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30809491 | The freak weather ripped the guttering and tiles from roofs in Park Bottom, Illogan, in Cornwall and left them in a nearby field on Tuesday night.
Stunned residents described a "massive whirling noise" as windows were blown in and debris smashed into cars.
Weather experts said it was "plausible" that a tornado was whipped up during a severe storm.
The freak weather struck at abut 21:15 GMT, said John Budd, whose 6ft (1.8m) by 8ft (2.4m) wooden summerhouse was ripped from his garden.
"All of a sudden there was a loud roaring noise and then a bang," he said.
"I thought a plane had come down."
Mr Budd's summerhouse roof had been blown four houses down the street and landed in Trev Harris's garden after striking his conservatory and roof.
Roof slates were piled on the ground outside.
A large trampoline had also been catapulted four houses down the street.
Mr Harris said: "I said to my wife we have a shed-load of material in the garden and then I realised it was a shed."
Neighbour Dave Crabtree said: "There was an almighty sound of the wind whistling. The window was vibrating and all the glass shattered into the living room.
"It went everywhere. It missed my wife Lynne by an inch or two."
BBC weatherman Kevin Thomas said: "It sounds like a tornado; the clues are the roaring sound and the localisation of the damage and the fact that weighty objects have been picked up."
A lightning strike blasted a hole in the roof of a house in Hayle during the storm.
Snow caused hazardous driving conditions in Cornwall, especially around Launceston, and the A3074 near Lelant was closed after high winds brought down trees and power cables. | A suspected tornado threw a summerhouse roof some 300ft (90m) through the air and left a trail of destruction. |
24475967 | The Spaniard used the pair's record at Ferrari from 2007-09 as evidence.
"In terms of speed, Felipe is not any slower. When they were together, Felipe was as quick as him in a way," he said.
It will be great if Webber can say 'bye-bye' to F1 with a win
"So if we have a competitive car we will enjoy the season and do very good things. If not, it will be very similar to this year."
Raikkonen won the 2007 world championship with Massa in fourth place.
The following year, the Brazilian finished second - one place above the Finn - before Raikkonen finished sixth - five positions ahead of his team-mate - in their final year together.
Ferrari have signed Raikkonen because they feel he will be more consistent than Massa.
While sometimes qualifying close to Alonso, and occasionally ahead of him, Massa has had an up-and-down time in races during the last four years.
This weekend, meanwhile, Alonso can break the Formula 1 record for most career points.
With at least a sixth-place finish, Alonso - who currently has 1,559 points - will overtake Michael Schumacher's 1,566.
The 32-year-old Spaniard admitted the change in the points system in 2010 - to more than double the number of points awarded for top-six finishes, and to extend points down to 10th place - had somewhat skewed the equation.
But he still said he would be pleased to break the record, not least because it would be hard for him to break the record for wins (he has 32 and Schumacher 91) and titles (Alonso has two and Schumacher seven).
"It's important, as there are a few records I can achieve in F1," Alonso said. "Not the number of titles, as Schumacher has so many, not the number of wins, because of Schumacher too.
"But getting the most points in history will be very nice to have.
"It would be very nice to achieve that record here in Japan, to have something to celebrate, but first let's get those points before we talk too much about this record.
"Of course the points system changed, and that helped the new generation, but when the next driver passes me no-one will mention the points system, so I'm happy to have it."
Alonso admitted it was "almost impossible" for him to win the drivers' title this year - he is 77 points behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel with only 125 still available in the remaining five races.
He said his target for the rest of the year was to secure second-place overall and try to ensure Ferrari finished in the runners-up spot in the constructors' championship.
Alonso also wants his friend Mark Webber, Vettel's team-mate, to win a race before he leaves F1 at the end of the season to join Porsche in endurance racing.
"He decided to retire and then comes also some bad luck," Alonso said. "It's a shame for him. I wish him luck for the five remaining races.
"It will be great if he can say 'bye-bye' to F1 with a win at least and celebrate that weekend." | Fernando Alonso believes his new team-mate at Ferrari next season, Kimi Raikkonen, is no faster than his current partner Felipe Massa. |
36853841 | The 1975 drama, featuring a young Alison Steadman, was written by then-school teacher Bleasdale in four days for a BBC Two new writers strand.
The Alan Bleasdale At The BBC collection also includes the rarely-shown The Muscle Market and his best known work Boys From The Blackstuff.
It is available from the BBC Store.
Early To Bed - which also starred Doctor Who and EastEnders actor David Warwick - tells the story of a married woman who starts an affair with her young neighbour.
The Muscle Market, which has not been broadcast since it was first shown in 1981, sees Pete Postlethwaite as a crooked business owner.
The 1980 play The Blackstuff, and its Boys From The Blackstuff spin-off, were critically-acclaimed portrayals of Margaret Thatcher's Britain and featured Bernard Hill as the troubled Yosser Hughes.
The series famously saw the unemployed Hughes develop the increasingly desperate catchphrase of "Gizza job" as he searched for work, asking everyone he met including his professional footballer lookalike, Graeme Souness.
The controversial 1986 drama The Monocled Mutineer, which starred Paul McGann and told the story of a World War One mutiny, is also included.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or email [email protected]. | Alan Bleasdale's rarely-seen first television work, Early To Bed, has been released by the BBC in a collection celebrating his screenwriting. |
24063954 | The bill - which does not include staff costs - is slightly up on last year.
It represents a saving of £10.9m on 2008-09, the year before the expenses scandal and the creation of IPSA, the watchdog said in an annual report.
IPSA says it has saved taxpayers £35m in expenses payments in total, although it cost £6m to set up.
When staff costs are added in the expenses bill for the 12-month period is £98m, 7% higher than last year.
The biggest claimer in the period covered by the report was North Antrim DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr, who received £100,204 in constituency, accommodation and travel expenses.
Conservative MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, Daniel Kawczynski, claimed the most on accommodation - £26,982 - followed by Rochdale Labour MP Simon Danczuk who claimed £26,939.
The DUP's Jim Shannon claimed the most on staff costs - £157,648 - followed by Labour MP and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, who claimed £155,434.
Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland, claimed the highest travel expenses, £45,047, followed by Ian Paisley Jr £45,039.
One MP - Conservative Zac Goldsmith of Richmond Park - made no claim, while Conservative MP and business minister Michael Fallon received just £38.74 and Conservative MP for Windsor Adam Afriyie £604.20.
The report also details how much MPs pay to family members - mostly their spouses or children - to work as office managers, secretaries, caseworkers or Parliamentary assistants.
It shows that 155 MPs employ someone with the same family name in their office. Typical pay for an office manager ranges between £25,000 and £39,999 a year, although some MPs pay more than that.
Conservative backbencher Peter Bone pays his wife Jeanette - a cult figure in the Commons thanks to her husband's humorous references to "Mrs Bone" in his speeches - between £45,000 and £49,999 to be his office manager.
Fellow Tory backbencher Christopher Chope pays wife Christine a similar amount to be his secretary.
The report reveals that 19 MPs claimed a total of £13,163 for bonuses to their staff - the highest amount claimed was by Conservative MP Brooks Newmark who shared £1,800 between three members of his Parliamentary team.
There has also been a big increase in the amount MPs spend on security, which has gone up from £36,948 in 2010-11 to £129,829 in 2012-13.
Eight MPs still owe capital gains repayments to IPSA on house sales, adding up to a total of £96,295.
More than half of that total is down to Conservative MP Stewart Jackson, who is embroiled in a legal dispute with the watchdog over the £54,000 it says he owes them.
The MP claims the watchdog overestimated the capital gain he made on his family home in his Peterborough constituency.
IPSA banned the use of Commons expenses to pay mortgage interest in May 2010. However, transitional arrangements were put in place permitting MPs elected before 2010 to keep claiming the money up to last August - as long as they agreed to return any potential capital gain. | MPs claimed a total of £23m in personal expenses in the year to April, says the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). |
19528417 | A number of children are among the dead. There were no reports of casualties among Isaf troops.
The police said the attacker was a boy, 14, on a motorbike, who detonated a bomb near an entrance to the HQ.
Kabul security has been tightened as supporters of an anti-Taliban warlord mark 11 years since his assassination.
Ahmad Shah Massoud - a hero of the 1980s war against Soviet occupiers, and later of opposition to the Taliban - was killed by al-Qaeda suicide bombers on 9 September 2001.
Following Saturday's explosion, the Isaf HQ, home to some 2,500 personnel, was placed "on lockdown", the Isaf spokeswoman said.
Child street hawkers are believed to have been caught in the blast and witnesses quoted by Reuters said small bodies could be seen being carried to ambulances.
A police official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP news agency: "Most of the victims are young children who gather around Isaf to sell small items to soldiers leaving or getting into the base."
The US embassy, the Italian embassy and the presidential palace are also located near the site of the attack.
The Taliban have claimed they were behind the attack, but say it was carried out by a man in his 20s, targeting a building used by the CIA to train Afghan spies.
But the BBC Jonathan Beale, in Kabul, says there is also speculation that it could have been the work of another insurgent group - the Haqqani network - which carried out a series of coordinated attacks in the city earlier this year.
Scores of dignitaries were attending commemorations of Massoud's death in Kabul on Saturday, which is a national public holiday in his honour. | A teenage suicide bomber has killed at least six people near the headquarter of the Nato-led international coalition (Isaf) in Kabul. |
13359030 | It is an issue that has long concerned Western leaders who provide Pakistan with billions of dollars of aid each year and expect, in return, full co-operation in the US war on terror.
In July last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he could not tolerate a situation in which Pakistan was able to "look both ways" so that it could promote the export of terror.
And just last month, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen went on Pakistani television and openly accused Pakistan's main intelligence agency, the ISI, of having links with a powerful tribal group believed to facilitate the movement of Taliban fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan.
The ISI, Adm Mullen said, had a "long-standing relationship" with the Haqqani network.
The fact that such senior political and military leaders are openly voicing their suspicions about Pakistan reflects their frustration that a decade into the US war on terror, the Taliban movement in Afghanistan is strong and growing stronger.
The biggest question just now is whether Pakistan knew Osama Bin Laden was living in its country.
Many Pakistanis familiar with the way the security establishment works think it is very likely the ISI did know.
"There is no way he could come here without the ISI's knowledge," said retired Brig Shaukat Qadir.
"You see this particular house had been raided... This house has been under suspicion all along."
Others insist that the ISI did not know and argue that its track record of catching militants proves it has no desire to hide them.
Assad Munir, another retired brigadier, was working for military intelligence and the ISI before and after 9/11.
He was based in north-west Pakistan and led the search for al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.
"We got hold of the maximum people, who went to Guantanamo. I think we got hold of more than 260 people between 2001 and 2003," he said.
"We have the record. I don't think anyone else can match it."
It is a complicated situation and outsiders are often baffled by Pakistan's aggressive attitude towards some militants, and apparent tolerance of others.
Jihadis, after all, are causing havoc in Pakistan. With an average of more than one suicide bombing every week, 35,000 Pakistanis have died since 9/11.
The key to understanding Pakistani policy is to appreciate the distinctions between different types of militant groups.
Some, such as the Pakistan Taliban, are attacking targets within Pakistan - including security force personnel. The Pakistan army is consequently fighting the Pakistan Taliban hard. It has lost thousands of men in doing so.
But other Pakistani-based groups are focused on the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan has long been preparing for an American defeat in Afghanistan and wants to have a good relationship with whatever government takes over once the Americans have left.
For Islamabad, there is a lot at stake.
Pakistan used to think of Afghanistan as a place that gave it strategic depth. A friendly government in Kabul allowed it to concentrate its military forces on the border with India.
Islamabad is highly concerned that Delhi, which has given more than $1bn of aid to Kabul in recent years, is getting a foothold in Afghanistan. Countering Indian influence in Afghanistan is a top Pakistani priority.
Since the post-Hamid Karzai government will almost certainly include elements of the Taliban, Pakistan has an interest in maintaining good relations with the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Mullah Omar has repeatedly said he does not want his part of the Taliban to attack targets inside Pakistan.
Furthermore, if Pakistan allows Punjabi militants, for example, to fight in Afghanistan then it means they cannot cause any problems at home.
You can hear the full report on Assignment on BBC World Service Radio on Thursday, 12 May 2011 at 0905BST or on Crossing Continents on BBC Radio 4 at 1100BST . You can also listen via the BBC iPlayer or by downloading the free Crossing Continents podcast or Assignment podcast.
BBC Crossing Continents
BBC World Service - Assignment
But it is not just Afghanistan. There have even been cases of groups thought to have close links with the ISI launching attacks in India itself.
For example, the deaths of more than 170 people in Mumbai in November 2008 were blamed on the Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Under huge international pressure, the Pakistani authorities put the founder of the organisation, Hafiz Saeed, under house arrest, but a few months later released him.
Other members of the group were taken into custody in Pakistan but none of their trials have been processed.
Abbas Nasir, a former editor of the Dawn newspaper, says there are elements of the state that want some militants to be set free.
"People have been killed, the murderers have been arrested, and then released without charge at the behest and the instigation of the security services," he said.
"They perceive India as the biggest enemy that they have. And think they need the jihad, the international jihad forces, to protect them and to reinforce their foreign policy, be it in Afghanistan or Kashmir."
The state's lack of determination to ensure the conviction of some jihadis has also been apparent in the investigation into the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Despite strong evidence that the Taliban carried out the assassination, and the arrest of five suspects, their trials have been delayed on various pretexts.
Jihadis involved in less well-known cases also escape justice but for different reasons.
Fearing reprisals, eyewitnesses and judges are reluctant to give evidence against or to convict jihadis.
In addition, the legal system is stacked in favour of militants. For example, possession of any amount of explosives - including suicide vests - is a bailable offence.
Many police officers have stories about jihadis being let off.
Senior superintendent of police Akbar Nasir Khan, for example, once arrested a man for attacking a politician's house in Peshawar with a rocket launcher.
He arrested him, seized various weapons, and found eyewitnesses who had seen the accused with the rocket launcher.
But three months after the case went to court, the man turned up in Akbar Nasir Khan's office and suggested they have cup of tea.
The court had released him on bail on the grounds that he was not a threat to public security.
The failings of the judicial system mean that, increasingly, for street level militants, it is a case of impunity or death.
Some police officers are so frustrated by the failure of the courts to convict jihadis that they say that rather than arrest suspects they now kill them.
One police officer in Karachi told me he had killed 22 militants.
"They always say the same thing", he said, putting his finger on the middle of his forehead.
"They say don't break my body. Make it quick." | The presence of Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil has once again raised questions about the links between the country's security establishment and jihadi militants. |
40402371 | Mr Holliday said there was an opportunity "to come back with some serious suggestions".
Last week's Queen's Speech appeared to water down commitments to a price cap.
Instead it said ministers were "considering the best way" to protect those on the poorest-value tariffs.
Before the election, the government had proposed intervening in the energy market to help millions of domestic gas and electricity customers by cutting around £100 off their energy bills.
Last year, a landmark investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority concluded that many households on standard variable tariffs were paying too much for their energy.
It calculated consumers were overpaying by up to £1.2bn a year and recommended a price cap for households using pre-payment meters.
Several large suppliers have questioned the findings. But they have come under increasing political pressure for their treatment of loyal customers on standard tariffs.
Mr Holliday, a former chief executive of National Grid, said the energy industry's reaction to the idea of a price cap was mixed.
He was speaking at the launch of the Energy Institute's annual barometer, which gathers the views of industry members.
The survey, completed by 466 members across the energy sector, indicates that that some see merits in a price cap to tackle affordability and poverty.
But most respondents were against a cap. "There were lots of people identifying the negative impact on investment, decarbonisation and on competition in the supply industry" said Mr Holliday.
"When you looked across the whole of the participants here... more than half were not in favour of a price cap," he added.
The Energy Institute's barometer for 2017 also identified Brexit as a "material concern" to the energy sector.
Members of the institute were concerned about uncertainty around energy policy, the availability of skilled labour, future trading arrangements, energy costs, security of supply and investment.
"The stakes are high for the UK's energy economy", said Mr Holliday.
"Sound policy making should not be drowned out by Brexit or other political upheavals."
A majority of those who responded to the survey want to keep most EU directives enshrined in UK law.
But a majority also want to see the UK abandon EU state aid rules and opinion is divided on British involvement in the EU emissions trading system.
As part of its Brexit plans, the government has confirmed that the UK will also leave Euratom, the European nuclear treaty covering the safety and the transport of nuclear material.
Energy professionals believe this move will negatively affect most aspects of the nuclear sector, including the cost and deliverability of new nuclear plants such as Hinkley Point C.
A majority also view President's Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate Agreement as a "material concern", although one that can overcome by action at a state and federal level. | Energy suppliers have a "window of opportunity" to address government proposals for a cap on energy prices, according to Steve Holliday, the vice president of the Energy Institute. |
34279955 | The comic has previously described working at Merrill Lynch's offices on the 54th floor of the South Tower when the first plane struck the North Tower.
However Rannazzisi, who stars in FXX show The League, told the New York Times, it was a fabrication.
"This was inexcusable. I am truly, truly sorry," he said.
Rannazzisi had claimed in several interviews over the years that he had fled to the street just minutes before a second plane hit his building.
He said he had decided that life was too precious to waste opportunities, so left his desk job to pursue a career as an entertainer.
The comedian was confronted by the newspaper ahead of his own one-hour special due to be broadcast this weekend on Comedy Central and admitted that it was all a lie.
In a series of tweets, Rannazzisi apologised saying: "For many years, more than anything, I have wished that with silence, I could somehow erase a story told by an immature young man. It only made me more ashamed.
"How could I tell my children to be honest when I hadn't come clean about this?"
Alongside his TV work, Rannazzisi also has a commercial endorsement with Buffalo Wild Wings, which gave a statement to the NY Times saying it was "re-evaluating our relationship with Steve pending a review of all the facts".
Saturday Night Live comic Pete Davidson, who lost his firefighter father on 11 September posted and later deleted a tweet which read: "It's ok @SteveRannazzisi people make mistakes ... Can't wait to meet my dad for lunch later."
He later tweeted: "We all sometimes lie and exaggerate a story to seem cooler ...Unfortunately this is a very touchy topic n very near n dear 2 peoples hearts. Its years later but he apologized n owned up 2 it like a man."
Comedy Central has not yet commented on Ranazzasisi's future with the network.
The comedian blamed his fabrication on "an early taste of having a public persona".
He added, "It is to the victims of 9/11 and to the people that love them - and the people that love me - that I ask for forgiveness.
"It was profoundly disrespectful to those who perished and those who lost loved ones. The stupidity and guilt I have felt for many years has not abated." | American comedian Steve Rannazzisi has admitted lying over escaping from the twin towers during the terror attacks on New York on 2001. |
35690252 | The Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA), which compiled the data, said visits to 260 of its member sites rose for the second year.
Edinburgh Castle came out top on the list - which included both free and paid-for sights - with more than 1.5m visitors, a rise of 5.9%.
But numbers at the city's zoo saw the biggest fall, dropping by 5.7%.
Although Edinburgh Zoo was the second most popular paid-for attraction, visitors were down from 671,941 in 2014 to 633,500 in 2015.
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art saw the biggest rise in footfall, going up 40.6% from 320,605 visitors in 2014 to 457,655 in 2015.
The organisation's annual "Visitor Trends Report" found that more than 27 million visits were made to their sites in Scotland in 2015, a rise of 3.4% on 2014 figures.
The increase came on top of a 6% rise in 2014, suggesting that visitor attractions in Scotland are currently enjoying a period of sustained growth.
Sectors which fared particularly well in 2015 included gardens (+7.5%), museums and galleries (+2.7%), castles and heritage sites (+5.1%), and boat trips/marine-related attractions (+11.9%).
The National Museum of Scotland, which had ten galleries closed for refurbishment, had a 4.4% reduction, from 1,639,574 visitors in 2014 to 1,567,31 last year.
And visitor numbers at Gretna Green's Famous Blacksmith's Shop dropped 0.9%.
Douglas Walker, Chair of ASVA said: "After a number of challenging years for the sector, it is clear that visitor attractions are entering what we hope will be a period of sustained growth.
"The attractions which have done particularly well in 2015 are those that have invested in their visitor offer by developing innovative new products and services, as well as launching creative events and exhibitions programmes, all of which are vital for keeping visitors coming back time and again." | Scotland's key tourist attractions enjoyed a boost in visitor numbers last year, according to industry leaders. |
35807972 | The British number one, playing his first ATP tournament since becoming a father last month, was beaten 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-3) in the third round.
The Scot, 28, was well short of his best, squandering a 4-1 third-set lead before losing the decisive tie-break.
Johanna Konta progressed in the women's draw by beating Denisa Allertova.
Konta, seeded 25, was a 6-4 6-1 winner over her Czech rival, who had beaten Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the previous round.
The Briton, 24, broke Allertova's serve in the fifth game of the opening set before taking full control in a dominant display.
"I fought the hardest I could fight and took some opportunities when I got them," said Konta.
She will next face Czech Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-0.
The world number two said he struggled with his serve in windy conditions: "I didn't serve one ace in two hours and 45 minutes of a match.
"I have the capability of serving over 130 miles an hour and I was at probably 100, 105 miles an hour average first serve speed which was way too low.
"I just struggle in these conditions. I don't know why it is. The reason why I'm not going for my serve is I feel that when I do, I miss it.
"It's a slight mentality thing, but I seem to do it here every single year. It's frustrating because I don't serve at that speed the rest of the year."
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:
"Close followers of Murray's desert fortunes have seen similar performances in the past, but, from 4-1 up in the deciding set, the world number two knows he should have comfortably sewn things up.
"The drop shot, with which Murray has thrilled and frustrated in equal measure over the years, was overused in the closing stages - a sign of Murray's lack of confidence from the back of the court in these unique conditions.
"The ball flies through the desert air and can bounce up quite high - different conditions to Miami, where Murray will be heading for his next challenge." | Andy Murray made an early exit from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells with a surprise loss to Argentine world number 53 Federico Delbonis. |
33096263 | An international team looked for evidence of current or past infection in more than 800 dromedary camels.
They found that more than 90% of animals became infected by the age of two and virus shedding was more common in calves than in adults.
The scientists argue that changes in animal husbandry may reduce the occurrence of human Mers infections.
The study is published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The first reports of human Mers coronavirus infection emerged in June 2012, although cases are likely to have occurred before then.
More than 1,100 cases have been recorded and more than 400 people have died. Infections have been seen in 25 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa, but Saudi Arabia has experienced the biggest burden.
Because of its devastating effects in humans scientists have been searching for the source of the virus, to try to identify ways in which human infections can be prevented.
Speaking to BBC's Science in Action, Dr Müller who was involved in the earlier ground-breaking research looking for the origins or Mers said, "We could identify, in South Africa, bats that were carrying ancestral viruses: viruses that are [evolutionary] older than the Mers virus that we are seeing today".
But, whilst related, these bat viruses were distinct from the Mers virus cropping up in humans. There had to be another source.
Following a brainstorming meeting between the Bonn scientists and colleagues based at the Erasmus Medical College in the Netherlands, the researchers focussed their efforts on animals that had close contact with humans living in the Middle East: horses, cattle, sheep, goats and dromedary camels.
The finding from their initial work was clear. Dromedary camels living in the Middle East had antibodies that recognised Mers virus protein - a strong sign of past infection. None of the other animals tested contained these.
To gain further insight into the origins of this emerging human infection and the link to camels, the team then looked at samples obtained from dromedary camels living in other countries.
The presence of Mers-reactive antibodies alone is not sufficient evidence - some antibodies can occasionally recognise several viruses belonging to the same families. So, rather than rely on the presence of antibodies alone, the team decided to look for the presence of neutralising antibodies - the antibodies that are able to stop a virus from infecting a cell - as these tend to be far more specific.
"What we could see is that dromedary camels, not only in the Arabian Peninsula but also in Africa where most of the camels are bred then exported to the Arabian Peninsula, have really high levels of neutralising antibodies, which means that they must have been infected with Mers, or a very similar virus," Dr Müller said.
"And we could see that, even in [samples obtained in] 1983, camels in Sudan and Somalia had neutralising antibodies."
Clearly, Mers infection of camels in Africa and the Middle East was rife and this data highlighted that camels had been infected for decades. The buoyant international camel trade running between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula would have provided ample opportunity for the virus to spread.
This past work provided a powerful argument that Mers virus was circulating in camels but it still wasn't clear whether particular groups of animals posed the biggest risks to humans. Knowing this might help in the development of measures aimed at reducing human infections.
In the current study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, an international team drawn from Bonn, Hong Kong and Dubai, looked at more than 900 camels living in Dubai for signs of both past and current Mers infection, in order to answer this camel conundrum.
The camels were being farmed for their milk and meat and for racing.
Blood, nose swabs or saliva samples were tested for the presence of Mers antibodies or for the presence of virus itself.
The vast majority of samples from animals aged more than two years contained Mers antibodies, showing that the virus is a common camel juvenile infection.
Crucially, active virus infection was observed far more frequently in animals less than four years old, with approximately 30% of camels aged less than one, shedding lots of virus.
So, it's these very young animals that pose the greatest threat to humans.
How the virus spreads to humans is still unknown.
It might be through direct contact with body fluids from infected camels. Juvenile camels are very wary of humans and will normally avoid contact with them. However, when the juveniles are separated from their mothers - usually at or before the age of two - they are brought into contact with humans and this provides the perfect opportunity to pass on any virus that they are shedding.
Alternatively, infection might also occur through drinking unpasteurised milk; possibly contaminated by transfer of virus present in the saliva of an infected calf onto the mother's teat during suckling.
Commenting on the infection risk, Dr Müller said "When it comes to being infected, I think you really need close contact and in particular behaviour like kissing camels, drinking raw milk, touching the nostrils and then touching your eyes. That's the way to get infected.
"It's not airborne, that's for sure, and you need quite a dose."
The authors of the latest study argue that simple changes in animal husbandry, like delaying the age that calves are taken away from their mothers, is likely to reduce the chance of human infection. | Camels aged less than four years might be a major source of Mers, according to new research. |
22874192 | The black hole lies at the centre of the Sculptor galaxy, a so-called starburst galaxy where stars are being born at a prodigious rate.
But the X-ray light corresponding to a black hole's snack has dimmed markedly.
The find, to appear in Astrophysical Journal, has mystified astronomers because star formation and black hole activity tend to go hand-in-hand.
The Sculptor galaxy - also known as NGC 253 - hosts a central black hole with a mass some five million times that of our Sun - a quarter again as plump as the black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.
In 2003, researchers using the Chandra space telescope caught sight of the X-rays that correspond to matter spiralling down into the black hole and heating up to millions of degrees.
Source: BBC Science
Could you survive falling into one?
But as of mid-2012, the X-ray sky has a new observer: a space telescope called the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array or Nustar, already a successful black-hole hunter.
Nustar can spot even higher-energy X-rays than Chandra, and in late 2012, both telescopes were trained on NGC 253 - with the surprise finding that the X-ray emission seems to have stopped.
"Black holes feed off surrounding accretion disks of material. When they run out of this fuel, they go dormant," said Ann Hornschemeier of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, a co-author on the new study.
"NGC 253 is somewhat unusual because the giant black hole is asleep in the midst of tremendous star-forming activity all around it."
The subtle interplay between black hole activity and the birth rate of new stars remains somewhat mysterious, but Bret Lehmer of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, lead author on the paper, said that the Sculptor galaxy could shed new light on these dark galactic corners.
"Periodic observations with both Chandra and Nustar should tell us unambiguously if the black hole wakes up again. If this happens in the next few years, we hope to be watching," he said. | A black hole 11 million light-years away has gone dormant, a decade after being spotted consuming cosmic debris. |
37512508 | The first study of its kind in NI charts theft, fraud and the misuse of money among crimes committed.
It found that the emotional impact can be devastating, as often the crime is committed by people the victims know including family and friends.
Some 1,025 people, aged 60 and over, took part in the survey.
The report, entitled The Unsettling Truth, found some 7% of those surveyed had experienced abuse. That equates to more than 25,000 men and women, if extrapolated against the total population in Northern Ireland.
According to the testimonies of those polled, there are many different types of financial abuse, ranging from charitable contributions and buying goods, to issues relating to inheritance and coercion.
The survey indicated that incidents were highest in Ards and North Down (32%) and lowest in Causeway Coast and Glens (9%) with Belfast about average at 21%.
The Commissioner for Older People, Eddie Lynch, said he was both shocked and saddened by the findings.
"Aside from the financial loss itself, this crime affects the emotional wellbeing of older people, bringing with it feelings of betrayal, embarrassment and fear," he told BBC News NI.
Questions did not cover phone scams or junk mail, instead focusing on:
Mr Lynch said he had commissioned the report after realising there was widespread confusion around the scale of the problem among professionals, academics and others working in the field.
It is hoped that by increasing awareness of the problem, more people will have the confidence to report it.
Currently, there are about 400,000 elderly people in Northern Ireland, but that figure is estimated to rise to 507,000 by 2026. | One in five older people in Northern Ireland is affected by financial abuse, according to a report by the Commissioner for Older People. |
36043843 | The Unison union claims employers Cordia - a body of Glasgow City Council - are refusing to discuss the issues surrounding the strike.
It is over additional payments for tasks which the janitors say are "dirty, unpleasant, involve regularly working outside or heavy lifting".
Janitors first walked out in March and are set for further action on 20 April.
Cordia said they had given Unison three opportunities to outline their issues and that the matter was considered by a committee before being rejected.
A spokesman for the facilities company said: "Cordia has completely exhausted all internal processes after negotiations with Unison and is not required to convene a meeting to further negotiate when at this stage there is no possibility of a settlement."
But Unison said janitors were entitled to the Working Context and Demands Payment which ranges from about £500 to more than £1,000.
Sam Macartney, Unison branch officer, said: "We want justice for jannies in Glasgow.
"The city's parents, carers and the wider public will be rightly astonished that the employer is refusing to even meet these hard-working janitors and their trade union."
Industrial action over the payment began on 19 January when janitors began boycotting a number of duties.
Unison said Cordia were using "spurious arguments" to justify not awarding the payment. | Over 100 primary school janitors in Glasgow are set for another three-day strike over a pay dispute. |
38737571 | Ogilvie has yet to make a first-team appearance for the Premier League side, but played 24 times in a loan spell at the Lamex Stadium last campaign.
"I think everybody knows I really enjoyed my time at the club last year so I am delighted to be back," said the 20-year-old left-back.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity the manager has given me."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page or visit our Premier League tracker here. | Stevenage have re-signed defender Connor Ogilvie on loan from Tottenham Hotspur until the end of the season. |
38035329 | Both teams had chances in a tight first half, with the best opportunity for the hosts side falling to Junior Brown, who fired over after goalkeeper Jak Alnwick blocked an effort from Vale old boy AJ Leitch-Smith.
Ivan Toney also flicked a low cross from Louis Dodds just wide as Shrewsbury pushed for a breakthrough.
Vale's best effort saw a 20-yard drive from Sam Kelly turned away by home keeper Jayson Leutwiler, while Alex Jones drilled a shot on the turn over the bar and Kjell Knops headed a Ryan Taylor corner wide at the far post.
Defences continued to hold the upper hand in the second half as deadlock ensued.
Skipper Adam El-Abd came closest for Shrewsbury when his close-range effort from Brown's inviting left-wing cross was well kept out by Alnwick.
Vale then almost snatched victory through a long-range shot from top-scorer Jones which flew narrowly wide.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Shrewsbury Town 0, Port Vale 0.
Second Half ends, Shrewsbury Town 0, Port Vale 0.
Alex Jones (Port Vale) is shown the yellow card.
Attempt missed. Ivan Toney (Shrewsbury Town) header from the centre of the box misses to the right.
Hand ball by Dan Turner (Port Vale).
Junior Brown (Shrewsbury Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sebastien Amoros (Port Vale).
Corner, Port Vale. Conceded by Adam El-Abd.
Attempt blocked. Rigino Cicilia (Port Vale) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Ian Black (Shrewsbury Town).
Dan Turner (Port Vale) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Port Vale. Dan Turner replaces Sam Kelly.
Corner, Port Vale. Conceded by Ryan McGivern.
Attempt blocked. Anthony de Freitas (Port Vale) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Ryan McGivern (Shrewsbury Town).
Kjell Knops (Port Vale) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Shrewsbury Town. Dominic Smith replaces Jack Grimmer because of an injury.
Substitution, Shrewsbury Town. Ethan Jones replaces A-Jay Leitch-Smith.
Attempt missed. Anthony de Freitas (Port Vale) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
Corner, Port Vale. Conceded by Ryan McGivern.
Kjell Knops (Port Vale) hits the bar with a right footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the left.
Corner, Port Vale. Conceded by Ryan McGivern.
Foul by Ian Black (Shrewsbury Town).
Paulo Tavares (Port Vale) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Adam El-Abd (Shrewsbury Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Rigino Cicilia (Port Vale).
Substitution, Port Vale. Paulo Tavares replaces Kiko.
Gary Deegan (Shrewsbury Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Gary Deegan (Shrewsbury Town).
Alex Jones (Port Vale) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Ryan McGivern (Shrewsbury Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sebastien Amoros (Port Vale).
Nathan Smith (Port Vale) hits the left post with a right footed shot from outside the box.
Attempt saved. Adam El-Abd (Shrewsbury Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Corner, Shrewsbury Town. Conceded by Kiko.
Adam El-Abd (Shrewsbury Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Sam Kelly (Port Vale).
Ryan McGivern (Shrewsbury Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Alex Jones (Port Vale).
Substitution, Port Vale. Rigino Cicilia replaces Sam Hart. | League One's bottom club Shrewsbury picked up a point from a goalless draw at home to Port Vale. |
32719823 | Jurors returned a verdict of unlawful killing of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, who were aged six and seven.
The children had been overcome by fumes from a faulty hot water boiler at their hotel in October 2006.
Their mother said she would always blame the company for their deaths.
Speaking after the verdict, Sharon Wood said: "It's clear Thomas Cook should and could have identified that lethal boiler.
"There will never be true justice for the deaths of my two innocent children. [The verdict] has brought this tragedy to a respectful end.
"Rest in peace our beautiful angels."
Thomas Cook pointed out an investigation by the Greek authorities had cleared its employees of any wrongdoing.
The children, from Horbury near Wakefield, were on holiday at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel with their father, Neil, and his now wife, Ruth, when they died.
They were found by a chambermaid in a bungalow at the hotel.
Their father and stepmother had also become ill and were in a coma when they were found but recovered in hospital.
The inquest heard the faulty hot water boiler had been housed in an outbuilding attached to the side of the bungalow where the family were staying.
The children's father, Neil Shepherd, said Thomas Cook had "hidden behind a wall of silence".
"Thomas Cook failed our family. That boiler room should have been checked," he said.
Thomas Cook said in a statement it had been "shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss" of the children but there had been a thorough investigation by the Greek authorities which had cleared its employees of any wrongdoing.
It continued: "Thomas Cook recognises that the pain caused by this terrible accident will never go away and must be still very hard for friends and family to bear.
"The systems which were in place in 2006, which were intended to prevent such a tragedy, have since been thoroughly revised and address the criticisms made by the jury.
"The health and safety of our customers is of paramount importance and we continuously review and strive to improve all our procedures."
West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchcliff said he would make a series of recommendations to the holiday industry at a later date.
A criminal trial was held in Greece in 2010 and three people, including the manager of the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel and two members of staff, were found guilty of manslaughter by negligence and sentenced to seven years.
Eight other people were cleared, including two Thomas Cook travel reps.
Nine years is a long time to wait for an inquest, but since Christi and Bobby Shepherd died, there has been a criminal trial and a lengthy legal process in Greece.
The manager of the hotel was found guilty of manslaughter by negligence and sentenced to seven years. Two other hotel workers were convicted too but, as far as the family is aware, none of them actually went to prison because of the Greek appeals process.
Two Thomas Cook holiday reps were cleared at trial in Greece. And it's the holiday company who the children's parents still feel bitter towards. Could Thomas Cook have averted this tragedy? Rulings so far favour the travel company. After its staff were cleared at trial the firm was awarded £1m in compensation from the hotel involved. The family say they received a much smaller sum from the hotel.
But relationships between the family and Thomas Cook are not good. They were further soured when executives from the company refused to answer some questions during the inquest - as was their legal right to do so. The officials expressed deep sorrow for the family but insisted there was no wrongdoing by the company.
So what happens now? West Yorkshire Police has already investigated the deaths and passed the details on to the CPS. It concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone in the UK in relation to the case.
There's a strong possibility this will be the last time these events ever have such a high public profile. The parents of Bobby and Christi say they hope this is the last time they have to go through the painful details but, above all, they hope all the publicity will prevent this happening to another family. | Holiday firm Thomas Cook "breached its duty of care" in the case of two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday in Corfu, an inquest jury has concluded. |
34495175 | He first entered the UK singles charts in 1982 with the song I Won't Let You Down - recorded with his band Ph.D.
He went on to achieve international success with I Should Have Known Better and Hi-Ho Silver, the theme tune for ITV series Boon.
His family said they were "deeply shocked by his sudden death".
He passed away at his home in London.
A family spokesman added: "He was a devoted family man who loved his wife Chrissy and his children Sara and Lawrence, and the music that he continued to make.
"He dedicated a lot of time over recent years to the Cash for Kids charity appeal in Scotland with his friend Sir Tom Hunter and was still active and well respected on the music scene.
"He'll be much missed by all who knew him and everyone who loved his music and his unique voice and style."
Born in Glasgow's East End, Diamond was influenced by the voices of Ray Charles and Otis Redding and joined his first band at the age of 14.
After moving to London he formed the band Bandit and his haunting voice was brought to the attention of the father of British blues Alexis Korner, who invited him to work with him.
He later went to Los Angeles where he worked with Eddie Kramer, the legendary producer of Jimi Hendrix.
On his return to London he formed the band Ph.D with Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips. Their first single I Won't Let You Down went on to sell millions.
When Ph.D went their separate ways, Diamond signed to A&M Records.
His single I Should Have Known Better went straight to number one and was nominated for an Ivor Novello award. His next single Hi Ho Silver was another top 10 hit.
At the Edinburgh Festival in 1993, the Scotsman newspaper described Diamond as "Scotland's answer to Ray Charles".
In the late 90s, he teamed up with saxophonist Chris "Snake" Davis from soul outfit M People. They performed together and later worked on Diamond's album Souled and Healed which was released in 2005.
In 2011, he released an album of soul covers featuring Scottish musicians including Wet Wet Wet drummer Tommy Cunningham and Greg Kane of Hue & Cry. | Glasgow-born singer-songwriter Jim Diamond, who had hits including I Should Have Known Better, has died aged 64. |
40441898 | Police Scotland confirmed earlier today that the man who died was Keith Johnston from Dounby.
The death is being investigated by Police Scotland, the Health and Safety Executive, and an internal inquiry.
The council's chief executive paid tribute to Mr Johnston.
Alistair Buchan said: "On behalf of everyone at the Council, I offer our condolences to all those affected by Keith's death.
"Our thoughts are with his family, friends and workmates at this sad and very difficult time.
"Keith was a much-valued member of staff and a highly-skilled and experienced member of our roads team. He will be deeply missed by his colleagues."
The accident happened on the A986 Dounby to Twatt road near Birsay. It is understood the vehicle involved was a council-owned lorry involved in the road maintenance operation. | The flag over the Orkney Islands Council offices in Kirkwall is flying at half-mast after a member of the council's roads team was killed on Wednesday. |
35138671 | Some 98% of voters support changing the constitution to allow him to run again in 2017 after his second term ends, the National Electoral Commission said.
Mr Kagame, 58, could remain in power until 2034 if the changes are passed.
The vote took place despite criticism of such an amendment by the US and other Western donors.
Rwanda's electoral commission said 21 out of 30 districts had published results so far, covering about 70% of voters.
Full results are due to be released later on Saturday.
Mr Kagame has not said if he will run again, but he is widely expected to.
Asked at the polling station if he would stay on, he said: "What is happening is the people's choice. Ask people why they want me."
Paul Kagame: Visionary or tyrant?
Third terms and the arrogance of power
However, the US has said Mr Kagame should step down in 2017 to allow a new generation of leaders to emerge.
Rights groups accuse the government of stifling the media and political opposition.
The small opposition Democratic Green Party claimed it had been prevented from campaigning against the change.
Mr Kagame has been president since 2000 but has held power since 1994, when his rebel force entered the capital Kigali to end the country's genocide.
The debate over extending presidential terms has led to instability in other African countries such as Burundi and Congo Republic, but has not caused unrest in Rwanda. | Rwandans have voted overwhelmingly to allow President Paul Kagame to extend his term in office, initial referendum results show. |
34186569 | In June, his family failed to overturn a government decision not to hold a public inquiry into his killing.
A lawyer for the Northern Ireland Secretary told Belfast's High Court that as the challenge had failed, the family should pay the full costs.
But the judge rejected the application.
Sources have said that the bill would have been in the region of at least £150,000.
Mr Justice Stephens said Mr Finucane's family had succeeded in establishing that investigations into his killing had not been in compliance with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
One of Pat Finucane's sons, John, criticised the government for trying to make the family pay the legal bill.
"I think it was a very vindictive application," he said.
"The only way that that could be viewed is something that is quite mean, petty, and I think designed to stymie any decision by our family to go for an appeal."
Mr Finucane was a high-profile lawyer in Belfast who had represented clients including convicted IRA members, some of whom had taken part in hunger strikes at the Maze prison.
He was shot dead by loyalists in 1989 and his family have campaigned for an independent inquiry to examine UK state collusion in the murder.
Three years ago, Prime Minister David Cameron apologised to the Finucane family.
He agreed to a review of the case by Sir Desmond de Silva QC, but stopped short of a public inquiry.
In December 2012, a report by Sir Desmond said there was collusion in the murder of Mr Finucane.
It said the state had facilitated the killing, and made relentless efforts to stop the killers being caught.
Mr Finucane's family have said they will continue to campaign for a full public inquiry into his killing. | The government has failed in an attempt to make the family of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane pay the costs of a legal challenge against the prime minister. |
34699883 | Crowds allegedly threw bottles, chairs and a suspected petrol bomb as officers tried to shut down the event on Whitgift Street, Lambeth on 31 October.
Lesley Wheeler, 28, of New Malden has been charged with assault and Tony Amato, 42, of Caterham, with possession of an offensive weapon.
They will appear at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court later this month.
The Met said 14 officers received minor injuries when they arrived to close the event shortly before 07:00 GMT on Sunday.
They described being attacked with missiles and said criminal damage was caused to cars and private property.
An event - called Scumoween: A Nightmare On Scum Street - had been advertised on Facebook to take place in the same area from 20:00 on Saturday until 06:00 on Monday.
Crowds first gathered on Black Prince Road at Albert Embankment, across the river from Westminster, before dispersing down Lambeth Road on to Lambeth High Street and nearby Whitgift Street. | Two people have been charged following clashes with police during an illegal rave in south London. |
36505209 | Media playback is not supported on this device
It will be the neighbours' second match of the tournament with Wales facing Slovakia and England taking on Russia on Saturday.
The two home nations meet in Lens on Thursday, 16 June.
"I think we've got a lot more passion and pride about us than them. We'll definitely show that on the day," said the Real Madrid forward.
Wales' first major tournament for 58 years begins in Bordeaux on Saturday against the first of their Group B rivals.
But Bale already has his sights on England.
"They big themselves up before they've done anything, so we're going to go there and we believe we can beat them," said Bale.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"For me it is probably the stand-out game in the group stages, but there is no pressure on us because they believe they can beat us.
"I had a chuckle when England came out, I'm not going to lie.
"It's an amazing game to be involved in and it's like any derby - you never want to lose to the enemy.
"Even in the recent [rugby] World Cup when we won - I remember those. England don't get that, do they?"
Bale's English grandmother meant he was qualified to play for the Three Lions, but he did not pursue that option.
The Cardiff-born player said: "I don't know what it is, but if you're Welsh, we feel more pride and passion than anyone else.
"Look at the national anthem - everyone sings, the whole stadium. I remember the Belgium game, we were all tired, and the whole stadium just started singing it.
"I don't think any other nation would do that. Being Welsh just brings it out of you.
"It's like when I was young and being in a pub with my parents, everyone watching rugby or football on the television. Everyone was together, singing. It's the way we are brought up."
Bale says the death of Gary Speed, manager Chris Coleman's predecessor, as well as 58 years without appearing at a tournament has left him and his team-mates more appreciative of international football.
"What happened made us come together, stronger," said Bale.
"We've had to go deep to bring our emotions out, bring it on to the field.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"In this campaign you've seen it. After every game we are all in huddles.
"We've been through so much to be here now, and it's definitely a shame that we've had so many great players - Ryan Giggs being one of them - who never experienced a major tournament.
"I think we appreciate it more than other countries - and we just have to give it a go."
Bale became the youngest Wales goalscorer in October 2006 when he netted in their 5-1 defeat by Slovakia, aged 17 years and 83 days.
"There was difficult times for a while, but we were all young and building for the future," said Bale.
"We've had a style of play which has taken time to embed.
"I don't think we stopped believing, but we had to get more experience, grow together."
Who do you think should start at Euro 2016? Step into Chris Coleman’s shoes and pick your XI - and then share it with your friends using our brand new team selector. | Gareth Bale says Wales will demonstrate more pride and passion than England when they meet at Euro 2016. |
36722866 | Brendon Mason, 23, of Glenfield, Leicestershire, was discovered near Abbey Park's lake in the city at 08:10 BST on Tuesday. He died later in hospital.
A post-mortem examination revealed he died as a result of a head injury.
A 27-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death and bailed, Leicestershire Police said.
Updates on this story and more from Leicestershire
The force has reopened the park, but two areas within the park remain cordoned off.
Det Ch Insp Mick Graham said: "Brendon was seen in Tournament Road, Glenfield, between 16.25 BST and 17:00 BST on Monday afternoon, before heading off towards a bus stop near to a supermarket in Dominion Road.
"We are working to piece together Brendon's movements... and want to hear from anyone who remembers seeing him, or a man matching his description."
Mr Mason had short blonde hair and was about 5ft 7ins tall, officers said.
He was last seen wearing grey canvas tracksuit bottoms and a navy blue Adidas tracksuit top. He also was carrying a black Puma backpack.
The force said detectives were trawling CCTV footage and following a number of lines of enquiry as part of the investigation. | Police have launched a murder inquiry after a man was found injured near a boating lake. |
36343542 | Orion is the next-generation vehicle that the US space agency (Nasa) will use to send astronauts beyond Earth, to destinations like asteroids and Mars.
But it needs a "service module" to provide propulsion, power, temperature control, and to carry water and air.
That job will be done by the unit now being built by Airbus in Germany.
It is an immense piece of hardware in the shape of a 4m-wide cylinder. In flight configuration, it will weigh some 13 tonnes.
"What you see at the moment is just the primary structure, but over the coming months the empty space within it will be packed," said Philippe Deloo, the top European Space Agency (Esa) official overseeing the project.
"What needs to go in is the propulsion system, the power system, the thermal system, and the consumables storage - the items that deliver water and gas to the [Orion capsule]. All have to be integrated and verified to complete the vehicle."
This is the first time the Americans have gone overseas for a critical element of one of their astronaut transportation systems.
The key parts for Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttles were all US-made.
"[Europe's] position on 'the critical path' has never been done before, and to be frank: we do not fly without the service module," stressed Jim Free, a Nasa deputy associate administrator.
Mr Free attended a ceremony in Bremen on Thursday to kick off the latest construction phase. He was joined on the American side by representatives of the Orion capsule's prime contractor, Lockheed Martin.
Airbus is hopeful of getting the completed module out the door by early 2017 - a timeline the company acknowledges will be challenging.
An indication of just how much pressure everyone is under can be seen in the fact that final assembly is proceeding even before the module has had its so-called Critical Design Review.
The CDR is usually the moment when all the final drawings are signed off; no further changes can be introduced.
But Bart Reijnen, who leads the service module project at Airbus, says he is very comfortable with the current state of affairs.
"It's true you don't see this on all space programmes, but it's something we do knowing the risk we are taking, managing that risk, and burning it down in the coming days and weeks.
"We have concluded it's a viable way or we wouldn't have done it, but it doesn't allow certainly for any big contingencies in the current schedule," he told BBC News.
Orion has already flown once, in 2014, making a quick sweep around Earth. For that unmanned sortie, it used a dummy service module.
That will not be the case for the next outing, in 2018, when the capsule (still without a crew) will be mated to its European aft section for a three-week loop behind the Moon.
Known as Exploration Mission 1 (EM1), the venture will also witness the debut of Nasa's new "monster rocket", the Space Launch System (SLS).
This Goliath will have the muscle to hurl the mission in the direction of the Moon, but it will be the task of the European service module to maintain the correct trajectory and to make the essential engine burns required to bring the capsule safely back to Earth.
For the moment, Europe is formally committed to making just the one module. But Esa member states will be asked in December to put the funds behind a second unit. The current, first unit was priced with Airbus at 390m euros; a second module would be used on Orion's first manned outing, EM2, a mission scheduled for "no later than April 2023".
It would be a major surprise if the member states rejected the proposal. For one thing, the first module has been given "free" to Nasa as an in-kind payment to cover Esa's costs at the space station. If Europe does not offer another module, it will have to cover those ongoing costs in some other way.
But, more than all that, Orion and the SLS are regarded by many as the future of human exploration beyond Earth, and Europe wants to be - as Esa boss Jan Woerner put it - "part of that game".
"I hope we can convince the member states as well as Nasa that we should go beyond this first flight model, for a second and maybe even more, and through that having a barter element for European astronauts flying on the SLS system," the director general added.
If European participation does become routine - and Nasa is talking about one or two flights per year eventually - then an industrial role in the service module will likely have to be found for the United Kingdom. It only recently joined Esa's human spaceflight programme, and has no components in the first vehicle.
But it is entitled to some sort of manufacturing return on its Esa investment.
Agency and Airbus officials said on Thursday they were already looking at how that "juste retour" could be fulfilled in the future. | European industry has begun assembling the "back end" of the Orion crewship that is due to make an important 2018 demonstration flight around the Moon. |
40973907 | Costa, 28, remains in his native Brazil after being sent a text in June by boss Antonio Conte telling him he would not be part of the squad this year.
The Blues signed Costa from Atletico for a reported £32m in July 2014.
"When I came to Chelsea they paid a lot less compared to what's being offered to them," Costa told ESPN Brasil.
He added that if Atletico do not make a "big effort" to sign him then he "can't keep on wanting" to play for Diego Simeone's side.
"I know that this [big effort] will happen, but if it's to pay the amount that Chelsea want it won't be possible," he said.
More to follow. | Diego Costa says Chelsea are demanding a fee Atletico Madrid "can't get near" for the Spain striker to complete his desired move back to his former club. |
36983933 | Former Blackburn chief executive John Williams will replace Peace, who has been chairman for 14 years.
"My immediate priorities will be to maintain the club's stable structure, respecting its well-run nature and its heritage," said Lai.
"I have no intention of changing the club's ethos."
He added: "I believe that we have a competitive team, with the right management and coaching staff in place."
Williams said his "immediate focus is on our activity in the transfer window" a day after the club pulled out of a move for West Ham striker Diafra Sakho.
"(Manager) Tony Pulis and (technical director) Nick Hammond have told the board we are two or three players short," he said.
"Realistic targets have been identified and there are funds available.
"We need to get them over the line to ensure Tony has a competitive squad for what is going to be a challenging and demanding campaign."
Lai, 42, oversaw the growth of landscaping company Palm in his home country before retiring in May 2014 to focus on private investment.
Palm, which was valued at £1.8bn on the Chinese stock exchange, has contributed to the takeover.
The deal was agreed in June and is dependent on approval from the Financial Conduct Authority and the Premier League.
West Brom came close to being sold to a Chinese consortium last summer before Peace, who owned 88% of the club, broke off negotiations.
It had been reported that Peace was looking for about £150m for his stake in the club, which recorded pre-tax profits of £7.6m in April.
He first invited offers of investment in June 2008.
"I believe this deal will enable Albion to build on the strong, sustainable foundations that have been the cornerstone of the club's progress," said Peace.
"The club can look to the future with excitement about the opportunities ahead."
Fellow Midlands clubs Aston Villa and Wolves have also been taken over by Chinese investors this summer. | West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace has agreed a deal to sell the club to a Chinese investment group led by entrepreneur Guochuan Lai. |
32076070 | The indigenous Aymara women have centuries of experience of knitting and weaving distinctive woollen hats, sweaters and blankets.
Now, they are applying their expertise to a hi-tech medical product - which is used to seal up a "hole in the heart" which some babies are born with.
"We are very happy, we are doing something for someone so they can live," says knitter Daniela Mendoza, who weaves the tiny device in a special "clean room".
It takes her about two hours to make the Nit Occlud device which was designed by cardiologist Franz Freudenthal. He set up his clinic in La Paz to help children born with heart problems and so far he has saved hundreds of lives.
The device, known as an occluder, looks similar to a top hat and is used to block the hole in the patient's heart.
Most standard occluders are made on an industrial scale - but Freduenthal's version is so small and intricate that it's technically tricky to mass produce.
So he enlisted an army of Bolivia's traditional craft knitters to make them by hand.
In the early days he tested the first prototypes on sheep with heart problems. He's since successfully used them on hundreds of children and now exports his new inventions all over the world.
"The most important thing is that we try to get really really simple solutions for complex problems," Dr Freudenthal told the BBC.
Bolivia is the poorest country in south America and lacks enough specialist hospitals and cardiac doctors to treat children born with heart problems. So cheap innovations are welcome.
Freudenthal's devices are made by weaving a single strand of a super-elastic metal used in military industries.
Known as nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy, it can memorise its own shape and can be folded up inside a slim catheter which a cardiologist inserts into the the groin. The device remains folded as it travels through blood vessels - and is only expanded when it reaches the right place in the heart.
Recovering its original shape, it then blocks the hole or ductus that causes the heart problems. It can stay there without the need to be changed.
Dr Freudenthal has earned international praise and awards for his combination of traditional craft techniques and high technology to fix hearts.
This minimally invasive approach also helps to avoid cultural barriers to treatment: manipulating a heart is considered an act of desecration on the human soul by some indigenous communities in Bolivia.
"By not operating with an open heart" says Dr Freudenthal, "We are also respecting the will of many patients who would not want their children to be operated otherwise."
People who live with congenital heart problems struggle to gain weight and are easily fatigued, as their hearts have to work three times harder than a healthy one to pump blood around the body.
The problem the device aims to fix is a hole in the heart - which is also known as a patent ductus arteriosus or PDA.
Before birth a baby gets oxygen from its mother. A blood vessel which is called the ductus arteroiosus allows blood to bypass the lungs closes up on its own soon after birth.
But if it fails to close naturally then there is irregular blood flow in the heart. This can lead to symptoms of breathlessness and a failure to thrive - although there are often no symptoms if the problem is mild.
Due to the high altitude and lack of oxygen in La Paz - 4,000 metres above sea level - Freudenthal says that these kind of problems are 10 times more frequent here than in other countries.
Six-year-old Cinthia was operated on three years ago.
The blood that was supposed to supply her whole body with oxygen and nutrients used to escape through the ductus before it was stopped by one of Freudenthal's devices.
Her mother Victoria Hilari recalls "She couldn't even walk one block. She used to tell me she was too tired. She used to get purple when crying, she almost fainted."
"That's how I realised she had a problem, but I didn't know what to do.
"Now she can run and she's even passing physical education at school."
Bolivia has one of the highest children mortality rates in the world.
At least for the patients at Dr Freudenthal's clinic, the answer to their problem is in the hands of a group of skilled women with the power of fixing hearts - weaving to save lives. | Traditional craft skills are helping to save the lives of children born with heart defects in Bolivia. |
40645134 | Recent reports suggest that stadium construction is behind schedule while Cameroon also faces economic problems.
"Despite security concerns, social and economic crises, the government and President Paul Biya are totally engaged to do everything for the Nations Cup to go ahead," said Ismael Bidoung.
Cameroon won this year's Nations Cup.
In the wake of concerns aired about Cameroon's readiness, North African nations Algeria and Morocco have recently put themselves forward as back-up options for the finals.
Bidoung said that group games will take place in five cities, with Limbe having been added to the four venues mentioned in Cameroon's original bid: Bafoussam, Douala, Garoua and the capital Yaounde.
However, more venues are needed for the teams' training - some of which were already used when Cameroon hosted the Women's Africa Cup of Nations last year.
"Of the 32 stadia required for the 2019 Nations Cup, the 11 that served for the 2016 Women Africa Cup of Nations are ready and functional," said Bidoung.
"For the 21 other stadia, 14 are under rehabilitation and 7 are still to be constructed."
The stadiums in Yaounde (the 60,000-capacity Japoma) and in Douala (50,000) are those that require the most reconstruction work.
Italian firm Piccini is working on the Olembe stadium in Yaounde and has reassured Cameroonians that it will deliver the venue three months before the finals begin.
It added that 80% of the material will be precast in Italy before being shipped to Cameroon.
"The stadium will be ready for Caf inspection in September 2017, but you must be aware that work will still be going on in the complex afterwards," said Marc Debandt, the director for the Olembe project.
"The commercial centre and hotel will be completed afterwards."
One former Cameroon international, Patrick Mboma, is fearful about the slow pace of work across his nation.
"For the past two years I have been sending out a distress signal," he said on Twitter.
"Cameroon is not advancing for the 2019 Nations Cup. Let's avoid humiliation. This is a dream that must not be shattered."
Cameroon has won the Nations Cup five times, four more than it has hosted the event - with its sole staging coming back in 1972, when Congo took the title. | Cameroon's Sports Minister has said that the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will go ahead in the country despite concerns over the pace of preparations. |
38329848 | IGas Energy is drilling in search of fossil fuels around Chester after being granted a petroleum exploration and development licence (PEDL) in 2008.
The licence has since been extended by the government until 2018.
Benjamin Dean from Cheshire was granted permission to seek a judicial review of this extension.
Government figures reveal only five wells of 13 had so far been drilled to explore for hydro carbons between 2008 and 2014.
The PEDL was amended in 2013 to extend it by three years, and then given a second extension earlier this year by the then Business Secretary Amber Rudd, until 2018.
Mr Dean, a parish councillor, is trying to stop the remaining wells being completed and said the extension was "unlawful".
He argues the government "exceeded its powers" when it altered the PEDL.
David Woolfe QC told London's High Court: "[Mr Dean] submits that the defendant had no power to amend the licence in that way by a deed of variation... in particular extending a key deadline... because there was no power within the Petroleum Act or the regulations to do so."
Eric Metcalfe, for the secretary of state, argued that arrangements between the government and the company over the drilling licence were "purely contractual" and not governed by public law.
However, Mrs Justice Lang granted Mr Dean permission to mount a full High Court challenge and placed a £5,000 cap on legal costs Mr Dean will have to pay personally if he loses his challenge.
She said: "Mr Dean's objective is to protect the environment by preventing the extension of the drilling rights, not only on the basis that the exploration could potentially lead to fracking, but harm from the drilling itself," she said.
A full hearing will be held next year. | An environmental campaigner has won the right to mount a High Court challenge against a fracking licence which he claims is "unlawful". |
38031492 | The Great British Public Toilet Map has charted the number of publicly accessible toilets across the UK to coincide with World Toilet day.
Flintshire came bottom of the survey, along with five other councils.
Critics argued this is a "public health issue," but the council said it promotes toilets in places like libraries.
The survey said that Darlington, Melton, North Kesteven, Redditch and South Ribble also have just four public toilets each.
In January, Flintshire council proposed closing or offloading the facilities in a bid to save up to £94,000.
The Welsh Government recently tabled plans to ensure every Welsh local authority has a "public toilet strategy".
Gail Ramster at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, who created the toilet map, said: "Our public toilet analysis can help campaigners to reveal whether their council is underperforming compared to others with similar demographics, geography and industry."
A spokesman from Crohn's and Colitis UK said reducing access to toilets for those in need was "having a major impact on people with incontinence, and is a public health issue".
In response, a Flintshire council spokesman said that a review of its public toilets earlier in the year showed they "regularly attract antisocial behaviour" which deterred people from using them.
"It was therefore proposed that the council should promote the use of its existing toilet facilities within other publically accessible council buildings e.g. libraries, leisure centres and Flintshire Connects Centres," he said.
The data analysis, supported by the Open Data Institute, draws upon data collected by crowdsourcing, open data from councils on toilet provision and FOI requests. | There are just four public toilets in Flintshire, a survey has revealed - one for roughly every 38,000 residents. |
19279491 | Sasha Constable is admiring the carvings of the Apsara nymphs on the walls of Cambodia's most famous ancient temple, Angkor Wat. Every year, millions of visitors do much the same. The bas reliefs at this 900-year-old monument are remarkably well-preserved.
But Sasha is no tourist - she is a sculptor herself and a member of one of Britain's most famous artistic families. Her father Richard is a well-known painter - and she can trace a direct line back to John Constable.
Sasha has carried on the traditions of the dynasty, while taking a distinct path of her own.
Since 2000 she has been based in Cambodia. As well as creating her own work, she has contributed to the country's artistic revival as a teacher and curator.
As much as anyone, Sasha has helped to raise the international profile of Cambodian art, helping young artists to make a living from their passion.
"Cambodian artists are being profiled more and more," she says.
"Now some are exhibiting abroad and their work is being exposed to a different audience. That means the prices go up, which is good for them. It's one of the last countries in this region where art has suddenly become more and more interesting to people."
Now, after everything that Sasha has offered Cambodia, the country is giving something back. Perhaps the greatest prize she could have imagined: a commission to recreate some of the lost carvings at Angkor Wat.
"It's a huge privilege. It was a really interesting, challenging project - but really just a privilege."
Joining Sasha at Angkor, sweltering in the afternoon sun, is Cheam Phally of the World Monuments Fund.
She was the architect in charge of restoring one of the temple's best-known features - a long, bas relief gallery known as "the churning of the sea of milk", displaying scenes from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.
But something was missing from the restoration. The Apsara figures which once decorated the gallery's roof were gone - victims of the passage of time or, perhaps, looters.
Sitting on the grass in front of the gallery, Cheam Phally points to what look like some lumps of rock among a number of larger slabs.
"These are fragments of the Apsaras, the lower halves," she says, picking one up, then placing it in a hole in one of the slabs.
"It would have gone in the roof stone like this."
The WMF's commission was for Sasha to recreate the Apsaras, with the aim of placing them on the roof of the restored gallery.
"We wanted to bring the sculptures back to the public - and to rebuild them we needed someone who understood Khmer art. Sasha has a deep understanding."
The British artist enlisted local sculptor Chhay Saron to join her in researching - and making - the pieces.
He has a remarkable story of his own - a former soldier and landmine survivor who retrained as a sculptor, and now employs other disabled people in his workshop within the Angkor temple complex.
"As a Khmer person, when I see an Apsara sculpture I feel so happy," he says. "A lot of the ancient Apsara sculptures have been damaged - that's why I'm so pleased to have been given this assignment."
Now, after months of work, the two have completed their sculptures. At her workshop, Sasha proudly unveils one of the finished pieces, pointing out how the design will allow the light to pass through.
"We were asked to make each sculpture different, as they would have been in the day. Some have different levels of detail - this one is a little bit plainer, but still has motifs around the edge."
"They're a lot more delicate than many of the sculptures at Angkor. It should give the public an image of what Angkor would have looked like in the original day."
Just down the road, Chhay Saron has finished his two pieces - and he can hardly wait for them to take their place at Angkor Wat.
"When people come by to look at my carvings they haven't seen the likes before, because the originals were damaged and destroyed. They always ask where they're going to end up - and I tell them they will be on top of Angkor Wat."
"Future generations will be able to see this and understand that there were sculptures like this in the Angkor temples. I'm very proud."
The finished work is in keeping with the legacy of Angkor - and represents a proud moment in the illustrious history of the Constable family. One suspects that great, great, great grandfather John would have approved. | "Look at that one - she's got really big lips". |
35695594 | Met Office statistics show that an average of 760mm (2.5ft) of rain fell across the country in December, January and February.
This resulted in a spate of floods which inundated homes and caused chaos on the roads and railways.
December was the wettest month recorded while January and February saw much higher rainfalls than normal. Argyll was the wettest area.
It had 1,055.7mm (3.5ft) of rain over the three months.
"It's been a truly remarkable winter in Scotland," said a Met Office spokeswoman.
"Winter was the second-wettest across the UK as a whole and it turned out to be the warmest on record for England and Wales.
"But Scotland endured the worst rain it has ever seen - and these records go back to 1910."
Scotland's two wettest winters have happened in the last three years. The rainfall total of 756mm (2.5ft) for 2015/16 exceeded the previous record for winter 2013 /14 of 744mm (2ft).
More than 100 homes were evacuated in Hawick, Roxburghshire, on 5 December as torrential rain swept in ahead of Storm Desmond.
Tayside and Perthshire also endured flooding events, with the River Tay peaking at levels not seen for a decade.
In the new year, Storm Frank resulted in bridge pillars on the West Coast Rail Line being almost washed away. The damage took almost two months to repair.
February's rainfall total of 147.2mm (6in) was 13% up on normal. January's figure of 257.5mm (10in) showed a rise of 45% of the average for the month while December's 351.4mm (14in) was more than double the amount usually experienced that month.
The Met Office spokeswoman added: "While the three-month period was remarkable for its rainfall, it must be remembered that it followed on from a very wet November as well.
"Winter also brought less sunshine in each of the three months we call winter. In January, Scotland got just 63% of the sunshine hours it would normally expect."
The coldest temperature of winter was Minus 14.1 Celsius (6.6F) recorded at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on the morning of 14 February.
There is also a risk of snow and wintry conditions at Easter. | This winter was the wettest recorded in Scotland since records began in 1910. |
38608221 | Officials said that under the rules, it could provide detailed information about their installations.
The information did not include the names of claimants.
However, it did involve location, technology type, installation capacity, accreditation date and subsidy.
Those involved in the scheme were told that by signing up to it, they were consenting to the publication of the information.
Economy Minister Simon Hamilton has written to political parties asking if they would support the publication of the names of those who took up the RHI scheme.
In a letter to Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt, Mr Hamilton said he was "of the view" that recipients' details should be published in "order to be as open and transparent as possible about how public money is being spent".
He said a balance would need to be struck between the "significant public interest" and the departments' obligations to protect participants confidentiality and privacy under data protection legislation and the scheme's own privacy policy.
He asked for a response by Tuesday 10 January.
Mr Nesbitt said he was "surprised" to be asked the question given that the UUP had consistently said the names should be published.
The Department for the Economy is currently taking legal advice about whether it can publish a list of the participants.
The RHI scandal has been centre stage in politics in Northern Ireland over the past month, with the resignation of Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister bringing the issue to a head.
Former First Minister Arlene Foster set up the RHI scheme in 2012 when she was enterprise minister in an attempt by the Northern Ireland Executive to encourage production of heat from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels.
But flaws in setting the scheme's subsidy rate left it open to abuse as claimants could earn more cash the more fuel they burned, with the overspend estimated to be about £490m.
The BBC asked the department for information about the scheme's participants on 17 December and, almost a month later, it declined to provide it.
If the information and a list of the participants were to be published, it would allow the identification of those who got into the scheme during the spike in applications in November 2015 - just before the subsidy level was dramatically reduced.
Almost 900 applications were received in the months leading up to the change, as officials moved to cut the subsidy level.
Former Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) minister Jonathan Bell, who was in charge of the department at the time, alleged that DUP special advisers had tried to delay the changes.
That has been denied by the former first minister Arlene Foster and by the advisers named.
Mr Bell, a member of the DUP, has been suspended by the party. | The Department for the Economy has declined to disclose information about participants of the botched RHI scheme, despite telling boiler owners it would be "freely available" to the public. |
40360792 | Infrastructure and Economy Secretary Ken Skates has asked for reports making recommendations to tackle the problem.
It follows tailbacks in Denbighshire on Friday when an overturned tractor closed the A55 in both directions.
The road could not be cleaned to the required standard so it did not fully reopen until early on Tuesday after it had been resurfaced.
In a separate incident, the A5 had to be closed at Chirk after a crash on the Ceiriog viaduct on Monday.
The southbound carriageway has reopened, but northbound will stay closed until at least Friday until temporary barriers can be fitted.
However, there is a delay on getting specialists to carry out the work as Mr Skates said they were "currently involved in other projects including installing barriers in London following recent incidents there".
Officials will look at the response to damage on roads, how it can be improved and any costs involved.
"I am aware that there has been criticism in the press and on social media as some of the delays caused by these incidents were severe. There are clearly lessons to be learnt," said Mr Skates. | Ways to speed up surface repairs on major roads and motorways are being looked at in a bid to cut disruption. |
34073939 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
27 August 2015 Last updated at 12:39 BST
The citizen journalism website LiveLeak has done so.
Speaking on Newsnight, the co-founder of the site, Hayden Hewitt, defended the move in a heated debate with Michael Wolff, author of The Man Who Owns the News.
The discussion was chaired by presenter James O'Brien. | Is it right to show graphic footage of the shooting of two journalists at a TV station in Virginia? |
36919173 | Hisham Geneina was fired in March by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi after estimating corruption had cost Egypt $67.6bn (£51.3bn) over four years.
He was sentenced to a year in jail and fined $2,200 but told he could avoid prison if he paid an additional $1,100, judicial sources said.
His lawyer said he would appeal.
Lawyer Ali Taha said prosecutors had failed to prove their accusations and said the case for the defence had not been examined. Reporters were not allowed to attend the sentencing at a Cairo court.
Geneina, a former judge, denied the charges and said they were politically motivated.
After firing Geneina, President Sisi appointed a fact-finding commission that concluded the auditor had over-estimated the scale of corruption. and thus misled the public.
The case was based on comments Geneina made to two Egyptian newspapers last December when he was still head of the Accountability State Authority (ASA).
The daily al-Youm al-Sabea quoted him as saying in an interview that endemic corruption had cost Egypt some 600bn Egyptian pounds ($67.6bn) in 2015 alone, mostly in corrupt land deals.
Geneina later said that he had been misquoted and that the figure covered four years, a claim supported by a separate interview with another newspaper.
He also noted that it was based on a study commissioned by the Egyptian planning ministry and carried out with the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
President Sisi has made fighting corruption a top priority since coming to power after leading the military's overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. | Egypt's former top auditor, who was sacked after alleging government corruption, has been given a prison sentence for spreading "false news". |
34859251 | The Marble Arch Caves Unesco global geopark is the second site in Northern Ireland to be designated by the body.
The first was the Giant's Causeway world heritage site in County Antrim.
The new branding is expected to increase tourism to the area that straddles the Irish border.
It covers parts of County Fermanagh on the northern side of the border and County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland.
A geopark is a region of outstanding geology that supports sustainable tourism to benefit local communities and the regional economy.
The Marble Arch Caves global geopark was established in 2001.
It is home to a variety of natural landscapes and historic sites, including prehistoric tombs, Iron Age forts, early Christian monasteries and plantation castles.
Richard Watson, the manager of the Marble Arch Caves Unesco global geopark said it is a significant announcement that would help to make the area a "must see" destination for visitors.
"It puts global geoparks like ourselves on a similar international standing as places like the Taj Mahal or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, or even the Grand Canyon."
He said that while the status does not offer any extra statutory protection, it does place some responsibility on governments to help to promote their geoparks and to help the management agencies that look after them to develop them.
Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell said the designation would "act as a catalyst" for for increasing tourism revenue.
"Here in Northern Ireland we are fortunate to have some of the most diverse rocks and landscapes on earth," he said.
"It is these foundations that have given rise to our most iconic tourist attractions." | An area of spectacular landscape that includes the Marble Arch Caves in County Fermanagh has been recognised by Unesco, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. |
33219010 | Two thirds of the fin whale's carcass, measuring 10m (33ft), was found on RSPB land near Harwich.
It was dragged in on the front of a cargo vessel but experts believe it may have been hit by another ship.
The decision has been taken between scientists and landowners to leave the remains in place as it is not considered a public health hazard.
The body was found last week on private land with no public access, said Rick Vonk, site manager of the RSPB Stour Estuary site.
"We're scratching our heads as to how this happened," he told the BBC.
"Fin whales are a very northerly species. We don't know what it was doing to get hit, presumably by a container vessel.
"It's unfortunate this has happened - we like to see live whales rather than dead ones," he added.
Source: WWF
Rob Deaville, project manager of the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), was called out to examine the whale.
"Leaving it in place was the most pragmatic decision in this case, as trying to remove it would damage the local habitat," he said.
Mr Deaville said fin whales were prone to ship strikes, but his project had only been involved in two other cases of fin whales brought into harbour on the front of vessels over the last 25 years.
He said there are about 600 strandings in the UK each year, of which two or three are fin whales. | A dead whale thought to have been hit by a ship is to be left to decompose off the Essex coast, experts have said. |
34324218 | Lee Walls was at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final with Carl Brown, 18, who was one of 96 victims of the stadium disaster.
Mr Walls described waving at his friend inside the ground, but "within a matter of seconds he disappeared".
The new inquests also heard about the final movements of Ian Whelan, 19.
Mr Brown, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, was a student hoping to take up a place at Manchester University when he went to the 15 April match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Mr Whelan lived in Warrington, Cheshire, and worked for British Nuclear Fuels.
In his statement about what he saw that day, Mr Walls described seeing a large group of Liverpool fans outside the ground ahead of the scheduled 15:00 BST kick-off.
He described being "literally carried along with the crowd" as he and Carl Brown moved towards the turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end of the Sheffield ground.
They then went down a tunnel leading into the fenced enclosures on the terraces, known as pens.
Mr Walls continued: "As we got out of the tunnel, we got pushed to the right. Carl was carried further to the right. I looked at Carl and he waved but within a matter of seconds he disappeared.
"I don't know if he got pushed right over or if he fell. I was carried towards the centre of pen three, then back towards the left-hand side."
The court heard how Mr Walls' statement went on to describe how the pressure in the crowd built up and he lost consciousness.
Christina Lambert QC, representing the coroner, said there was "no evidence" about what happened to Mr Brown after he was separated from his friend, or how he got out of the pen.
BBC News: Profiles of all those who died
It is believed Liverpool fan Gerard Cosgrove helped give first aid to Mr Brown, along with another supporter.
Asked if he saw any signs of life in the casualty, Mr Cosgrove said: "Not that I'm aware of, no."
The inquests continue. | A Liverpool fan has described being "carried along" by the pressure of the crowd outside Hillsborough, before seeing his friend disappear in the terrace crush. |
37418859 | The base level of the salary cap for this season is £6.5m but this will rise to £7m from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
Cohen says shareholder-owned Tigers may struggle to spend the full cap, while others can rely on "sugar daddies".
He added: "I know the club's chairman voted for [the cap] but personally I think the balance is wrong."
Cohen told BBC Radio Leicester: "We've had an increase in players' wages. That's come at the expense of facilities and putting resources into the community game for most clubs. I don't think players' wages needed to go up as high as they have done.
"Personally I would not have implemented the extra half million for next year, although the decision to then peg it for three years is very sensible."
Cohen admits Leicester's spending power in future will rely on how far money from the Rugby Football Union will go.
A new eight-year deal worth more than £225m was agreed between the RFU and Premiership clubs - with clubs earning more for releasing players for international duty, as well as meeting the English-qualified players target and academy standards.
"At this moment in time we are funding right up to the extent of the cap," Cohen continued.
"The cap goes up half a million pounds next year but we will have to see what sort of central revenue goes along with that.
"We are at the edges of what we can generate in terms of our own internal revenue and we don't have a 'sugar daddy' owner simply to sink millions in if there is a shortfall." | An increased salary cap risks creating an unbalanced Premiership competition that alienates the grass roots, says Leicester chief executive Simon Cohen. |
35899285 | The family of David Dixon, 50, who lived in Brussels with his partner and young son, said it was "the most terrible news".
Mr Dixon had contacted his family after the airport blasts but was missing after the later Metro station blast.
The UK government said seven Britons had been injured in Tuesday's attacks.
Three were still being treated in hospital, the Foreign Office said.
Meanwhile, Belgian officials have named the second suicide bomber in Tuesday's attack at Brussels airport as Najim Zaachraoui, and said that his DNA had been found at sites of the November Paris attacks.
Twelve suspects have been arrested in three European countries as police step up efforts to prevent further attacks after the Brussels blasts, which claimed 31 lives and injured about 270 people.
The family of Mr Dixon, who was originally from Hartlepool and had also lived in Nottingham, said they had received "the most terrible and devastating news about our beloved David".
In a statement, they said: "At this most painful time our family would gratefully appreciate it if we could be left alone to grieve in private."
A statement from the UK Foreign Office said: "We can confirm David Dixon lost his life in the attacks which took place in Brussels on Tuesday 22 March 2016.
"Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time and our embassy staff are continuing to support them."
Mr Dixon had lived in Brussels for about 10 years with his partner, Charlotte Sutcliffe.
Why have jihadists targeted Belgium?
Why Brussels warning signs were missed
From Paris to Brussels: Why the attacks are linked
What we know so far
Victims and survivors
Mr Dixon was working as an IT contractor for securities settlement group Euroclear, which has an office a few Metro stops away from Maelbeek Metro station, the site of the third explosion on Tuesday.
Twin blasts had hit Zaventem airport an hour earlier at about 07:00 GMT.
Tim Howell, CEO of Euroclear, said: "David was a valued colleague and will be sorely missed."
He said "deepest condolences" went out to his partner, son and family.
Mr Dixon's friend Simon Hartley-Jones previously described the father-of-one as "a lovely guy" and "an amazing man who deeply, deeply loves his son".
Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "I am deeply saddened to hear David Dixon was killed in the Brussels attacks. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family."
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond tweeted: "Saddened by the dreadful news of David Dixon's death following the #BrusselsAttacks. My thoughts & condolences are with his family."
Mark Beamish, from Birmingham, was among those injured in the explosion at the Maelbeek Metro station.
Mr Beamish, 35, told the BBC he had "no memory" of the explosion itself, which left him with cuts to his head and burns to his hands.
"I was travelling with a friend so I remember shaking his hand goodbye as I stepped off the train," said the European Parliament worker.
"And that's the last thing I remember. I don't remember a blast. I don't remember any sound or vision.
"I have one static image of me crouching on some stairs covered in dust."
Brahim el-Bakraoui is one of three men believed to have been involved in the bombings at Zaventem airport that killed 11 people.
The Belgian prosecutor said another suicide bomber had been the wanted jihadist Najim Laachraoui, whose DNA was found on explosives linked to the attacks in Paris last November.
A third man, who has not yet been identified and is on the run, is said to have fled the scene without detonating his explosive device.
Bakraoui's brother, Khalid, struck at Maelbeek metro station, where 20 people died.
So far nine suspects have been arrested in Brussels, two reportedly in Germany and one in Paris as investigations continue into the attacks.
In Brussels, six people were arrested in connection with the attacks on Thursday, according to Belgian prosecutors, who later said three of them had been released. Three more were held on Friday.
In France, a man alleged to be in the "advanced stage" of plotting an attack was arrested in Paris's north-western Argenteuil suburb on Thursday.
And in Germany two suspected jihadists were detained in Dusseldorf and Giessen areas on Wednesday and Thursday - both with suspected links to one of the Brussels bombers, Der Spiegel reports, and one with suspicious text messages on his mobile phone referencing Brussels.
The Brussels bombings have been linked to last November's Paris attacks, when 130 died after militants opened fire and detonated bombs in a number of locations in the French capital.
The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels and Paris. | A Briton who has been missing in Brussels since Tuesday died in the bomb attacks in the Belgian capital, the Foreign Office has confirmed. |
37860905 | I, Daniel Blake - a recently released film directed by Ken Loach - includes a scene where an impoverished female character shoplifts a packet of tampons.
Scots scriptwriter Paul Laverty wrote the scene after meeting UK females who struggled to afford essential hygiene products.
A campaign has been launched by Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon calling for the Scottish government to provide free female sanitary products "for anyone who needs them".
Not having access to enough products to manage menstrual bleeding effectively is "associated with health risks including toxic shock syndrome", according to Ms Lennon.
Supporters of the campaign, including Mr Laverty, would like to see the products made available free of charge in places such as hospitals, schools and homeless shelters.
A similar proposal has already been approved in New York City.
Is this really a problem in Scotland?
The Trussell Trust said of the 133,000 people who used Scotland's food banks in the last financial year, "thousands" received feminine hygiene products.
The charity's Scotland network manager, Ewan Gurr, said Scots were relying on food banks for essential toiletries after finding themselves in "difficult financial circumstances" - often due to benefit sanctions, delayed wages or low incomes.
The charity worker said some women had even resorted to using toilet roll, socks or newspaper because they were unable to afford female sanitary products.
Reverend Jane Howitt is the minister of Glasgow's St Rollox church - it runs two food banks: one for destitute asylum seekers; another for anyone else in a crisis situation.
On a weekly basis, both services issue feminine hygiene products to women and girls living in the Sighthill area of Glasgow.
The items are discreetly dispensed in "hygiene packs", which include other essentials such as soap, toothpaste and toilet paper.
To ensure a "low-key" service, one female volunteer is responsible for issuing the products at both food banks.
Ms Howitt said: "She is good at chatting to [service users] and finding out what they need - so that they don't have to feel embarrassed about asking."
The minister said church-run food banks all over Scotland were dispatching tampons and sanitary towels - in places such as Falkirk, Blantyre, Edinburgh and West Linton.
She said food banks did not always dispense feminine hygiene products, but were now "plugging a gap" left by the government by providing such essentials.
Ms Howitt said: "If you look at the prices - you'd need to spend between £4 and £6 a month.
"If you've got nothing, that's a challenge - especially when there is more than one female in a family."
The minister said she knew of some girls in Scotland who were forced to take days off school due to not having access to sanitary products.
So what's the proposal?
Ms Lennon has suggested that free female sanitary products should be made available from dispensers installed in public places - such as in female toilets at schools and health centres.
She said she believed this would be the most effective way of ensuring the products were quickly and easily accessible.
However, the MSP could not confirm what the approximate cost to the taxpayer would be - or from which section of the welfare budget the project would be funded.
She told the BBC that her first priority was committing the Scottish government to conduct research into the issue of affordability of feminine hygiene products in Scotland.
The politician added: "We have growing indications that access and affordability is patchy, and not all women have access when they need them."
Supporters of the campaign for free hygiene products were also considering other proposals.
Ewan Gurr, of the Trussell Trust, said: "I would like to see [disadvantaged] women [of menstruating age] receive government support equivalent to that provided to young families in the form of "healthy start" vouchers - which can be used to buy milk, formula, fruit and vegetables."
How has the government responded?
The Scottish government has neither committed to providing free female sanitary products, nor commissioned an assessment of the affordability of women's sanitary products.
However, it has participated in ongoing discussions with charities, including the Trussell Trust, regarding the affordability of feminine hygiene products and the health challenges that can arise when women and girls do not have access to these.
A Scottish government spokesman said: "We have made significant investment in a range of other services to support people on low income or facing acute income crisis and tackle the underlying causes of poverty." | An MSP is calling for the Scottish government to provide free feminine hygiene products - saying it is a matter of "dignity" for women who cannot afford to pay. |
37863003 | Last night I sat on the same table as the foreign secretary at the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. He was given a gong for "comeback of the year" after his failed leadership bid propelled him into King Charles Street.
Mr Johnson gave a typically self-deprecatory speech, saying he hoped he would last longer than Lord Heseltine's mother's dog, Kim, which survived partial strangulation by the Tory peer only later to be put down.
He spoke about the need to press on with Brexit, which he described as taking "the machete of freedom to the brambles of EU legislation".
He told a funny story about how he had recently caused confusion at a dinner with EU colleagues in Bratislava: he said Brexit Britain would support the EU from the outside, like a flying buttress; the interpreters translated this as a "flying bucket".
And of course, there was the inevitable verbal slip when he promised that Brexit would be a "titantic success", a classicist's reference to the mythological giants rather than the ill-fated ship.
Then the prime minister got to her feet. I shall pass over her venomous assault on Sir Craig Oliver, David Cameron's former communications chief, except to note that several senior Tories were stunned by her lack of grace.
One - almost speechless - said it was the most unprimeministerial thing they had ever heard.
But it was what Mrs May said about Boris Johnson that struck me most. Picking up on his reference to Lady Heseltine's aggressive Alsatian, the prime minister looked directly at her foreign secretary - I was directly in the eye line - and said: "Boris, the dog was put down... (pause)... when its master decided it wasn't needed any more."
It was a funny line. And we laughed. But it also struck me what a barbed line it was too. It was a warning as much as a joke, a threat of political euthanasia for a colleague if he stepped out of line.
I also noted that this was, yet another, occasion when the prime minister had chosen to mock her foreign secretary in public. At the start of her conference speech last month, before the serried ranks of Tory faithful, Mrs May said there were many questions hanging in the air, including: "Can Boris Johnson stay on message for a full four days?... (pause)... just about."
Now every government has a court jester and Boris Johnson will never be able to escape that title. But his role in this government is crucial. He is there to convince the international community that Britain is not turning its back on the world post Brexit, that Britain has a positive role to play in global affairs.
And to do that he needs to be taken seriously. Many foreign politicians and diplomats that I speak to tell me they are pleasantly surprised when they meet the foreign secretary for the first time.
They talk of the man behind the caricature - the cultured, over-educated intellectual who often speaks a bit of their language and who can be thoughtful when he is not gripped by banter.
The problem is that many others - who have not met the foreign secretary in person - often still see him as a kind of upmarket Nigel Farage, a Eurosceptic clown with clout.
So to do his job, Britain's diplomat-in-chief needs of every bit of credibility he can lay his hands on. He is already the butt of many jokes. The last thing he needs is his prime minister adding to the mirth. | Theresa May is going to have to start taking Boris Johnson seriously if she wants the world to do likewise. |
39936621 | The 25-year-old was left without a club when Notts County folded in April, a day before the start of the Women's Super League Spring Series.
The former Doncaster Rovers Belles player is now looking forward to helping Liverpool maintain their unbeaten start after four games.
"Hopefully I am able to make the squad even stronger," said Turner.
"This is a fantastic move for me and I'm really excited to join up with the squad.
"Liverpool Ladies are a team with big ambitions and I am confident that we can have a successful end to the Spring Series before the full season starts in September."
Turner made her debut for England at the 2015 Cyprus Cup after Casey Stoney withdrew through injury and has collected three caps since.
Liverpool manager Scott Rogers added: "Amy is a versatile defender who is equally comfortable at full-back or as a central defender so this is another great signing for the club."
Liverpool are top of the Spring Series table, three points ahead of Manchester City after three wins and a draw. Their next game is at home to Sunderland on Wednesday (19:00 BST kick-off). | Liverpool Ladies have signed England defender Amy Turner after her departure from Notts County Ladies. |
35831162 | Captain Rory Best has shaken off a calf muscle injury and will start.
Coach Joe Schmidt said that Van der Flier took a "bang" in training on Monday after "shipping a couple of knocks" in the England and Italy games.
"Josh would probably be fit to play but he is just carrying a few knocks," said the Ireland coach.
"Conversely, Tommy has trained incredibly well.
"He hasn't had the luckiest of preparations with us in previous times," said Schmidt of O'Donnell who will be winning his 12th cap on Saturday.
O'Donnell missed out on last Autumn's World Cup in heartbreaking fashion after sustaining a dislocated hip in the warm-up game against Wales in August.
However, the Munster flanker, 28, battled back to feature in Ireland's opening Six Nations games against Wales and France.
Best, 33, was reported to have a tight calf on Tuesday but the hooker was able to resume training on Thursday.
An Ireland win will move the holders above Scotland in the table and ensure they finish no lower than fourth.
If results go to form with Wales seeing off the Italians and new champions England completing the Grand Slam at the Stade de France, a home win at the Aviva Stadium will leave Ireland third in the table.
In the first season following Paul O'Connell's retirement, Schmidt insisted that he would be happy with a top-three finish after a campaign where they missed several influential players including Iain Henderson, Peter O'Mahony and Tommy Bowe.
Sean O'Brien, Mike McCarthy and Dave Kearney missed the last three games of Ireland's tournament after being injured in the defeat by France while Jared Payne, Rob Kearney, Simon Zebo and Keith Earls have also been ruled out for stages of the campaign.
"If we can get that top-half finish I'd be very happy that we've worked our way through a pretty challenging time," added Schmidt.
"Hopefully that could give us a little bit of a platform into what is an incredibly tough second half of the year."
Ireland face a three-Test tour to South Africa in June before facing New Zealand twice and Australia in the autumn in an unforgiving close to 2016.
Simon Zebo's impressive attacking display in last weekend's nine-try 58-15 win over Italy meant that his retention at full-back was not in any doubt with Rob Kearney again ruled out by injury.
Eoin Reddan and Cian Healy, who both missed the Italy game because of knocks, return to the bench in place of Connacht pair Kieran Marmion and Finlay Bealham after resuming training this week.
Ireland: S Zebo, A Trimble, J Payne, R Henshaw, K Earls, J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best (capt), M Ross; D Ryan, D Toner; CJ Stander, T O'Donnell, J Heaslip.
Replacements: R Strauss, C Healy, N White, U Dillane, R Ruddock, E Reddan, I Madigan, F McFadden. | Flanker Tommy O'Donnell replaces Josh van der Flier in Ireland's only change from the win over Italy for Saturday's Six Nations game against Scotland. |
36169123 | Broudie Jackson Canter (BJC) Solicitors said Theresa May should send a team in to examine the force "root and branch".
The force has been criticised after the Hillsborough inquests concluded the 96 victims were unlawfully killed and there were police failings.
Mrs May said she would help the force "confront the mistakes of the past".
A statement from BJC said the families were "appalled to see the shambles in South Yorkshire Police" following the conclusion of the Hillsborough inquests on Tuesday and said a team from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) should be sent in to "speak to the rank and file and see what they think is wrong in the force and what needs to be done".
"We believe there needs to be a rigorous and continuing examination of the ethical behaviour of the force at every level.
"The force's motto is 'Justice with Courage' - sadly they have shown neither."
The secretary of state has the power to direct a police authority to apply remedial measures.
A team from HMIC would first examine the force and decide what action needed to be taken.
South Yorkshire Police's Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings said: "I spoke with the home secretary yesterday... She is going to be helpful to [the force] - and that may involve the College of Policing and other bodies which are being referred to."
Mrs May said: "I understand entirely the families' disappointment in South Yorkshire Police's response. As I told the House on Wednesday, the force must recognise the truth and be willing to accept it.
"The decision to hire and fire a chief officer is a matter for the Police and Crime Commissioner, in order to ensure direct accountability to the communities served by the force.
"The current PCC, Alan Billings, has taken a decision to suspend the chief constable and I understand that a process is under way to find temporary leadership while his replacement is found.
"I stand ready to support that process, and to help South Yorkshire Police confront the mistakes of the past and regain the confidence of their community."
Former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Peter Fahy said there should be "greater national oversight" when filling the top job within forces.
Sir Peter said: "Under the system of police and crime commissioners, it's solely down to the police and crime commissioner to make that (chief constable) selection.
"I personally think there should be greater national oversight and more movement between police forces.
"How can a local person perhaps see what is the talent across 43 police forces and beyond? That's part of the difficulty.
"What you need is more movement between police forces so that you do get fresh blood in, so you don't get the sort of entrenched view and overall there's been less movement between forces."
The call for an official examination of South Yorkshire Police is the latest development in a torrid week for the force.
Following the inquests, Chief Constable David Crompton was suspended on Wednesday after what South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings called an "erosion of trust" in the force.
On Thursday Hillsborough families expressed anger after a private message to retired officers of the force telling them to be proud of their work was made public in error.
Later the same day it was announced hundreds of Hillsborough victims had taken out a civil action against South Yorkshire Police and West Midlands Police over their conduct on the day of the disaster and the aftermath. | Lawyers for 20 families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster have asked the home secretary to apply remedial measures to South Yorkshire Police. |
40657249 | The consultation period was extended by two weeks in July after seven days was deemed not long enough, but it will now be further extended to 4 August.
At least 80 people are believed to be dead after the blaze on 14 June.
A spokesman said the inquiry chair "took this decision in response to feedback from local residents and survivors of the fire".
The inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister Theresa May on 15 June, will look into what happened at the west London tower fire and make recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy happening again.
Retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who is leading the probe, announced the extension at a meeting with residents and interested parties on Wednesday.
He has also written to groups representing those affected by the fire.
Sir Martin said he would make his recommendations to Mrs May shortly after the deadline.
The retired judge's appointment has been criticised, with some residents and MPs calling for him to stand down.
Sir Martin faced a meeting of "frustration, anger and confusion" in July when he tried to reassure people he was the right person for the job.
Meanwhile, Kensington's Labour MP Emma Dent Coad has said he lacked "credibility".
But the justice secretary encouraged people to give Sir Martin a chance, saying, "I'm very confident we will get some terms of reference that will get to the truth".
Sir Martin has previously said an interim report into the disaster could be produced within a year but admitted the inquiry would be "challenging".
"I would hope to be able to answer the basic factual questions, such as how did the fire start, how did it spread, how was it able to engulf the building in such speed and also questions such as what internal precautions there were, what steps were available for alerting residents and allowing them to escape".
Grenfell Legal Support says it is calling for diversity on the panel and for residents to be involved in the inquiry.
Co-founder Khatija Sacranie added there was "reluctance" to address gentrification issues and an "underlying disregard of certain communities that led to the disaster".
"The expansion in timeframe won't assist if the approach remains one of 'us' and 'them'," she said.
Meanwhile, at an inquest on Wednesday, three members of the same family were named among the victims of the blaze.
Bassem Choukair, 40, Mierna Choukair, 13, and Nadia Choucair, 33 were found on the 22nd floor of Grenfell Tower.
Gary Maunders, 57, was also named by the coroner and was found on the 23rd floor.
The provisional cause of death for the four was given as being "consistent with the effects of fire", and the victims were identified by their dental records.
All four inquests were adjourned at Westminster Coroner's Court.
Some 39 victims have now been identified with the coroner saying there were "many more" to come. | Grenfell Tower survivors have been given an extra week to say what the public inquiry should focus on. |
35238632 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The British cyclist, 30, has been training on both road and track this winter before a busy year.
"If I don't win any of them it is not a failure because they are the biggest things you can do in cycling," Cavendish told BBC Sport.
"If I won one I'd be happy but I'll try to win all three."
Cavendish, who will ride for Team Dimension Data-Qhubeka, was speaking in Manchester, where he has been training at the Velodrome.
"I've been mixing road and track," he added. "I've been doing more specific track stuff.
"I don't know how that is going to affect my road racing. I could be flying, I could be catastrophic, I could be indifferent. I don't really know - we will have to see when I get racing."
Cavendish, who is hoping to earn a place in the omnium for Great Britain at the Rio Olympics, will compete at the next round of the Track World Cup in Hong Kong on 16-17 January.
"If I don't do anything in Hong Kong you won't be talking to me about the Olympics," added Cavendish.
The Manxman has not won an Olympic medal and faces competition from Ed Clancy and Jon Dibben for the omnium place.
British track coach Heiko Salzwedel told the Times: "Cavendish has to deliver in Hong Kong, full stop. I can't think of sentiment.
"We have a luxury problem. Three world-class omnium riders fighting for one spot. It's probably easier to win the Olympics than win selection."
The Tour de France starts on 2 July with a flat stage that will suit the sprinters, and Cavendish is hoping to win that stage to claim the yellow jersey.
The Olympics start in Rio on 5 August, and the World Road Championships take place in Doha, Qatar in October.
BBC Sport's Matt Slater:
If everything goes to plan, Mark Cavendish's 2016 could go down as one of greatest and most colourful stories in British sporting history: yellow in France (even for just a day), gold in Rio, a rainbow in Doha.
But like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure stories, there are dozens of potential endings for the British star.
Failure in the omnium in Hong Kong next week and the Olympic plot line is over. Success and it rolls on until London in March, when another make-or-break moment arrives. And that is before we think about his road campaign.
It is going to be like that all year. It should be a rollicking good read. | Mark Cavendish is targeting the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, an Olympic medal and victory in the World Road Championships in 2016. |
36467470 | The London Housing Trust is accused of providing shabby accommodation and offering poor or no support services.
An investigation found drugs were taken by some residents and food given by food banks was taken by staff.
The trust, which runs 40 hostels across south London, said it was unaware of the claims and a new regime was now in place.
In a joint investigation between BBC London and the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, it found that the accommodation was damp and had mildew.
Residents said they were wrongfully charged for utility bills and promised support services such as a 24-hour concierge which did not materialise.
The investigation also found the trust claimed it was as a charity yet it is not registered as one.
Stephen Dellar, who was the trust's director and financial director, owned properties he was renting to London Housing Trust (LHT) and was also providing services to the trust through two separate companies of his.
The housing association regulator and Croydon Council have both launched their own investigations.
Mr Dellar has not commented on the allegations.
A whistleblower who works as a support worker at the trust's headquarters said he had been told to put previous residents' names on bills without their knowledge.
He said the trust would tell British Gas: "We're a housing association. That client has moved on, you can't cut us off."
The support worker also raised concerns that a women's refuge in Croydon did not have staff available 24 hours a day.
One resident, who did not want to be named but has been living there for a month, said: "Three weeks, a month in. Never heard from no-one - never saw anyone. They would pop round and spend five minutes and go.
"There is no support and if I don't get it, everything goes downhill."
The whistleblower agrees. He said: "I don't believe in one 24-hour period it's actually been staffed since it opened in late December.
"It's a massive let down. It's a complete failure by London Housing Trust."
He said as a result, conditions in the refuge were allowed to deteriorate badly, culminating in some instances of substance abuse.
"I've met most of the women in that house. So generally, cocaine, heroine, cannabis and alcohol would be the main drugs in there.
"You may also find some the synthetic drugs, the legal highs such as Spice being used as well "
The trust said it was not aware of staff helping themselves to food crates and that their rent rates were independently audited and approved by the local authority.
It said the women's refuge in Croydon was staffed 24 hours on a shift pattern and it has the payroll records to prove it.
It admitted providing tenants' names to British Gas but dispute that this was unlawful and said residents had always been liable for their own bills.
A new regime is now in place with pre-pay meters. | A founder of a housing association has resigned as a trustee over claims of widespread malpractice. |
30832524 | Nearly 10,500 people visited the Trussell Trust's 48 food banks for the first time in the charity's history.
The data also reveals a third of users cited low income - and not welfare benefit delays - for their predicament.
The figure is a 13% increase from the 9,263 people who used a Trussell Trust food bank in December 2013.
In December 2014, 10,489 people visiting Scottish food banks were given a three day supply of nutritionally balanced food by the charity - a third of them children.
The charity underlined that the final figure for December visits is likely to be even higher as food bank staff continue to input data into their system.
Ewan Gurr, the charity's network manager for Scotland, said he was concerned that many low income families were forced to face hunger in the run-up to Christmas due to financial difficulties.
He said: "Every day we are hearing working people describe the devastating reality of sustaining their families with static incomes and unstable employment against consistently rising costs of essentials like food and rent.
"In the most harrowing accounts, we hear from the families choosing whether to prioritise heating their homes or feeding their families and parents losing weight because they overlook their own health and wellbeing to feed their children."
The Trust, which partners with churches and communities, currently operates more than 1,200 food distribution centres across the UK.
The number of people using their Scotland-based food banks increased by 398% between 2012/13 and 2013/14.
However, Northern Ireland and the North East of England have seen even larger increases during the same timeframe (489% and 463% respectively).
The Trust's figures also reveal Dundee had the highest number of adults (3,750) using food banks in the last year, while south east Glasgow had the highest number of children (1,975).
A scoping study funded by the Scottish government in 2013 to provide insight into the extent of food aid provision in Scotland, reported that Trussell Trust's data is a good indicator of general provision and demand trends and reasons for demand experienced by other providers of food parcels.
The study recognised that there are many non-Trust food banks - they account for only 20% of all food centres in Glasgow - but that there is no definitive list of Scottish food banks.
Mr Gurr said: "We must accept that the rising need for emergency food in Scotland is unacceptable and the long-term reduction of food poverty must be a priority for policy makers across the spectrum."
The Scottish government blamed welfare changes and other policies introduced by the UK government.
Alex Neil, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights, said many people in work rely on benefits.
He added: "The massive increase in food banks is primarily due to the low wage economy we are living in and the benefits changes that have been introduced by Westminster.
"What we need is a living wage across the country, and a benefits system that keeps people out of poverty instead of putting people into poverty."
But the UK government insisted it was working to reduce poverty.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "The UK Government spends £94bn a year on working age benefits to provide a safety net to support millions of people who are unemployed or on low incomes so they can meet their basic needs.
"Reforms to welfare are designed to bring fairness back to the system and help people into work - 52,000 more people are now in jobs in Scotland compared to this time last year, giving more people the peace of mind and security that comes with a steady income."
For the first time in 2014, 3,005 people (28%) said they used a Scottish food bank due to low income in December, closely followed by 2,527 (24%) because of a benefit delay, and 1,555 (15%) due to a benefit change.
The Clyde, Avon and Nethan food bank reported that 77% of people given a food package in December cited low income as the main contributing factor.
Many users visiting the food banks at Airdrie and Lochaber also blamed low incomes (50% and 48% respectively).
However, this compared to 5% at the Alness and Invergordon food bank, where 74% attributed the need for food parcels to changes in their benefits.
But while the charity has attributed the rise in low income-related need for food banks, at a time of year when costs such as heating are higher, a government document published last month suggested low income families may face increasing financial difficulties in the future.
According to the report, approximately 820,000 people were living in relative poverty in 2013 - an increase of 110,000 from the previous year.
This increase in relative poverty - where someone lives in a household that receives less than 60% of the UK average income - was attributed to a continued fall in incomes.
The report concluded: "Low wage growth (particularly for those in less skilled employment), changes in the labour market, and tightening of eligibility and conditionality under welfare reform have resulted in lower median income." | A record number of adults and children relied upon food banks in Scotland in December, according to new figures obtained by the BBC. |
35803805 | The Juventus and Italy goalkeeper, 38, set a new mark when he prevented Torino from scoring in the first four minutes of their game on Sunday.
Sebastiano Rossi previously held the record after going 929 minutes without being beaten for AC Milan in 1994.
Buffon surpassed Dino Zoff's club record as he kept a 10th successive clean sheet in the leaders' last game.
More to follow. | Gianluigi Buffon has broken the Serie A record for the longest time without conceding a goal. |
35084432 | Olympic champion Joshua, 26, came into the fight boasting 14 straight knockouts in the first three rounds.
But Whyte, 27, stood up to some huge blows and, perhaps more importantly, managed to land a few of his own.
However, Whyte was wobbled by a hook to the temple before Joshua finished the job with a savage uppercut.
With Whyte dangling on the ropes and seemingly unaware of his surroundings, referee Howard Foster called a halt to proceedings.
Joshua's thrilling victory was greeted by raucous celebrations at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, making it abundantly clear that Britain has a new heavyweight hero. And Joshua's emergence could lead to some fascinating heavyweight encounters on these shores over the next few years.
Next up for Watford's Joshua, who also retained his Commonwealth belt at the O2 Arena, could be compatriot and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora, who knocked out Croatian journeyman Jakov Gospic on the same bill.
Britain's former world champion David Haye makes his comeback in January after a three-year injury lay-off, but promoter Eddie Hearn is unlikely to risk his prize asset against such a potentially dangerous opponent any time soon.
The fight all of Britain would like to see is Joshua versus Tyson Fury, who won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles from Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf a fortnight ago. Fury was later stripped of his IBF title.
Fury and Klitschko will fight again next summer and if the Manchester boxer wins again, the clamour for him to fight Joshua will be deafening.
"A world title fight is still far away," Joshua told BBC Radio 5 live.
"Becoming an elite athlete in such a tough sport, it doesn't happen overnight but I've got the desire, ambition and the team around me to do it but I don't want to rush it because when I get there, I want to stay there."
Before Saturday, Whyte was unbeaten in 16 pro fights, with 13 knockouts. He beat Joshua in the amateur ranks in 2009, was full of confidence during the build-up and it was hoped he might at least test his rival's chin.
Whyte did indeed take it to Joshua in the first round, but took plenty of shuddering blows as a result and looked at one point as if he might not last three minutes. But what looked like a momentary buckling of the knees proved to be deceptive.
A flurry of late blows by Joshua caused Whyte to retaliate, the Londoner attempting to punch Joshua while he was being held by the referee. This in turn led to both sets of entourages, plus security, invading the ring. A tense stand-off ensued before the canvas was cleared and the real action resumed.
Joshua continued talking to Whyte at the start of the second, until he was staggered by a huge left hook. But while Joshua was clearly hurt, Whyte was unable to press home his advantage.
By the third Whyte, who had been written off as a pretender by a lot of experts, had earned Joshua's full respect. And when the bell sounded for the start of the fourth - uncharted territory for Joshua - the fight seemed to be in the balance.
Joshua managed to back Whyte up with his jab in the fourth, only for his rival to come back swinging and land with some grazing shots of his own.
However, Whyte was taking in huge gulps of air by the end of the sixth and when he offered to touch gloves at the start of the seventh, it seemed like a sign of resignation.
A left to the temple sent Whyte reeling across the ring, although he did well to compose himself, grab Joshua and tie him up on the inside. However, Whyte was unable to keep Joshua off for long.
Whyte, having retreated to the ropes, was finally finished off by a picture-perfect uppercut. Having tried and failed to make it to his feet, he was given medical attention in the ring but soon helped back to his corner.
"I really enjoyed it - it lived up to the hype. Let's give Dillian Whyte credit for rocking Anthony to his core with that shot and testing him. But Anthony's not the finished article and he'll learn from that fight tonight.
"This is fantastic for British heavyweight boxing. Dillian has a good future. I think Anthony Joshua will be heavyweight champion of the world within 18 months. The right uppercut was a punch that would have knocked King Kong out." | Anthony Joshua came through his first real test as a professional, knocking Dillian Whyte out in the seventh round to win the British heavyweight title. |
35061167 | Her annual report, which focuses on women this year, said tackling obesity should be a national priority to avert a "growing health catastrophe".
She said the food industry needed to do more or it should face a sugar tax.
Dame Sally is also calling for better treatment of ovarian cancer and more open discussion on incontinence.
England's top doctor said obesity was so serious it should be a priority for the whole population, but particularly for women because too often it shortened their lives.
In England in 2013, 56.4% of women aged 34-44 and 62% of women aged 45-54 were classified as overweight or obese.
Obesity increases the risk of many diseases including breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Dame Sally warned that if the food industry did not clean up its act then new taxes may be the only option.
She told the BBC: "I think it is inevitable that manufacturing has to reformulate and resize, that supermarkets and others need to stop cheap promotions on unhealthy food and putting unhealthy food at the check-out, and limit advertising dramatically.
"I think we're at a tipping point. If industry won't deliver then we'll have to look at a sugar tax."
Elsewhere in the report, the chief medical officer recommended that:
Dame Sally highlighted the fact that women had to look after their physical and mental health during pregnancy for the sake of their children and grandchildren.
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If a woman is obese during pregnancy, research indicates there is an increased chance of miscarriage and premature birth.
A woman's overall health during pregnancy also has an impact on the health of the child in later life, the report said.
A pregnant woman's health affects the conditions inside the womb which in turn can have life-long consequences for the health of the child including the risk of obesity or type 2 diabetes.
Dame Sally said she wanted to "bust the myth" that women should eat for two when pregnant, adding a healthy diet with fruit and vegetables and avoiding alcohol was important.
Prof Nick Finer, from University College London's Institute of Cardiovascular Science, said obesity was now "the most pressing health issue for the nation".
"Estimates of the economic costs of obesity suggest they will bankrupt the NHS.
"Elevating the problem of obesity to a national risk could help to address the current 'laissez faire' attitude to this huge, angry, growing health catastrophe," he said.
The report makes 17 recommendations across a range of women's health issues.
In her report, Dame Sally highlighted the need for early diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating, which are more common in women than men.
She recommended that everyone with an eating disorder should have access to a new and enhanced form of psychological therapy, called CBT-E, which is specifically designed to treat eating disorders.
This should be available to all age groups across the country, she said.
Lorna Garner, from Beat, the charity that supports people with eating disorders, said the recommendation would have "a dramatic and positive impact on a very large proportion of the individuals diagnosed with eating disorders".
It's a one-to-one psychological therapy which focuses on changing the patient's views on body image and helping them to accept their bodies as they are.
The 'E' stands for enhanced because it is tailored to the individual, with the aim of helping them to learn more productive ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.
Keeping patients engaged in the process and preventing any relapses is a key part of the therapy.
Extensive studies have shown that it works for all eating disorders, with a 66% success rate for people with bulimia and binge-eating disorders.
The therapy lasts from five to nine months and can also be used on children over 14 years old.
Therapists can be trained online to deliver CBT-E, which helps patients to be treated quickly.
The report also called for better treatment for ovarian cancer, which kills more women in England than any other gynaecological cancer.
With survival from the cancer among the lowest among developed nations, Dame Sally recommends longer operating times to increase the likelihood that all the cancer is removed during surgery.
Training in specialised surgical skills to remove gynaecological cancers and an audit of treatments are also highlighted in the report.
There should be more awareness of women's problems "below the waist" and more discussion of taboo topics such as urinary and faecal incontinence and the menopause, the report said.
More than five million women suffer from incontinence in the UK, a condition that can seriously affect the quality of their lives.
Bosses should also make it easier for women to discuss their menopausal symptoms without embarrassment, which could help them reduce their sick leave and improve their wellbeing at work.
Dr David Richmond, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said women should be placed at the centre of their care throughout their lives.
He said issues such as maternal obesity, poor diet, lack of physical activity, high levels of alcohol consumption, smoking and poor sexual health "must be addressed... to enable all women to make safe and appropriate lifestyle choices". | Obesity is the biggest threat to women's health and the health of future generations, warns England's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies. |
20310767 | The train will run between the city centre and the suburb of Syokimau, where Kenya has built its first railway station in more than 80 years.
The service is intended to ease traffic congestion in Nairobi, one of the fastest-growing African cities with a population of about three million.
President Mwai Kibaki was the first commuter on the new train.
He travelled back to Nairobi along with his officials, while ordinary passengers were banned for security reasons.
The first paying customers are expected to take the return trip to Syokimau.
The BBC's Wanyama Chebusiri in Nairobi says the new service will be much faster then the existing dilapidated trains and will run on a separate track.
The 16.5-km (10-mile) ride from Syokimau, in the east, to Nairobi is expected to take 15 minutes, while a car journey during rush-hour could take up to two hours, our reporter says.
The new station at Syokimau is modern - it will issue passengers with electronic tickets to swipe at turnstiles and there are also large screens to give train times, he adds.
The journey is the cheapest way of getting to central Nairobi, costing about $2.50 (£1.50).
Mr Kibaki has inaugurated the service, and is expected to be the first passenger to take the ride.
The launch is part of the government's ambitious Vision 2030 initiative to improve much-neglected infrastructure over the next 18 years, our reporter says.
A Chinese company has just built Kenya's first eight-lane highway, linking Nairobi to the densely populated industrial town of Thika, about 40 km away.
It was built at a cost of about 28bn shillings ($330m; £200m).
Although the highway has not been officially launched, motorists are already using it.
The government says its next rail project will be to link Nairobi's city centre to the eastern residential area of Kayole. | A new commuter train has been launched in Kenya's capital, Nairobi - the first of its kind since independence in 1963. |
38603187 | He appeared at a court hearing at which the state is appealing against a finding that some of his treatment in prison amounted to "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
Prosecutors had earlier warned that the right-wing extremist was more radical than ever.
Breivik killed 77 people in July 2011.
He murdered 69 people at a summer camp for young centre-left political activists on the island of Utoeya after, earlier in the day, setting off a car bomb in the capital Oslo, killing eight people.
The 37-year-old has been kept in solitary confinement since shortly after his arrest. In 2012, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison. In his three-cell complex, he can play video games, watch TV and exercise.
But he argues that being kept away from other prisoners for 22 to 23 hours a day breaches his human rights.
"I've become more radical. I was radical to start but these past five years I've become much more radical," he said as he gave evidence against the state.
"I'm seriously affected by the isolation, and radicalisation is perhaps the most serious effect of my isolation."
Breivik's lawyer Oystein Storrvik has said the killer is "mentally vulnerable" because of his prison conditions.
In April 2016, a Norwegian court upheld part of his claim, although it dismissed his argument that his right to respect for private and family life was violated by restrictions on contact with other right-wing extremists.
On Tuesday, the Norwegian government, which was also ordered to pay Breivik's legal costs of 330,000 kroner ($38,500; £31,600), began the process of appealing against the court's ruling.
The state says his prison conditions are better than those of most other prisoners to compensate for being kept in solitary confinement.
Prosecutor Fredrik Sejersted rejected the assertion that his human rights were being violated, and said Breivik was "even more convinced in his extreme far-right beliefs".
Reacting to Thursday's hearing, Mr Sejersted told Reuters news agency: "He's saying what is rational for him to say in the circumstances."
A verdict in the case is due in February. | Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has said that more than five years of prison isolation have further radicalised him. |
26043993 | They have proven it over the years, especially on the world business stage, with Chinese companies becoming dominant global players in various sectors.
Now, they are facing their toughest test.
China has set its sights on commercial aeroplane manufacturing - a sector that has arguably more hurdles and stumbling blocks than any other.
"The barriers to entry in commercial aircraft manufacturing are extremely high, and they are not just technological," says Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) is the one tasked with helping Beijing break into the sector.
Set up in 2008, the firm is betting on its C919 aeroplane - a narrow-body, or single aisle plane that can seat up to 168 passengers - to be its launch pad.
The company is targeting the segment as the market for 100 to 200-seat single-aisle planes is forecast to be worth $20 trillion (£12.8tn) over the next 20 years.
A large part of that growth is expected to come from Asia, and Comac is looking to attract customers with its presence at this week's Singapore Airshow.
However, it is up against stiff competition. The sector is dominated by Airbus's A320 and Boeing's 737, which have received more than 10,000 orders each.
"Comac is up against one of the world's strongest duopolies," says Mr Bitzinger. "Airbus and Boeing produce nearly every 100-seat-and-above passenger jet flown by nearly every airline in the world."
Other firms are also eyeing the sector. Bombardier's much-anticipated C-Series aircraft is seen by many as the most serious potential rival to Airbus and Boeing in the segment.
As that plane gets ready to enter commercial service, it is likely to become even tougher for Comac to break in.
Perhaps an even bigger hurdle is winning the trust of customers that it can build a reliable and safe plane, not least because hundreds of lives are at stake every time a plane is airborne.
Planes are highly complex machines. Thousands of parts need to be fitted and integrated together for them to function properly and any faults can create serious problems.
This is where, analysts say, China's reputation over safety issues may prove to be a stumbling block.
"There is a perception that China doesn't have strict quality control," says Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with Standard & Poor's.
"Whether that is justified in this case, we don't know. But when it comes to aeroplane manufacturing, perception is everything."
Shivaji Das, an aviation analyst with consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, adds that previous quality control scandals in other sectors such as baby formula have contributed to such concerns.
Many of the key components for the plane, including its engine, are being supplied by foreign firms.
Its suppliers include GE, Honeywell Aerospace and Rockwell Collins. Comac has also agreed a technical collaboration with Bombardier.
That should help allay some concerns over quality control.
However, analysts say that eventually the parts are being put together at local facilities and Comac's inexperience in doing so may worry some customers.
The fact that Comac has delayed the first test flight of the plane has not helped.
"No-one wants to be a beta tester of a new aircraft, especially from a manufacturer with little or no prior experience," says Mr Bitzinger.
"There are many things that can go wrong with a new plane and as an airline you need to feel assured the manufacturer has the resources and capability to sort it out quickly."
Even Boeing and Airbus - with decades of experience - have faced problems with new models.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has had problems with battery fires, while Airbus's A380 saw hairline cracks appear on some of the brackets used to link the wing to the plane.
The one thing going in favour of Comac is that it does not need to rely on global orders, at least not yet.
China is one of the world's fastest growing aviation markets and is likely to see big demand for single-aisle planes over the next two decades.
Comac has already got 400 orders for the C919 - mostly from China - and the number is expected to rise further.
"They are likely to get some sort of a protected access to the domestic market," says Mr Das, of Frost & Sullivan.
He adds that starting out in the domestic market is likely to benefit Comac.
"It's their home turf, so safety and quality concerns are likely to be less of an issue," he says.
"And if the plane performs well over time, with no major problems, you can't rule them out from having a serious shot on the global stage," he adds.
International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, is already talking to Comac about future aeroplane needs.
A turbulence-free take-off in China may well ensure a smooth landing in those markets. | The Chinese have a saying: "Nothing is impossible to a willing mind." |
36023699 | An employment tribunal ruled Joe Duffy was unfairly dismissed from Hamilton-based charity People Experiencing Trauma and Loss (Petal).
He has now been awarded almost £40,000 in compensation.
Petal was established by Mr Duffy, 66, and his wife, Kate, after their 19-year-old daughter Amanda was killed following a night out in 1992.
In February, the Crown Office failed in a bid to retry Francis Auld, who stood trial for Amanda's murder but the case was found "not proven" by a jury.
It was hoped a fresh prosecution could take place under Scotland's new double jeopardy laws.
In 2014, Mr Duffy was dismissed from his role as project director with the charity on the grounds of "gross misconduct".
It was claimed that he was guilty of misappropriating Petal funds and property, displaying aggressive behaviour and demonstrating unprofessional conduct towards a charity director.
The charity claimed Mr Duffy profited financially by sourcing water coolers and light bulbs from companies with which he had a financial interest.
Mr Duffy explained that the arrangements through a water cooler business and Speedlamps Ltd were long-standing and were known to members of the charity's management committee.
Employment Judge Shona MacLean concluded: "There was no evidence that the claimant made any profit from providing water coolers to the respondent.
"As regards Speedlamps, Ltd, the claimant was not involved on a day-to-day basis. He was not employed by Speedlamps Ltd. There was no evidence he received any dividend."
It emerged that Mr Duffy has set up another charity but he has received no income from it.
He was not available for comment.
Neil Moore, who is now chief executive of Petal, said he had not personally seen the ruling.
He added:"The judgment is with our legal team and the management committee. We will make a statement when they have had the opportunity to review it." | The father of murdered teenager Amanda Duffy has been cleared of exploiting a charity he set up in her memory. |
37952252 | The party is holding a one-day event in Dunfermline to discuss recent political events and policy positions.
Mr Rennie urged members to embrace hope rather than "despair" over Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.
He pledged not to give up on "open and progressive" values in America, Europe or the UK.
The Scottish Lib Dems were holding their autumn conference at the Vine Venue in Dunfermline.
Policy areas scheduled for debate included fracking, the gender pay gap, the local planning system, the coming council elections and Scotland's position in Europe.
Party leader Mr Rennie underlined his "grief" at recent electoral results, such as the UK's vote to leave the European Union and the US choosing Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton as its next president.
He said: "The grief this week has been palpable. Not just the fear of what a President Trump could bring, but the sense of loss of what could have been - the first woman president, committed to expanding healthcare, internationalism, equal rights, tolerance.
"It was the same sense of loss, even of bereavement, that so many people felt after the Brexit vote. The result was the opposite of everything we have worked for over the decades - it made many wonder if they even recognise the country we live in any more.
"So what do we do? How do we respond?
"Of course we could turn our backs, cut the ties, walk away. We could partition the country and hope we live in the best bit. But Liberals are not quitters. I refuse to give up on America, I refuse to give up on Europe, I refuse to give up on the United Kingdom."
Mr Rennie urged members to take inspiration from historical figure Robert the Bruce, "who refused to give up in the face of adversity".
He said: "No matter how disturbed by the results in June and this week, as liberals, our response must be one of hope, not despair. A mile from this venue is the Abbey Church, the final resting place of Robert the Bruce.
"Perhaps we should be inspired by his relationship with that famous spider. If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again. This is a Robert the Bruce moment for us.
"Just because the progressives have failed on Europe and the United States does not mean that we give up on the USA, EU and UK. We don't give up on people. We must try, try and try again."
by Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political reporter
The Lib Dems gathered in Fife, a mile away from the abbey where the bones of Robert the Bruce are buried. So the theme of the day, inspired by a certain spider, was perseverance.
This extended beyond Willie Rennie's central message of keeping faith in liberal values in the wake of the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump.
The party leader also had to ward off a fresh insurrection on the topic of fracking, having overruled a pro-fracking resolution in the wake of the Spring conference.
Mr Rennie persevered - and after a feisty debate, won out.
He also got his way on the topic of Scottish independence, after another lively session.
Before the conference even started, opposition parties had seized on another motion calling for "all options" to be examined to maintain Scotland's place in Europe.
Did this somehow indicate support for independence, they wondered?
Well, here are some clues. At the conference, the Lib Dems were re-using old Better Together lanyards. A Scotland In Union stall was positioned in the middle of the venue, yards from a stall selling old No Thanks t-shirts.
Perhaps this was a message to any lurking pro-independence factions; in any case Mr Rennie left no doubt in his speech. He hit out at the SNP's "obsession" with independence and said he'd oppose it "in all circumstances".
And he again won out comfortably in the final vote, cutting all even slightly controversial passages out of the motion.
Mr Rennie will now be hoping this kind of winning form translates to the electorate at large in May's Council elections. | Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie invoked the spirit of Robert the Bruce by urging members at the party's autumn conference to "try, try again". |
23004650 | Chief Minister Peter Harwood said: "A sensible balance needs to be struck between the desire for information and the cost of producing it."
The UK already has a freedom of information law, while Jersey and the Isle of Man are developing legislation.
States members will debate the proposed code at their meeting on 30 July.
Deputy Harwood said the Policy Council had "weighed up the costs and benefits of each approach" and had decided a code of practice represented a "more appropriate way of delivering an effective and efficient policy".
The first guiding principle of the code, if approved, will be to disclose information unless there are reasons to withhold it.
Possible justifications for non-disclosure would include security, legal or external affairs considerations.
The proposals, signed by all 11 members of the Policy Council, also cite as an exception: "Information whose disclosure would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion, including proceedings of the Policy Council and boards of the departments".
A 2011 report, commissioned by the States and authored by a former senior civil servant at the UK's Ministry of Justice, had recommended islanders be allowed to attend department meetings.
"Confidential communications between departments" are also amongst the list of 15 types of exception, along with "vexatious" or "voluminous" information requests.
The Policy Council said the target for responding to simple requests would be 20 days.
Complaints over a refusal to comply will need to be made to the relevant department's chief officer and then, if necessary, its political board.
A new policy on the use of confidentiality clauses in contracts and agreements will also be debated, as part of the same Policy Council report.
The use of such clauses has been heavily criticised in Guernsey in recent years.
In March, the Scrutiny Committee criticised the Home Department's refusal to reveal how much compensation had been paid to a legal firm, whose offices were illegally raided by police.
In 2011, Guernsey fishermen complained the details of a compensation settlement with UK fishermen were withheld, after a fishing licence regime was deemed unlawful. | Guernsey's Policy Council has drafted a code of practice on access to public information and has come out against introducing a statutory law. |
36829894 | David Stokes died after being detained as part of a pre-planned drugs operation in 2013.
He was in a car pursued by police at speeds up to 130mph before his arrest and subsequent death on 19 April.
Officers from Derbyshire Constabulary believed he had something hidden in his mouth, but found no drugs.
The 31-year-old, from Birmingham, then became unwell as he was being transported to Chesterfield Police Station.
The police van was diverted to hospital where he died shortly afterwards.
An inquest into his death concluded on Friday and returned a finding of misadventure and cocaine toxicity.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which began investigating his death, has not been able to establish at what point the cocaine was swallowed.
In a statement the IPCC said it had also been "unable to make a complete determination around the duty of care afforded by officers to Mr Stokes".
"However, the investigation found no issues in relation to the use of force during his detention and no injuries were found to have caused or contributed to his death," it said.
The IPCC previously complained that eight Derbyshire police officers had refused to answer questions during the inquiry - and would only provide written statements.
Mr Stokes died after the car he was in was chased by police on the A617, near Chesterfield.
The tactical plan had been for police to "box in" the car to avoid a pursuit, and prevent evidence being disposed of.
The IPCC said the "apparent lack of a risk assessment" in the event of the plan failing was highlighted as a learning point for the force.
The watchdog's investigation report is still due to be published. | There were no misconduct issues for officers who arrested and detained a man who swallowed cocaine and then died, the police watchdog said. |
34956990 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 27-year-old Briton outpointed the 39-year-old Ukrainian in Dusseldorf, Germany to bring his nine-year reign to an end.
"I think you have seen 65% of what I am capable of," the self-styled 'Gypsy King' told Sky Sports News.
"That wasn't as good as I can do. I can go up another level."
The Manchester fighter insisted he would beat Klitschko again if the former champion takes up the option of a rematch - and would be happy for it to be in Germany.
"If he had 10 years to train, the result would be the same next time," Fury said. "I think he will take the rematch, but who knows when he gets home and has time to think about it.
"It doesn't really matter to me where I fight. Japan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, America - wherever it has to be. I'd like to come back to Germany again to fight Wlad. I enjoyed it here and I got a great reception from the German fans."
He added. "I might be allowed a voluntary defence [before a potential rematch with Klitschko] and I would like to have that back in England, probably in Manchester. It would be great to bring the titles back."
Fury is keen to spend time over the festive period with his family, including pregnant wife Paris, who he serenaded at ringside after his victory. The couple already have a daughter, Venezuela, and a son Prince.
But attention has already turned to who else Fury could face in defence of his titles.
Irish legend Barry McGuigan told BBC Radio 5 live that David Haye, the British former world champion, making his comeback in January after three years in retirement, is "the obvious fight" for Fury.
He added: "Anthony Joshua is full of promise but hasn't done anything at the top level yet. Deontay Wilder [the American WBC world champion] would be a great fight for him. Wilder is a slashing, hard fighter but he was hurt himself in his last defence by a journeyman fighter.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I don't think either of them are that fantastic to be honest. Both can look vulnerable at times. Fury is unbeaten and would be favourite but Wilder is a great puncher."
Fury himself has played down a potential bout against Wilder. "Why do we need to mention Deontay Wilder? Let's laugh at his name, shall we? Why would I be bothered about a novice like Wilder?
"He's a basketball player who took up boxing a couple of years ago. I'm a true natural fighter. I've been doing it all my life. You get horses and dogs and it's bred into them to be what they are, whether it's racehorses or show dogs. And it's bred into me to be a fighter.
"So, if Deontay Wilder wants a unification fight he is going to have to wait, because Wladimir Klitschko has a round two....ding ding ding!"
The pair were due to fight twice, in 2013 and 2014, but Haye pulled out on both occasions because of injury, leading to bad blood between the pair.
"I hope Fury can win a rematch and take the titles back to Britain again as a free agent," Haye told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek.
"It throws the division up in the air and makes it really exciting for once.
"We now have a crazy guy with the belts. It might be negative but it makes you laugh and it's better than being bored to tears by Klitschko.
"I would like my opportunity to work my way up the rankings and have a crack at him. As long as he takes belts away that makes him my target.
"Because of the history between us, Fury's camp won't give me any voluntary fights. We don't get on that great so I will have to work my way up to become the mandatory challenger for one of his titles."
Fury has paid tribute to his uncle and trainer Peter, who he believes revitalised his career after they started working together in 2012.
"When I started with Peter, I was going to stop boxing," he said. "I was flat, I was out of shape, I was 24 stone. I wasn't doing the right things, I was drinking and going out a lot," he said.
"But we stuck at it, trained every day, week on week. Since January 2012, we have only taken about two or three weeks off - and Peter has to take a lot of credit for that.
"It has been a long road to get here but I am finally here, parked up in front of view, in the shop window."
"Money, fame, glory…nothing changes the man unless they want it to," Fury said. "I am really comfortable with the man I am today. I will be the same person I was when I started boxing. Nothing is going to change me."
Fury has previously claimed he has no interest in being a role model and has been a controversial figure in the build-up to the Klitschko fight.
One of Britain's former world heavyweight champions, Lennox Lewis, believes he may need to modify his behaviour to assume the responsibility that comes with the title.
"Now he's champion he has to behave himself a little bit more because there are a lot of kids and people looking up to him," Lewis told Sportsweek.
"There are a lot of different boxers and people who will have a lot of things to say about him. If you allow [Fury] to say what he wants without coming back then you are soft to him. He won't respect you unless you directly come back at him.
"But he's a different character in the heavyweight scene. His character captures the imagination of people." | Tyson Fury says there is more to come from him after he beat Wladimir Klitschko to become the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion of the world. |
36387513 | Kathryn Brain moved from Australia to Dingwall, near Inverness, with husband Gregg and son Lachlan in 2011.
Mrs Brain was on a student visa at a time when a two-year post-study visa was in existence - but the rules were later changed.
Ms Sturgeon pledged to do everything in her power to help the family.
The Brain family, who have been given leave to remain until next Tuesday, hope a job offer made to Mrs Brain by the business behind the planned GlenWyvis distillery in Dingwall will meet visa requirements and allow them to stay.
Mr Brain said they were in the process of resubmitting a visa application in light of the job offer, but had "significant doubts" as to whether it will be possible to pull the paperwork together in time.
However, UK Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has told the Commons that the family do not face "imminent deportation".
He was responding to SNP MP Ian Blackford, who has raised the family's case in parliament.
Mr Brokenshire and Mr Blackford, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the case.
The UK government has said the family had twice been given extra time to help them meet visa rules.
Speaking after her meeting with the family, Ms Sturgeon said: "I've assured the Brain family that the Scottish government will do everything it can to support them in their attempt to get the time that they always thought they would have to get jobs here, the right to stay here and continue to make a contribution to Scotland."
She said the family had "come here in good faith" under a scheme that was promoted by the Scottish government at the time and backed by the UK government.
The first minister added: "They fully expected that they would have the two-year post-study visa in order to allow them to secure work here. The problem is the UK government changed the rules before they had the chance to benefit from what they thought that they would benefit from.
"So there's a sense of natural justice here, as well as the human element."
Ms Sturgeon said the family's seven-year-old son had "virtually grown up here, he is a Gaelic speaker, he is to all intents and purposes Scottish".
Mr Brain has said he hopes "common sense will prevail" and his family will be allowed to remain in the country.
He also said they had been "absolutely floored" by the support they had received from the local community and across the political spectrum.
Mr Brain is a health and safety expert and his wife has just completed a degree in Scottish history. | Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has met an Australian family which has been told it must leave the UK if it cannot meet visa rules. |
39099718 | Taxis drove at 5km/h (3mph) on the Tullamarine Freeway to Parliament House during the morning rush hour, causing a traffic jam.
The state government is planning industry reforms that will regulate ride-sharing app Uber and scrap taxi licenses.
Drivers are concerned they will not receive enough compensation.
Traditional taxis operate under rigid regulation and have to pay big sums for licences to drive passengers.
Last August, the state government legalised ride-sharing apps sparking a drop in the value of taxi operating licenses.
The licences were worth up to A$275,000 (£170,000; $210,000) each in 2015 and fell to about $150,000 last year.
Victoria's state government has offered owners A$100,000 to buy back their first licence and A$50,000 for subsequent licences, as part of planned industry reform that will scrap the license system.
Taxi driver Vasilos Spanos said the current offer would financially ruin his family.
"It cost me altogether for the three licences more than A$800,000," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Ari Angelopoulos owns two taxi licences and said he has lost more than 30% of his daily income.
"I work hard, I have two children, and I am the only worker in my family," he told Australian Associated Press. "I didn't come to Australia to be a slave."
Victoria's Public Transport Minister said the drivers were entitled to protest but described their behaviour as "irresponsible".
"It's not actually bringing people to their cause - it's driving them away," she told radio station 3AW.
Uber launched in 2009, has more than one million drivers and operates in more than 500 cities across 80 countries. | Melbourne taxi drivers have staged a "go slow" protest on one of the city's busiest roads. |
30777943 | Bravo and Pollard were seen as leading the player revolt, following a pay dispute with the WICB, that led to the abandonment of October's tour of India.
"There's no way you can tell me those guys shouldn't be in the team," opening batsman Gayle insisted.
"For me, it's got to be victimisation towards those two guys."
The former West Indies captain added: "Come on guys, it's just ridiculous. Honestly, it choked me up.
"I don't know where our cricket is heading with this sort of situation. It's really sad."
Trinidadian all-rounders Bravo and Pollard had been told they would be left out of the World Cup squad as the Windies were building a team for the future.
"What they're telling us then, is this team selected is not going there to win the World Cup," added Gayle. "Building for the next World Cup [in 2019] is ridiculous."
Man of the match Gayle was speaking after he, Bravo and Pollard helped West Indies complete the highest run chase in Twenty20 history in a four-wicket win over South Africa in Johannesburg on Sunday.
West Indies open their World Cup campaign against Ireland in Nelson, New Zealand on 16 February.
Click here for the full World Cup fixture list. | Chris Gayle has accused the West Indies Cricket Board of victimisation after Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were omitted from the World Cup squad. |
38529416 | The 53-year-old was found with serious injuries at a house in Littledean, Gloucestershire, on Thursday afternoon.
Officer were called to the property in Broad Street at 15:00 GMT. The woman died a short time later.
A cordon is still in place at the property, where officers are carrying out inquiries. | A post-mortem examination will be held following the unexplained death of a woman, police have said. |
35510849 | Nicky Cadden fired Airdrie ahead but Ciaran Summers' brilliant strike from distance levelled matters.
The visitors had David Cox sent off but they went ahead again when Jim Lister converted Cadden's cross.
Jamie McCormack equalised from close range and his second strike in stoppage time secured victory for Stenny. | Stenhousemuir's late victory moved them to within a point of Airdrieonians and the Scottish League One play-off places. |
35631453 | Three other people were injured in the incident which happened between Arbroath and Montrose, near the Maryton junction, on Friday.
The collision involved a car, a pick-up truck and a security van.
Mr McAllister, who was driving a red Volkswagen Golf, died from his injuries at the scene.
The 47-year-old female driver of a blue Mercedes Sprinter Van sustained serious injuries and her male passenger suffered minor injuries.
The 50-year-old male driver of a Ford Ranger pick-up also suffered minor injuries in the collision.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said a report would be submitted to the procurator fiscal. | A 79-year-old man killed in a three-vehicle crash in Angus has been named as George McAllister from Broughty Ferry. |
40339300 | Blockbusters, though, aren't for everybody. So what is out there if you don't want to watch Transformers: The Last Knight, Spider-Man: Homecoming or War for the Planet of the Apes?
Well, we have animated sequel Cars 3, animated threequel Despicable Me 3 and Christopher Nolan's war epic Dunkirk. But whichever way you slice it, they're really just blockbusters of a different cloth.
So what's left? More than you might think. Here are a few films you might want to check out if you're after something a little bit different.
Director Edgar Wright is known for Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz - films that combined gross-out comedy with sly spins on familiar genre conventions.
His latest film is a relatively straight crime thriller about a baby-faced getaway driver whose skills behind the wheel ensure he's always in demand.
Equipped with a great cast, a cool soundtrack and plenty of tyre-squealing mayhem, it's a slick piece of Tarantino-esque car-nage with a little bit more substance that your average Fast and the Furious.
With the exception of Downton Abbey's Lily James, it is something of an all-male affair though.
The first in a number of upcoming films about Tupac Shakur is a straightforward chronicle of the rapper's short life and career.
Yet that hasn't stopped it irking some of his friends and associates, among them fellow rapper 50 Cent and actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
However, there has been praise for Demetrius Shipp Jr's performance as Shakur, the Harlem-born performer who was shot and killed in September 1996.
The film, by the way, shares its title with the last Tupac album to be released during his lifetime.
A psychological thriller steeped in suspense and dread, this tale of two families sharing a cabin in the woods looks like it might be better released at Halloween.
Given the recent success of Get Out, though, it's perhaps not surprising It Comes At Night - another film to blend genre scares with social commentary - has been given a prominent summer berth.
Joel Edgerton stars as a father who has constructed a refuge from a deadly epidemic that is believed to have wiped out much of the human population.
Said refuge, alas, is not safe from fear and paranoia in a film that currently has an 87% rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Sofia Coppola's latest, her first theatrical feature since 2013's The Bling Ring, is a starry affair that won her a best director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Set in Virginia during the American Civil War, it tells of a girls' school that is thrown out of whack when it takes in a wounded Union soldier.
The soldier, played by Colin Farrell, upsets the equilibrium of this all-female enclave, drawing out tensions and resentments that had lain out of view.
Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning swell the cast of drama whose source material previously spawned a Clint Eastwood movie in 1971.
The winner of the year's least appealing title is actually a charming romantic comedy about a Muslim comedian from Pakistan who begins a relationship with a white American woman.
It's the ultimate culture clash, made even more complicated when Emily (Zoe Kazan) falls ill and her beau (Kumail Nanjiani) is called upon to offer comfort to her parents.
Inspired by Nanjiani's own romantic life, The Big Sick was a big hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was snapped up by Amazon for $12m (£9.5m).
Witty, heartfelt and unexpectedly sophisticated, it also comes with some highly amusing insights into Pakistan's fascination with cricket.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | If you like giant robots, costumed crime-fighters or computer-generated simians, this summer's cinematic offerings are unlikely to disappoint. |
19514333 | A 9.7m-long trackway was created around 150 million years ago when a horseshoe crab fell into a lagoon.
The find is of interest because the fossil of the animal itself is present at the end of the trackway, where the animal died.
The research appears in the journal Ichnos.
The fossil trackway of the animal's last moments - known as a mortichnia, or death march - was discovered in the lithographic limestone of Bavaria in Germany in 2002, where spectacular fossils of the famous feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx have also been found.
Since then, the fossil trackway had remained an exhibit in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in the US until Dean Lomax of the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery and Christopher Racay began working on a project to describe it
"It's not particularly rare to find these horseshoe crabs at the end of short traces, but nothing quite as substantially large and scientifically important as this," he said.
The fossil records an entire walk, and the researchers believe that the abrupt beginning of the trace can be explained by the animal being "flung" into the lagoon during a storm, although they cannot be certain of this interpretation.
However, the quality of preservation allowed the researchers to reconstruct very small details of the animal's end minutes.
"The lagoon that the animal found itself in was anoxic, so at the bottom of these lagoons there was no oxygen and nothing was living," Mr Lomax told the BBC.
"This horseshoe crab [Mesolimulus walchi] found itself on the lagoon floor and we can tell by looking at the trace that the animal righted itself, managed to get on to its feet and began to walk," he explained.
However, the anoxic conditions of the lagoon floor quickly proved fatal to the arthropod and it soon began to struggle.
"We started to study the specimen closer and saw that the walking patterns and the animal's behaviour started to change. The leg impressions became deeper and more erratic, the telson (the long spiny tail) started being lifted up and down, up and down, showing that the animal was really being affected by the conditions," he said.
"To find a trackway and its track-maker preserved together in the fossil record is extremely rare. Working out who made a trackway is normally like detective work. In this case, the suspect has been caught in the act," Dr Nic Minter, currently of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, who was not involved in the study, told BBC News.
"Discoveries such as this provide unique insights into the behaviour of extinct species - in this example during the last throes of its life and the environmental conditions that led to its demise," he said. | The behaviour of an ancient horseshoe crab in its final moments before death has been captured in the fossil record. |
34414923 | The remains of this large, rodent-like creature give clues about how mammals "took over" when dinosaurs died out.
Kimbetopsalis simmonsae, as the newly discovered species has been named, was a plant-eating creature that resembled a beaver.
The news is published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Dr Stephen Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, lead researcher on the study, explained how a student on his team called Carissa Raymond found the fossil while prospecting at a site in New Mexico, US.
"We realised pretty quickly that this was a totally new type of mammal that no-one has seen before," he told BBC News.
The researchers noticed in particular the animal's teeth, which were specialised for plant-chewing, with complicated rows of cusps at the back and incisors at the front for gnawing.
They named the species after Kimbeto Wash, the area in the New Mexico badlands where it was found.
"The other part of the name - psalis - means 'cutting shears' and is in reference to [the] blade-like teeth," Dr Brusatte explained.
This group of now-extinct mammals, collectively known as multituberculates, originated alongside the dinosaurs, during the Jurassic and thrived for more than 100 million years until they were apparently superseded by rodents.
"[During the Jurassic] these animals were all pretty small," said Dr Brusatte.
"Then the asteroid hit, wiped out the dinosaurs and suddenly - in geological terms - this [group of animals] started to proliferate and get bigger.
"That's how the rise of mammals started and really the end result of that is us being here today."
The scientists say that this, and other mammal discoveries from that "brave new world", paint a picture of how mammals made it through the extinction event.
A cosmic disaster?
What other chance events changed life on Earth?
"A whole lot of mammals did die, but this group is one that made it through pretty well," Dr Brusatte explained.
"Literally, the world changed one day.
"That asteroid hit and suddenly the dinosaurs are wiped out. It looks like mammals were just waiting their turn and as soon as the dinosaurs disappeared, they thrived."
Follow Victoria on Twitter | Scientists have discovered a species of ancient mammal that survived the event that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. |
39248045 | Officers had been attempting to trace 65-year-old Edith Allan since the fire at her home in Durness on Monday.
Formal identification has yet to take place but Ms Allan's family have been informed about the development.
A joint investigation has been carried out by the police and fire service but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances. | Police have confirmed a woman's body has been recovered from a burnt-out house in the Highlands. |
40483744 | Speaking at the historic Palace of Versailles, he said he planned to cut the number of lawmakers by a third.
Doing so would produce a more efficient government and put France on a "radically new path", said Mr Macron.
The French president says he has a broad mandate after sweeping wins in presidential and parliamentary elections this year.
If his proposed changes were not passed by parliament within a year, he said he would take the decision to a referendum.
In his 90-minute speech, the 39-year-old leader vowed to return a "collective dignity" to France.
"In the past, procedures have taken preference over results, rules over initiative, living off the public purse over fairness," he said.
The proposed cuts would reduce the number of National Assembly members from 577 to 385, and the numbers of Senate members from 348 to 232.
He also said:
Mr Macron is not the first president to convene a session at Versailles, the grand 17th Century palace outside Paris built by Louis XIV, "the Sun King".
The decision to convene Congress at the palace has come in for criticism, however, and has provided further material for critics of Mr Macron who have accused him of aloofness.
While he engaged freely with the press during his electoral campaign, he has made little contact since, and will not conduct the traditional presidential interview for the 14 July national holiday, Bastille Day.
Three parties, including Jean-Luc Mélénchon's far-left France Unbowed, boycotted the event. Mr Mélénchon accused Mr Macron of "crossing a line with the pharaonic aspect of his presidential monarchy".
The front page of Monday's Libération showed an image of Mr Macron as Jupiter, the god of gods, holding forked lightning. Expressing concern, the centre-left newspaper said the session in Versailles was the latest manifestation of the president's authoritarian nature.
Mr Macron's La République en Marche (LREM) party began life only in April 2016, but the former finance minister swept to victory in the second round of the presidential election on 7 May.
A month later, his party and its allies went on to claim 350 of the 577 seats in parliamentary elections, a win he says has given him the mandate to push through wide-ranging social and economic reforms.
Meanwhile, police have confirmed that a suspected far-right extremist has been charged with plotting to kill Mr Macron at the Bastille Day parade later this month.
The style of the Macron presidency is becoming clearer. He thinks that Charles de Gaulle, founder of the Fifth Republic, got it right: France's head of state should be distant, surrounded by symbolism and mystique, above the fray.
That is why he decided to call this exceptional joint session of the Senate and the National Assembly - to set out to lawmakers from his position of supreme authority what he expects of them in the years to come.
Of course it's convenient that the session took place in Versailles, a place of monarchical associations like no other.
Emmanuel Macron feels the presidency was debased by his predecessors, who either interfered too much in the detail of policy, or pandered to the media.
He wants to stop that, but critics are already saying he is getting above himself - and assuming powers he should not have. | French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a radical overhaul of the country's government. |
36388866 | One of the photos dates from 1846 and is part of a collection compiled by the Ipswich Maritime Trust (IMT).
Stuart Grimwade, director of the IMT, said: "The wet docks were completed in 1842, which coincides with the birth of photography in the late 1830s.
"Ipswich is extremely fortunate to be on of some of the earliest photos."
A photograph of the Old Custom House was taken by local chemist and pioneering photographer John Wiggin.
It can be dated to 1846 because the clock had not yet been added to the clock tower.
Mr Grimwade said: "The Fox-Talbot National Museum of Photography in Wiltshire confirm it is the oldest photograph from a wax-paper negative to survive as well as being the one of the oldest photographs of Suffolk."
The archive project began in 2000 and has involved digitising postcards and printed photos.
Some of the photos will feature on hoardings around the waterfront area as part of the PhotoEast festival, while Mr Grimwade is giving a talk on the subject on Saturday morning at University Campus Suffolk.
"It's a fascinating archive and the trust's aim is to go on collecting as many images we can find and the online archive will help people see what we've already got," he said. | An archive of historical images of Ipswich docks, including one of the oldest photographs of the town, is being put online. |
31710402 | In some cases detainees were held for more than a year.
The figures come as MPs have called for a limit on the time someone could be detained under immigration powers.
The Home Office said it only detained people for the shortest period necessary.
The figures, released to the BBC's Scotland 2015 programme under Freedom of Information legislation, present a snapshot of detention at the controversial facility outside Strathaven.
On 7 January this year, 41 of the 185 detainees at Dungavel had been held there for more than three months.
Of those, 32 had been detained for more than six months, while in two cases detainees from Western Sahara and Algeria had been at Dungavel for more than a year.
One detainee from Iran had spent 11 months in Dungavel and a total of almost two and a half years in detention.
Rather than for criminal charges, asylum seekers and other migrant groups are held in immigration detention to enforce their removal from the UK or while their case is being assessed by the Home Office.
Among the detainees were people from countries to which it is often very difficult to enforce removal.
Countries such as Somalia, Iran and West African states often do not grant travel documents to asylum seekers whose applications to remain in the UK have been rejected by the Home Office.
Sol - not is real name - was taken to Dungavel after serving a prison sentence for working in the UK illegally.
The Home Office was unable to remove him after his home country disputed his citizenship.
He spent two and a half years in Dungavel, and a total of three and a half years in detention, more than three times as long as his initial prison sentence.
"The difference between prison and detention is that in prison you count your days down and in detention you count your days up," he told BBC Scotland.
"It's mental torture. It's so scary. You don't know when you will be released. You don't know when you'll be deported. You are in limbo."
He said he often saw people struggling to cope with the uncertainty of being in detention.
Sol, who is now effectively stateless, has a case of unlawful detention against the Home Office pending and cannot work in the UK in the meantime.
He is also part of Freed Voices, a group of former detainees who were detained for 20 years between them and who speak out about detention.
Currently, the UK is the only country in the European Union which has no cap on the time someone can be detained under immigration powers.
A group of MPs has called for a 28-day limit on the length of time detainees like Sol can be held in Dungavel and other centres across the UK.
It came after they carried out a lengthy inquiry into immigration detention.
The All Party Parliamentary Groups on Refugees and Migrants also said the "enforcement-focused culture of the Home Office" meant that official guidance stating that detention should be used sparingly and for the shortest possible time was not being followed, resulting in too many instances of unnecessary detention.
Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather, the group's chair, said: "The UK is an outlier in not having a time limit on detention. We have concluded that the current system is expensive, ineffective and unjust.
"During the inquiry, we heard about the huge uncertainty this causes people to live with, not knowing if tomorrow they will be released, removed from the country, or continue being in detention."
Dr Katy Robjant is a psychiatrist who has examined the mental health of detainees who have been held for long term periods of time in immigration detention.
In one of her studies she found that those who were detained for more than 30 days had higher instances of mental health problems than those held for shorter periods.
She told BBC Scotland: "Research has shown that long term detention is linked to mental health problems including anxiety, depression and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
"From my clinical experience, clients often report PTSD symptoms that are directly linked to the experience of detention.
"For example, nightmares or intrusive memories about being in detention or about experiences they witnessed while in detention such as seeing other detainees injured whilst resisting removal attempts, seeing other detainees on hunger strike or self-harm."
Campaigners welcomed the MPs' call to end indefinite detention and added that the practice should be stopped altogether.
Jerome Phelps of Detention Action said: "The inquiry is right that it is not enough to tinker with conditions in detention. Only wholesale reform can address the grotesquely inefficient and unjust incarceration of 30,000 migrants a year."
"The UK is isolated in its reliance on enforcement and detention. Detention is not working, either for immigration control or for the people at the sharp end."
According to the Home Office, the average cost of keeping one detainee in an IRC in 2014 was £97 per night.
Based on these costs, the total spent on detaining those who were in Dungavel on 7 January 2015 would be £1.5m.
In a statement, the Home Office said: "People are only detained for the shortest period necessary and all detention is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it remains justified and reasonable."
"A sense of fairness must always be at the heart of our immigration system - including for those we are removing from the UK."
"That is why the home secretary commissioned Stephen Shaw to carry out a comprehensive review of our immigration detention estate to ensure the health and wellbeing of all detainees, some of whom may be vulnerable, is safeguarded at all times."
Dr Alice Edwards, chief of protection policy and legal advice with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that her organisation appreciated that the government's "quite clear" instructions to immigration officials did indicate there should be a presumption against detention, and that detention should be for the shortest period of time possible.
"What we find is there is a disconnect between the policies and what happens in practice," she said.
"Of course, the failure to have automatic reviews, which are available in other countries, does lead to people sometimes being forgotten in detention."
The Scottish government - whose referendum White Paper insisted an independent Scotland would have banned immigration detention - called for Dungavel to be closed.
Opened in 2001, Dungavel is the only IRC in Scotland. There are 12 other centres across England.
This is not the first time the controversial facility outside Strathaven has received attention.
Previously, children have been held at the centre, and in 2012 a newspaper investigation found that victims of torture had been held at Dungavel, despite this being against Home Office rules, unless in exceptional circumstances. | Dozens of asylum seekers have been held at Dungavel immigration removal centre (IRC) in South Lanarkshire for months, new figures released to BBC Scotland reveal. |
38506752 | Eyewitness Simon Crowcroft, from Jersey, told the Islington Gazette he came across the "strange scene" on Upper Street while in the city on Tuesday.
The Met Police said officer Dan Smith was helping a man who had collapsed. He was treated at the scene.
A force spokesman said the officer's horse, Invictor, was "showing he's a team player".
The Met said its mounted horse unit carries out day-to-day patrols and is tasked like any other unit.
A London Ambulance spokesman added: "We were to reports of an unwell person on Upper Street. We treated a man at the scene but did not take anyone to hospital." | A horse appearing to get on a bus bemused a passer-by in north London. |
32118391 | David Perry, 52, targeted the women, in their 20s, after they had been out drinking and socialising before getting in his cab.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard he told police he had "high hormone levels".
Perry from Bow, east London, a taxi driver for 25 years, admitted four charges, including attempted rape and sexual assault.
The offences were committed in the early hours, against women in their 20s, before getting into Perry's cab and falling asleep.
His DNA was matched to both attacks, which happened in January 2013 in north London and in east London, last May.
After his arrest, the court heard, Perry told police he had been "worried about what he might do" and had sought medical help for high hormone levels after the break-up of a relationship.
Sentencing Perry, Judge John Lafferty said his victims had suffered "serious psychological harm".
He told Perry he would pose "a very significant risk" to other women if he were allowed to remain at large in the community.
As he was led out of the dock, Perry smiled and waved at his family and friends in the court's public gallery.
On what would have been the first day of his trial in February, Perry admitted one count of attempted rape, one count of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault against each victim.
Prosecutor Peter Clement told the court: "They were, by virtue of their drunkenness, particularly vulnerable.
"Their incapacity made them no less deserving than anyone else of being safe. They each sought the security and safety they were entitled to expect from a London taxi - a black cab.
"He exploited his passengers' obvious vulnerability for his own sexual gratification."
Police said Perry had been eliminated from unsolved cases, but appealed to potential victims to contact police.
Perry was also stopped from driving taxis in the future and will be on the sex offenders indefinitely, under a sexual harm prevention order. | A black cab driver who sexually assaulted two women who fell asleep in his taxi has been jailed for 10 years. |
38207441 | The original hardback book was annotated by JK Rowling in 2013 to raise money for charity.
It features 43 annotations, including 22 original drawings by the author.
The book will be on display at Edinburgh's Writers' Museum from Thursday until 8 January.
The book includes a sketch of baby Harry asleep on the doorstep of the Dursleys, the author's thoughts on Quidditch, and the Hogwarts Crest featuring a bear rather than a badger as the Hufflepuff house mascot.
Richard Lewis, City of Edinburgh Council's culture convener, said: "This unique first edition features a remarkable glimpse into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
"In it, JK Rowling opens her heart about her characters and creations and makes beautiful illustrations of magical scenes from the series.
"It is a privilege to display this book by one of the world's most popular authors in the city's Writers' Museum.
"The historic building houses rare books and items belonging to some of Scotland's greatest ever writers and is the perfect place to display JK Rowling's classic, annotated, book.
"We are thankful to the private lender, JK Rowling and the Scottish Book Trust for their generous support."
Ms Rowling annotated the book to raise money for her international charity, Lumos, and English Pen, a global network that promotes literature. | A rare first-edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, featuring personal anecdotes and illustrations by author JK Rowling is to go on display in Edinburgh. |
40666303 | Playcraft Live will be performed at the city's Playhouse Theatre on 14 October.
It will simultaneously be streamed to the world online via the theatre's website, Minecraft and Youtube.
Slipping between both stage and game world, the story will unfold across different locations and times.
Minecraft is the second-best-selling videogame of all time.
It allows players to build things using cubic blocks and take part in exploration, engineering, crafting and combat.
The game is hugely popular with children and young teenagers.
The production will see the dramatisation of a script, written specifically for Playcraft by Alex Scarrow, author of the teen science fiction series of novels, Time Riders.
The story is based between books one and two of his Time Riders series.
Online audiences will experience the production as a live-stream simulcast.
For those lucky enough to be part of the Playhouse audience, they will be able to see the physical actor on stage communicating the play to them.
They will also see a stream of the digital version of that actor, within the Minecraft world, projected onto a screen.
These avatars will be developed and built by Minecraft experts operating from an adjacent room.
Kieran Griffiths, creative director at the Playhouse Theatre, said he was excited to be introducing something "completely new to the world of theatre".
"The production is hugely ambitious and a definite step into the unknown, but a tremendous opportunity to allow two artistic worlds to come together and learn from each other," Mr Griffiths said.
The project will also involve renowned creative producer Adam Clarke and digital educators MakeMatic.
It has been commissioned by The Space, which is funded by the BBC and Arts Council England.
"I suppose the thorny rose in between is the technology," Mr Griffiths said.
"Over the coming months we have to remove the thorns and make sure that rose is passed gracefully.
"At the end of it, we hope to produce an educational asset whereby we will see online amateur societies creating their own world within Minecraft."
Throughout the summer, Minecraft fans will be invited to join in on the production, find out more about the play and contribute to the process along the way. | A Londonderry theatre is to host the world's first play performed by both human actors and avatars - digitised versions of the cast - in the computer game, Minecraft. |
39882809 | Armed police were called to an altercation between a man and woman in a residential street in Hatfield, Hertfordshire on Wednesday afternoon.
Costadinos Contostavlos, who performed as Dappy and appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, was arrested in College Lane.
Police said a 29-year-old was being held on suspicion of assault and possession of a knife in public.
Hertfordshire Constabulary said: "The man threatened the woman before leaving the scene. It is believed he had a knife. No one was seriously injured."
A neighbour who did not wish to be named said he believed a group of students had been trying to help the woman.
"I only saw the aftermath," he said. "There was an incident, a guy and a woman. Three or four students came to her aid.
"I got that information from one of the students involved in it - he was standing outside and he explained what had happened.
"Ten police cars turned up outside and they were out there for getting on a hour.
"At one point there were three or four armed police men standing at the door with one of them shouting instructions through the open door.
"One went in with two backing him up and one on the driveway was crouching behind a car."
Dappy remains in custody. | The former N-Dubz star Dappy has been arrested after allegedly threatening a woman and carrying a knife in public. |
35758777 | The Leicester centre, 24, has not played for England since June 2014 because of a groin injury and disciplinary issues.
He replaces Alex Goode in the 23-man squad and is likely to start on the bench, while Northampton prop Kieran Brookes has also been included.
Head coach Eddie Jones will name his starting XV on Thursday.
Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie replaces Jamie George, who suffered an arm injury in training last Thursday.
Brookes has been named in place of club team-mate Paul Hill for the game between the two unbeaten countries in this season's competition.
Tuilagi has scored 11 tries in 25 England appearances, but his international career has been disrupted by injury and disciplinary problems.
He was left out of the World Cup squad last year after admitting assaulting police officers in April 2015, an offence which he denied in September.
Named in England's original 33-man training squad to face Wales, he was released to play for Leicester last weekend.
Tuilagi scored his first Premiership try for almost two years as Leicester beat Exeter 31-27.
England flanker James Haskell said: "He is a threat and a very special player. I don't often look at people and think 'I wish I had some of his genes'. He is pace, power and strength personified.
"He will have an impact, he always does. I've played with him against some of the best teams in the world and he causes everybody trouble.
"Even if he has a bad day, someone will still get taken down or he'll run through someone. Very few players have the ability to do that.
"He was obviously sorely missed at the World Cup. Whenever he is not involved in the game he is missed."
England are one point clear of Wales at the top of the Six Nations table after winning their first three games.
England 23-man squad to play Wales:
Forwards: Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens).
Backs:
Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers). | Manu Tuilagi returns to England's matchday squad to face Wales in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday. |
21028309 | Applications for homelessness assistance stood at 10,269 which was down from 11,604 on the same period the previous year.
Homeless numbers were at their lowest level for more than a decade.
Housing and Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess said the Scottish government was "working hard to ensure that priority is given to prevention".
Legislation which came into effect at the end of 2012 entitled anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own to settled accommodation.
Ms Burgess said: "It is difficult to imagine, or overstate the trauma that comes with losing the roof over your head.
"I've worked with many people in that situation and that is why there can be absolutely no complacency when it comes to tackling homelessness.
"I am confident that by working together, Scotland can pave the way and set an example to the rest of the world when it comes to preventing homelessness."
Director of the housing charity Shelter Scotland Graeme Brown said: "It is good news that 13% fewer families and individuals are experiencing the tragedy of homelessness.
"But homelessness in Scotland is still too high. Indeed, with the homelessness rate up to six times that of England, we cannot afford to be complacent or lose sight of the fact that over 10,000 households still lost their homes in just three months."
The Scottish Greens said the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfast remains over 10,000 compared to the 4,000 recorded 10 years ago.
Scottish Greens' Co-Convenor Patrick Harvie said: "It's a scandal that in 2013 we have so many families and individuals being housed in inappropriate places. The housing minister says it's a priority but her colleague the finance secretary has cut the budget.
"The current year's housing budget in Scotland is £389m - this is due to drop by £121m over the next three years."
Mr Harvie continued: "Instead of raiding these important funds Scottish ministers should be increasing their investment in social housing to help ensure a decent home for all."
That was echoed by Leslie Morphy, the chief executive of Crisis, a charity which works with single homeless people.
She said: "Today's figures prove that with sufficient political will, a real difference can be made in tackling homelessness even during the economic downturn. By strengthening its homelessness safety net, the Scottish Government is making excellent progress in saving people from the horrors of homelessness.
"Sadly, this progress is under threat. Independent research warns that welfare cuts - particularly cuts to housing benefit including the bedroom tax, alongside a chronic lack of social housing - could scupper this progress.
"We fear homelessness could begin to rise again unless these issues are tackled."
The Scottish government said the number of people in temporary accommodation had fallen 5% in the last year. | A 13% decline in the number of homeless people in Scotland was recorded for the period between July and September 2012. |
34983355 | QPR have made an official approach for the Dutchman, with League One leaders Burton now in negotiations with the Championship side.
"We are hopeful that we can keep hold of him," McCrory told BBC Radio Derby.
"But none of the lads will hold grudges against him if he does decide to move on because it is great opportunity."
In the 12 months since taking over at Burton, Hasselbaink has guided the club to promotion to England's third tier for the first time in its history, where they now sit top after 20 games following Tuesday's 2-1 win over Millwall.
McCrory said former Chelsea and Leeds United striker has been candid about QPR's interest, but admits players do not know if he will remain in charge of Saturday's trip to Gillingham,
"Everyone knows what is going on with the speculation about the gaffer," McCrory said.
"He is saying how it is to us and let us know that something may happen or may not happen. He will be in on Thursday either way.
"All the players want him to be in charge of the Gillingham game. But I couldn't really say. You never know in football."
Midfielder Mark Duffy said he would be "gutted" if Hasselbaink was lured away from the Pirelli Stadium.
"He has done a great job here and we have something good going, we are sitting nicely top of the league," he said. | Burton Albion players will support boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink if he leaves to take the vacant Queens Park Rangers job, says defender Damien McCrory. |
35292743 | It comes after a 24-year-old man suffered stab wounds in an incident at Lon Ceiriog, Prestatyn, on Monday 4 January.
He was treated in hospital but has since been discharged.
The local man was arrested on Monday evening, said North Wales Police. | A 43-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Denbighshire. |
33668592 | The annual Care of Police Survivors (COPS) service was held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire.
A roll of honour of police officers who have died on duty over the past year was read out, along with readings by family members.
Force representatives laid remembrance wreaths.
Jan Berry, chairman of COPS, said: "The Service of Remembrance is a chance for us all to remember those no longer with us - and also to celebrate the memories we have of them.
"It is a culmination to a weekend of 'healing, love and life renewed' and is all part of the COPS mission - to help rebuild shattered lives." | Hundreds of people gathered for a service of remembrance for police officers who have died on duty. |
35164662 | It's a lovely end to 12 months that have seen me go from winning titles to struggling for motivation, suffering with glandular fever and then finding my form again.
In the last few weeks I've been able to enjoy some time at home with my boyfriend and see my brothers and their kids, and I even managed to get all my Christmas shopping done early, which makes me very happy.
I like shopping, but when I see so many people in the malls it's not so appealing!
The last time I hit a ball in competition was at the Fed Cup final five weeks ago, but after resuming fitness training earlier this month I was back on the practice court in my home town of Prostejov on 16 December.
A new season is just around the corner.
I had three weeks off after the Fed Cup final and took my parents to Dubai for a few days. It was their first visit and really fun, although it flew past so quickly, but I'm glad they saw somewhere new and we were able to enjoy it together.
It was then time for me to start preparing for 2016 and I headed to Lanzarote for the first time with my fitness trainer, David Vydra.
We didn't do a lot of running but instead tried pretty much everything else over the course of a week. In the morning we would go biking and then in the afternoon we did other sports like squash, badminton, swimming, paddle tennis, volleyball...
Playing other racquet sports is a very different experience and I must admit I didn't like squash that much - I played for the first time and it was difficult for me. I prefer badminton.
We also bumped into my fellow Czech, Jan Zelezny, the three-time Olympic javelin champion who was out there coaching three or four guys. He's very famous in the Czech Republic and a very good guy. Javelin and tennis are about the only sports I didn't try in Lanzarote.
I did play an exhibition in Bratislava after the Fed Cup final but I stepped back onto court properly last week in Prostejov and just about managed to put the ball in the court!
You don't forget that so quickly, although it does take a few days to get your rhythm and feel OK again with no pain in the arm.
As I said before, it was a strange season but one with plenty of highlights. There was Madrid, where I beat Serena - that was a great moment for me - and went on to win the title, and also the US Open was good for me this year as I reached the quarter-finals.
I'd never really played that well in New York and I finally had some good results. I hope to have more success there; I'm trying every year and despite it being difficult conditions for me, I now know I can play well there if I am healthy.
The high point of my year was the Fed Cup at the end of the season as we beat Russia in Prague to defend our title again.
Unfortunately I didn't win my second singles match against Maria Sharapova, but I think it was really great tennis. The tie came down to a deciding doubles and it is difficult watching such an important match from the sidelines.
You really can't do anything except support and be with your team-mates. Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova needed three sets and there were a lot of nerves out there, but I'm really glad that the girls made it.
It's a team competition and we really showed that we won as a team and not one individual.
A few years ago I was kind of the big player in the Czech team and the one expected to win most of the points, and I think that was what Andy Murray experienced for Great Britain in this year's Davis Cup.
When I see the Czech Davis Cup team it's very similar, with Tomas Berdych leading the way like Andy does for Britain.
I watched a little bit of the final and it was very emotional how Andy won it. He was just great. But of course he needs the team to win the Davis Cup. He can't win it by himself. And he plays with his brother, which is very unusual and special.
It is very different representing your country as a tennis player. The week is always great and we have a fantastic atmosphere in the Fed Cup team among the players and support staff, which I think not every team enjoys. As the girls we are a good group. Nothing there is a problem.
Whatever we go through during the week, by the time the weekend comes around we are supporting each other from the bench.
The tennis season is long and I think I lost a little bit of emotion for the sport at the beginning of this year. It was weird to be feeling empty on court and without any passion or love for the sport.
I took a month out and after the break I felt that passion again, which was a relief as I had been a little bit worried.
Tennis has been the major part of my life since I was 16 or 17 and moved to Prostejov, and I had to ask for an individual plan at secondary school so that I could train for tennis and play tournaments. I might have missed out on a few things along the way but I was OK with it.
It was difficult to finish school for sure, it was tough, but on the other side I'm really glad that I made it. That passion for tennis is still there, which is great.
Hopefully I can put my health issues behind me as well. I could still play despite the glandular fever but not practise as much as I wanted - but then I'm not a player who needs to practise for four hours a day. It was good that I was able to handle the situation mentally as well as physically.
I'm healthy right now and practising again, injury free, but we'll see. Let's hope it stays like this and 2016 can be a successful year.
Petra Kvitova was talking to BBC Sport's Piers Newbery | A strange year of highs and lows has ended on a wonderful note after my boyfriend Radek took me by surprise and asked me to marry him, so Christmas will be even more special this year. |
34581367 | The Latvian, who obtained a 20% share in the club in 2006, last met with majority shareholder Owen Oyston at the latter's house in July.
The BBC understands that offers were made on both sides, but the meeting ended without an agreement.
Asked by BBC North West Tonight if he still wanted to buy the club, he replied: "I'd love to."
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Belokon also revealed that discussions have taken place with local businesspeople about forming a potential investment partnership.
"I have met local partners, who in my opinion love football. We can work together," he added.
Belokon began legal action against owner Owen Oyston and his chairman son, Karl, in September, claiming "unfair prejudice" in their running of the club.
He alleges that money was wrongly transferred to the Oystons' companies in the form of interest-free loans and remuneration payments.
Blackpool fans staged a series of protests last season against the way the Oystons were running the club, culminating in the final league game being abandoned after 48 minutes because of a pitch invasion.
The Seasiders were relegated from the Championship last term and are 22nd in League One after 12 games this term. | Blackpool president Valeri Belokon says he remains interested in buying a controlling stake in the Seasiders. |
35864035 | Anastasia James, 37, smoked the drug before the crash on the M1 in Leicestershire in January 2014.
Her daughter, Destiny James-Keeling, 14, and Megan Marchant, 18, died when the car left the road at 70mph and hit a tree, Leicester Crown Court heard.
James, of Thornton Close, Braunstone, had denied all charges.
Updates on this story and more from Leicestershire
She was convicted by a jury of two counts of causing death by careless driving when unfit through drugs and is due to be sentenced next month.
The court heard she had been at a child's birthday party in Islington, north London, before she took the "unforgivable" decision to smoke cannabis - which she did either before setting off or during the journey back to Leicester.
Prosecutor Michael Evans QC said James's Vauxhall Astra convertible veered into the central reservation near Shawell, then travelled across three lanes of the M1 before plunging down a verge, becoming airborne and hitting a tree at 50mph.
Destiny and Megan died within minutes of the crash. James's son Wade survived.
Forensic scientist David Berry told the jury traces of cannabis found in James's blood would have probably "impaired" the motorist. He said it was "impossible" she had smoked the drug passively.
James said she had switched from using cannabis to a legal high because of her job as a private investigator.
James - who had stitches for a head wound after the crash - denied smoking anything on the day of the collision and blamed her car.
"I just remember going straight and then this feeling of pulling," she told jurors.
"That's the point where I was really holding on tight to the wheel - it was just like a wobbly sensation. I couldn't actually stop it from pulling to the right."
The court heard James, who was convicted of possessing cannabis in 2000, had previously been involved in drug education and has a degree in youth and community development.
Det Sgt Mark Partridge, from the East Midlands Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "This case shows the shocking effects of driving whilst under the influence of drugs.
"The deaths and now the subsequent conviction has devastated the families of all those involved."
James, who was granted bail, was warned by Recorder Paul Mann QC she faces a jail term. | A mother who smoked cannabis before killing her daughter and her son's girlfriend in a car crash has been found guilty. |
22299403 | Its summary position stated there was an "urgent need" to start pulling redundant objects out of the sky.
Scientists estimate there are nearly 30,000 items circling the Earth larger than 10cm in size.
Some are whole satellites and rocket bodies, but many are just fragments.
These have resulted from explosions in fuel tanks and batteries, and from the high-velocity impacts between objects.
Upwards of 10cm is trackable with radar, but there are tens of thousands more pieces that are smaller and move unseen.
And it is the prospect of an increase in the frequency of catastrophic collisions among all this material that now worries the experts.
"There is a consensus among debris researchers that the present orbit debris-environment is at the rim of becoming unstable within a few decades, a phenomenon that is commonly known as the Kessler Syndrome, and that only active removal of five to 10 large objects per year can reverse the debris growth," Prof Heiner Klinkrad, the head of the European Space Agency's (Esa) Space Debris Office told reporters.
Prof Klinkrad was the chairman for the 6th European Conference on Space Debris in Darmstadt, Germany.
The meeting was presented with a study earlier in the week that suggested the population of objects in low-Earth orbits (LEO) - the important altitudes used by imaging spacecraft to health-check the planet - would likely rise steadily over the next 200 years even under the most optimistic of scenarios.
The research highlighted the need for better adherence to best-practice guidelines.
These "rules" call on space operators in LEO to make sure their equipment naturally falls out of the sky within 25 years of the end of a mission.
But compliance with the guidelines is far from perfect, and the panel said active removal was now the urgent topic on the agenda.
Quite how much time there was to act before conditions became intolerable was not yet clear, said Christophe Bonnal from the French space agency (Cnes).
"We say we want to 'stabilise' the environment. Does that mean we are satisfied with today's situation? Could we live with a situation that is two times worse than today, or do we need to decrease [the debris population]? These are questions which are ongoing at international level," he told BBC News.
Active removal would see new spacecraft launched specifically to take other, redundant satellites out of orbit. And the Darmstadt meeting was presented with an array of concepts that included the use of nets, harpoons, tentacles, ion thrusters and lasers.
The conference summary panel told the media it was vital that pilot programmes were implemented to advance these technologies.
A few have been approved. The German Space Agency (DLR) is developing a project called DEOS that would demonstrate the robotic capture of a tumbling object in space.
"In this mission, what we want to show is that it is technically possible to safely approach a satellite, which we launch together with our main satellite, to capture it by means of a robotic arm and to perform a number of services like repairing or maintenance operations," explained DLR's Dr Manuel Metz.
"Many of the technologies which are currently being developed for DEOS would be useful for potential future international active debris-removal missions."
The experts also stated that the international community needed to sort through the myriad legal issues that would currently frustrate attempts to clean up space.
At the moment, international law permits only the launching nation or agency to touch an object in orbit, something that would prevent, for example, commercial debris removal activities.
"My dream is that a new agency like the International Telecommunications Union will be proposed at UN level to coordinate all this activity," said Dr Claudio Portelli from the Italian space agency (Asi).
Esa was hosting this week's meeting. It has two old satellites in orbit that are likely to become targets for a future de-orbiting exercise.
ERS-1 and Envisat both suffered major failures that left them drifting uncontrolled through LEO.
The duo can be tracked but nothing can be done to move them off a potential collision course, should one arise.
Envisat in particular is considered a high priority for removal because of its great size - over eight tonnes.
However, de-orbiting this dead satellite would probably be very expensive. And the robotic spacecraft sent up to bring Envisat down would itself be very large.
Prof Klinkrad explained: "If you want to have a controlled de-orbit - and this is what you should have for Envisat because large portions are going to survive to ground impact - then you should have a highly energetic chemical propulsion system, and to reliably de-orbit Envisat from its altitude you'd need, I'd say, about 6% of its mass in terms of fuel.
"With everything included, you are talking about a two-tonne-type spacecraft [to do the de-orbiting]," he told BBC News.
To date, there have only been a handful of major collisions in orbit involving the largest objects.
Perhaps the best known was the 2009 impact between the defunct Russian Cosmos 2251 spacecraft and the American Iridium 33 satellite. The collision produced over 1,500 trackable fragments, many of which continue to pose a threat to operational missions.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | There is now so much debris in orbit that the space environment is close to a cascade of collisions that would make space extremely hazardous, a major international meeting has concluded. |
34630400 | Bulgaria said that it, Romania and Serbia would act if states further north, which migrants hope to reach, close their doors.
The threat comes ahead of talks between Balkan states and EU members.
Slovenia's president said his country would "act on its own before it is too late" if no solution was reached.
Prime Minister Miro Cerar had previously refused to rule out building a fence along its border with Croatia.
The International Organization for Migration said that more than 9,000 migrants arrived in Greece every day last week - the highest rate so far this year.
Most of the migrants - including many refugees from the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - want to reach Germany to claim asylum.
Germany says it expects to take in 800,000 asylum seekers this year. The procession of those seeking a route north is leading to bottlenecks in parts of southern and eastern Europe, where many countries say they lack the resources to look after new arrivals.
Bottlenecks have also been exacerbated in part by Hungary closing its borders with Serbia and Croatia, forcing migrants to seek alternative routes north.
Slovenia saw 58,000 arrivals in the week leading up to Saturday, and many people are waiting in wet and cold conditions.
While Germany has not indicated it would refuse more migrants, Bulgaria's prime minister said on Saturday that his country, Romania and Serbia would respond immediately if it did so.
"We are standing ready, if Germany and Austria close their borders, not to allow our countries to become buffer zones," Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said. "We will be ready to close borders."
Slovenia's President Borut Pahor echoed Mr Borisov's concerns, saying it "cannot become a pocket in which refugees would be stuck" if Germany and Austria refused to take migrants.
On his Facebook page, Mr Pahor said the success of Sunday's summit would be measured partly on whether stricter controls are implemented to stop migrants travelling from Turkey to Greece.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said such controls were the only solution. "Everything else is a waste of time," he said.
The leaders of all affected countries will attend the emergency summit in Brussels.
German media say countries will be presented with a 16-point plan by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
In an interview published on Sunday by the German newspaper Bild, Mr Juncker said it was crucial Balkan countries stop "passing on" migrants to neighbouring countries.
Countries "must take care to uphold orderly procedures and conditions," Mr Juncker told Bild.
Mr Milanovic dismissed Mr Juncker's plan, saying: "Whoever wrote this does not understand how things work and must have just woken up from a months'-long sleep." | Balkan countries at the front line of the migrant crisis say they could close their borders to avoid becoming buffer zones for new arrivals. |
40084713 | Visitors were led away from Hamerton Zoo Park, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, at about 11:15 BST.
A spokeswoman for the attraction denied claims on social media that a tiger had escaped from its enclosure.
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said: "We can confirm that no animals have escaped and members of the public are safe."
She continued: "Officers were called at around 11.15am to reports of a serious incident at Hamerton Zoo Park, Steeple Gidding.
"Officers attended the scene along with ambulance crews and Magpas (Mid Anglia General Practitioner Accident Service - air ambulance).
"We are unable to provide further information at this time."
A Magpas spokesman said: "At 11:34am today, the air ambulance landed in a public place near Sawtry in Cambridgeshire, after the Magpas enhanced medical team were called to a very serious incident.
"An East of England Ambulance Service paramedic crew and two rapid response vehicles were also in attendance, alongside the police."
The zoo said it will remained closed for the day and a full statement will be issued later.
Hamerton Zoo Park includes enclosures for Malaysian tigers, Bengal tigers, cheetahs, wolves, corsac foxes, kangaroos as well as a variety of birds, reptiles and domestic animals. | A zoo has been evacuated due to what police have called a "serious incident". |
39522682 | Matt Jarvis, yet to make a first-team appearance this season, has suffered another setback in his recovery from a knee injury.
Fulham keeper Marcus Bettinelli will keep his place after coming in for David Button in the win over Ipswich.
Full-back Denis Odoi remains out, but midfielder Scott Parker could feature after recovering from a back injury. | Norwich caretaker manager Alan Irvine may name an unchanged side after the 7-1 defeat of Reading on Saturday. |
25133751 | The British Sugar plant on Boroughbridge Road closed in 2007 and the buildings were demolished.
The land's owners, Associated British Foods (ABF), said its development would include housing and public open spaces on the 104 acre (42 hectare) site.
David Mills, of ABF, said he wanted to hear the views of local people on the scheme.
York City Council is applying for government grants to make the housing energy and water efficient and to pay for green transport initiatives.
David Mills said the open space would be "equivalent to the size of Rowntree Park".
The plans are on public display in York over the next few days.
If planning permission is approved, work is expected to start within 12 months. | Plans to build more than 1,000 homes on the site of a former sugar factory in York will go on public display. |
37281656 | The Northern Irishman started six shots behind overnight leader Paul Casey, but seven birdies in a six-under-par 65 saw him finish two shots clear at 15 under.
England's Casey, 39, missed an eagle putt on the final hole at TPC Boston that would have forced a play-off.
It was 27-year-old McIlroy's first tournament win since the Irish Open in May and first PGA title since May 2015.
The victory comes just a week after he changed his putter and putting coach.
"I knew my game was in good shape, I just needed to do something with the putting," said McIlroy. "I found something.
"I still need to keep going with it, it's definitely not the finished article, but it's a big step in the right direction.
"I'm excited with how my game is and what I've found this week, and hopefully I can keep it going for the next couple of tournaments, but ultimately into the Ryder Cup."
The Deutsche Bank Championship is the second of the four that make up the season-ending FedEx Cup.
McIlroy will rise 34 places to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings - and nearer the $10m (£7.52m) prize for the winner - as a result of his victory.
The competition features the top 100 players in the world. The leading 70 after this weekend progress to next week's BMW Championship, where the field will be reduced to 30 for the Tour Championship on 22-25 September. | Rory McIlroy won the Deutsche Bank Championship to claim his first PGA Tour title for 16 months. |
39787839 | Successive mayors have tried to get the legislation to cap the increasing number of minicabs, driven in part by apps like Uber.
So far they have failed which has meant that Transport for London (TfL) has to issue Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) licences if the drivers meet the requirements.
Currently, there are 118,000 licensed private hire drivers who have been blamed for congestion, pollution and an increase in collisions.
If you look at the regulation around this market, you can see where it has been outpaced.
It is only now that more compliance officers are being recruited, and soon there will be 350 officers to police 139,000 vehicles. Previously there were 82 officers.
To pay for that, TfL is having to introduce large fees for minicab operators, some will be millions of pounds.
Helen Chapman, general manager of taxi and private hire at TfL, said: "The operator fees system is no longer fit for purpose.
"It is only fair that licence fees for private hire operators accurately reflect the costs of enforcement and regulating the trade.
"The changes to fees would also enable us to fund additional compliance officers to help crackdown on illegal and dangerous activity."
Even basic data gathering such as the number of collisions and occupants injured in taxis and private hire vehicles isn't split between the two trades.
Although that is now changing, the existing data gives an interesting picture. Between 2013 and 2015 the number of passengers injured in taxis and minicabs went up from 544 to 827 - an increase of 52%.
The corresponding figures for black cabs shows they have remained static at about 21,000 over that period but the number of PHVs went up 54% from 65,656 to 101,434.
There are now calls from the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly for drivers to be banned from using what they think is causing the problem: apps while driving.
Black cab organisations like the London Cab Drivers Club would also like to see them restricted and they also want much clearer guidance from the Met Police and TfL about when they can be used.
At the moment, TfL says it is up to the individual drivers to make sure they are driving safely.
An Uber spokesperson said: "It is against the law to hold a mobile phone or device in your hand while driving. Drivers must be in proper control of their vehicle and concentrating on the road at all times."
In the middle of a rapidly changing world, it is TfL whose old systems cannot cope with the changing landscape. | If there is one area where technology has outpaced regulation in London - and in many other major cities - it has been the rapidly changing taxi and private hire market. |
37633039 | A race is on to curb new outbreaks before the imminent rainy season makes toilets overflow, helping cholera to spread.
"The top priority, clearly, for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to safe water. That's the only way we can control cholera," Dr Dominique Legros, a WHO expert, said on Tuesday.
Cholera killed around 10,000 people in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake, when UN peacekeepers introduced it to the country by emptying toilet waste into the Meille River, a major water source.
Now the same communities face another mass tragedy. So what can be done to stop the epidemic?
The WHO wants to give Haitians an oral vaccine, which is taken in liquid form. Usually, patients get a double dose. But in this case a single dose may be used to cover twice as many people - a million instead of 500,000.
"So far, we have one experience of a large-scale campaign with a single dose - it was done in Bangladesh two years ago. It proved effective for six months," Dr Legros said.
But Dr Jean-Luc Poncelet, who is the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO representative in Haiti, warns the vaccine is not a complete solution.
"It's only 65% effective. So 35 out of 100 people could still get cholera," he told the BBC.
While immunity is one factor, people in high-risk areas urgently need clean water so they are not exposed to the bacteria in the first place.
Cholera spreads rapidly when sewage is not treated, hygiene is poor and drinking water is unsafe.
To combat these issues, Dr Poncelet says chlorine should be used to sterilise water both at its source and in people's kitchens.
"You can chlorinate the wells," he explains. "The distribution systems that do exist must be chlorinated every single day of the year. A well can be treated with chlorine, and if it is sealed properly, that well can be perfectly protected."
At home, Haitians can kill deadly bacteria by putting a few drops of chlorine in the water they use. It's an affordable solution, as a month's supply for a family of six costs around 85 US cents.
Unicef says that before the hurricane, only one in three people in Haiti had access to proper latrines, and under three in five had safe water. In rural areas, this drops to one in four for toilets and just one in two for water.
Dr Poncelet says awareness campaigns can encourage people to adopt safer habits, especially regular hand-washing.
Cholera can be lethal, but isn't actually as deadly as many people believe. With rapid treatment, many sufferers recover.
Cholera patients need to be rehydrated - and if this happens promptly, fewer than 1% will die.
Most patients can be successfully treated with an oral rehydration solution, to replace the fluids and salts lost to diarrhoea and vomiting. Very sick people may also be put on an intravenous drip.
The WHO advises that while antibiotics can reduce the length and severity of the illness, rehydration is the single most important thing.
Hurricane-ravaged Haiti mourns dead
Haiti at risk of 'real famine'
Haitians describe Hurricane ordeal
Hurricane Matthew killed at least 1,000 people in Haiti and left 1.4 million in need of aid - including hundreds of thousands who lost their homes and crops. The United Nations (UN) has called for $120m (£98m) in emergency funds, and aid agencies are rushing to boost relief efforts on the ground.
Chlorine tablets are not hard to transport, but much will depend on getting them over damaged roads and bridges to stricken parts of Haiti's battered southern peninsula.
Dr Poncelet insists that despite the challenges ahead, Haiti need not be doomed to another huge cholera death toll.
"I am quite optimistic," he told the BBC. "The most likely scenario is an increase in the number of cases. The rainy season from October-January sees an increased number.
"But for the first time we have access to vaccines in a larger number - a million from the global stock. That will not solve the problem, but it's an additional tool we did not have in the past.
"If we really work in a co-ordinated fashion, then we should avoid the massive epidemic of 2011." | The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending a million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti, where more than 200 cases of the killer disease have been reported since Hurricane Matthew struck on 4 October. |
40751150 | Nine of the band's albums are in this week's top 100, five of which are inside the top 40.
Lana Del Rey's new album Lust for Life tops the chart, making it her third UK number one, according to the Official Charts Company.
Despacito is still number one in the singles chart, which it has now topped for 10 non-consecutive weeks.
Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory is their highest-placing album at number four. It includes hit song In the End, which is the highest-charting Linkin Park entry on this week's singles chart at number 14.
The band have now become the first US band in 50 years to secure three albums in the top 10.
In the singles chart, Luis Fonsi's Despacito - featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber - becomes one of only five tracks to have reigned at number one on three separate occasions.
Bieber's 2015 hit What Do You Mean has previously achieved this record, making him the only artist to have achieved this twice.
Following closely behind the Spanglish track is DJ Khaled's Wild Thoughts, featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, at number two.
It's been a great week for the three artists as the song has also been nominated for video of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards 2017.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Linkin Park records are flooding the charts following the death of the band's frontman Chester Bennington. |
37978249 | The 38-year-old, whose contract expires at the end of the year, wrote on Instagram that his time at the club had "come to an end".
He said he will reveal "the next stage" of his career "very soon".
Lampard scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for New York, in a two-year spell that was interrupted by a loan spell at Manchester City.
New York City were beaten 7-0 on aggregate by Toronto FC in the MLS play-offs this month.
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In an interview with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker in October, Lampard said he was keen to move into coaching.
Lampard said: "I have very much enjoyed my time, and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to play for such a great club and in such an incredible city.
"I leave with many great memories."
Lampard left Chelsea in 2014 as the club's record scorer with 211 goals.
He signed a deal with New York City in July 2014, before joining their sister club Manchester City on loan in August, a move which "outraged" New York City fans.
He scored eight goals during a loan spell that was extended to cover the 2014-15 season.
In May 2016, he was described as "the worst signing in MLS history" as injuries and his spell back in the Premier League restricted his appearances.
But he rediscovered his form for New York City, scoring 12 goals in 14 games, and the city celebrated "Frank Lampard Day" in September.
Former England team-mate and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard could also be set to end his spell in the United States.
Gerrard, 36, is out of contract at MLS side LA Galaxy and has suggested he could go into coaching at former club Liverpool. | Former England and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has said he is leaving MLS side New York City. |
38314690 | The 26-year-old was out of contract at the end of the season but his new deal ties him to the club until 2019.
Former Exeter trainee Norwood moved to Rovers from Forest Green in July 2015 and has netted 30 goals since then.
"I've enjoyed playing here for the last year or so and the fans have been great to me, so it didn't take long to agree a new deal," he told the club website. | Tranmere Rovers striker James Norwood has agreed a new two-and-a-half year deal with the National League side. |
35854413 | Under the deal, migrants arriving in Greece are now expected to be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or their claim is rejected.
The influx of people crossing to Greek islands grew ahead of the deadline, and Greece said it would not be able to implement the deal immediately.
On Sunday, volunteers on the Greek island of Lesbos were dealing with the first arrivals under the new regime.
Just hours before the agreement came into force, a four-month-old baby girl drowned when a boat carrying migrants sank off the Turkish coast, Turkey's Anadolu agency reported.
The deal says that for every Syrian migrant sent back to Turkey, one Syrian already in Turkey will be resettled in the EU.
However, there were still many doubts about the implementation of the agreement, including how the migrants would be sent back.
Some 2,300 experts, including security and migration officials and translators, are set to arrive in Greece to help enforce the deal.
But Greek officials said none of the experts had yet arrived and the deal could not be implemented immediately as key details still needed to be worked out.
"A plan like this cannot be put in place in only 24 hours," said government migration spokesman Giorgos Kyritsis, quoted by AFP.
With the deal, it is hoped people will be discouraged from making the dangerous journey by sea from Turkey to Greece. In return, Turkey will receive aid and political concessions.
Since January 2015, one million migrants and refugees have entered the EU by boat from Turkey to Greece. More than 143,000 have arrived this year alone, and about 460 have died, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The Turkey-EU statement in full
Most of them are keen to go to Germany and other northern European Union countries, and tens of thousands are now stuck in Greece as their route north has been blocked.
Critics, however, have said the deal could force migrants determined to reach Europe to start using other and potentially more dangerous routes, such as the journey between North Africa and Italy.
On Saturday, the Italian coastguard said more than 900 people were rescued amid an increase in traffic through the Strait of Sicily.
And Libyan authorities said the bodies of four women were recovered but at least 20 others were still missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off the country's coast.
Officials there said they rescued nearly 600 people from three other boats on Saturday.
Human rights groups have strongly criticised the deal, with Amnesty International accusing the EU of turning "its back on a global refugee crisis".
On Saturday, thousands of people protested in support of refugees and against racism. Rallies were held in London, Athens, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Geneva and some other cities.
In the Greek capital, protesters, including some Afghan refugees, chanted "Open the borders" and "We are human beings, we have rights".
In London, about 4,000 people joined a protest carrying placards with slogans like "Refugees welcome here" and "Stand up to racism".
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. | An EU-Turkey deal to tackle the migrant crisis has formally come into effect. |
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