id
stringlengths 7
11
| dialogue
stringlengths 15
174k
⌀ | summary
stringlengths 1
399
|
|---|---|---|
21937538 | Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has confirmed Ilkeston is one of three schemes "most likely" to be built with the £20m new station fund.
Campaigners, who say the town is the largest in England with tracks not to have a station, said they were delighted at the news.
A final announcement about the £6.5m project will be made in May.
Ilkeston once had three railway stations but lost the last one four years after being axed in the Beeching report of 1963.
Erewash MP Jessica Lee said the announcement was "hugely significant" and was a result of a team effort between local and county officials and other campaigners.
She added: "It's not just about train travel, although that is obviously important, this is about the wider social and economic benefits for Ilkeston as a town.
"This will mean young people can get to Nottingham in 15 minutes - which will help with jobs and training - and it will bring jobs and visitors to the town."
Ms Lee said that once final approval was given it was possible the station could be open within a year.
The fund is targeted at "shovel ready" projects which can be delivered quickly to provide benefits to passengers and the economy.
The Department of Transport said the scheme, which will provide 75% of capital costs, was designed to deliver new stations which were sustainable in the long-term, so bidders must set out how the station will be operated, including staffing and maintenance implications.
Derbyshire County Council has already said it will spend £754,000 on the project. | A Derbyshire town is in line to get a new railway station following an announcement by the government. |
34719008 | Welsh Water said it had faced "significant" engineering difficulties after a high pressure water main ruptured.
People in Crymych, Boncath, St Dogmaels, Tegryn, Moelgrove and Nevern were still affected on Wednesday night.
Earlier in the day, supplies in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire were also cut off.
Bottled water was delivered to vulnerable customers and Welsh Water said it was "really sorry for the inconvenience".
A Welsh Water spokesman said: "We are very sorry to those customers affected by the disruption.
"Our teams have been working tirelessly through the day to repair the damaged main, and will continue working through the night to get water supplies back to normal as soon as possible."
Water may be discoloured for a period of time, but this is normal, the company said. | Thousands of people still without water in Pembrokeshire could have the service restored by Thursday lunchtime. |
32662232 | The Tories took Worcester City Council, Herefordshire Council and East Staffordshire, all previously under no overall control.
The party also made gains in North Warwickshire from Labour, while Labour lost overall control in Stoke-on-Trent.
However, Labour retained control of the city councils of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.
Labour gained two seats in Birmingham, while the party retained control in Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell, where the only Conservative councillor, Anne Hughes, lost her seat.
The leader of Birmingham, Sir Albert Bore, said the general election result was bad news for Birmingham.
"We have taken out £100m of the budget this year," he said.
"If I look at the Conservative manifesto for this election, there are £2.5bn of cuts they are going to introduce. They haven't told us where those cuts are going to come."
While Labour lost overall control of Walsall, it remains the largest party.
The Conservatives increased their majority in Solihull and retained control of the councils of Stratford-on-Avon and Rugby in Warwickshire, while they gained control of North Warwickshire Borough Council from Labour and Warwick, which was previously under no overall control.
In Coventry, Labour retained control.
In Worcester, the Conservatives took 18 of the 35 seats to win the council.
Council leader Simon Geraghty said: "It's fantastic to be able to lead a council with an overall majority once again."
Herefordshire Council also moved into Conservative control.
However, confusion over how many candidates people could vote for has meant the Saxongate ward election has been declared void and there will be a by-election.
Bromsgrove, Wyre Forest, Malvern Hills and Wychavon remained Conservative.
However, Labour maintained overall control of Redditch despite the Conservatives gaining four seats.
On Telford and Wrekin Council, Labour lost overall control but remain the largest party.
In Staffordshire, Labour lost control of Stoke-on-Trent. The City Independents, the Conservatives and UKIP may now try to form a coalition.
Conservative leader Abi Brown said: "We are absolutely delighted we have picked up another five seats."
The Conservatives retained control of Lichfield, Stafford, South Staffordshire and Tamworth and gained control of East Staffordshire and Staffordshire Moorlands.
Labour retained control of Cannock Chase, despite losing three seats, while Newcastle-under-Lyme remained under no overall control.
The Conservatives retained control of Cheshire East with leader Michael Jones, who kept his seat, saying he was "leading by example". | In a reflection of the national result, the Conservatives have made gains in council elections in the Midlands. |
27372080 | But it says it all about the revolution that relegated Worcester Warriors are undergoing with director of rugby Dean Ryan at the helm that they can justify such a claim.
Warriors have this week launched six new academy centres aimed at attracting the region's top young players.
And, by so doing, they are continuing to push the rugby boundaries.
Since millionaire owner Cecil Duckworth sold his heating empire and began fuelling the club's finances in 1996, the Warriors have taken massive strides forward, while clubs like Coventry and Moseley, the two traditional powerhouses of rugby union in the region, have struggled to adapt to the professional era.
Worcester's list of new recruits for next season's 16-man Academy squad, which will train alongside the first team, features three youngsters brought in from other clubs - tighthead prop Josh McNulty from Coventry, as well as two from Premiership clubs, Saracens hooker Jack Singleton and Leicester winger Perry Humphreys.
And now they will be hoping to tie up even younger talent at the six new centres, scheduled to open this autumn - two in Warwickshire, at Barkers Butts Rugby Club in Coventry and Warwick School; two in Herefordshire, at Luctonians Rugby Club and the Hereford Cathedral School; one in Shropshire, at the Telford College of Arts and Technology; and one in Birmingham, at a location still to be announced.
Running alongside the club's current youth development centre at their Sixways home, they will help Worcester reach out to the very edge of the catchment areas for this season's Premiership rivals, Leicester, Northampton, Gloucester and Sale.
"We have placed a huge focus on building relationships and finding the right locations to launch these centres to allow us to work with the best young players across the region," Ryan told BBC Sport.
"We will work with players to aid their all-round personal development and maximise their potential.
"The future success of this club will be determined by ensuring we develop our own young players who display the right attributes and motivations to play for the Warriors."
Since the arrival of high performance director Nick Johnston to join Ryan at Sixways in December, the club has built relationships with schools, colleges, universities and other clubs across the region and they have have now confirmed the six centres where youngsters between the ages of 13 and 18 will receive up to seven hours of rugby coaching every week.
A major focus of Ryan's attention, following his arrival a year ago, has been developing a sustainable Academy programme with a view to the achieving long-term success for the club.
His commitment to youth has been demonstrated by the fact that seven current Academy players have made their debuts this season.
And although being relegated, after just two wins in 22 Premiership matches this season, was certainly not part of the plan, the Warriors boss remains convinced the club is moving in the right direction.
"We're a year down now and it feels like we're in a tough space after being relegated," said Ryan. "But so much has been done over that time to put things in place to be able to grow this club. Further down the line, they'll look at this particular window of time and say the right things were being done.
"The club, the board and the shareholders were prepared to change. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't get those reassurances because I didn't want to go back into management just to be in survival mode.
"They looked at the future and understand what a top-six side needs in terms of staffing and facilities. And the implementation of those changes is probably the biggest positive of the year.
"And not only do people on the inside recognise the progress we've made, but people on the outside can see it." | It might seem an odd moment to trumpet yourself as the stand-out club in the Midlands when you have just dropped out of the top flight of English rugby. |
40706932 | HIV is often diagnosed late, when it has already ravaged the immune system, leaving people vulnerable.
To counter this, researchers tried prescribing a cocktail of drugs at the start of HIV therapy to treat "opportunistic" infections.
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed deaths fell by 27%.
HIV itself does not kill. Instead, it leaves the body exposed to dangerous bacterial infections such as tuberculosis or pneumonia as well as fungi that can cause cryptococcal meningitis.
But starting antiretroviral therapy poses risks too. The drugs restore the immune system, but if it suddenly realises there is an infection, then it can launch such a strong attack - in the brain, for example - that this can occasionally be deadly too.
So, the trial gave patients with a CD count - used to measure the health of the immune system - below 100 a mix of drugs, including antibiotics, alongside standard antiretroviral medication for HIV.
Patients with a CD count below 50 are six times more likely to die within 24 weeks than those with a count above 100.
The trial was conducted in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Kenya and involved 1,805 patients over the age of five.
Normally, more than one in 10 would have died within weeks of diagnosis.
But the results showed the preventative therapy led to:
Overall, three lives were saved for every 100 treated.
One of the study authors, Prof Diana Gibb, from the UK's MRC Clinical Trials Unit, told the BBC News website: "You might save over 10,000 deaths [globally], but also prevent tuberculosis disease, cryptococcal meningitis and hospital admissions, which are costly.
"So, I think it could have quite a big impact and could be a relatively simple additional intervention."
The medicine is $5 (£3.80) more expensive per patient than standard treatment.
And because every patient is prescribed all the drugs, no expensive tests for each infection are needed.
Speaking to the BBC at the IAS Conference on HIV Science in Paris, Prof Gibb said the approach was "very cost-effective throughout Africa" and "we think this should become part of guidelines".
Dr Carl Dieffenbach, the director of the division of Aids within the US National Institutes of Health, said the idea reminded him of the early era of HIV/Aids, when there was more emphasis on treating opportunistic infections.
He told the BBC News website: "It's logical, and it's 'back to the future' in a good way.
"I think it's the best possible medicine you could be doing, the challenge for health departments around the world is they've largely felt they could get out of dealing with the opportunistic infections.
"They can't neglect this population of patients, it's not enough to just put them on antiretroviral therapy."
Many patients on the trial had appeared healthy when they were diagnosed with HIV.
Despite their average CD4 count being just 36, half of them had showed no symptoms.
Drs Nathan Ford and Meg Doherty, from the World Health Organization, said: "[There needs to be a] renewed focus to respond to the needs of patients with advanced HIV infection who are at high risk for illness and death." | More than 10,000 lives a year could be saved with a simple change to HIV medication, doctors say. |
37901045 | According to Reuters, a US senator had planned to block the arms purchase over concerns about human rights violations.
On Monday, Mr Duterte said he would look for a "cheaper source" to buy rifles, saying he "didn't need" the US.
Thousands have been killed as part of Mr Duterte's bloody crackdown on drugs.
Mr Duterte, who once promised to kill 100,000 criminals, has brushed off criticism, including by the UN, which said the killings could be crimes under international law, the US, and numerous human rights bodies.
In a televised speech on Monday, Mr Duterte said: "We will not insist on buying expensive arms from the United States. We don't need them.
"We will just have to look for another source that is cheaper and maybe as durable and as good as those made in the place we are ordering them."
The US State Department did not commented on the sale of rifles to the Philippines, but spokesman John Kirby said Mr Duterte's rhetoric was "inexplicably at odds" with US-Philippine relations.
Last week, Mr Duterte accused his American counterparts of "rude" treatment and said he could alternatively source rifles from Russia or China.
"Look at these monkeys, the 26,000 firearms we wanted to buy, they don't want to sell. These American fools."
Philippine police chief Ronald dela Rosa reiterated the president's position saying the it was the US which had lost out on sale of the rifles. | Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has cancelled an order of some 26,000 police assault rifles from the US after rumours Washington stopped the sale last week. |
30671986 | The 22-year-old woman and 27-year-old man were assaulted by a man outside a block of flats on Rannoch Road in the early hours of Thursday.
Police said it was understood the culprit was with another four men as they tried to join a party nearby.
Police Scotland appealed for any witnesses, or anyone who was in the group of men, to contact them. | Police have appealed for witnesses after a woman and man were assaulted in Perth on New Year's Day. |
35648283 | Armed police targeted the property at Aspen Walk in Twinbrook in the early hours of Wednesday after a 41-year-old man was shot in the leg.
The victim is in a serious condition after the attack at Glasvey Drive.
Two men, aged 25 and 35, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after armed officers and a police helicopter were deployed.
The suspects remain in police custody and officers remain at the property at Aspen Walk where they have been carrying out searches.
A Police Service of Northern Ireland detective said: "A motive for this attack has not yet been established.
"I would appeal to anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone with any information that would assist with our investigation to contact detectives in Lisburn police station."
Photographs taken at the scene by photographer Kevin Scott show the raid on the house. | This is the dramatic moment when a police officer held a gun to a man's head in a raid at west Belfast house. |
14527103 | The majority of the abuse - 72% - came via pupils but over a quarter was initiated by parents.
The majority of teachers claiming online abuse were women.
Much of the abuse is via chat on social networks but the study also found that many were setting up Facebook groups specifically to abuse teachers.
In some cases, people posted videos of teachers in action on YouTube while others put abusive comments on ratemyteacher.com.
In total, 35% of teachers questioned said they had been the victim of some form of online abuse. Of these, 60% were women.
Perhaps surprisingly, 26% of the abuse came from parents.
"This parental abuse is something we haven't come across before," said Prof Andy Phippen, the author of the report.
"Sometimes they are abusing other children at the school as well. Schools need to clamp down on it, or it will increase in prevalence," he warned.
The cases of children suffering online bullying have been well-documented but the issue of teachers being abused is less well-known.
But it is a growing problem. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said that it receives calls every week from teachers who believe they have been cyberbullied.
The study took testimony from more than 300 professionals in an anonymous internet-based survey and followed up with a handful of in-depth interviews.
Many of these revealed the human cost such cyberbullying was having.
One teacher said: "I eventually had a breakdown in the summer holiday needing an emergency doctor to be called out - as I had become suicidal.
"I had intensive support from the mental health unit via my GP, a new telephone guidance service that really helped me plus medication which was a great help, and still is."
The guidance service referred to is the Professional Online Safety Helpline, a new initiative from the Safer Internet Centre.
In another testimony, a teacher was falsely accused of "inappropriate behaviour" towards a pupil.
"I was questioned by the police on one single occasion and released without charge, caution or reprimand... I also ended up in the care of a psychologist to help me deal with the loss of self-worth, depression and the urge to commit suicide," the teacher said.
For Prof Phippen the phenomenon illustrates a shift in how parents and children address issues at school.
"It seems to a subset of the population the teacher is no longer viewed as someone who should be supported in developing their child's education, but a person whom it is acceptable to abuse if they dislike what is happening in the classroom," said Prof Phippen.
"Clearly some people are viewing social media as a bypass to the traditional routes (head teacher, board of governors) of discussing dissatisfaction with the school," he added.
Facebook offers tips for teachers and promises to respond to reports of individual harassment within 24 hours.
"These online discussions are a reflection of those happening offline," said a Facebook spokesman.
"But while you can't report a conversation outside the school gates or easily stop a person sending abusive, anonymous emails, Facebook have worked hard to develop reporting mechanisms that enable people to report offensive content they are concerned about." | More than a third of teachers have been subject to online abuse, according to a survey conducted by Plymouth University. |
36111466 | GB made it four wins in a row at the World Championship (Division 1B) in Zagreb and will face Ukraine in a promotion decider on Saturday.
"It sets up a massive gold-medal match - it's a game we've been building towards all week," said GB head coach Pete Russell.
"It's exciting and we will now focus our attentions on Ukraine."
For the second day in succession, GB's Welsh captain Jonathan Phillips opened the scoring, with Jonathan Boxill adding a second before the end of the first period.
There were powerplay goals in the second period for Robert Farmer and Colin Shields as GB dominated.
Matthew Myers and Jonathan Weaver also scored, before Ervin Moldovan replied for Romania four minutes from time.
"We did well out there," added Russell. "It wasn't pretty but we did what we had to do.
"This was a game we were expected to win and they went out and did that.
"They are such a focused bunch of guys and nothing seems to put them off their stride."
Ice hockey commentator Seth Bennett
"Great Britain are now one win away from becoming the first team since 1993 to win a gold medal at a World Championships and promotion.
"Since then, GB have finished with silver medals four times, including last year when they only needed a point against Lithuania but lost 3-2.
"The hurt from that defeat remains with this squad and they are determined to go one better against a good Ukraine team, who are the top seeds in the tournament.
"For head coach Russell, this is a chance to lead Great Britain back to world ice hockey's second tier and it would be a huge feather in the cap of a young British coach."
Live commentary on GB v Ukraine on the BBC Sport website from 12:00 BST | Great Britain's men are one win away from returning to the world's second tier after they beat Romania 6-1. |
37032530 | The film, about a struggling unemployed man, was one of 25 movies to be announced on Tuesday.
Other recent festival winners on the programme include Gianfranco Rosi's migrant crisis documentary Fire at Sea, which scooped Berlin's Golden Bear.
The New York event runs for 18 days and opens on 30 September with slavery documentary The 13th.
The film, about the amendment that abolished slavery, had already been announced as part of the lineup, along with the festival's centrepiece movie 20th Century Women, starring Annette Bening.
The closing night gala will be Amazonian thriller The Lost City of Z, starring Twilight actor Robert Pattinson.
All three gala presentations are world premieres.
Pattinson's Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart has two features showing in the New York line-up - Personal Shopper and Certain Women.
French actress Isabelle Huppert also stars in two films - Things to Come and Elle.
Festival director Kent Jones said he was interested in "good film-making" and not putting "stars on the red carpet".
"I'm immensely proud that we're showing all of these films. They're all vital and important works. And none of our selections are made to satisfy a niche," he added.
Other films on the programme include Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's latest work Julieta, about a mother and her estranged daughter.
Family drama Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, will also be shown.
The film, telling the story of a man who takes on the care of his nephew after his younger brother's sudden death, was well-received at the Sundance Film Festival.
The New York Film Festival takes place each year at the city's Film Society of Lincoln Center and is open to the public.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or email [email protected]. | Ken Loach's Palme d'Or-winning I, Daniel Blake has been chosen as part of this year's New York Film Festival. |
33926000 | Violet Blades was buried at Hannah Park Cemetery in Worksop two weeks ago but Frank said he got the bill days after.
Clive Hopkinson Funeral Directors said the charge was due to Mr Blades visiting other graves and council staff staying over contracted hours.
Bassetlaw District Council denied this and insisted the bill was because the cortege arrived 45 minutes late.
Mr Blades said there was no mention of time limits either before or after the service.
When the £6,200 bill arrived, it had an "Additional Cemetery Fee" attached.
Mr Blades said : "I just accepted it. I just tried to forget it. It is just other people when I have told them, they have gone 'you are joking'.
"I've just ignored it, what is money at the moment? I am saying this because it might happen to other people."
Daughter Cindy Playfoot said it was "affecting the entire family".
A spokesperson for the funeral directors said: "We incurred a charge of £160 from Bassetlaw District Council due to their gravediggers working beyond their contracted hours when our client wished to visit other family graves following the funeral.
"As with any third-party fee that we pay on behalf of our clients this was included in our final invoice. Our funeral director remained with our client until he was ready to return home, for which we did not charge."
Liz Prime, head of neighbourhoods at Bassetlaw District Council, said she was surprised the charge had been passed on.
"The council has certainly not penalised Mr Blades for spending additional time at his wife's graveside to mourn her loss.
"As a burial authority it is important that we ensure the privacy of every funeral and that no two funerals take place at the same time. The onus is on the respective funeral director to ensure that each ceremony runs smoothly and on schedule," she said. | A grieving widower says he is dismayed after being charged £160 for delays at his wife's funeral. |
37409441 | The bomb which hit Manhattan's Chelsea district in the evening injured 29.
Earlier on Saturday a pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town ahead of a charity race.
The FBI has been searching an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey, connected to the 28-year-old suspect.
A backpack containing up to five devices exploded in Elizabeth in the early hours of Monday when a bomb disposal robot tried to deactivate it.
What we know so far
Minnesota mall knifeman was student, says father
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said there were "certain commonalities" between the bombs.
New Jersey State Police said that the FBI was linking the Manhattan explosion and that in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
Investigators have warned that the suspect should be considered "armed and dangerous".
Millions of New York residents received a phone alert on Monday morning after the Notify NYC alert system was used to name the suspect.
"Anyone who sees this individual or knows anything about him or his whereabouts needs to call it in right away," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on CNN.
Both the bomb that went off in New York on Saturday and an unexploded device found four blocks away were shrapnel-filled pressure cookers, according to US media.
Mr Cuomo said on Monday that there might be a foreign connection to the Manhattan attack. Officials had said over the weekend there were no confirmed links to international terrorist groups.
President Barack Obama, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, is being kept up to date with the investigation, a White House spokesman said.
The backpack in New Jersey was found near the railway station in Elizabeth.
It was picked out of a bin by two men on Sunday evening, who thought the bag could contain something of value. They saw wires and notified police.
A police robot examining the bag early on Monday cut a wire causing it to explode. No-one was injured.
"That was not a controlled explosion," said Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage.
These are the attacks in the US over the weekend that caused security alerts:
'People running for their lives' | US officials are looking for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalised US citizen who was born in Afghanistan, for questioning over explosions in New York and New Jersey on Saturday. |
33237760 | The 36-year-old, who has not yet been identified, died after an attack on Arden Street at about 16:15 BST on Monday, Warwickshire Police said.
A post mortem examination is expected to take place in the coming days.
Four people aged 39, 41, 26 and 37, who are from the Stratford and Wellesbourne areas, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The two men and two women are currently being questioned by officers.
A fifth person, a 36-year-old man from Stratford-upon-Avon, has been arrested on suspicion of assault.
Arden Street remains closed at the roundabout on Guild Street/Birmingham Road while police carry out inquiries. | A murder inquiry has begun after a man died in an assault on a street in Stratford-upon-Avon. |
33159612 | In an open letter, the groups said they had quit because of "fundamental" differences over use of the technology.
And there had been little prospect that the talks would have produced "adequate protections" for citizens.
People deserved better protection than the talks had been likely to have produced, they said.
The discussions, brokered by the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the body that oversees technology policy issues, began in February 2014.
Nine separate privacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Center for Democracy and Technology, were invited.
But the groups' letter said the companies involved had refused to accept they needed prior permission from people being identified by the technology.
At a "base minimum", said the rights groups, people should be able to walk down a street without having to worry that companies unknown to them were tracking them and trying to work out who they were.
"Unfortunately," read the letter, "we have been unable to obtain agreement even with that basic, specific premise."
The NTIA told tech news site The Register the talks would continue to debate some of the "thorniest privacy topics concerning facial recognition" without the privacy groups.
It said it would "continue to facilitate meetings on this topic for those stakeholders who want to participate".
Already, said the EFF in a statement explaining its decision to quit, millions of facial images had been captured and processed by law enforcement agencies and private companies.
It said biometric data, such as fingerprints and facial features, was a different class of sensitive data because it could not be changed.
"Through facial recognition, these immutable, physical facts can be used to identify you, remotely and in secret, without any recourse," it said. | Privacy campaigners have walked out of talks aimed at creating a code of conduct for companies keen to use facial-recognition technology. |
41064767 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The former five-weight world champion faced flurries of early punches from UFC's most iconic figure, who was making his debut in professional boxing at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.
McGregor delivered a crisp uppercut in round one and, though he edged close to breaking the rules with several punches to the back of the head, he imposed himself admirably without ever looking as though he would knock out Mayweather.
The American, who came out of retirement for a potential $300m (£230m) pay day, executed a gameplan which pounced on McGregor's lack of conditioning for the late rounds which prove so key on big fight nights.
As the Irishman tired, Mayweather upped his ferocity and by round nine the 40-year-old began to stalk his opponent, whose legs were weakening under more successful shots.
And in the 10th, with McGregor again near the ropes and offering little, the fight - which followed weeks of manic build-up, spiteful words and chaos - was over. He was not bowled over by a conclusive blow, but with Mayweather throwing rapidly, his target was left too vulnerable.
Referee Robert Byrd's stoppage may have arrived too early for some, as McGregor's early effort led to a belief inside the arena he could pull off the biggest upset in the history of the sport.
But the 29-year-old was wilting and was down 89-81 89-82 87-83 on the ringside cards when the stoppage came.
His effort and display should be commended, but Mayweather's poise and invincibility remain constant into retirement.
Mayweather said: "He was a lot better than I thought. But I was the better man. I guaranteed everybody this would not go the distance. Boxing's reputation was on the line."
McGregor, who said he would return to the UFC but would not rule out boxing again, said: "I thought it was close and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage. I was just a little fatigued."
Those who watched this bout can say they witnessed history, with Mayweather's victory taking him past the late Rocky Marciano's perfect 49-fight record.
And this may yet be the richest fight ever, surpassing the reported $620m (£480m) earned by Mayweather's win over Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
The presence of A-list celebrities such as Bruce Willis and Jennifer Lopez underlined the high-rolling nature of a bout engulfed in chaos.
But with only 14,623 people in the 20,000-seat arena, there will be criticism of high ticket prices - and the atmosphere suffered as a result.
As US news networks set up studios on Vegas' strip in the build-up, debate over the legitimacy of the fight dominated.
MMA guests said boxing was dated, and were accused of speaking with an ignorance of the sweet science. One pundit said Mayweather would look like Michelangelo against a man whose boxing style would be "paint by numbers".
Elsewhere, local airports adopted emergency measures to deal with an influx of high rollers, while sportsbooks on the city's famous strip were braced for record stakes.
But could the hype be justified? Was Mayweather too old? Would McGregor's relentless undermining of his rival work?
No, no and no. Critics of the contest will likely point to the ease with which Mayweather upped the ante as evidence this was always a mismatch.
He remains at his best when in the spotlight, delivering when booed, winning with breathing space.
The fact he had already fought 39 times by the time McGregor quit a plumbing apprenticeship to focus on MMA underlined the gulf in experience.
It showed, though 'The Notorious' has captured the imagination of new fans and will be considerably richer - both financially, and in ring craft - for taking on such a challenge.
He boxed, well at times. But, like Hall of Fame boxers who tried before him, he did not have enough to shock Mayweather.
After the frenetic build-up, the talking stopped before both men stepped into the ring - and McGregor glared at his rival with intensity before the bell.
In round one, he landed a crisp left uppercut and later posed with his hands behind his back. He seemed to consciously exaggerate his movement at times, lending substance to suggestions from pundits his MMA footwork would be a key part of his weaponry.
But a stiff right from Mayweather in the second drew screams from the masses, and 'Money' smiled cheekily at the TV cameras when on his stool between rounds.
Was he toying with his man? There were moments it appeared so. He began to walk forward more in the fourth but felt a solid left counter.
Chants of "ole" provided backing for the underdog, who angered Mayweather with persistent punching to the back of his head.
The American's response was a shove in the chest after the bell in round five as he became notably more spiteful.
His punches began to look loaded, but it remained close. McGregor's early punch volume won rounds, Mayweather's progress through the gears, albeit slow, closed the deficit by the seventh, when he jolted his foe with a counter right.
The ninth round would take the boxing novice past the 25 minutes he faces in a UFC bout, and fatigue became undeniable. He swayed, at times a sitting duck to be picked off as Mayweather landed, notably with a slappy left hand.
And then came the 10th. McGregor screamed when the stoppage came, as if to intimate he had more left. He probably did, but barring him finding power we had not yet seen, he was done. Byrd brought the inevitable forward.
And with that, Mayweather returned to retirement with his perfect record in tact.
What next for McGregor? His spirit and magnetism is such that he will continue to break down barriers.
He deserves immense credit, but Mayweather's standing in boxing history remains unblemished.
BBC Radio 5 live boxing commentator Mike Costello
Many people said in the build-up that this fight couldn't count as Mayweather's 50th win. Believe me, it can after the performance tonight.
Clearly, McGregor has proved the doubters wrong and he will be in the dressing room knowing he gave everything he could.
Boxing's reputation wouldn't have been damaged at all by tonight because what we have seen is McGregor show that it is possible to switch between codes.
This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser | Floyd Mayweather extended his perfect career record to 50 fights unbeaten by stopping Conor McGregor in the 10th round of one of the richest bouts in boxing history. |
23891603 | Seamer Lewis Gregory took a career-best 5-38 as the home side were all out for 164 soon after lunch on day three to lose by an innings and 179 runs.
Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick held five catches in the innings.
Neil Dexter top scored for Middlesex with 35 not out as they only managed to add 112 to their overnight 52-2.
It was another undistinguished batting effort by the home side, who only mustered 106 in their first innings, having begun the match in third place, 31 points adrift of leaders Yorkshire and 5.5 behind Durham in second.
Sam Robson was first to go, caught by Trescothick at slip off Gregory for 29, but it was the loss of four more wickets for 31 runs, which saw them slump to 116-7 that really ended their hopes of taking the game into the final day.
John Simpson could at least consider himself unlucky when Dexter's firm drive was deflected into the stumps by bowler Craig Meschede and he was run out backing up.
Dexter and James Harris managed to see Middlesex to lunch, but Harris (22) gave a return catch to Gregory, who finished things off by having Tim Murtagh caught and Ravi Patel lbw in his next over.
It was only Somerset's second win in the Championship this summer, their first since beating Derbyshire in June - and their first at the home of cricket for 30 years.
Middlesex director of cricket Angus Fraser:
"It's very upsetting for everyone. We didn't play very well against Derbyshire last week - but to be bowled out twice in a day, in reality in 90 overs on a good pitch, is unacceptable.
"The players know that and the challenge is to ensure it doesn't happen again and that we put in a much better performance next week against Surrey at the Oval.
"It's hard to take as you try to work out what's going on, obviously there's been some poor strokeplay by a number of batsman."
BBC Somerset's Anthony Gibson:
"A fast yorker from Lewis Gregory which scattered Ravi Patel's stumps provided an appropriately emphatic conclusion to a Somerset victory which was as crushing as it was unexpected.
"Skipper Marcus Trescothick couldn't put his finger on the magic ingredient afterwards, but whatever it was, abject Middlesex could certainly do with some of it."
Match scorecard | Somerset gave their hopes of avoiding relegation a major boost by denting Middlesex's title ambitions with an emphatic innings victory at Lord's. |
34983672 | It will be organised by Daran Hill, a key figure in the successful 1997 and 2011 devolution referendum campaigns.
He told BBC Wales the campaign will have cross-party support and a budget of between £20,000 and £30,000.
To get a Yes/No referendum on Cardiff having a directly elected mayor, 24,647 signatures - 10% of the electorate - must be collected over six months.
The earliest potential date for that referendum would be autumn 2016.
If the Yes side were to win, a Cardiff mayoral election could then be held in the summer of 2017.
There are currently 17 directly elected mayors in England, with more on the way, but there are none in Wales.
Ceredigion is the only Welsh local authority to have had a referendum on the matter.
Voters there rejected the idea in 2004 by a margin of nearly three to one.
The leaders of all 22 local authorities in Wales are elected by their fellow councillors, rather than directly by voters.
Mr Hill said having an elected mayor was a "new, fresh idea" that he believed would "energise the people of Cardiff".
"The vision and the idea is to give the people of Cardiff a say at long last as to whether they'll have an elected mayor to represent the whole of the city," he said.
"To take us forward to a new political level that'll make us fit, I suppose, for the 21st Century."
Mr Hill said the "pressure" for having a mayor was coming from other cities.
"We see Bristol has had an elected mayor for a long time, there's a big push across the north of England," he added.
"I think for a city with size, Cardiff needs that extra momentum."
But Cardiff North Labour AM Julie Morgan is sceptical about the idea.
"It's a difficult, complicated, expensive way of going about getting a mayor, and there are no proven benefits," she said.
"It's also completely the wrong time because we're talking about local government reorganisation, where local authorities are coming together, we're talking about a City Region.
"I'm a great believer in collective responsibility from whatever party may be in power, and I think with an elected mayor you do get the power concentrated in one person." | A campaign for Cardiff to have Wales' first directly elected mayor will be launched in January. |
35672277 | The 31-year-old played 14 times during a three-month spell with fellow League One side Swindon earlier this season.
The former Brighton & Hove Albion centre-half has made just 20 appearances for Bristol City since joining them in January 2014.
"It will be good for Adam to go out on loan and get regular football under his belt," said Robins boss Lee Johnson.
BBC Radio Kent reports the arrival of the Egypt international at Priestfield Stadium means Gills boss Justin Edinburgh is now unlikely to re-sign Cardiff defender Deji Oshilaja on loan.
Earlier this week Brighton defender Adam Chicksen extended his loan spell with the Gills for a further month.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Gillingham have signed Bristol City defender Adam El-Abd on loan until the end of the campaign. |
34043346 | The flooding in the Black Sea province of Artvin was caused by torrential rainfall.
TV pictures showed rivers bursting their banks and flooding the streets of the area.
Artvin's governor, Kemal Cirit, told local media that three people died after a house collapsed.
He added that two people are still missing but the heavy rain is expected to ease off over Monday night.
Artvin is known for its high levels of rainfall and that floods are a regular occurrence. | At least eight people have been killed after heavy flooding and a landslide hit north-eastern Turkey, according to officials. |
36684917 | Peter Wood, 55, is charged with manslaughter while Philip Potter, 20, and Matthew Gordon, 29, face a number of charges relating to the crash in Bath on 9 February 2015
Mitzi Steady, four, from Bath, Robert Parker, 59, from Cwmbran, Phil Allen, 52, and Stephen Vaughan, 34, both from Swansea, were all killed.
A trial will take place in November.
Mr Potter had applied to have his charges dismissed but his request was adjourned at Bristol Crown Court until a trial judge has been appointed. | Three men have appeared in court charged in connection with a tipper truck crash which killed four people. |
32203084 | In February, almost 87.9% of people were seen within time, up from 87.1% in January.
But weekly waiting times, which cover major hospitals only, show a slight drop in performance.
The Scottish government said it had been challenging winter, but there were signs of improvement.
The latest figures show Scotland's main A&E units dealt with 26,465 patients between 23 and 29 March.
Of those, 91.3% of people were seen within four hours, compared to 91.7% the previous week.
A total of 213 had to wait more than eight hours to be seen, while 22 spent 12 hours or more in A&E.
Only the weekly figures can be compared with those produced in England, where 87.8% of A&E admissions at major hospitals were seen within four hours during the same week.
The Scottish government first began publishing weekly waiting times in March, following one of the worst winters for Scottish A&Es in recent years.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said waiting times were improving.
She said: "As the weekly figures for February have already shown us, this year's winter was a very challenging one for our A&E departments. However, we are seeing signs of improvement with waits reducing in February when compared to January, and further improvement throughout March.
"Attendances at A&E over the last year have also risen when compared to the two previous years, however, it is encouraging to see that long waits have dropped significantly since the start of the year, with figures for the week ending 29 March showing that 0.8% of patients waited for more than eight hours."
But Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jenny Marra said only her party had the policies to reduce waiting times.
She said: "It has been more than 2,000 days since the SNP last met their own target on A&E figures. If anything, we appear to be going backwards as patients wait too long for treatment at our overstretched A&E departments.
The Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Jim Hume said the Scottish government should prioritise the NHS.
He said: "It's disappointing once again to see that whilst NHS staff are doing their utmost to deliver excellent patient care, the SNP government doesn't have its priorities straight. NHS staff need more resources and only Liberal Democrats are committed to delivering an £800m boost to the Scottish NHS." | Monthly A&E waiting times in Scotland have improved slightly since January but have failed to meet government targets, NHS statistics show. |
36235671 | The collision on Manchester Road, Altrincham, at 10:50 BST on Saturday involved a Toyota Auris driven by a 45-year-old man.
The girl who died is thought to be in her early teens. The driver and an 11-year-old female passenger were taken to hospital.
Greater Manchester Police urged witnesses to get in touch.
It is is believed the driver and the children are all from the same family. | A teenage girl died after a car crashed into a brick wall, police said. |
26679739 | Chancellor George Osborne considers the scheme to be of crucial help to house buyers, and also a means of stimulating the construction sector.
But Mr Posen said: "I find this whole initiative largely mistaken by the Treasury."
The first stage of Help to Buy was recently extended until 2020.
"The idea of pumping up credit for middle to upper-middle class people to spend more on housing, when people have already spent too much on housing, is dysfunctional," Mr Posen told BBC Radio 5 live's Wake Up to Money programme.
"We need a distinction between housing policy and mortgage policy, and we need affordable housing in the great cities of the North.
"London is now semi-detached from the rest of the country. There's a perception that it's just pockets in Kensington or Chelsea, but increasingly the homes in zone two or zone three [of the London Underground map] are going out of the price range of normal people."
He also said the Bank of England needed to change its "culture of trust", and get tougher with the UK's biggest banks.
Mr Posen, who served on the Bank's crucial monetary policy committee until 2012, said the central bank should "get away from being so trusting of the banks".
"There now has to be a top-down explicit statement that our bias is towards market solutions, not cosy conversations with banks... saying that the Bank of England is neither the friend, nor the enemy, of our banks," he said.
"It was, in my opinion, not corrupt - but it was badly mistaken."
Mr Posen also criticised Bank governor Mark Carney for his policy of forward guidance, which had originally said that interest rates would be reconsidered once unemployment fell to 7%.
That part of the policy has now been sidelined, and forward guidance overhauled.
Mr Posen said it had been an "irresponsible" idea, but applauded the decision to then withdraw the unemployment target. | An ex-member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, Adam Posen, has called the government's Help to Buy scheme 'mistaken' and 'dysfunctional'. |
34654904 | A flight attendant asked the question as Grethe Andersen, who was not pregnant, was boarding the flight on Sunday from Wellington to Auckland.
Ms Andersen complained to the airline that the attendant showed "no remorse" in asking her the "rude question".
Jetstar told local media it contacted her on Tuesday to apologise and offered her a NZ$100 ($67; £44) flight voucher.
Like many airlines, Jetstar has a policy of requiring women who are more than 28 weeks pregnant to produce a doctor's note certifying they are fit to travel, for safety and liability reasons.
Ms Andersen, 24, alleged the male attendant had gestured at his stomach and asked her: "How many weeks are you?"
She said she did not get an apology at the time.
Ms Andersen told New Zealand media she posted an account of her experience on Jetstar's Facebook account saying she felt "self-conscious", and added: "I used to be quite heavily overweight and even then was never met by such a rude question and especially no remorse from the flight attendant."
Her post could no longer be found on the Australian-based airline's New Zealand or Australian Facebook pages as of Wednesday.
A Jetstar spokesman told news service NZME that it "sincerely apologises for the distress the passenger experienced". | Jetstar Airways has apologised to a New Zealand passenger who was offended by being asked if she was pregnant. |
26870598 | The animal, referred to as a geep, was born about two weeks ago on Paddy Murphy's farm in County Kildare.
The unexpected arrival is thought to be the result of mating between a goat and one of the sheep farmer's Cheviot ewes.
Mr Murphy said the cross-breeding was not intentional. He described it as a "pure shock to the system" and said it would be a "one-off" event on his farm.
"I've never seem anything like him before," he told the Irish Farmers Journal, adding that his family had been involved in sheep farming for "generations".
Mr Murphy confirmed that the geep appeared to be healthy and "thriving" and was able to run faster than other lambs that were born around the same time.
"He's unbelievable," he said. "He's so fast you'd have to get him into the pen to catch him. There's no chance you would catch him otherwise."
The sheep farmer, who also owns Murphy's pub in Ballymore Eustace, County Kildare, spoke to the journal in a interview headlined: Ewe gotta be kidding.
He said he witnessed a goat mating with ewes on his farm during "tupping" season five months ago, but had given the matter little thought until the geep appeared,
He said the new arrival had created a lot of laughter in the pub, when he showed mobile phone pictures of the hybrid to his customers and friends.
"He's an unusual character," Mr Murphy added, saying the animal was developing a set of horns on its head.
The Irish Farmers Journal said it was the first time it had reported the birth of a healthy geep in Ireland.
A spokeswoman for the Ulster Farmers Union said the live birth of a so-called geep is a very rare event and they are not aware of any currently in existence in Northern Ireland.
She said this form of cross-breeding, on the rare occasion it does occur, is likely to involve a buck goat and a ewe.
However, the geep usually dies during the ewe's pregnancy or is stillborn.
Mr Murphy said the ewe in question was raising the geep "just like a lamb".
As for the hybrid animal's future, the farmer said he was not planning to send the geep for slaughter but would try to keep it for as long as it was practically possible to look after it.
But he has not yet chosen a name for his new pet.
"We've no name set up yet, no. We might look for one" Mr Murphy said. | A rare, hybrid animal that is part goat and part sheep has been born on a farm in the Republic of Ireland. |
34948835 | The country was banned from international competition after a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) commission examined claims of widespread doping.
Wada director general David Howman was "pleased" with assurances from Russia's sports minister Vitaly Mutko, but said there was "much work to be done".
Russia faces exclusion from next year's Olympics if not declared compliant.
Howman and Mutko met in Frankfurt, Germany, for the first time since the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) was declared non-compliant on 18 November.
A Wada statement said: "During the meeting, minister Mutko committed fully to the process and the changes required of Rusada if they are to achieve compliance status."
Howman added: "Wada is pleased with the assurances provided by Minister Mutko to address the issues raised in Wada's independent commission report.
"There is, however, still much work to be done by Rusada. It is imperative that Russia's anti-doping programme be overhauled in order to protect the rights of clean athletes worldwide and to re-establish public confidence in Russian athletics."
The IAAF, the sport's governing body, is holding a meeting in Monaco on Thursday to determine the measures Russia needs to implement to be reinstated to world athletics.
An inspection team will monitor Russia's federation (Araf) as it bids to regain its IAAF membership.
Araf said it would cooperate "fully and actively with the team".
The IAAF is also awaiting the findings of a report into the conduct of its officials.
That section of the report, likely to be released in January, has been held back after a French police investigation began earlier this month into former IAAF president Lamine Diack and former head of anti-doping Gabriel Dolle. | Russia is "fully committed" to the reform needed to comply with anti-doping laws after an athletics scandal. |
38036518 | The tone was set in the opening minute when Michael Cheek converted at the near post, but Southport first drew level when Jack Higgins scrambled home after a quarter of an hour before Josh Thompson's header put them ahead.
Andrai Jones profited from a goalkeeping error almost immediately after in the 28th minute but Manny Parry closed the gap moments later before Oliver Muldoon's floated free-kick levelled matters after 36 matters.
Another Muldoon free-kick was turned into his own net by Higgins as Braintree, having trailed 3-1, ended a breathless first-half leading 4-3 at the Merseyrail Community Stadium.
Southport were level after 56 minutes when Jamie Allen netted from the spot after Braintree goalkeeper Sam Beasant had brought down Jones, but the visitors had the final say eight minutes later when Jack Midson headed home from a corner.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Southport 4, Braintree Town 5.
Second Half ends, Southport 4, Braintree Town 5.
Sean Clohessy (Braintree Town) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Southport. James Gray replaces Ben McKenna.
Substitution, Braintree Town. Lee Barnard replaces Michael Cheek.
Goal! Southport 4, Braintree Town 5. Jack Midson (Braintree Town).
Substitution, Southport. Liam Hynes replaces Ashley Grimes.
Substitution, Southport. James Caton replaces Declan Weeks.
Goal! Southport 4, Braintree Town 4. Jamie Allen (Southport) converts the penalty with a.
Second Half begins Southport 3, Braintree Town 4.
First Half ends, Southport 3, Braintree Town 4.
Goal! Southport 3, Braintree Town 4. Michael Cheek (Braintree Town).
Jack Midson (Braintree Town) is shown the yellow card.
Jack Higgins (Southport) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Southport 3, Braintree Town 3. Oliver Muldoon (Braintree Town).
Goal! Southport 3, Braintree Town 2. Manny Parry (Braintree Town).
Goal! Southport 3, Braintree Town 1. Andrai Jones (Southport).
Goal! Southport 2, Braintree Town 1. Josh Thompson (Southport).
Goal! Southport 1, Braintree Town 1. Jack Higgins (Southport).
Goal! Southport 0, Braintree Town 1. Michael Cheek (Braintree Town).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Braintree moved out of the National League drop zone at Southport's expense after edging out the Sandgrounders in a thrilling contest where seven goals were scored in the first half alone. |
38236898 | The title Lordship of the Manor of Wedlock went under the hammer with Seel & Co in Cardiff on Tuesday night.
The title may be used after the highest bidder's name as well as on official documents like passports and driving licences.
Auctioneer Marc Morrish said there was a "fair amount of interest" with auctions like this being "quite rare". | An ancient Pembrokeshire manorial title has sold at auction for £2,000. |
37627908 | Premier Foods saw its share price drop 14% after a trading update revealed a decrease in sales.
Investors were not calmed by the company's reassurance that "careful management" of costs would see profits meet expectations this year.
A boost to international sales could not make up for the hit in the UK.
It's not often that we see the UK's hottest annual temperatures in September. But this year, the hottest day of the year so far was recorded in Gravesend, Kent, on 13 September when the thermometer hit 34.4C. It was the warmest September day since 1911.
While we all basked in the sun and enjoyed the prolonged BBQ season, we certainly weren't buying gravy and stocks, or custard and cakes.
Shoppers spent £172.5m on Premier Foods products in the July-to-September period. However, that was actually a 5.4% decline on same period in the previous year. Gravy and stocks sales were down 13% and desserts dropped 9%.
Gavin Darby, chief executive of the company said: "We are disappointed that our grocery business reported materially lower sales in the quarter due to warmer weather; particularly in September.
"However, our Sweet Treats and International businesses continued to demonstrate their strong momentum, delivering against our strategic priorities and growing over 6% and 13% respectively."
The company was the subject of a takeover proposal by US spice and sauce maker McCormick earlier this year. A dispute over the value of the company broke out between the two and the takeover did not happen.
Premier Foods announced a tie-up with Japanese instant noodle maker Nissin Foods instead in an attempt to bolster overseas growth and introduce new products in the UK.
Chairman David Beever announced in September he would step down from the position next year. | The unusually warm weather in September meant fewer of us bought gravy and puddings according to the maker of Bisto and Mr Kipling products. |
39486283 | Republican Governor Rick Scott said he was reassigning all Aramis Ayala's murder cases because her stance sent an "unacceptable message".
Ms Ayala, a Democrat covering Orlando, cited "legal chaos" as the reason for refusing to pursue execution in the case of a murdered policewoman.
Her decision sparked an outcry.
But there were also some who backed her, and a rally was held in her support last week in the state capital of Tallahassee.
On Monday, Mr Scott said: "State Attorney Ayala's complete refusal to consider capital punishment for the entirety of her term sends an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice."
Ms Ayala, an elected prosecutor in central Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit, accused the governor of abusing his authority and compromising the independence of the judiciary.
She took office in January, to begin a four-year term.
The case that sparked the row involves a man accused of killing an Orlando police officer.
When Ms Ayala said last month she would not consider capital punishment for the accused, Markeith Loyd, the governor removed her from the case.
He handed it to State Attorney Brad King, who will now also take on the 21 other murder cases removed from Ms Ayala on Monday.
Capital punishment has been in limbo in Florida for 15 months.
A US Supreme Court ruling in January 2016 said the state's death penalty was unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges over juries.
Governor Scott attempted to restart executions last month by signing a bill that requires jury recommendations to be unanimous before a death penalty can be imposed by a judge. | The Florida governor has removed a prosecutor from 21 murder cases after she said she would no longer be seeking the death penalty. |
33911963 | About 15,000 party members and 6,000 affiliated and registered members are entitled to take part in the ballot.
MSPs Kezia Dugdale and Ken Macintosh are vying for the role vacated by former MP Jim Murphy in June.
Members will also vote in the Scottish party's deputy leadership race which is being contested by Richard Baker, Alex Rowley and Gordon Matheson.
Both Ms Dugdale and Mr Macintosh have been making their final pitches to voters.
If she was elected leader, 33-year-old Ms Dugdale said she would start rebuilding trust in Labour straight away.
The Lothians list MSP explained: "If I win this election it will be a clear signal of a new generation ready to take Scottish Labour forward.
"The role of the next leader is to set out a positive Labour vision for transforming Scotland and to hold the SNP Government to account for their major failings on schools, the NHS and policing."
15,000
Party members
6,000
Affiliated and registered supporters
Ms Dugdale added: "Too many people in Scotland tell us that they just don't know what Labour stands for anymore. Under my leadership there will be no doubt what we stand for and who we stand with."
Mr Macintosh, who is MSP for the constituency of Eastwood, said he wanted to offer the Scottish people "hope again".
The 53-year-old added: "I want to transform the Scottish Labour Party into a positive force for real change in Scotland.
"Throughout this leadership contest, I have spoken in detail about the changes I will make, about the new leadership style and approach to politics I will bring as party leader.
"Above all, my message to undecided members is simple: I'm asking for your support as I believe I have the ideas, the vision and the determination to help Labour win again."
Party members will find out who their Scottish leader is at an event in Stirling on Saturday.
Mr Murphy resigned as Scottish Labour leader after the party lost 40 of its 41 seats in the Westminster election in May.
As well as the contest in Scotland, party members are also in the process of choosing their next UK leader.
MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper are fighting for the post, the winner of which will be announced during a special conference on 12 September. | Voting in the election for the new Scottish Labour leader is due to end at midday. |
37114719 | Media playback is not supported on this device
GB beat New Zealand 3-0 to set up a Friday final against the Netherlands.
In the 200m Justin Gatlin and Yohan Blake failed to qualify, while Jamaican Elaine Thompson won the 200m for a second gold after her 100m title.
Just as at London 2012, there were no medals for GB on day 12 of the Games, but Britain remain second in the table.
Media playback is not supported on this device
The women's hockey team face the Dutch, who are aiming for a third straight Olympic gold, at 21:00 BST on Friday.
United States top the medal table ahead of Britain, who are level with China on 19 golds, but ahead on silver medals.
Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark must wait to be crowned Olympic women's 470 sailing champions after racing was postponed.
The men's and women's 470 sailing medal races did not start because of a lack of wind in Marina da Gloria, with both rescheduled for Thursday.
In the women's 200m, GB's Dina Asher-Smith finished fifth as Thompson triumphed in a time of 21.78 seconds.
Thompson, 24, added the 200m title to the gold she won in the 100m final on Sunday, beating Netherlands' world champion Dafne Schippers by 0.13secs.
Sisters Cindy Ofili and Tiffany Porter missed out on 100m hurdles medals as Brianna Rollins headed a US clean sweep.
Mo Farah continued his bid for a fourth Olympic title, coming home in third in his 5,000m heat after surviving a stumble.
But Savannah Marshall went out of the boxing competition as she lost to Nouchka Fontijn in the women's middleweight quarter-finals.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Neymar scored after only 14 seconds - the fastest goal in Olympic football history - as Brazil thrashed Honduras 6-0 to reach the men's final in Rio.
The hosts will next face Germany, 7-1 winners against Brazil at the 2014 World Cup semi-final, as goals from Lukas Klostermann and Nils Petersen gave them a 2-0 win over Nigeria.
The United States secured a one-two in the women's long jump as Tianna Bartoletta upset defending champion Brittney Reese to win gold.
China continued their dominance of Olympic table tennis as their men's team beat Japan in Wednesday's final.
In other news, the Brazilian authorities have stopped US swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger from boarding a flight at Rio de Janeiro airport.
Two team-mates - Ryan Lochte and James Feigen - were barred from leaving the country, but Lochte has already left. Police have queried their accounts of a robbery they reported in Rio on Sunday.
Patrick Hickey, the president of both the European Olympic Committees and the Olympic Council of Ireland, has been arrested by police in Brazil investigating illegal Olympic ticket sales.
After criticism of Irish fighter Michael Conlan's defeat, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has dropped a number of officials after a review of their decisions at the Olympics.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Jamaican sprinter Bolt kept his hopes of an eighth Olympic gold medal on track by running his fastest time of the season to win his 200m semi-final in 19.78 seconds
The 29-year-old was laughing as he crossed the line just two hundredths of a second ahead of Canada's Andre de Grasse.
"Andre was supposed to slow down. He didn't," joked Bolt, who has already won a third successive Olympic 100m gold in Rio and is aiming to match the feat in the 200m.
"I said: 'What are you doing, it is the semis?' He said he had to push me."
Full day-by-day guide to what's on
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox | Britain's women reached the Olympic hockey final for the first time while Usain Bolt won his 200m semi-final and Elaine Thompson sealed a sprint double. |
35491116 | The Iraqi-born architect said she was "very proud... to be the first woman to receive the honour in her own right."
Dame Zaha's designs include the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, the Aquatics Centre constructed for the 2012 London Olympics and the Maxxi Museum in Rome.
She was made a dame in 2012 and has twice won the Riba Stirling Prize.
Hadid was personally approved by the Queen for the medal, an accolade whose previous recipients include Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry and Lord Norman Foster.
The two previous female honourees - Ray Kaiser Eames and Patricia "Patty" Hopkins - received the medal in tandem with their husbands, Charles Eames and Sir Michael Hopkins.
"We now see more established female architects all the time," said Dame Zaha as she accepted the medal on Wednesday. "That doesn't mean it's easy.
"Sometimes the challenges are immense. There has been tremendous change over recent years and we will continue this progress."
Professor Sir Peter Cook, a member of the Archigram group who received the medal in 2002, called Dame Zaha a "heroine" who was larger than life [and] bold as brass".
"How lucky we are to have her in London," he said as he presented Dame Zaha with the medal.
The architect left Iraq at 17 to study in the UK and set up her own practice in London in 1979.
Dame Zaha's other creations include the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, the Riverside Museum at Glasgow's Museum of Transport, and Guangzhou Opera House in China.
Last year, however, the Japanese government scrapped plans to build the futuristic-looking stadium she designed for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, opting instead for a scaled-down, less costly design. | Dame Zaha Hadid has received the Royal Gold Medal for architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects in recognition of her body of work. |
38402254 | The 25-year-old, who will race for Austrian team Hrinkow Advarics next year, last took part in the event in 2011, winning five silver medals.
"I'd have loved to have done it, any opportunity to represent Guernsey is something I'm very proud to do.
"But unfortunately my professional commitments won't allow me to do that," he told BBC Radio Guernsey.
Next year's Island Games take place at Gotland in Sweden. | Professional cyclist James McLaughlin will not represent Guernsey at next year's Island Games. |
37704290 | Leeds City Council approved initial proposals for adventure company Go Ape to build a site in Roundhay Park.
A £3.1m package to improve other tourist attractions was also approved.
Upgrades will be made to Roundhay's Tropical World, the bird centre at Lotherton Hall and Temple Newsam's Home Farm.
A council survey of 450 people at Roundhay Park found 81% would attend a Go Ape attraction if it opened.
Speaking at the executive committee meeting, Labour councillor Lucinda Yeadon said it was still "early days" and the plans were yet to go through the planning process.
Wildlife attraction Tropical World will see a redesign where the site will be split into different zones, including an Oriental-style butterfly house and a nocturnal 'dark mine'.
The council said Lotherton Hall's bird garden will be upgraded to house a "much more diverse collection of animals, including penguins".
Home Farm will gain a new indoor play facility under the plans.
Go Ape operates 29 sites across the UK, employing 800 staff during its peak months. | Plans for an aerial obstacle course in Leeds have moved a step closer after councillors gave the scheme the green light. |
31193557 | SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell made the remarks last week, as he stated his party's opposition to abortion in cases of lethal foetal abnormality or rape.
Justice Minister David Ford said he was surprised at a GP making such comments.
"I'm not saying they're right 100% of the time, but to suggest they're wrong 100% of the time was just nonsense."
Lethal foetal abnormality is where a baby in the womb has a condition which means it will die while either in the womb or shortly after birth.
Mr Ford told the BBC's Inside Politics programme: "I would be the last person to claim that doctors always get it right, but for a medically qualified politician to say doctors always get it wrong, I found slightly surprising.
"I don't know why he said it because it's absolutely clear that, in terms of the kind of diagnosis which is made from 20-week scans around issue like anencephaly, that by and large obstetricians get it right."
Mr Ford's Department of Justice (DoJ) has recently run a public consultation on proposals to change Northern Ireland's abortion law, which differs from the rest of the UK.
Currently, a termination is only legal in Northern Ireland if a woman's life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.
The DoJ recommended allowing abortion in lethal abnormality cases but did not make recommendations for rape cases.
However, Mr McDonnell said last week he was not persuaded of the need to change the abortion law in either case.
"The SDLP is unequivocally opposed to abortion, even in those particular circumstances because basically, the predictions in those circumstances are never accurate," he said.
"Nobody can predict that a foetus is not viable, and that's the problem, and as a GP, I'm fully aware.
"I have seen situations where termination or an abortion was recommended to somebody because a foetus that had this, that or the other thing, and that foetus grew up to be a perfectly normal child."
Mr Ford brought his proposals forward following the case of Sarah Ewart, who contacted the BBC's Nolan Show in 2013, to highlight her experience of being denied an abortion in Northern Ireland.
She travelled to England for a termination, after doctors told her that her baby had no chance of survival.
"We were told we were carrying a baby with anencephaly - it's the worst case of spina bifida so the baby has no skull formed and it's brain dead. It's very hard to come to terms with," Ms Ewart said at the time. | Stormont's justice minister has accused the SDLP leader of talking "nonsense" after he claimed doctors cannot predict when a foetus has a lethal abnormality. |
34326046 | Florin Neula, Alexandru Uzum and Eduard Zamosteanu are alleged to have installed a "card trapping" device and a camera on a bank machine in Scone.
They are said to have used the device to take cash from former St Johnstone footballer Nathan Lowndes in May 2015.
The three men denied seven charges against them, and the case was continued for trial.
Necula, 30, Uzum, 25, both of Edinburgh, and Zamosteanu, 27, are accused of possessing the card trapping device at various addresses between 20 May and 9 June this year.
Uzum and Zamosteanu are said to have installed the machine on an ATM in Scone on 20 May, and used it to steal the footballer's bank card and pin code.
Zamosteanu is then alleged to have used the details to operate an ATM and steal £200, before the pair then used it again to steal £10.
Necula and Uzum are accused of installing the device again at the same machine on 28 May in a bid to steal a bank card and pin code.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, Sheriff Alistair Carmichael continued the case to a sheriff and jury trial assize next week. | Three Romanian men are to stand trial accused of running a bank card skimming fraud in a Perthshire village. |
13124035 | Shawn Tyson was arrested in connection with the deaths of James Kouzaris, 24, from Northampton, and James Cooper, 25, of Warwick.
The friends, ex-Sheffield University students, were found shot dead in the city of Sarasota on Saturday.
Police said the boy had previously been arrested for aggravated assault with a handgun on 7 April.
Officers said there was no known link between him and the two victims.
Police said they were called to the Newtown area of northern Sarasota at about 0300 local time.
A search revealed the bodies of Mr Kouzaris and Mr Cooper lying about 50ft apart on the street.
Sarasota police said the 16-year-old, who lives close to where the bodies were found, was arrested about 24 hours later.
Local officers said it was "very unusual" to find tourists in the area, several miles from recognised tourist zones.
The two friends had been staying with Mr Cooper's parents on the island city of Longboat Key, about 12 miles from where they were found.
Sarasota police chief Mikel Hollaway said detectives had their "suspicions (about what the two men were doing there) but at this time it would be unfair to state those".
Capt Paul Sutton, of Sarasota's police department, said detectives were "examining all theories" and "keeping an open mind" as to how and why the friends came to be in the "no-go" area.
He said the Britons may have befriended someone who gave them a lift, could have got a cab which detectives have not yet traced, or may have walked.
"Anything you could imagine is a possibility," he said.
Mr Sutton said there was no known link between the suspect and the victims.
"It is very unusual to find tourists or visitors in this area. It is a residential neighbourhood with no shops and no bars. We do not know what brought them here at 3am," he said.
Asked whether there could be more arrests in the case, Mr Sutton said: "We're looking at the possibility. More than one person ran when the shots were fired.
"Are other people involved or is it people who just happened to be there?"
Police confirmed the two Britons were not carrying any drugs but would not say whether they had any weapons or an unusually large amount of money.
Friends and family have paid tribute to the victims, describing them as role models who lived life to the full.
Mr Kouzaris' sister, Emily, posted a tribute to him on Facebook that read: "My brother was a legend and he will be missed and loved by many, many people."
His cousin Lynn Hucker wrote: "To a beautiful cousin who I will never forget. Always happy and full of life."
Ed Ferrari, research fellow from the University of Sheffield's Department of Town and Regional Planning, said Mr Kouzaris was committed to his studies and "his positive outlook and humour were infectious".
The tutor said: "He was just the sort of student any lecturer would hope to have in their class."
Mr Kouzaris, who was known as Jam, spent several months travelling in South America before his death, visiting Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia.
Mr Cooper worked as a tennis coach for inspire2coach, a company based at the University of Warwick and was due to become head coach when he returned from his holiday. He also played tennis for Warwickshire as a child.
James Roe, his friend and former coach, said Mr Cooper's claim to fame was that he had played against Andy Murray in a junior tournament.
"He was an only child and the apple of his mum and dad's eye.
"He was a model student and a cracking tennis player," the coach added.
Mr Cooper was also a Coventry City season ticket holder, he said.
Dr Jon Burchell, Senior Lecturer from the University of Sheffield's Management School, said Mr Cooper was hard-working and "popular among his peers".
The tutor said: "He had a good sense of humour and a range of plans for what he wanted to do after graduation." | A 16-year-old boy is being questioned over the murders of two British holidaymakers in Florida. |
31987894 | At the close of trading, the Dow Jones was up 0.9% at 17,959.03, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% at 2,089.27 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.68% at 5026.42 points.
The latter is edging nearer to its all-time highest close of 5,048.62, reached in March 2000.
The US oil benchmark, West Texas Crude, rose by 1.7%, to $46.32 a barrel.
Shares in sportswear giant Nike went up by almost 4%, after it reported that net income rose 16% to $791m.
However the firm warned that the dollar's recent strength would hit future profits.
Luxury jewellery firm Tiffany's shares fell by 4% after the company said that the strong dollar was having "a negative effect on spending by foreign tourists".
But the dollar's rise was stemmed somewhat on Friday. It dropped back against the euro again losing 1.56% to €0.9237 and it lost 1.22% against sterling to £0.6694. | (Close): US shares ended the week with solid gains, recovering some of Thursday's lost ground. |
32114257 | The 31-year-old made his debut as a contributor to the nightly satirical show last December.
His first appearance took aim at racial tensions in the US, saying: "I never thought I'd be more afraid of police in America than in South Africa."
Stewart announced he would be stepping down in January. He has hosted the influential comedy show for 16 years.
The presenter has yet to set a timetable for his departure, but the selection of a replacement should make the task easier.
Producers will want to give Noah time to settle into this new role before next year's Presidential election.
Speaking to the New York Times from Dubai, where he is on tour, the comedian expressed disbelief at his appointment.
"You don't believe it for the first few hours," he said. "You need a stiff drink, and then unfortunately you're in a place where you can't really get alcohol."
"I'm thrilled for the show and for Trevor," said Stewart in a statement. "He's a tremendous comic and talent that we've loved working with."
The star added he "may rejoin [The Daily Show] as a correspondent just to be a part of it!"
Comedian Chris Rock, who had been touted as a possible replacement for Stewart, tweeted: "Thank you president Obama"
Under Stewart's guidance, The Daily Show has become one of the most important political programmes on US television.
Even though he insists he is a comedian, not a journalist, Stewart's passionate monologues on politics, race and social justice exert a real influence on political debate in the United States.
"He essentially invented a new way to deliver the news that spoke to a younger generation less trusting of the traditional sources but still very interested in the world." said Dan Pfeiffer, an adviser to President Barack Obama, when Stewart announced he was quitting.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren added: "Washington is rigged for the big guys - and no person has more consistently called them out for it than Jon Stewart. Good luck, Jon!"
As well as Stewart, the Daily Show has also nurtured the careers of comedians such as Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver - all of whom started off a "reporters" in the show's fake newsroom set-up.
Noah is a relative unknown in the States, but has hosted numerous television shows - including his own late night talk show - in his native country.
It has garnered him an avid following on Twitter, where his two million followers will be aware of his ability to satirise the news without disengaging from the issues.
One popular tweet, posted during Nelson Mandela's memorial service in 2013, read: "People shouldn't have booed Zuma at Mandela's memorial. But it's crazy that their anger supersedes their pain."
And after the 2012 Olympic Games, he quipped: "I'll miss the Olympics. It's the one time, when a group of black people can run, with no suspicion."
Noah was previously the subject of David Paul Meyer's award-winning film You Laugh But It's True, which documented his career in post-apartheid South Africa.
The comedian has also appeared on UK panel shows including QI and 8 Out Of 10 Cats, as well as performing on the BBC's Live From The Apollo programme.
He also performed at last year's Royal Variety Performance, where he spoke about his parents - a white Swiss man and a black Xhosa woman, whose relationship was illegal under apartheid laws.
His mother was fined and jailed by the South African government - Noah joked that he was "born a crime" - and he grew up in a Soweto township.
A TV career began when he landed a role on the soap opera Isidingo, aged 18, and he went on to host reality shows and radio programmes before becoming a stand-up.
"Trevor Noah is an enormous talent," said Michelle Ganeless, president of Comedy Central, which broadcasts the show. "He has an insightful and unique point of view, and most importantly, is wickedly funny.
"He has a huge international following and is poised to explode here in America, and we are thrilled to have him join Comedy Central."
Writing on Twitter, Noah added: "No-one can replace Jon Stewart. But together with the amazing team at The Daily Show, we will continue to make this the best damn news show!"
South African reaction: Milton Nkosi, Johannesburg
South Africans are overjoyed at the news that their compatriot will succeed Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. It was even the lead story in some local news bulletins.
The Soweto-born comedian is a much-loved figure here. In a polarised country like South Africa he cuts across racial divisions with his great sense of humour.
The department of Arts and Culture told me it was great news.
"No doubt this is a big development for Mr Noah's career and a resounding statement that South Africa has the artistic talent of international stature and calibre," said spokesman Sandile Memela.
"We wish to congratulate him on this significant achievement." | South African comedian Trevor Noah is to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, the New York Times reports. |
35745424 | Veh, 55, was appointed last summer but the club has won only five Bundesliga games and currently lie third from bottom in Germany's top flight.
"We want to give the team a new impulse for the final matches of the season," said Eintracht chief executive Heribert Bruchhagen.
Veh led Stuttgart to the 2007 Bundesliga title. | Eintracht Frankfurt have sacked manager Armin Veh after seven matches without a win has left them fighting relegation. |
37026002 | A statement made by the waterpark said the decision had been taken to preserve public order which was being endangered by "extreme ideological positions".
The "burkini day" was intended only for women wanting to wear the garment.
But it was criticised by conservative politicians who argued it contravened legally-enshrined secular values.
Event Organisers Smile 13 had said that the event, scheduled for 10 September, was for women wearing an all-over body suit that covered from the chest to the knees. The group had made clear that two-piece swimming costumes would not be allowed.
Smile 13 says that, since announcing its plans earlier this month, it has received revolver bullets delivered by courier. In a Facebook post (in French), the group condemned what it called "the Islamophobic polemic" to which it was subjected.
The Islamic veil across Europe
Smile 13 said on its Facebook account that it viewed "with astonishment and regret the extent of the controversy" surrounding the planned event.
Although the initiative was legal, it nevertheless caused uproar among local officials and some right-of-centre politicians.
They denounced what they said was a new expression of "communalism" and "violation of the dignity of women".
The planned event was also attacked by Stephane Ravier, a mayor of two Marseille districts with the far-right National Front (FN).
The Speedwater Park near Marseille announced on Tuesday that it had finally decided not to go ahead with Smile 13's reservation, which had not been confirmed or paid for.
"Neither SpeedWater Park [n]or the [commune] of Pennes-Mirabeau want to... disturb public order caused by issues beyond their territories," the statement said.
France was the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public places, but it is legal to wear Islamic dress.
The country has about five million Muslims, the largest Muslim minority in Western Europe, but it is thought only about 2,000 women wear full veils.
Islamic headscarves were also banned in French schools in 2004.
The plan was for boys under the age of 10, but no men, to be allowed to attend the "burkini" day. | A waterpark near the French city of Marseille has cancelled a day booked by Muslim women to wear "burkinis", the all-over swimming garment. |
35265670 | 13 January 2016 Last updated at 00:29 GMT
Andy Webb, from the service, says that January is a time to deal with a financial hangover from Christmas.
Video Journalist: Kevin Peachey | The BBC News website asked the independent Money Advice Service to deliver a calendar of month-by-month tips for those trying to keep their personal finances in order. |
38535856 | Bydd y chwe chadeirlan Gymreig - Tyddewi, Bangor, Llandaf, Llanelwy, Aberhonddu a Chasnewydd - yn cynnal gwasanaethau er mwyn dathlu'r garreg filltir.
Yn 1997 cafodd 60 o fenywod eu hordeinio yn dilyn ymgyrch hir i sicrhau cydraddoldeb o fewn yr eglwys.
Cyn diwedd mis Ionawr bydd yr eglwys yn cymryd cam arall i'r un cyfeiriad pan fydd y fenyw gyntaf i gael ei phenodi yn esgob, y Canon Joanna Penberthy, yn cael ei chysegru yn esgob Tyddewi ar 21 Ionawr.
Roedd y Canon Enid Morgan ymhlith y gwragedd cyntaf i gael eu hordeinio yn 1997.
Dywedodd: "Ugain mlynedd yn ddiweddarach mae gennym bob rheswm dros ddathlu ac edrych ymlaen.
"Mae cenhedlaeth gyfan wedi tyfu lan yn gweld menywod fel offeiriaid a'u gweinidogaeth fel bod yn normal, a gallwn ddechrau cymryd rhai pethau'n ganiataol."
Ychwanegodd: "Yn wir, pan welwch luniau neu ffilm o grwpiau o glerigwyr heb unrhyw fenywod yn bresennol, mae'n edrych yn rhyfedd a hyd yn oed braidd yn hurt. Creiriau o'r oes o'r blaen." | Bydd yr Eglwys yng Nghymru yn cynnal gwasanaethau arbennig dydd Sadwrn i nodi 20 mlynedd ers i ferched gael eu hordeinio yn offeiriaid am y tro cyntaf. |
31073438 | The Serb, ranked number one, came through 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0 in three hours and 39 minutes.
It was a third win over British number one Murray in a Melbourne final and brought him an eighth Grand Slam title.
Murray, 27, has now won two of the eight Grand Slam finals he has played in, having lost all four in Australia.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I would like to congratulate Novak - it is a fantastic record and thoroughly deserved," said Murray.
"It is probably my most consistent Grand Slam throughout my career but I just haven't been able to win."
Murray, who underwent back surgery towards the end of 2013 and was playing in his first Grand Slam final since winning Wimbledon earlier that year, added: "I'm closer than I was a few months ago.
"I'll try to come back next year and have a slightly different outcome in the final."
The Scot, who will return to fourth in the world rankings on Monday, had chances in each of the first three sets of the final but ultimately lost his way and his temper as Djokovic won 12 of the last 13 games.
Djokovic, a week younger than his opponent, did look vulnerable at times, hurting his hand in a fall and appearing to struggle with an ankle problem early in the second set.
There were some concerned looks to coach Boris Becker in the stands. He stumbled on more than one occasion and required some energy-boosting fluids at a break down in the third set.
Murray later admitted he had been "distracted" by the Serb's apparent physical issues and, just as at the US Open last September, he could not keep pace with Djokovic in the closing stages.
Djokovic had made a blistering start, racing into a 4-1 lead and going 20 minutes before he offered up a first unforced error.
It was to Murray's credit that he twice hauled back breaks to force a tie-break, but a double-fault at 4-2 and a loose volley at 5-5 simply gave Djokovic too many chances.
The four-time champion clinched it when Murray netted a return, before suffering an awkward fall chasing a net cord early in the second that required treatment to his hand.
Murray moved into a 2-0 lead but saw the advantage wiped out when a rejuvenated Djokovic strung together 13 straight points.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Again, Murray fought back, a forehand into the corner making it 4-4, and three break points were saved at 5-5 on the way to a second tie-break.
This time the Scot would not relinquish an advantage, winning a gripping rally to lead 5-2 and converting his third set point.
When Djokovic netted a forehand to drop serve at the start of the third set, Murray appeared to have finally gained the initiative after two and a half hours.
It proved to be his last moment to savour, however. Increasingly frustrated by a resurgent opponent, his second serve slipped from being vulnerable to a liability.
Djokovic was now winning 75% of those points, with Murray screaming "how many times" as his advantage fell away.
The Serb saw off one final moment of danger at break point in game seven, gesturing to coach Becker to become more animated, but he required no assistance.
Murray was a rapidly fading force, double faulting to drop serve at 5-3, and winning just 11 points in a fourth set that disappeared in under half an hour.
Djokovic celebrated by throwing his racquet into the crowd, while a furious Murray smashed his in despair.
"I'm honoured to be standing here as a champion for a fifth time," said the Serb after collecting the trophy from Australia's Roy Emerson, the only man to win six titles. | Novak Djokovic proved too strong for Andy Murray as he won a fifth Australian Open title in a punishing final. |
26358575 | Special Report: The Technology of Business
Hey you, get on to my cloud
Domain shift sends cyber world dotty
How to cash in with off-the-peg apps
Taj Mahal comes to your living room
Sochi 2014: Hi-tech Winter Games
The BBC dropped in on the Lotus F1 Team in Enstone, Oxfordshire, to see how it is preparing for the 2014 race season, due to start in Melbourne, Australia, on 16 March.
With a budget less than half that of the top F1 teams and other problems to grapple with, Lotus needs all the help technology can give it.
It is coping with the recent loss of its team principal, Eric Boullier, to McLaren and a new boss trying to deal with last year's £140m hole in the company's finances that led to the defection of star driver Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari.
As every tenth of a second counts in F1 racing, the way technology is optimised can ultimately make tens of millions of dollars' difference to a team's annual revenue, says chief executive Matthew Carter, parachuted in by owners Genii Capital to try to stabilise the business.
"We are operating on half the budget of some of the big boys, so we have to think of different ways of making that work and being competitive," he says.
That means making better use of technology in every part of the business.
The latest rule changes - involving a smaller turbo-charged engine with a more powerful electric battery and energy recovery system, as well as a narrower front wing and lower chassis to reduce downforce - have necessitated thousands of new drawings, parts and tests.
"They're the biggest rule changes I've seen in 20 years of working in the sport," says Nick Chester, chief technical director for Lotus F1 Team. "We had to start developing this car two and a half years ago."
To help improve efficiency, the team has jettisoned its piecemeal approach to software - different packages doing different jobs - and entered into a £4m, four-year contract to use Microsoft's Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) software across the whole organisation, says Mr Chester.
The nature of the Microsoft partnership - although not exclusive to Lotus - allows the team to tailor the software to suit its needs and gain access to the technology giant's research and development team in Redmond, Washington, he says.
The ERP helps plan and manage the highly complex process by which computer-aided designs, informed by computational fluid dynamics, eventually end up as wind-tunnel-honed carbon-fibre speed machines hurtling round a track.
"It helped us cope with an increase from 12,000 to 14,000 drawings that the new car required," he says. "It also enables us to run parallel design programmes and allocate resources accordingly."
During a season, a car might receive 200 to 250 aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades, he says, requiring an additional 6,000 drawings, all of which need to be planned for, resourced and delivered to the tracks on schedule.
Development costs have been reduced by the introduction of laser 3D printing, which can turn designs into prototype parts far more quickly and cheaply than before.
Better technology also helps reduce time wasted on basic administration by automating common processes, according to IT director Michael Taylor.
"If you can free up an aerodynamicist's time by just one minute a day, over the course of the year that's a significant amount of time. And if you can extend the design lifecycle, in theory, you create a better design," he says.
And when a part fails, the team needs to identify exactly what caused the problem and at what stage the weakness occurred, from the moment the purchase order for the materials was placed right up to the second it broke.
"We need a single source of truth," says Mr Taylor.
Data is a huge part of the sport - the car's on-board computer and the many sensors that wirelessly communicate with the team will generate up to 50 gigabytes of data per race, all of which needs to be analysed immediately.
While the car is zooming round the track at up to 200mph in Abu Dhabi, say, the team back in Enstone is monitoring the real-time data flow remotely using VMware's virtual desktop technology.
All this commercially sensitive data is stored in two concrete bunkers at the Oxfordshire site - external cloud storage services are not trusted enough yet, although Mr Taylor does envisage such a move in the future.
Top-secret files are shared securely between partners, such as engine provider Renault, using EMC's Syncplicity software. "It's like a commercial version of Dropbox," he says.
"IT enables everything inside this business. And the be-all and end-all of our IT strategy is to give us a competitive edge," says Mr Taylor.
In-season testing on track, in wind tunnels and simulators has been restricted by the sport's governing body, the FIA, in an attempt to cut costs and allow the smaller teams to survive.
While these restrictions were "absolutely essential", according to boss Matthew Carter, it puts far more emphasis on IT to plug the gap.
"The lack of testing in F1 means we have to do an awful lot of work back here, making sure there's a real good correlation between the information we get from the simulator and wind-tunnel testing and what happens on the track, so that we can continue punching above our weight," he says.
"If you stop investing in technology and stand still, others overtake you very rapidly in this sport." | Formula 1 is the most technologically advanced sport on the planet, and the latest radical rule changes have imposed a whole new set of challenges on the teams. |
29235655 | The number of jobless people fell by 146,000 to 2.02 million over the quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported.
Those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in August fell below one million for the first time in six years.
But average weekly earnings still lagged way behind inflation.
Excluding bonuses, average earnings in the May to July period rose by 0.7% from a year earlier; including bonuses, they rose by 0.6%.
The current rate of inflation is 1.5%.
Last month, the Bank of England halved its forecast for average wage growth in 2014 to 1.25%, leading some commentators to believe it is under little pressure to raise interest rates any time soon.
According to the Bank's latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes, the nine-member committee voted 7-2 to hold interest rates at their historic low of 0.5%.
It is the second month in a row that two members have voted to raise interest rates, which have been unchanged since March 2009.
The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in August fell by 37,200 to 966,500, the ONS said.
Over the year the number of unemployed had fallen by 468,000 - the largest annual fall in unemployment since 1988.
And the number of jobless 16-to-24 year olds fell by 106,000 to 747,000 over the quarter and by 213,000 over the year.
"These were the largest quarterly and annual falls in youth unemployment since comparable records began in 1992," the ONS said.
But although the number of people in employment rose by 74,000 to 30.61 million over the period, this was the smallest quarterly increase since the April to June quarter in 2013.
Responding to the figures, Chancellor George Osborne tweeted: "Today's employment stats mark another step towards full employment. But still much more to do."
But Labour's shadow employment minister Stephen Timms said: "Today's fall in overall unemployment is welcome, but the new figures have shown working people are seeing their pay falling far behind the cost of living.
"Pay excluding bonuses today is the lowest on record. Under this government wages after inflation have already fallen by over £1,600 a year since 2010 and by next year working people will have seen the biggest fall in wages of any Parliament since 1874."
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "The further marked fall in unemployment points to a still rapidly tightening labour market, thereby seemingly boosting the case for an interest rate hike sooner rather than later by the Bank of England.
"But only a modest increase in earnings growth from very low levels suggests that there is still an appreciable amount of labour market slack with little pressure on inflation coming from pay."
The unemployment figures are based on the Labour Force Survey, in which the ONS speaks to 60,000 households once a quarter, making it the country's biggest household survey.
The ONS is 95% confident that the figure of 2.02 million unemployed is within 77,000 of being accurate either way. | The unemployment rate fell to 6.2% over the three months to the end of July, its lowest level since 2008, official figures show. |
32517366 | The growth figure was far lower than expectations. Analysts had forecast growth would be about 1%.
Harsh winter weather for a second year dampened consumer spending, while energy companies struggling with low oil prices cut investment.
The strength of the dollar also hurt exports, which fell by 7.2%.
A strike by dock workers at normally busy West Coast ports also hindered growth.
But the US Commerce Department said there were signs that activity was picking up in the second quarter.
The US growth figure much lower than the previous three months, when the economy expanded at an annualised pace of 2.2%.
The dollar has risen on the back of expected rate rises by the Fed, and has hit the highest level in more than 10 years against its trading partners.
That has hit the ability of US exporters to sell their wares overseas. Tellingly, services exports continued to grow by 7.3%, since selling services isn't very dependent on the price, but rather relies on the quality of what's proffered. It's also not dependent on ports.
A strong dollar, though, helps consumption and imports, which registered positive growth of 1.8%.
In other words, a strong dollar makes imports cheaper and keeps down price rises. Those imports feed into consumption, which expanded by 1.9%.
That's not the strongest growth rate, since there are also reports that the cold weather made consumers reluctant to venture out and spend.
But it's a positive growth driver alongside investment, which also expanded by 2%. The final component of GDP, government spending, contracted by 0.8% due to continued cutbacks by state and local governments.
So, what growth the US economy eked out was due to private consumption and investment.
Read Linda's blog in full
The Commerce Department did not say how much impact the weather, the strong dollar and the ports disruptions had had on growth.
But economists estimated that the unusually cold weather in February could have affected economic growth by as much as half a percentage point, with the port disruptions reducing growth by a further 0.3 percentage points.
Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, slowed to 1.9%. That compared with 4.4% growth in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The extreme winter weather also meant construction output slowed, while lower oil prices led to a slowdown in US oil production and a reduction in investment.
Business investment in mining, exploration, shafts and oil wells plunged by 48.7% in the quarter, the Commerce Department said.
US oil field services provider Schlumberger has cut its capital spending plans for this year by about $500m to $2.5bn, while Halliburton has reduced investment by about 15% to $2.8bn.
However, economists believe that most of the cuts to investment by energy companies have already taken place, and so energy-related spending will not weigh on growth as much in the second quarter of the year.
Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said the US economy "all but stagnated" in the first quarter.
But he added that while the 0.2% annualised gain might raise fears that the recovery was somehow coming off the rails, he anticipated a "marked acceleration in growth" over the remaining three quarters of this year.
"Over the past 12 months, the economy has expanded by 3% and we would expect it to continue growing at around that pace this year too," he added.
The first quarter growth figures come ahead of the outcome of the latest US Federal Reserve meeting.
While no change in interest rates is expected, the Fed's statement will be studied for clues as to when the central bank might start to raise rates. | The US economy "all but stagnated" in the first three months of the year, growing at an annual rate of just 0.2%, official figures show. |
37517901 | They also called for a work permit and cap system to control the number of EU migrants coming to the UK.
Led by Leave campaigner John Redwood, the "Brexit Blueprint" urges a "take it or leave it" attitude to EU trade.
Mrs May, who is due to tackle Brexit at the Tory conference on Sunday, says the right deal may not be the quickest one.
She has already stated that Article 50, the formal mechanism for Britain leaving the EU, will not be triggered this year - but faces calls to clarify the government's demands.
'Make a success of this'
The so-called Blueprint was compiled at a private conference in Oxford's All Souls College earlier this month.
It was convened by former Cabinet minister Mr Redwood with other contributions from former Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson, Peter Lilley and Sir William Cash.
Mr Redwood told the meeting there was no reason why negotiations over the terms of British withdrawal from the EU should take anything like the two-year maximum laid down by Article 50.
"It is in both sides' interest to reach an earlier agreement to reduce business uncertainty," he said.
"If there is a breakdown or no likelihood of agreement, then the UK should withdraw and after the two-year period the UK will be formally out. Trade will revert to World Trade Organization rules."
But in an inteview ahead of the Conservative Party conference Mrs May told BBC political editor for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Tim Iredale: "We need to ensure we're getting the right deal for Britain and that means not necessarily the quickest deal.
"So we're taking time to prepare before we formally start the negotiations - what's called this triggering of Article 50... We're going to make a success of this - there are opportunities for us when we leave the EU - but we need to ensure we're taking our time to get the deal right."
The Blueprint says that as Article 50 is triggered, a Bill should be brought forward repealing the 1972 European Communities Act, which gave legal force to the country's membership of the then European Economic Community.
The Bill would convert EU law into British law "and so help ensure a smooth Brexit, minimising disruption to industry and commerce," the Blueprint says. "Subsequently, it would be open to this government and its successors to scrap aspects of EU law not considered in the UK's interests."
It also suggests Britain should either continue tariff-free trade with the bloc post Brexit, but without any obligation to accept free movement of EU citizens - or trade freely under the "relatively light" WTO standard tariffs. "The onus would be on the remaining 27 members of the EU either to accept the current arrangements or insist on a WTO deal," it said.
'Nothing to lose'
While EU migrants should come under the same work permit and cap system as the rest of the world, students, EU tourists and intra-company transfers would be exempt.
Permits would only be issued to lower skilled and lower paid workers if the government judged there were not enough British applicants for such jobs, it said.
Former work and pensions secretary Mr Duncan Smith said migrants should not be eligible for in-work or out-of-work benefits post-Brexit until they have lived in the country for five years, or made National Insurance payments over a four-year period.
Former social security secretary Mr Lilley said outside the EU, the UK could be a leader for free trade worldwide, with the agriculture and manufacturing sectors of developing countries gaining better access to the UK market in return for the UK having better access to markets for their services and high-tech products.
The Brexit Blueprint was published by the Centre for Social Justice and the Legatum Institute. The London-based think-tanks also produced a report suggesting that many supporters of Leave had "nothing to lose" and were disproportionately poorer, older and less well educated than those backing Remain.
Of people living in households earning more than £60,000 a year, 65 per cent backed Remain, the report suggests, but this figure plunged to 38 per cent among those earning less than £20,000 a year.
Earlier this week, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox claimed the UK's trade with the European Union will be "at least as free" after Brexit as it is now.
But Sir David Edward, a former judge at the European Court of Justice, retorted: "Nobody who understands trade law could have possibly have said what he said... When the UK notifies its intent to leave the bloc, the country won't be in the 'driving seat' or be able to 'insist on anything' when negotiating a possible deal with the EU." | Britain could quit the EU well within the two-year time limit laid down by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, Tory ex-ministers have told Theresa May. |
38654259 | A statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has said the split caused "lasting damage" to the unity of the Church - something that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and left a "legacy of mistrust and competition".
It went on to say: "Such repentance needs to be linked to action aimed at reaching out to other churches and strengthening relationships with them."
This may seem like an apology that has arrived 500 years too late, but it comes during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and is a further sign that these two Churches are seeking to repent of past failings and find more ways in which they might work together.
The historic rupture, which began in October 1517 when the German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg Cathedral, led to centuries of violence, where rulers of one Church would frequently execute communicant members of the other.
Last October, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury presided at a service in Rome that was held on the fiftieth anniversary of the historic summit between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which established the Anglican Centre in Rome.
In a joint declaration issued after the service in October, the two leaders said they were "undeterred" from seeking unity between the two denominations.
While the Archbishops of Canterbury and York embrace the theological distinctives that arose out of the Reformation, specifically Martin Luther's emphasis on Christian salvation being through faith and not by merit or effort, they regret the bloodshed that followed that historic rupture in 1517.
It is worth noting that both Churches always mark 4 May as a day for Reformation Martyrs, with the Church of England praying that 'those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven'.
Today's statement is a call to all Christians, of whatever denomination, to repent of division and to unite within the Christian Gospel. | The Church of England has said Protestants should "repent of their part in perpetuating divisions" - 500 years after the Reformation began the split from the Catholic Church in Europe. |
35914646 | Newlyweds Sarah and Matthew Oke were having their pictures taken at Lucy's Gully on the North Island when they ran into the gang members.
They were in the area paying respects to the dead as part of a traditional Maori "hikoi" at the mountain.
The gang members agreed to pose for a pictures with the couple, and even gave a salute.
Formed in Wellington during the 1970s, Black Power is a prominent gang made up of Maori and Polynesian members.
Some members have been linked to drug running and other organised crime.
Photographer Rebecca Inns, 31, who captured the moment on film, detailed the experience in a Facebook post.
"The rain had just cleared and we were enjoying a lovely sunny wedding shoot," she described. "As we headed back, we came across a very full car-park and the guys who were there as part of a hikoi."
"We asked if it would be okay to include them in a wedding photo and they were really accommodating. This is the result."
New Zealand's gangs
The unconventional photograph received 5,000 reactions on the site and was shared close to 600 times.
Some have praised it for helping to break down barriers and racial stereotypes.
Ms Inns, who said the couple had given her permission to share the photo, told the BBC that she was "completely taken by surprise" at the interest.
"Both parties just happened to be in the same place at the same time, both there for their own special reasons - and it has made for a wonderfully unique photo," she said.
"We definitely did not expect it to go viral when capturing the moment. But we pride ourselves on recording those unique moments in a couple's special day."
Ms Inns said the gang members had been "very respectful".
"They all offered their congratulations to the couple and were so kind. They also told the bride how beautiful she looked."
Reporting by the BBC's Heather Chen. | A couple's chance wedding photograph with members of New Zealand's Black Power gang has gone viral on Facebook. |
33751149 | The fire at the house at Hazel View was reported to police at about 05:00 BST on Sunday.
Jennifer Dornan, a mother-of-three, was found dead at the scene. Police said the cause of the fire is being investigated.
Witnesses said flames could be seen billowing through the house from miles away.
Tanya Watson, a friend of the woman, said: "She was the life and soul of everywhere she went - there's guys here this morning paying tribute to her who have only met her once, she made that much impact on somebody's life as soon as she entered it.
"This is huge loss to our community, she was involved in everything, every aspect, from community centres to youth centres she was involved and her kids were heavily involved, she put herself out there and made herself known and she was perfect."
Another friend, Andrea Gallagher, said: "She was just so bubbly and outgoing, she was just a best friend to everybody.
"If you ever needed your kids minded she'd have said ' no problem, just drop them in, I'll keep them overnight'.
"Anything, she'd have done it for you,"
Sinn Féin assembly member Jennifer McCann said: "People here are just devastated, the community, the family .
"I've been speaking with the young woman's family - this is a mother of three young children, to die so tragically in this way, it's just beyond words." | A 30-year-old woman has died in a fire in the Lagmore area on the outskirts of west Belfast. |
39270065 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The home side overwhelmed the Six Nations champions with their intensity and physicality, just as they had in Slam deciders here in 2011 and 2001.
In the process they also halted England's winning run at a record 18 Tests, leaving them level with New Zealand, who were also beaten by Ireland to bring to an end their record run back in November.
A first-half try from Iain Henderson and eight points from the boot of a battered Johnny Sexton established a lead that England never looked like closing, despite Owen Farrell's three penalties.
It was a horrible, chastening evening for Eddie Jones' men, the first defeat of his reign coming with arguably the worst performance of his 18 matches in charge, although they at least have the consolation of retaining their Six Nations title.
Ireland had come into the match having lost two of their four matches in the championship, but a green-shirted gale blew the men in white away, their much-vaunted finishers unable to get them out of jail one more time.
The victory ensured Ireland finished second in the table, ahead of France and Scotland on points difference.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Once again England will leave the Irish capital with their hopes of a Grand Slam in tatters, slow out of the blocks, sloppy with ball in hand and nowhere near their record-breaking best.
They were second best at the breakdown and unable to get a grip on a contest they had begun as clear favourites to win, Ireland with two-thirds of both territory and possession.
They appeared flustered from the opening moments and never found their precision.
In a city still celebrating St Patrick's Day it was another joyous piece of party-pooping, England's disappointment compounded by having to receive their Six Nations trophy when the players felt only defeat.
Having already lost first-choice scrum-half Conor Murray to injury, Ireland then had to reorganise minutes before kick-off when Jamie Heaslip hurt himself in the warm-up, CJ Stander moving to number eight and Peter O'Mahony coming into the starting line-up and producing an outstanding performance.
In an opening every bit as frenetic as expected, both sides had early chances, Farrell's pass hitting Mike Brown on the shoulder with Elliot Daly free outside him, Jared Payne delaying his own pass to Keith Earls down the other end.
After Sexton and Farrell exchanged penalties, Ireland then struck again, twice kicking penalties to the corner, Henderson reaching out after a driving maul to slam the ball over the try line.
A 10-3 lead reflected Ireland's grip on the match, with almost 75% territory and possession in the first quarter.
England were rattled, Courtney Lawes knocking on, Ford kicking out on the full from outside his 22, the men in white being forced to make three times as many tackles as their opponents.
The only silver lining for Jones was that the deficit was not greater, the bad news that England had never come from behind at half-time in Dublin to win a Six Nations match.
The English mistakes kept coming. Anthony Watson dropped a pass in space, a line-out that had been near-flawless through the first four rounds began to fail.
Then England made a mess of an Irish line-out on the 10-metre line, won the turnover and Farrell thumped over the long-range penalty to narrow the gap to four points.
It brought the contest to a fresh head, a battle of voices in the stands matched by a new intensity on the pitch.
Payne escaped through two tackles to thunder deep into England's 22 to halt their momentum, and after a late hit on Sexton the battered fly-half stepped up to drill over his second penalty for 13-6.
Jones had his finishers on, Jamie George for captain Dylan Hartley, Ben Te'o for Ford, Wood for Haskell, and a relentless driving maul brought a penalty that Farrell knocked over for 13-9 with 13 minutes left.
With rain hammering down from the evening sky, England began to make dents, only to lose a critical attacking line-out to O'Mahony when Farrell had opted to kick a long-range penalty to touch.
Never again would they get close to the Irish line, the capacity crowd celebrating wildly as Brown's final knock-on snuffed out England's final hopes.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt:
"We just wanted to make sure all the bits and pieces we needed to get right to get a skinny margin over a super team, we ticked those boxes.
"The bit of pride we can take is the three teams that sit above us in the world we have beaten in the last six months."
England head coach Eddie Jones:
"Everything was wrong with the preparation because we played like that. I take full responsibility, I didn't prepare the team well and we will respond in the future.
"It was a tight old game. One or two things go your way and the game flips, they didn't go our way today, we didn't work hard enough to get those opportunities and that's what happens."
Ex-England scrum-half Matt Dawson:
"I'm applauding Ireland, that was one of the finest Ireland displays I've seen in a long time, the opposition are world class and Ireland have stepped up yet again, a fantastic display.
"I know how these England players feel, they will be low, dejected, but they should be extremely proud of how they have transformed English rugby."
Former Ireland winger Denis Hickie:
"This will definitely rank as one of Ireland's greatest wins, going in truly against the odds against what is a tremendous England team."
*both New Zealand and England's 18-Test winning runs were ended by Ireland
This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser
Ireland: Payne, Earls, Ringrose, Henshaw, Zebo, Sexton, Marmion, J McGrath, Best, Furlong, D Ryan, Henderson, O'Mahony, O'Brien, Stander.
Replacements: Conway for Earls (41), L McGrath for Marmion (69), C Healy for J McGrath (60), Scannell for Best (73), J Ryan for Furlong (76), Toner for D Ryan (65), Leavy for O'Brien (66).
Not Used: Jackson.
England: Brown; Watson, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; Marler, Hartley, Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Itoje, Haskell, B Vunipola.
Replacements: Nowell for Joseph (68), Te'o for Ford (63), Care for Youngs (63), M Vunipola for Marler (41), George for Hartley (55), Sinckler for Cole (78), Wood for Haskell (60), Hughes for B Vunipola (63). | Ireland wrecked England's Grand Slam dream and ended their world record run of victories with a dramatic win at a rejoicing Aviva Stadium. |
30903570 | Darren Edwards, 35, from Willington, died on Sunday when his Citreon C2 left the A690 and smashed into a brick wall in the village.
He leaves behind fiancé Tanya Palliser and daughters Chloe, 15, Paige, eight, and four-year-old Freya.
The girls said: "We can't believe he has gone."
In a statement released through Durham police, Mr Edwards' daughters said: "We are going to miss our daddy so much.
"He was so much fun and he used to make us laugh all the time when we were playing games together."
His family said: "We are completely devastated to have lost our kind, funny and loving Darren.
"He adored his three daughters and the thought of them growing up without him is so very hard for us to comprehend." | The three daughters of a man killed when his car hit a wall in County Durham have spoken of their devastation at his death. |
39301261 | Melbourne Cup winner Mark Kavanagh and Danny O'Brien appealed after being banned by Racing Victoria for three and four years respectively last year over the use of cobalt chloride.
Four of O'Brien's horses and one trained by Kavanagh failed urine tests.
However, a tribunal said the testing procedure "departed from requirements".
Justice Greg Garde of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) added: "The legal consequence is that the test results are inadmissible in evidence against the trainers."
O'Brien criticised Racing Victoria following the decision, saying that he and Kavanagh, who won the 2009 Melbourne Cup with Shocking, are "completely innocent".
He added: "Once we understand the ins and outs of [the judgement], we will be reserving all our rights."
Racing Victoria's acting chief executive Giles Thompson said the governing authority were "disappointed" with the outcome and would review the reasons behind VCAT's judgement before deciding on future action.
"It is important to remember that we took action because the horses involved returned cobalt readings that were excessively above the legal threshold that was set to protect both the integrity of the sport and the welfare of the horses," said Thompson. | Two Australian trainers found guilty of doping horses have had their bans overturned after evidence used to prosecute them was ruled inadmissible. |
39556062 | The figures come from NHS Digital, which oversees cyber security, and show an increase on 16 attacks in 2015.
NHS Digital said the figures showed a "rise in reporting, not necessarily a rise in cyber attacks".
But Oliver Farnan, from the Oxford Cyber Security Centre, said ransomware attacks had become more common.
'The risk is going to increase'
Ransomware is software that locks computer systems and then demands a ransom to unlock the data.
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) repelled five ransomware attacks in 2016.
"That is something a number of hospitals have seen and is potentially quite worrying," said Dr Chris Bunch from OUH.
He added: "Across the health service we are still to a very large extent paper-based... and as we move increasingly towards digital records the risk is going to increase."
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reported four ransomware attacks in 2016, and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust sustained three ransomware attacks each last year.
No patient data was lost in any of the attacks on the trusts and a spokesperson for Kings College Hospitals Trust said it had a cyber security response plan that it continually reviewed and monitored.
Oliver Farnan from the Oxford Cyber Security Centre, said it was hard to know if enough money was being spent on security in the NHS.
"Money is only really spent on security once everything else is up and running and in place... it always comes second," he said.
But David Emm, principal security researcher at internet security firm Kaspersky Lab, said basic steps such as backing up data could make a difference.
"Ransomware is a very blunt instrument.. .if you have a back-up of data then you are not in a position where people can extort money in that way," he said.
However, Mr Emm said public bodies faced specific challenges, and added that money was an issue.
"They have lots of people accessing the systems, there is lots of data moving in and out of the organisation, that does actually make it harder to secure that information," he said.
NHS Digital said it had established CareCERT which issues notices about the national threat level and publishes advice on good practice.
It said its launch in October 2015 has contributed to the increase in the reporting of cyber attacks, and that more than 100 organisations had received on-site assessments to improve security. | NHS hospital trusts in England reported 55 cyber attacks in 2016, according to data obtained by the BBC. |
35832135 | O'Leary, 19, made his senior Robins debut against Premier League side West Brom in the third round of FA Cup.
He goes straight into Harriers' squad for Saturday's trip to Lincoln City.
He joins a Kidderminster side battling to avoid relegation, bottom of the table and 12 points from safety with nine games left to play.
Meanwhile, Zaine Francis-Angol and Gurjit Singh have been called up for international duty.
Midfielder Francis-Angol is in the Antigua & Barbuda squad for their upcoming CFU Caribbean Cup qualifiers against Aruba and St Kitts & Nevis.
Striker Singh has been included in an initial Punjab FA squad for their upcoming 2016 ConIFA World Championships in May and June. | National League strugglers Kidderminster Harriers have signed Bristol City goalkeeper Max O'Leary on loan until the end of the season. |
36834962 | Derry boss Kenny Shiels says the progress of the youngsters in his squad has made him reluctantly decide not to sign the 32-year-old.
Glenavon and Linfield are now being linked with the player.
McCourt left Luton Town to return home in May after his wife Laura was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Laura underwent a successful operation last month and doctors are optimistic that she will make a full recovery.
McCourt had a previous spell at his hometown club between 2006 and 2008 and helped the Candystripes win the FAI Cup and two League Cups.
The Derry native helped Celtic land Scottish Premier League titles and the Scottish Cup during his stint with the Glasgow club before moving to Barnsley in August 2013.
He spent further spells at Brighton and Luton and also had a loan stint at Notts County.
Luton were keen to retain McCourt's services but his wife's illness led to his decision to return home. | Paddy McCourt looks set to play in the Irish League after his hometown club Derry City opted not to sign the Northern Ireland international winger. |
37322729 | Powys council has been reviewing sites across the county and said banks from Berriew Street car park in Welshpool will be removed.
The facility is said to be attracting fly tipping and vermin.
The council said with the rollout of the kerbside recycling scheme to all areas of Powys now complete, there is a need to reduce a number of community recycling sites.
Residents are being asked to use alternative sites in the town.
The council's Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, John Powell, said: "This site has experienced a large level of fly-tipping over recent years. It has now reached such a level that it is attracting vermin to the area.
"We have discussed options with the town council and it was decided to close the site."
Last month the council ended a bulky waste collection service in Machynlleth.
It was introduced following the closure of the Potters Yard recycling centre in January 2015, but Powys council's cabinet made the decision to withdraw it due to its "high running costs". | A community recycling site in Powys is due to close next month. |
35589045 | The facility would prevent jihadists from spreading their extremist ideology to the rest of society, he said.
The country's anti-terror law allows security forces to detain people suspected of terrorist activities for a long period without charge.
Kenya is battling home-grown militants linked to Islamist group al-Shabab, which is part of al-Qaeda.
In 2011, Kenyan troops entered neighbouring Somalia in an effort to stop the jihadists from carrying cross border attacks and kidnapping people.
Speaking at the passing-out parade of more than 2,000 prison wardens, Mr Kenyatta said additional money would be provided to meet logistical and operational requirements of the prison service.
The country's correctional facilities have previously been described as inhumane, with some of them heavily overpopulated, reports the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza from the capital, Nairobi.
At the moment, only death row inmates are kept in separate prison blocks from the rest of the convicts, he says.
It is not clear when and where the new prison will be set up.
Kenya contributes more than 4,000 troops to the 22,000-strong African Union force that is in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle al-Shabab.
Al-Shabab in Kenya
Al-Shabab has staged numerous attacks in Kenya. It killed 147 people at Garissa University, near the border with Somalia, on 2 April 2015.
It killed 68 people when it attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre in 2013.
There are also regular gun and grenade attacks attributed to the group both in border areas, where many Kenyans are ethnic Somalis, and in Nairobi.
Al-Shabab has also set up a recruiting network in Kenya, especially around the port city of Mombasa, which has a large Muslim population. | Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta says he will set up a new special prison for violent extremist offenders. |
39984986 | Media playback is not supported on this device
As of next term, a Football Association panel will review footage each Monday looking for cases and any player found unanimously guilty would be banned.
Webb says that the football authorities "need to shift the balance" on diving.
"The risk/reward for players to dive is not in the right place," he said.
"If a player is thinking 'if I hit the deck I can get away with it and get a penalty and if I get caught I get a yellow card' that is not much of a deterrent. This new measure will be hopefully."
The FA says it will act "where there is clear and overwhelming evidence to suggest a match official has been deceived by an act of simulation".
But only incidents that result in a player winning a penalty or lead to an opponent being sent off - through either a direct red card or two yellow cards - will be punished.
The panel will consist of one former match official, one ex-manager and one ex-player.
Webb, who is overseeing the introduction of video refereeing in Major League Soccer, explained that retrospective suspensions for simulation already occur in the US.
He told BBC Radio 5 live's Friday Football Social: "On a Monday morning, the disciplinary committee look at all the controversial plays from the weekend.
"If they involve simulation then - providing the five-man panel are unanimous - that player will then get suspended.
"It works. Players come here knowing that if they dive and got away with it on the day they will pay the price later down the road."
Media playback is not supported on this device | Former Premier League referee Howard Webb has backed the introduction of retrospective bans for simulation - saying the reward for diving currently outweighs the risk of punishment. |
40330022 | The item, aired on BBC One Scotland on 12 October 2016, featured John Shedden sitting on a straw bale.
Although aware of the recording, Mr Shedden said he was told it was for a Scottish government information film.
Ofcom recognised that he was not a supporter of the SNP and he had not given his "informed consent".
The watchdog upheld the complaint from Mr Shedden saying: "We considered that the inclusion of the footage of Mr Shedden in a party political broadcast, for a party which he did not support, without his informed consent, resulted in material facts [ie his political views] being presented in the broadcast in a manner that resulted in unfairness to him."
The BBC said that the content of such films was primarily the responsibility of the parties themselves, subject to compliance with the relevant editorial standards.
The broadcaster's guidelines state: "No identifiable individual should be featured prominently in a broadcast without that person's consent, which should generally be recorded in writing, and copies of release forms should be made available to the broadcaster on request."
The BBC said that from the information provided by the SNP and the programme makers, there had been no written consent from Mr Shedden.
The SNP said the film had been made by a "highly professional and reliable" company which it had used for more than a decade to produce party political and election broadcasts.
The purpose of the broadcast was to show a "slice of life" featuring a cross section of people from various walks of life.
The programme makers said Mr Shedden was contacted by a freelance location finder who wrongly referred to the project as an information programme for the Scottish government, rather than for the SNP.
Party officials said the first they became aware that there was an informed consent issue was on 1 November 2016, when an inquiry was received from a journalist.
Following an investigation, the SNP released a statement saying: "The film production company accepts it made an error and we understand that they will, rightly, be apologising to Mr Shedden."
Ofcom said the SNP arranged with the programme makers, the BBC, and others that Mr Shedden's scene would not to be re-broadcast and would be removed from the BBC iPlayer.
The programme makers said they had assumed that on the day of filming Mr Shedden had been aware of the nature of the broadcast.
They added that following the incident they had tightened up their procedures and would provide all permissions, contracts and licences to the BBC when submitting political and election broadcasts. | A Scottish National Party political broadcast unfairly featured footage of an East Lothian farmer, regulator Ofcom has ruled. |
28691147 | Some 74% of adults had bought goods or services online this year, according to a snapshot of the way the internet is used in our daily lives.
Almost half had bought clothing, with 64% of 25 to 34-year-olds buying clothes online, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Internet activity has risen significantly in recent years.
The ONS said that 38 million, or 76%, of British adults accessed the internet every day. This total had risen by 21 million since 2006.
Internet shopping had grown in popularity, rising from 53% of adults buying goods and services online in 2008 to 74% now, it added.
Younger age groups have been regular users of online shopping, notably on smartphones, with nine out of 10 people aged 25 to 34 having shopped online. But the ONS has noted that people of pension age have increased their online shopping activities.
Some 40% of those aged 65 and over bought online in 2014. This was more than double the 2008 estimate of 16%.
Other financial transactions have also risen in popularity online. Internet banking is used by 53% of British adults in 2014 compared with 30% in 2007.
The figures come on the same day as the communications regulator Ofcom said UK adults now spent more time using technology devices than they did sleeping.
It said UK adults spent an average of eight hours and 41 minutes a day on media devices, compared with the average night's sleep of eight hours and 21 minutes. | Clothes have been the most popular items bought on the internet this year, according to official figures. |
41037901 | The 23-year-old twin brothers' deals had been due to expire in 2018.
Craig has taken 168 wickets in 55 first-class matches while averaging 24.43 with the bat, hitting seven 50s.
Jamie - who, like his brother, is a right-hand bowler and right-hand batsman - has played 95 matches across all three formats, taking 168 wickets.
Somerset chief executive Lee Cooper told the club website: "Craig and Jamie are exceptionally talented players and to have secured their long-term futures is a real coup for the club." | Somerset pair Craig and Jamie Overton have both had their contracts with the Division One county extended to the end of the 2020 season. |
33093560 | Ince, 23, scored 11 goals in 18 games on loan at the Rams last season and has a year to run on his Hull contract.
But the loan agreement is understood to have included an option to buy.
The Rams' record signing, Wales striker Robert Earnshaw, cost £3.5m from Norwich City in 2007, but Ince is expected to cost less than the £6m which has been reported.
Former Derby head coach Steve McClaren confirmed the club wanted the ex-England U-21 international to return to the iPro Stadium in May.
And the appointment of new manager Paul Clement has not changed their stance, with new signings Darren Bent and Alex Pearce also having been identified before Clement took over. | Derby County will have to break their record transfer fee to sign Hull City's Tom Ince, BBC Radio Derby reports. |
37202935 | Doncaster midfielder Tommy Rowe had cancelled out Ryan Lowe's first-half header with an 83rd-minute penalty in an open encounter at Gresty Road, but Crewe still claimed the points thanks to Jones's winner three minutes from time.
Crewe skipper Lowe raced in to head home in the 14th minute after strike partner Chris Dagnall delivered a superb cross to the far post.
After Lowe's strike, Steve Davis's side enjoyed a double let-off when Jon Guthrie sliced James Coppinger's cross onto the bar and then Rowe failed to finish Frazer Richardson's cross into an empty net.
Andy Williams also failed to apply a touch to John Marquis's cross as Doncaster were guilty of spurning their chances.
After being under the cosh, Crewe emerged brightly following the restart and Jones blasted inches over before Dagnall's shot was pushed away by visiting keeper Marko Marosi.
Yet they needed some brilliant work from Ben Garratt who clawed away Matty Blair's looping header away from the top corner.
Marosi was equally impressive when keeping out Dagnall's diving header.
Harry Davis was then penalised for a holding offence at a corner and Rowe duly beat Garratt from the spot to draw the teams level and seemingly earn Rovers a point.
But Crewe won it when midfielder Jones turned and fired in the winner in the 87th minute.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
REACTION: Doncaster manager Darren Ferguson speaks to BBC Radio Sheffield
Match ends, Crewe Alexandra 2, Doncaster Rovers 1.
Second Half ends, Crewe Alexandra 2, Doncaster Rovers 1.
Goal! Crewe Alexandra 2, Doncaster Rovers 1. James Jones (Crewe Alexandra) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Chris Dagnall.
Attempt missed. Tommy Rowe (Doncaster Rovers) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Oliver Turton.
Goal! Crewe Alexandra 1, Doncaster Rovers 1. Tommy Rowe (Doncaster Rovers) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Penalty Doncaster Rovers. John Marquis draws a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty conceded by Jon Guthrie (Crewe Alexandra) after a foul in the penalty area.
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Jon Guthrie.
Attempt blocked. Harry Middleton (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Crewe Alexandra. Billy Bingham replaces Alex Kiwomya.
Substitution, Crewe Alexandra. George Ray replaces George Cooper.
Attempt blocked. John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers) header from the centre of the box is blocked.
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Ben Garratt.
Attempt saved. Tommy Rowe (Doncaster Rovers) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt missed. Tommy Rowe (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt missed. James Coppinger (Doncaster Rovers) left footed shot from the left side of the box is high and wide to the left.
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Oliver Turton.
Attempt blocked. Alex Kiwomya (Crewe Alexandra) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Harry Middleton (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Danny Hollands (Crewe Alexandra).
Foul by John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers).
Oliver Turton (Crewe Alexandra) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Doncaster Rovers. Riccardo Calder replaces Frazer Richardson.
Substitution, Doncaster Rovers. Harry Middleton replaces Joe Wright.
Attempt saved. John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Danny Hollands (Crewe Alexandra) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers).
Corner, Crewe Alexandra. Conceded by Marko Marosi.
Attempt saved. Chris Dagnall (Crewe Alexandra) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Delay in match Jordan Houghton (Doncaster Rovers) because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Matty Blair (Doncaster Rovers) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
(Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Danny Hollands (Crewe Alexandra).
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Jon Guthrie.
Attempt saved. James Coppinger (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Danny Hollands (Crewe Alexandra) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Tommy Rowe (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Danny Hollands (Crewe Alexandra).
Attempt saved. Chris Dagnall (Crewe Alexandra) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. | James Jones struck late to earn Crewe their first home success of the campaign as they beat Doncaster in a frantic finish. |
34170744 | McDonnell, 29, finished powerfully and had 24-year-old Kameda on the canvas in the final round.
The judges scored it 116-111, 115-112, 117-110 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Yorkshireman had won a narrow points decision against Kameda in his second title defence in May.
McDonnell, who has now won 27 of his 30 professional contests, told Sky Sports: "Everything went to plan. The fight was easier than the last. I felt in control." | England's Jamie McDonnell retained his WBA bantamweight title with a unanimous points decision in a rematch with Japan's Tomoki Kameda. |
33436904 | The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended the fire at the property on the Heather Road, after receiving a report shortly before 16:00 BST on Tuesday.
Ten appliances and almost 50 firefighters were involved in tackling the fire.
One man was injured by a vehicle. His injuries are not thought to be serious.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
The building contains a shredding machine, waste paper and cardboard.
The man has since been released from hospital. | A firefighter has been treated in hospital after working at a recycling plant blaze outside Londonderry. |
39035512 | On Monday Uber boss Travis Kalanick sent an email to his employees with more information about the probe - and further plans the company has to address the issue.
“It’s been a tough 24 hours,” he began, adding that the company was “hurting”.
The investigation will be lead by former US attorney general Eric Holder, who served under President Obama between 2009 and 2015, and Tammy Albarran - both partners at law firm Covington and Burling.
Arianna Huffington, best known for being the founder of the Huffington Post, will also help carry out the review. Ms Huffington has been on Uber’s board since April last year. Also conducting the review will be Uber’s new head of human resources, Liane Hornsey, and Angela Padilla, Uber’s associate general counsel.
Diversity figures
After coming into widespread criticism for never having published statistics on diversity at the company, Mr Kalanick said he would deliver figures in the "coming months". He said that of the employees working as engineers, product managers or data scientists, 15.1% are women - a number which he said hadn’t changed significantly in the past year.
“As points of reference,” he wrote, “Facebook is at 17%, Google at 18% and Twitter at 10%.”
Until now, Uber had been standing firm on not publishing its diversity figures. Most major technology companies make public their EEO-1 - a government filing that breaks down employees by race, religion, gender and other factors.
Uber has not specified if it will publish its entire EEO-1, or just post select figures from the company.
In her blog post, Susan Fowler cited anecdotal figures of women leaving Uber in droves.
Speaking specifically about the site reliability engineering team, which she worked on for a year, she said that by the time she left, “out of over 150 engineers in the SRE teams, only 3% were women”. She now works at San Francisco-based payment firm Stripe.
Uber said it would be holding an “all hands" meeting on Tuesday to tell its employees what its “next steps” will be.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook.
If you are an Uber employee, you can reach Dave directly and anonymously on encrypted messaging app Signal using +1 (628) 400-7370. | On Sunday we learned that Uber was going to conduct an investigation into claims of serious sexual harassment, following a scathing blog post from a former employee. |
25743128 | The 25-year-old left Stamford Bridge for Portugal three years ago.
"I am very happy for this opportunity. I just want to say I will give my best to help the team and make the Chelsea fans happy," said Matic.
"Matic's performance in his final game, Benfica's O Classico encounter with Porto on Sunday, showed exactly why he's become such a hot property. He was as committed as ever in a man-of-the-match display, showing his ball-winning tenacity along with his customary elegance and technique in bringing the ball forward.
"In short, Matic is exactly what Chelsea have needed for some time; a specialist at breaking up play in front of the defence. We should not be too hard on Chelsea for letting him go in the first place, though. His improvement in the last 18 months has been breathtaking - ironically, given Chelsea's competitors in the title race, this was after he became a regular starter for Benfica following Javi Garcia's exit to Manchester City."
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said: "He has grown as a player in Portugal and has become a fantastic all-round midfielder."
The Serbia international was valued at less than £5m in January 2011 when he left Stamford Bridge as a makeweight in the deal that saw defender David Luiz join Chelsea from Benfica.
Mourinho quickly identified the defensive midfielder as a key target on his return to Stamford Bridge and the club had no issue with re-signing a player they previously let go.
Chelsea will offset the cost of signing Matic with the £16m they will receive from the proposed sale of Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg.
Matic joined Chelsea from Slovakian club MFK Kosice on a four-year deal for £1.5m in 2009.
He made two substitute appearances in the Premier League and was an unused substitute in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup final in 2010.
Matic joined Vitesse Arnhem on loan for the season in August 2010 before moving to Portugal as part of the Luiz transfer in February 2011.
As well as Matic and Luiz, Chelsea also signed Brazil midfielder Ramires from Benfica in 2010 for about £17m.
Media playback is not supported on this device | Chelsea have completed the £21m signing of Benfica midfielder Nemanja Matic on a five-and-a-half-year deal. |
38468158 | Mr Parker, who also presented BBC regional news programme South Today for 35 years, has been recognised for his charity and community work in Hampshire and on the Channel Islands.
He is chairman of the Friends of Winchester Cathedral, and a trustee.
He also chairs the educational charities Elizabeth College Foundation and Gibson Fleming Trust in Guernsey.
Mr Parker, from Andover, said he was "absolutely over the moon and thrilled to bits" by the appointment.
"It came quite out of the blue and I am very proud," he added.
"I am accepting it on behalf of, and sharing it with, all of the dedicated people I work with in charity."
Mr Parker is also vice-patron of both the Hampshire and Isle of Wight's Air Ambulance and Smile Support and Care charities, and an ambassador for Leukaemia Busters in Southampton.
He is also a former chairman of Winchester's Harestock School governors and Appleshaw Parish Council.
In the 1960s Mr Parker led a local radio pilot for schools on the Channel Islands which later contributed to the establishment of the BBC's local radio network in the UK.
Brought up in Guernsey, he was the first host of the BBC's Antiques Roadshow, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year.
The 75-year-old was also a presenter of Nationwide, hosted BBC One's 1970s music and arts series Mainstream, and presented and produced BBC Radio 4 programmes.
He achieved worldwide prominence when he led the BBC's coverage of the raising of the Mary Rose at Portsmouth in 1982.
He was subsequently in charge of BBC South's political programming.
He has also won several Royal Television Society awards and is the author of a number of books. | Former presenter of the BBC's Antiques Roadshow Bruce Parker has been appointed MBE in the New Year Honours. |
40340472 | Temperatures were so hot that members of the public were allowed to remove their jackets for the first time in the event's history.
But the first day of the annual racing festival started on a sombre note as Her Majesty led a minute's silence to remember the victims and those affected by recent tragedies.
She was joined for a day at the races by senior members of the Royal Family as the temperature rose well above 30C.
Prince William went to the races with the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore an Alexander McQueen dress with a bespoke hat.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived during the Royal Parade, after the Queen, before the start of racing.
Former England rugby player Mike Tindall, who is married to the Queen's grand-daughter Zara Tindall, enjoyed a joke with some of the younger royals, including Prince William, Princess Beatrice, and the Duchess of Cambridge.
The Princess Royal joined the Cambridges along with the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
Prince Andrew was seen enjoying a joke with his sister-in-law the Countess, as Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall chatted to a guest. | One of the highlights of the Royal Family's summer calendar got under way on Tuesday, with the opening of Royal Ascot. |
30984618 | Pembrokeshire council cancelled the contract after former chief executive Bryn Parry Jones left the council in October. Last week it was instructed to reveal the full cost within 35 days.
Coun Jacob Williams published the amount on his website, and the council later confirmed it was correct.
He said they had to pay four months' leasing costs after the contract ended. | More than £8,600 was paid by a council to get out of a hire contract for a Porsche its former boss used to drive. |
22285813 | 24 April 2013 Last updated at 17:33 BST
The artist behind the stunt, Kurt Perschke, says he wants to make people more aware of all the things to see in the city.
It's not the first time the balloon has been out and about though. It's already been to cities in Australia, Spain and Canada.
The red balloon will be popping up around in Paris until 28 April. | A big red balloon is bouncing its way around Paris as part of an art exhibition. |
38980248 | Mr Harris has pleaded not guilty to the new charge.
Last week, a jury cleared him of three sexual assault charges but failed to return a verdict on four counts.
The 86-year-old will not face a retrial on one of the four counts that the jury could not reach a verdict on.
After deliberating for just under a week, the jury found Mr Harris not guilty of indecently assaulting a young autograph hunter on a visit to a Portsmouth radio station with her mother at the end of the 1970s.
He was also cleared of groping a blind, disabled woman at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London in 1977, and sexually assaulting a woman in her 40s after filming a TV show in 2004.
Judge Alistair McCreath discharged the jury from deliberating on the further four counts Mr Harris was accused of.
His retrial will take place on 15 May. | Former TV star Rolf Harris will face a retrial over three alleged sexual assaults and one new charge of indecent assault, a prosecutor at Southwark Crown Court has said. |
33326727 | The Welsh government is taking over the setting and collection of landfill tax and a replacement for stamp duty, to be called the Welsh Land Transaction Tax.
The new tax collection body will be known as the Welsh Revenue Authority or WRA, Finance Minister Jane Hutt said.
Stamp duty raises around £168m a year in Wales with landfill tax raising £51m.
Ms Hutt said she wanted a "smooth transition to the new taxes in 2018, with as little disruption for taxpayers as possible".
"My priority is making sure Welsh taxes - which from 2018 will be a small but significant part of the overall funding available for public services in Wales - are collected safely and securely," she said.
"I also want arrangements that will enable taxpayers to comply with their obligations as straightforwardly as possible and these arrangements will need to be value for money."
The WRA will work with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to collect the property tax and with Natural Resources Wales to collect the landfill charges. | A new body is being set up by Welsh ministers to collect taxes from 2018. |
13408494 | The most powerful Indian is a woman - Sonia Gandhi, chief of the ruling Congress party. India's President is a woman. The speaker of the parliament and the leader of the opposition are women.
Mayawati, a Dalit (untouchable) woman rules India's most populous and politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh. The urbane Sheila Dikshit rules the capital, Delhi. And last week, Mamata Banerjee created history by overthrowing a over three-decade long Communist government in Bengal to take charge of the state. Together, these three formidable women rule directly over a third of India's people.
Most of these women are influential politicians in their own right, and Ms Banerjee and Mayawati belong to the fast vanishing tribe of mass leaders.
Certainly, many of these women are beneficiaries of family patronage and male mentors. Ms Gandhi took over the party as a privileged dynast. Mayawati and Jayalalitha were anointed successors by their mentors, one a leader of the untouchables, and the other a film-star. Ms Dikshit belongs to a well-connected political family. Only Ms Banerjee has earned her spurs as a rebel who emerged victorious after a decade of gritty street-fighting politics.
However, most of these leaders have carved out their own identities and styles of functioning, however controversial they may be. Mayawati, with her penchant for diamonds, flashy birthday celebrations and statues, has managed to steer her Bahujan Samaj Party to become a formidable political force, seeking to give dignity of millions of untouchables. Jayalalitha led much-acclaimed rehabilitation work after the 2005 tsunami hit Tamil Nadu. Ms Dixit has won three consecutive terms in Delhi, thanks to her development work.
But Indira Gandhi, the subcontinent's most powerful woman politician ever, was once described as a "dumb-doll" by a group of male Congress figures who thrust her to the political centre-stage, confident that they could control her.
Ms Banerjee has been physically attacked by Communist party workers in the past, and described as "that woman" by its leaders. Last month, a Communist MP was forced to apologise after he publicly called her a "loose woman" who was interested in "bigger clients like the USA". Most parties are deeply chauvinist - for all the glib talk of gender equality, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has no female leader of any standing. India also doesn't have a single Muslim female leader, and the matriarchal states of the north-east are all ruled by rather unremarkable men.
Women comprise nearly half of India's population, but their lot needs to improve. India's sex ratio remains scandalously skewed. Sex selective abortions, female infanticide and foeticide are rife in northern states. Men remain major beneficiaries of government schemes, a lot of women still die during childbirth - though the record is improving, and more girls drop out of school than boys.
The political empowerment of women is a remarkable achievement in this context. Many believe that the presence of so many women in powerful positions in politics is a quirk. I don't agree.
Indira Gandhi's ascendancy through the Congress party to become India's most powerful and controversial leader was an an exception in South Asia those days, but things have changed.
Female literacy is improving, triggering aspirations in a booming economy. Reservation of seats in village councils and municipalities has been seen as a fillip for women. In many unprogressive northern states like Haryana, spouses and male relatives still keep their female leaders indoors and run proxies, but in large parts of India, the political empowerment of women has been genuine.
How much of a real change will Ms Banerjee and her sorority bring for the people of India? It has not been a very inspiring record till now - Ms Mayawati seems to have belied a lot of expectations in the way she runs Uttar Pradesh, and Ms Dixit's record has been marred by shoddy infrastructure work for last year's Commonwealth Games. There is still no evidence that women politicians are less corrupt than their male counterparts. "To suggest that women in power will be less corrupt is fatuous, and contrary to all prevalent evidence," says journalist-writer MJ Akbar.
Historian Ramachandra Guha says the rise of women in powerful political roles does not mark a "new age" of gender equality. The reasons for their rise, he says, may be personal (their courage and drive) or historical (the impact of a generations of reformers) or political (universal adult franchise). Whatever the reason is and whatever its consequences, he says, the phenomenon is noteworthy.
PS: On second thoughts, is India's neighbour Bangladesh also in a grip of women power? The two most powerful politicians in the country are women and one, Hasina Wazed, is in power. Five of her top ministers are women too! | Is India now living on woman power? |
39557565 | The strategy aims to ensure England's environment is healthy and that it is a beautiful place to live, work and bring up a family.
It aims to bring back birds to a countryside depleted under EU agricultural policy.
BBC News has obtained the latest version of the document.
Its release has been delayed several times, but a government spokesman told BBC News that it was committed to delivering the strategy “in due course”.
The plan has its genesis in the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto. It promised the first government to leave the natural environment in a better state than they found it.
The policy to support that pledge was first expected last summer. Just after Christmas a source told BBC News the document had been agreed by the prime minister and was ready to be published.
Now talk is of perhaps publishing in the summer or the autumn. Some rumours suggest it won’t be published at all.
The host department Defra has faced radical staffing cuts, and is now recruiting extra bodies to deal with the impact of Brexit on farm policy.
Defra is also struggling with a separate but related 25-Year Plan for Farming.
Environmentalists who have seen the draft Nature plan, meanwhile, say it is full of good thinking on the framework for environmental management - but lacking in practical solutions.
The chapter on woodlands, for instance offers the counter-intuitive conclusion that it’s better to plant woods near cities than in the uplands.
But the document then places responsibility for acting on that insight on to landowners rather than ministers.
The report says: “Determining woodland planting locations using only timber values and foregone agricultural production suggests that new woodlands ought to be planted on the least productive agricultural land – mainly in the uplands. This policy gives £66m per year benefit.
“However considering carbon and recreational benefits, the highest values are closer to where people work and live. This gives £546m per year."
The conclusion to this research finding is: “Such analysis provides landowners with better information to inform their decisions."
The Woodland Trust is baffled; their conservation director Austin Brady told BBC News: “This analysis should be providing better information for the government – not for landowners!”
One clue to the absence of forest policy was given by NFU vice-president Guy Smith, who told Radio 4's Today programme that farmers would strongly resist widespread forestation of agricultural land because it would lead to more food imports, which would result in loss of forests abroad.
ClientEarth chief executive James Thornton told BBC News: “To protect nature, we need targets, investment and accountability, not grand promises with zero detail.
“We have been waiting for the 25-year plan for over a year. This version is 46 pages of empty words, and now it seems the final plan might not even be published. This is not good enough.
“The government must uphold strong and effective laws to protect the environment. This is especially important as the UK is leaving the EU, so the laws and funding that we have depended on to protect nature for many years are under threat.”
Green groups are especially frustrated because in many ways the document appears to have accepted many of their ideas for making the most of nature.
It embraces the notion that environmental policies can’t be made in a vacuum, talking of joined-up policy on flood prevention, water abstraction, irrigation, wildlife, and soil conservation.
Importantly, the paper aspires to incorporate evidence on the value of Nature into the Treasury’s advisory “green book”, so the environment into all government decisions.
It also agrees that children should have more contact with the natural world, and supports the £1.5m pocket parks fund to introduce tiny local parks. Yet it doesn’t acknowledge the funding shortfall which is causing many local councils to abandon maintenance in parks.
The plan recognises the crisis in soil, as more and more of it is blown or washed away every year. And it accepts the need to tackle pollution to the air and water from fertilisers – though it isn’t clear how either will be done.
There are many references to the policy opportunities offered by Brexit, which will allow the UK to make its own rules on waste and resources.
And the general tone suggests that ministers will want to simplify environmental rules and prioritise carrots over sticks for businesses that break laws.
But Trevor Hutchings from the green group WWF told BBC News: “It is logical for the 25-Year Plan to come out before the Great Repeal Bill so that it’s clear what needs to be achieved and how, including where new legislation is required.
“There is a danger that Brexit is seizing-up Whitehall - yet the Plan is largely written. So it should be published."
A Defra spokesman said: “We are still committed to publishing the plan and have been engaging on issues with key stakeholders with a view to publishing in due course.”
Defra added: "Our ambition is to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it, and we are committed to publishing a long-term plan that builds on our long history of wildlife and environmental protection, and sets out a new approach to managing the environment.
"We're working closely with a range of environmental and conservation groups and businesses to develop proposals."
Its document does mention one asset that’s available to people already – the fledgling website at Exeter University called ORVal, developed to shows people how they can access green space round the country.
Follow Roger on Twitter. | A draft 25-year government plan sets out a bold vision for nature in England, but campaigners say it lacks policies. |
37496416 | The match will be played four days after Michael O'Neill's side host Azerbaijan in a World Cup 2018 Group C qualifier at the National Stadium.
Like Northern Ireland, Croatia reached the last 16 at Euro 2016, topping their group with wins over Spain and Turkey, and a draw with the Czech Republic.
They were knocked out by eventual winners Portugal in the next round.
The game in Lens went to extra-time, with Ricardo Quaresma scoring the only goal of the game.
The Croatians drew 1-1 at home to Turkey in their opening World Cup qualifier in September. The other teams in their group are Finland, Iceland, Kosovo and Ukraine.
The Croatia squad boasts some of the top players in Europe, including Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic, Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic and Inter Milan midfielder Ivan Perisic.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill said: "This will be a great game for us. Croatia are a top-class European team and it's great that we will be playing them at home.
"We have not played a home friendly against this quality of opposition for quite some time.
"It will no doubt be a real test for us, and it will also provide us with an opportunity to look at some of the players in our squad who have not featured in the team much before now."
Prior to the two November fixtures, Northern Ireland host San Marino in Belfast on 8 October, followed by an away game against Germany on 11 October, both World Cup qualifiers. | Northern Ireland will play Croatia in a friendly international at Windsor Park on Tuesday, 15 November (19:45 GMT). |
36115069 | The US State Department said the $8.6m (£6m) purchase was designed to help Iran meet its obligations under the nuclear deal signed last year.
Officials said the heavy water, which can also be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, would be resold for research purposes.
The move has already attracted criticism from US Republicans.
Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said it was "another unprecedented concession to the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism".
Iran nuclear deal - key details
Back in business, for now
Will Iran get a McDonald's?
The heavy water will initially be stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee before being resold.
Under the nuclear deal, Iran is allowed to use heavy water in its modified Arak nuclear reactor, but must sell any excess supply of both heavy water and enriched uranium on the international market.
In a statement, the US Energy Department said the US would not automatically buy Iranian heavy water in the future, saying it was Iran's responsibility to find a way to meet its commitments.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss Iranian concerns that sanctions relief promised under the deal has not materialised.
The US has ruled out giving Iran access to the US financial system or direct access to dollars.
Iran also remains under other US sanctions over its alleged ballistic missile activity, support for violent organisations and human rights abuses | The US is buying 32 tonnes of heavy water, which is used in some nuclear reactors, from Iran. |
33277517 | Energy firm Cuadrilla wanted to extract shale gas at Roseacre Wood but the application was unanimously rejected.
The county council tweeted that the proposal had been refused because of the "impact on traffic".
Cuadrilla said it was "disappointed but not surprised" and would "consider our options including our right to appeal".
The application was being considered after fracking was suspended in the UK in 2011.
Councillors deferred a decision on a second bid to begin fracking another site at Little Plumpton until Monday, after legal advice.
The Little Plumpton bid has been recommended for approval, subject to working hours, noise control and highway matters.
Protests were held outside the hearing in Preston, which began on Tuesday.
All 15 members voted to refuse the Roseacre Wood application, in line with officers' recommendations.
A related application for a monitoring array, to monitor seismic activity and water quality was approved.
In a statement Cuadrilla said: "We are committed to the responsible exploration and development of the huge quantity of natural gas locked up in the shale rock deep underneath Lancashire.
"If we can unlock this shale gas potential it will help create jobs, generate economic growth, help fuel and heat local businesses and homes, and boost local tax revenues for Lancashire."
The council meeting will resume on Monday.
This decision is very significant. It is the first test case on whether fracking will be given the go-ahead in Lancashire and it has been turned down because of traffic.
Speaker after speaker said the proposal would make local roads too dangerous.
Business leaders said the county needed fracking to go ahead for jobs and the local economy, but councillors felt overwhelmingly the application should be turned down.
Whether this will have any effect on the Little Plumpton decision on Monday remains to be seen.
Friends of the Earth North West campaigner Furqan Naeem said the decision was a "tremendous victory" for people across Lancashire and the UK who campaigned against the application.
But he said the "fracking threat still hangs ominously over the community near Preston New Road".
He added: "Poll after poll shows people want renewables, not fracking - and the clean energy and long-term jobs they would provide."
Fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - is a technique in which water and chemicals are pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas. | An application to start a fracking operation on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire has been rejected by councillors. |
25655454 | The attackers sprayed bullets into the mosque in the home village of Kano governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
His elderly father was in the mosque, but escaped unhurt, witnesses said.
No group has said it carried out the raid. Islamist group Boko Haram has also staged several attacks in Kano, and elsewhere in northern Nigeria.
The run-up to elections in oil-rich Nigeria is often marred by violence between rival political groups.
Mr Kwankwaso was among five influential governors who defected from President Goodluck Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in November.
Heshimu Suleiman, one of the governor's supporters, said the attack was politically motivated to punish Mr Kwankwaso for defecting, reports the AP news agency.
The PDP has not yet commented on the allegation.
In December, Nigeria's ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo said it would be "morally flawed" for Mr Jonathan to seek re-election next year.
He said Mr Jonathan had failed to tackle Nigeria's many problems, including corruption and an insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Mr Jonathan defended his record in government, but has not yet declared his candidature. | Gunmen have attacked a mosque in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, killing three worshippers and wounding 12 others, police say. |
36037364 | As expected, the half-hour question time was dominated by the crisis in the steel industry. And as expected, Mr Cairns defended the UK government's handling of that crisis.
He told MPs ministers had been in close dialogue with Tata Steel for many months and the government's action had averted the immediate closure of the Port Talbot plant, Britain's biggest steelworks.
"It is due to the government intervention that Tata have agreed to a sales process rather than an immediate closure of its operations in Wales," he added.
But Mr Cairns was criticised by Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader, Hywel Williams, for not attending last month's crucial Tata Steel board meeting in India, at which the decision to sell off its UK assets was taken.
Mr Williams asked: "What stopped you? Was it the Cabinet pecking order? Was it indolence? Or was it just plain ignorance?"
But Mr Cairns told him: "Surely what the steelworkers want to see is where the government and the opposition work together, where the company and the unions work together in order to secure that long-term future."
Shadow Welsh Secretary Nia Griffith demanded assurances that Tata Steel wouldn't syphon off its most profitable lines to its plants abroad.
Mr Cairns said a "positive engagement" between the government and Tata had led to the decision to sell off the assets as a whole rather than to dispose of some of the more profitable assets. He also managed to mention the fact that his father was a welder at Port Talbot.
Ms Griffith revealed some news of her own in calling for the scrapping of tolls on the Severn Crossings once they revert to public ownership.
This is now apparently official Labour policy, with maintenance of the bridges to be paid for, I understand, "from general taxation". Current government policy is to halve them from (approximately) 2018.
Mr Cairns is a relative veteran of question time, having been Stephen Crabb's deputy for more than a year. But it was the first appearance at the despatch box for the new junior Minister, Guto Bebb.
The Aberconwy MP got to field the most unusual question - from Michael "My Mam's from Aberavon" Fabricant. He wanted to pay tribute to Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies and his former chief of staff, Anthony Pickles, who apparently came up with the idea of bringing the Prince of Wales's regalia - the Welsh "crown jewels" to Wales.
Mr Bebb agreed. "I would say that bringing the regalia back to Wales would be the right thing to do and I'm quite certain that my constituent in the castle of Conwy would be delighted to host the regalia."
The plan is for the regalia to go on display at a new heritage centre in Llandovery. | So what did we learn from Alun Cairns's Commons debut as secretary of state for Wales? |
36652332 | The alleged victim, now married with children, told Southwark Crown Court he had said: "It's only a bit of fun", and she added that she had "no experience".
Mr Clifford, now 73, denies assaulting the girl, then 17, at his London office in the early 1980s.
His defence counsel accused the woman of making it up to get compensation.
Giving evidence, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury: "He unzipped his trousers and came towards me", before forcing her to carry out a sexual act.
"It felt like it was going on for ages," she said.
"I said several times, 'I really don't want to do this and really don't want to miss my train'.
"I actually thought he was going to kill me. I had no experience and really didn't know what was going to happen next."
She told the court the alleged incident only ended when a delivery person knocked at the door.
She said she did not tell anyone until several years ago because it was "not the sort of thing nice girls talked about".
"I didn't think I would be believed or that anyone would do anything," she added. "He was so powerful. I'm nobody."
She also told jurors Mr Clifford insisted she wore skirts to work and would leave photographs of naked women on his desk for her to see.
But Sarah Forshaw QC, defending, said the alleged victim has "always enjoyed money" and had told her daughter she would be "all right financially after this trial".
She accused the woman of making up the allegations after reading in the news that Mr Clifford's other victims could get £200,000 in compensation.
Mr Clifford was previously charged and given a prison sentence for some allegations investigated by Operation Yewtree, the Met Police investigation set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
In court, the woman repeatedly insisted that she was not lying about the allegations to try to claim damages.
Some of the biggest names in show business, including pop mogul Simon Cowell, late reality TV star Jade Goody and boxer Muhammad Ali, were represented by Mr Clifford, of Hersham, Surrey, during his career.
The trial continues. | A teenager feared former celebrity publicist Max Clifford was "going to kill her" when he forced her to perform a sex act on him, a court has heard. |
36388346 | Richard Bernard was found outside his flat in Trocadero Court, in Derby, on Tuesday night.
Det Ch Insp Dave Cox, of Derbyshire Police, said police believe the 51-year-old was attacked in his home before he collapsed and died outside.
A man and woman arrested in connection with his death have been bailed.
Police declined to say what offences they had been arrested on suspicion of.
Mr Bernard's mother Nita, sister Claire and brother Andrew said in a statement: "We are devastated to hear the tragic news about Richard."
A post mortem examination revealed Mr Bernard died from stab wounds.
Witnesses or anyone with information is asked to contact Derbyshire Police. | A man who was stabbed in his home, triggering a murder investigation, has been described by his family as a "very much loved son and brother". |
22857578 | Similarities between these old strains of the bug and those prevalent today have given scientists unique insights into the spread of the disease.
It has revealed, for example, the key role played by the medieval Crusades in moving the pathogen across the globe.
The researchers tell Science magazine they hope their study will lead them to the ancient origins of the leprosy.
In medieval times, a sufferer of leprosy was likely to be an outcast, secluded from society in quarantined colonies. Then as now, there was a social stigma with having the disease, but it can be cured if caught early. If left untreated, it can leave sufferers deformed and crippled.
Leprosy sufferers were often quarantined in living areas called leprosaria. In public, they had to wear bells to warn others of their presence. In the bible it was referred to as an "unclean" disease and by 1225, there were about 19,000 leprosaria colonies in Europe.
"The important thing to remember is that leprosaria were religious institutions, showing both a major material investment and adherence to a religious rule of life," explained Prof Monica Green, who specialises in medical history at the Arizona State University, US.
"Leprosy was the only disease in medieval Europe that elicited a specific institutional response. In its full-blown form, it was grossly disfiguring and maiming. Stigma might be reserved for persons with the most serious cases.
"There was a general decline towards the later middle ages, in part because the segregation provided by leprosaria 'worked' in removing the most seriously affected individuals from open society."
Turmoil, crisis and the creation of a state - explore life in the middle ages
The scientists in this new study compared the genetics of the disease-causing bacterium Mycobacterium leprae found in five medieval skeletons from Europe with 11 modern strains.
The DNA comparison showed that one type of leprosy found in Europe 1,000 years ago is the same as one present in the Middle East now.
This strengthened the view that the disease spread during the Crusades, said Johannes Krause, from the University of Tübingen, Germany, one of the authors of the work. This was a period when Christian armies fought for control of what they called the Holy Land.
It remains unclear which direction the disease spread, but "lines of evidence suggest an Asian origin of the disease", as the earliest evidence of leprosy comes from a 4,000-year old skeleton found in India.
"This skeleton can only tell us it was present in Asia around 4,000 years ago, but we do not know where the origin of the disease is," Prof Krause told BBC News.
Another of the medieval strains is similar to one found in the Americas today. This suggests the disease was not something the first American settlers carried with them when they originally migrated from Asia, but is a more recent development that was probably introduced when Europeans colonised the continent, added Prof Krause.
"One really surprising finding was that the DNA was so well preserved, better than any ancient DNA I have ever studied," he said.
"This opens up the possibility to study the evolution of the disease in much older remains, to understand how it evolved and adapted to humans."
Leprosy infections in Europe today are minimal as an estimated 95% of the population have developed immunity, but globally leprosy remains a significant problem with 225,000 new cases recorded annually
"The bacterium is still pathogenic, the same way it was 1,000 years ago, but our social conditions have changed and we have much better medical treatment. But at the same time, it's still a very prevalent disease," said Prof Krause.
Leprosy was endemic in Europe until it almost disappeared in the 16th Century, explained another member of the research team, Stewart Cole from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, (EPFL).
"It's been proposed that [bubonic plague ("Black Death")] killed off a large part of the European population, including those suffering from leprosy.
"One of the interesting things about this paper is that the medieval and current strains are the same, whereas leprosy disappeared fairly rapidly from Europe.
"It's clear that leprosy has created a strong selective pressure on the immune system. The European Caucasian populations have acquired resistance to leprosy, they have certain characteristic mutations in genes that make them less susceptible," Prof Cole told BBC News.
Helen Donoghue, from University College London, UK, was not part of the team. She said the study of old skeletons was invaluable in understanding the origins and the evolution of disease.
"We can understand how people with leprosy lived in the past by traditional archaeological and anthropological methods, such as evidence of stigma by having separate burial sites; looking at movement of people by stable isotope analysis and using historical records for the use of leprosy hospitals and seeing who cared for them.
"The beauty of studying the DNA from ancient diseases is that it enables direct comparison of the genetic composition of past and present genomes.
"This provides direct calibration of the timescale for changes over time and enables us to look at the evolution of the pathogenic organism in relation to its human host." | The genetic code of leprosy-causing bacteria from 1,000-year-old skeletons has been laid bare. |
33449693 | The firm blamed a "network connectivity issue" for the latest fault.
The two-hour long issue caused delays to more than 90 of its aircrafts, according to the FlightAware website.
The airline had to enforce a shorter flight ban on 2 June after incorrect data appeared in its flight planning system.
Shares in the firm fell more than 1.5% in morning's trade.
The cybersecurity blogger Brian Krebs tweeted that the issue had been caused by a computer router malfunction rather than a cyber attack or sabotage, a fact that was later confirmed by United itself.
United is not the only carrier to have suffered such an IT-related setback over the past few months.
In April, American Airlines had to ground dozens of its jets after a flight plan tablet app, used by its pilots and co-pilots, stopped working. | A computer fault has forced United Airlines to ground its flights in the US for the second time in recent weeks. |
36737778 | By comparison, £870m was spent during the nine weeks of last summer's window.
Business analyst Deloitte expects gross outlay to rise above £1bn before the window closes on 31 August.
A new £5bn three-year television deal, which starts this season, is fuelling "unprecedented" spending amid "unreal" player valuations, football finance expert Rob Wilson told BBC Sport.
"There's no questioning the impact of the TV deal," added Sheffield Hallam University's Wilson, who said he had expected spending in the first week of this summer's window to be even higher.
Each club can expect to receive between £30m and £50m from the Premier League for 2016-17 as a result of the TV contract, under which Sky are paying £4.2bn and BT £960m for the rights to show live top-flight matches over the next three seasons.
Wilson believes that is driving player values through the roof. "We've seen this trend, over the last two or three deals at least, but we never thought the valuations would go up that much. It's unreal," he said.
The combined total spent by Premier League clubs over the summer and winter transfer windows last season was £1.045bn - up from £965m for 2014-15.
BBC Sport based its own estimate on actual fees announced by clubs and on reported figures when the value of a transfer has been undisclosed.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Manchester United have been among the biggest spenders, reportedly paying £26m for Borussia Dortmund attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan and £30m for Villarreal defender Eric Bailly.
Neighbours Manchester City bought Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan for a reported £20m, and also spent an estimated £13.8m on Celta Vigo winger Nolito.
Liverpool, one of the biggest gross spenders in 2014-15, paid £34m for Southampton forward Sadio Mane this summer. That deal was announced in late June but clubs can only complete the transfers and register players from 1 July onwards, when the window opens.
Champions Leicester have broken their transfer record with a £16m deal for CSKA Moscow striker Ahmed Musa, and have also brought in midfielder Nampalys Mendy from Nice for a reported £13m and German goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler from Hannover 96.
Even clubs promoted from the Championship have spent heavily. Middlesbrough can count Denmark international winger Viktor Fischer, signed from Ajax, among their new arrivals, while midfielder Marten de Roon was signed from Atalanta for a reported fee of around £12m.
Media playback is not supported on this device
In recent seasons, more - and bigger - deals have been completed during the second half of a transfer window, analysts say.
"As we go through the window, some other teams respond, such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City," Wilson said.
"Prices go up quite sharply. With the European Championships finishing, players such as Antoine Griezmann will see their value increase, because of his performances and the valuation of the TV deal."
France international Paul Pogba, for example, has been linked strongly with a £100m move to Manchester United, the club he left in 2012. His agent, Mino Raiola, also represents Mkhitaryan and another of United's summer signings, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
It is thought a number of clubs have shown interest in Juventus midfielder Pogba and, if he were to move to the Premier League, the 23-year-old would be likely to command a fee in excess of the world record £85.3m Real Madrid paid to Tottenham Hotspur for Gareth Bale in September 2013. | Premier League clubs have spent an estimated £300m during the first week of the summer transfer window. |
35656150 | That dismal description comes from the country's own Finance Minister, Alexander Stubb.
New figures for the economy's performance in 2015, showed that it managed to avoid a fourth consecutive year of declining economic activity. Even so, it was very lacklustre growth and the longer picture remains pretty bleak.
The broadest measure of that, GDP, is still about 7% below the high it reached at the end of 2007, just before the global financial crisis.
Most, though not all, eurozone countries have got back to those earlier levels and a bit above. Even one country that was bailed out, Ireland, is among those relatively strong performers.
Finland's disappointing performance has also shown up in the unemployment figures, which rose from 6.2% of the workforce in early 2008 to 9.5% in the most recent figures.
So who is to blame?
The slightly flippant answer is: the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. But there is a serious point behind that - well two actually, although it's not the whole story of Finland's economic troubles.
In 2014 Mr Stubb, who was the prime minister at the time, told a newspaper that: "Steve Jobs took our jobs."
Not literally of course. What he meant was that Apple products had created serious challenges for two very important Finnish industries.
One was forestry - in particular, paper. It's a huge industry with a long history in Finland. The country's extensive forests are not just pretty; they are a very valuable commercial resource.
But Finland has been affected by what an independent economic research agency in Helsinki (ETLA) called "the reduction of demand for print paper due to the substitution of print media by internet services". It's not just Apple's doing of course, but the company is a key player in that development.
Finland's other Apple-related casualty is Nokia, which incidentally began life as a paper producer in the 19th Century.
Nokia branched out and eventually became the world's biggest supplier of mobile phone handsets. But it failed to respond to the challenge presented by Apple's iPhone and other smartphones.
It's just one company, but a huge one that overshadowed a small economy. According to the ETLA report: "Its direct contribution accounts for 1/3 of the GDP decline and its shedding of employment for 1/5 of the reduction of total employment between 2008 and 2014."
The impact is even bigger if you include the wider technology sector of which Nokia is a part.
So there you have it. Finland's economic troubles are due to Steve Jobs and the business he created.
Well, no. There have been a few other things going on too.
Read more: Finland country profile
Listen: Business Daily: Finland's long economic winter
There has been another external problem, this one supplied by one of Finland's neighbours, Russia. Not for the first time, trouble across the eastern border has made itself felt in the domestic Finnish economy.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s hit Finnish exports. So have the more recent problems in Russia, which were the result of lower oil prices and Western sanctions related to the crisis in Ukraine. Russia's trade retaliation against the EU has also hit Finland, as it banned some EU imports. To take one example, for the country's leading dairy business, Valio, that was a serious blow.
There are other issues that can't be blamed on bad luck descending from overseas. The population is ageing. That means a lower proportion of the population is working, generating wealth and paying income taxes.
There is also an issue with competitiveness. One measure is known as unit labour costs. According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, that rose by 25% between 2007 (just before the crisis) and 2014.
Wages continued to rise after the crisis while productivity, the amount produced by each worker, declined.
The government is seeking to tackle these issues with a range of reforms to business, benefits and employment intended to reduce labour costs.
A related issue is the very large share of state spending in Finnish GDP - the largest in the OECD (which is made up mainly of rich countries). That partly reflects increased spending due to higher unemployment and an older population. It also means taxes are relatively high.
The government's strategy for addressing competitiveness is sometimes called "internal devaluation", which means in essence taking steps to reduce costs for business. It's an alternative to devaluing the national currency to improve competitiveness, an option that is not available because Finland uses the euro.
It was widely recognised that one potential risk of a currency union was the loss of a flexible currency to respond to economic developments that affect different members differently - sometimes called idiosyncratic or asymmetric shocks.
So would Finland's economic problems have been any milder if there had been a national currency to devalue?
Perhaps. Exchange rates are determined by financial markets, but it is certainly possible that bad news about the economy would have weakened the currency and given something of a boost to competitiveness.
The ETLA report suggested things might have been different: "The weakness of growth in Finland can best be explained by a series of exceptional negative shocks in combination with a too weak capacity of the economy to improve its cost competitiveness in the absence of exchange rate flexibility."
It's a nuanced report. The conclusions of Tuomas Mallinen, an economist at Helsinki University, are more stark: "The main blame on our economic woes should be placed where it belongs, namely on the euro membership."
This view is rejected by the governor of the Bank of Finland, Erkki Liikanen, who sits on the European Central Bank committee that makes monetary policy decisions.
He told the Daily Telegraph: "If we had a little weaker Finnish markka (the national currency before the introduction of the euro), I wouldn't believe that Nokia would beat iPhones or that young people would suddenly start to read printed books and newspapers, thus creating demand for the products of Finnish paper mills. Our challenges are based on structural facts. An adjustment of our currency would not make up for those challenges."
Finland continues to struggle with a battery of forces that have hit its economy since the international crisis.
Still, it's worth recalling that, as the OECD said in a recent assessment, "Finland enjoys a high level of income and well-being" and despite the rise in unemployment "social safety nets keep income inequality low".
It's just that if Finland had adjusted better to all the shocks, incomes would probably be quite a bit higher. | Is Finland now officially "the sick man of Europe"? |
40947140 | It follows a UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) decision to lift the ban on the aircraft if operators met certain safety conditions.
They were grounded following a fatal crash off Norway in 2016.
The Unite union said the offshore workforce did not have confidence in the helicopters.
The crash in April last year killed 13 people, including Iain Stewart from Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire.
The CAA criteria announced in July included:
The Super Puma 225 came down near the island of Turoey, near Bergen, while it was returning from an oil field.
A report in April into the crash said there was no explanation as to why a detection system did not spot signs of damage to the gearbox. | A union petition calling on offshore operators not to reintroduce Super Puma 225 and L2 helicopters back into service has been launched. |
38083904 | South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was nominated as US envoy to the UN and Betsy DeVos as education secretary.
Both are former critics of Mr Trump, with Mrs Haley once saying she was "not a fan", and Mrs DeVos branding the Manhattan tycoon an "interloper".
Mr Trump's presidential primary rival Ben Carson also hinted he would soon be named for a post.
"An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again," Mr Carson wrote on Facebook.
Mr Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he was "seriously considering" Mr Carson for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Eye-catching though her political career has been, little is known about Nikki Haley's views on foreign affairs and the United Nations. Diplomats here have been Googling her to find out more. When her nomination was announced I was with a senior diplomat, who had expected President-elect Trump to downgrade the job of UN ambassador so that it was no longer a cabinet-level position.
He was heartened that Mr Trump had selected a "political heavyweight", and viewed it as an early indication than the incoming administration will take the UN more seriously than he'd supposed. Certainly, she's no John Bolton, the US ambassador during the Bush administration who famously remarked that it would not make much of a difference if the UN headquarters in New York lost its top 10 floors - where the organisation's most senior figures, including the secretary general, have their offices.
Many UN diplomats fear a Trump presidency and there's relief here that he hasn't appointed an outspoken UN-basher.
The appointments of Mrs Haley and Mrs DeVos will need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Mr Trump called Mrs Haley "a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals".
"She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage," he added.
Mrs Haley said she was "moved" to accept the assignment and would stay on as South Carolina governor, pending her congressional confirmation.
During the Republican primaries, she supported Florida Senator Marco Rubio and then Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Mrs Haley also strongly attacked Mr Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigrants, describing it as "un-American".
In response, Mr Trump had called her "very weak on illegal immigration" and said people in South Carolina were "embarrassed" by her.
Mrs Haley, 44, is the first minority and female governor of South Carolina.
Nikki Haley: From Trump critic to cabinet
Can Nikki Haley master foreign policy?
Born Nimrata "Nikki" Randhawa to Indian parents, she was raised in a Sikh household and now identifies as a Christian.
Mrs Haley was praised by members of both parties in 2015 when she ordered the Confederate battle flag to be removed from the grounds of the state capitol.
Mrs DeVos said she was honoured to accept her appointment.
But the billionaire Republican donor from Michigan once described Mr Trump as an "interloper" who "does not represent the Republican Party".
Mrs DeVos also contributed to Mr Trump's rivals - Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush - during the election race.
She previously supported the Common Core education standards that Mr Trump and many conservatives have pilloried.
Mr Trump, however, said Mrs DeVos would be "a brilliant and passionate education advocate".
Her husband is heir to the Amway fortune, with a wealth estimated by Forbes at $5.1bn (£4.1bn).
So far Mr Trump has appointed Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Mike Pompeo for CIA director, Reince Priebus for Chief of Staff for his top team.
More announcements are expected after the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The people around Donald Trump
Can Donald Trump get what he wants?
The Trump resistance movement
Can Trump outlaw gay marriage? | US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed the first two women to his incoming administration. |
29776942 | Bobby Colleran was struck on Leyfield Road, West Derby, at about 15:25 BST on Friday.
Paramedics attended and he received treatment at the scene but he died from his injuries shortly after.
In a statement, Bobby's family, from Huyton, said: "Our Bob lit up a room, he was the most loving little boy."
They added: "As well as being a cherished son and brother, he was a grandson, nephew, cousin and friend to everyone he met.
"He loved life and school, always coming home with achievement awards to put up on the fridge, playing football when it wasn't too cold, but most of all watching his favourite programme, the Lone Ranger.
"Now re-united with his Grandad and best mate who he missed so so much."
The family also thanked staff at Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
Merseyside Police are appealing for witnesses to the collision to contact them. | The family of a six-year-old who died after being hit by a van in Liverpool have paid tribute to their "beautiful baby boy". |
25925827 | The comedian, a relative newcomer to stage acting, picked up the best actor prize at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for his "titanic performance" as anti-hero Troy Maxson.
Henry told the BBC the play had been "a massive emotional journey".
He said: "Every day was like a therapy session, but with lots of laughter."
The play won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 and is considered one of the great American dramas of the 20th Century.
The character of Troy, a former baseball star but now a garbage man in Pittsburgh, has been played by actors such as James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne.
"If I'd thought about that going in I wouldn't have left the house," joked Henry.
He won rave reviews when the play toured the UK after opening at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and later transferred to the Duchess Theatre in London.
Theatre Critics' Circle chairman Mark Shenton noted Henry's "amazing renaissance" as a stage actor with earlier roles in Othello and The Comedy of Errors.
"In Fences, it was a titanic performance in a great production of a really good play," he said.
Now in their 25th year, the awards took place at London's Prince of Wales Theatre on Tuesday lunchtime.
Lucy Kirkwood's Chimerica, about an American photojournalist who captures a moment in history at China's Tiananmen Square in 1989, scooped three awards.
It won five star reviews when it premiered at the Almeida Theatre, and later transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre.
It was named best new play, while Lyndsey Turner won best director and Es Devlin won best designer.
Shenton described Chimerica as "a genuinely daring and original piece of theatre making".
Playwright Kirkwood said: "I've heard from people who were in Tiananmen Square on that day who've said it's really important that this story is told."
Lesley Manville won the award for best actress for her role as Mrs Alving in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, at the Almeida, and now at the Trafalgar Studios.
"It is a big classic role and I couldn't be more thrilled to have it at this time of my life," she said.
The 90-minute play, directed by Richard Eyre, is said to be so intense that audiences sometimes don't know if they should clap at the end.
"You can feel the atmosphere in the audience at the curtain call, they are as shaken up and drained as we are," Manville said.
There was a double victory for Rory Kinnear, best known on the big screen for his role as M's right-hand man in the James Bond films.
He won the prize for best Shakespearean performance, as Iago in Othello at the National Theatre.
He also shared the most promising playwright prize for his debut play The Herd, at London's Bush Theatre, about tensions at a family gathering.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge was also named winner in the same category for Fleabag, a one-woman show about an angry, sex-obsessed young woman.
The prize for best musical went to The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic Theatre.
The award for most promising newcomer went to Kate O'Flynn in Port at the National Theatre. | Lenny Henry has been honoured by top theatre critics for his latest stage role in August Wilson's classic American drama Fences. |
32918459 | Michael Davies, 71, had been staying at a hotel with his wife Pat at the holiday resort when he disappeared in the early hours of Wednesday.
The couple, from Blaina, Blaenau Gwent, travelled to Sandown on the island by coach, Hampshire Constabulary said.
Police confirmed the search is continuing across the island.
A spokesman said: "A police helicopter was used last night and the search is continuing today right across the island."
Mr Davies, who suffers from high blood pressure, has not been seen since about 01:00 BST on Wednesday.
The force said Mr Davies wandered off after dinner at the Hotel Maria in Sandown at 21:30 and CCTV images later show him less than half a mile inland from the seaside hotel.
Neighbours of the former miner say he is well-known and well-liked.
Gwyneth Knight said: "Everyone here is very upset and worried about what has happened. He's a very kind and friendly man, he'll do anything for you. It's such as shame."
Police said the pensioner's family were worried because Mr Davies relies on medication to control his blood pressure, which he would not have access to.
He is described as white with cropped white hair and was wearing a blue T-shirt, a blue Reebok jumper, jeans and a baseball cap. | A police helicopter has been used in the search for a south Wales pensioner who vanished during a coach holiday to the Isle of Wight. |
22450538 | The team are introducing a major upgrade to their car for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix and hope it will move them closer to the front-runners.
Managing director Jonathan Neale said: "Nobody at McLaren underestimates the importance of getting back to winning ways and I'm confident we get do that."
Neale refused to comment on whether the team still had a chance of the title.
"As for the championship, that's a long way out at the moment and I think we'd be better placed to comment on that as we head towards the summer and the shut-down period," he said.
McLaren have accrued just 23 points after the first four races of 2013, compared to 92 at the same time in 2012
Any hopes of the title are already a long shot - McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez are 10th and 11th in the championship after the first four races, 64 and 67 points behind the leader, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
McLaren's best result so far is a fifth place for Button in China.
McLaren made major design changes to their car for 2013, while most of their rivals took a more evolutionary approach to their cars.
But the new car has suffered from a lack of aerodynamic downforce and poor ride. Neale said on Wednesday that the problem had been caused because the car did not behave on the track the way simulations in the wind tunnel had suggested.
This is a problem that has also afflicted Ferrari in recent years, and led to them starting last season in a similarly uncompetitive position to McLaren's this year.
Neale said: "I believe it's really important we sort out the issues with the car and correlation because all the time you have got that lingering doubt as to hang on, what went wrong there and how do we fix this, you've got the opportunity for it to arise again.
"And I'm sure if we sat down and had a quiet conversation with our colleagues in Italy and said 'how did the first quarter of last season feel for you?', they would understand with some clarity what we're going through at the moment."
McLaren have been low-key about their expectations for the upgrades this weekend and Neale said that was understandable.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"None of us want to be a hostage to fortune. Setting ourselves up for a blow on the chin from you isn't very funny," he said.
"The other is we are not working in isolation here and while of course it is very natural you and a number of other people will want us to predict that here we come, don't worry, we're going to be on pole position and we'd very much like that to be the case.
"It's a tough sport and the competitors don't stand still and what will be delivered depends on what the others will be doing.
"So it's just impossible to predict and unwise to do so. So I'd rather talk with some effort about what we are doing and what we have achieved rather than what we will achieve. That's just common sense." | McLaren are confident they can win races this season despite their uncompetitive start to the year. |
17955268 | A campaign to preserve the pub, which opened in 1853, was relaunched after it faced closure this month.
Brewers SA Brain, which closed the pub on Thursday night, said it was no longer commercially viable.
The museum said rebuilding the pub will not begin for several years but has asked for historic photographs of it.
It had previously been given a stay of execution after an earlier campaign to save it in 2009 and was given something of a new lease of life after the building of a University of Glamorgan campus opposite.
The Vulcan was built to serve the mainly Irish immigrant community on the outskirts of the city centre in an area once known as Newtown.
Among the famous names to back the 5,000-signature petition to keep it open the last time were James Dean Bradfield, of Manic Street Preachers, Hollywood star Rhys Ifans and sports presenter John Inverdale.
Brains said it had no option but to sell the premises after it was served with a compulsory purchase order four years ago to accommodate the new St Davids shopping development.
Chief executive Scott Waddington said the firm had found itself "the target of negative publicity" over the pub's fate.
He said: "In essence, we had no other option than to sell the pub.
"We have kept the pub trading over this period despite declining customer numbers and therefore income.
"The uncertainty surrounding the future of the premises has also made justifying any significant investment in the pub unrealistic."
The brewer leases the pub from the property's owners, Marcol Asset Management Limited, which has agreed to donate it to the museum.
The exterior of the two-storey building is virtually unchanged, the lower half of the facade being tiled in green and white and the upper floor faced in brick.
Museum deputy director Mark Richards said: "The Vulcan Hotel will be a welcome addition to the collection of historical buildings at St Fagans.
"We are grateful to Marcol for donating the building and giving us the opportunity to save and preserve this important part of Cardiff's heritage for the nation and to tell some of the area's rich history."
Mr Richards said the museum will appeal for photographs, objects and stories relating to the Vulcan and its history.
Licencees Gwyn and Sandra Lewis, who called the final last orders on Thursday night, said: "We look forward to visiting St Fagans and will have good memories of the short time we were at the Vulcan."
Cardiff historian Brian Lee, who has written a history of city pubs, said: "It's a great shame. It's a part of Cardiff's past.
"I think that moving it to St Fagan's is the next best thing. At least it will be a reminder of old Cardiff and people can see it."
Poet and writer Peter Finch, author of the Real Cardiff books series, said he was delighted the musum had chosen the Vulcan as the first Welsh pub it was preserving.
He said: "There will be a gap of five years or so but an important part of our heritage is preserved.
"Cardiff is a young city. It does not have very much of a past. The Vulcan is a city pub of a dying, almost dead breed."
The announcement about The Vulcan Hotel comes as plans for a £24m, five-year revamp and expansion of St Fagans, Wales' most popular heritage attraction with 600,000 visitors a year, have been submitted to Cardiff council. | The Vulcan Hotel, one of Cardiff's best preserved Victorian pubs, is to be dismantled and moved to St Fagans National History Museum. |
40160291 | The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is no Spa or Suzuka, but its combination of slippery surface, big braking zones and close-in perimeter walls provides a tough challenge for the drivers and, quite often, a thrilling spectacle.
The track is on the Ile Notre Dame, built for Expo '67, and some of the futuristic buildings created for that festival remain. As does the rowing lake from the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
It's a lovely setting, with the skyline of one of the world's great cities to the west, the dark, grey, swirling waters of the forbidding river on either side and big North American skies, everything bathed in the special clarity of light that continent somehow creates.
The paddock is a slightly rough-hewn affair, with team hospitality units housed in temporary buildings perched over the lake and a narrow walkway between them and the garages.
It used to drive Bernie Ecclestone mad, but there is an old-school charm to it, and the same goes for the track.
Essentially just a sequence of straights and chicanes, with a hairpin at either end, it is much more than the sum of its parts. Each chicane is subtly different, and most end with a concrete wall on the exit ready to catch the unwary.
The most famous is the so-called 'Wall of Champions' out of the last corner - named after a sequence of crashes there involving title winners in the late 1990s. Since then, a bunch of others, including Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel, have ended up in it at one point or another.
But the walls on the exits of Turns Four, Seven and Nine are just as unyielding, the curving braking point into Turn One is tricky and the hairpin always catches people out.
Action, then, is guaranteed, both on track, and over the river in the city in the evenings. It all adds up to one of the best weekends of the year.
BBC Sport's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson
Canada, or the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at least, appears to be home to some of the bravest - or most foolish - animals in the world. In 1990, an unfortunate gopher was hit by Alessandro Nannini's car while Anthony Davidson struck a groundhog in 2007.
Last year, it was pair of plucky seagulls that decided to get up close to the action. They refused to budge for Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari, forcing the German to take evasive action.
Indeed, Vettel - jokingly - claimed it was the seagulls' fault for him losing the race to Lewis Hamilton.
"I watched the seagulls and locked up," Vettel told Hamilton in the pre-podium room at last year's race. "That's when you caught up!"
The end of Fernando Alonso's Indy 500 adventure will have been disappointingly familiar for the Spaniard as the Honda engine in his car blew in the closing stages.
Alonso nevertheless acquitted himself well in America and returns to the cockpit of his McLaren for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix seemingly refreshed and more determined than ever.
"The Indy 500 was an incredible experience and it's been amazing to learn a completely different style of driving, on a different circuit layout and with a very different car," he said.
"But I'm ready to get back to my 'day job' and go racing in F1 again."
This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser | On an island made for leisure, in the middle of the mighty St Lawrence Seaway, sits one of Formula 1's greatest tracks. |
36536317 | For the previous 70 years, the Finance Ministry of the State of Bavaria had exercised Hitler's intellectual property rights. In doing so, it had prevented republication of Hitler's notorious anti-Semitic political treatise, Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in Germany.
Germany faced the choice of following the liberal approach favoured by the UK, US, Canada and Israel, trusting and leaving it to civil society to engage with Mein Kampf. Another option was, as Austria and other countries had done in the past, to issue an outright ban of Hitler's book.
In the event, Germany rejected both options, favouring a heavily paternalistic approach instead.
Mein Kampf arrives in stores in tense Germany
Italian paper criticised for Mein Kampf giveaway
The State of Bavaria gave half a million euros to the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), a semi-state-run research institute, in order to produce an annotated critical edition of Hitler's book.
At the same time, it stated that it would take anybody to court if they published editions that were not annotated. In a further twist, the Bavarian government cleverly tried to create the impression that it had withdrawn financial support for the annotated edition of Mein Kampf, thus leaving the IfZ to stand alone in the rain.
As January 2016 neared, and with it the IfZ's publication of Mein Kampf, the Munich institute as well as German government officials were becoming highly nervous of what was about to happen.
The institute said at the time how dangerous it would be if Mein Kampf turned into a bestseller in Germany.
Yet, at the same time, it assured the public that would never happen. Its director, Andreas Wirsching, declared that it would be irresponsible to hand over Mein Kampf "free of copyright and commentary", because in that case everybody could do whatever they wanted with Hitler's book.
The IfZ indeed had produced an edition that was unlikely to fly off the shelves.
Weighing in at 5.4 kg (12 pounds) and including 3,700 footnotes, it is a great piece of scholarship.
Even for experts it is extremely tedious to read.
And for several weeks it was next to impossible to buy copies of the book, as the Institute for Contemporary History had opted for a very low initial print-run. Subsequent printings took an oddly long time to arrive at book shops.
However, the paternalistic approach favoured by the Munich institute and by German authorities failed dismally in trying to prevent Mein Kampf from turning into a bestseller.
All they did was postpone the appearance of Hitler's book in the German bestseller lists.
If anything public interest in the book was fanned unnecessarily by keeping the aura of the forbidden alive.
By mid-April, Mein Kampf had managed to move to the pole position of Germany's influential Spiegel bestseller list, where it remained for several weeks.
Even now it stands in 14th place, though many bookshops do not have the book on display and others only order the book on request.
The German approach may have failed but, arguably, concerns about the likely dire consequences of Hitler's book turning into a bestseller were unfounded.
There are no signs that the overwhelming majority of people buying Mein Kampf are doing so for any other reason than curiosity and genuine interest.
There is no reason to believe that in a year's time or so, when the first excitement about the whole affair will have evaporated, Mein Kampf will be more popular in Germany than in Britain or America.
One may also raise the question, as I have in German daily Die Welt, whether Germany would not have been served better by following the liberal approach favoured by the Anglo-Saxon world, rather than a paternalistic approach that distrusts civil society.
Indeed one may also ask whether Mein Kampf becoming a bestseller, and thus Germans engaging with their past, is really such a bad thing, when politicians around the world are frequently compared to Hitler and at a time of resurgent political populism akin to the 1920s.
The fear expressed in Germany and elsewhere is, of course, that Hitler's book may prompt a new wave of anti-Semitism and a resurgence of the radical right.
That concern was fanned further by the announcement by radical right-wing East German publishing house Schelm that it would issue a version of Mein Kampf without annotation. The state of Bavaria has asked prosecutors to take the publisher to court.
Schelm's announcement should be seen as a publicity stunt, similar to the decision last week of Italian daily Il Giornale to hand out free copies of Hitler's book.
But these stunts only became possible because the Bavarian government decided to prevent republications of Mein Kampf for 70 years and they are unlikely to have a lasting effect.
Neo-Nazis and their sympathizers have been able easily to access Mein Kampf on the internet for years and thus are unlikely to be affected by the return of Mein Kampf in print.
In fact, there is no correlation between the approach different countries have taken in the past towards access to Mein Kampf and the respective strength of extremist movements in the countries involved.
It could be argued the danger lies elsewhere: that it is the paternalism shining through the German approach to the republication of Mein Kampf, rather than Hitler's book itself, that fans right-wing populism.
As German intellectual Nils Minkmar warned in Der Spiegel, cultural arrogance and a "haughtiness towards poorly educated classes" has been leading to "the alienation of the lower classes from liberal society", and thus to the resurgence of right-wing populism in the country that Hitler once ruled.
Thomas Weber is Professor of History and International Affairs at the University of Aberdeen. His book Wie Adolf Hitler zum Nazi Wurde (How Hitler became a Nazi - Propyläen, 2016), will be published in English by Oxford University Press and Basic Books. @Thomas__Weber | As Adolf Hitler's intellectual property rights were about to expire last year, Germany faced the agonising choice of how best to deal with the writings of the man at the heart of the darkest chapter of its history. |
37949022 | She joins Tory consultant paediatrician Caroline Johnson, who contested the Scunthorpe seat in 2010, coming second to Labour.
Labour selected its candidate - trade unionist and refuse driver Jim Clarke - on Wednesday.
Ross Pepper will be contesting the by-election for the Liberal Democrats.
Conservative MP Stephen Phillips resigned last week, citing "irreconcilable policy differences" with the government.
The barrister and part-time judge had complained that the government was "lurching to the right" and had criticised its attempt to trigger Article 50, beginning the formal process for the UK to leave the EU, without a vote by MPs.
The High Court has since ruled that the government must consult MPs - although ministers are appealing against the decision to the Supreme Court.
Lincolnshire voters were among the most Eurosceptic in the UK, with more than 75% of voters in Boston voting to leave.
This could benefit UKIP's Ms Ayling, who said she was "honoured" to be selected, and that as a local councillor she understands "the issues facing Lincolnshire."
Conservative Dr Johnson said she was delighted to be selected, adding: "I am the only person who can support the prime minister and the government to deliver Brexit. I am completely behind the government's plans for Brexit and to deliver on the decision made by the British people."
Mr Clarke, a trade unionist and former postman, said he was honoured to fight the seat for Labour and would stand up for locals in parliament.
"It is not right that in 2016 working people here in Sleaford and North Hykeham are having to choose between heating and eating."
He accused the government of having "no plan for Brexit" and pledged to "hold the government to account on ensuring the best deal for Britain, which protects our local jobs".
Local councillor Mark Suffield is standing as an independent while Peter Hill is standing for the Monster Raving Loony Party. | Lincolnshire county councillor Victoria Ayling has been chosen to contest the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election for UKIP. |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.