill said the striker is a player "we are monitoring".
"If he continues to progress, there's no reason why he can't make it, but there are people ahead of him in terms of experience as much as anything," added O'Neill.
O'Neill has also called up Reading playmaker Liam Kelly, currently trying to shrug off illness to make his side's Championship play-off semi-final second leg against Fulham.
His team-mate Paul McShane is suspended for that game after seeing red in the first leg, but he will link up with his country for the three forthcoming fixtures.
Marc Wilson is named after a year plagued by injuries, while Preston trio Andy Boyle, Daryl Horgan and Aiden McGeady are again involved.
The Republic are unbeaten in their Group D campaign and lie second, level on points with leaders Serbia after five rounds of fixtures.
Goalkeepers: Colin Doyle, Rob Elliot, Keiren Westwood, Darren Randolph
Defenders: Cyrus Christie, Richard Keogh, Alex Pearce, Paul McShane, Shane Duffy, John O'Shea , Andy Boyle, John Egan, Marc Wilson, Kevin Long, Stephen Ward, Matt Doherty.
Midfielders: Aiden McGeady, Glenn Whelan, Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Harry Arter, Conor Hourihane, Stephen Gleeson, Eunan O'Kane, Darron Gibson, Liam Kelly, Wes Hoolahan, James McClean, Callum O'Dowda, Daryl Horgan, Jonathan Hayes
Forwards: Kevin Doyle, David McGoldrick, Daryl Murphy, Shane Long, Jonathan Walters, Adam Rooney | Burnley defender Kevin Long has been handed his first call-up into a 37-man Republic of Ireland squad for the games against Mexico, Uruguay and Austria. | 39924005 |
Needing a point to qualify, an acrobatic goal from Jonathan Kodjia after 37 minutes calmed home nerves.
But after Kei Kamara equalised midway through the second half, the tension was palpable.
Another away goal would have knocked the 2015 Nations Cup winners out but they held on despite a nervy finish.
Salomon Kalou was a surprise starter for the Elephants as he had been expected to miss out following the recent deaths of both his father and aunt.
However, the Hertha Berlin striker was involved in the build-up to the goal as Kodjia, a recent signing for Aston Villa, hooked the ball over the goalkeeper from near the penalty spot.
It was looking good for coach Michel Dussuyer's side but Sierra Leone had aspirations of a first Nations Cup qualification since 1996 when Kamara, back in the team after ending a self-imposed 10-month exile, drew the visitors level.
Nonetheless, it was the hosts who came closest to the game's third goal as Serge N'Guessan hit the bar late on, with the final whistle following shortly after.
Elsewhere, Senegal beat Namibia 2-0 to become the only team to qualify with a 100% record for January's finals in host nation Gabon.
Goals from Diao Balde Keita and a penalty from Famara Diedhiou, either side of a missed spot-kick by Mame Biram Diouf, gave the Teranga Lions a perfect record in Group K.
On Sunday, Niger host Burundi in the group's final match as both play for pride. | Champions Ivory Coast ensured they will defend their title at next year's Africa Cup of Nations after drawing 1-1 at home to Sierra Leone. | 37269169 |
Speaking in Germany, he accused Europe of complacency over its own defence and called on Nato allies to spend more on international security.
Mr Obama also appealed to the EU to rise above current divisions which, he said, were weakening the continent.
A migrant crisis and a UK referendum on EU membership in June have raised questions about Europe's unity.
Mr Obama called on EU states to share the burden of mass migration and see off those he accused of "exploiting people's fears".
Speaking in Hannover, Mr Obama said he was to send up to 250 more special forces troops to Syria to support local militias in the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS).
The new deployment will bring to 300 the number of US special forces soldiers in Syria.
He said that in the face of shared security threats, a "strong united" Europe remained a "necessity for all of us".
"It's a necessity for the United States because Europe's security and prosperity is inherently indivisible from our own," he said.
"A strong united Europe is a necessity for the world because an integrated Europe remains vital to our international order."
He said that every Nato member should be contributing "its full share - 2% of GDP - towards our common security - something that doesn't always happen".
He added: "I'll be honest, sometimes Europe has been complacent about its own defence."
Mr Obama described the EU as one of the biggest achievements in modern history.
"More then 500 million people, speaking 24 languages in 28 countries, 19 with a common currency in one European Union, remains one of the greatest political and economic achievements of modern times," he said.
Mr Obama was speaking ahead of key talks in Hannover with the leaders of the UK, Germany, France and Italy. Syria and other foreign policy issues were believed to have topped the agenda.
At the weekend, Mr Obama told the BBC the UK would have less influence if it voted to leave the EU in the June referendum.
He also said the UK could take up to 10 years to negotiate trade deals with the US if it left the EU.
His warnings have angered UK campaigners who want to leave the EU. | US President Barack Obama has called for greater European unity, describing it as a "necessity" for the world. | 36132526 |
Australia transports asylum seekers who arrive by boat to off-shore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International conducted extensive interviews on Nauru and said Australia had condoned severe abuse there.
Australia's government said it was not given a chance to address the claims.
In a report written after an incognito visit to Nauru last month, the organisations said Australia's actions seemed designed to discourage other migrants from attempting to get to Australia.
Interviews with 84 refugees and asylum seekers unearthed claims of rape and assault at the hand of Nauruan locals, inadequate medical care and cramped, uncomfortable living conditions.
The detention centre at Nauru is run by a company called Broadspectrum and medical services are provided by International Health and Medical Services. Both companies have a contract with the Australian government.
One woman quoted in the report said she had married a man 15 years her senior in order to feel safe on the island. Another said Nauruan men had driven her into the jungle with the intent of raping her.
Although most held on the island have been identified as genuine refugees and released into the community, many felt afraid to leave their accommodations, particularly at night, the report said.
The report also alleged that Nauruan police tended to downplay or ignore asylum seekers' reports of abuse.
It said prolonged detention in poor living conditions was causing both adults and children to experience severe anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
"The Australian government's persistent failure to address abuses committed under its authority on Nauru strongly suggests that they are adopted or condoned as a matter of policy," it said.
No documentary evidence backing up the assertion of a deliberate government policy was provided in the report.
The rights groups said Nauru had colluded in the abuse because Australia paid it large sums to house the camp.
A spokesperson for Australia's Immigration Department said it had not been shown the claims in advance and encouraged the report's authors to speak to the government before airing such allegations.
Nauru's government has been contacted for comment. | Two leading international campaign groups claim the Australian government has a deliberate policy of ignoring abuse of asylum seekers. | 36939796 |
One of a young goalkeeper who makes the change to striker. Moves to a new club and becomes a defender.
Let go by that club but moves away and returns to the striker role before firing in a goal that helps his country make their way into the European Championship finals.
A bit far fetched it may sound, but this is the real life story of Josh Magennis.
"It's crazy!" Magennis told BBC Scotland. "It was Neil Ardley, who was the academy manager at Cardiff and is now the manager at Wimbledon, who helped me make the transition from goalkeeper.
"He said I had the attributes to be a striker. I managed to knuckle down and find my strengths, which are my pace and power and able to run."
Magennis then made the move north to Aberdeen, where he struggled to hold down a regular spot, although he did have an alternative option.
"We had a tremendous striking group there with Chris Maguire and Scott Vernon who were keeping me out of the team," he said.
"Assistant manager Archie Knox said there was a vacant position at right back and I ended up playing around 30 games in that position."
Magennis, though, fell out of favour when Derek McInnes took over and, after a spell on loan at St Mirren, he joined Kilmarnock, where he has found his shooting boots once again, netting as Kilmarnock defeated Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-0 at Rugby Park.
In addition, he scored his first goal for Northern Ireland in their recent win over Greece in Belfast. A win that took Michael O'Neill's side to next year's finals in France.
Magennis says he will not look too far ahead and just try to concentrate on helping Kilmarnock up the league table and hope that, when the squad is named next year, he will be one of those on the plane.
"I can't get ahead of myself thinking I will be one of the 23 man squad," he added.
"That would just be insulting to the rest of the lads.
"It is up to me to make sure I am in peak condition for my club and hopefully keep scoring goals.
"It is up to myself to show the manager that in the domestic level and then, if I am picked to go away for the upcoming international friendlies, that I am ready to be part of the squad." | This is a real "Roy of the Rovers" story. | 34564529 |
MG Alba, which runs the digital television channel BBC Alba in partnership with BBC Scotland, has received the sum since 2014.
The UK government had also provided funding but Chancellor George Osborne did not to renew the deal in November.
MG Alba's chief Donald Campbell said he was pleased by the continued support from the Scottish government.
MG Alba was set up to ensure high-quality Gaelic television programmes are available to viewers in Scotland.
Launched in September 2008, the channel now reaches on average more than 700,000 viewers per week in Scotland.
Minister for Scotland's Languages Alasdair Allan said: "I have no doubt that Gaelic broadcasting adds significant value to important areas of Gaelic development, whether that's in education, in the community or at home.
"The impact and benefits of MG Alba are felt across Scotland, and it has an impressive economic impact - this is unique and this funding will enable these areas to increase employment, skills and training."
The £1m funding for 2016/17 follows a previous investment from the Scottish government of £1m for 2014-16 and is in addition to core funding of £11.8m.
BBC Alba's output has included comedy Two Days in October and Bannan, which is filmed on Skye, and is the first Gaelic drama to be made since Machair in the 1990s.
Along with CBeebies, it also commissioned a television adaption of Mairi Hedderwick's Katie Morag books. The show is filmed on Lewis in the Western Isles. | Gaelic broadcaster MG Alba is to receive £1m of funding from the Scottish government. | 35855438 |
"I have no sympathy," the Afghan leader told me in his palace in Kabul. He is calling on his countrymen to remain in the war-ravaged nation and join in the effort to rebuild it.
But do his words carry the weight they should, in a country that is increasingly feeling frustrated with the political elite, and a sense of hopelessness about their future?
Convincing people to stay feels like an impossible task for what is perhaps one of the toughest jobs in the world, being Afghanistan's president. Ashraf Ghani was sworn in in September 2014 after controversial elections.
This led to the formation of a national unity government with his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, appointed as chief executive officer. Since then, Mr Ghani has had to deal with a shrinking economy, high unemployment, a perilous security situation thanks to a resurgent Taliban and an ineffective government, further weakened by his troubled partnership with Dr Abdullah.
It is no wonder, then, that Afghans make up the second largest group, after Syrians, to flee to Europe. In the past year alone, 180,000 nationals have fled instability and economic hardship at home.
But who should take responsibility for the tens of thousands of Afghans who have turned up on European shores? In a wide-ranging interview, Ashraf Ghani said that people shouldn't take the risky journey in the first place.
"We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars [on people] who want to leave under the slightest pressure. You need to have the will if you want to have a country." The president may be taking a defiant position, but many Afghans at home and abroad feel resentment towards Mr Ghani for not calling on his own children, who live in the United States, to return.
While he has inherited some of the problems he faces today, his approval rating continues to plummet with many Afghans feeling he has failed to manage expectations. And these latest statements are likely to cause a further drop.
It is not yet two years since he came to power and already in Kabul there is a sense of nostalgia for the past, with many referring to the era of his predecessor Hamid Karzai as the "good days".
The president is very much aware of the situation on the ground and believes Afghans should confront it. Last year, more than 11,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the country. One in four were children. That's the highest number recorded since the US-led invasion 14 years ago.
The United Nations says if Afghanistan's national unity government survives 2016, it will consider it a success. The bar is pretty low. And the Afghan people feel increasingly frustrated. A recent BBG-Gallup survey indicated that nearly 69% of people say their lives have got worse in the past year. Some 81% of people are dissatisfied with the government and 76% with Ashraf Ghani.
It appears that no matter what assurances the president gives people about how he intends to boost the economy and create jobs, the fact remains that this is a nation that continues to be heavily dependent on the international community for both security and economic assistance.
The deteriorating conditions also highlight the international community's failure to deal with the insecurity in Afghanistan. Nato and its partner nations have roughly 12,000 troops stationed there, yet the Taliban's reach is wider than at any time since 2001.
When President Ghani was sworn in, he immediately oversaw the signing of a controversial pact with the US known as the bilateral security agreement. It's controversial because Hamid Karzai had incensed the Obama Administration by refusing to agree to the deal until his demands had been met, souring relations between Washington and Kabul.
This was something Ghani had vowed to mend. With Nato troops remaining in the country, it was supposed to protect Afghan interests and make Afghanistan safer. The security situation now is the worst it's been since 2001.
The insurgents have been invited to the negotiating table many times but say they won't be coming while foreign troops remain in the country. And why would the Taliban bother striking a peace deal with the government when they have made such significant gains in the battlefield?
When I asked the Afghan president about growing concerns that the southern province of Helmand could collapse to the Taliban, he dismissed them. "Every place they've made gains, we've reversed them. Concerns are one thing, I'm talking fact, you're talking fiction."
But according to the independent Afghan Analysts Network, the Taliban are now better organised, better equipped and have developed sanctuaries in Afghanistan. In a report released this month, the AAN has given a detailed breakdown of the districts the Taliban are currently in control of in Helmand province.
There is no doubt that the Afghan president is in a tough position. He and his fragile unity government face the difficult balancing act of stabilising the security situation and providing assurances to the Afghan people that their future prospects are not entirely doomed.
But with 60% of the population under the age of 20, it is clearly proving hard for the Afghan leader to convince them that there is hope for a better future if they remain in the country.
The central government also fears that it is mostly the educated middle class who are leaving. This means it will be an even greater struggle to rebuild Afghanistan after years of conflict. | Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani has taken a tough and somewhat unexpectedly blunt stance on the tens of thousands of his citizens who are fleeing the country to make the dangerous journey to Europe. | 35928538 |
The local authority will use its shareholding to get the issue discussed at the Scottish Championship side's annual general meeting.
The Queens Trust hopes to secure a director's role or a place as a non-voting member of the board.
The Dumfries common good sub-committee will now back a resolution being taken to the club's AGM.
It does not guarantee a seat on the board for the supporters but does ensure the issue will be debated at the meeting to be held later this year.
The club has said that its door is "always open" for an "open and honest dialogue" with fans.
It has also appointed a supporter liaison officer to improve the relationship between fans and directors. | A fans' bid to get a seat on the board at Queen of the South has been backed by Dumfries and Galloway Council. | 38568679 |
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The New Zealander has been the favourite to succeed Declan Kidney whose five-year tenure ended after a disappointing Six Nations campaign.
Schmidt was backs coach at Clermont Auvergne before guiding Leinster to Heineken Cup triumphs in 2011 and 2012.
The 48-year-old said he welcomed the "super but intimidating" prospect of leading Ireland.
He added: "When I came to Leinster in 2010 I didn't really want to be a head coach, but I've really enjoyed the experience since.
"I'm really motivated by challenge - if you're going to find out what you can bring to a group, what better way than to take on one of the big jobs in world rugby.
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"I've had a good look at a lot of Ireland's players and when we get our collective together, we'll try to improve performance and make us as competitive as possible."
Schmidt has revealed that he will attempt to convince Brian O'Driscoll to play on for another season.
Speaking at his unveiling at a press conference at Aviva Stadium, Schmidt stated that he wants O'Driscoll to play on in the green of Ireland, but that the decision ultimately lies with the former Ireland captain.
"He's put some pressure on me, so I'd certainly like to put some pressure on him. The one thing with Brian is he's very much his own man, he'll make his own decision.
"But at the same time it doesn't stop you trying to push him toward one, and so I'd like to see him continue."
Schmidt's three-year deal with the Irish RFU runs until the end of the 2015-16 season.
Leinster are just one game away from clinching a third European title in three seasons following Saturday's Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final win over holders Biarritz.
They have also qualified for the Pro12 play-offs and can make sure of a home semi-final by beating the Ospreys at the RDS Arena on Friday night.
Last October, Schmidt signed a one-year contract extension at Leinster, taking him to the end of the 2013/14 season.
But he will now be leaving the province to take on what he says is one of the biggest jobs in world rugby.
My family were part of the decision, they're very settled here
Current Ireland defence coach Les Kiss, a former North Sydney Bears winger, is to take charge of the Irish team for the summer tour matches against the United States and Canada.
Ireland then host Samoa, Australia and New Zealand in the 2013 autumn internationals.
Former headmaster Schmidt was in charge of the New Zealand Schools side before coaching Bay of Plenty in 2003, guiding them to the Ranfurly Shield.
He was assistant at the Auckland Blues before his move to French side Clermont.
While admitting the change from day to day rugby management to clearly defined periods of the calendar will be difficult, he insists it will have its benefits.
"The windows are suffocating, but there is also more scope to get back and forth to New Zealand," said Schmidt.
"I have a daughter who is studying there so it would be nice to get backwards and forwards to see family.
"My family were part of the decision, they're very settled here.
"I've spoken out lately about our smaller son and he's looked after superbly at his school. That was a big part of our decision making."
Leinster, meanwhile, appear to be already lining up a successor to Schmidt, with Leicester coach Matt O'Connor emerging as the favourite.
O'Connor was backs coach with Canberra club the Brumbies for four years before taking over at Leicester. | Leinster's Joe Schmidt is to take over as head coach of Ireland until 2016, the Irish RFU announced on Monday. | 22335916 |
In a £10 bet the man, from the Scottish Borders, chose seven league winners.
Jessica Bridge from bookmakers Ladbrokes said accumulator bets "normally come agonisingly close but hit the crossbar in extra time".
"Our customer now has 60,000 reasons to thank Jack Grealish for his vital goal last weekend," she said.
The man, who is in his 50s but did not want to be named, placed the bet before the start of the season.
The sevenfold accumulator - which would only pay out if all the predictions were correct - earned him £60,734.38.
In order for the bet to succeed, Newcastle had to better Brighton and Hove Albion's result on Sunday during the final Championship games of the season.
Grealish's late equaliser against Brighton ensured the bet was a winner, with Newcastle beating Barnsley 3-0. | An 89th-minute Aston Villa goal that put Newcastle United top of the Championship has won a football fan more than £60,000. | 39870279 |
About 20 UK personnel took part while embedded with US and Canadian forces.
MPs only approved action against IS in Iraq and the SNP's Alex Salmond said the Commons may have been misled.
Number 10 played down the revelations but Labour and the Lib Dems are calling for an explanation in Parliament.
The new Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron told Channel 4 News the involvement of UK personnel appears "at first sight to be a breach of democracy, of parliamentary procedure, and therefore a betrayal of the British people.
"For David Cameron to have sanctioned that, if it is as it appears, that is quite wrong and he will need to answer to the House and to the British people."
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon defended the exchange of troops, saying it was "standard operating practice" and had been "since the end of World War Two".
A Labour spokesperson said the programme to embed personnel with allies was "valuable" but the government "needs to be transparent" and the party would ask the Ministry of Defence to make a statement in the Commons on Monday.
Earlier, the Ministry of Defence confirmed the RAF personnel, including three pilots, flew intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike missions against IS.
UK pilots are not currently taking part in action in Syria, the MoD said, but personnel embedded with the US, French and Canadian armed forces had been authorised "to participate in coalition operations" and were under those forces' chain of command.
Only the US and Canada are operating in Syrian airspace, it added.
David Cameron's spokeswoman said the prime minister knew that a small number of aircrew had been embedded and "what they were doing".
Why weren't we told?
That's the question troubling many MPs, not all of them on opposition benches.
They voted against British action in Syria two years ago. They were told their approval would be sought before any future air strikes in the country.
And yet news of Britons bombing Syria emerged not in the Commons but via a freedom of information request.
Few pilots were involved. They were under foreign command. None are flying the missions now.
But for a prime minister showing every sign of making plans for another vote on Syrian strikes this will have built no trust.
Ministers are highly likely to end up explaining themselves to the Commons, whether they want to or not.
What are 'embedded' military personnel?
The information emerged following a Freedom of Information request submitted by the human rights group Reprieve.
Alex Salmond, the SNP's foreign affairs spokesperson, said the government was "engaged in, at best, concealment and, at worst, the act of misleading parliament and people".
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, he said: "There is a world of difference between exchange schemes between armed forces and putting the lives... of UK armed forces personnel at risk by taking part in combat operation.
"What would happen if one of these pilots had been killed? Or captured."
Tory MP John Baron, who opposed British action in Iraq, also called for ministers to come to the Commons to explain the situation.
He said: "We don't have at the moment parliamentary authority to carry out military airstrikes in Syria, but the Americans do and they've been doing that to keep all of us safe."
Mr Baron, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, added: "When we're going to run British military strikes in Syria, of course we've said we'll go to Parliament for approval, but this is different."
But Crispin Blunt, Conservative MP and Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said the 2013 vote on action in Syria was a "totally different decision" to the question of strikes on IS - and that that decision had not been undermined.
In 2013 MPs voted against military action to deter the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
At the time, Prime Minister David Cameron said he would respect the defeat of the government motion by 285-272, and ruled out joining US-led strikes.
Sir Michael Graydon, former chief of the air staff, said the exchange programme had been happening for "many decades", and the government was right "not to make a huge issue of it".
Britain has already been carrying out surveillance and air-to-air refuelling operations over Syria.
Last month, the defence secretary urged MPs to consider backing air strikes on IS in Syria and said the extremists needed to be targeted "at source".
Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman has indicated her party would not oppose military action in Syria. as the case was different to the situation in 2013 when Labour voted against intervention. | David Cameron is coming under pressure to explain why RAF personnel, including pilots, have taken part in bombing raids on Islamic State militants in Syria without approval from Parliament. | 33577043 |
The election was called two months early after Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party withdrew support for Mario Monti's government.
Mr Monti's reform and austerity measures have been unpopular with many voters.
BBC News website readers in Italy have given their views on the election.
The atmosphere in Rome is vibrant. This election feels different from the previous ones.
I voted for the Democratic Party. I like the party's leader, Pier Luigi Bersani. I feel I can trust him.
Italy doesn't need another big personality like Berlusconi. Berlusconi came along and he seemed to be acting on behalf of everyone in Italy. People really believed what he told them.
But Italy has had many problems with corruption. I feel that this is Italy's chance to finally get rid of Berlusconi. But more than that, it's the first real chance to get over the past and vote for a change in the country.
Beppe Grillo, the leader of the Five Star Movement, is too distractive. He has a big personality and a lot of people are voting for him as a protest vote, rather than for his policies.
We have many problems in Italy with our culture. People often stick with their political ideologies and are reluctant to change. They may vote for the same party as their parents.
But this election represents an opportunity for Italians to take responsibility and change things for the better.
In this election I finally withdrew my support for Berlusconi after supporting him for 20 years.
Italy needs change. It needs new politicians - honest men and women.
I voted for Mario Monti. I wanted to support a new party, so I didn't vote for Bersani's Democratic Party or Berlusconi's People of Freedom because these parties are old.
The Five Star Movement is new, but it's only really a movement of protest. It is a party without structure. For deep change to take place, a party needs structure.
Italy has many problems, including economical ones. It's strange to have this feeling of stillness and stagnation in the country.
Many sectors are no longer doing well. For example, building and mechanical engineering aren't seeing much movement. We need to relaunch our markets and show our excellence in mechanics, food, fashion and tourism.
We can't bear all this mess and disorder any longer.
Only Berlusconi has the experience to deal with the situation.
The Beppe Grillo movement is an Italian phenomenon that is so bog-standard here. No-one will vote for him.
All will pretend to have voted for Bersani and his Democratic Party, but I suspect many many more than predicted will vote for Berlusconi.
The one and only thing holding back Italy is the Euro. It is fixed at the wrong rate - the German one - and Italy's pricing points across the board are not geared to Germany's pricing points.
At the very least, Berlusconi will have a strong say in the next legislation, and he just might win the election and become prime minister again.
I have lived here for years with my Italian husband and three children.
My husband and I both chose to vote for Beppe Grillo and the Five Star Movement. The alternatives are simply the same old, often corrupt candidates just re-presenting themselves.
Before the many complex issues are dealt with here, we need new faces who can give people hope that we can finally turn the page over and start over.
Things are not in the best shape here. A lot of people that were previously complacent and have good jobs in local authorities and banks, are now suffering and finding that they are not getting paid.
I don't normally go for extremes, and the same is true in elections. But I get the impression that Beppe Grillo is an honest man and ready to represent the people.
Italy desperately needs representatives who are trustworthy and genuine to improve things for everyone. We don't want politicians simply looking to line their own pockets.
Voting for Grillo is really the only effective way of getting that message across. Fingers crossed that things are going to change for the better here.
I voted for Mario Monti because I think he worked well during the technocratic government.
If Silvio Berlusconi obtains a considerable proportion of the vote, we are in danger. We are in a deep recession after 20 years of his government, but a lot of Italians still vote for him because he is a good communicator.
I am worried about our public debt. I believe that we can't have real growth with this dangerous state.
Monti wants to reduce our huge public debt and to reduce our high cost of work to encourage companies hiring workers.
He thinks our companies have to become more competitive on the international scene and invest more in research and development.
Unfortunately, Mario Monti's party has not engaged in civil matters very much, such as looking at marriage for homosexuals or immigration issues.
He wants economic and fiscal reform, but he remains conservative about civil rights. | Italians have voted in the country's general election. | 21573733 |
Englishman Lewis, 25, was 12 under par after 13 holes in Farso, but finished with a nine-under-par 62, equalling the course record.
"Maybe I thought too much or tried too hard, hence the finish," said Lewis.
He is tied with Joakim Lagergren and Thomas Pieters, who partnered Europe's Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke.
Belgian Pieters is a contention to earn one of the three wildcards in the European team, which will be announced next week.
"I did all I could in front of Darren. He has a lot on his mind other than golf and we will just have to wait and see," he said.
We've launched a new BBC Sport newsletter, bringing all the best stories, features and video right to your inbox. You can sign up here. | Tom Lewis looked set to shoot the first 59 in European Tour history before carding three late bogeys in round one of the Made in Denmark tournament. | 37189882 |
The Dow Jones closed up 12.81 at 17,827.75 while the S&P 500 was up 5.8 points at 2,072.83.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq index rose 29.07 points to 4,787.32.
Initial claims for jobless benefits rose to 313,000 last week, figures showed, the first time it has been above the 300,000 mark since September.
Figures from the Commerce Department showed orders for non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft, fell 1.3% in October - the second month in a row the measure has fallen.
Separate figures from the Commerce Department showed that consumer spending - a key factor behind US economic growth - rose 0.2% in October.
Among individual stocks, shares in farm equipment maker Deere fell 3.2% after it predicted that sales would fall in the current quarter.
Hewlett-Packard was up 4% after results late on Tuesday. | (Close): US shares closed with modest gains, but trading was light ahead of Thanksgiving, when the markets will be shut. | 30212504 |
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24 November 2014 Last updated at 11:58 GMT
This year alone poachers have killed 1,020 rhinos in the African country, which has the largest rhino population in the world.
The rise in poaching is blamed on the increasing value of rhino horn in some Asian countries.
The number of deaths has been rising each year and activists say that these deaths could overtake births within four years.
This means that the endangered species will be pushed towards extinction.
Over half of the rhinos have been killed in Kruger National Park, which covers an area the size of Wales.
The authorities in South Africa have tried to combat the problem by introducing 'safety zones' in neighbouring countries in an attempt to protect the dwindling numbers. | Rhino deaths due to poaching have hit a record high in South Africa. | 30146033 |
Mr Kelly contacted the Commission for Ethical Standards in Public Life claiming Mr Salmond failed to declare earnings from newspaper columns.
He also issued a media release revealing details of the complaint.
The commissioner dismissed the claim as "not relevant" and "inadmissible".
Mr Salmond, the former first minister and SNP leader, then complained to the commissioner that Mr Kelly had breached the Code of Conduct by revealing the action to the media.
Holyrood's Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee has now agreed with the commissioner that Mr Kelly's actions amounted to a breach.
But committee convener Stewart Stevenson said it did "not consider that the breach in question justifies any sanctions being imposed on James Kelly".
Mr Stevenson said: "In reaching the decision on sanctions, the committee was mindful of the fact that James Kelly acknowledged that he had breached the code and stated that it was an inadvertent breach.
"Furthermore, he took personal responsibility for the breach and apologised for it."
Mr Stevenson added: "The committee takes all breaches of the code seriously. The rule covering disclosure is important because it allows investigations by the commissioner and the committee to be concluded in the absence of external partisan comment.
"The committee condemns, in particular, any breaches which risk causing reputational damage to another member in advance of a proper investigation." | Labour MSP James Kelly has been censured for breaching Holyrood's Code of Conduct when he told the press he had made a formal complaint against Alex Salmond. | 34411755 |
Scientists believe that the night-time illumination is altering the behaviour of some animals that attach to vessels' hulls. Keel worms, for example, are lured in by the lights.
Other shade-loving animals were deterred by the brightness, seeking darker waters elsewhere.
The study is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
"The presence of lighting at night can change the composition of these marine communities," said Dr Thomas Davies, an ecologist from the University of Exeter, UK.
"There is also what we call an 'ecosystem disservice'. The presence of artificial lighting might actually increase 'fouling' species that can damage boats."
Scientists estimate that just under a quarter of the world's coastal regions, excluding Antarctica, experience artificial lighting at night. Harbours, marinas, oil rigs and fisheries contribute to the glow.
To study the impact, researchers looked at sessile creatures: small animals that live in sediment or fix to hard surfaces. The group includes mussels, barnacles, sponges and sea squirts.
When these invertebrates are at the larval stage of their life cycle, they use light to seek out the best place to cling to, where they will then spend their adult years.
Dr Davies said: "That settlement process - that process of finding the right habitat - is guided in many species by the intensity and spectral quality of lighting."
To investigate, the team built artificial rafts and exposed them to different lighting conditions.
They were placed in the Menai Strait, which lies between the island of Anglesey and the northwest coast of Wales.
They found that some species, including a small bristle-like creature called Plumularia setacea,and a colonial sea squirt, preferred darkness; and few settled on the well-lit rafts.
Others, such as keel worms, were drawn by the light, which is unfortunate for the shipping industry - an influx of these animals can slow down boats and they are expensive to remove.
The scientists now want to look at how lighting affects a wider range of marine organisms, and to quantify exactly how much disruption is it causing.
"If it is causing a significant problem in harbours and marinas, there are certain things that can be done," explained Dr Davies.
"Avoiding using artificial light is one of them, but, if necessary, we need to conduct studies to find what types of artificial lighting are likely to be causing these effects.
"In terrestrial environments, some species' responses are dependent on the spectra of light you are using - so shorter wavelengths tend to be more attractive to moths than longer wavelengths, for example. And we may find something similar in marine environments." | Artificial lighting in harbours is attracting sea creatures that damage ships and boats, a study suggests. | 32500640 |
The "mummy" was inside a sarcophagus complete with hieroglyphic adornments, packed in a wooden crate.
But it is unclear whether the bandaged item found by Alexander Kettler in Diepholz, northern Germany, is a genuine relic from ancient Egypt.
Alexander's father Lutz Wolfgang Kettler, a dentist, said he had not X-rayed the mysterious find.
Instead he plans to load it into his car and drive it to Berlin to be examined by experts, he told the Bild newspaper.
Mr Kettler said he had little doubt that the sarcophagus, as well as a death mask and a canopic jar - used by ancient Egyptians to store removed organs - found nearby, were replicas.
However, he believes the mummy may be real.
The dentist's late father travelled to North Africa in the 1950s.
At that time there was still a trade in genuine mummies, Mr Kettler told his local paper, Die Kreiszeitung.
And there was a trend for mummy unwrapping parties in the 1950s, he said.
Asked if the "mummy" smelled bad, Mr Kettler said no.
It had lain undisturbed in the attic for at least 40 years, he said. | A 10-year-old German boy has found what appears to be a mummy hidden in a corner of his grandmother's attic. | 23553074 |
The average home in Dwyfor put 22% less waste in their black bins in November 2014 than in the same month in 2013.
As a result, recycling and composting rates in the county have increased from 54% in March to 57.4% last month.
The council said the waste reduction in the Dwyfor area alone would save it £100,000 a year.
The first phase of three-weekly bin collections was introduced in October, with 19,000 households in Meirionnydd and 26,000 in Arfon set to follow suit next year.
Food waste and recyclable products are still collected weekly.
The council said it was now well placed to hit Welsh government targets, which require councils to recycle at least 58% of their waste by March 2016, and 64% by 2020.
Councillor Gareth Roberts said: "The people of Dwyfor have delivered an early Christmas present for our environment and for the Gwynedd council taxpayer."
Waste collection changes were introduced in Gwynedd to help the council bridge a £50m funding shortfall between now and 2017/18. | The amount of waste sent to landfill in Gwynedd has fallen since controversial three-weekly bin collections were introduced to the first 15,000 homes. | 30504494 |
Proposals for a bill would give the Welsh government the power to directly fund universities.
But the Learned Society of Wales wants the legislation to protect universities from interference.
The Welsh government said it was considering responses to its plans.
Responding to a white paper, the society also repeats a claim that Wales' universities are "handicapped" by their "significant underfunding" compared to competing institutions in England and Scotland.
And it accuses the Welsh government of being "in denial" about the market in higher education.
Universities currently get their public funding through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw).
The Further and Higher Education Bill would give ministers the power to directly fund higher education "where it is strategically appropriate to do so".
The society welcomes an assurance from Education Minister Leighton Andrews that he will not interfere in what universities teach, but says the legislation should protect the sector's autonomy.
"The society is concerned that there are real dangers in government's wish to write into law that it should have the power to directly fund higher education partnerships and collaborative activities in 'strategically appropriate' circumstances without reference to independent knowledge experts in Hefcw," it says.
"Why do this if it doesn't want more direct control of what the universities do?
"The arm's length principle under which British universities have always operated will be severely damaged in Wales, but not elsewhere.
"It is a question of whether politicians are better equipped to decide on matters of scholarship, teaching and research than expert practitioners."
The consultation on the bill - which calls for Wales to have fewer universities "with greater critical mass" - comes at a time of change in higher education.
Cardiff Metropolitan University is fighting plans to merge it with Glamorgan and Newport universities.
In its response to the white paper, the society says the Welsh government already has considerable influence through an annual remit letter to Hefcw. It also has the ability to allocate funding directly, as happened in the creation of a medical school in Swansea, it says.
Changes to the law could give future governments "unprecedented powers" to decide what subjects are taught and researched, "solely on the opinions of politicians and their paid advisers".
It points to Mr Andrews' recent intervention over this summer's GCSE English results when he ordered that they be re-graded.
"Political control of issues of scope, content and evaluation in the universities should be specifically excluded from any forthcoming legislation," it adds.
A Welsh government spokesman said: "We are currently considering all responses to our consultation on the Further and Higher Education Bill. We will publish our response shortly." | Reforms to higher education could "severely damage" the principle that protects universities from political control, an academic society has warned. | 20142244 |
The releases reflect progress by President Barack Obama towards achieving his goal of closing the prison, American officials say.
The state department has thanked Oman for taking the prisoners.
The country is temporarily hosting them until a permanent placement is found.
Officials in Oman say they arrived on Thursday and are likely to remain there until conditions improve in war-hit Yemen.
Will Guantanamo finally close?
Life after Guantanamo
This is the largest single transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo, correspondents say, and is a fillip for the president who began his first term of office in 2009 by promising speedily to close the centre.
The prison has been repeatedly criticised by human rights activists.
All of those most recently transferred were held for more than 10 years without charge or trial.
They are part of a series of releases promised by the president for this January as his administration makes plans for the permanent closure of the facility.
Other detainees were also moved earlier this month including two Yemenis who were sent to Ghana.
The prisoners' rights campaign group Reprieve says that among those released on Thursday is Samir Naji Moqbel who was held for 14 years without charge in Guantanamo.
He was taken to the outdoor pens of Camp X-Ray and subjected to severe physical abuse, Reprieve says, before being cleared for release in 2009 with the unanimous agreement of six US federal agencies, including the CIA and the FBI.
In 2013, Mr Moqbel wrote about a mass hunger strike at the camp in the New York Times.
Reprieve says that many other hunger-strikers in Guantanamo Bay have been violently force fed.
Mr Obama has faced opposition over the releases in the Republican-led Congress, where lawmakers especially object to the transfer of prisoners to other facilities within the US.
The Gulf Arab country of Oman is a close US ally and has previously accepted other groups of Guantanamo prisoners.
It is estimated that there are now about 93 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo - the lowest total since 2002 when President George W Bush opened the facility to accommodate foreign terrorism suspects after the 9/11 attacks on the US.
A total of 780 men have been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, the vast majority without charge or criminal trial. | The population of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has dropped below 100 for the first time since it opened in 2002, with the transfer of 10 Yemeni men to Oman. | 35316793 |
In the general election two years ago, 138 people put their name forward.
Ulster Unionist MLA Alan Chambers has withdrawn his candidacy in North Down, where the party said the independent unionist Lady Sylvia Hermon enjoyed overwhelming support.
Three of the main parties - Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance - are contesting Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies.
Of the 109 candidates, 36 are women - that amounts to 33%, up on 2015 when just under a quarter of the candidates were women.
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The Democratic Unionist Party is standing aside in Fermanagh South Tyrone but is fighting the remaining 17 seats.
In addition to North Down, the Ulster Unionist Party is not contesting North Belfast, West Belfast or Foyle.
The Green Party and the Conservative Party are both fighting seven seats, People Before Profit two seats, and the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), just one.
The UK Independence Party, which put up 10 candidates in 2015, is not contesting any Northern Ireland seats this time around.
The number of TUV and Conservative candidates is also sharply reduced - the TUV fielded 10 candidates in 2015, and the Conservatives, 16.
One candidate is standing for the Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance, formed by ex-members of the Cannabis is Safer Than Alcohol party and sharing the same initials.
Four independents are in the race including Lady Hermon.
Nominations closed on Thursday 11 May. | A total of 109 candidates are standing for election in Northern Ireland in the Westminster poll on 8 June. | 39890309 |
Schmeichel, 29, injured his right hand during the first half but managed to finish the 0-0 draw.
Leicester are the first team in Champions League history to keep clean sheets in their first four games.
Schmeichel will see a specialist when he returns to England with the rest of the squad on Thursday.
The Denmark international is "set for a spell on the sidelines", according to a Leicester statement.
Schmeichel signed a new five-year deal with Premier League champions Leicester in August
He played in all 38 of the Foxes' league fixtures last season, keeping 15 clean sheets.
He has made more than 200 appearances for Leicester since arriving from Leeds United in 2011, having started his career at Manchester City.
Ron-Robert Zieler is Leicester's back-up keeper.
The 27-year-old, who was part of the Germany squad that won the 2014 World Cup, joined the Foxes in June from Hannover 96 for an undisclosed fee.
Zieler's last Leicester start ended in a 4-1 defeat at Manchester United on 24 September.
He is set to start Sunday's Premier League home game with West Brom. | Leicester City keeper Kasper Schmeichel faces a lengthy spell out after fracturing his hand in Wednesday's Champions League game at FC Copenhagen. | 37861442 |
Rovers' 1-0 win at the league leaders moved them out of the drop zone.
"I've said consistently that we will not be in that area of the league over the course of the season," Coyle said.
"Newcastle will go on and win the league, I have no doubt. But we showed that we can play a bit ourselves."
Victory, sealed by Charlie Mulgrew's first goal for Blackburn, ended Newcastle's club-record equalling nine-match winning run and allowed Brighton to move to within two points of Rafael Benitez's side at the top of the Championship.
It was the first time since Coyle took charge in June that Blackburn have managed to win back-to-back games, after beating Brentford 3-2 at home a week earlier.
Rovers have collected 11 points from a possible 21 since 15 October, which is three more than they managed to pick up in the 11 matches that preceded that.
"People look at the league table and don't see the big picture," Coyle told BBC Radio Lancashire after his side moved up two places to 20th in the table.
"I know exactly the building blocks that have been put in place to take this club forward.
"The important thing now is to build momentum. That is what I said after beating Brentford, there is no point having a great performance then come to Newcastle and not perform to our maximum.
"People will think I'm a little bit crazy, but we certainly believed that we could come here and win." | Boss Owen Coyle says Blackburn proved they will not face a relegation battle this season after beating a Newcastle side that he is convinced will earn an immediate return to the Premier League. | 38120080 |
Penny, 21, has made 18 first-team appearances, and scored one try in six league games during the last campaign.
Connon, 19, is an Ireland Under-20 international, while Marshall, 18, is an academy graduate.
"We have always stated our intention of promoting top local prospects," director of rugby Dean Richards said.
"Tom very much typifies that, he is a quality player who has already stepped onto the senior stage and we look forward to having him in our plans for a number of years to come.
"We have known for a while here what a talent Brett is, but he has really made his mark now with Ireland Under-20s.
"Dan is an attacking threat with pace to burn and great footwork. He is in the best place for his development given the fantastic work of our academy here." | Centre Tom Penny, full-back Brett Connon and wing Dan Marshall have signed new undisclosed contracts with Premiership side Newcastle Falcons. | 36325138 |
Kyowa Kirin International, formerly ProStrakan, is based in Galashiels.
KRN23 is the first of a pipeline of drugs from KKI's parent company, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, to reach the stage of seeking European approval.
The company said it was part of efforts to "contribute to the health and wellbeing of people around the world".
Rickets is caused by vitamin D deficiency resulting in weakened bones. | A Borders-based pharmaceuticals firm is seeking authorisation for a new drug for the treatment of the most common heritable form of rickets. | 38517807 |
Details of the cost, sign posting, and enforcement are due in a report in March.
Work on the scheme is due to begin later this year with it being completed over three financial years.
The plans were approved by members of the council's transport and environment committee.
About 25 miles of Edinburgh's roads, from Arthur's Seat to Blackford Hill, are already covered by a 20mph limit.
The scheme is designed to improve safety and encourage more people to walk or cycle.
Environmental campaigners welcomed the move but some cautioned that more needs to be done to tackle air pollution and encourage active transport.
The local authority said the new arrangements will come into effect on a phased basis from the end of the year onwards, provided the necessary speed limit orders are secured.
Limits of 30mph and 40mph will be maintained on key arterial routes in the city.
Transport convener Lesley Hinds said: "I'm pleased that committee has today given the green light for our 20mph plans.
"This initiative has been under development for nearly three years and we've carried out a huge amount of public consultation.
"The most recent and most extensive consultation last autumn found that 60% of respondents were supportive or strongly supportive of our proposals."
Friends of the Earth Scotland's air pollution campaigner Emilia Hanna said: "We welcome Edinburgh Council's decision to introduce 20mph zones across the city.
"20mph zones will create safer, more attractive and more enjoyable streets for everyone. They will encourage more cycling and walking and help to fight dangerous air pollution.
"One of the biggest barriers to walking and cycling is fear of speeding traffic, so 20mph zones, if accompanied by greater investment in active travel infrastructure, could transform how people move around the city."
Figures released by the charity at the weekend showed that some streets in Edinburgh are still breaking Scottish and European standards for clean air.
It said 20mph zones can lead to traffic flowing more smoothly, cutting down on the acceleration and braking which causes emissions.
Ms Hanna added: "Traffic fumes in urban areas are the main source of air pollution.
"Breathing in polluted air increases your chances of having a heart attack, a stroke or developing cancer.
"20mph zones are just one of several measures which the council needs to introduce to tackle air pollution."
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: "As well as helping to cut polluting emissions from cars, this initiative could encourage more people to consider cycling and walking in the city.
"Edinburgh Council are to be congratulated for this forward-thinking move and we'd encourage other city councils to follow their lead."
Stuart Hay, head of campaign charity Living Streets Scotland, said: "Lower speeds on shopping and residential streets means a safer and more pleasant city for everyone with higher levels of walking and lower levels of accidents.
"Living Streets looks forward to working with the council to promote the scheme and its benefits as it is rolled out." | Councillors have passed plans for more than 80% of Edinburgh's roads, including the whole of the city centre, to have a 20mph (32kmph) speed limit. | 30798323 |
The proposal was one of the recommendations in a 10-point plan outlined by the SNP MSP.
Mr Neil said the plan for a tax specifically for the NHS was "deeply controversial but cannot be ignored".
The Scottish government said it had no plans to introduce a "hypothecated health tax."
Mr Neil said powers should be transferred to Holyrood to allow the Scottish government to introduce the levy.
The Scottish Conservatives said Mr Neil had "gone rogue" with a strategy that did not appear to have the backing of the SNP or the Scottish government.
Mr Neil served as health secretary from 2012 to 2014 before being moved in a cabinet reshuffle to the post of social justice secretary.
He resigned from government in May 2016 and now sits as a backbencher for Airdrie and Shotts.
The MSP said his discussion paper concentrated on the problems of health inequalities, preventing avoidable disease, the cost of new medicines and staffing.
He said: "The longer-term NHS issues cannot be swept under the carpet.
"The whole British system is in stress and while efficiency savings are needed, they will not be enough, which is why I float the idea of a separate health tax - deeply controversial but cannot be ignored."
The NHS already accounts for 40% of the Scottish government's current budget.
Mr Neil said this proportion could not be significantly increased without having an impact on other areas.
The Scottish Tories said it was another example of Mr Neil contradicting both SNP and Scottish government policy, after he admitted voting for the UK to leave the EU last year.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: "It appears Alex Neil is so dissatisfied with his own government's running of the NHS he deems it necessary to go his own way on the matter.
"SNP HQ will be furious that he is trying to sideline the health secretary on this one.
"People will wonder why on earth an SNP backbencher is taking it upon himself to do this."
Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: "This is a humiliating intervention for the SNP government. It is clear that Alex Neil does not have full confidence in SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison.
"The mismanagement of the NHS by the SNP is now accepted by one of its own backbenchers and a former health secretary."
Other recommendations include a "long-term, detailed strategy and business plan", covering the period to 2030, measures to prevent ill-health and improved earlier detection of diseases such as cancer.
Mr Neil also advocated increasing the supply of new doctors and nurses by a "substantial number" as well as "urgent measures to address staff shortages in the NHS and social care".
A Scottish government spokesman said: "As this paper notes, NHS Scotland already performs favourably with similar services in the rest of the UK and other European countries.
"We are investing record amounts in the health service, and staff numbers are also at an all-time high.
"However, we want to do even more, and through our Health and Social Care Delivery plan we are already taking forward many of the suggestions in this paper - including a heavy focus on preventative actions such as minimum unit pricing for alcohol and on tackling wider health and social inequalities.
"Scotland is at the forefront of ‎moves to improve the delivery and efficiency and effectiveness of services, including the integration of health and social care.
"We will do everything required to ensure Scotland continues to have world-class health care, and will consider all positive suggestions. However, we have no plans to introduce a hypothecated health tax."
The plan was published by the Options for Scotland think tank run by former SNP leader Gordon Wilson. | Former health secretary Alex Neil has said a separate "health tax" should be introduced in Scotland to pay for essential improvements to the NHS. | 39479388 |
It was less crowd-surfing than crowd-swimming, as the singer pulled herself slowly over the heads of her fans.
"Well, Beyonce never did that," joked one audience member as Perry emerged from the fray.
The stage dive came as the star performed Roar at the end of 60 colourful minutes of pure grade pop, including the hits Firework and ET.
The star brought something that the Pyramid Stage never usually sees - choreography - as well as glitter cannons, silver-clad backing singers, and dancers dressed as giant eyeballs.
"This makes me feel cool," remarked Perry as she observed the crowd. "I don't really ever feel cool."
"There's so many people here," she added. "I didn't know if you still liked me."
The comment was presumably in reference to the relatively poor performance of her new album, Witness, which entered the charts at number six last week.
In truth, most of the audience had come for the earlier hits - I Kissed A Girl, Teenage Dream, California Girls - which prompted mass sing-alongs from the younger elements of Glastonbury's audience.
The newer material was less enthusiastically received; although a spirited rendition of Chained To The Rhythm, which saw Perry trade impromptu dance moves with a security guard, proved to be a lot of fun.
Earlier in the day, a beaming Craig David drew Glastonbury's biggest crowd so far; cementing his improbable comeback from pop purgatory.
Jumping between DJ turntables and the front of the stage, he tore through a set that combined his greatest hits and a raft of R&B classics, including No Scrubs and One Dance.
Clearly enjoying himself, the star rewrote his lyrics on the fly, at one point singing: "I wanna be yours, Glastonbury, and spend the whole night with you".
As the set drew to a close, he thanked fans who had "stuck with me since 1999", when he scored his first hit, as a guest vocalist on The Artful Dodger's Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta).
David's crowd was undoubtedly bolstered by Jeremy Corbyn's supporters, who arrived to see the Labour leader give a speech and introduce the next act, US hip-hop group Run The Jewels.
Corbyn delivered the political equivalent of a greatest hits set, running through some of his key policies on immigration,. social equality and arts education; as well as quoting Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem The Masque of Anarchy.
Elsewhere on Friday morning, Glastonbury hosted sets by Jools Holland, The Bootleg Beatles and up-and-coming acts The Amazons, Sigrid, Cabbage and Nadia Rose.
Liam Gallagher, appearing on The Other Stage, sang the Oasis hit Don't Look Back In Anger for the first time ever (his brother Noel sang the original), dedicating the song to victims of Manchester and London attacks, and the Grenfell Tower fire.
US singer Maggie Rogers, who shot to fame after a video of Pharrell Williams listening to her music went viral, drew a large lunchtime crowd to the John Peel stage.
As well as the song that impressed Pharrell, Alaska, she twirled and pirouetted her way through the current single On/Off and a wonky cover of the Spice Girls' Wannabe, with indie singer Declan McKenna.
"That one was just for me," she joked. But the singer was clearly moved by the turnout and response to her set, wiping away tears as she thanked the audience.
Saturday night's headliners are Foo Fighters, who take to the Pyramid Stage two years after they were initially booked.
Frontman Dave Grohl had to pull out of the show after falling off stage and breaking his leg, two weeks before the festival.
Tonight's performance will be "a big make-up date," he told Radio 1 this week.
"We get to headline Glastonbury but also I get to do it standing on two legs. It means a lot to me, personally. It's part of my recovery in a weird way."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Pop star Katy Perry ended her debut performance at Glastonbury by diving head first into the audience. | 40394083 |
The actress - who left the show in 2010 - said she's "thrilled" to be playing a part in the anniversary celebrations.
The week of special shows in February will include a 30-minute live episode.
Viewers last saw Peggy make a surprise appearance in September to voice her disagreement with son Phil's impending marriage to Sharon Rickman.
Producers said the show could not celebrate the anniversary without one of the soap's "most iconic characters" and "legendary landladies".
"I am absolutely thrilled that Peggy has been included in the celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of EastEnders," said Windsor.
"What an incredible achievement for all the production, cast and crew, past and present."
Windsor became one of the show's most popular characters after joining EastEnders as the Queen Vic landlady in 1994.
"Barbara and Peggy are intrinsically linked with EastEnders and when we planned our explosive anniversary episodes, Peggy was the first name on our list of hoped-for returns," said executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins.
"Barbara has not only created one of EastEnders' most iconic characters but she's also hugely loved and missed by everyone here.
"We couldn't celebrate 30 years of EastEnders without Barbara Windsor."
Since leaving EastEnders Windsor has appeared in pantomime and presented several shows for BBC Radio 2.
The special "live week" kicks off on Monday 16 February, with a live element being integrated into every episode as well as a 30-minute fully live episode.
EastEnders first aired on BBC One on 19 February 1985. | Barbara Windsor will return to EastEnders to reprise the role of Peggy Mitchell for one of the soap's 30th anniversary specials next year. | 30377626 |
The station has co-ordinated search and rescue services between Exmouth and Dodman Point, Cornwall, since 1984.
The station, along with Solent in Hampshire and Portland in Dorset, is being replaced by a national rescue centre in Segensworth, Hampshire.
Twenty six staff and managers have lost their jobs in Brixham and the building will be sold.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is closing a total of five coastguard stations.
The new national rescue centre will be run alongside nine other 24-hour centres around the UK.
The changes have been criticised by some workers, users and politicians but the MCA said people "won't notice any difference to the way search and rescue missions are responded to".
Peter Davies, who was manager at Brixham coastguard station and has taken up a new role at Segensworth, said: "This new state-of-the-art network will ensure that we are better prepared and will improve how we manage the workload.
"I'd also like to thank the staff at Brixham coastguard, who have served the community with the utmost professionalism over many years.
"I am pleased that some are staying with the coastguard and have relocated to roles elsewhere." | The coastguard station at Brixham in Devon has closed as part of a shake-up of rescue services. | 29841898 |
In an eagerly-awaited showdown between two unbeaten fighters, Smith floored Fielding within the first 30 seconds.
When Fielding was felled for a third time, referee Phil Edwards stopped the bout at the Echo Arena.
Smith is the fourth brother from his family to hold a British title, an unprecedented feat.
The 25-year-old, who had won 12 of his previous 17 bouts by knockout, stunned his opponent with a flurry of punishing body shots.
Fielding, 28, had 21 victories under his belt going into the fight and briefly rallied before being caught again and sent to the canvas.
Smith swarmed all over his former amateur team-mate who was unable to hold out for the bell.
The win could now move Smith into the mandatory challenger position for the WBC super-middleweight title held by Sweden's Badou Jack - who recently claimed a unanimous decision against Briton George Groves. | Callum Smith stopped Rocky Fielding in the first round to claim the vacant British super-middleweight title in the all-Liverpool contest in the city. | 34758799 |
Eighteen-year-old Yusuf Sonko was found on Tagus Street, Toxteth, at about 20:30 BST on Friday and later pronounced dead at hospital.
A post-mortem examination found he died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Merseyside Police said he was the victim of a "targeted attack".
The arrested boy remains in custody for questioning. | A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder over the shooting of a man in Liverpool. | 40162413 |
But a leading kangaroo expert says it was not grief that was behind the roo's attempt to revive its companion on a Queensland property, but sex.
Dr Mark Eldridge said the male kangaroo was trying to lift the female in order to mate with her.
He said there was no clear evidence that kangaroos did mourn their dead.
Dr Eldridge, the Australian Museum's principal research scientist said: "The evidence is here sticking out from behind the scrotum."
The kangaroo's wet forearms show that it was licking itself to avoid overheating, he said.
"Probably the whole situation is perplexing and frustrating for him, and he is getting… hot and bothered," he told the BBC.
Kangaroos do not pair bond - males establish a hierarchy among themselves through fighting and the strongest will have first access to female mates.
Dr Eldridge said the joey in the picture probably did not realise that its mother was dead and may still have been suckling.
But he said it was difficult to know whether the joey would feel grief over its mother's death.
"There is a strong bond between the mother and the young but it's hard to attribute emotions to those sorts of situations," he said.
"There does seem to be much clearer evidence with more intelligent mammals such as apes and elephants, but there is not clear evidence with kangaroos.
"These are not little people, they are kangaroos."
Evan Switzer, the amateur photographer who took the photo, said Dr Eldridge's explanation "answered a few questions".
"I was wondering why the arms were so dark and wet," said Mr Switzer, who found the kangaroos while walking his dog.
Mr Switzer said the male kangaroo repeatedly tried to lift his mate with his forearms, but she fell to the ground.
The images captivated Australian media and were widely shared across social media.
Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper published them on its front page on Thursday, under the headline "Tender-roo".
Other media reports referred to the male "looking solemnly ahead, overcome with sadness". | Pictures of a male kangaroo cradling its dying mate in apparent mourning were widely shared this week and labelled "heartbreaking" in the media. | 35308161 |
Violence broke out as the protesters, mainly college students, tried to break through police barricades to march on the presidential palace.
The attack, which has left the 23-year-old woman in a critical condition in hospital, has caused widespread anger.
Authorities on Sunday banned marches in central Delhi, reports say.
The government has tried to halt the rising anger over the attack by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.
They include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.
But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death penalty.
Some carried placards reading "Hang the Rapists" and "Save women. Save India" as they marched on Saturday.
At least six people have been arrested during clashes with police.
Junior home minister RPN Singh appealed for calm after the violence broke out. "This is not a way to protest," he told India's CNN-IBN television. "Trying to storm buildings and breaking barricades is not a way to start a dialogue."
Authorities on Sunday banned protesters from marching near the parliament and President Pranab Mukherjee's residence in central Delhi, the AFP news agency reports.
Police have cordoned off all the routes leading to landmark government buildings, it says.
The woman and her friend had been to watch a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area intending to travel to Dwarka in south-west Delhi.
Police said she was raped for nearly an hour, both she and her companion were beaten with iron rods and thrown out of the moving bus into a Delhi street.
Doctors said on Saturday that the woman remained in a critical but stable condition, but had been removed from a ventilator.
"She is doing much better than yesterday," said BD Athani, superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital.
The attack has prompted a week of candle-lit vigils and demonstrations amid some soul-searching about the safety of women in Delhi and other parts of the country.
Police figures show that, in Delhi, a rape is reported on average every 18 hours and some form of sexual attack every 14 hours.
Indian novelist Arundhati Roy said rape is seen as a "matter of feudal entitlement" in many parts of the country, and the reason this case had come to light is because the woman victim belongs to the affluent middle class.
She said attitudes towards women need to change in India, because a change in the law only will protect middle class women, but "the violence against other women who are not entitled will continue". | Indian police have used tear gas and water cannons to keep back thousands of protesters marching in Delhi over the gang rape of a young woman. | 20826070 |
Several members of Sport Wednesbury staff running activities in the West Midlands town did not have appropriate checks in place, Sandwell Council said.
It said it had now arranged for its youth service to run activities.
Sport Wednesbury said every staff member used was currently in possession of an enhanced DBS check.
The Disclosure and Barring Service replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) scheme in England and Wales.
Sport Wednesbury had won the contract to run classes for a second time this year.
But council cabinet member for leisure services Richard Marshall said: "It came to the council's attention that several members of Sport Wednesbury staff running summer holiday activities at Brunswick Park did not have the appropriate DBS checks in place.
"These are a safeguarding requirement when working with children and should have been arranged by the organisation running the activities in line with their own child protection policy."
Mr Marshall said the council had to make sure "all safeguarding rules are met" and it acted as soon as it "became aware of this issue".
He said: "We have now made arrangements for the council's youth service to continue running the activities for children to enjoy for the rest of the summer holidays."
Asked how many days staff without checks had worked and how many children they had come into contact with, the head of Sport Wednesbury, Richard McVittie, said he could not answer because he was in discussions with the council.
Mr McVittie said in his view it was not clear that any activity requiring a person with a DBS check had been carried out by someone without one.
He said every member of staff used, paid or unpaid, was currently in possession of an enhanced DBS check. | A contract to provide summer activities for children has been cancelled as staff did not have the proper criminal records checks, a council has said. | 37188362 |
Colin Horner, 35, was shot in front of his three-year-old son at Balloo Link, Bangor, on Sunday afternoon.
Police described his murder as "brutal, senseless and horrendous".
They have previously said that they are investigating a possible link between Mr Horner's murder and a loyalist paramilitary feud. | A 28-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a man in a supermarket car park. | 40101911 |
24 December 2016 Last updated at 11:33 GMT
Find out what he thought about the Christmas special, whether he enjoys filming at different locations, what the next series is going to be like and which Doctor Who creature he thinks is the scariest! | Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi has taken time out from his time travels to answer some of your questions. | 38346287 |
Tim Abram, professor of nuclear fuel technology at the University of Manchester, made the comments at a briefing to discuss the fate of the UK's plutonium.
The Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria has around 140 tonnes of the material.
It is now the largest stockpile of civil plutonium in the world.
The government is yet to decide on its fate, although the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) stated in 2013 that rather than being disposed of, its preference was that it should be reused as fuel.
This is not, however, a straightforward process; it requires new nuclear reactors to be built that are capable of using plutonium as fuel.
Plutonium is extracted from reprocessed nuclear waste and was originally stockpiled as a source of fuel for a new breed of experimental nuclear reactors.
But in the 1990s, the government-backed programme of research to develop these new reactors was cancelled, on both cost and safety grounds.
This left Sellafield storing plutonium with no long-term plan for it.
It also, somewhat ironically, put new nuclear reactor technology back on the government's list of priorities.
DECC tasked the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) with assessing the technical, safety and economic pros and cons of the three "credible" types of new generation nuclear reactor that would allow the plutonium to be used as fuel.
The NDA said it was still "in the middle" of this complicated consultation.
"A decision is expected to be made by ministers on how to proceed during 2015/16," the authority said in a statement.
"However, only when the Government is confident that its preferred option could be implemented safely and securely, in a way that is affordable, deliverable and offers value for money, will it be in a position to proceed."
Professor Abram added: "Having [a store of] separated plutonium without a declared end use represents a poor international example.
"We should at least keep the process moving forward and not give the impression to the world that we have stalled." | The UK is sitting on a plutonium stockpile that represents "thousands of years" of energy in the bank, according to a leading nuclear scientist. | 34723882 |
He was beaten in the final by Sweden's Antonio Lindbäck, but Woffinden closed the gap on Greg Hancock at the top of the World Championship standings.
Scunthorpe-born Woffinden is now on 63 points, just three behind American Hancock with six rounds to go.
Bartek Zmarzlik came third in the final in Cardiff with Hancock fourth. | British rider Tai Woffinden finished second at the British FIM Speedway Grand Prix in front of 45,000 fans at Cardiff's Principality Stadium. | 36755850 |
Late summer in Berlin, flat barges drift along the river Spree, ferrying the last of the season's tourists. A guide gestures up at the chancellery: "Angela Merkel works here," and smartphones are pointed, poses struck.
Shielding their eyes against the sunshine, the visitors look up at the bright white stone and glass building in front of them. Perhaps a few of them notice that the ivy that spreads across its outer walls is just starting to turn red.
Angela Merkel is in for a turbulent autumn.
Her approval ratings are at a five-year low, and she is smarting from a humiliating regional election result, in which her conservatives (CDU) were beaten into third place by the surging anti-Muslim party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Germany is on edge - horrified in part by the rise of the right and unnerved by the arrival of well over a million people seeking asylum and what appear to have been two attacks by asylum seekers inspired by the so-called Islamic State.
And as far as many, including some of her own party, are concerned, Mrs Merkel and her refugee policy are solely to blame.
"Merkel's empire crumbles!" said one newspaper headline.
The leader of her sister party in Bavaria, the CSU, has - not for the first time - issued a public ultimatum.
Horst Seehofer, long a thorn in Mrs Merkel's side, is demanding she produce a clear strategy on tax, domestic security, pensions and immigration within weeks.
He has his eye on next year's general election. So, of course, do the opposition.
Ralf Stegner, the deputy leader of Mrs Merkel's junior coalition partner the SPD, says she is "past her zenith", and casts doubt on whether she should stand for another term. Mrs Merkel has, so far, refused to announce her candidacy.
One senior conservative told me sadly Mrs Merkel now personified the refugee crisis.
She may, he acknowledged, never recover politically. There were doubts within the party, he said, as to whether she should stand for another term.
And it is tempting to wonder, in the words of one newspaper headline, "how much more can Merkel take?"
A fortnight ago, I watched as she swept through the marketplace in Ribnitz-Damgarten - part of her home constituency - campaigning ahead of the recent regional election.
She was greeted warmly - smiles from the woman selling cheese, flowers from a well-wisher as she headed for a makeshift stage, and applause after she joined in with the regional anthem.
Bear in mind her ratings have tumbled, but at 45%, they are still the envy of other European leaders.
Two women stopped to talk, baskets in hand.
"We've always liked her," they said.
"She is a fighter, and we hope she will manage this situation too."
But Wolfgang, walking his dog past a stall stacked neatly with rows of shoes, was worried.
"I don't think she can make it," he said, "unless she gets support from someone else - from Europe, maybe from another continent.
"We also need Russia to help us fight the source of the problem, otherwise it is looking bad.
"She can't do it alone."
Earlier this week, a subdued Mrs Merkel acknowledged she needed to regain public trust.
It is no longer enough to point out that the German economy is good, unemployment is low and that refugee numbers have fallen significantly (about 300,000 people have arrived this year compared with well over a million in 2015).
Town and village leaders have told me they can just about manage the current numbers.
Nevertheless, Mrs Merkel is fighting the perception Germany is out of control, and that by - in effect - opening the country's doors last summer, she has put Germans at risk.
Take Gerhard Koch, one of dozens of AfD supporters who gathered recently for a hustings in the town.
"Mrs Merkel," he said, "has betrayed her party."
"We had high hopes in her.
"But she took positions which the CDU used to fight against. She has betrayed the German people.
"If I think about my children and grandchildren - about their future - what she did has incalculable consequences for our fatherland."
And, in AfD, all of Germany's established parties have a powerful adversary.
The relatively new, chaotically led AfD speaks a strident language, which is proving attractive to those voters concerned about integration and domestic security.
At the hustings Konrad Adam, a former journalist and one of the party's founders, received applause as he declared Islam had no place in Germany.
"Many of these new arrivals have little or no education at all," he said.
"They are culturally behind us.
"They can't or don't want to integrate, and promote their own ideas about how to treat women.
"But Mrs Merkel thinks with a few lessons in German and sex education, we can make up for it quickly."
Mrs Merkel herself acknowledged the refugee crisis would change Germany.
Arguably, the most seismic shift may yet be at political level.
AfD is almost certain to gain seats in the national parliament next year, complicating future coalition building.
And there are those here who believe this is the beginning of the end for Mrs Merkel.
One political pundit has described this time as the "Kanzlerdaemmerung" - the chancellor's twilight.
That may be premature.
There is, after all, no serious contender to replace her.
But Angela Merkel needs to act swiftly.
She has said: "Wir schaffen es [We can do it]," often enough.
Now, she needs to convince her country that she can and - more importantly - explain how. | After an embarrassing regional electoral defeat, and with her approval ratings slumping, is Angela Merkel's political capital running out? | 37284994 |
Despite leading 12-3 after early Stacey Ili and Craig Ronaldson tries, Connacht trailed 13-12 at the break with Derick Minnie crossing for Zebre.
Tommaso Boni stetched their lead and despite Minnie's sin-binning, Edoardo Padovani added a third Zebre try.
Josh Rowland scored a late try on his first Connacht start but Zebre held on for only a second win of the season.
This was a disappointing result for the outgoing Pro12 champions.
The pivotal moment came after 20 minutes when Andrew Browne was held up over the line when Connacht, already leading by nine points, were closing in on a third try.
Momentum swung Zebre's way and managed to stay in front throughout the second half.
The game between the sides last September was abandoned at half-time because of torrential rain in Parma, when Zebre were leading 22-10.
Zebre: D Berryman; K Van Zyl, G Bisegni, T Boni, L Greeff; C Canna, M Violi, F Ruzza, D Minnie, J Furno, G Biagi (capt), G Koegelenberg, D Chistolini, T D'Apice, A Lovotti.
Replacements: S Tobias, A De Marchi, P Ceccarelli, V Bernabo, O Fabiani, G Palazzani, M Pratichetti, E Padovani.
Connacht: J Rowland, D Poolman, T Farrell, B Aki, S Ili, J Carty, J Cooney, D Buckley, T McCartney, F Bealham, Q Roux, A Browne, S O'Brien, E McKeon, J Muldoon (capt).
Replacements: D Heffernan, I Soroka, D Robertson-McCoy, J Cannon, E Masterson, C Blade, C Ronaldson, E Griffin. | Connacht were beaten by Pro12 bottom club Zebre in Saturday's rearranged league game in Parma. | 39456390 |
Donna Croft was helping out at the kennels near Bristol when she was mauled by a mastiff and American pit bull.
Ms Croft, who was badly injured in the attack, pursued a civil claim against the owner of both dogs after police said they could not seize the animals.
Bristol Magistrates' Court has now ordered the pit bull to be put down.
The two dogs were boarding at Barromar Kennels in Cadbury Heath in August.
Ms Croft was attacked when she went into their cage to change the water.
She was in hospital for several weeks and had a number of skin grafts on the wounds to her legs: "My legs are not very nice...the scarring I have to look at every day."
Following the attack both dogs went back to live with their owner until the court case.
After the civil case the owner was made to surrender the pit bull, which was taken into secure kennels.
Ms Croft said she had asked the court to make an order for both dogs to be destroyed but said magistrates only agreed to the pit bull because it was on the banned dogs list.
Ms Croft said she was now terrified of dogs.
"I've always loved dogs and now I fear them," she said.
"[With] any dog I go into flight mode whenever I see them.
"It's going to be a long process of therapy to face up to what happened and try to understand it."
Banned dogs and the law
In the UK, it is against the law to own certain types of dog.
These are the:
Whether a dog is a banned type depends on what it looks like, rather than its breed or name.
However, if a dog is banned but the court thinks it is not a danger to the public, it may put it on the Index of Exempted Dogs as long as the dog is neutered, microchipped, kept on a lead and muzzled at all times when in public and kept in a secure place so it cannot escape.
Source: gov.uk
The owner of the pit bull has the end of February to appeal against the ruling.
The second dog can remain with the owner under strict controls.
The BBC has approached Barromar Boarding Kennels and the dog owner but neither wanted to comment on the case.
In a statement South Gloucestershire Council said: "We have completed our investigation and the file has been handed to legal who are in the process of determining the next steps." | A woman who was attacked by two dogs at a boarding kennels has won her case to have one of the animals destroyed. | 38853864 |
Instead of conducting three separate assessments over several weeks, it will now combine the process into one day.
The firm says the change will mean applicants will find out if they have got a job within two working days.
It made the change following research suggesting millennials were frustrated by lengthy recruitment processes.
KPMG said its survey- conducted among 400 of this summer's new graduates applying for a graduate job at a UK firm - found that more than one-third were annoyed about how long they had to wait to hear the outcome of an interview, and how long the recruitment process took.
But the biggest complaint, made by more than half of those surveyed, was about not receiving any feedback if they were unsuccessful.
KPMG chairman Simon Collins said the company felt it had to make the changes to make sure it could compete with smaller start-up or tech firms, which often offer a faster recruitment process, to secure the best graduate employees.
"We are competing with the full gamut for the best brains and talent leaving university: getting our graduate recruitment right is crucial to the long-term success of our business," he said.
The accountancy firm's move comes in the wake of several other big firms shaking up their graduate recruitment process.
In June, Goldman Sachs said it had scrapped face-to-face interviews on university campuses in a bid to attract a wider range of talent.
The US investment bank has now switched to video interviews with first-round undergraduate candidates, in a move aimed at helping it to attract graduate recruits from a broader range of disciplines.
And last year, professional services firm professional services firm Deloitte said it had changed its selection process so recruiters did not know where candidates had gone to school or university.
It said the move was aimed at preventing "unconscious bias" and recruiting a more diverse "talent pool".
Millennials will make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025.
Several surveys suggest that these younger workers are not motivated by the same factors as previous generations, such as a job for life, but instead value a good work-life balance and a sense of purpose beyond financial success. | Accountancy firm KPMG has changed its graduate recruitment process to suit people born between 1980 and 2000 - the so-called millennial generation. | 36937856 |
Ross, a former head of Film 4, joined the theatre alongside its new artistic director Rufus Norris last year.
Announcing her resignation, she said only one person should be in charge.
"It has become clear to me that the new leadership structure, with a separate role of chief executive, is not right for the NT at this time," she said.
Ross started her career as a literary agent before moving into television, becoming head of Drama at Channel 4 in 2000.
There, she commissioned shows including Shameless, White Teeth, Teachers and Sex Traffic; and, after moving to the film unit, oversaw an annual budget of £10m.
Among the British films she developed were Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Shame and Four Lions.
She received a CBE in 2010 for her services to broadcasting and won a Bafta for outstanding contribution in 2013.
After being appointed to the board of the National Theatre in 2011, Ross officially started her new role last November, eight months after her nomination was announced.
Ross and Norris were seen as a "dream team", taking over from Nicholas Hytner and his executive director Nick Starr- the duo behind hits such as The History Boys, One Man, Two Guv'nors and War Horse.
But there appears to be no bad blood over her departure.
A spokesperson for the National Theatre said: "There is no difference of opinion, it is purely down to structure. The relationship is very strong."
Ross added: "I will, with great pleasure, continue to work with Rufus and Lisa [Burger, executive director] as a consultant, ensuring the smooth delivery of their first season and planning for the next one.
"It is an institution that I love and for which it has been a great privilege to work."
Norris said: "Tessa's role in the planning of my first year and beyond at the NT has been invaluable and immense.
"I'm sad that our partnership is ending prematurely but am grateful for everything she has done here, and happy that we'll work together on a consultancy basis.
John Makinson, chairman of the National, said it was with "great regret that we are saying goodbye to Tessa in this role", adding: "We recognise and salute the integrity of her decision."
When the National Theatre announced last year that it had hired Tessa Ross as its new chief executive, it was considered by many to be quite a coup.
The National billed her as one part of its new dream executive team, along with the recently appointed artistic director Rufus Norris. They were taking over the theatre from the extremely successful Two Nicks - Hytner and Starr - whose partnership was different: Hytner was the boss.
That worked. Two creative producers sharing centre stage has not. The National will revert to the old system, and Rufus Norris will be the sole person in charge. | Tessa Ross has unexpectedly stepped down as chief executive of the National Theatre, just six months into the job. | 32347617 |
The company also said revenue rose to $8.42bn, a 17% increase from the same period last year.
Fox was helped by the success of the films X-Men: Days of Future Past, Rio 2, and The Fault in Our Stars.
Shares in the company rose 2% in after-hours trading.
"As we close the fiscal year, I continue to have confidence in our ability to execute our growth plan and drive value for our shareholders," said Mr Murdoch in a statement accompanying earnings. | Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox reported profits of $999m (£624m) in the third quarter, buoyed by strong earnings in its film and cable television units. | 29903671 |
In future, such reviews can only come via the online store's own program, Amazon Vine.
A recent study suggested that those who received free or discounted items were much more likely to write a favourable review.
Having product reviews that shoppers can trust has been a huge factor in Amazon's success.
The online retail giant has always prohibited compensation for reviews but had made an exception for reviewers that disclosed that fact.
"These so-called 'incentivised reviews' make up only a tiny fraction of the tens of millions of reviews on Amazon, and when done carefully, they can be helpful to customers by providing a foundation of reviews for new or less well-known products," Chee Chew, vice-president of customer experience at Amazon, wrote in a blog post.
But now it has decided to ban them completely - other than through Amazon's own program, Vine.
"Creating, modifying, or posting content in exchange for compensation of any kind (including free or discounted products) is not allowed," read the updated community guidelines.
A recent study of more than seven million reviews by analysis site ReviewMeta found that the average rating for products with incentivised reviews was higher than those for non-incentivised ones.
Amazon's Vine program invites trusted reviewers to post opinions about new and pre-released items to help shoppers make informed purchase decisions.
"Vine has important controls in place and has proven to be especially valuable for getting early reviews on new products that have not yet been able to generate enough sales to have significant numbers of organic reviews," said Mr Chew.
Reviewers are chosen by Amazon and tend to be people who have developed a reputation for expertise in specific products.
Last year, Amazon sued four companies that it said paid people to produce reviews.
It is also taking legal action against more than 1,000 people it says have offered to submit positive reviews to the site in return for payment. | Amazon is cracking down on the practice of companies offering free products to customers in exchange for a review. | 37551069 |
He said this would give Scotland "meaningful powers" to grow the economy and close the public spending gap the new system would create.
Mr McColl, who runs Clyde Blowers Capital, backed a "yes" vote in the independence referendum.
But he says that issue has now been "settled".
He has reverted to supporting full fiscal autonomy for Scotland.
That would mean Holyrood taking charge of all Scotland's revenues and paying Westminster for shared services such as defence and foreign affairs.
However, Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said fiscal autonomy would be unsustainable and insisted it was not a variation on his party's preference for home rule.
Speaking on BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: "It's an unstable form of devolution that would tip over into independence very, very quickly.
"It would involve an £800 tax bill for every single person in Scotland. I think that is unsustainable. If that's what the SNP stand for, go ahead and argue for it."
In a BBC interview, Mr McColl said there did not have to be another independence referendum.
"If you want to avoid something like that happening again, you really have to be a bit more open about what you're going to devolve," he said.
"There's an opportunity to do that just now and I think if you don't do it, then it's just going to be one of those things that hangs over us for a long time".
The businessman, who is also a member of the Scottish government's council of economic advisers, wants Holyrood to have much greater financial powers.
He thinks corporation tax and capital gains tax are essential, if Scotland is to promote a more entrepreneurial culture.
But, like the Scottish government, he would prefer full fiscal autonomy.
Critics argue that falling oil prices mean that would leave a multibillion-pound hole in Scotland's finances.
In his BBC interview, Mr McColl predicted oil prices would recover but conceded there would be financial challenges if the shift to fiscal autonomy happened suddenly.
"There would be a gap if you were allocating all these revenues. Yes, there would be," he said.
"There has to be a change over a period, though. And that's where you also have borrowing capacity.
"If you have the capacity to raise your own bonds - like a tartan bond or a Caledonian bond - that's to smooth over the downturns, when you raise government finance.
"And then when it's running well that's when you fix the roof and you tuck the money away - you don't waste it."
Mr McColl suggested that full fiscal autonomy could be phased in over the term of the next UK parliament, which ends in 2020.
He added: "It takes time to do the transition and you would have to have some sort of transition between the Barnett formula dropping off and the new way of working coming in."
The Barnett formula currently determines how much money the Scottish government receives to fund public services such as health and education.
A Scottish government spokesman said: "Scotland already more than pays its own way, with more revenue raised per head than the rest of the UK for every one of the last 34 years.
"Fiscal autonomy, with full economic and job-creating powers, would give Scotland the capacity and the resources to grow the economy even further, address inequalities and invest according to our own priorities."
A spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said: "The SNP's plan for full fiscal autonomy would be a disaster for Scotland and mean extra cuts of £7.6bn - even more than those planned by George Osborne.
"Scotland can't afford full fiscal autonomy which would scrap Barnett and the block grant and replace it with plummeting oil revenues."
The Scottish Conservatives have tabled a debate on full fiscal autonomy in the Scottish Parliament today.
Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said: "All the figures by independent experts show there will be a lot of pain over the next five years if we adopted full fiscal autonomy. We now have one of the Scottish government's own economic advisers effectively making the same point."
A motion proposed by Mr Brown at the Scottish parliament was backed by MSPs, but only after being substantially amended by Finance Secretary John Swinney.
Mr Swinney's wording recognised that Scotland requires the social and economic powers necessary to reflect the needs and preferences of the people of Scotland.
The original motion noted that a number of fiscal experts predict a weaker fiscal position for Scotland should full fiscal autonomy be achieved. | One of Scotland's most successful businessmen, Jim McColl, has called for Holyrood to have full control over its finances by 2020. | 32140640 |
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was the first war crimes tribunal created since Nuremberg at the end of World War II. It has indicted 161 individuals, including senior politicians and military leaders.
The BBC has been allowed unprecedented access to the inner workings of the tribunal.
In the bowels of the building sits a heavy, six-lever metal door, probably bomb-proof. It harks back to the time when the place was owned by an insurance firm.
The door used to be the entrance to the company's vault, where its most important documents and files were kept. Today the door is unnecessary but the vault has been turned into a series of Spartan holding cells, a place for the accused at the court to sit and meet their lawyers before going upstairs to the courts.
Each cell has a small, simple table and two plastic chairs and every defendant has had access to the same basic facility.
All except Slobodan Milosevic. Such was the media interest in the trial of the former Yugoslav leader that Paddy Gavin, the Irish carpenter in charge of the cells, was forced to create a small bedsit for the ex-president so he could arrive very early, ahead of the media.
"We fitted it with a bed and a wardrobe and somewhere to write and a lamp," he recalls. "All the furniture had to be screwed together and fixed to the floors and the walls."
A couple of floors above the vault sit the courts themselves. The highest-profile current defendant is Radovan Karadzic, former leader of the Bosnian Serbs.
He is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, including at Srebrenica, where more than 7,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were murdered.
But despite the seriousness of the charges, he has chosen to defend himself, an idea he got from watching Milosevic employ the same tactic during his trial.
Mr Karadzic does get legal help however, and in a small cramped office sit eight young, eager, fresh-faced interns.
Law students drawn from around the world, they are excited to be working on such a high-profile case.
Cradling a signed photo of Mr Karadzic is one of the interns, 24-year-old Zygimantas Juska from Lithuania.
"I met him and he seems really nice," he says. "He knows a lot from his life and experience so he can provide a lot of valuable information to someone young like me. He's done a lot in his life."
Corralling that enthusiasm is Peter Robinson, a defence lawyer from San Francisco who is one of Mr Karadzic's legal representatives.
He similarly describes the Bosnian Serb positively, talking of a "funny, personable, humble, grateful" man, but he acknowledges it is unlikely his client will ever be freed.
"He may know in his heart [that he'll never be freed] but he's a real optimist... and I think he has some hope, maybe unrealistic, that some day he could be," he said.
Ranged against that hope are millions of pages of documents held behind the locked doors of the court's evidence vault.
Stacked in neat brown cardboard boxes, they contain the horrors of the wars in the former Yugoslavia - the evidence of witnesses, the forensic material gathered on the ground, the transcripts of incendiary interviews given at the time.
Bob Reid, a plain-speaking former Australian police officer who has worked here for nearly two decades, recalls carrying out much of the tribunal's early, grim investigative work.
He said it was "chilling" to walk into the notorious Serbian detention camp, Omarska, with its torture chamber known as the White House, "where we knew terrible crimes had occurred".
"The political elite, the police officers, the clergy - had all been put in there and none of them came out. And [we] were still finding traces of blood."
It is little wonder he took particular delight in securing the capture of Mr Karadzic and his erstwhile military leader, Ratko Mladic. "They were nice days, they were good days. There was one beer or two had in Belgrade."
While a lot of the evidence against Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic, whose trial is also under way, is on paper, it is the evidence of witnesses that make the trials come alive.
Several witnesses, from either the defence or the prosecution side, can pass through the court each day.
The tribunal has a particular section, the Witness Support Unit, that takes care of people who travel to the court.
Some have been called to testify on several occasions, giving evidence in more than one trial, not just at The Hague but in courts in the former Yugoslavia.
The whole experience can put severe pressure on the witnesses, says Helena Vranov Schoorl from the unit:
"It's like they are stuck in the past.
"They call it a bit of a testimony fatigue. As one of the witnesses said - once a witness, always a witness. The witnesses feel exhausted, especially if you are forced to live in the past."
The call of The Hague on those witnesses is reducing.
The last trials are under way, with verdicts expected by the end of 2014, although appeals could mean the court continuing to operate for a couple of years after that.
Despite the dozens of defendants and thousands of witnesses who have passed through this ground-breaking tribunal, many staff here remain befuddled as to what caused former neighbours to turn so viciously, so violently, on each other.
They may never know - so they will simply continue to work towards trying to ensure that such brutality is never repeated. | For nearly two decades, an unassuming building in The Hague has been quietly creating history. | 21043133 |
Pictures of Hollie Gazzard with Asher Maslin, who stabbed her 14 times in February last year, were still viewable on Miss Gazzard's Facebook profile.
Her father Nick Gazzard said the images were causing distress but earlier attempts to have them removed failed.
Facebook said the pictures were removed because of a copyright claim.
"Through our memorialisation policies we aim to help families find ways to remember and celebrate their loved ones on Facebook whilst respecting the privacy of the deceased," the social media website said.
"In this case we received a report of copyright infringement, and we removed the reported content in response to that report."
Mr Gazzard posted a message on Facebook saying: "We are delighted to confirm that today, Facebook have removed the offending photos from Hollie's memorialised Facebook account and now we can all browse her photos without getting upset.
"We would like to express our sincere thanks to the 11,000+ who kindly signed our petition and those who also contacted Facebook direct and asked for photos to be taken down."
Facebook had previously told the BBC it was unable to help in this circumstance.
According to the social media website, its policy is that when a profile is memorialised following someone's death, changes are not able to be made.
Hollie Gazzard, 20, was stabbed while working at Fringe Benefits and La Bella Beauty salon in Gloucester. She later died in hospital.
Five months after her murder, Maslin was sentenced to life in prison for carrying out the attack.
Of the nine images, most were only viewable by those who were Facebook "friends" with Holly before her death.
Mr Gazzard said: "We were very pleasantly surprised and humbled by the amount of support we received."
He said Hollie had been very active on Facebook and had posted more than 1,000 photos, including pictures of her with Maslin when he was her boyfriend.
"She didn't get the opportunity to delete the pictures before he murdered her," he said.
Mr Gazzard said Hollie's family and friends would now be able to look at photos on the memorialised account and "remember the happy times they shared" with Hollie.
He said he understood why Facebook would lock and memorialise the accounts of deceased people to "preserve their privacy", but suggested it could ask next-of kin if there was anything that should be changed first.
"Particularly in a domestic abuse situation, that's what I hope would happen," he said. He believed Facebook would now deal with similar situations "case by case", rather than change its policy. | Photographs of a murdered woman posing with her killer ex-boyfriend have been removed from Facebook after a campaign by her family. | 34781905 |
The government wants the UK to become a world leader in driverless technology.
It will publish a code of practice in the spring which will allow the testing of autonomous cars to go ahead.
Self-drive pods that will be tested in Milton Keynes and Coventry have been unveiled for the first time.
The government promised a full review of current legislation by the summer of 2017.
That review will involve a rewrite of the Highway Code and adjustments to MOT test guidelines, potentially taking into account whether a higher standard of driving should be demanded of automated vehicles.
It will also look at who would be responsible in the event of a collision and how to ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians.
The Department of Transport report acknowledged that true driverless cars may be some way off and that current tests of the technology will need to include a qualified test driver to supervise the vehicle.
"Driverless vehicle technology has the potential to be a real game-change on the UK's roads, altering the face of motoring in the most fundamental of ways and delivering major benefits for road safety, social inclusion, emissions and congestion," said transport minister Claire Perry.
The government is providing £19m to launch four driverless car schemes in four UK locations.
To mark the launch of the review, Ms Perry and Business Secretary Vince Cable highlighted some of the trials that they are funding, including a fully autonomous shuttle in Greenwich and a BAE System-developed Wildcat vehicle, which will be tested in Bristol.
Self-drive pods that will be tested in Milton Keynes and Coventry were also unveiled for the first time.
Prof Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "These trials are not just about harnessing technology to make our travelling lives easier and safer, they also involve getting the regulation right.
"Alongside the hi-tech innovation you need policy decisions on long-term, low-tech matters such as who takes responsibility if things go wrong. As and when these vehicles become commonplace, there is likely to be a shift from personal to product liability and that is a whole new ball game for insurers and manufacturers."
But the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) said that it was concerned that, while the government is pushing ahead with making driverless cars a reality, the service and repair sector did not yet have the skills and infrastructure in place to deal with the new technology.
IMI chief executive Steve Nash is calling on businesses to take steps to address this sooner rather than later.
"We believe the government is yet to fully [realise] the pressures we are under," he said.
The Lutz Pathfinder pod, which is being led by the UK's Future Transport Systems innovation centre, will be tested on the pavements of Milton Keynes later this year.
It is a two-seater, electric-powered vehicle that is packed with 19 sensors, cameras, radar and Lidar - a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analysing the reflected light.
In a panel behind the seat is the computing power equivalent to two high-end gaming computers.
Three pods will drive themselves on the pavements and pedestrianised areas of the city initially and, if successful, a fleet of 40 vehicles will be rolled out. These vehicles will be able to talk to each other as well as being connected to a smartphone app to allow people to hail them.
Alongside the trials in Milton Keynes and Coventry, Bristol will host the Venturer consortium, which aims to investigate whether driverless cars can reduce congestion and make roads safer.
Its members include the insurance group Axa, and much of its focus will be on the public's reaction to the technology as well as the legal and insurance implications of its introduction.
Greenwich is set to run the Gateway scheme. This will be led by the Transport Research Laboratory consultancy and also involves General Motors, as well as the AA and RAC motoring associations. It plans to carry out tests of automated passenger shuttle vehicles as well as autonomous valet parking for adapted cars.
In addition, a self-drive car simulator will make use of a photorealistic 3D model of the area to study how people react to sharing the driving of a vehicle with a computer.
Research undertaken by Virgin last year suggested that 43% of the British public wouldn't feel comfortable with the presence of driverless cars on the roads.
A quarter of those surveyed said that they would not get inside such a car. | Changes to road regulations and car maintenance checks will be necessary to accommodate driverless cars on the roads of the UK, a Department of Transport report has confirmed. | 31364441 |
Fans protested against Duchatelet's ownership of the Addicks both before and after Saturday's draw against Nottingham Forest at The Valley.
"Through Roland's backing we have become financially stable," non-executive chairman Murray said.
"No owner wants to run down a football club - it defies logic."
In a statement posted on the Charlton website, Murray said the club's strategy was to be financially stable, competitive in the Championship and have ambitions of reaching the Premier League.
However, Charlton fans have questioned Duchatelet's motives since his takeover of the club in January 2014; criticising the turnover of managers, the club's player recruitment and comments made by chief executive Katrien Meire.
Supporters were angered when a video emerged of Meire saying it was "weird" fans felt a sense of ownership of the club when "the bills are paid by someone else".
The Addicks are currently 23rd in the Championship, with inexperienced Belgian Karel Fraeye taking on the role of interim head coach since 24 October, when Guy Luzon was sacked.
Charlton fans have held protests directed at Duchatelet and Meire at recent home games, both from the stands and outside the boardroom at The Valley.
Saturday's protest was the largest yet and the Charlton Athletic Supporters' Trust said Murray's statement does not address "the real issues that are prompting the protests".
They added: "The club's soft and pre-prepared answers are clearly designed to influence the media positively, but they are misdirecting readers about the truth of the current situation.
"It's fine that Murray admits the squad isn't good enough and that two years after Duchatelet took over the club is still underestimating the Championship.
"But it's somewhat indefensible - it's the result of the owner's plans and Katrien Meire's execution of them."
Murray defended Duchatelet's financial approach - pointing to a 40% increase in the playing budget, tying players to long-term contracts and investment in the stadium.
"Roland's philosophy is that we should try and keep our losses to a reasonable level," Murray added.
"The strategy is to have a mix of academy-produced players, young overseas talent with some experienced British players.
"This is a very competitive league and we have put a little too much faith in our overseas players to suddenly come in and play 46 games a year."
Murray also admits the club need to improve their communications with supporters.
"The board accepts it's not been as good as it could and they are taking a number of steps to improve that," he said.
"But it's important to realise that no football club gets all things right." | Charlton director Richard Murray insists owner Roland Duchatelet is committed to the club but the Belgian has "underestimated" the Championship. | 35253634 |
No side managed to score a goal so it went to penalties - Huddersfield were victorious, winning 4-3.
But how much do you know about the team? Here are our five Terrier-rific facts.
The next season will be the first time ever that Huddersfield Town will play in the Premier League.
They have played in the top flight of English football before - the last time was 1972 - but that was before the Premier League started in 1992.
The team are known as the Terriers and have the dog on the club emblem.
Huddersfield also have two of them - Tilly and Terry - as their mascots.
The club are also known just as Town for short.
In 1926, Huddersfield became the first English club to win three successive league titles (back when it was Division One).
It's an achievement only three other clubs have matched - Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.
The town is the home of rugby league. It invented the sport in 1895!
Today, Huddersfield Town share their stadium (Kirklees) with the town's rugby league team, Huddersfield Giants.
The first and only time the club have won the FA Cup was back in 1922.
They beat Preston North End 1-0.
Huddersfield have also been runners-up four times. | Hooray for Huddersfield - they've been promoted to the Premier League after a tense play-off match against Reading. | 40091164 |
He told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek that selectors and coaches would make any final decision on Pietersen.
"The first thing he's got to do if he wants to get back is play county cricket for somebody," said Graves.
Pietersen, 34, was sacked by England in 2014 and later released by Surrey.
The South Africa-born batsman later responded to Graves's comments, saying he was "pleasantly surprised" and now needed to "go away and make a few decisions".
Pietersen has not played a competitive game in a longer format than Twenty20 since the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January 2014 - his final game for England.
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Since then, he has appeared in domestic T20 cricket for Delhi Daredevils, Surrey, St Lucia Zouks and Melbourne Stars.
He left Surrey last autumn and is currently without a county contract.
ECB managing director Paul Downton appeared to end speculation over a possible Pietersen return as recently as December, saying "more bridges have been burnt" after Pietersen released an inflammatory autobiography in October, critical of many key ECB figures.
National selector James Whitaker said at the time there was "no way Kevin Pietersen will ever get back into an England team".
However, Graves - who takes up his new ECB post in May for a five-year term, replacing Giles Clarke - said he would not be involved in any final decision regarding Pietersen.
"It's down to the selectors, down to the coaches, of what they see, what is best for English cricket," he said. "They will make the decisions and I will support them when it comes to that decision."
Graves later told the Daily Telegraph that the selectors "can't ignore" Pietersen if he "scores a lot of runs" for a county side.
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"Forget personalities," said Graves. "Selectors pick the best players in form, taking wickets and scoring runs. That is their job."
Pietersen then responded, saying: "Do I want to play for England again? Yes, of course I do. My time with England was cut short and I have always said I want to play again.
"But I need to speak to Colin, speak to the people who have helped me make decisions in the past and then I will see what I can do."
He told Sky Sports: "I'm sure that if it is genuine, which I'm sure it is seeing as it's pretty public, then - goodness - I'd love to be given that opportunity again.
"This is not about money. This is about me playing cricket for England, doing something I love."
Graves, 67, speaking after England were beaten for the third time at the World Cup in Sunday's nine-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka, said there needs to be a discussion about England's strategy.
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The Yorkshire chairman has already appointed a new five-strong executive team at Lord's and plans to produce a strategy document to present to the counties later this year.
"If you look at the World Cup this year, it's very aggressive early on," he told Sportsweek. "Are our players as aggressive as the others? They don't appear to be. If that's the case why not? We need to talk about those things."
"In ODIs we have underperformed. In Tests we are on the up, we have some fantastic young players coming through and have got to have some faith in them.
"We have to have a strategy and in one-day internationals we have to improve."
Graves told BBC Sport last week that he wants to follow Australia and India's lead in Twenty20 and to "decongest" the county calendar with a similar 'English Premier League' format. | Incoming England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves has refused to rule out a return for Kevin Pietersen and says England must be more aggressive in one-day cricket. | 31681746 |
A planning application is being drawn up for the Abbey Shopping Centre and the Charter multi-storey car park.
The plans will see the council-owned 40-year-old retail space updated and the dated street area improved.
Subject to planning permission being granted, work on the overhaul could begin on the shopping centre in January 2012.
Councillor Richard Gibson said: "This deal means that over the next few years there will be more and better shops. This will attract more people to the town, providing more jobs and greater prosperity."
A second phase of plans will see the Charter multi-storey car park demolished and redeveloped.
It will be replaced with a large supermarket and 400-space car park, library and a day and medical centre. | A £53m major regeneration project for Abingdon town centre in Oxfordshire has been secured. | 12846725 |
The 43-year-old, from Southampton, won almost three times as much prize-money in 2016 as his previous best year to finish 28th on the order of merit.
Bland is confident 2017 will see him finally win a tournament after a string of top 10 finishes last autumn.
"If I put myself in contention enough times, I'm going to fall across the line at some point," he told BBC Sport.
Bland lines up at the Abu Dhabi Championship from Thursday having missed the cut at the South Africa Open last week.
"In terms of where my game is at the moment, it's a bit like what footballers say when they're short of match fitness," he told BBC Radio Solent.
"But, rounds of golf will take care of that at this stage of the season in only my second tournament of the year.
"I'm looking forward to the next four events as they will have strong fields that should help me push on into the middle part of the season."
After finishing tied fourth at October's British Masters, Bland believes his first tour win is just around the corner.
"If I can keep doing what I was doing last year, I can put a win in there somewhere," he said. "It would be a dream come true." | Richard Bland believes he has the game to help him "push on" from his most successful year on the European Tour. | 38650117 |
Most deaths have taken place in the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where more than 140 people have died since Saturday.
Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh recorded 48C while temperatures rose to above 44C (111F) in the capital, Delhi.
Authorities have urged people to stay indoors and drink plenty of fluids.
Heatwave conditions have been prevailing in the two worst-affected southern Indian states since mid-April, but most of the deaths have happened over the last week.
The worst-hit state has been Andhra Pradesh where 246 people have died from the high temperatures in the last week, most of them in the last few days.
"The majority of the victims are people who have been exposed to the sun directly, usually aged 50 and above and from the working classes," news agency AFP quoted P Tulsi Rani, special commissioner of Andhra Pradesh's disaster management department, as saying.
"We are asking them to take precautions like using an umbrella, using a cap, taking a huge quantity of liquids like water and buttermilk, and wearing cotton clothing," he added.
The Press Trust of India news agency said the heatwave had killed 186 people in 10 districts in neighbouring Telangana state, with 58 people dying since Saturday.
The meteorological department said the sweltering conditions were likely to continue for a few more days.
"No relief" is expected in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and other northern states for the next four days, and the "heatwave will continue," an official said.
Reports said at least 10 people had died of the heat in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Non air-conditioned taxis will be taken off the road for five hours during the day in the main city in the state capital, Kolkata, after two drivers died from heat stroke.
Meteorological officials said the heatwave was due to a lack of rain.
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Read the terms and conditions. | More than 430 people are reported to have died in a heatwave sweeping India, with temperatures reaching 48C (118F) in some areas. | 32872846 |
Mr McAfee, who founded an anti-virus company of the same name, filed a candidacy statement on Tuesday.
The US entrepreneur, 69, attracted international attention when he went on the run in 2012 following the murder of his neighbour in Belize.
He has launched a campaign website and will share more details about his candidacy later.
"I live in a country that has passed so many laws, that, at an average reading speed, would take me 600 years to read, reading 24 hours a day," Mr McAfee told the BBC.
"I am protected by a government that invades my privacy so that it can assure me that I am not the enemy it is protecting me from.
"I live in a country that is governed by people largely illiterate in cybersecurity - as proven by the multiple government computer hacks.
"Yet cyber-warfare is now the means of war. My government is dysfunctional. For the 300 million other Americans - you are in the same boat with me."
Mr McAfee found fame when he launched his anti-malware company in 1987, but he resigned from the company in 1994.
Intel later bought the company, in which Mr McAfee no longer held shares, for more than $7.6bn (£4.7bn).
However, it is his private life - including much publicised battles with drink and drugs - that has attracted most attention.
In November 2012, he went on the run in Belize after the murder of his neighbour, Gregory Faull, an Orlando sports bar owner.
Mr McAfee, who was never declared a suspect, said he feared he would be "silenced" if he was caught and thrown in jail.
He eventually crossed the border into Guatemala, where he was arrested and then deported to the US.
At the time, Dean Barrow, Belize's Prime Minister, said Mr McAfee had only been classed a "person of interest".
"I don't want to be unkind to the gentleman, but I believe he is extremely paranoid, even bonkers," the politician added.
Mr McAfee's campaign manager confirmed that his party would be known as the "Cyber Party".
On his Twitter feed, Mr McAfee promised to make an official announcement about his run on Wednesday at 23:00 BST. | Maverick tech veteran John McAfee has confirmed he is running for US president. | 34196983 |
Noble, a painter, draughtsman and installation artist, is the only artist who has shown new work for his Turner Prize exhibition.
His closest challenger is Elizabeth Price with odds of 2/1, followed by Spartacus Chetwynd at 11/4.
Luke Fowler is the outsider with 5/1 odds.
"Certainly the punters, the members of the public seem to think it's a two horse race," said William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams.
"Now, people are going for an actual painter or designer, rather than a visual piece of work.
"I can honestly say [Chetwynd and Fowler] are the most unpopular since 2004. Fowler is the least popular in the last 10 years," he added.
The prestigious and often controversial Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist under 50 who is judged to have put on the best exhibition of the last 12 months.
An exhibition of the four artists' works opened at Tate Britain in October.
Noble has been the frontrunner to take the prize since the shortlist was announced in May.
Born in 1963, the artist explores society through drawings of a fictional town called Nobson Newton, which depict a dysfunctional and dystopian landscape that has been compared to the legendary William Hogarth and US cartoonist Robert Crumb.
His exhibited works included five new pencil drawings, along with five new drawings from a previous exhibition and three sculptures.
Elizabeth Price has been shortlisted for her exhibition, Here, which comprises three video installations.
The artist is known for creating works which draw on historic films and photographs.
Last year, the prize was held in at the Baltic Gallery in Gateshead - the first time the ceremony was held outside a Tate venue.
Scottish sculptor Martin Boyce won the £25,000 prize for his installation Do Words Have Voices. He turned three large white gallery pillars into square trees, topped by canopies of uniform white leaves.
Actor Jude Law will announce the winner of this year's prize at Tate Britain on Monday evening, to be shown live on Channel Four at 19:50 GMT.
The shortlisted artists who do not win the main prize will each receive £5,000. | Visual artist Paul Noble remains the hot favourite to win this year's Turner Prize, with current odds of 11/8 according to bookmakers William Hill. | 20581284 |
V&A Dundee invited graduate designers who are Scottish or trained in Scotland to submit ideas for an Oor Wullie statue to represent the museum.
Winner Ellen Brown's design was inspired by the work of textile designer William Morris.
Ms Brown is a graphic designer and video game artist.
The Abertay University graduate said she was honoured to represent the museum in the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail, which will see 50 sculptures displayed throughout the city during the summer.
She said: "As I'm primarily a digital artist, painting the sculpture has been a really interesting challenge and I have found it so rewarding seeing my William Morris-inspired Strawberry Thief design come together.
"It's wonderful to bring the design back to Dundee and combine it with such an iconic part of Dundee's artistic history."
The sculpture will be displayed in the Overgate shopping centre until 15 June.
It will then be displayed with the other designs for 10 weeks before going to auction to help raise funds for the ARCHIE Foundation's appeal to create a twin theatre suite for Tayside Children's Hospital in Dundee. | The famous Dundee-born comic character Oor Wullie has been given a makeover as part of a city-wide cultural charity project. | 36443554 |
Residents say the Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes in the capital Sanaa. Clashes have also been reported in the south-western city of Taiz.
The UN had earlier urged all sides to observe the six-day truce which started at midnight on Friday (21:00 GMT).
More than 3,000 people have been killed since the coalition began air strikes in March to drive back Houthi rebels.
Aid agencies say a blockade on Yemen has worsened the humanitarian crisis after months of conflict. More than 80% of Yemen's 25 million people now need some form of aid.
Despite the ceasefire, fighting resumed early hours on Saturday. Witnesses reported air raids on Sanaa, which is controlled by the Shia Zaidi rebels - or Houthis.
"We heard four to five loud explosions, which shook my house far away from the west of Sanaa," said Hussain al-Bokhaiti, a journalist based in Yemen.
One strike targeted a military camp used by the rebels, the Associated Press news agency reported.
There were also reports of air strikes in Taiz and Aden, both in the south.
The truce had called to allow vital supplies to reach Yemen's stricken people.
In recent months Yemen has descended into conflicts between several different groups, although the main fight is between forces loyal to beleaguered President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthis, who forced Mr Hadi to flee Sanaa in February.
After rebel forces closed in on the president's southern stronghold of Aden in late March, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia responded to a request by Mr Hadi to intervene and launched air strikes on Houthi targets.
Gulf Arab states have accused Iran of backing the Houthis financially and militarily, although Iran has denied this.
About a million civilians have been displaced by the conflict.
Charities say a lack of fuel in Yemen is making it difficult to reach those in need and to provide adequate care in hospitals.
The coalition allowed a five-day humanitarian ceasefire in May, but much of the aid promised to those in need has failed to materialise.
Yemen is strategically important because it sits on the Bab al-Mandab strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, through which much of the world's oil shipments pass. | A new UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen has been broken shortly after coming into force. | 33491472 |
Stephanie Inglis, 27, who won silver at the 2014 Glasgow games, suffered severe head injuries when her skirt caught in a wheel, and pulled her off the bike.
The incident happened on Tuesday in Ha Long, north east Vietnam, where she had gone to teach English for six months.
A campaign has been launched to help pay for medical costs, after her travel insurer said she was not covered.
She has been transferred to hospital in Hanoi, but doctors have warned that she has sustained severe brain injuries, her sister Stacey said.
Stacey told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "She is in a very critical state.
"She is in a coma. I don't really know what is going to happen. There has been a lot of bleeding to the brain and swelling.
"She is my big sister. I look up to her so much. I just want her home."
Her parents, who live in Inverness, have flown to Vietnam, and have been with her at the hospital, Stacey said.
Earlier, Stacey told the BBC: "Mum and dad are just distraught, they just want her to be alive and get back here. At the minute the hospital is monitoring her, but they've said her whole brain is injured, and it will be a long recovery if she pulls through."
"At the moment we're sitting tight and keeping our fingers crossed."
The 25-year-old, who went to visit her sister in Vietnam last month, added: "She's an amazing person, and amazing big sister, and she was absolutely loving it out there."
Stephanie was being taxied by motorbike to the school where she works when the accident happened.
Family friend Khalid Ghelan, from Edinburgh, has started an online fundraising page to help the family with medical costs running into thousands of pounds. More than £20,000 was donated within four hours of the page being set up and within a few hours later had reached £72,000.
Mr Ghelan told the Victoria Derbyshire programme that Stephanie had gone to south-east Asia in the belief she had the correct insurance.
He said the medical authorities in Vietnam seemed "more concerned" about who was paying her hospital costs "than saving her life".
Describing the kind of person Stephanie is, he said: "Judo is a very physical, ruthless sport, but off the mat you would never think Stephanie could get into a physical fight. She never raised a hand to anybody, never said anything bad about anyone."
Going to Vietnam was the athlete's first venture on her own outside of her sport, Mr Ghlean added.
Earlier, he said: "She has been a fighter her whole life, following in her father's footsteps and becoming an international athlete, competing for Great Britain all over the world, beating adversity," he said.
"If anyone can pull through this it's Stephanie."
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr Ghelan said: "I've just had an update this morning and apparently the hospital that she is in are saying that they could operate to alleviate pressure on her brain but they are not sure if it might make her worse.
"But around every corner, the one thing that the hospital keeps doing is complaining about how much it is going to cost and the financial situation.
"One of the reasons I set up the fund is because they are more concerned about the money than they are about doing everything they can to help Stephanie."
He added: "Now she is fighting for a lot more than a medal and we are just hoping and praying that she pulls through."
Stephanie won silver competing for Scotland in the women's 57kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and has also won medals at tournaments all over the world.
The UK Foreign Office said: "We are in contact with the family of a British national who has been hospitalised in Vietnam, and will continue to offer support at this difficult time." | A Scottish Commonwealth Games judo star is in a coma and fighting for her life after a motorbike accident in Vietnam. | 36283543 |
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The United States won gold for their third consecutive women's team title, while China took silver.
The Americans produced an error-free performance on the four apparatus of vault, uneven bars, beam and floor to score 181.338 points.
China accumulated 176.164 points, with Great Britain scoring 172.380.
The British team of Becky Downie, Ruby Harrold, Amy Tinkler, Claudia Fragapane, Ellie Downie and Kelly Simm were out of the medals going into their final vault apparatus.
But three terrific vaults by Claudia Fragapane, Amy Tinkler and Ellie Downie helped GB leapfrog Russia, who put in patchy beam and floor performances.
The younger Downie sister's final vault of 15.133 came after she fell off her first apparatus on uneven bars.
The 16-year-old, though, regained her composure to score well on beam and floor before her decisive vault under pressure.
"It was an amazing experience, it was so nice to be able to achieve this success in front of a home crowd as well," said her sister Becky, 23.
"It just makes it that much more special for us all to know how much it means to the supporters. The future for British Gymnastics is really exciting, so we have a lot to look forward to."
Tinkler, another World Championships debutant - and celebrating her 16th birthday - also showed incredible maturity on both floor and vault.
Fragapane (floor, beam and vault), Becky Downie (bars and beam) and Ruby Harrold (bars) also made important contributions.
GB women's previous World Championships team best was fifth in Tokyo in 2011.
On Wednesday, Britain's men will compete in their team final, having qualified third. | Great Britain's women gymnasts have won their first ever world team final medal by claiming bronze at the World Championships in Glasgow. | 34654190 |
The British girl was three when she went missing in the resort in 2007.
On 22 May, Scotland Yard said a "substantial phase of operational activity" in Portugal would start soon.
The BBC understands there are about 20 police officers and specialists at the search area.
Tents have also been put up at the site, which according to a local estate agent is about 15 acres in size.
Portuguese police arrived and cordoned off the area in the early hours of Monday. British officers from the Metropolitan Police arrived later in the morning to liaise with them.
The search, which is expected to continue until Friday, is being carried out after a request by the Metropolitan Police.
The Met has also asked for two other locations in Praia da Luz to be examined.
Officers are expected at some stage to use dogs and "ground penetrating radar" to search the scrubland, looking for signs of disturbed earth.
Although they have been seen marking out several sections of land, the search itself has not started.
Hire vans seen in the cordoned-off area are understood to contain technical equipment provided by Scotland Yard.
The area of scrubland - about the size of three football pitches - is surrounded by flats and villas, many of them holiday properties.
It is about five minutes' walk from the Ocean Club complex, where the McCanns were staying when Madeleine disappeared.
A 77-year-old man who has lived near the area of scrubland for 13 years told the BBC the latest search was "ridiculous".
"The police have been here before," said the man, who did not want to be named.
"We all helped search this area three or four days after it [Madeleine's disappearance] happened.
"I walk my dog every day and no one was digging holes."
The mayor of Praia da Luz, Victor Mata, said the timing of the search "couldn't be worse" and that villagers were being "punished" by the police activity.
He said: "With every search, it doesn't seem like we're going anywhere - we're going backwards."
He said he found out about the latest development around two weeks ago.
"I'm facilitating the work of the Portuguese police because the more I help them, the quicker this will end."
He remains unconvinced anything will be found at the current site to help the investigation.
"There was a battalion of people out here looking for the child seven years ago," said Mr Mata.
"Everybody was looking. Everyone wanted to find her. People criss-crossed that land as they did other parts of the village."
He said if there were more searches in future, he would consider finding a way to stop them taking place during the peak summer period.
The first residents knew of anything happening on this scrubland was when they were disturbed by barking dogs in the early hours.
The private land - earmarked for a development that was never built - was accessible last night but is now completely sealed off by the yellow and white tape of the GNR, the national police.
Portuguese officers, wearing sunglasses in the fierce sunshine, are standing guard at the perimeter of the site, which stretches down towards the coast.
The police have been joined by a large contingent from the media, who have cameras trained on the ground as they await developments. The only words being exchanged between officers and journalists is the occasional "bom dia" - or "good morning".
The scene is being watched too by locals walking past, or on their morning jog, and those in holiday apartments with balconies overlooking the Atlantic.
The view would ordinarily be picturesque but has been transformed today as the eyes of the world turn to this small Algarve resort again.
Stewart Drummond, 68, from Eaglesham, near Glasgow, who has been coming to Praia da Luz with his wife Janice for 27 years, said: "It's a pity it's taken so long to get to this stage.
"Talking to locals especially, they feel that they want to move on.
"Every time anything happens, it puts the resort back in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
"But obviously everyone wants to see closure for the McCann family and if they find something, it would give them that.
"As parents, we feel for the family - for it to happen in such a 'safe' place makes it all the more tragic."
Paul Luckman, publisher of English-language newspaper the Portugal News, said local people were "fed up".
"That isn't because they don't want the child to be found, but they don't believe there's any credibility to all this [searching]," he said.
"The time has come to stop mudslinging and criticising local police. They work in a different way, but they get on with the job."
Scotland Yard launched a fresh investigation into Madeleine's disappearance last July, codenamed Operation Grange.
In March, British police said they were seeking an intruder who sexually abused five girls in Portugal between 2004 and 2006.
Detectives said the attacks happened in holiday villas occupied by UK families in the Algarve. | Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have started to use surveying equipment to outline a large section of scrubland in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz. | 27659905 |
The video, published by The Sun, shows Johnson, 29, apparently talking to other inmates at HMP Moorland about his child sex abuse case and victim.
The former Sunderland and England midfielder was jailed for six years in March 2016 for grooming and sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.
A spokeswoman said: "An investigation is under way."
The Prison Service spokeswoman also said measures to "find and block illegal mobile phones" were being "stepped up".
She added: "Those who break the rules will be punished and can face extra time behind bars."
In the video, Johnson said he felt he had received a tougher sentence because of his celebrity status.
He also said he hoped to resume his football career abroad after leaving prison.
Rape Crisis in the North East said it was concerned about the effect the publication of the video could have on Johnson's victim.
A spokeswoman said his comments showed "arrogance and a lack of remorse".
Johnson, who lived in Castle Eden near Peterlee, County Durham, played for Middlesbrough, Manchester City and Sunderland, and represented England 12 times. | Prison chiefs are investigating after footage was released of disgraced footballer Adam Johnson in jail. | 39665743 |
The release late on Friday revealed millions of dollars in assets held by top White House aides and officials.
Neither President Donald Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence nor cabinet appointees were part of the release.
White House officials said these were "not the current holdings that everyone has today" but what employees held before joining government. Staff are required to divest themselves of potential conflicts of interest when they enter office.
Here are five key points found in the documents.
This should not come as too big a shock.
The documents show President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have assets valued between $240m and $740m (£191m- £590m).
That includes a stake in Trump International Hotel, which earned Ms Trump between $1m and $5m last year.
The financial disclosure was made when Mr Kushner was appointed as a senior adviser to Mr Trump - it also details his wife's finances. She has since been appointed to the White House staff, so will have to fill in her own disclosure forms.
Mr Kushner's previous interests, which he has now divested, make for a long read. The documents show that Mr Kushner had stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and 21st Century Fox businesses - the pro-Trump channel Fox News is owned by the latter.
One person named in the disclosure no longer works at the White House - Boris Epshteyn, who worked in the press office and regularly appeared on TV during Mr Trump's campaign to defend him.
Born in Russia and a naturalised US citizen, Mr Epshteyn left his role last week for reasons not yet divulged.
The documents show he owned stakes in two restaurants - Quality Italian in New York City ("a modern take on the Italian-American steakhouse tradition") and Quality Meats restaurant in Miami, one of the specialities of which is broccoli and Cheetos crisps.
Omarosa Manigault rose to fame as a contestant on Mr Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice, and is now a senior White House communications official.
The documents show she received "a wedding dress, custom veil and accessories with an estimated value of $25,000" as part of her appearance on another reality TV show, Say Yes to the Dress.
The documents also show she is a beneficiary from a trust, worth between $1m-$5m, established by her late fiance, the Green Mile actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who died in 2012.
Steve Bannon was once the head of the right-wing website Breitbart News, but is now one of Mr Trump's most important strategists.
He made his money in media financing (helping get the comedy show Seinfeld, among others, off the ground).
The White House papers show his property and other holdings could top $50m - the documents list asset values within a range, rather than giving precise figures.
Those are not the deepest pockets in the White House though - Gary Cohn, a former president of the Goldman Sachs bank who is now head of the White House National Economic Council, detailed assets worth at least $230m.
Mr Bannon is not the only Breitbart alumni to occupy the corridors of power - among them is Julia Hahn, who is now a White House policy strategist.
The documents show she earned $117,217 last year for her work as a senior investigative reporter for Breitbart (as well as another $74,082 for producing a show on the right-wing Ingraham Radio network).
The US Department of Labor says the average salary for reporters and correspondents last year was $49,770 - less than a third of what Julia Hahn made. | Documents released by the White House have shed light on the wealth of senior members of Donald Trump's team. | 39467696 |
The Scottish government has recruited specialists from across the world to be part of its International Council of Education Advisors.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney were involved in the discussions.
The panel includes members from Australia, the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Malaysia and the UK.
It was set up by Ms Sturgeon after May's Scottish Parliament elections.
The first minister stressed the importance of closing the attainment gap between rich and poor pupils in Scotland's schools.
She said: "Education is the top priority for this government and I want to ensure that Scotland is a global leader.
"The deputy first minister has set out the actions we will take to substantially close the attainment gap and deliver a world-class education system in Scotland.
"The international council will bring a global perspective to this work, scrutinising our plans against the backdrop of their substantial expertise and ensuring we learn lessons from other parts of the world."
The panel members will advise the Scottish government on education priorities and ensure its plans are influenced by international best practice.
They heard from pupils and teachers as they met for the first time at Windygoul Primary School in Tranent, East Lothian.
Ontario Education Commissioner Dr Avis Glaze, who is a member of the group, said she thought Canada and Scotland could learn from each other.
She told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "I believe in Ontario we focus intensely on improving pupil's achievement and well-being, on closing achievement gaps and on capacity building.
"We believe that the way to improve the system is to make sure that all teachers and principals, and all those who work in education, have the skills that they thought they needed."
Another panel member, Prof Andy Hargreaves, told BBC Scotland that the Scottish government's ambition to close the attainment gap by focusing on pupils at the lower end of the scale would not harm the prospects of other children.
He said: "If your child's in a class and you've got five or six kids really struggling at the bottom it then makes it hard for the teacher with all the class - it actually holds all the kids back.
"But if you put a lot of energy and effort into helping the kids at the bottom... it also then begins to reduce the range a bit in the class because they're moving up so fast. So it actually makes it easier for the teacher to really stretch and challenge all the kids." | An international panel set up to help ministers improve education in Scotland has met for the first time. | 37226378 |
The tiny creature was one of 122 hatchlings from a green turtle nest on Castaways Beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Linda Warneminde who leads the group who discovered him said:
"It was very chipper and just took off into the water as happy as can be."
"He wasn't sick, he was just white."
Jayne Walton, who filmed the turtle, said she was very excited about the experience.
"He was beautiful, you could see his flippers were pink, like the blood flowing," Ms Walton said.
"I just hope he survives out in the big sea. He was very fast, very keen to get in the water." | Wildlife volunteers say they were stunned to find an extremely rare albino turtle on a beach in Australia. | 35530159 |
The Irish army's bomb disposal team was called to the park in the Boreenmanna area of the city at 12:40 local time, after a report of a suspicious object.
A spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces said the device was viable but was "made safe at the scene without the need for a controlled explosion".
The park was declared safe at 13:00 local time. | An improvised explosive device (IED) has been found in a public park in Cork city. | 30555218 |
Private Harry Vasey, who was part of the 1st Airborne Battalion, The Border Regiment, was killed during Operation Market Garden in Oosterbeek in 1944.
Now his identity has been confirmed, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) want to trace his family so his grave can be rededicated in the Netherlands.
The MoD said plans were also in place to change his headstone.
Born in Durham in May 1916 to Harry Vasey and Annie Young, he enlisted in April 1940 when he lived in Bowburn, County Durham.
An MoD spokesman said: "Unfortunately that is about all we know about Private Vasey and his family and that's where the trail goes cold.
"We are hoping that there are some of his family still living in that area."
Since WW2, a section of the Royal Netherlands Army has been working to identify the graves of unknown soldiers killed in battle.
The exhumation reports were scrutinised for clues to the identities of these men and the research was presented to the MoD.
Mr Vasey is one of six Border Regiment soldiers, including Lance Corporal Raymond Halliday, to be indentified.
The aim of Operation Market Garden was to take strategic bridges near Arnhem, but the Allies underestimated the number of German troops lying in wait and it failed.
More than 1,400 Allied troops died and more than 6,000 were captured by German forces.
It is hoped Mr Vasey's surviving relatives can attend the service at Oosterbeek Cemetery on 14 September in honour of his sacrifice and bravery, the MoD said. | The family of a soldier killed during World War Two is being sought after his final resting place was confirmed. | 36802710 |
Science Vale incorporates Harwell Campus, Culham Science Centre, and Milton Park in south Oxfordshire.
The Science Vale Area Action Plan intends to regenerate "large brownfield sites, such as the former power station site at Didcot A to provide an opportunity to help improve Didcot".
Plans include 20,000 new jobs and 20,000 homes by 2031.
The site of the former Didcot A power station, which was demolished in 2014, has been identified as a "key site" for growth.
Other "strategic" sites include Crab Hill, Grove Airfield, Monks Farm, Valley Park, Milton Heights, and east of Sutton Courtenay.
The planning policy document was jointly prepared by South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council.
The authorities outline a vision of "diverse, high quality, attractive housing developments" as part of the expansion.
However, they aim to protect the "distinctive character and heritage of Science Vale's market towns, villages and countryside".
Science Vale is home to major scientific projects such as the national synchrotron Diamond Light Source.
The goal is to fill many of the jobs required in the research and development sectors, including space, life sciences, advanced engineering and cryogenics, via local recruitment.
The first Oxfordshire University Technical College opens in Didcot in September.
A series of public consultations are being held until 17 April. | Proposals to expand one of the UK's major science hubs include redeveloping the land around Didcot Power Station. | 31656941 |
West Midlands Police said officers were called to reports of a fight in Twickenham Road, Kingstanding, at 12:56 BST today.
The force said a man in his early twenties suffered fatal stab injuries and two people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Police remained at the scene on Saturday afternoon while forensic investigations were carried out. | A man has died after being stabbed in Birmingham, police said. | 40543307 |
Commission president Georges Fenech said all the French attackers had been known to authorities, but these had not communicated with each other.
He proposed a single body like the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre.
The January and November attacks, which killed 147 people in all, prompted criticism of the security response.
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"Faced with the threat of international terrorism we need to be much more ambitious... in terms of intelligence," said Mr Fenech.
The committee chairman George Fenech says the aim of the report is not to designate guilty parties, but to make the general point that France's intelligence system failed.
All three of the of the attackers at the Bataclan, for example, were known to the security services and yet all trace of them had been lost.
Part of the problem, the committee says, is a multiplicity of competing agencies and no clear vision of which does what.
For example, the national police and gendarmes have separate intelligence arms and the Paris police have a third, with the result that when one of the Charlie Hebdo attackers moved from Paris some time before the attacks, he disappeared from the radar.
The six intelligence agencies currently operating in France should be merged into a single agency directly under the prime minister's authority, the commission said.
This would improve information-sharing and make it easier for foreign agencies to know who to deal with.
It listed a series of mistakes, including the failure to track known extremist Amedy Coulibaly - who took hostages at Jewish supermarket two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack - after his release from prison.
Meanwhile Samy Amimour - one of the attackers who killed 89 people at the Bataclan concert hall - who was able to get to Syria in 2013 despite a travel ban.
The commission also said there should be much greater priority given to intelligence gathering within prisons.
And it criticised the Belgian authorities for failures over Salah Abdeslam, a key figure in the November attacks who was stopped at the border the next day but released because the Belgians had not provided information about his links to militancy.
The conclusions of Mr Fenech on the actions of security forces that night in November make dramatic reading.
When police officers arrived on 13th at the Bataclan nightclub, where more than 100 people were being held by gunmen, the officers asked a local military patrol to give them their weapons, but the military police refused.
Mr Fenech also asked why the commander of a serious crime unit was put in charge of the operation, when the country also had a special operations force available and an elite unit specialising in counter-terrorism and hostage situations.
Meanwhile the continuing state of emergency imposed after the attacks was only having a "limited impact" on security, the commission found.
Investigators also questioned the deployment of between 6,000 and 7,000 soldiers to protect schools, synagogues, department stores and other sensitive sites.
"I am wondering what real added value they provide in terms of securing the national territory," said Socialist MP Sebastian Pietrasanta.
Last January's attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the shooting of a policewoman and a siege at a Jewish supermarket killed 17 people.
In November, 130 people died in co-ordinated gun and bomb attacks on a concert hall, restaurants and the Stade de France, where an international football match was taking place. | French intelligence services should be overhauled following last year's terror attacks in Paris, a parliamentary commission of inquiry has recommended. | 36711604 |
Middle-class shoppers could soon find it easier to order high-end treats from home as Marks and Spencer prepares a trial online grocery service.
Humbler tastes are catered for too, as McDonald's unveils a pilot fast-food delivery service in the London area.
But as existing players already know, the delivery market is no pushover.
In the case of M&S, the move comes as part of a wider push into the food sector that involves opening 200 new food-only stores.
M&S currently has 959 UK stores, of which 615 are food only.
The retailer is being cautious about its plans, saying that it wants to undertake "a soft trial in the autumn".
Chief executive Steve Rowe said: "The economics of food online are not straightforward and it is not something that we are going to rush into until we have substantial customer insight and a better understanding of what is right for M&S and right for our customers."
However, it's not clear that M&S has the muscle to take on the big supermarkets, which in many cases have spent years honing their online offer.
Industry sources say the average Tesco stocks 40,000 different products, whereas an M&S food outlet has just 7,000.
Of course, M&S has carved out a distinctive niche for its mostly own-label nosh, with TV advertising stressing the exclusivity and luxury nature of its food and drink.
Consumers are less likely to go there for baked beans and more likely to seek out speciality items.
The M&S website's food section features a large section headed "Dine in style", including the blurb: "From decadent roasts to dinner parties, we've got the expertly sourced joints and carefully prepared meals you need to impress without the stress."
This kind of food can already be ordered online from M&S on a click-and-collect basis, while the chain also already offers office lunch delivery under the Lunch To You branding.
So maybe it's the takeaway food outlets that should be quaking in their boots. After all, if all that stress-free, expertly-sourced food can be delivered to your door, perhaps you might prefer it to a curry or a pizza.
But there again, retail insiders aren't convinced that M&S can pose a challenge.
They don't see much crossover with big players such as online food order and delivery service Just Eat, which operates as an intermediary between independent take-out food outlets and customers.
The general view is that M&S shoppers are not necessarily Just Eat's core consumers.
On the other hand, maybe Just Eat might be more worried by the other big name that's mulling an entry into the market: fast-food firm McDonald's.
The Big Mac purveyor is set to be quicker off the mark than M&S, with a June start date for its London-based trial service.
"We will start with a delivery service from the right number of sites that gives us scale," McDonald's UK chief executive Mr Pomroy told the Telegraph.
However, the signs are that the Golden Arches chain will be working with the existing system, not trying to disrupt it.
The actual deliveries will be carried out by an external firm, which means that it might be Deliveroo or another such company bringing your Chicken McNuggets to your door.
At this rate, there may soon be no need to leave your home at all - another blow to the High Street as bricks-and-mortar outlets look increasingly old-fashioned. | Couch potatoes everywhere are licking their lips as two High Street giants prepare to enter the crowded market of online food orders for home delivery. | 39743611 |
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The cost of medical care, waiting times and disparity in healthcare provision is a source for pessimism for patients around the world - but technology is trying to make things a little easier.
With up to two weeks' waiting times to see GPs, and doctors warning that things could get worse, access to healthcare in the UK is a hot topic.
Dr Ali Parsa launched the Babylon healthcare app in April. Users have 12-hour access to GPs, six days a week. They can either send in pictures or have a video conference call with one of its doctors or nurses.
Doctors then send a prescription to a pharmacy close to the patient, if required, or recommend the user goes to see their own doctor, or advise specialist treatment, for example with a dermatologist.
"As much as 95% of healthcare has nothing to do with hospitals. What people really want is conversation and diagnosis," says Dr Parsa.
"Our current system is inconvenient and expensive. But phones are very, very powerful.
"Why don't we take all the healthcare anyone needs and put it on the phone?"
About 70% of the world's population has no access to healthcare so many die from simple infections, he says, but "they do have mobile phones".
Users can rate the doctors after each video consultation - and consistently below-par scores will see professionals struck off Babylon's records.
Administrative staff deal with the paperwork so the GPs can focus on treating patients from the comfort of their own home, says Dr Parsa.
He says the app has grown "exponentially" since it was launched five months ago and is now planning to take the app across the world "as quickly as we can", focusing on the Middle East and Africa.
"We are now looking at parties who have a large customer base, such as supermarkets, big public institutions, mobile phone companies and newspapers.
"If people can go into Tesco and by an iTunes card, why can't they buy a Babylon access card?" he says.
It might sound like a scene from cult film Alien, but robots have been developed with the ability to carry out surgery.
Dr Patrick Finlay, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, has been working on the robots. He says: "In 20 years from now, medical students will find it enormously amusing that we were sticking our hands in patients."
He says surgeons sometimes cannot operate on a cancer patient's brain if a tumour is too close to a vital area, due to fear of damaging the area.
And operations can be high-risk due to the invasive and imprecise nature of the surgery and the danger cancer cells will be spread during removal.
"Robots are 3-4mm in diameter so they can go straight to the tumour," he says. "They have much more accuracy and there is much less collateral damage."
He says robots could also be used for keyhole surgery in the gut, meaning fewer surgeons would be needed.
Such a procedure would leave a patient with a sticking plaster over a pinhole wound and able to leave the same day, instead of long hospital stays and recovery time.
Across the Atlantic, global technology giant IBM's artificial intelligence supercomputer Watson is being used to try to improve patient care.
The aim is to reduce the number of deaths from medical errors, which it says is the third-biggest killer in the US.
The supercomputer has the ability to learn, like a human. It can understand natural language, read, view videos and reason.
It is updated with the latest medical research - which some reports estimate at 5,000 new papers a month - and helps doctors make decisions about patient care based on that information.
"Both research and effective cancer treatment requires a tremendous understanding of medical literature, population health trends, patient histories, genetics and more - too much for any one person to digest," says Eric Brown, director of Watson Algorithms.
"For example, cancer centres typically run hundreds of clinical trials at any given time, but matching the right patient to the right trial is actually quite complex and difficult. Watson identifies patterns in patients, matching them to the clinical trial criteria much more quickly and efficiently."
IBM cites an example where Watson detected a genetic mutation in a cancer patient and pulled up a recent discovery that the current recommended treatment for that cancer is not effective in the presence of the mutation.
The project's lead doctor, Jose Baseiga, said that less than 1% of doctors would have known about the treatment's ineffectiveness without Watson.
Another example is genomics, says Mr Brown, with the possibility of DNA-based personalised treatment.
"The area of genomics is a perfect illustration of the information challenges in cancer," he says.
"Despite groundbreaking discoveries around genetic drivers of disease, few patients benefit from DNA-based treatment options. Even if a patient's genome is mapped, few doctors have access to the tools they need to quickly turn that information into better treatment decisions.
"If you can deliver the right information at the right time, you can literally save lives. And cancer patients don't have any time to lose."
A European initiative is also battling the problem of keeping doctors up-to-date and providing personalised treatment.
Medical systems tend to be highly specialised and separate - with a doctor for the liver, one for the heart and so on, says Dr Keith McCormack at the Insigneo Institute at the University of Sheffield.
Collaboration can be difficult in a busy hospital and so patients can be left feeling frustrated as a lack of communication between specialists can mean that treatments for different conditions can negatively impact each other.
Dr McCormack says this is particularly troubling for older people, who are often suffering from several different degenerative diseases at once.
He is part of a European Commission project that aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment using computer simulations of the human body and disease.
The body's muscle, heart and vein, skeletal and nerve systems are all modelled allowing doctors to enter a patient's symptoms and their history to see what care works best for them.
Dr McCormack says there are up to 2,500 engineers and scientists working on similar projects across Europe.
Related technology modelling behaviour could be used to intervene before a disease gets to an advanced stage, he says. Discreet sensors could be fitted in a patient's house, for example, timing them climb the stairs.
If they suddenly became markedly slower, he says, healthcare practitioners could step in and provide diagnosis and assistance. This could prevent the patient's health deteriorating further, with doctors able to offer more effective and less invasive treatment with a better outcome - as well as saving money.
"We are heading towards a model-based medical system and there is no escape," he says. | What if talking to your GP was as easy as ordering a cab on your smartphone? | 29259571 |
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