document
stringlengths 0
39k
| summary
stringlengths 1
329
| id
stringlengths 8
8
|
|---|---|---|
She is accused of sending thousands of dollars to the so-called Islamic State group in Syria through a Western Union money transfer, reports say.
The girl and a male accomplice, 20, who allegedly gave her the money were arrested in raids on Tuesday.
The pair allegedly met in a park on Tuesday to discuss a plan to send money to Syria that day, reports said.
They had reportedly developed a "sophisticated facilitation path" of wiring funds and had completed successful transfers before.
The man, named by media as Milad Atai, was also arrested during Australia's biggest counter-terror raids in September 2014.
The girl is accused of admitting to a police informant that she had wired A$10,000 ($7,600, £5,400) to Syria at the behest of an Islamic State fighter.
She was also allegedly planning to conduct another transfer of A$5,000 when she was caught on Tuesday morning in a park along with Mr Atai, who had handed her the money.
But her lawyer argued that the prosecution's case was based on inferences in her conversations with the police informant and said it may have amounted to entrapment.
Mr Atai faces charges similar to the girl's.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said Mr Atai was still under investigation over the death of police accountant Curtis Cheng, who was gunned down by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar.
Police have reiterated concerns over extremists targeting young Australians.
"[It is] disturbing that we continue to deal with teenage children in this environment," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters on Tuesday. | A Sydney girl, 16, has appeared in court on terror financing charges which carry a maximum term of 25 years' jail. | 35878177 |
Media playback is not supported on this device
South African Van Niekerk had been hunting the first 200m-400m double since Michael Johnson 22 years ago, while Makwala of Botswana had run a solo time trial to get this far after his initial controversial exclusion on medical grounds.
But the 27-year-old Guliyev, who switched allegiance from his native Azerbaijan in 2011, held off Van Niekerk (20.11 seconds) and Trinidad and Tobago's Jereem Richards (20.11) to win Turkey's first gold medal at a World Championships in 20.09 and pull off another upset at an unpredictable London 2017.
"This is not a shock," said the champion. "But it does not feel real.
"I have shown my best throughout this competition. I delivered my best race at the right time. I'm so happy to be world champion. This is the best moment of my career."
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake was 0.13 seconds off bronze in fourth, another close miss for Britain to go with the fourth places for Laura Muir in the 1500m, Kyle Langford in the 800m and Callum Hawkins in the marathon.
Mitchell-Blake told BBC Sport: "I am glad to come through healthy. I feel like I have let the nation down today. I know I had the calibre to get a medal. I wanted to win. That's all I thought about when I go out there."
Olympic 400m hurdles champion Dalilah Muhammad had earlier been dethroned by her USA team-mate Kori Carter, as Britain's team captain Eilidh Doyle came home eighth.
It has been a week where many of the big names have struggled, but one of the sport's great champions, double Olympic and world triple jump gold medallist Christian Taylor, once again excelled on the biggest stage as he held off fellow American Will Claye in a thrilling, seesaw final.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Makwala had become the folk hero of London 2017 having been excluded from both the 400m and 200m heats when the IAAF medical commission placed him in 48-hour quarantine after deciding he showed symptoms of norovirus.
He then got through a time trial in sodden conditions on Wednesday evening to make the semi-finals, getting through those despite having only two hours recovery.
There are many people who don't think I deserve this
But those efforts may have taken their toll in the least preferred of his two events, and he tired down the home straight to finish sixth in 20.44, his slowest time all week.
He told BBC Sport: "The 400m was the one I put all my money on; the 200m I do sometimes for speed only. It's not like the 400m. I never use blocks, but I am happy I was in the final.
"I thought I could get a medal, but I ran yesterday two difficult races and it wasn't easy.
"I will leave the championships with my heart broken."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Van Niekerk too looked weary in his sixth race in six days, and only held off Richards in bronze by one thousandth of a second.
This was Guliyev's night, and he celebrated with both Turkish and Azerbaijani flags in his hands.
"It was a tough week," said Van Niekerk, who was in tears during his interview with BBC Sport.
"I really feel I worked hard for tonight and I gave it my all. I have proven over and over I deserve what I have achieved.
"It's been a tough week. There are many people who don't think I deserve this.
"I work just as hard as every other competitor. I don't think I got the respect I deserved after the 400m - but it's only the beginning and I will show my dominance."
Taylor's triumph may not have surprised the bookmakers and he still has Briton Jonathan Edwards' world record to beat despite all those titles.
But he was pushed all the way by Claye in a fine competition, the latter jumping 17.54m in the first round before Taylor passed him with 17.57 in the second round.
Claye then retook the lead in the third round with 17.65, only for Taylor to better it by three centimetres with the very next jump.
Media playback is not supported on this device
These have been a testing championships for the host nation, the solitary medal a week in coming from Mo Farah in the 10,000m on the opening night.
But Dina Asher-Smith is into Friday's 200m final after running a season's best of 22.73 to finish second behind Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou in her semi-final, Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands and Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo looking dangerous as they dominated their semis.
"I'm absolutely over the moon, especially after the year that I've had," said Asher-Smith, who fractured her foot in February.
Eilish McColgan ran a personal best of 15 minutes 0.38 seconds to make the 5,000m final, and she will be joined by fellow Scot Muir, who squeaked through as a fastest qualifier despite ending the heat in obvious physical distress.
"I felt good out there apart from that last lap," said Muir. "I know I'm better than I ran today and hopefully I can show it in the final."
Media playback is not supported on this device
McColgan is now less than a second off the career best of her mother Liz, who was 10,000m world champion in Tokyo in 1991.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson remains in the hunt for a high jump medal to make up for the disappointment of missing out in the heptathlon after both she and Morgan Lake made it through their qualifying pools with clearances at 1.92m.
Chris O'Hare and Jake Wightman qualified well for the 1500m semi-finals, with all three British women in the 800m - Lynsey Sharp, Shelayna Oskan-Clarke and Adelle Tracey - into the semis, Tracey impressing with a new personal best of 2.00.28.
Media playback is not supported on this device
BBC athletics analyst Michael Johnson, former 200m world champion
The times were not very impressive so the standard of the 200m has gone down a little bit. With Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin and Andre de Grasse out it created a close race.
Makwala looked like he had a great start and then the fatigue set in.
Van Niekerk found something between yesterday and today to be able to take that silver medal.
Mitchell-Blake has had a long season in the American collegiate system so that is a great result for him. | Turkey's Ramil Guliyev wrecked the dreams of 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk and comeback kid Isaac Makwala to seize the 200m world title. | 40893902 |
The Halle Orchestra wants to open a school in Stoke-on-Trent in 2020, for both primary and secondary pupils.
The orchestra will work with an academy trust in setting up the school.
John Summers, chief executive of the orchestra, said the project would use music to "raise aspirations" across other academic subjects.
The school, proposed with the City Learning Trust, would be part of the free schools programme - and approval for its opening depends on the Department for Education.
But the orchestra wants to open the school in September 2020, for seven to 19-year-olds, with the promise of masterclasses from musicians, access to concerts and artists in residence.
The intention is for students to spend 40% of their time in specialist music classes, working with the Halle Choir, The Halle Youth Orchestra and Halle for Youth.
"The Halle has a huge amount of expertise and experience in working at high level performance, both in terms of instrumental coaching and choral training," said John Summers, chief executive of the Halle.
"Through our expertise we will also help develop music in the curriculum as a means of supporting academic achievement and aspiration."
There are precedents for such a connection between orchestras and schools.
In the German city of Bremen, there has been a high-profile partnership when a leading orchestra set up its rehearsal rooms and headquarters in a comprehensive school on a housing estate.
The musicians of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen became part of the daily life of the school - and truancy rates were lowered and academic results improved. | A leading international orchestra is planning to open a state school and make it a centre of excellence for music. | 39068865 |
The 40-year-old forward and club captain has scored 307 goals in 783 appearances since making his Roma debut 24 years ago.
He will become a director at the club he has served all his career.
"There is an agreement with the club that this will be his last year," Monchi said.
"Then he will continue as a director. I want him on my side because he is Roma and can teach me what Roma is," the Spaniard added.
Roma's final game of the season at home to Genoa on 28 May will be his last.
Totti, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, has won one Serie A title and two Coppa Italias at Roma.
He was widely expected to quit playing last summer but signed a one-year extension to his contract.
He has made 25 appearances this season, mostly as a substitute. | Roma legend Francesco Totti is to retire from playing at the end of the season, the club's new sporting director Monchi has revealed. | 39794466 |
England became the first hosts to fail to reach the knockout stages after losing to Wales and Australia.
Gatland said the media reaction to the exit amounted to an "assassination" of Lancaster's coaching team.
Asked if he had sympathy with his English counterpart, Gatland replied: "Absolutely yes."
Wales and Australia play each other on Saturday to decide the winners of Pool A, while England face bottom-of-the-group Uruguay in a dead rubber at Manchester's Etihad Stadium.
England's three-point loss to Gatland's side followed a late decision to kick to touch when a kick at goal could have tied the match 28-28.
The Rugby Football Union will carry out a review of England's performance after the World Cup, with Lancaster and his team facing calls for changes at the top.
"I think it's been a little bit of an assassination by the media really," Gatland said.
"And it's one kick - and if they had potentially taken those three points I don't think all of this would have been the same.
"I rang Stuart during the week and he texted me back and said he appreciated the support," he added.
"I gave him a call to give him that support and hope he's OK and more importantly that he and his family are. To me that's more important than the rugby.
"At the end of the day we're all in that together, aren't we? We all understand the pressures of the professional sport and what you have to deal with."
Gatland has been Wales coach since 2008, and before that was in charge at Wasps and Ireland.
He has had his share of controversy, most notably when as British and Irish Lions coach he dropped Ireland legend Brian O'Driscoll for the third Test against Australia in 2013.
His decision led to sharp criticism from former Ireland captain Keith Wood among many others.
Media playback is not supported on this device
The 52-year-old New Zealander has also been accused by the media - especially in Australia - of playing a direct game they have dubbed "Warrenball".
However, his team to face Australia this Saturday looks like a positive one, with George North selected at centre and Liam Williams taking his place on the wing with Gareth Anscombe at full-back.
Gatland says the team have been told to express themselves.
"We've said to our players there's an opportunity for us to go out there and see if we can look at some opportunities to put Australia under pressure.
"We think there are some opportunities for us to attack as well." | Wales coach Warren Gatland has been in touch with Stuart Lancaster to offer his support following England's elimination from the World Cup. | 34482622 |
The initial allocation of 25,000 has been increased to 29,058 for the games against Poland, Ukraine and Germany.
An extra 816 tickets are available for the game against Poland on 12 June.
An additional 1,726 fans will be able to attend the Ukraine game on 16 June with the total for the Germany game on 21 June jumping from 8,000 to 9,516.
The Irish Football Association received over 50,000 ticket applications for Northern Ireland's matches at the tournament.
Supporters will find out by the end of February whether their applications have been successful, with priority to be given to those who attended games during qualification.
The smallest increase in tickets being made available is for the opening fixture against Poland in Nice, with the allocation rising from 6,000 to 6,816.
On Tuesday the Republic of Ireland were given more than 6,500 more tickets for Euro 2016 after talks between the Football Association of Ireland and Uefa.
Republic fans now have a total ticket allocation of 32,502 for their games against Sweden, Italy and Belgium. | Northern Ireland have received an extra 4,058 tickets for Euro 2016, bringing the total for their three fixtures group in France to more than 29,000. | 35420903 |
United midfielder Fellaini appeared to catch Can with an arm during Thursday's first leg at Anfield and could face retrospective punishment from Uefa.
But 22-year-old Can said: "Fellaini is a fair sportsman. He touched my throat with his elbow but it is OK.
"It was just a small fight. It was not a boxing ring punch."
Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo produced six bookings in the game, but did not produce a card for Belgian midfielder Fellaini for the clash with Can.
Liverpool dominated Thursday's game and won it through a Daniel Sturridge penalty and second-half goal from Roberto Firmino.
The home side could have had a bigger lead to take to Old Trafford for next Thursday's second leg were it not for United keeper David De Gea, who made a number of good saves.
"De Gea is a very good goalkeeper but we created chances, played well and scored two goals," added Can.
"It was incredible, a very good score for the second leg and we have to keep going like that." | Emre Can has played down the apparent elbow from Marouane Fellaini during Liverpool's 2-0 Europa League last-16 win over Manchester United on Thursday. | 35784808 |
The EY Scottish Item Club has predicted "below-par" GDP growth of 0.9% in 2017 - half of that expected for the UK.
It suggested the retail sector would be worst hit by "mounting pressure" on consumers.
Employment in Scotland is also forecast to continue to fall this year.
In 2017, it is expected to drop by 0.1%, followed by further decreases of 0.5% and 0.3% in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
However, manufacturing output is predicted to grow in line with the overall economy for the first time since 2013, as weaker sterling and a pick-up in global demand "ultimately provide a boost to exports".
The item club said Scottish households were "likely to endure a fall in real incomes" this year as a result in part of rising inflation and "weak" labour market conditions.
It expects consumer spending to rise by just 1% in 2017, and by less than 1% per year between 2018 and 2020.
This compares with an average annual rate of 2.3% over the past five years.
The forecaster said this reflected "a significant loss of momentum from a key driver of the Scottish economy".
It expects Scottish growth to slow a little in 2018 to 0.7% before gradually accelerating to around 1.4% by the end of the decade.
However, it predicts that throughout this period, the Scottish economy will grow more slowly than the UK.
Dougie Adams, senior economic advisor to the EY Scottish Item Club, described the Scottish economy as being "stuck in the slow lane".
He said: "As flagged in previous EY Scottish Item Club reports, one factor is the ending of the outsized contribution to GDP growth from construction as many of the big-ticket public sector-funded infrastructure projects near completion."
He added: "Consumer spending, which last year proved surprisingly resilient and helped buoy the economy, is fading.
"A weak labour market and rising inflation is putting further pressure on incomes and recent research reveals that households expect worsening economic conditions.
"All of this means consumers are likely to be more cautious."
EY's chief economist for UK and Ireland, Mark Gregory, said: "Scotland's economy is showing signs of slowing faster than the rest of the UK which sends a clear message that business and government will have to work harder and smarter to achieve sustained growth.
"The economy has to rebalance and shift away from a reliance on public-funded major infrastructure projects.
"Sector diversification is also required to help move away from an over-reliance on the oil and gas, construction and financial services sectors."
He added: "Stimulating business investment in Scotland both in terms of physical assets and skills could deliver extensive, long-term economic benefits.
"This presents an opportunity for public and private sectors to define a new way of working together in order to drive further economic growth.
"Business investment is imperative to the long-term health and growth of the Scottish economy but is currently subdued.
"Government can help de-risk investment by supporting the development of skills and infrastructure that businesses need so that companies can feel confident they can maximise their investment."
Meanwhile, a separate report has suggested improving labour market conditions in Scotland.
The latest IHS Market Report on Jobs for Scotland found that last month there were sharp rises in worker placements, record growth in permanent staff demand and falling availability.
In terms of staff demand, the data signalled the fastest rate of expansion in the survey's 14-year history, with growth faster in Scotland than across the UK as a whole.
Scottish recruitment consultancies also recorded further steep growth in demand for temporary staff.
Sector data indicated that staff demand rose fastest in the IT and Computing sector for both permanent and temporary roles.
Meanwhile, the rate of expansion in permanent staff placements in Scotland reached its highest in 27 months as growth matched the UK as a whole, which was at a 25-month high. | Scotland's economy is showing signs of slowing faster than the rest of the UK as consumer spending fades and firms remain reluctant to invest, according to a report. | 40160506 |
Both were in a tunnel at the site in Bure, about 138 miles (223 km) east of Paris, when part of a rock face collapsed, emergency officials said.
Workers were evacuated and an investigation is under way. There was no nuclear waste at the location at the time of the rock slide, officials said.
The facility is being tested to store radioactive waste deep underground.
France is heavily dependent on nuclear energy and the site is required to house the most dangerous material.
The underground repository scheme is due to begin in 2025 but is still awaiting the government's final decision. | A rock slide has killed one person and injured another at a site for nuclear waste in north-eastern France. | 35415456 |
Islamic State (formerly known as Isis) militants are reported to have taken over the town of Sinjar near Syria.
It follows the IS takeover of the town of Zumar and two nearby oilfields from Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Saturday.
IS seized large parts northern Iraq from government control in a major offensive in June.
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said that a "humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar".
"The United Nations has grave concerns for the physical safety of these civilians" he said.
"The humanitarian situation of these civilians is reported as dire, and they are in urgent need of basic items including food, water and medicine" he added.
The UN said many of those who fled are in exposed areas in mountains near the town.
Many of those in Sinjar are believed to have fled from earlier IS advances in northern Iraq.
The town is home to a large community of Kurdish Yazidis, whom IS consider heretical.
Two Yazidi shrines have reportedly been destroyed in the town.
Kurdish military forces, known as the Peshmerga, were also forced to retreat from the nearby town of Zumar on Saturday after a militant offensive.
Kurdish forces had held the town since the Iraqi army retreated from the are in June.
Eyewitnesses said militants also seized control of two small oilfields near Zumar.
IS already controls several other oil installations in northern Iraq, which are believed to fund its activities.
Iraqi state television reported that the militants also took control of Mosul Dam on Sunday after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces.
The dam is the largest in Iraq and provides much of Mosul's electricity.
Further south, clashes between the Iraqi army and sunni militants continued near the town of Jufr al-Sakhar, military officials said.
The Iraqi army said it conducted several airstrikes on militants in the centre of the town, which lies about 60 km south-west of Baghdad.
The town was captured by the militants last week.
The fighting this summer has been one of the worst crises to hit Iraq since the withdrawal of US forces in 2011. | The UN has warned that up to 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes after militants took over more towns in northern Iraq. | 28631770 |
The Welsh Ambulance Service said it responded to reports a pedestrian was struck as she ran into the carriageway after a dog that had got loose.
The incident happened at about 18:20 BST near Cardiff Gate and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
The motorway remains closed westbound between junctions 29 and 32 as police investigate.
Motorists have been told to avoid the area and traffic is being diverted onto the A48M at junction 29. | A woman has died after it is believed she was hit by a van while chasing a dog on the M4 near Cardiff. | 39532668 |
Wenger provoked the Blues boss this week, saying: "It is easy to defend."
Mourinho retorted by mentioning Arsenal's Champions League last-16 exit in February, saying: "It's not easy. If it was easy, you wouldn't lose 3-1 at home to Monaco."
The sides face each other in the Premier League on Sunday.
Chelsea are 10 points clear at the top with six games remaining, and they will be champions if they beat Arsenal and Leicester in their next two matches.
The second-placed Gunners, meanwhile, have won their last eight league games.
Wenger and Mourinho clashed in last year's meeting at Stamford Bridge but the Blues boss played down their rivalry before their trip to the Emirates.
Mourinho said: "For me, he is not my rival. He is the manager of a big club in the same city where I work. It is a big club with the same objectives we have."
Mourinho said his relationship with Wenger was the same as he had experienced at previous clubs.
He added: "It is no different from when I was at Inter with the Milan manager, at Real with the Atletico manager, or Porto with Benfica. It was the same."
Mourinho called Wenger a "voyeur" in 2005 over comments the Frenchman had made about events at Stamford Bridge and last year described Wenger as a "specialist in failure".
Mourinho believes former Arsenal favourite Cesc Fabregas will receive a good reception on his return to his old club.
The 27-year-old midfielder joined the Blues from Barcelona in the summer.
"I'm not worried," said Mourinho. "Frank Lampard played for Manchester City at Stamford Bridge without any problem and with a good reception."
Fabregas had the option of returning to Arsenal when he left the Nou Camp.
"I know why he chose Chelsea, not why he didn't choose Arsenal," said Mourinho. "I can only talk about what we promised him, not his time at Arsenal or what stopped him going back.
"We promised him we would build a team adapted to his style of play and he would be an important part of our project."
Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, who signed a new five-year contract in February, was this week praised by Real Madrid assistant manager Zinedine Zidane.
But Mourinho is confident the 24-year-old Belgium international, who is favourite for the players' player of the year award, will stay.
"He just signed a new contract," said the Portuguese. "We didn't put a gun to his head. He likes Chelsea. He likes the league and he has made a commitment to that.
"I don't think he is interested in going."
Media playback is not supported on this device | Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has retaliated after his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger questioned his side's defensive tactics. | 32444996 |
The party leader Mike Nesbitt says the event would be held "not to celebrate, but to challenge the causes and consequences of the Rising".
He says Ulster Unionists over recent years have gone to Grangegorman Cemetery in Dublin, where British soldiers who died in the Rising are buried - and they want to "enhance" this act of remembrance for the centenary.
2016 will mark 100 years since the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme.
Events will be held north and south of the Irish border to commemorate both.
In Northern Ireland, history is always complex and contentious.
The political historian Dr Eamon Phoenix said: "The problem has always been that we have a common history, but we don't have a common memory.
"One man's memory of 1916 is the Somme. Another's is the 'blood sacrifice' in Kilmainham Jail.
"But there is a consensus now among many people that this shaped all our histories, and we have to come to terms with it.
"As one famous historian said: 'to understand the past is to cease to live in it'."
To republicans, the Easter Rising in Dublin is a defining episode.
Former Sinn Féin Lord Mayor Tom Hartley, is one of the organisers of a programme of events in Belfast.
He would like to see unionists play a role - though he acknowledges they would not want to be part of everything that is planned.
Mr Hartley said: "History doesn't run along parallel lines. There's no one narrative which covers our story.
"I would appreciate it if unionists came to a Féile, and presented a unionist critique of 1916, or explained why they see the Somme as so important.
"I think there are issues there which are very important for nationalists to hear."
The DUP says that in a "decade of centenaries" it is important that respect is maintained.
On the Easter Rising, the party says: "No invitations have been received for attendance at any event, but it should be noted there was no rising within Ulster at that time and the focus will obviously be on Dublin.
"Commemorations of the Easter Rising will be important to many people but they are not something with which unionists will feel any affinity or are likely to want to participate in."
The SDLP says the centenary events should "reflect multiple identities and traditions".
The nationalist party says representatives would go to Easter Rising commemorations, because the SDLP "praises the proclamation's call for religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities, gender equality and universal suffrage".
The SDLP also says it will "fully engage" in Somme commemorations, "as a show of respect and reconciliation between our communities".
The party notes: "Many Irishmen who fought in the war died in the hope of securing Home Rule in Ireland and the sacrifice of these men should be remembered."
The Alliance Party says: "It is crucial the centenary of events should be undertaken in the light of the historic moves towards peace and reconciliation since 1998.
"Alliance is keen to find a way to engage but would not wish to participate in events which seek to give validity to violence without reference to its consequences."
There will be more on this story on The View on BBC One Northern Ireland at 22:35 GMT on Thursday. | The Ulster Unionist Party is giving "active and positive consideration" to holding its own event in Dublin next year for the hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising. | 34741475 |
Rad Wagon organised the knitting of 2,000 miniature jerseys which were hung in the streets for Monday's race.
"We've had requests for them from as far away as the USA so we've asked people to donate to charities. It'll be another great Tour legacy," he said.
Funds will go to Jimmy's, You Can Bike Too and Marie Curie.
Cycling instructor and non-knitter Mr Wagon was inspired to create the knitted bunting after seeing a similar project in Yorkshire.
More than 400 people took up their needles to knit over 2,000 miniature jerseys in Tour de France colours.
In addition, primary school pupils helped decorate some of the 40 wool-covered bicycle wheels hung along the route in Cambridge.
The bunting was taken down on Wednesday, and Mr Wagon and friends have been busy dealing with requests from individuals and organisations keen to have some.
"Almost everyone used their own materials, lots of wool was donated and everyone gave their time for free so of course we said they could have their jerseys back," Mr Wagon said.
"Then we started getting requests from people who had seen the bunting on television and the internet and wanted some as souvenirs because it looked so great.
"We picked our charities and have asked people if they would like to donate something. We're not selling it as such, just asking people if they'd like to help these causes."
Since publicising that on his CamBunting website, Mr Wagon said many of those who knitted the bunting had pledged donations as well.
"I'm humbled by the enthusiasm and fun exuded by everyone," he added. | Demand for knitted Tour de France bunting as souvenirs of the event in Cambridge has been so great, organisers have decided to "sell" it for charity. | 28263111 |
ICE announced back on 1 March that it was considering a bid for the LSE.
But it said that it has been unable to "confirm the potential market and shareholder benefits" of the deal.
LSE agreed a merger with Deutsche Boerse on 16 March, creating one of the world's biggest exchange operators.
Shares in LSE slumped almost 10% following the announcement from the US based firm. Deutsche Boerse shares rose more than 5%.
Deutsche Boerse is already one of the world's biggest financial markets groups.
As well as owning the Frankfurt stock exchange, it owns Eurex which is one of the world's biggest markets for futures and options contracts in shares. | The owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has said it will not make a takeover offer for the London Stock Exchange (LSE). | 36204838 |
The rights group says that the ban is pushing women into unsafe, clandestine abortions or forcing them to undergo dangerous pregnancies.
The constitution in the majority Roman Catholic country protects the right to life "from the moment of conception".
Women and girls who violate the ban face lengthy jail sentences.
Under El Salvador's homicide laws, women who decide to terminate their pregnancy can be sentenced to up to 50 years in prison.
"The horrific repression that women and girls in El Salvador face is truly shocking and akin to torture," says Amnesty International.
"Shockingly, the ban extends even to cases where the life of the pregnant woman is at risk, and to children who have been raped," it adds.
In May last year, a seriously ill 22-year-old woman was denied an abortion by El Salvador's Supreme Court.
The woman, referred to as Beatriz, suffered from lupus and kidney failure. The foetus had serious medical problems.
The Supreme Court upheld the Central American's nation ban, in a case that drew international attention.
A week later, doctors decided to go ahead with a premature Caesarean section, after the woman started having contractions.
The baby died five hours after the C-section.
Health Minister Maria Isabel Rodriguez said at the time that the medical intervention did not contravene the court ruling.
Amnesty International is calling on the government of El Salvador to decriminalise abortion on all counts.
El Salvador is one of seven Latin American countries where there is a total ban on abortion.
The others are Chile, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Suriname. | El Salvador's total ban on abortions is killing women and girls and condemning others to decades in jail, says Amnesty International. | 29363395 |
Media playback is not supported on this device
The Belgium international, 24, arrived in Glasgow on Sunday to become manager Ronny Deila's first summer signing in a deal worth around £1.5m.
Boyata made six appearances for City last season but was unable to secure a regular first-team place.
Speaking to Celtic's website, he described the Scottish Premiership champions as "a very big club".
Since moving to Manchester to be part of City's youth squad in 2006, Boyata had loan spells at Bolton Wanderers and FC Twente between 2011 and 2013.
His only senior cap came as a substitute against Austria in 2010.
Boyata will effectively replace countryman Jason Denayer, who is returning to Manchester City after a season-long loan, while Deila is keen to keep Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk.
"The manager came to see me in Manchester and I spoke to him about having me here and all the ideas he had for me playing for the team," added Boyata.
"So I was very pleased with his plans and from that point I thought that moving to Celtic would be a good idea and we tried to do everything right for me to move here." | Celtic have signed defender Dedryck Boyata from Manchester City on a four-year contract. | 32954918 |
Network Rail has unveiled new designs for how the station will look as it begins an initial three-month process to gather passenger and public views on the project.
Queen Street is Scotland's third busiest station with 20 million passengers a year.
The work is due to begin this year and will be completed by 2019.
There will be a number of major new developments at the station and surrounding areas, including an extension of the east side of the building into the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre.
The current entrance will also be replaced with a glass facade.
The project is part of the Scottish government's £650m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), which aims to reduce journey times and increase capacity on Scotland's main rail routes.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said: "Queen Street station is at the heart of Glasgow's railway network and passengers using the station should enjoy an experience befitting of that role.
"The EGIP scheme will result in 30% more seats and around 20% faster journey times on our flagship route.
"It's already delivered the stunning new-look £25m Haymarket station in Edinburgh and this complete transformation of Queen Street means passengers will benefit at both ends and at all points in between."
The first part of the public consultation will run from 25 February until 31 May, with a second phase taking place between September and December 2014. | The public has been invited to give its views on a £104m redevelopment of Glasgow's Queen Street station. | 26330418 |
The apartment block, alongside three smaller ones, will be built in Owen Street, near Deansgate railway station, on land previously used as a car park.
The tallest will stand at 200m (656ft), 19 storeys bigger than the current highest building, Beetham Tower, which is 168m (551ft) over 47 storeys.
More than 100 nearby residents objected to the council about the building plan.
They said the buildings would look out of place and do not provide affordable housing.
But Manchester City Council said it would be "a striking landmark development" that would regenerate the area.
The scheme by developer Renaker Build includes 1,500 apartments, basement car parking and a cinema.
The four main towers will range between 37 and 66 storeys, with a further three-storey building housing a tennis court, swimming pool and retail units. | Plans to build the tallest skyscraper in Manchester have been approved by the city council. | 36644701 |
Benjamin Harris, of Heathfield, Sussex, was described by a bomb disposal expert as showing a "reckless disregard" for his safety and that of his neighbours.
The 30-year-old received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, at the Old Bailey.
The prosecution told the court he tried to mix explosives in a coffee grinder.
Harris previously admitted having and making explosive substances, breaching health and safety rules and possessing cannabis.
According to the bomb disposal expert, the 30-year-old could have caused a "significant explosion that could have caused severe structural damage as well as injury".
"It is perhaps plainly obvious that attempting to mix explosives in a coffee grinder is extremely dangerous and reckless," said prosecutor William Hays.
Police found enough fuses and chemicals to make hundreds of fireworks at Harris's home in Highcroft Crescent, Heathfield, in March 2013.
A USB stick containing manuals, text books and other documents relating to explosives was also discovered by officers.
Kieran Vaughan QC, defending, said Harris had been diagnosed as an obsessive compulsive and came from a "family of hoarders".
Judge Christopher Moss QC said: "To sentence you to immediate imprisonment bearing in mind your psychological background would be so detrimental to your situation as to make it unthinkable."
Harris was given the two-year suspended sentence for the explosives charges and a three-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, for possession of cannabis.
He was also given an anti-social behaviour order banning him from possessing fireworks for five years and trawling the internet for explosives. | A man who had so many homemade fireworks he could have blown up his house has been given a suspended sentence. | 33023027 |
It is not clear how many times the maximum fine, £1,000, was imposed in that period.
However, according to the latest figures provided by the Education Authority, two people were fined £1,000 in 2015-2016.
In total that year, 87 parents were convicted for their child's absence.
Seven people were fined £750, one was fined £650, eight were fined £500, with the reminder being fined smaller sums.
The BBC has also learned that in 2014-15, 144 people were taken to court, 50 convicted and 27 fined.
The 2014-15 figures were lower than each of the previous two years, with 41 parents fined in 2012-13 and 60 in 2013-14.
In England, a father has lost his legal challenge against a fine for taking his daughter on an unauthorised term-time holiday.
The Supreme Court ruled against Jon Platt, who had won earlier legal battles against a £120 fine in a case brought by the Isle of Wight council.
By law, parents are required to ensure that children aged between four and 16 receive a full-time education.
If they do not, schools and the education authority intervene.
Normally, if a pupil's attendance at school drops below 85% of days over a period of time, this triggers follow-up action.
Initially, this can involve a parental visit from an education welfare officer, and there is usually a long process before parents are prosecuted. | Between 2011 and 2016, 356 parents or guardians in Northern Ireland were convicted because their children were absent from school. | 39516730 |
Site owners who allow people to use vans as permanent homes are breaching planning regulations.
There are about 6,000 static pitches and 900 touring pitches in the county.
A report to be discussed on Thursday said the council is losing at least £86,000 a year in council tax payments and an estimated £204,000 in grant money as people are not on the census.
The report said 20 children in Denbighshire schools live at nine holiday sites and more than 295 concessionary travel passes have been issued to people on 24 sites.
It added that, while there are some "problem sites," there are many which are well run and apply strict sales criteria forbidding unauthorised use.
A letter has been sent to caravan park owners asking them to include maps of their sites, including street names.
It said: "It is hoped that by being able to more closely monitor service use, this will subsequently have a positive impact upon your business, not only by encouraging more short-term visitors, who have been shown to spend more on local facilities in comparison to those who stay for extended periods, but also by supporting you to ensure your business is functioning within the conditions set out in your planning and licensing permissions." | People illegally living in caravans costs Denbighshire council almost £300,000 a year, a report has said. | 34723820 |
The women, who advertise club sponsor One Call Insurance, hand out beer tokens during home games.
Critics have claimed the "call girl" reference effectively compares them to prostitutes.
Club boss Carolyn Radford said it was just a "play on words" and had nothing to do with prostitution.
However, Lisa Clarke, from the No More Page 3 campaign, said she believed the tweet's wording was "intentional" and that it was wrong to make light of prostitution.
She said: "I refuse to think for one minute the board didn't think about the second meaning of that name [One Call Girls].
"Prostitution, sex work, is a massive issue... it's generally surrounded by poverty [and] by exploitation."
The women are frequently seen at the club's ground in tight Lycra cat suits with the sponsor's name emblazoned across their chests.
Mrs Radford, whose husband John Radford owns Mansfield Town and One Call Insurance, said the promotional staff also work at the company headquarters in Doncaster.
She said the tweets should have included the word "insurance" and this is where the controversy has stemmed from.
The chief executive said: "[My husband's] company has no connotations whatsoever to do with prostitution.
"We're not trying to demean women, we've never had this issue before and the girls have been doing incredible work...
"They actually enjoy it and they say they get a little bit of confidence... they want to do it."
She argued that a number of other sports use women in promotion work.
"Do we just sit down and watch the game and be quiet?" she said. "Or can we have more of a role in football?" | Mansfield Town's chief executive has denied accusations that the club's use of promotional workers - known as "One Call Girls" - is sexist. | 37255578 |
They remain seven points clear of Clyde in second, the Bully Wee having drawn 1-1 away to Berwick Rangers.
Edinburgh City and Arbroath played out a six-goal thriller at Meadowbank, taking a point apiece.
City remain bottom, with Cowdenbeath in ninth after a 2-0 home defeat by Stirling Abion, while Annan Athletic are fifth after beating Elgin City.
Forfar boasted a perfect record of seven wins from seven league matches ahead of their derby with Montrose but were stunned as the visitors inflicted their first defeat of the league campaign.
Gary Fraser and Christopher Templeman scored either side of half-time before Gary Fraser added a 66th-minute penalty to put Montrose out of sight.
Danny Denholm headed an injury time consolation for Forfar, but the day belonged to Montrose, who move up to seventh in the table.
Clyde failed to take full advantage of Forfar's slip-up as they were held at Berwick. Sean Higgins gave Barry Ferguson's men the lead, but Steven Thomson equalised for the home side just before the break.
Elgin remain in third despite going down 2-0 at home to Annan. Darren Ramsey's opener and a David McKenna penalty were enough to seal the points for the visitors.
Game of the day was at Meadowbank as bottom side Edinburgh claimed a point after sharing six goals in a thriller with Arbroath.
The visitors twice took the lead with goals from Omar Kader and Ricky Little, only to be pegged back by strikes from Craig Beattie and Ouzy See.
See struck again as City took the lead for the first time, but Arbroath levelled through Martin Scott and, despite the visitors having Jass Sukar sent off late on, they held on to claim a point.
Stirling won at Cowdenbeath to leapfrog their opponents in the table. Isaac Layne and Darren Smith struck to ensure Stirling move up to eighth in the table. | Leaders Forfar Athletic suffered their first League Two defeat of the season, going down 3-1 at home to Montrose. | 37531710 |
Fam says it will continue its search to for a foreign coach.
The former international striker's first task will be an Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier against Madagascar in April.
"It is a big challenge and we have to sit down and focus very well and see what we can do," he said.
"We need to come up with a system which should help us win games because in the past we have been struggling."
Fam has clarified that while Phiri and his assistant Deklerk Msakakuona will sign one year contracts it is still looking for an expatriate coach.
"The issue of the expatriate coach is a process and I think as and when the process is concluded that will be announced and the right changes will be made", Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda explained.
Phiri, who turns 49 next month, was in charge of the Flames as a caretaker for January's 2-2 draw in a friendly against Chinese side Guangzhou FC.
The match was the inaugural match at the new Bingu National Stadium constructed by the China in Lilongwe.
The former under-20 coach replaces Ernest Mtawali, who was fired in June 2016, after a poor showing at Southern Africa's regional championship the Cosafa Cup.
Malawi begin a training camp on 2 April ahead of their CHAN game away in Madagascar on 22nd April with the return leg at Bingu Stadium a week later.
The association has also have secured a friendly away to Kenya on 18th April en-route to Madagascar. | The Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has appointed Gerald Phiri on a year's contract to lead the national team. | 39435576 |
Mirza Himayat Baig, who belonged to a banned militant group, will now serve a life sentence for possessing explosives.
The high court in Mumbai (Bombay) cleared him of all other charges.
The blast targeted the bakery when it was full of tourists and students, killing 17 people and wounding 64.
Five foreigners were among the dead.
Baig had appealed against the death sentence, delivered by a trial court in Pune in April 2013.
On Thursday, the Bombay High Court cleared him of more serious charges of murder and conspiracy.
The defence had maintained that he was not in Pune when the explosion happened on 13 February 2010.
He was arrested the following September after investigators found a cache of explosives at his home in Latur in Maharashtra.
The prosecution had said the blast was planned at a meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where Baig, a resident of Maharashtra state, was given bomb-making training.
The German Bakery is located near the Osho Ashram, a mystic centre popular with visitors to Pune.
Reports said an unattended package exploded when a waiter in the restaurant attempted to open it.
The bombing was the first major strike of its kind in India since the deadly Mumbai attacks of 2008. | An Indian court has set aside the death penalty for a man found guilty of plotting a blast at a German bakery in the western city of Pune in 2010. | 35830799 |
Education minister Huw Lewis has supported the outline business case for £24m to be spent on schools in the Gwernyfed catchment area.
The new schools will replace current ones in Hay on Wye, Talgarth, Clyro, Llyswen and Llangorse.
Building work is expected to start in early 2017.
The council had already been told that the Welsh government supported the case for investment in the area, but it had to wait for approval of the outline business case before design work could start.
Powys council's cabinet member for education, Arwel Jones, said: "The decision is a result of a detailed review of the area over the past few years demonstrating the need to address falling school numbers, inadequate buildings and address financial pressures." | Design and building work for five new primary schools in Powys is set to go ahead after the Welsh government approved plans. | 34608338 |
Daly was given an interim role following the sacking of Ian Cathro.
Former England boss Steve McClaren is on the shortlist to replace Cathro, with Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman also interested in the job.
"The size of the club, it doesn't surprise me that there are some experienced managers putting their names in," Daly said.
"I'd imagine that there are managers that already have jobs that would love this job as well."
Former Italy striker Fabrizio Ravanelli has applied for the post, while ex-Hearts players Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley have been linked with the vacancy.
While impressed with the quality of candidates for the job, Daly reiterated his belief that he is well equipped to take on the head coach role permanently.
"I'm not going to sit here and pretend I haven't enjoyed it," he said. "It's been great.
"You're always going to back yourself. I'm quite comfortable working with the players we have. That's one of the characteristics I have - I'm a leader. I was the captain of a big club in Dundee United so I know what it takes to lead a team.
"I just have to focus on what I can do and try and get results in the short-term for the club. Hopefully when whoever gets the job, whether that's me or someone else, the club is in a good place when it happens.
"It's been a great experience for me. It's something that whether it's now or further down the line I'll look forward to doing."
Daly says there are "no grudges held" from his public dispute with Brendan Rodgers following Hearts' 4-1 defeat at Celtic Park on the opening day of the Premiership campaign.
He also confirmed that Jamie Walker will return to the squad for the weekend visit to Kilmarnock. Walker, 24, was left out of the squad for the Celtic match, with Daly concerned the attacking midfielder had been distracted by interest from Rangers.
"He's trained well, worked hard and for me that's what he needs to get back to doing," Daly said.
"He's a player that can win you a game of football, he can score goals, he can produce something from nothing and he's a match-winner.
"He'll definitely be back in the squad, whether that's starting or on the bench. He's probably not been fully focused on what he needs to do and I think he's got that focus back now." | Jon Daly says he is not surprised several household names are interested in the head coach position at Hearts. | 40886840 |
They are treating the death of Cameron Logan, 23, as murder.
His girlfriend, Rebecca Williams, was initially in a critical condition after the blaze at Mr Logan's family home in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.
The latest development emerged after it was confirmed that Ms Williams, 24, had spoken to police from her hospital bed.
The fire was deliberately started at the house in Achray Place in the early hours of New Year's Day.
Ms Williams, a journalist with Global Radio, was rescued from the building but she was left fighting for her life.
She is being treated at a hospital in Glasgow, where her condition is said to be improving.
Mr Logan's parents were treated for the effects of breathing in smoke after the fire.
Police have made several appeals to trace potential witnesses to the crime, which they are treating as a murder and three attempted murders. | Detectives investigating the New Year's Day fire in which a man died and his girlfriend was seriously injured are following a "definite line of inquiry". | 38613370 |
Brett McGurk, special envoy for the coalition against IS, says US-backed forces have seized about 45% of Raqqa since the operation started in June.
He says the group is fighting for its own survival and that the militants are likely to die in the city.
IS seized Raqqa in 2014, proclaiming it the capital of a "caliphate".
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been gradually advancing on the city since November, and launched an offensive to take it on 6 June.
It is unclear how many civilians are still in Raqqa, but the United Nations estimates this number to be between 20,000 and 50,000.
The loss of Raqqa would be another major setback for IS after the jihadist group was driven from its main Iraqi bastion of Mosul last month.
The militants have lost 78% of the territory they held in Iraq and 58% of what they had in Syria, Mr McGurk added.
"Today in Raqqa, Isis is fighting for every last block... and fighting for their own survival," he said, using another acronym for IS. "They most likely will die in Raqqa."
More than 300,000 people have lost their lives in six years of conflict in Syria, which began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad before escalating into a full-scale civil war. Eleven million people have been displaced by the fighting. | Some 2,000 Islamic State (IS) militants remain in the Syrian city of Raqqa amid an offensive to recapture the group's stronghold, a senior US official says. | 40835929 |
Magnus Lund was shown a yellow card after five minutes and the French visitors took advantage with tries from Charles Ollivon and Leigh Halfpenny.
Sale hit back with a try from Paolo Odogwu and passed up three kicks at goal after the break as Toulon held on.
Sale, who lost to Scarlets last week, face English champions Saracens in their next European tie on 10 December.
Toulon, who lost at home against Saracens last week, host Scarlets a day later.
Before the game, Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond likened Toulon, who have won the Champions Cup in three of the last four seasons, to Spanish football giants Barcelona.
And Sale looked likely to be blown away when the illustrious visitors swept into a 15-0 lead after only 11 minutes.
Flanker Lund was penalised, somewhat harshly, for a late tackle and Toulon soon took advantage of their numerical advantage, Ollivon spotting a defensive hole and scrambling over.
When Sale wing Byron McGuigan failed to deal with a cross-kick from Francois Trinh-Duc, Bryan Habana seized on the loose ball and fed Halfpenny, who surged over for his side's second try.
But Sale rallied, Odogwu scampering over in the corner while Toulon captain Duane Vermeulen was in the sin bin for a deliberate trip.
Sale started the second half in confident fashion and would have been within striking distance if Will Addison had kicked a relatively straightforward penalty, but he struck an upright.
Addison kicked to the corner on three occasions as the clock ticked down, but the hosts came away with nothing.
It was a strangely muted display by Toulon, who barely threatened the Sale try-line in the second half, while Sale will be disappointed they did not earn a losing bonus point at least.
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond: "We stood toe to toe with them but didn't have enough bullets in the gun.
"We had field position in the last 20 minutes but, fair play to them, they counteracted our drive. But there were a lot of young English lads out there who stood their corner.
"The referee had a good game, we can't whinge and moan about [Lund's yellow card]."
Sale Sharks: Michael Haley; Byron McGuigan, Will Addison, Mark Jennings, Paulo Odogwu; Sam James, Peter Stringer; Ross Harrison, Neil Briggs, Brian Mujati, Bryn Evans, Andrei Ostrikov, Cameron Neild, Magnus Lund, Josh Beaumont
Replacements: Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Halani Aulika, Jon Mills, David Seymour, Thomas Curry, James Mitchell, Daniel Mugford, Sam Bedlow
Toulon: Leigh Halfpenny; James O'Connor, Mathieu Bastareaud, Ma'a Nonu, Bryan Habana; Francois Trinh-Duc, Eric Escande; Xavier Chiocci, Guilhem Guirado, Levan Chilachava, Mamuka Gorgodze, Romain Taofifenua, Charles Ollivon, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Duane Vermeulen
Replacements: Anthony Etrillard, Laurent Delboulbes, Marcel van der Merwe, Samu Manoa, Matt Carraro, Pierre Bernard, Sebastien Tillous-Borde, Jocelino Suta | Sale fell to their second defeat in two games in Pool 3 as Toulon returned to winning ways in the Champions Cup. | 37707148 |
The Steam Packet Company said this was because the P&O fast craft, which is usually chartered to deal with the busy period in June, will not be available.
A spokesman said timetable changes mean fewer sailings from Ireland and the UK.
He added: "Given the current situation, we expect to see a reduction in the total number of bikes we will carry."
The loss of the ship from the Manx fleet next year means fewer sailings from Ireland, Heysham and Liverpool.
"The Ben-my-Chree and Manannan [Steam Packet-owned ships] have already been scheduled to operate additional Belfast sailings to accommodate Irish fans heading to the races," said ferry chief Mark Woodward.
"Adding these extra Irish services means the number of sailings from Heysham and Liverpool is slightly reduced.
'We will keep looking for a replacement charter and have already approached several companies - none at present has indicated a willingness to release vessels". | There will be fewer sailings available for TT fans during the 2016 motorcycling festival than this year, Isle of Man ferry operators have said. | 33200785 |
The 22-year-old son of former Wales international David came through Coventry's youth ranks and made 61 appearances for the Sky Blues.
Phillips becomes Rob Page's first signing since becoming manager of the 2015-16 League Two title winners.
"I remember watching Rob play for Coventry as a kid - I'm really looking forward to working for him," he said.
He continued to BBC Radio Northampton: "I've been at Coventry since the age of seven so it's a bit crazy (to leave), but that's life - the manager didn't want me.
"I'm just looking forward to showing Northampton fans what I've got and give it all I can."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Northampton Town have signed right-back Aaron Phillips on a three-year deal after he was released by Coventry City. | 36444039 |
Three bright orange flames from an oil-rig were visible on the horizon. Closer to the ship, a seagull appeared over a moonlit strip of sea, flying so low it almost brushed against the waves.
We were on a ship run by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières on a mission to rescue migrants in distress at sea.
Days and nights passed with nothing in view but the open sea, until suddenly, out of the blue, the people start coming.
They are pushed out to sea from the Libyan coast, on unseaworthy boats packed with as many people as they could carry. They come from across North and sub-Saharan Africa, the Horn of Africa, Bangladesh, and Syria.
The EU wants to seal off the Central Mediterranean migration route, much as it did with the Aegean route between Turkey and Greece last year.
The EU strategy rests on two pillars. In Libya, it is funding and training the Libyan coastguard to stop the migrants before they cross into international waters, and send them back to Libya.
Outside Libyan waters, it has deployed military vessels to disrupt the smugglers' business, mainly by burning their boats so they cannot be reused.
But increasingly the strategy has come in for criticism.
Successive reports have suggested a link between the burning of the boats and the rising death rate on the Central Mediterranean. As the smugglers adapted by using cheaper boats that were more unseaworthy, the crossing became more dangerous for the migrants.
And testimony from the migrants themselves suggests the Libyan coast guard could be playing a double game: taking money from the EU to intercept migrants, and money from smugglers to let them pass.
93,417
Number of arrivals in 2017
2,208
Deaths on Central Mediterranean route
4,576 Deaths on same route to Italy in 2016
14,120 Nigerians make up biggest nationality crossing Mediterranean
A few hours after we arrive in the search and rescue (SAR) zone, the Italian Navy's Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre in Rome calls with news that several boats have set off from Libya.
By the time we arrive, the action has already started.
From one side of the deck, there is a plume of thick smoke polluting the clear blue horizon; a smugglers' boat set on fire by an Irish military vessel following a rescue operation.
On the other side of the deck, much closer to the ship, an empty wooden boat is being towed away by two men on another boat, presumably to Libya for reuse.
Since late 2015, the EU has stepped up the destruction of migrant boats after the rescues, aiming to disrupt the business model of smugglers.
But there are indications that it is the migrants, not the smugglers, who are paying the price.
The EU's own data has shown that the smugglers quickly adapted by using more rubber boats, as the costlier wooden boats became a "less economic" option.
And as the EU stepped up its efforts, the death rate was rising.
A string of reports, including by Amnesty International and the UK House of Lords, began drawing links between the anti-smuggling operation, the smugglers' deteriorating offer for migrants, and a steadily rising death rate at sea.
An unintended consequence of... destruction of smugglers' boats has been that they have adapted, sending migrants to sea in unseaworthy vessels, resulting in more deaths at sea"
Soon enough, the lower deck of the Vos Prudence becomes packed with people - 727 men, 53 children, and 97 women - and heads for the Sicilian port of Palermo.
Crammed uncomfortably on the lower deck with barely enough space to stretch, they begin to describe the medieval horrors accompanying Libya's descent into lawlessness.
Time and again on board the Vos Prudence, we heard of torture in underground prisons, kidnapping for ransom, slavery, and killings on a whim.
For many, being forced back to Libya is the worst thing that could happen to them. They give a confusing picture of the coast guard.
Abdullah, a Sudanese from Khartoum, told me a friend of his, also from Sudan, got on a boat that was intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and forced back to Libya. He was sold into forced labour on a farm, until he managed to leave again.
But Abu Yasser, from the Syrian city of Aleppo, said the coast guard escorted the boat he was on all the way into international waters, then directed it towards an NGO vessel, and away from a military one.
"The real smugglers," he told me, "are the Libyan coast guard."
Husam, from Libya, said smugglers who pay get past. "There's no coast guard. It's all militias."
But Italy and the EU appear more focused on the search-and-rescue charities than the Libyan coast guard.
The Italian government has drafted a code of conduct and has warned NGOs that if they fail to sign it they will be shut out of Italian ports.
One of its demands is for charities to co-operate more actively with the anti-smuggling operation, by collecting when possible "the makeshift boats and the outboard engines used" by smugglers, and notifying Frontex, the EU's border and coast guard agency.
Another of the 12 points of the code is for NGOs to increase co-operation with Italian police, allowing them on board upon request to "conduct preliminary inquiries and investigations".
Both Frontex and MSF have become increasingly aware that the Central Mediterranean route is being used for trafficking in Nigerian girls and women.
"It is of utmost importance to protect them, to identify them early, to separate them from their traffickers before they disappear in the world of abuse," Frontex told the BBC in an email, before the code of conduct was delivered to the charities. "We can do it only if all actors actively cooperate with the police."
Stefan van Diest of MSF told us it was "not MSF's role to police international waters or to investigate trafficking and smuggling networks".
"We are doctors, not police and we are present on the Mediterranean to save lives."
But Mr Van Diest added that MSF was "acutely aware of the use of this route by traffickers".
"Potential victims of trafficking are systematically referred to the authorities and appropriate protection agencies during disembarkation."
The code of conduct will make these differences more pressing to resolve. MSF must now consider whether and to what extent to change the way it operates at sea.
For now, though, the work continues.
After filling up with fuel on the island of Malta, the ship heads back into the search and rescue zone.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. | There was a serene, enchanting glow to the view from the Vos Prudence search-and-rescue ship as it slowed to a standstill off the Libyan coast a few hours after sunset. | 40706957 |
Anil Kumar told jurors at Birmingham Crown Court he was tied up in the attack that led to Akhtar Javeed's death outside his fast food business in the Digbeth area of Birmingham.
Father-of-four Mr Javeed, 56, was shot four times during the robbery.
Suraj Mistry, 26, and Lemar Wali, 18, deny murder.
A third man, 25-year-old Tahir Zarif, is thought to be in Pakistan.
More updates on this story and others in Birmingham and Black Country
Mr Kumar told the court he was sitting at a table in a meeting room when two gunmen entered the warehouse at about 18:30 GMT on 3 February.
Giving evidence with the help of a Hindi interpreter, he said they had seen a car pull up in the car park before one of the men showed them a gun.
"At first we thought somebody was making fun of us and they showed it to us again and at that time we just raised our hands," he said.
Mr Kumar said Mr Javeed was bound by the wrist and taken outside while he was tied together to two other staff members in a separate office.
He told the court he then heard gunshots before the men left the scene.
He said: "I was frightened and after that I was frightened for months, even when in the house I was scared."
The prosecution told the court Mr Mistry, of Laundon Way, Leicester, and Mr Zarif, of Osmaston Park Road in Derby, were the men filmed entering the warehouse, with Mr Wali, also of Osmaston Park Road in Derby, acting as the driver.
As well as facing a charge of murder, Mr Mistry and Mr Wali are also accused of conspiracy to rob the warehouse and possession of a pistol with intent to cause fear or violence.
The trial continues. | A warehouse worker who heard gunshots in an armed raid that killed his boss said he was scared in his own home after the ordeal. | 37063598 |
Figures obtained by the BBC showed 723 "significant adverse events" recorded across Scotland over a six-year period.
Only about 37% of these were reviewed by a full formal process, leading to concerns lessons would not be learned.
Health expert Prof Alan Cameron said there were "inconsistencies" in the way adverse events were recorded.
National guidelines suggest the most serious events should be subject to review.
Some boards said they conducted other types of review or held regular meetings to discuss these events.
Prof Cameron, of the Royal College of Gynaecologists, said it was "extremely important" for health professionals to get together and review cases and a consistent reporting system was vital for that.
Responding to the BBC figures, Health Secretary Shona Robison said she would write to NHS boards about their "consistency" in reviewing incidents.
The figures on significant adverse events in Scottish maternity hospitals were obtained by the BBC via a series of freedom of information requests.
However, not all health boards provided the data requested so the actual figure could be higher.
There was inconsistency among the boards in the terminology used to describe the incidents, with the terms "significant", "major", "extreme" or "serious" all being used.
It is essentially an incident that could have caused, or did, result in, harm or death.
Guidelines from health watchdog Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) stipulate these events should be classified by health boards into one of three categories depending on their severity.
Category one events could involve an unexpected death.
A category two event could refer to an event that led to initial or prolonged treatment and category three events could include "near miss events".
The HIS framework recommends that every adverse event be reviewed to determine whether there are "learning points" for the organisation to improve its service.
The data obtained by BBC Scotland revealed nationwide discrepancies in how often different boards would conduct formal significant adverse event reviews (SAERs).
For example, NHS Grampian conducted an SAER in 7% of events, while NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it did so in 100% of cases.
Fraser Morton said NHS Ayrshire and Arran had refused to carry out a review following the death of his son Lucas in Crosshouse Hospital in November 2015.
He believed a shortage of staff and a lack of training contributed to the death of his son.
Although Lucas' death was found to be unnecessary and avoidable, the health board refused to rank it as category one and no SAER was conducted.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran reported at least 39 incidents over a six-year period, and also revealed there had been just two significant adverse event reviews conducted in the same timeframe.
Mr Morton said: "There is supposed to be a national framework on how significant adverse events are progressed and that is not happening.
"The repercussions are that Lucas won't be the last baby to lose his life unnecessarily and we won't be the last family to be devastated unnecessarily."
A spokesperson for the health board said: "A multidisciplinary team reviews each and every perinatal loss.
"This team comprises neonatologists, obstetricians, midwives and perinatal pathologists and investigates the circumstances of the loss, the potential causes and any learning.
"When reviews identify that there has been avoidable harm, we speak with the people affected and report this openly through our clinical governance systems."
Data from Scotland's health boards revealed that 271 SAERs were conducted into a total of 723 adverse events, which included nearly 200 deaths.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway conducted no SAERs despite reporting 71 events but stated that, while full-blown SAERs were not conducted, internal meetings were still held to review the incidents.
NHS Grampian held 15 reviews despite recording 209 "significant" incidents.
Their freedom of information response stated: "All cases where harm or death has occurred are reviewed by a multidisciplinary team via our clinical risk management process, and all stillbirths and neonatal deaths by a separate multidisciplinary team at a fortnightly stillbirth and neonatal death group since the beginning of 2016.
"Recommendations and learning is shared from both these groups."
The freedom of information data also highlighted a discrepancy between national baby death figures, and baby deaths which were classified as significant adverse events by health boards.
National Records of Scotland recorded 319 perinatal deaths in 2015/16 but only 146 significant adverse events were recorded by health boards that year.
Scotland's Health Secretary Shona Robison said, as a result of the BBC findings, she would be writing to all health boards to stress the importance of consistency in recording and reviewing adverse events.
She said: "We expect all boards to be consistent in following the national framework and making sure, when there is a significant adverse event review, that there is consistency.
"We wrote to health boards again just a few months ago to stress the importance of consistency and on the back of these figures we will do so again.
"What is also important is that next year, from 1 April, the new duty of candour will come into place with a legal requirement on boards to report and publish SAERs in the same manner."
The BBC understands that last month John Froggatt, deputy director of the child and maternal health division at the Scottish government, also wrote to all the health boards stressing the need for transparency and consistency in dealing with adverse events in maternity units, including events around stillbirths and perinatal deaths.
Prof Cameron, one of the lead investigators on the Each Baby Counts project, echoed the call for consistency.
He said: "It's extremely important that health professionals get together in a multi-disciplinary fashion and review the case and see if lessons can be learned, and offer lessons which can be fed back to the parents and it's important we get a consistent reporting system for that."
"What we [the Each Baby Counts project] are trying to do is gather information about why these events happened, and how they were investigated locally, and hopefully drive quality improvement to try and get a consistent way that these events are reviewed and reported."
"In the work we have done so far, we have found inconsistencies in the way adverse events are recorded and reviewed.
"We cannot avoid risk but we must ensure we learn lessons." | Health boards are formally reviewing less than half of the most serious maternity incidents - which include baby deaths. | 39269995 |
"This move will mean we pay more tax in the UK," the company said.
The relocation will concentrate a "modest number of senior executives" in its London operation.
The US coffee giant said its leaders would "better oversee the UK market" from the capital, adding that the UK was its largest European market.
Last year, Starbucks paid £5m in corporation tax, its first such tax payment since 2009.
The move followed pressure from politicians and campaigners.
Part of the tax avoidance row centred on Starbucks transferring money to its Dutch sister company in royalty payments.
Starbucks' chief financial officer told a committee of MPs in 2012 that a tax deal struck with Dutch authorities had been "an attractive reason" for basing operations there.
Heather Self, director of tax at legal firm Pinsent Masons, told the BBC that more tax paid in the UK would probably mean less tax paid by the company elsewhere.
"They're not going to create a bigger tax bill for the group as a whole," she said.
Collecting tax from global companies is a complex issue for governments.
Ms Self said firms should not be taxed twice on the same income, but it is reasonable for governments to expect companies to pay tax somewhere.
"The question is not necessarily what's moral and what's not, but is the tax following the real economic activities?" she added. | Starbucks is to move its European head office from Amsterdam to London by the end of the year, following a row over corporate tax avoidance. | 27046286 |
Mr Trump, reported to believe climate change is "mostly bunk", has threatened to withdraw from the UN climate deal.
Environment Minister Nick Hurd admitted the Trump victory was "a very big rock chucked in the pool".
But he said the world - including the UK - would continue working to curb emissions without the US if necessary.
Mr Hurd also stressed that it was impossible to be sure at the moment exactly what Mr Trump's policies would be.
Mr Trump's supporters say rules on climate and energy are stifling business.
Details of his climate policy are not yet clear, but his team has talked about boosting coal, opening new oil pipelines, and allowing mining on public wilderness or drilling in the Arctic.
Mr Hurd told the cross-party Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee that President Obama had led the way in partnership with China towards the Paris climate deal at the end of 2015.
Its commitments, agreed to by almost 200 countries, included:
Mr Hurd told MPs: "The progress that's been made in terms of the momentum behind the international process and the seriousness [with] which this is taken - not just by governments but by the private sector and capital markets - [means] we're in a completely different place.
"We have seen a step change in momentum.
"The Trump election is a challenge to that, but there has been a gear change in 2015-16, and it's very hard to overstate the importance of the Paris agreement - if countries do what they say they want to do."
He said the private sector was now mostly supportive of the low-carbon economy, and wanted to seize the economic opportunity it offered.
The move in this direction globally was now irreversible, he said.
The key was to drive down the cost of the transition.
Mr Hurd said the UK government would keep its commitment to long-term CO2 targets and its long-delayed emissions reduction plan would be published before the end of March.
Mr Hurd admitted the UK was lagging in its plans for cleaning up heating and transport.
He said: "We have seen the future of transport, and the future is electric."
But he acknowledged that the government needed to do more accelerate the pace of change.
Questioned on climate change and Brexit, he said many questions were unresolved:
Follow Roger on Twitter @rharrabin | The election of the climate sceptic Donald Trump as US president will not sway UK leadership on the issue, a minister has said. | 38573352 |
The Duke of Normandy will have a 50ft screen showing the silent movie classic, Around Cape Horn.
The film will be shown on Saturday 30 April with music by solo cellist Gerard Le Feuvre.
The tug is more commonly seen supporting large craft into the marina and carrying out maintenance work around the island.
The Duke of Normandy tug was first used in 2010 to show the final film of the Branchage Jersey International Film Festival.
Then, Russian propaganda film, Battleship Potemkin, was screened with music by French free form electro-jazz duo Zombie Zombie.
Around Cape Horn features footage shot by the late Captain Irving Johnson during his 1929 rounding of Cape Horn aboard a square rigger vessel.
The event is free and can be viewed from Albert Pier.
The film will be shown on Saturday 30 April from 2030 GMT. | The States of Jersey tug boat will be turned into a floating cinema for the Jersey Boat Show. | 12735686 |
Ucas head Mary Curnock Cook said universities were now "more flexible" with grade requirements, amid intense competition to attract more students.
Universities are accepting more candidates who fail to gain their predicted grades, Ucas data suggests.
There is no cap on degree place numbers at England's universities.
Last year, more than half of students accepted on to degree courses had missed their results by two or more grades, spread over three qualifications, Ms Curnock Cook said.
She added that some teachers had told her they were "over-predicting" sixth-formers' results in a bid to secure initial offers from university.
Speaking at a conference on higher education at Wellington College, Berkshire, she said: "I talk to a lot of schools and people who advise students and, in the past, I would have said, 'Surely you wouldn't be over-predicting your students on purpose?', and actually just this last summer really, I had teachers coming back to me and saying, 'Actually, yes we would.'
"I'll show you why, because actually, accepted applicants, the number who are being accepted with quite significant discounts on their offers and their predicted grades, has grown quite a lot - 52% of A-level accepts have missed their grades by two or more grades over the portfolio of three [A-levels]."
Ucas figures show a nine percentage point rise since 2010 in the number of students predicted to score at least two A grades and a B at A-level, to 63% in 2015.
Over-prediction of grades had always occurred, Ms Curnock Cook said, but she indicated that it was becoming more common.
"Offers are being discounted at confirmation time, and we can see that.
"We can see that because the lifting of the number controls has increased competition amongst universities to recruit students - you can see that happening.
"For example, of the proportion accepted to higher-tariff universities, about 44% of those with BBB in their A-levels got a place at higher-tariff institutions, compared to just 20% in 2011," she added.
As universities compete for students they are being "more flexible with their entry grades", she said.
But she stressed that there had always been inaccuracies in predicted grades because they have always been used by teachers to signal what a pupil is capable of.
Association of School and College Leaders acting general secretary Malcolm Trobe agreed that predictive grades were often higher than the ones pupils achieved.
"There are a number of reasons for this, one of which is teachers are looking at the best possible outcome for the student if everything goes really, really well - if they manage to achieve their maximum grade."
He added that there were likely to be more discrepancies between predicted grades and the ones pupils achieved because of the move to linear A-levels and the scrapping of AS-levels. This was because teachers were used to having half the marks from the AS level.
Prof Michael Arthur, provost and president of University College London, said that his institution's standard offer is one A* grade and two As or three A grades, adding that last year, "we did drop down one grade for about 9% or so of students that we admitted".
Previously universities were allowed to take as many ABB students as they wished to recruit. This is the grade threshold for many sought-after courses at many leading universities. | Teachers are bumping up students' predicted A-level grades to help them win places at top universities, the head of the admissions service claims. | 35492915 |
But most of the 3,000 delegates from across the country will have their minds on something else.
Top of the official agenda for the ANC is to find new ways to jump-start a sluggish economy and deal with the shambolic energy supply which is holding the country back.
But it also hopes to dig deep into the party's soul - looking for that great infectious optimism which swept the nation and the rest of the world when Nelson Mandela became the country's first black president, following the end of white-minority rule 21 years ago.
ANC leaders have admitted and spoken openly about the cancer of corruption and the demonic in-fighting that are plaguing the 103-year-old liberation movement.
The nation's hopes are pinned on a thorough introspection at the National General Council - the party's mid-term policy review conference.
But another issue is likely to dominate the sidelines of the conference.
It has very little to do with the troubled party's will to deliver real material change for the masses of the people. The elephant in the room is: The party's leadership succession battle, which to all intents and purposes is already underway.
President Zuma is in his second and last term as president of the country. He is not, by law, allowed to stand for a third term in 2019.
He is expected to step down as leader of the party when his current term expires in 2017 to prepare for a new national leader, as the ANC says it does not want two centres of power.
Judging by the ANC's overwhelming victory in last year's general election, the party's leader would be favourite to move on to become national president.
Current party deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is in pole position to assume the highest office in the land - that's if all goes according to plan.
However, the ANC would not be the organisation I know if everything went according to plan.
Already there is a strong voice coming from lobbyists who want President Zuma's former wife and chair of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to be the ANC's next president.
Structures of the ANC on the ground are divided. The Women's League says it is time for a female president.
Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who is also the treasurer in the women's wing, told me they are ready for a woman president. But she denies it will sidetrack her from the issues at hand.
"Here at the NGC, we will spend 90% of our time discussing policy reviews," she said.
"That's what we are here for. We will not pre-occupy ourselves with the party leadership matters until 2017."
Susan Booysen, a professor at Wits University's school of governance and the author of The African National Congress and the Regeneration of Political Power, told me that Mr Ramaphosa is not guaranteed to be the next president.
She told me: "He is the fire fighter for many of the issues for the Zuma government but he is not safe because he was a default [compromise] candidate."
She also said that President Zuma "by all indications... has endorsed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma".
Some say that President Zuma may be endorsing his former wife in order to look after his interests in retirement. The pair remain on cordial terms.
The president of the trade union federation Cosatu, which is allied to the ANC, Sdumo Dlamini, recently told a workers' march that it was too early to talk about the ANC's succession race, and those who did so were putting the party at risk.
He said: "We say to the ANC: 2017 is two years from now, the rush to debate about the leadership in 2017 is a recipe for disaster for all of us."
Another influential supporter of President Zuma, Blade Nzimande who is also minister of Higher Education and leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) warned a crowd of protesters, who were standing in the heatwave currently sweeping Johannesburg, against ambitious politicians who use money to secure delegates' support.
He said: "If you buy delegates for the conference it means nawe [you too] can be bought. They will be bought by the single highest imperialist bidder."
While delegates insist that they are just going to deliberate about policy matters such as education, health, and the economy, behind the scenes, the different factions will be hard at work lobbying for their preferred candidate.
The fight for the soul of the ruling party is in full swing, whether on the record or off it. | South Africa's governing party is at a crossroads as it begins its policy review conference in Johannesburg - whether the African National Congress should follow its business-friendly National Development Plan, or to implement a more radical economic strategy. | 34473198 |
The Conservative, an executive head-hunter and former High Sheriff of Kent, is the great-grandson of the Scottish banker Colin Campbell, for whom the title was created in 1946.
The poll, in which all peers actively sitting were entitled to vote, was triggered by the death of Lord Lyell.
A total of 92 hereditary peers remain in the Lords following reforms in 1999.
The 66-year old Lord Colgrain emerged victorious from a crowded field, beating candidates including relatives of ex-premiers Harold Macmillan and David Lloyd George.
The 27 contenders were asked to make the case for themselves in a series of short statements and potted biographies, in which they was also asked to indicate their political allegiances.
Lord Colgrain's entry read: "My areas of expertise and particular interest are employment and financial services, following 30 years in the financial executive search sector, and rural affairs, regeneration and diversification, as partner in a family farming and property business.
"I chair two charities, am a school governor, trustee of Rochester Cathedral, president of the County Show, and was High Sheriff of Kent 2013-14. I will be able to commit as much time to the House as required."
The result was due to have been announced last Wednesday but was postponed following the fatal stabbing of a police officer in Parliament.
Lord Lyell was one of the 92 hereditary peers - including two holders of royal offices who are ex officio members - who remained in the Lords in 1999 after the remainder were expelled in reforms carried out by the government of Tony Blair.
Under current conventions, when one of their number dies, a by-election is held to elect a successor. This election was open to all those with hereditary titles on the register kept by the Clerk of the Parliaments.
Among the best-known candidates were Earl Stockton, the grandson of Harold Macmillan - Conservative prime minister between 1957 and 1963. Another famous political family was represented in the form of Earl Lloyd-George of Dwfor, the great grandson of the former Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George.
Other unsuccessful contenders include Lord Harlech, the 30-year old grandson of David Ormsby-Gore, the former Conservative politician and British Ambassador to the United States in the 1960s, who had a close friendship with Jackie Kennedy. | Lord Colgrain has been elected to the House of Lords, beating off 26 other hereditary peers in a by-election. | 39355467 |
In the searing heat, Keegan and others waited, for hours. For so many people, this was a worthwhile way to show solidarity, support and strength, at a time of loss.
While no-one I spoke to in the queue was personally affected by this tragedy, people still felt compelled to give up their time in this way.
As the day progressed, the offers of help ballooned as volunteers turned up to help those who were waiting in the queue. Local restaurants arrived with food donations, church groups brought water, local companies donated portable fans.
This show of togetherness was demonstrated in the range of people who showed up - there was young and old, gay and straight. And people from all faiths.
"Orlando Strong" is how many describe the spirit here. And this show of help and love has demonstrated that.
"All the people lining up to donate says a lot about the diversity we have here in Orlando... and about the way that the community will come together.
"When things like this happen, communities need to pull together.
"A lot of people in this line do not personally know anyone affected, but we know it affects our community and we want people to know that we stand strong."
Read about the victims here
"After I heard about what happened last night I was pretty devastated about it. I wanted to give my support.
"I've been to the nightclub before but I wasn't there last night... Every time I've been there it's been pretty fun. It's a very friendly atmosphere. Everybody's having a good time, getting to know each other. There's never been any trouble there before so I was pretty surprised when I woke up this morning and heard about what happened.
"Since I've been here, I've felt very welcome. Orlando seems very gay-friendly.
"Last night a big attack on a specific group of people at a specific place - just to get so many people like that - was a big surprise to me."
LGBT community under siege
"We are here to help as much as we can... to share the hurt that everybody else has felt, we also feel the same. We condemn this act wholeheartedly.
"Hopefully the community will understand these [terrorist attacks] are acts of just a few people - they don't reflect what everybody else [in the Muslim community] feels... This is not an act that we encourage at all, or that we accept or condone.
"I believe we all want to live in a world that promotes peace, love, unity and harmony."
Obama: US united in grief and resolve
"I had to do something. We should all be strong for each other.
"There's way too much violence. I think we should share some love."
Watch Rajini's full report from the blood bank on Facebook here
"I'm here to show my solidarity and to strongly condemn the shooting, the killing of innocent people. It is barbaric, it is satanic, it has no [place] in the world.
"Me as a Muslim, I'm here to tell the world that we are totally against it. This cannot be tolerated at all. Our hearts are with the victims and with the survivors and they will definitely be in our prayers.
"For something of this sort to happen in the holy month of Ramadan, we are not happy at all. We are here... to tell the people we are with you - you are not alone.
"I encourage all Muslims from all walks of life, wherever they are - let us come out and show our support and let us condemn [the violence]." | "They picked the wrong community to mess with," were the words of Keegan, one of hundreds of people from the wider Orlando area who had queued up to donate blood for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. | 36521479 |
A procession will be held in the capital, Abuja, with 219 girls taking part to represent each missing girl.
The abduction of the girls in Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria sparked global outrage, with nations such as the US and China promising to help find them.
There have been reported sightings of the girls, but none has been found.
Boko Haram say the girls have converted to Islam and been married off. One witness told the BBC that she saw more than 50 of them alive three weeks ago in the north-eastern town of Gwoza.
Analysis: Will Ross, BBC Nigeria correspondent
It has been a whole year of agony for the relatives of the missing 219 Chibok girls. There have been a few sightings of some of the abducted students but very little official information from a government that has long promised to rescue them from the clutches of Boko Haram.
One mother told the BBC she sometimes arranges her 19-year-old daughter's clothes in the hope that she is about to return home.
The scale of this conflict is so grim that the Chibok girls represent just a fraction of those seized by the jihadists. Many have escaped partly thanks to a recent military offensive - but not the Chibok girls.
Turning the tide against Boko Haram?
Who are the militants?
High-profile figures such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and US First Lady Michelle Obama were among those who drew attention to their plight on Twitter last year under the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag.
Since then, campaigners have criticised the Nigerian government of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan for not doing enough to find the girls and combat the six-year Boko Haram insurgency in the north, in which thousands of people have been killed.
And Amnesty International say the militants have abducted 2,000 girls and women since the start of last year, becoming cooks, sex slaves and fighters.
Nigeria's incoming president, Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to "crush" the insurgents and said his government would "do everything in its power to bring them home".
However, he added: "As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them." | Ceremonies are to be staged around the world to mark one year since more than 200 girls were abducted by Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram. | 32289961 |
Laidlaw, 30, pleaded with referee Craig Joubert to consult the television match official after he awarded Australia a controversial late penalty.
Bernard Foley kicked it for a 35-34 quarter-final win, World Rugby later saying the decision was a mistake.
"I'll take that to my grave with me and I say that truthfully," said Laidlaw.
"It's something that as players we know could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's a career where things turn on small margins. You put your life's work into stuff and for it to end like that is difficult to take.
"But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We don't deserve anything. Nobody is going to give us anything easy. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us in the Six Nations, and we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves.
"We have to improve, get better and win games of rugby."
Scotland's recent Six Nations record - they have won three games in the past four years, and lost their last seven matches in the championship including a whitewash last year- does not inspire confidence.
But Laidlaw says the growing maturity of the likes of fly-half Finn Russell, centre Mark Bennett, full-back Stuart Hogg and lock Jonny Gray - all 23 or younger - has given belief to the whole squad.
"We have got to be confident, that is probably one thing we have learned from the past," he told BBC Scotland. "We must play with confidence, and the make-up of our group lends itself to that.
"We have confident young players who are averse to some of the pressures, which is brilliant. Some of the boys who have been around for a bit longer are starting to feed off the younger players.
"Scotland can win [the championship]. Nobody knows the make-up of the tournament or the results. What we can affect is ourselves and how prepared we are. When we take the field against England we have to be ready to rock and roll." | Captain Greig Laidlaw says he will take the pain of Scotland's World Cup exit "to the grave", but believes he can lead his side to Six Nations success. | 35421040 |
Mr Duterte won a landslide victory in the presidential election this month, taking about six million votes more than his closest competitor.
The tough-talking mayor of Davao won on a strident anti-crime platform, promising to wipe out crime in months.
Mr Duterte, 71, did not attend Monday's ceremony, saying he had "never attended any proclamation all my life".
He has largely stayed in Davao, in the south, since his election win.
The joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate also proclaimed Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo as vice-president.
Both will be sworn in on 30 June, and serve a single six-year term before the constitution requires they stand down.
Duterte vows to bring back death penalty
The controversial statements of Rodrigo Duterte
Filipino netizens react to Duterte alcohol ban proposal
Why did Filipinos vote for Duterte?
From 'Punisher' to president | The Philippine parliament has officially declared Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte to be the president-elect. | 36410949 |
The Sun published claims two women at Caremark, Walsall, were "entertaining clients" on an adult website while being paid to arrange home care.
The Care Quality Commission told the BBC "this behaviour is completely unacceptable" and inspectors will check Caremark is caring for people properly.
Caremark said it was "shocked" and was investigating the allegations.
The company arranges home care for elderly, ill and disabled adults throughout the UK, using 75 offices. The office in Walsall is understood to be part of the company's Wolverhampton franchise.
The Sun newspaper named two women it alleged were using anonymous online profiles to attract clients on the adult website. The paper said they were charging £1.49 a minute to show their bodies and perform sex acts.
Andrea Sutcliffe, the CQC's chief inspector of adult social care, said: "In light of this new information I have asked my inspectors to look into the matter further to ensure that people are being properly looked after - which is what staff employed by Caremark are paid to do."
Kevin Lewis, chief executive of Caremark, said the incident appeared to have taken place in an administration office and an investigation was under way.
He said: "We are shocked at the alleged actions of two members of staff employed by the Wolverhampton franchisee. I have spoken to the owner to understand what has happened and what actions have been taken.
"At no time was the care of clients put at risk as the services provided by Caremark are delivered at the clients' home."
Chris Williams, owner of the Caremark franchise involved in the allegations, said he was "shocked and surprised".
"This is clearly not the kind of behaviour we would tolerate in our business," he said.
"I am undertaking a full investigation into the circumstances of the incident and we are currently speaking to all those involved." | The health watchdog is investigating claims staff at a care firm sold sex chats while topless from their office. | 39242525 |
His white BMW collided head-on with a Volkswagen Polo on Ayr Road in Larkhall at about 17:00 on Saturday.
He sustained serious head injuries and has been transferred to a specialist unit at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
A mother and daughter in the Volkswagen, aged 58 and 24, are being treated in Wishaw General Hospital and are both described as "stable".
The casualties received prompt treatment because an ambulance was close to the scene of the crash.
PC Gregg Dick said: "Thankfully at the time of the crash an ambulance happened to be passing and the paramedics were able to stop and assist the injured at the scene.
"From our investigations there were other cars on the road when the crash happened and I would appeal to anyone who saw the crash or who may have information that will assist officers with their inquiries to contact Motherwell Trunk Roads Policing Unit via 101."
The A71 - between Ayr Road and Ashgillhhead Road - was closed for around six hours. | A 19-year-old man has been critically injured in a crash in Lanarkshire. | 38949591 |
23 October 2015 Last updated at 18:50 BST
Able Seaman Albert McKenzie took part in the Zeebrugge raid on 23 April 1918.
BBC London reporter Sarah Harris reports. | A statue has been unveiled in honour of the first London sailor to collect the Victoria Cross from King George V. | 34618290 |
The pilot, 67, was rescued from the single-seater plane after crashing on the east side of City Airport in Barton at about 13:00 BST.
He suffered serious injuries including a broken leg and was taken to hospital for treatment. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
A clean-up operation is being carried out at the scene. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has been informed.
Sgt Stuart Jones said: "Police, fire and ambulance crews were quickly on the scene and able to get the man out of the aircraft.
"Officers will be in the area whilst the clean-up operation takes place." | A light aircraft has crashed into trees shortly after taking off in Salford. | 37086589 |
Since Nigel Farage quit as leader, his successor resigned 18 days into the job and another contender left the party following a fracas with a fellow MEP.
Mr Nuttall's rival Suzanne Evans said she could widen UKIP's reach, appealing to women and ethnic minority voters.
Third hopeful John Rees-Evans has vowed to give more power to the grassroots.
UKIP's new leader will be announced on 28 November.
Mr Nuttall and Ms Evans are seen as the front-runners while Mr Rees-Evans has claimed the leadership will be a "coronation".
The contest is the second since the party's long-term leader Mr Farage quit in June in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
UKIP leadership: The contenders
Where did it all go wrong for UKIP?
Mr Farage returned as interim leader after his replacement Diane James quit in October just over two weeks into the job, saying she did not have "sufficient authority" to see through the changes she had planned.
Soon afterwards the man seen as the favourite to succeed her, Steven Woolfe, quit the party altogether after being involved in a fracas at the European Parliament with another UKIP MEP.
Mr Nuttall, who was Mr Farage's deputy leader for six years, told BBC One's Daily Politics: "I'm standing on a platform of unity and experience.
"I believe that the party has to come together if it is not only to survive but prosper. I believe I'm the best candidate to ensure that happens. I'm not part of any faction of the party and beyond that I've done every job in the party."
He added: "UKIP has to unite, we are on 13% in the opinion polls, the future is bright, there are open goals but UKIP has to be on the pitch to kick the ball in."
Ms Evans, the former party deputy chairman who was suspended from it due to an internal dispute during the last leadership contest, told the BBC: "I have a huge amount of experience in the party as well and I have also got a background that I think means I can help bring people together."
She said the party was "at its best when it is scaring the political establishment", but it had to start winning seats at elections "right across the country" by broadening its appeal to women, ethnic minority voters and Labour supporters.
Both were critical of the controversial "Breaking Point" poster that Mr Farage unveiled during the EU referendum campaign that showed a long line of migrants.
Ms Evans said it was the "wrong poster at the wrong time", while Mr Nuttall described it as "clumsy and I thought it was wrong to do so just a week before the referendum" - although he added that it had addressed "genuine concerns" about immigration.
Asked whether they admired Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Ms Evans said: "No, I don't" - citing his actions in Ukraine, Georgia and the Alexander Litvinenko case - Mr Nuttall said that "in the Middle East he is generally getting it right in many areas", but added that he thought he was "pretty much a nasty man".
He said: "We need to bring the conflict in Syria to an end as fast as possible. The British line and the American line before Trump has been 'Let's arm these rebels.' These rebels include the al-Nusra Front, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, the Syrian mujahideen which is linked to the Taliban. We need to clear these people out and ensure that Syria becomes a stable state."
Businessman Mr Rees-Evans stormed out of a hustings meeting in Newport earlier this month claiming he had been asked not to "rock the boat".
He told the programme he wanted to offer members the chance to propose policies via a "UKIP Direct" website, saying: "We have really dedicated passionate supporters who feel like they are not really being listened to... even at a branch level, people feel that there is not adequate flow of communication up and down the party. I want to rectify all of that."
While he is in favour of the death penalty, Mr Rees-Evans said he would not have the authority to determine party policy on the issue without putting it to the members.
He said the "mainstream media" was trying to trivialise his campaign by focusing on "pretty irrelevant" issues, but added: "What I'm actually trying to do in this party is trying to revolutionise the democratic process in the UK." | UKIP leadership contender Paul Nuttall has told the BBC only he can "get a grip" on the party, following a series of upsets in recent months. | 38043760 |
Sheila, 12, and Katharine Lyon, 10, were last seen in March of 1975.
Initially questioned by police in 1975, Lloyd Lee Michael Welch became a suspect in 2013 after cold-case detectives revisited the case.
Welch is already imprisoned for child sex crimes in Delaware.
Police said a detective reviewing the evidence made a link between Welch and a composite sketch of the suspect. Investigators then interviewed Welch in prison and uncovered more evidence.
When Sheila and Katharine disappeared, the then 18-year-old Welch was at the Wheaton Plaza Mall, where the girls were headed that day in 1975.
Welch and his uncle had been named as persons of interest in the case before, and his wife was charged with perjury after testifying before a grand jury about the case last year, denying his involvement.
He wrote to the Washington Post disclaiming his role in the girls' disappearance.
Police affidavits obtained by the Washington Post show that Welch claims he left the mall with the girls and that his uncle sexually assaulted them. He said he then left and "never saw the girls again".
The Washington Post reports that Welch had bloody clothes in a backpack and asked a relative in Virginia to wash them, spurring investigators to think the blood have might belonged to the two girls.
Authorities have been searching for the girls' remains since last year in Bedford Country, Virginia, where Welch family members own land.
Welch pleaded guilty to child sex crimes in 1994 and 1997. | Police in Maryland have charged a convicted sex offender with the murder of two girls - 40 years after the sisters went missing from a shopping centre. | 33542398 |
The first prosecution witness, who gave evidence on Tuesday, was not named.
But the BBC's Odhiambo Joseph in Nairobi says a local news site has published the photograph of a woman it claims to be the witness.
Mr Ruto denies organising violence after the December 2007 elections.
He is charged with crimes against humanity over the violence, in which some 1,200 people died and 600,000 were forced from their homes.
ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has previously complained that some witnesses were being intimidated in Kenya, some of whom have withdrawn from the case.
Her first witness gave evidence from behind a curtain and with her face pixelated and voice distorted on the court video.
She is being referred to as witness 536.
Our correspondent says that, after her appearance, numerous bloggers and social media entries have published her supposed name.
Beryl Aidi, from the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, says this may deter further witnesses from testifying.
"Now that a witness has been identified it will be difficult to assure others that they and their family members will be safe. And in Kenya, it's not just the nuclear family: There are aunts, uncles, cousins," the AFP news agency quotes her as saying.
"Witnesses are bound to feel that their family and their extended family may be in danger and might want to withdraw," she said.
The proceedings are being closely followed in Kenya.
Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji warned that anyone revealing the identity of a protected witness could be guilty of contempt of court.
Our reporter says that the ICC does have jurisdiction in Kenya, but the situation is complicated as it would rely on political good will.
Furthermore, parliament recently voted to withdraw from the ICC, which would end the court's jurisdiction in the country.
Witness 536 broke down in court during her testimony on Tuesday.
She is said to have survived the attack on the Kiambaa Church in which about 36 people were burnt to death.
She is a member of the Kikuyu ethnic group, who were targeted by Mr Ruto's Kalenjin community, allegedly at his behest.
Mr Ruto is the first serving official to appear at the ICC.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to start his trial in November - he too denies the charges. | A senior International Criminal Court (ICC) judge has warned Kenyan media and bloggers not to reveal the identity of witnesses at the trial of Deputy President William Ruto. | 24151392 |
The 32-year-old, the number one ranked Test bowler, has been out of action with a groin strain since the first Test against India in early November.
But in Cape Town this week he was able to complete two bowling spells at match intensity in the nets, run sprints and do agility tests and fielding drills.
The first of the four-match Test series begins in Durban on 26 December.
Proteas team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee said: "Dale has put a lot of work into his training and rehab since his return from India so we are very happy to have him back from injury.
"He was put through a thorough fitness test on Thursday by physiotherapist, Shane Jabaar, he came through the tests without any discomfort and will be available for selection for the first Test match against England."
Steyn has taken 402 wickets in 81 Tests at an average of 22.56, including 46 in 11 matches against England.
South Africa remain at the top of the Test rankings despite a 3-0 defeat in India this month. | South Africa paceman Dale Steyn will be fit for the Test series with England after passing a fitness test. | 35137204 |
Gabriella Taylor, 18, spent four days in intensive care after doctors diagnosed her with a rare strain of leptospirosis, known as Weil's disease.
Police are investigating whether she was deliberately poisoned.
But Dr Anna Checkley, from the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said she had "never heard of it being used as a poisoning agent".
Ms Taylor, from Southampton, was admitted to hospital after becoming unwell during her girls' quarter-final match, last month.
She was later diagnosed with a rare strain of leptospirosis - a bacteria which can be transmitted through rat urine.
Her mother, Milena Taylor, told BBC Sport it was "impossible" for her to have simply become ill and her daughter was "still not 100%".
She said the teenager had been staying "in a completely healthy environment".
Police are investigating an allegation of poisoning with the "intent to endanger life" or cause grievous bodily harm.
Dr Checkley told BBC News people in the UK usually contract the infection after coming into contact with contaminated water.
She added: "Leptospirosis is pretty unusual in this country.
"We see between 50 and 100 cases a year, usually in sewage workers or people whose work brings them into contact either with contaminated water or animals, so farm workers, abattoir workers and so on."
The majority of people who have leptospirosis have only "a mild illness and get better from it", she said, adding that "between one in 10 and one in 20" go on to develop Weil's disease - a more severe form of the illness.
That can lead to organ failure and life-threatening bleeding, she said.
The UK sees "between 50 and 100 cases" a year of leptospirosis with most caught during visits to tropical countries, she added.
Prof Elizabeth Wellington, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Warwick, said it would require a high level of expertise to intentionally grow the bacteria.
She said claims it could be used to deliberately poison someone were "a bit laughable".
"If she has the disease then it's a case of bad luck, she has most likely become infected by water," Prof Wellington added.
Scotland Yard said police in the London Borough of Merton, which covers Wimbledon, were investigating an allegation of poisoning.
A spokesman said: "The allegation was received by officers on August 5, with the incident alleged to have taken place at an address in Wimbledon between July 1 and 10. The victim was taken ill on July 6."
No arrests have been made. | Experts have cast doubts on claims a British tennis player was deliberately poisoned at Wimbledon last month. | 37051318 |
The five main parties all have campaign events planned around Wales.
For the Conservatives, Prime Minister David Cameron will visit Wales as part of a tour of the UK's four nations in one day.
He will say the economy is growing across the UK, and an Ed Miliband government would be a "disaster", with "one month to save Britain from debt".
Mr Cameron said ahead of the visits: "Today, I am travelling to all four nations of our United Kingdom, to all four corners of our country, with one simple message: we have one month to save our economy from the disaster of an Ed Miliband government.
"We have one month to save Britain from his mountain of debt; one month to save Britain from his punitive taxes; one month to save Britain, and British families, from his anti-business and anti-aspiration agenda."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is due to visit Montgomeryshire on Tuesday to discuss Liberal Democrat plans for NHS funding.
The party says its pledge to put £8bn into the NHS will mean an extra £450m for Wales which would be spent on more nurses and mental health services.
In the Vale of Glamorgan, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Rachel Reeves will tell voters they have "one month to scrap the 'bedroom tax'".
The party claims the removal of the spare room subsidy is due to hit a further 70,000 families in Wales over the next five years.
Plaid Cymru will launch its farming mini-manifesto on Anglesey with a pledge to improve support for agriculture.
Plaid is also calling for improvements to broadband, fuel prices and postal services in rural areas.
UKIP Wales is planning a rally in Swansea. | Campaigning for the general election is stepping up after Easter, with 30 days to go until polling day on 7 May. | 32166927 |
Angela Poole, 49, of Derby and George Taylor, 56, formerly of Derby, made false claims through the Access of Work scheme.
They also evaded income tax, Derby Crown Court was told.
Poole, who denied the charges, was found guilty and jailed for four years.
Taylor, who pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud and one of cheating the public revenue, will be sentenced later.
Department for Work and Pensions spokesman Matthew Bentley said: "If Angela Poole was matching the level of work she claimed, she would have been working 21 hours a day to generate the £200,000 she was claiming a year.
"The pair spent much of the money travelling the world, often claiming for work while they were out of the country. She even claimed for £5,000 even though she was on holiday in Dubai."
Poole ran Angel Interpreting and BSL Talking Hands, two British sign language firms, along with Taylor.
The investigation also uncovered tax avoidance of more than £690,000 - making the total fraud more than £1m, a revenue and customs (HMRC) spokesman said.
Justin Tomlinson, minister for disabled people, said: "Access to Work is a vital scheme that supports disabled people into employment and for someone to defraud it on this scale is appalling."
The couple falsely claimed they had provided the sign language work through two firms they operated between 2008 and 2013.
The department began investigating after it was tipped off by deaf people in Derby that the couple were making false claims.
"Tax fraud is a serious criminal offence and Poole must now pay the price for stealing money from taxpayers which could have been used to fund vital public services," Gary Forbes of the HMRC's criminal taxes unit said. | Two sign language interpreters have been found guilty of making false benefit claims and tax evasion of more than £1m in a scam that helped them pay for expensive holidays abroad. | 33053694 |
The evening event in San Francisco was held on the same day as a Microsoft-sponsored "women in games" lunch.
The dancers were dressed in short skirts and crop tops.
Phil Spencer said it was "unequivocally wrong", after attendees took to social media to complain.
The event took place during a week-long conference for developers creating games for Xbox.
"I like dancing, I like talking to dev[eloper]s. But not at this party. Thanks for pushing me out of this party, Microsoft.," tweeted Kamina Vincent, an editor at the Tin Man Games studio, based in Australia.
Ms Vincent said it was the first time she had felt unwelcome at a games event.
She told the Huffington Post one of the dancers had said she had been hired to "speak with attendees and encourage them to the dance floor".
As in much of the tech sector, the number of women who work in the computer game industry remains low.
In 2015, the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment said 14% of the UK workforce and 22% of the global workforce were women.
However, some people disagreed the party organisers had made a mistake.
"Go-go dancers are not strippers," tweeted Gerris Digital.
In a staff email, also published online, Mr Spencer wrote: "It has come to my attention that at Xbox-hosted events at GDC [Game Developers Conference] this past week, we represented Xbox and Microsoft in a way that was absolutely not consistent or aligned to our values.
"This matter is being handled internally, but let me be very clear - how we represent ourselves as individuals, who we hire and partner with and how we engage with others is a direct reflection of our brand and what we stand for.
"When we do the opposite, and create an environment that alienates or offends any group, we justly deserve the criticism."
Microsoft parties have featured go-go dancers in the past.
"Microsoft Techset party has red-lace go-go dancers on the roof," tweeted Omar L in 2010.
"Um, there are go-go dancers in Day-Glo bikinis at the Microsoft holiday party," tweeted Iain Kennedy in 2011. | The head of Microsoft's Xbox has apologised after the company hosted a party for computer games developers that featured podium performances by female go-go dancers. | 35861212 |
The new chair of the Royal College of GPs, Dr Helen Stokes-Lampard, says lots of people may struggle to afford the recommended amount of daily portions.
Public Health England insists five-a-day is affordable and achievable.
Dr Stokes-Lampard wants doctors to take a pragmatic approach and offer patients tailored goals.
She also rejects the idea that smokers should always be told to give up.
Dr Stokes-Lampard claims many children are being brought up with a culture of not having any fresh fruit and vegetables at all.
And she told BBC Breakfast News: "In the consultation with patients it's vital that GPs sometimes need to tailor the advice to the family in front of them. That may be starting with one or two portions a day and building up to the five portions a day."
However, she added: "The five-a-day initiative is fantastic and gets my and the profession's 100% support. It is what we should aspire to and in fact, probably, people should be eating more than five portions a day ideally."
Are you getting five-a-day?
What counts?
On smoking, Dr Stokes-Lampard said: "The guidance that smoking should be completely given up is clear and unequivocal.
"However, if I have a patient in front of me who has smoked 40 a day forever, who really likes smoking and has no desire to give up whatsoever, then what we might be trying to achieve between us is saying 'what about cutting down'.
"Patients are individuals. You can't treat everyone the same. If you do, patients can zone out and just completely disregard any advice. And nobody gains from that."
Dr Alison Tedstone, of Public Health England, said: "Five fruit and veg a day is an affordable and achievable target and the cornerstone of a healthy balanced diet." | When it comes to fruit and vegetables, two-a-day, rather than five, might be more realistic advice to give families, says one of the UK's leading doctors. | 38048957 |
Two goals at the end of the first half from Matty Kennedy and Jake Jervis put the Pilgrims in control before Graham Carey made the win safe.
The promotion party was in full swing before Ryan Taylor added a fourth and Kennedy a fifth as the Exiles wilted.
Jervis scored Plymouth's sixth before Aaron Williams' consolation strike.
Plymouth's victory keeps alive their hopes of winning the League Two title.
Newport remain one point outside of the relegation zone thanks to Hartlepool's 2-1 defeat by Leyton Orient, but they have seen their goal difference take a hit.
The result was Newport's heaviest defeat of the 21st Century.
Plymouth Argyle captain Luke McCormick told BBC Radio Devon: "It's overwhelming really, we've been trying to do this for certainly the last three years and even before that.
"The club's been through some real tough times and this is the other end of the scale.
"The fans on the pitch in front of me, they deserve it more than anything."
Newport County boss Mike Flynn told BBC Radio Wales Sport: "We played a very good team and congratulations to them on their promotion.
"Matching them was just a step too far for us today."
Match ends, Plymouth Argyle 6, Newport County 1.
Second Half ends, Plymouth Argyle 6, Newport County 1.
Attempt missed. Matthew Kennedy (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the right.
Goal! Plymouth Argyle 6, Newport County 1. Aaron Williams (Newport County) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Sean Rigg.
Substitution, Plymouth Argyle. Craig Tanner replaces Graham Carey.
Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Alex Samuel (Newport County).
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Mickey Demetriou.
Attempt saved. Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt missed. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.
Attempt saved. Jake Jervis (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt saved. Gary Miller (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Substitution, Plymouth Argyle. Gary Miller replaces Oscar Threlkeld.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Jazzi Barnum-Bobb.
Substitution, Plymouth Argyle. Connor Smith replaces David Fox.
Substitution, Newport County. Sid Nelson replaces Scot Bennett because of an injury.
Goal! Plymouth Argyle 6, Newport County 0. Jake Jervis (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Ryan Taylor.
Attempt saved. Dan Butler (Newport County) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt saved. Aaron Williams (Newport County) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high from a direct free kick.
Matthew Kennedy (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Mitch Rose (Newport County).
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Darren Jones.
Darren Jones (Newport County) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Plymouth Argyle 5, Newport County 0. Matthew Kennedy (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Antoni Sarcevic.
Attempt saved. Alex Samuel (Newport County) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Foul by Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle).
(Newport County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Alex Samuel (Newport County) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Attempt missed. Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Substitution, Newport County. Aaron Williams replaces Mark Randall.
Gary Sawyer (Plymouth Argyle) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Gary Sawyer (Plymouth Argyle).
Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Matthew Kennedy (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Darren Jones.
Attempt blocked. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Goal! Plymouth Argyle 4, Newport County 0. Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Matthew Kennedy.
Matthew Kennedy (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half. | Plymouth Argyle were promoted from League Two in style as they thrashed Newport 6-1 to add to the Welsh club's relegation worries. | 39550159 |
Here are some of the main methods and principles in use.
In recent years the Environment Agency has used a range of temporary or "demountable" flood barriers to provide additional protection to flood-prone areas.
Lightweight sectional metal barriers are relatively inexpensive and can be placed in various configurations and removed completely when waters recede.
Frame barriers consist of rigid frames holding an impermeable membrane and use the weight of the floodwater itself to hold the barrier in place.
Temporary barriers can also be added to existing permanent flood defences, such as raised embankments, increasing the level of protection.
Natural flood management offers a sustainable approach to managing floods and is intended to complement traditional "hard engineering" techniques, such as flood barrier and concrete walls.
These schemes rely on a combination of small-scale interventions with the aim of reducing the speed of the flow of converging water before it reaches larger rivers.
Natural flood defence features include small barriers in ditches and fields, or notches cut into embankments, all of which divert the water into open land.
Letting pools form outside the main channel of the river means the water is temporarily removed from the main flow reducing the power of the floodwaters.
Trees can also help defend against floods. Planting more trees catches rainfall and helps take water from the soil - although the Environment Agency says large areas must be reforested to make a real difference.
Felled trees can also be laid across streams in wooded areas and help push unusually high waters into surrounding woodlands, although such schemes need very careful planning and management.
BBC iWonder: Find out what human activities are making floods more likely
Sustainable drainage is a concept often applied to towns and cities which are especially prone to flash flooding after sudden heavy rain.
In urban areas, large areas of concrete and tarmac, as well as the roofs of buildings, are impermeable to water. Rain is channelled straight into drainage systems which can quickly become overwhelmed.
In the UK, the Flood Act of 2010 obliges builders to landscape developments so that water from roofs and driveways seeps into open ground rather than rushing into the water system.
Sustainable drainage guidelines suggest that impermeable surfaces should be replaced with permeable material, allowing rainwater to drain into the ground - a process known as infiltration.
Large "detention basins" can also be built to collect rainwater and hold it, managing the volume of water entering urban rivers, while ponds offer further water-holding capacity.
Farmers in Somerset claim a lack of river dredging worsened the impact of the flooding that hit the region in January 2014.
But the issue of whether rivers should be dredged is not clear cut.
The Environment Agency says that while dredging can improve general land drainage, it cannot prevent rivers from flooding, due to the huge volumes of water involved during major floods.
The basic aim of dredging is to remove silt - a sedimentary material made of fine sand, clay and small-sized particles of rock - from the river's bed, therefore increasing its capacity to carry water downstream.
The process usually involves an excavator, or vacuum pump, mounted on a barge or on the riverbank, to remove silt from the river.
The process is costly, sometimes harmful to the environment, and can weaken riverbanks as well as the foundations of bridges and weirs, the Environment Agency says.
After a major flood, large volumes of silt may accumulate in slow-flowing areas and the river may need to be dredged again. | As parts of the UK again deal with severe flooding after a winter storm, questions are being asked about how flooding can be prevented or alleviated. | 25929644 |
The Bank argues that the polymer notes stay cleaner and are more secure than cotton paper notes, which have been used for more than 100 years.
The £5 note featuring Sir Winston Churchill will be the first plastic banknote.
More than 20 countries around the world have adopted polymer banknotes.
The Bank of England said in September that it was considering a switch from cotton paper to polymer notes.
It then visited various shopping centres around the UK to gauge public opinion about the proposed change.
Nearly 13,000 people gave feedback. The Bank said 87% of those who responded were in favour of polymer, only 6% were opposed and 7% were neutral. However, some suggested the notes were too slippery.
It has now confirmed their introduction into the currency, starting with the £5 note. The £10 note is to go plastic about a year later, carrying the image of Jane Austen.
Follow a fiver - from production to destruction
The new banknotes will be made from a thin, transparent and flexible film made of polypropylene.
This is coated with an ink layer that enables it to carry the printed design features of a banknote. This allows the inclusion of windows or clear portions in the design, used to enhance protection against counterfeits.
The Bank has said that these notes last for 2.5 times longer than paper banknotes. They will survive a spin in the washing machine, but will still melt under extreme heat such as an iron.
Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said: "Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do.
"Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of banknote design to meet that objective. The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment."
The Bank said it expected to enter a contract with Innovia Security to supply the polymer material for the new £5 and £10 notes, in which case Innovia would establish a polymer production plant in Wigton, Cumbria, in 2016.
Polymer banknotes are produced from a thin, transparent and flexible film made of polypropylene.
This is coated with multiple layers of special ink (usually white) to the front and the back.
A portion of the film is typically left clear to form a window or clear portion in the design, to be used for protection against counterfeits.
Other security features can be embedded in, or laid onto, the banknote.
Once the film has been cut into sheets, they can be printed using standard banknote printing equipment.
Why aren't plastic banknotes more popular?
The new notes will initially cost more to make but the extra durability of the notes means they will be cheaper to issue than paper notes, the Bank has argued.
They will have smaller dimensions than the current stock of notes.
Consequently a gradual introduction will allow cash machine operators to alter ATMs to be able to carry the new, smaller note.
It is not the first time plastic notes have been used in the UK.
In 1999, Northern Bank of Northern Ireland issued a polymer £5 commemorative note celebrating the year 2000.
A plastic note was introduced in the Isle of Man in 1983 but was withdrawn in 1988 owing to problems with the ink
Adopters of the notes include Canada, whose last central bank governor - Mark Carney - is now the governor of the Bank of England.
The Bank of England has been busy redesigning banknotes, following the announcement of Churchill's inclusion on the £5 note from 2016 at the earliest.
This created controversy over the potential lack of women on Bank of England notes, so in July the Bank said it planned to put Jane Austen on the next version of the £10 note.
Now, the Bank has outlined plans on how it will choose historical characters on banknotes.
A committee will choose a theme to be represented, such as a figure representing scientific achievement. A two-month nomination process will then include views from members of the public and experts in that field.
The committee will draw up a shortlist to hand to the Bank's governor for a final decision.
In light of the recent difficulties, the Bank said that no "unduly divisive" characters would be considered.
It will only consider historic characters. The only image of a living person carried on a banknote would be the monarch, it said. | Plastic banknotes that can survive a spin in the washing machine are to be brought into circulation by the Bank of England in 2016. | 25427663 |
Sercombe, 26, was left out of Saturday's League One draw at Walsall for unspecified "disciplinary reasons".
Manager Michael Appleton refused to confirm if the former Exeter midfielder had played his last game for Oxford.
"Who knows?" he said. "He won't be in the squad this weekend and whether he is beyond that, is something that will we decide at the time."
Sercombe's last appearance for Oxford came against Fleetwood on 5 April just days after he scored at Wembley in the U's EFL Trophy final defeat by Coventry City.
He has scored 22 goals in all competition for Oxford since joining from Exeter City in summer 2015.
"Everything is undo-able, there's never a full stop on anything," Appleton added. "But, there's going to have to be a hell of a lot of work behind the scenes to put things right.
"We do things a certain type of way. There's a culture at this club, certain things we accept and certain things we don't.
"I'm speaking on behalf of the whole group, not just myself and I'll be amazed if anybody thinks differently."
Sercombe will sit out Friday's trip to Bradford and the visit of Port Vale on Monday as 10th-placed Oxford look to cling on to their slim chances of reaching the League One play-offs. | Oxford United midfielder Liam Sercombe will not be included in the side's squad for their next two matches. | 39576721 |
Former Rangers striker Lafferty, who is being released by Norwich City, has said he would love to return.
"He's been here before and the fans know him very well," said full-back Hodson, who has yet to have a chat about his own future with Caixinha.
"It would be nice to see him here, but that's down to the manager."
Lafferty, who only made 16 appearances for Championship outfit Norwich this season, spent four years in Glasgow after joining for £3m from Burnley, but quit after the club's financial problems in 2012.
"Kyle is a great lad," said 25-year-old Hodson. "He's been performing very well for Northern Ireland, both leading up to the Euros and at the championships.
"He's a goalscorer. He had a great time here.
"I can definitely understand why Kyle says he regrets leaving. Once you're at a big club, you want to stay at a big club.
"Kyle has proven himself wherever he goes. Leading up to the Euros, he was top goalscorer for Northern Ireland.
"He hasn't been playing much football but has still been scoring during this qualifying campaign, so I'm sure there will be a lot of interest in him."
Caixinha has already told out-of-contract defenders Clint Hill and Philippe Senderos they will not be handed new deals following Sunday's final game of the season at St Johnstone.
The Portuguese will hold individual meetings with the rest of his squad this week to spell out whether they have a future under his leadership.
"To be honest, I'm not really thinking about that," said Hodson, who still has two years remaining on his contract.
"There are two games left of the season and they are the most important things at the moment.
"I'm just concentrating on the games, working hard in training and that is my only focus at the moment. Whatever happens, happens.
"We can worry about it at the end of the season once these games are done. My focus is fully on these last two games of the season." | Lee Hodson does not know if he figures in Pedro Caixinha's plans for Rangers but hopes Northern Ireland team-mate Kyle Lafferty joins him at Ibrox. | 39937672 |
Russia's plans are outlined in a new naval doctrine, launched on Sunday as the nation celebrated Navy Day.
The navy will get a fleet of new icebreakers, because the Arctic region gives Russia unrestricted access to the Atlantic and Pacific, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.
The Arctic is also rich in minerals.
The new doctrine calls for close co-operation with China in the Pacific region and India in the Indian Ocean.
At a ceremony by the Baltic Sea, attended by President Vladimir Putin, Mr Rogozin said "the main emphasis is in two directions - the Arctic and Atlantic".
"The Atlantic emphasis is linked to the fact that recently there has been a quite active development of Nato and it has approached our borders. The Russian Federation will of course respond to that."
The ceremony took place at Baltiysk, a major naval base in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory sandwiched between Nato members Poland and Lithuania.
Mr Rogozin, who oversees Russia's Arctic projects, said the situation in Crimea and Sevastopol was also a factor influencing Russia's new naval doctrine.
Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, ousting Ukrainian forces from the Black Sea peninsula's bases, in a move condemned internationally.
The annexation triggered Western sanctions, which have been ratcheted up several times because of Russian support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Mr Rogozin said Russia would establish a naval presence in the Mediterranean and invest in the economies of Crimea and Sevastopol. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Russia retained control of the big Sevastopol naval base.
A live-fire exercise by the fleet in Sevastopol could have cost lives on Sunday when a missile exploded near the warships, as thousands of spectators watched the display. | Russia will strengthen its naval forces in the Arctic and Atlantic as a response to Nato activities close to Russia's borders, the Kremlin says. | 33673191 |
The Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall is joined on the all-female list by Lavinia Greenlaw and KJ Orr, who have also been shortlisted once before.
Tahmima Anam and Claire-Louise Bennett are also in the running for the £15,000 prize, it was announced on BBC Radio 4's Front Row.
The winner will be revealed in a ceremony next month.
Award judge Ted Hodgkinson said the shortlisted stories were full of "insights" and "revelations".
The shortlist - selected from 478 entries - is:
Hodgkinson, senior programmer for literature and the spoken word at the Southbank Centre, said: "These short stories catapult you through distinct lives, sensibilities and in just a few thousand words, expand the possibilities of the form.
"From illuminating the telling details in the everyday, to pitching us into hidden underworlds that exist in parallel to our own, these stories are full of insights, humour and revelations."
The prize is run in conjunction with the Book Trust charity, with the runner-up receiving £3,000 and the three remaining authors receiving £500 each.
Mantel's story was inspired by an Alan Bennett piece in the London Review of Books in which he recounted a visit to a hospital's accident and emergency department.
Mantel, who was once a hospital worker, has written a story of visitors to casualty during the course of one night.
Claire-Louise Bennett's story is about a failed academic and told in the space of a single day, while Aman tells a story of female friendship in Bangladesh, inspired by the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Dhaka in 2013.
Greenlaw, who is also a poet, described her story as a "sort of fairy tale" about a teenager who lives in a village known as the "darkest place in England".
She said of being shortlisted: "It's absolutely thrilling as, for me, short stories arrive very rarely, so they are strange and precious beasts.
"They take a long time to evolve. So to have two of them recognised in this way is incredibly encouraging."
Asked about the popularity of the short story form, Greenlaw said: "I think it's like poetry in that it's never going to be the most dominant form, but it persists, and every now and then people get excited about it.
"These are interesting times in the literary world - there's a lot of experimentation and breaking down of form, and it's a climate in which the short story can flourish."
Orr was inspired to write her story after seeing a man sitting alone in a Buenos Aires cafe, and is about a retired plastic surgeon attempting to forge a new identity.
She said it felt "wonderful" to have been made a finalist.
"The novel is obviously a great tradition in Britain and has a devoted readership," she said. "But I do think prizes like this are really instrumental in giving [the short story] a profile and keeping that profile alive, as well as introducing it to some people who will have not read the form before."
Previous winners of the award include Jonathan Buckley, Julian Gough, James Lasdun, Lionel Shriver and Clare Wigfall.
BBC Radio 4's Front Row will broadcast the ceremony live on 4 October. An anthology of the shortlisted works is published on 17 September.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Hilary Mantel has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award for a second time. | 37388675 |
Ex-Tory ministers John Redwood and Owen Paterson accused ministers of misusing £9m in public money to fund booklets.
But Europe minister David Lidington said the government had a duty to set out its position and give voters the "facts" ahead of the vote on 23 June.
The government's leaflets are being sent to every home in the UK.
The first batches began arriving at homes in England on Monday with the remainder going to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the 5 May devolved elections.
Out campaigners have reacted furiously to the leaflets - which come before strict spending limits kick-in ahead of the 23 June referendum - and more than 200,000 people have signed a petition calling for the leaflets to be scrapped.
Former defence secretary Liam Fox has written to David Cameron to demand that both sides of the EU referendum debate be reflected in the pamphlets,
Fielding questions from MPs in the Commons, Mr Lidington said the leaflets, which work out at "34p per household", were a "reasonable expression" of the government's case for staying in the EU.
He said the government "has not only the right, but a duty to explain to the electorate that when faced with a decision of this gravity the reasons why the government has come to the recommendation that it has done".
He said the pamphlets were "entirely lawful", and added : "Special rules limiting all government publications and communications will apply in the last 28 days of the referendum campaign."
But he was rounded on and heckled by many on his own side, who attacked the government over its decision to spent £9m on the campaign booklets.
Former Welsh Secretary John Redwood said it was "an abuse of public money, an insult to electors and... it's going to drive many more people to vote to leave", while former environment secretary Owen Paterson denounced it as a "crass move" that would "hugely galvanise people who want to leave the EU".
Ex-cabinet minister Liam Fox called it another "dodgy dossier" full of "opinions, assertions and suppositions" and in a reference to European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker added: "It's bad enough that we get junk mail but to have Juncker mail sent to us with our own taxes is the final straw."
Meanwhile, Nigel Evans accused the government of "Robert Mugabe-style antics" in the campaign - which provoked an angry response from the minister who told the MP it was "not his finest moment".
Long-standing Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash, chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, had spearheaded a move to block the progress of the Budget in protest at the plans, but it failed after his amendment was not selected for debate.
Criticism of the leaflets and its contents were not confined to the Conservative benches, with Labour MP Kate Hoey - chair of the Vote Leave campaign - saying it was "deeply, deeply unfair" and warning the government that the "public will see through" it.
DUP MP Ian Paisley, meanwhile, said the pamphlets should come with a "very significant health warning", as he contested a number of assertions in the leaflet which he said the government had portrayed as "facts".
Defending the government, Conservative MP Nicholas Soames said: "Outside this incestuous hothouse and under the baleful influence of much of our dismal press, almost all grown-up, sane opinion will want to know what the government's position is and how it intends to present its case."
Labour also gave the government its support, with shadow Europe minister Pat Glass saying the document was "perfectly reasonable" as the government had an "obligation to explain its view".
She claimed Eurosceptic MPs' criticism of the leaflet was an attempt to "silence the arguments for remaining than trying to counter them".
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would make "no apology" for the leaflets and that there was "nothing to stop the government from setting out its views in advance of the campaign".
Challenged on the plans by students in Exeter last week, he said he wanted every voter to have "all the information at their fingertips" when they go to vote: "I think that is money well spent. It is not... just legal, it is necessary and right."
In his letter to Mr Cameron, Mr Fox said: "The current proposal effectively doubles the budget for the Remain campaign and will offend the natural spirit of fair play that is so much a part of the character of the British people.
"If the government intends to go ahead with this publication, then I suggest you consider correcting the imbalance by allowing the opposite side to include the alternative view."
Downing Street said the campaign followed polling which suggested 85% of people wanted more information from the government to help them make an informed choice. | Government leaflets promoting EU membership are an "insult" to voters and will persuade more people to vote to leave, say pro-exit Tory MPs. | 36013363 |
In recent years the Taliban have banned vaccinations in areas under their control, while scores of health workers or policemen guarding vaccine campaigns have been shot dead by gunmen.
It was one of the reasons that in 2014 the country broke its own dubious record of reporting the highest number of cases in a single year for more than a decade - 303, as compared to the previous high of 199 in 2000.
In June 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that all international travellers from Pakistan be administered polio drops at airports so as to prevent the proliferation of polio virus.
An October editorial in the Dawn newspaper described this situation as Pakistan's "badge of shame".
Officials responsible for the country's polio eradication efforts feel things have changed in recent years. More areas have become accessible to vaccination teams, and the government has been showing added interest in tackling the virus.
But no one is willing just yet to put a time frame on when Pakistan can be declared polio free.
The global initiative to eradicate the disease started in 1988 - the year Pakistan reported around 2,000 cases.
The country was then dealing with polio as part of its so-called "expanded programme on immunisation" (EPI), which was designed to eradicate six different vaccine-controllable diseases.
In 1994, officials organised routine campaigns to administer oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) to children.
There have been questions over the extent of coverage, with suggestions that only between 55% and 85% of children under five years of age had been vaccinated.
"But it did bring the incidence of polio down rather dramatically during the years leading up to 2000," said Ashfaq Yusufzai, Peshawar-based health correspondent for Dawn newspaper.
In 2005, Pakistan recorded only 28 cases - its lowest number ever. But it was also the year a sometimes violent campaign of opposition to polio vaccination started in Swat, a region in the country's north-west which at the time was being taken over by Taliban militants.
"Since then, Pakistan's polio eradication effort has been largely held hostage by militants, and flaws in its administrative arrangements have become more glaring," said Ashfaq Yusufzai.
Besides, a constant tug-of-war between the country's civilian and military leadership has prevented civilian governments, at the helm since 2008, from focusing on polio and evolving better eradication strategies.
Parental refusals and occasional manhandling of health workers started in 2005, and became violent after the May 2011 killing of Osama Bin Laden - especially after the ISI intelligence agency accused a doctor, Shakil Afridi, of conducting a "fake" vaccination campaign to help the Americans track down the al-Qaeda chief.
Since then more than 60 health workers or policemen guarding vaccination campaigns have been shot dead by gunmen in the north-west and in the southern city of Karachi, where many people from the north-west live as economic migrants.
In June 2012, the Taliban banned polio vaccination drives in areas under their rule, thereby blocking vaccination of a significant chunk of the population they controlled in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the adjoining Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
Officials cite this, and the killings of health workers, as the major reasons for the relapse in anti-polio efforts the country suffered in 2014.
But there have been other reasons as well, points out Dr Iqbal Memon, a member of the provincial polio eradication committee in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.
"There has been no accountability, and so various players (the federal task force, the provincial health authorities, WHO and Unicef) have been accusing each other of failures," he said.
In addition, he added, there have been problems maintaining the cold chain of the OPV - or a temperature-controlled supply line - while field officers have been reluctant to discard bad vaccine in a bid to manipulate their coverage figures.
The motivation level of health workers got a hit not only because of assassinations but also because the responsible officials failed to pay their fees on time, he says.
But many say there have been indications over the last few months that things are changing for the better.
Perhaps the most significant move has come from the military, which started an operation in the Waziristan region to clean up the Taliban's major sanctuary on Pakistani territory.
Vaccinations in areas adjoining this region have picked up in recent weeks, and there have also been attempts to treat children displaced from the area.
Meanwhile the government has set up new "emergency polio cells" to improve security and access for health workers. The army and police have been made members of these cells in addition to health officials, the WHO and Unicef.
In an ideal world - where all of the population is accessible, vaccinators are not cheating on numbers, a perfect cold chain is maintained and at least 90% of the 40 million or so children are inoculated repeatedly during five to six monthly campaigns - Pakistan can eradicate polio in half a year, says Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, the chief minister's focal person on polio in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
But there's a technical hitch. "Most of our infected children are zero-dose - children who have never had OPV drops before," he says.
"When we are able to restrict the incidence of polio to only those children who've had multiple doses of OPV and were infected only due to low immunity, we can then say that we are close to victory." | Pakistan has yet to report a new case of polio in 2015 - but officials are keeping their fingers crossed nonetheless. | 30822967 |
Chief executive Bill Winters, who took over from Peter Sands last year, described the performance over 2015 as "poor".
The bank will take a $4bn charge on writing down the value of its loans, driven by falling commodity prices and deterioration of Indian markets.
Shares in the bank tumbled by 4% to a record low of 418.7p.
Standard Chartered was forced to raise £3.3bn in a rights issue last year and announced a major cost-cutting drive which includes the loss of 15,000 jobs from its 86,000-strong workforce.
Sir John Peace, Standard Chartered's outgoing chairman, said: "While our 2015 financial results were poor, they are set against a backdrop of continuing geo-political and economic headwinds and volatility across many of our markets as well as the effects of deliberate management actions.
"Our share price performance has also been disappointing, underperforming the wider equity market, which has seen broad declines driven largely by the same macroeconomic concerns."
It is the first time since 1989 that Standard Chartered has reported a full-year loss.
Mr Winters announced that he and other members of the management team will not receive a bonus for 2015 and that Standard Chartered will introduce a new incentive programme that will only pay out if targets are met.
Mr Winters will be paid $2.4m for last year but could earn $8.4m by 2018 if he hits the new targets.
The chief executive was one of 200 business leaders who signed a letter calling for Britain to remain in the EU.
Mr Winters said that while he did not think Britain staying in or leaving the EU would impact Standard Chartered "one way or the other", he said: "We think the UK is an integral part of Europe." | Shares in Standard Chartered plunged on Tuesday after the Asia-focused bank revealed a $1.5bn (£1.1bn) loss. | 35639284 |
Aberdare Coroner's Court heard it would take weeks to speak to them all.
L/Cpl Craig Roberts, of Penrhyn Bay, Conwy and L/Cpl Edward Maher died in July after a 40-mile (64km) hike in temperatures reaching 29.5C (85F).
Cpl James Dunsby, from Bath, died two weeks later in hospital.
A pre-inquest hearing into the deaths of L/Cpl Roberts, 24, L/Cpl Maher and Cpl Dunsby, both 31, was held by Powys coroner Louise Hunt.
Det Insp Iwan Jones told the hearing that the scale of investigation had widened and the 20 police officers on the investigating team would be talking to up to 96 soldiers who were present on 13 July as well as emergency service personnel and other witnesses who were on the mountain that day.
"Having reviewed some of the evidence we have decided to expand the investigation," he said.
"We aiming to have statements from a substantial number of soldiers - between 94 and 96 - emergency service personnel and members of the public.
"We are still waiting for (all of the) soldiers accounts from the army at this moment in time... there have been logistical problems as some of these are now serving abroad."
Representatives of the MoD, the HSE and L/Cpl Maher's and Cpl Dunsby's families were also present in court.
The coroner said she would be looking at four main areas: cause of death for each man, the preparation and planning of the exercise, supporting and monitoring during the exercise and procedures in place in case of an emergency.
L/Cpl Maher's father, also called Edward, spoke during the short hearing to stress his family's desire for the inquest to establish the army's chain of command on the day his son died.
Ms Hunt confirmed that the inquest would look at Article two of the Human Rights Act, which states a person's right to life should be protected by the state.
Both the police and the HSE could instigate criminal proceedings.
Lt Col Freddie Kemp, from the Parachute Regiment, representing the MoD, said the service police could also become involved in a criminal investigation once Dyfed-Powys Police had concluded its investigation.
Ms Hunt told the court: "No decision has been made about any further action at this stage."
She also asked the interested parties if they agreed that the inquest needed to take account of the right to life under Article Two of the Human Rights Act, which as well as protecting the right to life of a person also required a "positive duty to protect life" in certain circumstances.
There were no objections.
Provisional dates for a two-week inquest have been set for February and March 2014.
The coroner's investigation is part of a new system in relation to inquests.
At the end of an investigation, if the death is not due to natural causes, he will open an inquest.
Another pre-inquest review will be held on 19 November. | Police investigating the deaths of three army reservists after an SAS selection exercise on the Brecon Beacons are to interview more than 90 soldiers to find out what happened. | 23943068 |
The review highlighted "failures at multiple levels" at Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust since 2011.
One man who was suffering from lung cancer was not diagnosed for four months, it revealed.
The trust said it was "sorry that these issues went unchecked... for so long" but it was now making improvements.
Jackie Smith, chief executive and registrar at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said: "We can confirm that we are investigating a number of individuals from Liverpool Community NHS Trust on allegations of misconduct."
The trust delivers community health services to about 750,000 people in Liverpool and Sefton, either in their homes or at health centres.
The review, conducted by the law firm Capsticks at the request of the trust, found cost-cutting efforts led to "a culture of bullying and harassment of staff" and pressures on front line services.
It said the trust also failed to fully investigate an attack on a health worker taken "hostage" and seriously assaulted by a patient's relative in 2013.
Other findings included:
Sue Page, chief executive at the trust since April 2014, said: "Two years ago, as we talked to staff, it was quite clear there were a lot of things that were clearly very wrong.
"Some of the staff were incredibly hurt by this and all I can say is a really big sorry on behalf of the NHS.
"They didn't deserve it, it wasn't their fault.
"We gave Capsticks complete independence and the staff feel it is an unbiased, independent report.
"A lot more has to be done. The report says we are only just turning a corner."
West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper has called for a public inquiry into the trust.
She added: "This wasn't just a poor quality job. We are talking about people who lacked basic humanity and appear to have fiddled the records to protect themselves."
Carole Panteli, the trust's interim director of nursing, said a new leadership team was appointed in 2014 and was making improvements.
But, the report recommended the trust "quicken the pace of change". | An "oppressive" culture at an NHS trust led to poor services, bullying of staff and may even have contributed to some deaths, a report has found. | 35870760 |
A spokeswoman for the Post Office told the BBC that the problem began on Sunday and had affected about 100,000 of its customers.
Talk Talk also confirmed that some of its customers had been affected, and it was working on a fix.
It is not yet known who is responsible for the attack.
Earlier in the week, Germany's Deutsche Telekom revealed that up to 900,000 of its customers had lost their internet connection as a result of the attack.
It involves the use of a modified form of the Mirai worm - a type of malware that is spread via hijacked computers, which causes damage to equipment powered by Linux-based operating systems.
Mirai was also involved in an earlier attack that caused several of the world's leading websites to become inaccessible, including Spotify, Twitter and Reddit.
Several models of router are vulnerable to the latest cyber-assault, including the Zyxel AMG1302, which is used by the Post Office.
"We would like to reassure customers that no personal data or devices have been compromised," said the Post Office's spokeswoman.
"We have identified the source of the problem and implemented a resolution which is currently being rolled out to all customers.
"For those customers who are still having problems, we are advising them to reboot their router."
Doing so causes the machine to make use of updated software.
The same router is also used by Kcom, an internet service provider (ISP) based in Hull, whose customers have also been affected.
"The vast majority of our customers are now able to connect to and use their broadband service as usual," the firm said in a statement.
"Our core network was not affected at any time and we have put in place measures to block future attacks from impacting our customers' routers and their ability to access the internet."
TalkTalk also confirmed that its D-Link DSL-3780 routers were affected but said only a small percentage of its customers used them.
"Along with other ISPs in the UK and abroad, we are taking steps to review the potential impacts of the Mirai worm," a spokeswoman said in a statement.
"We have deployed additional network-level controls to further protect our customers."
Security researchers had previously suggested that the routers were vulnerable to the Mirai malware.
One expert warned there could be worse to come.
"The next step for attackers could be to hack into other home devices once they gain access to the router, like web cams, smart TVs, or thermostats," said Pavel Sramek from the cybersecurity firm Avast. | Thousands of TalkTalk and Post Office customers have had their internet access cut by an attack targeting certain types of internet routers. | 38167453 |
The 12-year-olds and their mother, 43, died after their car collided with an oncoming lorry on the A361 near Barnstaple at 08:25 BST on Monday.
The woman's husband was travelling in a separate vehicle with her 14-year-old son and saw the crash behind them.
The family was from the Milton Keynes area, Devon and Cornwall Police also confirmed.
More on the crash and other news
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her daughter was pronounced dead on arrival at North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple, and her son, taken to hospital via air ambulance, died shortly after.
An investigation is under way and police have asked for witnesses to come forward.
A woman and two children were taken to hospital after a crash on the same stretch of the North Devon Link Road on Sunday. | Two children who died in a crash while on holiday in north Devon were twins, police have said. | 40789659 |
Guitarist Tony Iommi picked up the trophy, confirming the heavy metal band would embark on their "final tour" next year.
Ed Sheeran was named songwriter of the year, while Boy George picked up an outstanding contribution award.
Clean Bandit beat Sam Smith and George Ezra to win the prize for most performed song for Rather Be.
The band thanked their piano and saxophone teachers, while co-writer Jimmy Napes - who also wrote Sam Smith's Stay With Me - dedicated the prize to his wife Matilda, "who the lyrics of the song were inspired by".
Rather Be also won best contemporary song, while the best album prize went to Bombay Bicycle Club's So Long, See You Tomorrow.
Irish singer-songwriter Hozier won 'best song musically and lyrically' for Take Me to Church.
"This time last year I was completely unknown and this music was written alone in my attic," he said.
"I'm so encouraged. This is a huge deal for me."
Annie Lennox was awarded the fellowship of the British Society of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) - the society's highest honour.
The singer, who started out in The Tourists and Eurythmics before going solo, was honoured both for her music and for her activism and philanthropy.
Admitting her to the Academy, Sir Elton John highlighted her campaigning for "women, human rights and, above all, the fight against HIV."
Dressed in a fluorescent orange suit, Lennox said: "I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't become a singer-songwriter because creating music was all I ever wanted to do.
"I'm incredibly privileged to become the first woman fellow of Basca," she added. "With this, the glass ceiling is broken."
Brian May presented Black Sabbath with their career award, to which drummer Bill Ward commented: "It's been a good 40 years. At least, I think it has."
Iommi earlier told the BBC that the band would hit the road one last time in 2016, following his being diagnosed with cancer.
"We've tried to cut down because of my treatments," he said. "We can't just keep going round like we used to."
Kylie Minogue presented Boy George with his outstanding contribution prize, telling him: "I am just one of the many, many millions of people you inspired."
In his speech, the former Culture Club singer recalled his schooldays when "all I did was look out the window and draw pictures of David Bowie."
Describing himself as "a melody writer who doesn't play any instruments," he said: "It's amazing I managed to have this 30-year plus career doing what I love. What a life."
Accepting his songwriting prize from Sir Elton John, Sheeran said: "This is the one award that really counts because it comes from people you respect.
"No offence to all the other ones, obviously."
Welsh band Manic Street Preachers were given the inspiration award, marking almost 25 years of agitprop rock anthems.
Guitarist Nicky Wire thanked the band's original lyricist Richey Edwards, who went missing in 1995, "for his beautiful and brilliant mind".
Songwriting had got the band through "a lot of tough times", he went on.
Wire's long list of thank yous also included Karl Marx, Philip Larkin, Allen Ginsberg and Abba.
Midge Ure and Bob Geldof received a special prize in recognition of Band Aid's 30th anniversary.
Ure urged the songwriters in the room to come up with a new charity song, "because I'm sick to death of hearing the old one."
"The song was always a device, because it's not a great song," added Geldof, who compared Ure's synthesizer riff to the Z-Cars theme.
Albert Hammond, writer of such hits as The Hollies' The Air That I Breathe, Whitney Houston's One Moment in Time and Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, won the award for outstanding song collection.
After watching a compilation of his biggest songs, he received a standing ovation at London's Grosvenor House for telling the audience: "In the '60s, I was a waiter in this hotel."
The Ivor Novello awards are voted for by songwriters, with judges this year including Gary Barlow, Guy Chambers, Nik Kershaw, Shaznay Lewis and Kim Appleby of '80s pop group Mel & Kim.
Now in their 60th year, they have honoured the work of more than 750 songwriters and composers, including the Beatles, Kate Bush and Sir Elton John.
The winners and nominees were:
Best song musically and lyrically
Best contemporary song
Best album
PRS for Music most performed work
Best original film score
Best television soundtrack
Lifetime Achievement: Black Sabbath
Outstanding Song Collection: Albert Hammond
PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music: Boy George
PRS for Music Special International Award: Paul Williams
Songwriter of the Year: Ed Sheeran
The Ivors Classical Music Award: Judith Weir
The Ivors Inspiration Award: Manic Street Preachers
The Ivors Special Anniversary Award: Midge Ure and Bob Geldof, Band Aid
BASCA Fellowship: Annie Lennox | Black Sabbath have received a lifetime achievement prize at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. | 32825765 |
David Craig Ellis, 41, is accused of murdering Alec Warburton, 59, in July at a house in Sketty, Swansea.
Mr Warburton's brother Graham told Swansea Crown Court he also received a text message purporting to be from his brother after he had reported him missing on 2 August.
Ellis has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.
Graham Warburton told the court the text message from his brother's phone asked: "Why have you contacted the police - my welfare is fine."
The message also read: "Don't need them snooping around when I have lodgers here."
Graham Warburton said his brother would not have used the terminology in the text and he would not usually sign off with his name either.
He told the jury he would speak to his brother on the landline phone almost every day and he would talk about some of his lodgers and their personalities.
Described in court as a "meticulous" person, Graham Warburton said his brother would sometimes complain if lodgers had not done the washing up.
They last spoke over the phone on 30 July and Graham Warburton said he tried to contact his brother three times the following day but his calls were not answered.
A police officer then visited Alec Warburton's home to check on him after he was reported as a missing person, the jury heard.
The trial continues. | A landlord killed by one of his tenants had difficulty getting regular rent payments from him, a court has heard. | 36490550 |
But how did the Portugal winger fare over 120 minutes in the San Siro? Which substitute made a big impact for Atletico? And who was "embarrassing" for Real?
Ex-England and Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas rates the players.
Did not put a foot wrong. Antoine Griezmann has missed two of his four penalty kicks this season, both against Navas.
He was not bad in the first-half, but did not do anything special.
Absolutely immense, did not give the Atletico attacking line an inch. Ramos is the first defender to score in two different Champions League finals.
A solid display but his antics were embarrassing. Ramos was the only defender to make more clearances - with eight - than Pepe's six.
A good threat throughout the game. Marcelo made 35 passes in the opposition half; only Luka Modric made more with 44.
He was the big reason Real won the final. Casemiro made the most tackles in the final, with eight.
Cool and calm as always and grew in influence as the game went on. Modric played seven key passes, more than any other player.
Not in his favourite position where he likes to control the game, but did not put a foot wrong.
Immense, he always looked a threat and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.
Did not have an impact on the game, some nice touches but was lacking sharpness.
Did not do much throughout the game but ended up scoring the winning penalty for his third Champions League title.
Provided a lot of energy, especially in extra time, but was erratic at times. No Real player made more interceptions than Danilo with five.
At fault for Atletico's goal - when he fell asleep while marking - and had a good opportunity to score the winner but took a touch when he should have hit it first time. He stepped up and took the first penalty and put it away.
A massive threat when he came on and was full of energy
He made some massive saves in the game and kept Atletico in it, especially with his two stops to deny Ronaldo. But you might question his penalty shootout technique. Oblak made six saves during the match, but failed to save any of Real's five penalties.
He was fantastic through the whole game and provided the assist, so it was unfortunate that he missed his penalty. Juanfran became the first defender to assist in two different Champions League finals.
Strong as ever. Godin made six clearances, the most for Atletico.
He had quite a good game and was not caught out. Savic made five blocks during the game; three more than any other player.
He struggled with Bale in the first half but was much better in the second half and more of an attacking influence.
He was very good, even though he was not as attacking as usual. Koke was one of two players to attempt more than 100 passes (107).
Brilliant in midfield, tried to make things happen. Gabi played 114 passes; seven more than any other player.
Did not do much in the first half and was hauled off at the break.
Did some nice stuff but struggled a little at times.
He tried to make things happen in the first half and was a lot better in the second half but was always trying to get back into the game after his penalty miss.
Worked hard, but that is not enough for a striker. Feel if Atletico had somebody of real quality, a real powerful centre-forward, then they would have won the game.
Not much time to make an impact.
Not much time to make an impact.
He was phenomenal, the most influential player from an attacking aspect. The first Belgian player to score in a European Cup final. | Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid on penalties to win their 11th European Cup, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the decisive spot-kick. | 36406405 |
Barack Obama's policies on technology were considered pro-innovation, with a view to using technology expertise to improve government systems and services.
Aside from a disastrous and expensive roll-out of healthcare.gov, those efforts appear to have been well-received.
With Mr Trump, the future leaves many uncertainties. While we can draw a lot from what he has said in the past, more difficult is separating freewheeling campaigning Trump from measured, lawmaking Trump.
Much of the detail below comes from research carried out by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a US-based non-profit group.
It pulled together a report on what Mr Trump has said and pledged when it comes to technology. When lacking in specifics, the report authors drew from attitudes in other areas in an attempt to predict what may happen. You can read the report for yourself here.
The issue:
In the wake of the shootings in San Bernardino, the FBI called on Apple to weaken the encryption on its iPhone in order to assist the investigation into the shooters. The company refused, saying the personal privacy of its users should take precedent. That stance was backed by the majority of the tech community, but not by Mr Trump. User privacy when using technology is a battleground that will continually rear its head during Mr Trump's term. Today many people are concerned about his views on the surveillance state.
In his own words:
"Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information." (Campaign rally, February 2016)
"I would come down so hard on [Apple chief executive Tim Cook] his head would be spinning all of the way back to Silicon Valley." (Bloomberg interview, February 2016)
The call to boycott Apple over the encryption row seemed very much in the heat of the moment. Indeed, Mr Trump said "I just thought of that" during the rally. It wasn't a boycott that was taken seriously - even tweets on Mr Trump's Twitter account were shown to have come from Apple devices (even if Mr Trump himself is understood to use an Android device).
When speaking about the controversial power of the NSA and its surveillance capabilities, Mr Trump said:
"I assume when I pick up my telephone, people are listening to my conversations anyway, if you want to know the truth. It's pretty sad commentary, but I err on the side of security. When you have people that are beheading [you] if you're a Christian and, frankly, for lots of other reasons, when you have the world looking at us and would like to destroy us as quickly as possible, I err on the side of security." (Speaking on Hugh Hewitt radio show, December 2015)
What it means:
We don't really know. Attitudes towards "America First" and support of the military might have assumptions leaning towards Mr Trump at least maintaining the power of the security services in the US, but we're yet to hear firm policy on the specifics. Mr Trump has said he wants to restore the Patriot Act at which, among other things, used to give the NSA powers to collect bulk data on American's phone records until that power was taken away by Congress. As with previous administrations, we can expect the war on terror to be the primary justification for these powers to exist. When it comes to encryption, the Apple row gave Mr Trump a chance to make his thoughts perfectly clear, and while the boycott may have been flippant, his attitudes seem firmly set on supposed security over privacy.
The issue:
One point of concern for tech firms is the future of the H1-B visa.
The H1-B is considered vital for technology companies that want to fill their ranks with skilled developers and engineers. It's a temporary residency, but companies can choose to sponsor employees to remain in the US indefinitely.
In his own words:
"I know the H-1B very well. And it's something that I, frankly, use, and I shouldn't be allowed to use it. We shouldn't have it. Very, very bad for workers. And second of all, I think it's very important to say, well, I'm a businessman and I have to do what I have to do. When it's sitting there waiting for you, but it's very bad. It's very bad for business in terms of — and it's very bad for our workers and it's unfair for our workers. And we should end it." (CNN Republican debate, March 2016)
Mr Trump has been seen to have done a U-turn. He seems to believe the H1-B visa is being abused to bring in cheaper labour, rather than skilled labour. He cited an example in Florida where he said American workers at a Disney theme park were being forced to train their cheaper, foreign replacements.
What it means:
Mr Trump is in favour of highly-skilled immigration, particularly when immigrants have come in to study at top US colleges. It seems likely he will either alter or abolish the H1-B visa and attempt to enforce an alternative that clamps down on what he sees as abuses of the current system.
The issue:
Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, more powerful, and more dangerous. Forrester Research on Wednesday predicted that "within the first 100 days, the new president will face a cybercrisis".
And so while much debate in the run up to the election was about Mr Trump's possible control of the nuclear codes, there've been questions over how he'd handle the growing cyber threat from the likes of China, Russia and stateless hacking groups.
In his own words:
"It is a huge problem. I have a son - he's 10 years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers. It's unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough. And maybe, it's hardly doable. But I will say, we are not doing the job we should be doing. But that's true throughout our whole governmental society. We have so many things that we have to do better. And certainly cyber is one of them." (Presidential debate, September 2016)
The quote above was widely mocked as being utterly incoherent. The New York Daily News called it "an out-of-touch comment that would come from your tech-illiterate grandpa".
Mr Trump was also reluctant to follow the FBI's lead in blaming Russia for hacking the Democratic National Convention - one of several cyberattacks that were arguably pivotal in winning the race for Mr Trump.
But Mr Trump certainly wouldn't be the first person in power to have a lacklustre understanding of how technology works, and so it's broad policy rather than expertise that is most important.
What it means:
Unlike traditional war, where observers can see jets in the sky or tanks rolling across land, cyberwar is much harder to track. It may be that we never learn Mr Trump's precise thoughts on the USA's cyberattack capabilities, and they could be enacted in secret.
His campaign website provides vague descriptions of what his administration would do, including an "immediate review of all US cyber defences and vulnerabilities".
He's also said he wanted to develop the US's offensive capabilities so the country could retaliate against cyberattack. This wouldn't be unprecedented as cyberweapons have been used by the US in the past.
The issue:
For some time a debate has raged over the control of internet traffic. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have called for the ability to provide what would essentially be an internet fast-lane for major, data-intensive services like Netflix. The ISPs would seek to charge the companies to be on this fast-lane, a move described by most in the technology community as extremely anticompetitive and against the spirit of the internet itself. As it stands, we have net neutrality - all traffic on the internet is treated equally.
In his own words:
"Obama's attack on the internet is another top down power grab. Net neutrality is the Fairness Doctrine. Will target the conservative media." (Twitter, August 2016)
This statement appeared to display a deep ignorance of what net neutrality is. The Fairness Doctrine was a policy in the US which required broadcasters to present a range of views on important topics, like politics. It was overturned in 1987, allowing TV channels to push forward whatever view they want (and the rest is history). Mr Trump's linking of the Fairness Doctrine to Net Neutrality is baffling, as strong net neutrality would favour more views beyond the mainstream media he loves to hate.
What it means:
If we take the above tweet as evidence that Mr Trump has probably not spent much time considering Net Neutrality, then it's fair to say it's probably not at the forefront of his mind and therefore not high on his list of priorities once taking office. Lower down the pecking order, the US court system has come out in favour of neutrality principles.
The issue:
Telecoms giant AT&T is set to buy Time Warner, thus becoming even more giant.
In his own words:
"As an example of the power structure I'm fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few." (Speech, October 2016)
It's a fair point about a large concentration of power. AT&T would not only control the biggest network providing information to the masses, but also much of the content they were creating and broadcasting. Time Warner owns HBO and Warner Bros, not to mention CNN, a news outlet attacked repeatedly by Mr Trump and his supporters during campaigning.
AT&T-Time Warner isn't the only deal he's taken aim at, either:
"Comcast's purchase of NBC concentrated far too much power in one massive entity that is trying to tell the voters what to think and what to do. Deals like this destroy democracy and we'll look at breaking that deal up and other deals like that. That should never, ever have been approved in the first place, they're trying to poison the mind of the American voter." (Speech, October 2016)
What it means:
Another "wait and see", unfortunately. At this point, there's just no way of deciphering whether Campaign Trump is the same as President Trump.
If Mr Trump did want to follow through on his words, it wouldn't simply be a case of stepping in and calling a halt. It would be a long, expensive process through the courts that would make Mr Trump look distinctly anti-business. This would especially be the case if the government went after Comcast some five years after it bought NBC.
On Wednesday AT&T offered an olive branch with this rather flattering statement: "From a company perspective, we really look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his transition team.
"His policies and his discussions about infrastructure investment, economic development, and American innovation all fit right in with AT&T's goals."
This issue:
If Mr Trump and Jeff Bezos were rappers, you'd call this a "beef".
Mr Trump has made no effort to hide his disdain for Mr Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.
Mr Bezos also owns the Washington Post, the newspaper that perhaps did more than any other to take on Mr Trump's campaign.
The newspaper was the first to publish the infamous video of Mr Trump making disparaging remarks about women and bragging about sexual assault.
Mr Trump considers Amazon to be a company that is avoiding tax and is anti-competitive.
In his own words:
"Amazon is getting away with murder tax-wise. [Bezos is] using the Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed." (Sean Hannity Show, Fox News, May 2016)
In various tweets, Mr Trump also suggested that Mr Bezos was using the Washington Post, which like many newspapers loses money, as a way of reducing Amazon's tax bill. However, the Washington Post isn't part of Amazon - it's a company Mr Bezos owns privately, so such a move would not be possible.
That said, Amazon is part of a technology collective that goes to great lengths to pay as little tax as possible, prompting law changes in several parts of the world.
Ironically, using big losses as a way to avoid paying taxes is precisely what Mr Trump has done for much of his professional life, a move he said made him "smart".
What it means:
Mr Trump's tweets were an example of the next president taking the bait. The insults followed Mr Bezos saying he'd gladly fund a rocket that would take Mr Trump on a one-way trip into space.
So while Mr Bezos may now regret starting the #SendDonaldToSpace hashtag, we don't know if Mr Trump will see through his threat to single out Amazon. What's more likely is a clamp down on tax avoidance across the board, with a likely focus on the myriad inventive ways tech companies relocate their earnings.
Regardless, Amazon's stock dropped on Wednesday in anticipation for what might be on the horizon. While other tech stocks also went down, none were quite as pronounced as Amazon.
The issue:
A key area of growth in the US is in renewable energies and businesses built around it. But to accelerate growth of companies like Tesla, the US government has long offered attractive subsidies as a way of tempting in customers who ordinarily could not afford renewable energy.
In his own words:
"The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." (Twitter, November 2012)
One of Mr Trump's strongest areas of support was in the so-called coal country area, traditionally populated by coal mines and industries. The region has suffered as concern about climate change pushed governments to embrace renewable energy instead.
Mr Trump turned that on its head by calling climate change a hoax, playing to a crowd that would not notice, nor care, about the incremental changes in climate the Earth is going through.
What it means:
Mr Trump has pledged to "unleash America's $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves", and the money for it may in part come from ditching subsidies offered to renewable energy efforts.
It may mean that tax credits given to people buying electric cars are no longer be offered. At the moment, a Tesla Model 3, for instance, is reduced from $35,000 to $27,500 when tax credits are factored in.
In the immediate future, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, who said Mr Trump was "not the right guy" for the White House, may have a even tougher job convincing Tesla shareholders to push forward with his plan to buy solar panel company SolarCity. The vote on that takes place later this month.
Uncertainty, frustration and an increased fragility for the global home of tech innovation.
Mr Trump certainly won't want to go down as the president who destroyed Silicon Valley, but the concern here is that of the few policies that have been explained in detail, some seem directly at odds with each other.
How do you promote "great" American companies which provide jobs, while simultaneously dragging Amazon, a massive employer and innovator, through the courts? How do you protect innovation at Tesla when taking aim at efforts to curb climate change?
Silicon Valley may be in America, but it's by no means an entirely American success story. The region's success grew out of being an attractive, progressive destination for the best brains in the world.
This industry worries that may be under threat.
Read more:
View from shell-shocked Silicon Valley
New Zealand immigration site's traffic surges
Obama to welcome Trump to White House
Should anyone worry about Trump's victory
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook | Now the shock is beginning to subside, attention is moving to how Donald Trump's policies will play out over his four, possibly eight-year stint as president. | 37932661 |
The original landmark, built in 1935, was demolished in January 2015 with an initial date of August given for the completion of the replacement.
The delay was blamed on bad weather, high tides and difficulties with underground cables.
It survived storms that hit the promenade unlike some businesses and a Grade II-listed seafront shelter.
The bandstand will be opened on Thursday by Communities Secretary Carl Sargeant and Ceredigion council chairman Dai Mason. | A new £1.2m bandstand on Aberystwyth's seafront is due to open later than originally planned. | 37617125 |
Media playback is not supported on this device
In the contest of the championships so far, Muir led through the first lap before slipping back as the pace dropped.
With 30m to go, the 24-year-old Scot had battled back into contention only to be overtaken by American Jenny Simpson and South Africa's Caster Semenya in the final strides.
"I gave it everything I could," said Muir, who missed out on bronze by seven hundredths of a second.
"I tied up in the last 15 yards. I knew it was close. It happened so late in the race. I couldn't react, but I wouldn't have been able to because I was so tired."
Media playback is not supported on this device
With Ethiopian defending champion Genzebe Dibaba nowhere and the Netherlands' Sifan Hassan, fastest woman in the world this year, tying up at the death, it was a frenzied end to a race as messy as it was thrilling.
Muir's fellow Briton, Laura Weightman, crossed the line in sixth place.
Minutes earlier, Olympic champion Omar McLeod had given Jamaica its first gold medal of these championships as he powered to 110m hurdles gold.
But it was the 1500m that had the capacity crowd on its feet, and while Muir's effort was brave, there will be debate about whether her tactics were the right ones for the occasion.
After a first lap of 65 seconds she slowed it down to 71secs on the next, with Hassan and Simpson coming past her as she ceded control.
At that stage Olympic 800m champion Semenya was way back, but the South African used her speed in the home straight as USA's Simpson once again timed her own effort to perfection as Dibaba went backwards.
McLeod, 23, a sub-10 second runner over 100m flat, had held off Sergey Shubenkov by a tenth of a second in 13.04secs, with Hungary's Balazs Baji in bronze.
Shubenkov is competing here as a neutral athlete, one of 18 Russians cleared by the International Association of Athletics Federations' doping review board following the World Anti-Doping Agency report into their nation's state-sponsored doping programme.
But there was no fairytale return to this stadium for American 2012 Olympic champion Aries Merritt, who had a kidney transplant operation two years ago.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Yulimar Rojas won Venezuela's first ever World Championship gold as she held off reigning champion Caterine Ibarguen in a see-saw triple jump final.
Rojas' 14.91m in the penultimate round stole back a lead that Ibarguen had herself taken back with her third-round 14.89m, the Colombian going close again in the final round only to come up three centimetres short of gold.
There were hopes within the British team that Sophie Hitchon might replicate or even improve upon the hammer bronze she won at the Olympics a year ago.
But with Poland's double Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk, responsible for the 13 biggest throws of all time, taking the most predictable gold of the championships with her fifth-round 77.90m, Hitchon's final round throw of 72.32m was her biggest of the night but enough only for seventh.
The 26-year-old from Blackburn struggled to hold back the tears afterwards, her personal disappointment also bad news for a team that have already seen medal hopes Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Holly Bleasdale and Andy Pozzi miss out.
"I felt like I was in better shape and if I had the rhythm I had in qualification, you don't know what could have happened," said Hitchon.
"Of course I am [going to beat myself up about the result], that's part of my personality."
Media playback is not supported on this device
World and Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk set up his bid for double gold as he won his 200m heat, Danny Talbot running a new personal best with an identical time of 20.16secs in second.
"I think I'm in the best shape of my life, so I'm just trying to go with it," said Talbot. "I'm very grateful to be in the position I am."
Van Niekerk goes for 400m gold on Tuesday night, but the South African's great rival Isaac Makwala, the fastest man in the world this year, now has only the one-lap event in his sights after being struck down by food poisoning before his own 200m heat.
Britain's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake went through as an automatic qualifier after winning the seventh heat in 20.08secs, his compatriot Zharnel Hughes joining him as fastest loser.
British team captain Eilidh Doyle and Meghan Beesley both moved into the 400m hurdles semi-finals, but Jack Green is out after coming home fourth in his semi-final in 49.93 secs.
Paula Radcliffe, marathon world record holder: "Regarding Muir's tactics, it's so hard when you're in that situation and racing - you're the only one who can make those decisions. It nearly paid off."
Brendan Foster, Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist: "A race plan with a second lap of 71 seconds isn't a brilliant race plan in my view. It can play into the strength of the sprinters. Muir's running in the last 400m was strong, she went a bit fast on the final bend which took a bit out of her. She was unlucky."
Darren Campbell, Olympic 200m silver medallist: "The reality is that Mo Farah has the only medal. He is retiring from the track. What are we pinning our hopes on? Some guys have made finals. That is good for next time. But we have got something wrong. If medals are not won, the funding is cut. All this stuff the young athletes have been given will go." | Britain's Laura Muir just missed out on a 1500m medal as Kenya's Faith Kipyegon won a showdown every bit as tight and dramatic as billed. | 40857683 |
Sarah Rochira, the older people's commissioner for Wales, says she will use her legal powers to carry out the study.
It will involve speaking to older people, their families and carers to ensure more consistency of services.
The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales has welcomed the move.
"Since I took up post, I have spoken extensively about the need to ensure that older people living in care homes in Wales are safe, well cared for and have a good quality of life," Ms Rochira said.
"I have visited many care homes and have seen for myself much good practice across Wales, but I have spoken many times about my concerns that this is not consistent and that we are not getting it right for everyone.
"We must remember that a person's home is so much more than bricks and mortar, it is where you should feel and be safe, well cared for and happy."
Ms Rochira and her team will gather evidence from older people in care homes, their families and carers, as well as from local authorities, local health boards, care home providers, regulators and inspectors.
The evidence will be used both to highlight the best care in Wales and to make recommendations to ensure that the rights of older people are upheld and they have the best possible quality of life.
"It's not enough just to be safe and well cared for," Ms Rochira told BBC Radio Wales.
"This is the place that people call home and they have a right to a really good quality of life.
"I don't think we yet understand what that means - that's why I'm going to give voice back to older people through my review.
"When I talk to older people - they talk to me about words such as friendship, hope, love, staying in touch with people, feeling valued, feeling respected - words of real description and warmth, and of course they would in the places they call home.
"But actually the response of our system tends to be national minimum standards and the two just don't fit together.
"I want to give older people back their voice and put their voices back at the heart of the place that they call home."
Last year Ms Rochira warned that public bodies could face legal action if they fail older people when she published the commission's work programme to improve services to older people in 50 areas.
The new review, which will begin in September, has been welcomed by Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales.
Its chief inspector Imelda Richardson said: "Making sure that homes are safe and that people's experiences are good is at the core of our inspection work, and I look forward to working with the older people's commissioner.
"In the last two years we have transformed the way we inspect services.
"As well as checking that they are run in accordance with the law, we also focus and report on the quality of experiences for people using services.
"Our inspectors spend more time listening and speaking to people about their experiences of the service and support they are receiving. This allows us to get a more accurate picture of a service." | Older people in care homes are to be asked about the quality of care they receive in a new review. | 22679982 |
People in the Powys towns of Newtown and Welshpool have complained about the £80 fee for a return trip to London.
However, passengers boarding the coach 60 miles (95km) earlier in Aberystwyth paid just £35.
National Express said prices were based on demand but it would lower some fares.
The company's 409 service to London leaves Aberystwyth every day at 07:55 GMT and stops off at Newtown and Welshpool before arriving in the UK's capital at 15:00.
Aberystwyth is 250 miles (400km) away from the London Victoria Bus Station destination while Newtown is 200 miles (320km) away and Welshpool is 190 miles (300km).
Carole Thomas, from Trehafren, was surprised to discover she was paying more for a shorter journey if she got on at Newtown.
She told BBC Wales' X-Ray programme: "I have to go down [to London] to see my mum because she's had a stroke, she's in a home and to see my dad's grave.
"When they said it was going to be £80 I nearly fell on the floor."
Her husband Graham said it was "not fair" they had to pay more than people getting on the same coach at Aberystwyth.
Margaret Thomas, who boards in Welshpool, said: "They said it's the volume of people going on in Welshpool and Newtown... Maybe just one person.
"But the bus is already coming from Aberystwyth. I just don't understand."
National Express's conditions forbid passengers buying the cheaper Aberystwyth to London ticket and getting on at a later stop.
Prof Stuart Cole, a transport expert at the University of South Wales, said while passengers might think the pricing policy was unfair, the company needed to make a profit.
"Aberystwyth is a student market in the main," he said.
"It's a very big market, a very important market and the company wouldn't want to lose it to the competition which is there from other coach companies and also from the railways."
X-Ray also found a return ticket from Newport to Liverpool for £42 - but getting on the same bus 13 miles earlier at Cardiff would cost £6 less.
National Express said it set ticket prices according to demand - not mileage or the time of day - to make best use of the capacity on its coaches and keep its prices competitive.
But the firm has now reduced its "lowest available fare" from Newtown to London to match the price from Aberystwyth, but is not cutting fares from Welshpool.
It also lowered the price of tickets from Newport to Liverpool.
X-Ray is on BBC One Wales at 19:30 on Friday, 17 March and is also available on BBC iPlayer. | Some passengers in mid Wales have been paying more than double the price of people getting on the same coach 60 miles earlier. | 39284054 |
Harte's current two-year term is due to come to an end at the conclusion of next season.
Last month, he asked for a further one-year extension but in an unexpected twist on Tuesday night, Tyrone officials did not agree to his request.
This season, Harte guided Tyrone to a first Ulster SFC title since 2010.
Tyrone's provincial success ended a losing sequence at the hands of Donegal as they earned a two-point win in the decider but the Red Hands' hopes of further glory were dashed when they were beaten by Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Prior to the Mayo defeat, Tyrone had produced an eight-month unbeaten run in 2016, also winning the Football League Division Two title, the Dr McKenna Cup and the O Fiaich Cup.
Harte is already the longest serving football manager in the country.
He took over late in 2002, and led the county to its first All-Ireland title in his debut season, adding further Sam Maguire Cup triumphs in 2005 and 2008.
Sean Cavanagh is the only remaining link with the maiden All-Ireland in 2003, but his future remains uncertain.
Cavanagh has yet to decide whether to commit to the 2017 season but has revealed that he is reconsidering his decision that this was to be his last year playing inter-county football. | Tyrone's county GAA board have turned down Mickey Harte's request to grant him an immediate contract extension from beyond 2017 to the end of 2018. | 37293130 |
Dr Akong Rinpoche set up the Samye Ling Tibetan centre in Dumfries and Galloway in 1967.
A statement from police in the Chinese city of Chengdu on Tuesday said Dr Rinpoche, his nephew and his driver had been killed in a residential area.
Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray said he had been an influential figure in southern Scotland and beyond.
"His founding of the Samye Ling Tibetan centre had a major impact not just on our region but on Britain as a whole," she said.
"Although he is no longer with us, Dr Rinpoche's legacy in our area will endure.
"My thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time."
A statement from Chinese police said three suspects - all of whom were Tibetan - had stabbed the men to death in a dispute about money.
It said they had confessed to the crime and the case was still under investigation. | An MSP has voiced her "deep sadness" over the killing of the founder of the first Buddhist monastery in the UK. | 24461299 |
The 36-year-old former Sale and Saracens fly-half, capped 38 times by England, will work under Exiles director of rugby Nick Kennedy.
Hodgson amassed 2,623 points in his Premiership career before making his final appearance in May 2016.
England women and former London Welsh assistant coach Matthew Ferguson also joins the club as scrum coach.
Irish, promoted back to the Premiership in May, begin their season against Harlequins at Twickenham in the London Double Header on Saturday, 2 September. | Premiership record points scorer Charlie Hodgson has joined London Irish as kicking coach. | 40837008 |
Former West Bromwich Albion, Notts County and England striker Astle died in 2002, aged 59, from a brain condition normally linked to boxing.
Head of performance services Dave Reddin said the FA had previously been slow to act in head-injury research.
The Premier League brought in new regulations for its clubs in August.
But grassroots football has had less guidance from the FA.
Reddin said: "I've just reconstituted an expert panel who are going to advise us on the likely research that can take place and also help us review and update our concussion guidelines.
"We're still making sure that the grassroots guidelines are not just correct but also practical to implement at that level.
"We could have been faster but I think what's important is that we get it right before they go out."
Alex Roome, a youth coach at East Midlands Counties Football League club Ashby Ivanhoe, told Inside Out East Midlands he had to find out himself what to do when he had a concussion.
"I had concussion as a player once so obviously I'm aware of it but as regards to guidance from the FA or anything like that, no," he said. "No-one is actually explaining it to you.
"I've headed the ball before and I can't imagine it's very dissimilar to being hit by a boxing glove so why should football be any different?"
A coroner ruled Astle suffered repeated concussions after heading heavy leather footballs during his career.
The FA agreed to carry out research into head injuries in football after chairman Greg Dyke met the family of Astle, following a long-running campaign.
Astle's daughter Dawn said football should look after its past.
"We felt that football didn't care, that he died as a result of being a footballer," she said.
"The coroner ruled industrial disease, dad's job had killed him and in any other profession that would have had earthquake-like repercussions, but not football.
"It was like [the FA] were trying to wriggle out of it and that's wrong."
Watch more about the life of Jeff Astle and his family's campaign on Inside Out East Midlands on Monday, 23 February at 19:30 GMT and nationwide on the iPlayer for seven days thereafter. | The Football Association hopes to have new rules on dealing with head injuries in amateur football by March, after a campaign by Jeff Astle's family. | 31549299 |
Until now, Fullscreen has worked with social media talent on free platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.
But the company said the economics of producing premium video on ad-supported platforms "did not work out".
One industry analyst questioned whether Fullscreen had the brand recognition necessary to attract a big audience.
Fullscreen describes itself as a "modern media company", part talent agency, part content producer. It has a roster of 75,000 "partners", predominantly recruited through YouTube.
The company has traditionally made money by brokering advertising deals for its talent, providing support to smaller video-makers in exchange for a cut of their ad revenue, and by selling tour tickets and merchandise for its biggest stars.
But it said it had needed to create its own subscription video platform to let video-makers "fulfil their artistic ambition".
"Social media is a great place to make quick, inexpensive content to engage a fanbase," Fullscreen founder George Strompolos told the BBC.
"But when it comes to longer form or premium productions, the economics of producing it on the free web just don't work out.
"We needed to create a premium destination for that work that has a higher quality."
Consumers are increasingly rejecting expensive cable television packages and instead subscribing to individual streaming services, known as over-the-top services.
In October 2015, Google launched its own bid to capture a new market with a premium video service called YouTube Red.
Its service features prominent YouTubers in long-form productions, although Google has not yet revealed how many paid members it has attracted.
"There is some overlap with YouTube Red, they are both subscription options featuring some programming with YouTube stars," said Mr Strompolos.
"But YouTube Red is more about an ad-free experience and music, with some programming sprinkled in. We're leading with original programmes. It's not icing on cake, it is the cake."
Undercutting Google's $9.99 (£6.90) offering, Fullscreen's subscription service will cost $4.99 (£3.40) a month, with programmes viewable on a standalone app and website.
British comedians Jack Howard and Dean Dobbs, and US vlogger Shane Dawson are among the popular video-makers involved.
The company said it would bolster its offer of online originals with traditional programmes from TV and film studios.
"Fullscreen has an umbrella of big name channels on YouTube, but the brand itself is not particularly well known," said Tom Harrington, an industry analyst at Enders.
"They have some decent looking original programming planned, but these services live and die on their back catalogue, and old episodes of Dawson's Creek will only get you so far.
"It's an increasingly crowded market, and it's hard to think they would have the same recognition to get noticed as Amazon, Disney and Netflix."
Mr Strompolos is confident the service will find an audience.
"This generation grew up on social media, falling in love with stars like Grace Helbig, and Jack and Dean," said Mr Strompolos.
"Part of being a fan of a creator is that you are empowering them to reach new heights - you get them to a place where they can realise their ambitions.
"But we also think about empowering talent, giving them a great experience and creating a friendly collaboration.
"Ultimately, the service that the talent wants to win, is the service that wins." | Online talent firm Fullscreen has launched its own subscription video platform to rival YouTube's offering. | 35934899 |
Media playback is not supported on this device
The Ukrainian, who was champion for nine years, will meet Briton Fury in a rematch in Manchester on 9 July.
"Losing feels good," Klitschko, 40, told BBC Radio 5 live. "I'm glad that my hand was not raised that night.
"Failure is not an option unless it is the only way to get better - and I had to get better. I needed a push to get better and I got it. I feel it."
Klitschko, then the WBA, IBF and WBO champion, lost on a unanimous points decision in Dusseldorf, with Fury's victory considered a huge upset.
"I didn't show my full potential in the fight," Klitschko said. "Physically, I was in one of my best shapes, but mentally I wasn't there, not present in the ring.
"After a while, you get used to defending and not conquering the man in front of you. It will be different on 9 July. t's not a rematch, it's revenge."
Klitschko, who has suffered four defeats in 68 bouts, had not lost for more than 11 years until he met Fury.
"If you want to destroy a person, give him five years of success. I had no failures for 11 and a half years," said Klitschko.
"After a while it's OK to make a mistake and I made a mistake against Fury. I want to make that clear in my revenge and it is what I'm looking forward to."
Until Klitschko's brother Vitali retired in 2013, the pair held all the major heavyweight titles.
Now Wladimir has been beaten, they are with Fury (WBA and WBO), American Deontay Wilder (WBC) and Britain's Anthony Joshua (IBF).
"Before, it was clear: one champion, one family name," said Klitschko.
"When the chef is not in the kitchen, the belts get lost. When the chef leaves, the rats dance on the table. I want to show who the chef is in the kitchen."
BBC Radio 5 live In Short: Can you smell what Klitschko is cooking?
Klitschko denied any suggestion he considered quitting after losing to Fury.
"I got over it," he said. "I was suffering for three days after, then I shook it off.
"Any rumours of retiring were not true. Three days after the fight I called and executed the option of the contract. That was it."
In the build-up to the fight, Fury appeared at a media conference dressed as Batman, but Klitschko said he was not distracted by that.
"In our big boxing family, we have some characters," he said. "I've faced different press conferences with T-shirts and freaks. You don't win at a press conference."
After beating Klitschko, Fury was stripped of the IBF title because he would not fight the mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov.
The belt was won by Olympic super-heavyweight champion Joshua this month in only his 16th professional fight.
"There are so many champions but that's no disrespect to Anthony Joshua, because I've always been a fan," said Klitschko.
"He's a talented guy that will conquer the division for a long time.
"He still has a lot to learn, but I'm putting a lot of hope in him. He will represent the heavyweight division better than Tyson Fury." | Wladimir Klitschko says he is glad he lost his world heavyweight titles to Tyson Fury last December. | 36147673 |
The ex-Wales back-row, 45, spent two spells alongside Paul John in caretaker charge at the Arms Park, but left after Danny Wilson was named head coach.
Championship Merthyr seem set to be granted a Welsh Rugby Union A licence.
That means they would be promoted to an expanded Welsh Premiership if they finish in the top four this season.
Merthyr currently lead the Championship by six points, having won seven of their eight games.
McIntosh, who was head coach at Pontypridd from 2007-13, will join up with Merthyr head coach Lee Jarvis and assistant Gary Horrigan.
The ambitious Ironmen have strengthened on and off the field thanks to the backing of businessman Sir Stanley Thomas.
That has seen more than £250,000 of improvements at their Wern stadium, while the likes of former Wales forward Andy Powell have joined the playing staff.
The WRU will officially inform clubs about decisions regarding A licences in late December. | Former Cardiff Blues interim head coach Dale McIntosh has joined Merthyr RFC as forwards coach until the end of the season. | 34726370 |
Wales women face the hosts three times, on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Evans won the first of her 75 caps in 2005 and ends a three-year absence.
She said, "I'm really excited to be back. It was an honour to captain Wales for a number of years and to step back on the pitch for Wales this week is going to take me back years."
Abi Welsford (capt; Swansea City Spartans), Beth Bingham (Loughborough University), Danni Jordan, (Clifton HC), Ella Jackson (GK; University of Exeter), Hannah Cozens (Loughborough University), Joanne Westwood (Swansea City Spartans), Julie Whiting (FC Lyon), Leah Wilkinson (vice capt), Holcombe HC, Lisa Daley (Swansea City Spartans), Natasha Marke-Jones (Swansea City Spartans), Phoebe Richards (Buckingham HC), Roseanne Thomas (GK; Wimbledon HC), Sarah Jones (Holcombe HC), Sarah-Jane Thorburn (Swansea City Spartans), Sian French Bowdon (Hightown HC), Sophie Clayton (Swansea City Spartans), Tina Evans (University of Birmingham), Xenna Hughes (East Grinstead).
Find out how to get into hockey with our special guide. | Former women's hockey captain Tina Evans has returned to Wales duty ahead of their three-match series against Italy in Rome. | 36599396 |
The main opposition figures are boycotting after their demands for electoral reform were not met.
There are concerns that the boycott could affect voters turnout.
Mr Deby, who has faced two attempted coups since the last polls, has recently mended relations with Sudan, where rebel fighters were based.
The BBC's former correspondent in Chad, Celeste Hicks, says this has helped to restore security and it is significant that Monday's election is taking place in relative peace.
Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003, but remains one of Africa's poorest countries.
Mr Deby is facing two challengers: a lawyer, Nadji Madou, and a former agriculture minister, Albert Pahimi Padacke. However, both are relatively unknown.
Many voting stations in the capital, N'Djamena, opened late because of the late arrival of voting materials and staff, the AFP news agency reported, quoting witnesses.
By Celeste HicksBBC News
For many Chadians, Monday's election is a foregone conclusion. With three of the most popular opposition politicians not taking part, it seems unlikely that Idriss Deby will face much of a challenge from the two candidates who are standing. Nadji Madou is a newcomer on the scene, a wealthy lawyer from the south; he may hold some appeal to younger voters, but lacks political experience. Albert Pahimi Padacke has a longer political career, but most of that has been as a minister in Mr Deby's government.
The apathy evident in some voters seems in part to spring from disaffection with February's legislative elections which many feel were badly organised. The rest is frustration with an electoral system that has consistently failed to offer real choice since Chad made the transition to multiparty democracy in the late 1990s.
Although President Deby will feel that he has shown Chadians the benefits of his 20-year tenure, including oil income spent on new hospitals, roads and schools - and perhaps more importantly bringing an end to the disastrous rebellions sponsored by Sudan - Chadians' real feelings will emerge when its known how many of the 4.8 million registered voters actually turn out.
Three of Chad's more prominent opposition figures, Ngarlejy Yorongar, Saleh Kebzabo and Wadal Kamougue, pulled out of the race after a list of demands to improve the electoral process was not met.
Most serious of these was a request to reprint voters cards, after Mr Kebzabo found a number of pre-dated cards on sale in N'Djamena's main market.
Some results from recent legislative elections were also annulled after the country's constitutional court found irregularities.
A coalition of rebel groups has also called on people not to vote, describing Mr Deby as the "Sultan of Chad".
He has been in power for more than 20 years after seizing power in a military coup, and changed the constitution in 2004 to scrap the two-term presidential limit.
Attempts by other African leaders to stay in power for more than two terms have proved unpopular - in neighbouring Niger the president was last year ousted by the army after he tried to extend his rule.
Since Chad's last elections rebels have twice travelled 1,000km (about 600 miles) from the east to the capital to overthrow Mr Deby, angered by his decision to change the constitution.
They were supported by the Sudanese government, which was unhappy with Darfuri rebels taking sanctuary in the east of Chad.
A rapprochement between Chad and Sudan in 2010 has helped bring peace to the region. | The people of Chad are going to the polls to vote in presidential elections with incumbent President Idriss Deby expected to win a fourth term. | 13187097 |
The Community Charge Debt (Scotland) Bill has now completed its parliamentary hurdles.
The new law will effectively write off £425m of unpaid bills relating to the controversial household tax which was introduced by the 1989 Tory government.
The Scottish Conservatives were against the move but the Scottish government said it was the right thing to do.
The proposal to end the debt collection was brought forward last year by former first minister Alex Salmond after several councils said they would use the details of people who registered to vote in September's independence referendum to recover outstanding payments.
Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary John Swinney said ahead of the final debate and vote: "The poll tax was a deeply unfair, regressive levy which should never have been introduced in the first place.
"A Tory government, which Scotland had rejected, imposed the tax on Scotland, and - as was recently confirmed in documents released under the 30-year rule - they were determined that Scotland be a guinea pig for their disastrous tax experiment.
"Although the poll tax is now defunct, its bitter legacy is still with us. It cannot be right that people fear being on the electoral registers because of decades-old debt relating to a discredited and unjust tax. Nor is it right that some of the few people paying off poll tax debt are the poorest in society."
Arrears collected by councils across Scotland fell to £327,000 in 2013-14 and some local authorities have already ceased recovery of the debt.
Councils are to receive a share of £869,000 from the Scottish government in 2015-16, based on what they could still reasonably expect to collect.
Gavin Brown MSP, finance spokesman for the Conservatives, said his party oppose writing off the debt, "not least because it sends completely the wrong message".
He added: "It could also encourage people who think they don't have to pay council tax because it will just be written off a few years down the line.
"We also think it's wrong that councils could be forced to lose out financially, when it's the Scottish government which has imposed this."
You can watch live coverage of the final debate at BBC Scotland's Democracy Live website from 3.45pm. | A new law to end the collection of historic poll tax debt has been backed by MSPs at Holyrood. | 31533524 |
The annual survey of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) indicates a 13.2% increase on 2014 in vacancies being offered by graduate recruiters.
It also suggests a £1,000 rise in average starting salaries, to £28,000.
But the study also says the number of female graduates being recruited by AGR employers is lower than it should be and more must be done to address this.
The AGR research suggests London continues to attract large numbers of graduates, with a 46% share of vacancies.
The West Midlands and the South East are the next largest regions, with a 8% and 7% share of graduate recruits respectively.
The study indicates employers in the accountancy or professional services sector continue to offer the highest proportion of graduate vacancies, at 23%.
The public sector offers the second highest proportion (15%), followed by engineering or industrial companies (12%).
The median starting salary for graduates in 2014-2015 was £28,000 - up from £27,000 in 2013-14 and a continuation of the steady increase from £25,000 in 2010-2011, £26,000 in 2011-2012 and £26,500 in 2012-2013.
Law firms offered the highest starting salaries, at a median of £37,000, while banking or financial services companies continued to occupy second place but at a slightly lower starting salary of £31,250.
Consulting or business services, fast-moving consumer goods companies and information and telecommunications companies were the next highest, with median starting salaries of £28,500.
The study also suggests the proportion of women being recruited averaged 42% per employer in 2013-14, despite the fact that 59% of all university graduates are female (according to the UK's Higher Education Statistics Agency).
"While the reasons for this mismatch are still unclear, it appears that more could be done to attract female candidates to graduate recruitment programmes," the AGR report says.
The lowest share of female recruits was in engineering and industrial companies (24%) and construction companies (28%).
But women made up the largest share of graduate recruits in the public sector (59%) and retail sector (57%) in 2013-14.
The proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) graduates hired averaged 16% per employer in 2013-2014, which "compares well with the graduate talent pool", the report says, as 19% of university graduates are BAME.
AGR chief executive Stephen Isherwood said: "Gender diversity is an issue which requires more of our attention.
"Although our data cannot explain why women aren't securing more graduate placements, it indicates there is more to be done to attract female graduates who in turn need to make the most of the opportunities available."
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "Today's figures continue to show the significant benefits of a degree for young people.
"Graduates under 30 are enjoying falling rates of unemployment and record earnings, on average. Our reforms are raising education standards across all ages, giving young people the skills to succeed." | UK graduates looking for employment face a brighter landscape than in previous years, research suggests. | 34186954 |
Jake Harvey's Kelsae stone will be sited in front of Kelso Town Hall.
The project was funded by supermarket firm Sainsbury's after it opened a store in the area.
Mr Harvey said he hoped the community would get a "sense of pride and pleasure from the completed work" which should be finished early next year.
His design was selected from four shortlisted through an open competition run by the Kelso Stakeholder Group.
Mr Harvey grew up in the Borders and attended Kelso High School.
He became Professor of Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art in 2000.
Charlie Robertson, who chairs the Kelso Stakeholder Group, said he was pleased with the final selection.
"When we started the process of selecting an artwork we gave it the title 'Kelsae' and challenged the entrants to produce works which epitomised what this meant," he said.
"We feel that the stone encapsulates the past, present and future of Kelso in an original, innovative and visually stimulating way and that it will quickly become a much loved feature of the square.
"Not only will it enhance the square, it will also spread the good name of Kelso to an even wider audience."
Mr Harvey said he was delighted his design had been chosen.
"The prospect of creating a significant work that complements the space and is an enduring embodiment of Kelso has great resonance for me," he said.
"I have a life-long association with the local area, and reference points in the town and the local landscape have inspired my work for close to 50 years."
He added that he looked forward to working with the people of Kelso when the inscription phase of the work began.
An opportunity for the public to hear the sculptor talk about his Kelsae proposal in depth will be organised in August. | The winner has been announced in a £40,000 competition to produce a new public artwork to be placed in the centre of a Scottish Borders town. | 23341763 |
The singer's latest album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, has debuted at number one on this week's chart.
It is his 12th album to reach the summit - and pushes him ahead of David Bowie, who has 11 number one albums to his name.
Williams said: "I'm chuffed that this album is number one and I'm humbled by these amazing statistics and facts."
The singer now has as many number one albums as Madonna, but remains behind The Beatles, (who have 15), and Elvis Presley (13).
The Heavy Entertainment Show beat the new collaborative album by Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, Together, which debuted at number two.
Bon Jovi's This House Is Not For Sale was the only other new entry in the top 10, landing at number five.
Last week's number one album by James Arthur, Back from the Edge, dropped to number six this week.
Alicia Keys's latest album, Here, debuted at number 21, her seventh top 40 album.
On the singles chart, Clean Bandit's Rockabye - which features guest vocals from Anne Marie and Sean Paul - climbed two places to reach the summit.
Clean Bandit said: "Rockabye is a song that means a lot to us and it means even more to us that so many people are listening to it and liking it."
Rockabye is the band's sixth top five hit and second number one - following 2014's Rather Be, which featured Jess Glynne.
The success of the single comes two months after violinist and founding member Neil Milan left the band.
Rockabye dethroned Little Mix's Shout Out To My Ex, which dropped to number two.
Elsewhere, Bruno Mars's 24K Magic climbed into the top five for the first time, while Maroon 5's Don't Wanna Know, featuring Kendrick Lamar, rose to number seven to give the band their ninth UK top 40.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Robbie Williams has broken the record for the most number one albums by a British solo artist. | 37954277 |
Cleveland Police has already apologised to the officers, two journalists and a solicitor whose phones were accessed while investigating leaks to the media.
A United Kingdom Investigatory Power tribunal ruled the force's actions were not proportionate.
The tribunal said the invasion of privacy was "serious and distressing"
Cleveland Police accessed phone records of the officers and Northern Echo journalists for four months in 2012 under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) legislation.
The force claimed it was concerned information was being illegally leaked to the media.
Former officers Mark Dias and Steve Matthews claim they were targeted after challenging misconduct by fellow officers.
The tribunal said there was no evidence they had acted criminally.
The officers were awarded compensation on the basis the force's actions affected their "future careers and reputations".
Although the breach of the journalists' and solicitor's phones was a "serious matter", the tribunal said compensation to them was not necessary as their careers were not at risk.
The tribunal also said it was unable to rule on Mr Dias's complaints about the force's treatment of Asian officers but did say Chief Constable Iain Spittall has a "serious issue to resolve" which could have "profound consequences for the force".
A statement from Cleveland Police said: "A large amount of work is underway to ensure that such activity as occurred in 2012 doesn't happen again and that lessons are learned.
"This work includes the ongoing review of professional standards and an external review of RIPA authorisations relating to professional standards and spanning the last six years." | Two former police officers whose phones were illegally monitored by their own force have been awarded £3,000 compensation. | 40872754 |
Starting Monday 8 February, it will offer audiences an insight into how different types of loss affects people of all ages and backgrounds, bringing them to the heart of the issue.
The week-long series will feature a daily case study of people sharing their experiences of living with loss.
It will air each night at 17:50 GMT on BBC Radio Ulster.
The Living with Loss series will end with a studio discussion on Friday, 12 February.
Audiences will be able to interact in a number of ways: Tweeting @BBCevex, posting on the Radio Ulster Facebook page, or texting 81771.
BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme is broadcast each weekday from 17:00 GMT. | BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme is exploring the topic of living with loss, through a series of conversations with people in Northern Ireland. | 35518047 |
The Dumfries and Galloway facility is on a provisional Ministry of Defence shortlist of five locations.
No decision will be made until after public consultation this year.
However, the issue was raised at a meeting of the Chapelcross Site Stakeholder Group (CSSG) to discuss the prospect of the Scottish site's use.
The MoD is looking for somewhere to store radioactive components until the 2040s when a permanent disposal facility is due to be ready.
The shortlisted sites are Capenhurst, Cheshire; Sellafield, West Cumbria; Aldermaston and Burghfield, Berkshire; and Chapelcross.
Ronnie Ogilvie, who chairs the CSSG, said there was not a great deal of detail to discuss at the moment.
He said it was clear that the site did have the storage capacity for low-level radioactive waste.
Mr Ogilivie said it was hoped more could be learned from forthcoming talks with military officials.
Decommissioning work is currently going on at the site near Annan.
It ceased power generation in 2004, with its landmark cooling towers later being pulled down. | The prospect of the former power plant site at Chapelcross being used to store waste from nuclear submarines has been discussed in Annan. | 26371169 |
Only one of 67 people known to have survived the camp, he escaped by clambering over bodies piled up by a fence as the Nazis shot prisoners during a mass break-out.
In 2013, he returned to the site to mark 70 years since his escape.
About 870,000 people died in the gas chambers at Treblinka - more than anywhere else except Auschwitz.
Mr Willenberg urged the world never to forget Treblinka.
In October 1942, aged 19, he was among 6,000 Jews from the Opatow ghetto who arrived by train at the camp.
They were told they were at a transit camp and had to undress and shower before being sent onward. In reality, the shower rooms were gas chambers.
But because he was a bricklayer he was assigned to manual labour duties and escaped an early death. His job was to sort through the belongings of the people sent to the gas chambers.
After the war Mr Willenberg - whose two sisters were killed at the camp - moved to Israel and became a surveyor.
"I live two lives, one is here and now and the other is what happened there,'' he said. `"It never leaves me. It stays in my head. It goes with me always."
Most of Treblinka's guards were never prosecuted for their part in the crimes there.
Treblinka's commandant, Franz Stangl, was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1970 following his trial in the west German city of Duesseldorf.
Today nothing remains of the extermination camp apart from the ashes of the mostly Jewish men, women and children murdered there. | Samuel Willenberg, the last survivor of Nazi Germany's Treblinka death camp in Poland, has died in Israel aged 93. | 35623492 |
The EuroMillions ticket for the 8 June draw was bought in the Stevenage or Hitchin area of Hertfordshire.
The missing ticket-holder matched all five numbers - 5, 11, 22, 34 and 40 - and the Lucky Star numbers - 9 and 11.
The deadline to claim the money was 23:00 GMT on Wednesday. It is the biggest unclaimed lottery win in history.
A National Lottery spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim their prize and has now sadly missed out on this staggering amount of money.
"The vast majority of prizes are claimed within the 180 days but to avoid this unfortunate situation happening again, we would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis."
The money, and the interest it has generated, will go to the National Lottery Good Causes. | A lottery winner has lost out on a £63.8m windfall after missing the deadline to claim the prize. | 20621350 |
Goldenbridge Cemetery in Dublin was the first non-denominational graveyard on the island of Ireland - and was used by people of all religions and none.
O'Connell, an MP who led the campaign to end religious discrimination against Catholics, opened Goldenbridge in 1828.
It shut over a dispute with the British War Office but reopened at the weekend.
Until now, the gates of the two-acre site in the Dublin suburb of Inchicore had been locked and visits were permitted by appointment only.
About 250 people attended a rededication ceremony at the graveyard on Sunday, which marked the opening of the site as a historical landmark and a working cemetery.
The attendees heard an extract from one of O'Connell's speeches, in which he said: "We wish to live on terms of amity and affection with our brother Protestant fellow-countrymen.
"We earnestly desire to be united with them in our lives, and not to be separated from them in death".
The Irish barrister and politician founded the graveyard at a time when Catholics were banned from having their own dedicated cemeteries.
They were also banned from taking seats in the House of Commons and many other public offices.
That began to change when O'Connell, a Catholic Irish nationalist from County Kerry, won a Commons seat to represent the County Clare constituency in 1828.
His election helped to pressurise the government into passing the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act, which restored some of the civil liberties they had lost after the Reformation.
Goldenbridge cemetery is now run by the Glasnevin Trust, and members of the public will now be able to buy new grave plots at the site.
The trust is the largest provider of funeral services in the Republic of Ireland and is governed by the Dublin Cemeteries Committee, which O'Connell established in 1828.
The chairman of trust, John Green, told BBC News NI that the British military authorities originally objected to Goldenbridge over fears that the burials would contaminate their water supply.
He said the cemetery was close to Dublin's Grand Canal, which at that time was used as a source of drinking water by British troops based at nearby Richmond Barracks.
The complaint went all the way to the Lord Chancellor's office, before a decision was taken to shut the graveyard.
However, Mr Green added that an inspection of the site revealed it had good drainage, and said a more likely reason for the military objection was that troops frequently ended up in pubs with mourners after the many funerals held at the site.
The project to reopen the cemetery coincided with the refurbishment of Richmond Barracks as an exhibition centre.
Sunday's ceremony was held on the eve of the 170th anniversary of O'Connell's death and a wreath was laid in his memory.
Among the graves at Goldenbridge is that of first leader of the Irish Free State - William Thomas (WT) Cosgrave.
He served as the first President of the Executive Council - effectively the first Irish prime minister - from 1922 to 1932.
Cosgrave's legacy divides opinion and his grave has been vandalised in repeated attacks.
Last year, it was one of 12 graves badly damaged days before the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
However, at the time Mr Green told the BBC he could not be sure the vandalism was politically motivated, as the site was regularly a target for serious anti-social behaviour, including drug dealing.
It is hoped the reopened graveyard will have potential as a tourist attraction. | An Irish cemetery founded by Daniel O'Connell in the early 19th Century has reopened to the public after almost 150 years. | 39920749 |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.