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34651960 | Robert Braithwaite, 72, founder of Sunseeker yachts, bought the da Vinci robot which will be used in advanced keyhole surgery for cancer patients.
He said it was a "pleasure" to pay back the hospital that treated him for bowel cancer earlier in the year.
Tas Qureshi, the surgeon who treated him, called the gift "incredible".
The Dorset Cancer Centre will use the robot, which was developed in California, to treat rectal, gynaecological, head and neck cancers.
Mr Qureshi, consultant colorectal surgeon and lead for laparoscopic keyhole surgery, said the robot's "greater range of movement" would "allow easier access to areas difficult to reach with traditional key hole surgery".
He said it meant better targeting and removal of cancers, and less chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
He added: "I would like to place on record our sincerest gratitude to Robert."
Mr Braithwaite offered to make a donation after recovering from surgery to treat his tumour.
When Mr Qureshi said Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust would welcome funds towards the "game-changing" robot, Mr Braithwaite offered to pay for the whole thing, as well as its ongoing maintenance.
He said: "Dorset has played a huge part in my life.
"It has been home to Sunseeker since the early 70s... and I am exceptionally proud and grateful to this hard working team and the Dorset community who have always been very supportive of our ambitions."
Debbie Fleming, chief executive of the trust, said: "We're indebted to Mr Braithwaite for this incredibly generous gift."
The first patients will be treated by the robot later in the year. | A multi-millionaire was so impressed with the treatment he received as a patient at Poole Hospital that he gifted it a £3.5m surgical robot. |
34732530 | The attack took place in a parked car on Daldowie Road, near Hamilton Road, in the Mount Vernon area of Glasgow, between 01:30 and 02:00 on Sunday.
The car is believed to have been parked beside green wrought iron gates. Officers want to trace the driver of another car which may have passed by.
Police would not give details about the age or sex of the victim.
Det Insp Graeme McLachlan said: "The stretch of road where this assault took place is not heavily used, especially at this time of the morning.
"I am particularly keen to speak to any drivers who were in the area around the time of the incident and noticed a car parked at this location. They may have vital information that would assist with our inquiry." | Police investigating a rape in Glasgow have appealed for help in tracing a driver who may have passed the scene. |
35124739 | "Mad" or "Black Friday" is one of the busiest nights of the year as it marks the start of the festive season for many who are finishing work.
A triage unit will be set up in Cardiff city centre, Swansea has a help point and Wrexham's welfare centre will open.
The Welsh Ambulance Service said it took 800 calls last year.
On a typical Friday night it receives about 630 calls.
"Parties and get-togethers are a big feature of this time of year which in turn puts pressure on ambulance crews and clinical contact centre staff," said Gordon Roberts, the trust's interim assistant director of operations.
"It's easy to forget how much alcohol you have consumed when you're enjoying yourself, but while we are dealing with alcohol-related incidents, we could be delayed in treating someone whose situation really is life or death.
"We are not killjoys but we are asking the public to drink responsibly and enjoy themselves safely."
Wales' four police forces have been carrying out a campaigns throughout the festive period.
South Wales Police said officers would have a "visible presence" in Swansea.
Supt Jane Banham of North Wales Police said: "We know from experience that at this time of year some people will come to harm due to alcohol excess and it is the emergency services and local councils who are left picking up the pieces.
"We make a significant contribution to keeping our town centres safe so people can enjoy a good night out.
"But we must get the message across that people need to take greater responsibility for themselves and their friends to reduce the likelihood of them being injured, becoming a victim of crime, or being involved in violence through excessive drinking." | Emergency crews across Wales are urging revellers to drink sensibly as they make the most of the final Friday night out before Christmas. |
36129283 | Afghanistan veteran David Seath, 31, had a cardiac arrest three miles short of the finish, near the 23-mile mark, close to Southwark Bridge.
He received immediate medical attention and was taken to St Thomas' Hospital but died later.
Capt Seath's friends are planning to complete the marathon in his honour, starting at the place where he collapsed.
More on this and other news from London
"We will walk as one, the final three miles of the marathon, starting where he fell," wrote Capt James Walker-McClimens on a fundraising page set up following his death.
The page has so far raised more than £64,000 for Help for Heroes. Capt Seath's own page has raised almost £40,000.
Capt Walker-McClimens served with Capt Seath in the 19th Regiment The Royal Artillery The Highland Gunners in Tidworth.
They both went on tour to Afghanistan in 2012, returning at the same time.
"He was the greatest type of guy you could imagine - everyone loved him. He was funny, outgoing, generous - he was just not a bad guy in any way shape or form."
"In the Army we don't like unfinished business. It was something he wanted to do, he wanted to do the full marathon, so we are going to complete it for him," he said.
The exact cause of death is yet to be established.
Capt Seath's mother, Libby, said: "David has achieved more in 31 years than most people do in 70. He lived his life on the edge and to the full."
Capt Seath, from Cowdenbeath, Fife, commanded a specialist team while serving as a fire support team commander for 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Plymouth.
He completed two master's degrees at the University of Aberdeen before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the elite officer training centre, in 2009.
Lieut Col Jon Cresswell, Commanding Officer of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, said the regiment was "devastated".
"Witty, charming and polished, Dave was a fabulous host and stylish performer."
He said Capt Seath had been selected to train future officers of the Afghan National Army in the rank of a major.
"We have lost one of the great characters of our regiment and take strength from the memory of his example and leadership."
Speaking earlier in the House of Commons, Defence Minister Philip Dunne used his opening remarks in response to an urgent question on ship building to pay tribute to the 31-year-old.
He said the thoughts of MPs were with the family and friends of Capt Seath "at this difficult time".
Shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry also offered condolences to the family on behalf of the Labour Party.
In 2012, 30-year-old Claire Squires died close to the finish line. A fundraising campaign set up following her death raised more than £1m for the Samaritans. | An Army captain who collapsed while running the London Marathon has died. |
31158497 | West Midlands Fire Service said eight crews tackled the blaze at St Alban's Church of England School, in St Alban's Close, Wednesfield.
It began at about 20:15 GMT. The school said it would be closed on Friday as a result of the damage caused. Police are investigating.
The school has 177 pupils, aged from three to 11. | Arsonists are believed to have started a severe fire which ripped through a primary school in Wolverhampton. |
35714087 | He said illegal economic migrants were risking "lives and money" for nothing.
Mr Tusk visited Greece and Turkey on Thursday to discuss ways to reduce the flow of migrants travelling west.
More than 25,000 migrants have been left stranded in Greece by a tightening of border controls to the north, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.
On Thursday, a group of migrants blocked a railway line on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia to protest at the restrictions.
They were imposed after several Balkan countries decided only to allow Syrian and Iraqi migrants across their frontiers. Austria also decided to limit numbers.
The move effectively barred passage to thousands of people seeking to reach western Europe, including Afghans as well as some more likely to be regarded as economic migrants.
Has the EU kept its promises?
Crisis in seven charts
Desperate migrants plead to flee 'hellish' camp
Europe 'on cusp of self-induced crisis'
After meeting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on Thursday, Mr Tusk said he was appealing to "all potential illegal economic migrants", wherever they may be from.
"Do not come to Europe," he said. "Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing."
He also said EU member states must avoid taking unilateral action to deal with the migrant crisis.
Separately, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande discussed security and migration issues in the French city of Amiens, including conditions at the French port of Calais, where thousands of migrants hoping to enter the UK have been living rough.
After the talks Mr Hollande warned of "consequences" for management of migrants heading to Britain if the UK voted to leave the European Union in a June referendum.
Earlier, French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said his country could allow migrants to travel unchecked to the UK in the event of a so-called "Brexit".
He told the Financial Times newspaper that an exit vote could end a bilateral deal allowing the UK to vet new arrivals on French territory.
Authorities in Calais have been clearing part of a sprawling camp known as the Jungle, from where many migrants are trying to enter the UK illegally.
Ahead of an EU-Turkey summit on the issue on Monday, Mr Tusk travelled to Turkey later on Thursday for talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Mr Davutoglu said that the flow of Syrian refugees would lessen if the cessation of hostilities in the conflict held, adding that violations by Syrian government and Russian forces had left it vulnerable.
Turkey already accommodates over 2.5 million Syrian refugees - at an estimated cost of €7 (£5.4bn). The EU has pledged €3bn to Turkey, which is calling for more support.
Mr Davutoglu repeated that they expected the opening of new chapters for Turkey's longstanding EU membership bid and progress on visa-free travel to the EU for Turkish citizens.
Turkey has already offered to sign readmission agreements with 14 countries, a move that could enable it to take back migrants rejected by the EU more efficiently.
Turkish officials also say they have managed to prevent almost 25,000 migrants from travelling to Europe this year. But almost 130,000 have made their way to Greek islands during the same period.
In the EU summit in Brussels next week, there will be calls on Turkey to do more to reduce the numbers of migrants.
Mr Tusk said earlier this week that Europe was ready to grant "substantial financial support" to countries neighbouring war-torn regions such as Syria and Iraq.
"But at the same time we expect a more intensive engagement from our partners as an absolute precondition to avoid a humanitarian disaster," he said.
Turkey has expressed frustration at the lack of a common position from the EU on the crisis.
BBC Europe Correspondent Chris Morris, who is on the Greek island of Lesbos where 75,000 migrants have already arrived so far this year, says the EU wants to see arrivals in Greece drop below 1,000 a day.
New figures suggest last year's total of one million seaborne migrants arriving in Europe could be matched well before the end of the year.
The number of migrants stuck in Greece has soared, after Macedonia began restricting passage to all but a small number. More migrants are en route from Athens.
Earlier this week, the European Commission adopted plans to distribute €700m (£543m; $760m) of emergency humanitarian funding between 2016-18 to help tackle the crisis.
Greece has asked the European Commission for nearly €500m in assistance to help care for 100,000 asylum seekers.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said nearly 129,500 migrants had arrived in Europe by sea so far in 2016, plus another 1,545 by land. It said 418 had drowned or were missing.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. | European Council President Donald Tusk has warned illegal economic migrants against coming to Europe, during a new push to solve the EU migrant crisis. |
39304509 | Yusra Mardini and her sister Sara were forced to swim for hours alongside their overloaded boat as it crossed from Turkey to Greece.
Yusra later competed for the first ever Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 games.
UK production company Working Title has agreed to buy the rights to her story for a film that Stephen Daldry is tipped to direct.
"It's rather important that we find someone who can act and swim," he told the Daily Mail.
Mardini, 18, the daughter of a swimming coach, left her hometown with her sister in 2015 after their house was destroyed in the Syrian conflict.
Her remarkable 25-day journey took her to Beirut in Lebanon, across the Aegean Sea and finally to Germany.
In the final part of the journey, Mardini, Sara and another young woman dragged the broken-down boat full of refugees - many of whom could not swim - towards the shore, clinging to a rope dangling from the side.
Mardini's first German home would temporarily be a refugee camp, and one of her first questions in this unfamiliar city concerned finding the nearest swimming pool.
An Egyptian translator put the sisters in touch with Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, one of Berlin's oldest swimming clubs.
"They saw our technique, saw it was good, they accepted us," she says.
After training there, she became one of two Syrians to be chosen by the International Olympic Committee for its first refugee team.
She won her qualifying heat in the 100 metres butterfly, though her time was not quick enough for her to progress.
"This is just a great story about a kid with an ambition, just like Billy Elliot," said Working Title's Eric Fellner.
Daldry received an Oscar nomination in 2001 for directing Billy Elliot and went on to direct the West End musical version.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | A teenage refugee who fled Syria and went on to swim at the Rio Olympics is to have her story turned into a film. |
29612656 | Novelist and amateur historian Peter Burke wants to test his theory that the king recovered and lived for 40 years after the battle on 14 October 1066.
He is challenging historical records which state that King Harold was killed by William the Conqueror's soldiers.
Battle Historical Society said the theory was unlikely to be true.
Mr Burke is sponsoring a search for the remains of King Harold, widely believed to be buried in the grounds of Waltham Abbey.
He said the alternative version of Harold's death comes from a 12th Century document, Vita Harold, in the British Library which he found while researching his trilogy The Promise.
"It was taken from a young novice priest who took the last rites of an old pilgrim called Christian who declared on his death bed that he was Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon king," said Mr Burke.
"He was hidden in Winchester and brought back to health by a Moorish nurse. He tried to raise an army in Germany but they weren't interested and he spent his life travelling as a pilgrim."
The scan, taking place on the 948th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, is being carried out by the geological survey company which helped to locate the remains of King Richard III in 2012 beneath a car park in Leicester.
Neil Clephane-Cameron, from Battle and District Historical Society, said the story that King Harold survived the battle did not sit comfortably with him.
"The contemporary accounts, both Norman and Saxon, all give the fact that Harold was killed at the battle," he said.
"Even if there is a body at Waltham it doesn't mean that he necessarily survived but it might confirm whether the accounts are correct because there should be be fairly distinctive giveaways." | An underground scan is being carried out at Waltham Abbey in Essex in a hunt for evidence that King Harold survived the Battle of Hastings. |
39484825 | Rainwater poured into the venue ahead of Saturday's performance of The Crucible.
Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA) said heavy rain combined with ongoing roof repairs led to the issue.
Customers received a refund and APA said no lasting damage had been caused to the venue.
A spokeswoman said: "Due to persistent heavy rain and ongoing roof repairs, we experienced an issue with water entering the auditorium.
"There was a lack of time to resolve this without causing a major delay to the beginning of the performance.
"The show was cancelled and refunds have been issued. There is no lasting damage and future shows will go ahead as planned." | The operator of His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen has said it had no choice but to cancel a show just moments before it was due to start. |
39361527 | Lloyd's first-half header was the only goal of the first leg in a game City were unlucky not to win by more.
The USA midfielder rose unmarked to meet a Jane Ross cross on 30 minutes.
Lucy Bronze was denied in either half with a volley off the crossbar and a header just wide in the closing stages.
City are appearing in the last eight of the competition for the first time.
The two sides will meet in the return leg at Manchester's Academy Stadium on 30 March.
The winners will face one of last year's finalists - Wolfsburg or holders Lyon - in the semi-finals in April. | Carli Lloyd's first goal for Manchester City Women ensured they took a lead into the second leg of their Women's Champions League quarter-final against Danish champions Fortuna Hjorring. |
31438865 | Lord Fink had accused the Labour leader of making defamatory comments in the Commons about his tax affairs.
But the peer told the Evening Standard he did not want to sue Mr Miliband and the definition of tax avoidance was so broad that "everyone does it".
Mr Miliband challenged David Cameron to say whether he agreed with that view.
Downing Street said the tax evasion row was entirely a matter for Lord Fink and Mr Cameron's view was that "taxes that are due must be paid".
Meanwhile, BBC business editor Kamal Ahmed says he understands the Treasury is preparing legislation to tighten the rules on undeclared income held in offshore accounts.
Lord Fink said he particularly objected to Mr Miliband's use of the word "dodgy" in his attack on Tory donors in the Commons.
He said: "Yesterday (Wednesday) I challenged Ed Miliband to repeat the accusations he made in the Commons - that I used an HSBC bank account to avoid tax and that I was a 'dodgy donor'. He did not. This is a major climbdown by a man who is willing to smear without getting his facts straight."
He did not mention the word "dodgy" in his letter of complaint to Mr Miliband following prime minister's questions.
But although the Labour leader stood by his words in the Commons about tax avoidance, he claimed that he had not been referring specifically to Lord Fink when he talked about "dodgy donors".
Mr Miliband said: "I was very clear about what I said about Lord Fink. Until his extraordinary U-turn 24 hours later, the thing he objected to was me saying he was engaging in tax-avoiding activities.
"I used a general comment about dodgy donors in the Conservative Party and I totally stand by that. I am not saying it about Lord Fink."
He said there were "several questionable donors to the Tory Party".
The row erupted when a list of political donors, including some who had given money to the Labour Party, who had bank accounts with HSBC's private Swiss banking arm was published by The Guardian and the BBC's Panorama.
The bank faces allegations it may have helped wealthy clients avoid or evade tax.
Mr Miliband used the protection of Parliamentary privilege to name Lord Fink, a philanthropist and former hedge fund boss who has donated £3m to the Conservative Party, as one of the UK citizens listed as having an account at the bank's Geneva branch.
Who is Lord Fink?
The Manchester-born son of a grocer, Stanley Fink has been described as the "godfather" of the hedge fund industry, after overseeing the growth of the Man Group, to become the largest listed company of its type in the world.
The 57-year-old quit as the group's chief executive in 2007 to devote more time to his political and charitable interests - he has donated millions to education and health projects, including an academy school in west London and a children's hospital. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.
He was appointed treasurer of the Conservative Party by David Cameron in 2009 and was made a life peer two years later. He stood down as treasurer in 2013. He has donated more than £3m - from an estimated personal fortune of £120m - to the Conservative Party and bankrolled Boris Johnson's first campaign to be London mayor.
He read law at Cambridge before training as an accountant. Married with three children, he has homes in North London, France and Spain.
He then accused David Cameron of being a "dodgy prime minister surrounded by dodgy donors".
A furious Lord Fink made a statement on the steps of Conservative HQ challenging the Labour leader to repeat the allegation outside Parliament and threatened legal action if he did so.
But on Thursday morning, Lord Fink appeared to climb down, telling The Evening Standard: "I don't even want to sue Ed Miliband. If he simply uses the words 'Lord Fink did ordinary tax avoidance' then, no, I couldn't sue him. But if he made the statement 'dodgy' about my bank account, that was potentially libellous. That was the issue I took exception to."
He admitted taking tax avoidance measures "at the vanilla, bland, end of the spectrum", adding: "The expression tax avoidance is so wide that everyone does tax avoidance at some level."
Mr Miliband reacted to Lord Fink's comments by saying: "I think this is a defining moment in David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party because it is now revealed that he appointed a treasurer of the Conservative Party who says everyone engages in tax avoidance. I don't think that is the view of most people, I don't think it's the view of the country, and I think it does say something about the Conservative Party and where it has reached.
"The question today that David Cameron has to answer is does he agree with Lord Fink about this? Does he sanction his attitude or does he not?"
The Treasury Select Committee has launched an inquiry into allegations about HSBC's Swiss private bank and will take evidence from the both the bank and HMRC, which is accused of not taking firm enough action against UK citizens hiding money in Swiss accounts.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the row over "dodgy donors" should be the "final wake-up call" on party funding reform. | Ed Miliband has accused Lord Fink of an "extraordinary U-turn" after the Tory donor appeared to drop his threat of legal action over tax avoidance claims. |
33089751 | Postal workers will share a 1% stake in the company worth about £50m in addition to the 10% given to them when the government started its sell-off in 2013.
This sale of a 15% stake will be made to institutional investors such as pension funds.
The move has been criticised by Labour.
In his annual Mansion House speech in the City of London, Mr Osborne said: "We want to help the Royal Mail attract more investment and serve its customers, and use the money we raise in return to pay down the national debt."
"And we're also going to make sure that there is a special bonus for the workforce who have done such a great job turning Royal Mail around.
"Thanks to them, Royal Mail's share price has risen, so we're going to give more of the shares to the staff."
But shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna MP said: "It's disgraceful the government is rushing to dump its stake in Royal Mail to City speculators without giving ordinary investors a look-in."
Last month, Royal Mail reported an increase in full-year profits as cost cuts helped the company in a "challenging" market.
It reported £740m in annual adjusted operating profit before transformation costs, up 6% from a year earlier.
Revenues in the year to 29 March were barely changed at £9.4bn.
UK parcel volumes grew by 3%, although revenues from its parcels business rose by just 1%. Letter volumes fell by 4%, with revenues from letters down 1%. | The government will sell half of its remaining shares in Royal Mail, and give a further stake to employees, Chancellor George Osborne has said. |
40066211 | Kelly Brewster, 32, from Sheffield, was among 22 people who died in the suicide bomb attack at a pop concert at Manchester Arena on Monday.
Her family paid tribute to a "selfless, soft and kind hearted heroine" who shielded her sister Claire Booth and 11-year-old niece from the blast.
About 300 people gathered in the city to release balloons and pay tribute.
More on this and other Yorkshire stories
Her cousin Donna Brewster said: "She's a hero and she deserves to be remembered a hero and not some evil person's victim. She was a hero that night and I, for one, am so proud of her and I know my family is."
She described the 32-year-old as "a much-loved girl".
"She was such a lovely girl. It's so touching all the support the family's had," said Ms Brewster.
The balloons were released in Richmond Park to the tune of the One Direction song What Makes You Beautiful.
Floral tributes were laid in the Peace Gardens including a large bouquet by Sheffield boxing champion Kell Brook.
The former City School pupil attended the Ariana Grande concert with her sister and niece, who are both among the injured in Manchester.
Mrs Booth has a broken jaw and her daughter has two broken legs, according to reports.
Donna Brewster said: "They're both not great but we'll get there and we'll support each other. We're a very strong, loving family. We're very close. But the family will never be the same without Kelly."
Kelly Brewster's partner Ian Winslow confirmed she had died on Facebook on Wednesday.
The couple had recently put a deposit down on a new home and were planning to start a family. | Hundreds of balloons have been released to remember a "selfless" victim of the Manchester terror attack. |
40673053 | The Ligue 1 club said in a statement that "important European clubs" have made contact with the 18-year-old France forward without permission.
Monaco may ask world governing body Fifa and the French league to consider disciplinary action.
BBC Sport understands Manchester City are the only English club accused. They have refused to comment officially.
A City source, however, told BBC Sport the two clubs developed a positive relationship over their two Champions League meetings last season.
It is understood negotiations over the sale of Bernardo Silva to City for £43m earlier in the summer were positive, and the ongoing dialogue over £50m-rated full-back Benjamin Mendy has also been cordial.
The source added they did not believe City had conducted themselves in such a way that would breach the trust that exists between the two clubs.
Arsenal have also been strongly linked with Mbappe, and Monaco reportedly rejected an £87m bid for the France international in June.
Mbappe scored 26 goals in 44 appearances for Monaco last season as they won Ligue 1 for the first time in 17 years and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Monaco claim clubs have breached regulations of both Fifa and the Ligue de Football Professionnel.
Fifa rules state: "A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform the player's current club in writing before entering into negotiations with him."
BBC Sport contacted Fifa but it is yet to provide a response. | Monaco have accused some of Europe's top clubs of making illegal approaches for teenage striker Kylian Mbappe. |
35993767 | The first group arrived in Turkey on Monday, but since then the process has stalled, partly due to a surge in last-minute asylum applications in Greece.
It is thought another two boats will arrive on Friday carrying migrants expelled from Greece under the EU deal.
Around 200 people, mainly Pakistanis, were sent back to Turkey on Monday.
Under the EU deal with Turkey, migrants who have arrived illegally in Greece after 20 March are expected to be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or if their claim is rejected.
And for each Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, the EU is due to take in another Syrian who has made a legitimate request.
Of those being returned to Turkey on Friday, the non-Syrians will be taken to deportation centres while any Syrians will be taken to refugee camps to take the place of Syrian refugees who will be directly resettled in the EU.
But Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that his country will only implement this deal if the EU sticks to its side of the bargain:
"There are precise conditions. If the European Union does not take the necessary steps, then Turkey will not implement the agreement," Mr Erdogan said in a speech at his presidential palace in Ankara.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country has taken in the bulk of the asylum seekers so far, was more upbeat.
"I am very happy today. However, I know that we have not yet completed all the tasks before us," she told a news conference during a meeting with French counterpart Francois Hollande in eastern France.
The arrangement has alarmed rights groups, who say Turkey is not a safe country for migrants.
Amnesty International has accused Turkey of illegally returning Syrians to their homeland, something Turkey denies.
On Thursday Amnesty also raised the alarm on the lack of information and help available for migrants on the Greek islands.
People detained on Lesbos and Chios have virtually no access to legal aid, limited access to services and support, and hardly any information about their current status or possible fate," said Amnesty Deputy Director for Europe Gauri van Gulik.
"The fear and desperation are palpable," Reuters quoted her as saying.
"They show that in addition to Turkey not being safe for refugees at the moment, there are also serious flaws on the Greek side of the EU-Turkey deal."
152,137
in 2016, up to 4 April
37% of 2016 arrivals are children
53% arrive on Lesbos
366 died on Turkey-Greece route
853,650 arrivals in 2015
Migrants on the Greek border with Macedonia clashed with police on Thursday, demanding that the border be reopened so they could continue with their journey that way.
One million migrants and refugees have entered the EU by boat from Turkey to Greece since last year.
Many are keen to travel to Germany and other northern EU countries, and experts have warned the deal could force them to take alternative, more dangerous routes.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. | A second wave of migrants is expected to be sent back from Greece to Turkey on Friday as part of an EU deal to reduce the numbers reaching Europe. |
36038667 | The decision paves the way for the country to re-enter bond markets after more than a decade.
A panel of judges rejected claims made from holdout creditors who had not accepted any of the offers made by Argentina to pay its debt.
The country will now be allowed to proceed to pay those claims that have been settled.
On Thursday it is due to pay off four of its biggest creditors.
However, first payments are only expected next week, when Argentina plans to start raising $12.5bn in new bonds to be issued internationally.
Settling the country's debt default has been one of the main campaign promises made by President Mauricio Macri, who came to power in December last year.
Holders of the bonds had refused part-payment offered by Argentina and were trying to stop it making payments in the hope of gaining the full amount.
Starting in 2005 the country began to workout deals to repay lenders reduced amounts.
It had reached settlements with 93% of its lenders, but certain holdout lenders refused to accept cuts to the original loan and interest they are due.
Argentina's last President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, called these holdout bondholders "vultures" and refused to negotiate with them. | A US appeals court has cleared the path for Argentina to begin making payments on $9bn (£6.33bn) in bonds. |
13085649 | Air Marshal Peter Walker filled the vacancy left by Sir Fabian Malbon's departure in February.
As Lieutenant Governor of the Bailiwick he represents the Queen in the islands.
After being sworn in on Friday he fulfilled his first official engagement by inspecting a parade, which gathered outside the Royal Court.
AM Walker served as a fighter pilot and worked in a number of senior roles in both the Royal Air Force and NATO during his 32 year career in the forces.
Former Governor Sir John Coward, who served in the post from 1994 to 2000, said the role would present AM Walker with a steep learning curve and it was "daunting but very enjoyable". | Guernsey's Lieutenant Governor Designate was officially sworn in to office at a ceremony led by the Bailiff. |
38981310 | The girl suffered face, arm and shoulder injuries when she came out of her pushchair in Darlaston on Wednesday morning.
The child was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to Walsall Manor Hospital, ambulance staff said.
The accident took place in Pinfold Street, shortly after 10:00 GMT. No-one else needed treatment, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.
More on this and stories from Birmingham and the Black Country | A four-month-old baby was injured when her pushchair was hit by a car. |
39056836 | Under-20s coach Murty, 42, has been in charge of the Ibrox first team since Mark Warburton's departure this month.
He has won one and lost one of his two games in charge.
"The feeling will be and has been that I'm going to take this period to assess whether I am cut out for it or not," Murty said.
"I don't mean in terms of tactical or technical knowledge, just in terms of temperament, whether this is an environment I want to operate in or whether I want to be more of a developmental person.
"But I will take my own time in assessing that."
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Murty was animated on the touchline as Rangers lost 2-1 at Dundee on Sunday, seven days after beating Greenock Morton by the same scoreline in the Scottish Cup.
At one point, the former Scotland defender crouched to the ground and ended up standing on his head as he bemoaned a missed chance.
"I normally transition out of that into a handstand and it normally looks quite smooth," he joked.
"I was certain we had just got back to 2-2, and I kind of wanted just to curl up into a ball and hide, and it didn't turn out that way.
"Personally, I am absolutely mortified but professionally I think I have larger concerns than how I looked on the sideline.
"If you ask any football person, this game grips you. It gets you deep in your soul, and the way you express that depends on the person.
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"At that moment in time, that's the way it came out. As I grow more experienced and I decide whether I want to do this full-time or not, I'm sure I will have much better control over it.
"Imagine what would have happened if we had scored?"
Rangers, who visit Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Friday, have reportedly held interviews to fill both the manager's job and a director of football post.
And Murty explained: "They [the club] have not put any timescale or any pressure on me, the only communication I have had from all members of the board is: 'Keep doing what you are doing, can we help you at all?' So that's been great.
"If it's tomorrow that it changes, if it's next week, whenever it is, I will just be continuing on and making sure I do the best for the players.
"It's a great opportunity for me to take my coaching to another level." | Graeme Murty says his spell as interim boss at Rangers is teaching him whether he has the "temperament" to be a first-team manager. |
38883401 | Ben Kitto, from Scarborough, had used the laser jamming device on the A64 in North Yorkshire in June.
The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to speeding and attempting to pervert the course of justice at York Crown Court on Monday.
He was given a two-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £2,200 in fines and costs.
Kitto was also ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and was given five penalty points on his driving licence.
Read more about this and other stories from across North Yorkshire
The judge, Andrew Stubbs QC, told Kitto that he had "narrowly" avoided jail due to his "exceptional character".
Kitto, the court heard, had raised thousands of pounds for charities in Scarborough.
The jamming device, which could be used to prevent the police from recording a speed, had been fitted beneath the front number plate of his BMW car.
Kitto was estimated to have been driving at between 81.9 and 91mph (131 and 146km/h) on the A64 between Malton and York.
Police realised he had been using a device after reviewing video footage, and Kitto was later arrested at home.
Judge Stubbs told him: "For you it appears the speed limits were an inconvenience.
"This arrogance led you to fill your car with gadgets, both legal and illegal, to allow you to operate outside the law."
What are jammers? | A man who fitted a device to his car to jam police safety cameras has been given a suspended prison sentence. |
37776995 | And he believes he is a better player now than the one that scored four times in 48 games for St Johnstone.
"St Johnstone was a while ago, about four year ago," said the 27-year-old, who has signed until the end of the season after leaving Crewe Alexandra.
"And I am a slightly different player now - a bit more experienced."
Striker Haber, who joined Crewe from Stevenage in 2014, scored 10 times in 50 appearances last season as the Railwaymen were relegated from England's League One.
He had already earned the first of his 26 caps for Canada before joining St Johnstone in 2010 after leaving West Bromwich Albion.
"That was my first real taste of first-team football for a prolonged period of time in the UK," said Haber, who has also found the net three times for his country.
"I was still learning the game, so I definitely feel a lot different now."
Dundee manager Paul Hartley lost his two top scorers this summer, when Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart were sold to Oxford United and Birmingham City respectively.
Faissal El Bakhtaoui arrived with a goalscoring reputation after helping Dunfermline Athletic win League One last season, while Yordi Teijsse had been prolific with Quick Boys in Netherlands' fourth tier.
However, Hartley has earmarked the striking department as a problem as his side have gone nine games without a victory - and lost their last five - with El Bakhtaoui also sidelined through injury for the next three weeks.
The manager is looking for Haber, who impressed on a week's trial after being released by Crewe, to make a difference.
"He will add height and strength and he is someone who stays in the box," said Hartley.
"The majority of his goals have come from inside the box, so hopefully that gives us a different dimension."
Haber scored for Canada in a 4-0 victory over Mauritania earlier this month.
"He has played two games for Canada recently, so his fitness looks okay," added Hartley ahead of Wednesday's visit to Dens Park by second-bottom Partick Thistle. | New signing Marcus Haber feels fit and ready to make his Dundee debut as they look for the goals needed to lift them off the foot of the Premiership table. |
28803561 | Staff at Ferguson Shipbuilders in Port Glasgow turned up to work on Friday to learn most of the 77-strong workforce were being made redundant immediately.
Joint administrators from KPMG said the business had gone bust due to a lack of orders and mounting cash flow pressure.
GMB official Alex Logan said staff were "shocked". The Scottish government is to set up a task force to help workers.
Mr Logan said: "There was no warning about this at all and it has come as a complete shock to the workforce.
"We've had an idea since before the summer that something was going on but have been unable to get any information from the management.
"We thought that maybe the yard was going to be sold but there was no indication it was going to close."
The GMB said a "skeleton staff" had been retained to finish work on existing projects and help maintain the yard.
Mr Logan was attempting to organise a mass meeting of staff to discuss their options.
Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring for KPMG, said: "Ferguson Shipbuilders is a leading name in the industry with a rich heritage dating back more than 110 years and is the last commercial shipbuilder operating on the River Clyde.
"However, a lack of significant orders and mounting cash flow pressure has led to the group's inability to continue trading.
"We would like to thank staff for their co-operation during this difficult period. We will be working with employees and the relevant government agencies to ensure that the full range of support is available to all those affected."
Mr Nimmo added: "We would encourage any party who has an interest in acquiring the group's business and facilities to contact us as soon as possible."
Originally formed in 1902, Ferguson Shipbuilders employed 77 staff at the time of the administration appointments.
Whilst best known for its shipbuilding capability, the yard is also known for engineering and joinery, materials handling, fluids distributions, system hydraulics, power distribution and management and civil engineering.
KPMG said the business had "experienced significant cash flow pressure in recent months" and a "lack of financial strength" had effectively "hindered its ability to secure new vessel contracts from its core customer base".
Recent attempts to secure investment into the business have proved unsuccessful, the administrators said.
They are now "assessing all available options" to complete the yard's remaining work and are aiming to determine "whether an early sale of its business, infrastructure, and assets can be secured".
Jim Moohan, GMB Scotland senior organiser and chair of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU), called on First Minister Alex Salmond to intervene.
He said: "This is the last remaining commercial shipbuilding yard in Scotland. It has now locked its doors to the workforce.
"Unless the Scottish government intervenes this puts the final key in the door of commercial shipbuilding which has a history of several hundred years in Scotland.
"Not to intervene will be an utter betrayal by the Scottish government and the First Minister, Alex Salmond."
Finance Secretary John Swinney said the Scottish government would set up a task force to help workers affected by the closure.
"The loss of any jobs in Port Glasgow is a devastating blow and we will work closely with the administrator to deliver an integrated service to those losing their jobs," he said.
"We will also convene a task force which will aim to secure new opportunities for this commercial shipyard on the Clyde.
"I have spoken to the leader of the council and we have agreed to work together on the task force to secure these opportunities. I will visit Port Glasgow on Monday to start this process."
Mr Swinney described the yards facilities and workforce as "significant assets".
News of the firm's financial failure has brought strong responses from the local community and across Scotland.
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont said: "My sympathy goes out to all the workers at the Ferguson shipyard whose jobs are threatened and we will do all we can to prevent the closure of the yard.
"Scotland's shipbuilding industry is a vital part of our economy and supports many well paid jobs but it is still largely dependent on defence contracts and this latest blow highlights just how difficult it is to win other contracts.
"But I believe we can still save this shipyard and every avenue must be explored. We stand ready to work with the Scottish government and do all we can to prevent job losses as a matter of priority."
Scottish Conservative west of Scotland MSP Jackson Carlaw said: "The Scottish government certainly has some serious questions to answer on this.
"They must have been alerted to this situation coming down the tracks.
"Dithering when dozens of jobs are at stake is completely unacceptable, and the workers deserve a full explanation."
Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe said: "I am shocked by this news about Fergusons but can assure the workforce and community that we will do all that we can to help.
"I am setting up a dedicated task force to support the workforce at Fergusons and to engage with the owners, union and both the Scottish and UK governments."
David Watt from the Institute of Directors said: "Given the proud heritage Scotland, and particularly the Clyde, has in shipbuilding, it's sad to see one of the few remaining yards in jeopardy, potentially significantly reducing Scotland's capabilities in the future."
In recent years, Ferguson Shipyard completed work to deliver two sea-going roll-on roll-off vehicle and passenger diesel-electric hybrid ferries for CalMac.
The yard also completed work for Babcock related to the contracts for two huge Royal Navy aircraft carriers.
GMB official Mr Logan said that at the time of the administration, work was also ongoing to convert a boat into a fish factory - for a company based in the north of Scotland. | Administrators have been called in to the last remaining shipyard on the lower Clyde with the loss of 70 jobs. |
35882898 | Four years ago, ministers promised a decision on the matter by 2015.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and other groups have warned that delays risk the welfare of beavers already in parts of Scotland.
The government said it and Scottish Natural Heritage were giving landowners advice on managing the animals.
Scotland has two beaver populations, despite the species being hunted to extinction in the 16th Century.
An official trial re-introduction has been conducted at Knapdale Forest in Argyll. But beavers are also thriving in the Tay catchment.
There have been suggestions in the past of releasing beavers in parts of the Cairngorms.
Farmers and landowners have said the animals damage trees and cause flooding in fields alongside burns and rivers.
In January, BBC Scotland reported that beavers that were heavily pregnant or had recently given birth were among those shot by landowners in Tayside.
The following month, RZSS and the Scottish Wildlife Trust said there was an "urgent" need to have beavers recognised as a native species.
Earlier this week, RZSS spoke out again on the issue.
The National Trust for Scotland has also called for a decision "as soon as possible". It supports controlled, licensed reintroductions of beavers.
RSPB Scotland has described the government's statement as "extremely disappointing".
Environment Minister Dr Aileen McLeod has now said in a statement that "complex issues still under careful consideration", a final decision on beavers within the context of Scottish wildlife and land management would be taken later this year.
She said there were measures already available, such as Nature Conservation Orders, to protect beavers.
Dr McLeod said: "We understand that there are those for whom beaver activity can pose problems - particularly farmers with low-lying areas, often with highly productive farms but which are at risk of flooding or water logging from the damming activities of beavers.
"We are working closely with SNH, who are providing advice on mitigation and alternatives to lethal control but also guidelines regarding welfare considerations arising from the shooting of beavers, where this is the only option available.
"We are aware of and share the concerns raised by the recent information about the killing of beavers during the breeding season and we ask all land managers to heed the advice set out regarding when there are likely to be dependent young and shooting is particularly discouraged." | The Scottish government has said any decision on the formal re-introduction of beavers to Scotland will not be taken until later this year. |
27770787 | After what must be an unprecedented amount of leaking, Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has delivered his verdict.
So what do we know now?
Ofsted believes there was an organised campaign of infiltrating schools, undermining head teachers and governors running state schools like private fiefdoms.
Whether or not the anonymous Trojan Horse letter was a fake, Sir Michael believes that the warnings were real. Schools were being targeted for takeovers by people with a particular religious agenda.
It doesn't say who was involved or how they were organised, but head teachers told Ofsted they felt bullied and under pressure.
Leaders of schools caught up in the claims, such as Park View, have passionately rejected such claims - and say that it is a view shaped by pre-conceptions about schools serving a predominantly Muslim community.
They warn of "knee-jerk reactions" and say they have "nothing to hide".
But the decisions have already been taken and letters sent out which will begin the process of changing how the schools are run.
The investigations have been framed by fears of extremism - but the strongest warnings from the inspections have been about how the schools were being managed.
Governors were accused of effectively taking on the role of managers, with the teachers as their intimidated staff.
The response from the Department for Education has been to insist that schools instil a stronger sense of "British values" in pupils, and deliver an inoculating shot of democracy, tolerance and mutual respect.
Ofsted has called for more structural changes - such as tightening the monitoring of academies and improving the training and openness of governors.
But what would stop this happening again?
The biggest complication for those running England's schools is that it is a system with a built-in vulnerability to energetic entryism.
The principles promoted by successive governments - of ever-greater school autonomy and parental choice and community involvement - are seen as great strengths in improving schools.
But it also means a fine balance between the ideal of local control of a public service - and the risk of takeovers by self-appointed community leaders.
And there are longer term questions for a country of ever-widening diversity. What happens if more parents want a type of school of which others disapprove? | The inspection reports into the so-called Trojan Horse allegations have finally been published. |
35292650 | The actor interviewed Mexico's most wanted drug lord in October in northern Durango state, at a meeting organised by Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.
The security forces came close to catching Guzman shortly afterwards.
They finally arrested him on Friday in a raid in which five people died.
Attorney General Arely Gomez said the security forces had been following Guzman's lawyer, who led them to Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.
Who is 'El Chapo' Guzman? - The crime lord had humble beginnings.
Who is Kate del Castillo? - Actress was instrumental in arranging the interview
Did Sean Penn break the law? - Unusual interview raises questions in the US and Mexico
Penn's 'El Chapo' interview scorned - It has been called "grotesque" and "maddening"
El Chapo extradition 'could take year' - American officials want Joaquin Guzman back in the US.
Kate del Castillo had been contacted by Guzman's lawyers years earlier after she had addressed Guzman in an open letter asking him to stop trafficking in drugs and start "trafficking in love" instead.
Ms Gomez said that following his escape from a maximum-security jail in July, Guzman again contacted del Castillo through his lawyers to ask her to produce a film about his life.
Del Castillo has not commented but in an article for Rolling Stone magazine, Penn said the actress had put him in contact with the fugitive drug lord.
They both then travelled to a remote mountain hideout where Penn proceeded to interview Guzman.
Ms Gomez said that meeting had provided them with important intelligence and helped them track down the fugitive.
"It was an essential element, because we were following [Guzman's] lawyer, and the lawyer took us to these people and to this meeting," she told local radio.
Mexican newspaper El Universal published photographs on Monday which suggest Penn and del Castillo were under surveillance by the authorities at the time.
The Associated Press news agency asked Penn if he was worried about the images. He wrote back in an email, saying: "I've got nothin' to hide".
Guzman's escape in July 2015 - his second from a maximum-security jail - was a major embarrassment for the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto.
But on Monday, the authorities proudly showed journalists around the house Guzman had been hiding in in Los Mochis.
It feels like a voyeuristic journalism package holiday. The marines flew us here and showed us around the house that the feared criminal escaped from.
"Over there you can see how the cans burst from the force of the grenades," an official from the attorney general's office pointed out in the kitchen.
"And over here, this was the spot where the second person died," he said pointing to a patch of blood measuring about two metres by two metres.
In one room was a walk-in wardrobe with a floor-length mirror. You would never have guessed it was actually a door, but behind it was a narrow set of stairs leading to a tunnel.
It was through this tunnel that Guzman managed to escape. But this time it was not for long, as the marines got wise to his signature escape route and hunted him down a few hours later on a nearby highway.
President Enrique Pena Nieto praised the security forces for the arrest of "the world's most wanted criminal" in a brief televised speech on Monday.
"With this action, 98 of the 122 most dangerous criminals no longer pose a risk to society," he said. "We're going after all of them!" | Mexico's Attorney General has said that the meeting between Hollywood actor Sean Penn and fugitive cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman had been an "essential" element in his arrest. |
40519325 | It becomes the fourth airline this week to announce the electronics ban has been lifted on US-bound flights.
The US imposed the ban in March on direct flights from eight mainly Muslim countries to address fears that bombs could be concealed in the devices.
Qatar Airways and its Doha hub airport said they had strengthened security.
The airline said that "with immediate effect, all personal electronic devices can be carried on board all departures from Hamad International Airport to destinations in the United States".
It comes after Etihad, Turkish Airlines and Emirates announced that the ban had been lifted on their US flights.
The airlines and their respective hub airports have worked with US authorities to increase their security checks.
Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are yet to announce the ban has been lifted.
Last week, US Homeland Security announced measures including enhanced screening, more thorough vetting of passengers and the wider use of bomb-sniffer dogs for US-bound flights from 105 countries.
Airlines expressed hopes at the time that the measures would pave the way for the lifting of the electronics ban.
Saudia, the flagship carrier for Saudi Arabia, said this week that passengers would be able to take the electronics on US flights from 19 July. | Passengers on Qatar Airways will be allowed to take laptops and other large electronic devices in the cabin on US flights, the airline has announced. |
34062893 | A UN-linked tribunal asked India to suspend its court case, pending international arbitration.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea also rejected Italy's request for the marines to be freed while they await the final ruling.
The case has led to a bitter diplomatic row between Delhi and Rome.
The Supreme Court has adjourned the case until the third week of January.
The tribunal said that in addition to halting all current court proceedings, both countries should "refrain from initiating new ones which might aggravate or extend the dispute".
Both sides should submit a report to the tribunal by 24 September ahead of hearings, it added.
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone face murder charges and are on bail awaiting trial.
Mr Girone is currently staying in the Italian embassy in Delhi, while India's Supreme Court has allowed Mr Latorre to temporarily return to Italy on health grounds.
The marines were guarding an Italian oil tanker when they opened fire, killing two men off the Kerala coast in South India. The marines said they mistook the fishermen for pirates.
Italy says that as the shooting took place in international waters, the men should be tried in Italy.
However, India wants the men tried in an Indian court. It has ruled out the possibility of the death penalty. | India's Supreme Court has halted all legal proceedings in the case of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012. |
35264491 | The Port of Dover plans to remove up to 3m cubic yards (2.5m cubic metres) of sand and gravel.
The area being explored in the recommended Marine Conservation zone covers an areas of 4.5 square miles about eight miles (12km) from Dover.
The sand and gravel will be transported to the Western Docks for land reclamation and construction works.
The Port of Dover wants to relocate its cargo business to a new terminal at Western Docks to create extra space within Eastern Docks for ferry traffic.
The redevelopment plans also include shops, hotels and bars and the creation of a new marina.
Dover Harbour Board has previously said the plans would create 600 new jobs.
The Goodwin Sands are a series of shifting sandbanks. They provide habitat for grey and common seals and birds and are the site of hundreds of historic shipwrecks.
Bryony Chapman, from the Kent Wildlife Trust, said: "It's bound to have an impact on the sediment habitats there and the important mussel beds and ross worm reefs which provide the basis for the food chain.
"We are also really worried about the amount of sediment being removed and what impact that could have on coastline and important conservation areas on the coast."
Alan Breck, project manager for Dover Western Docks Revival, said an environmental impact assessment was being undertaken to assess the effect dredging would have on the area.
He said: "Goodwin Sands contains an important aggregate resource and has been dredged previously for fill aggregate for infrastructure projects at the Port of Dover and Port of Ramsgate." | Dredging on the Goodwin Sands would impact wildlife and endanger eco-systems, conservationists have said. |
37651250 | The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee told the BBC the Department of Health has drawn up proposals to cut funding by 12% from December.
It said the cuts were "madness" and would damage the NHS and social care.
The Department of Health said no final decision had been made. An announcement is expected shortly.
Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the PSNC, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the changes would throw the health service into "chaos", as more people would be forced to turn to GPs instead of pharmacists.
In a letter to the Department for Health seen by the BBC, she wrote: "The proposals were and remain, founded on ignorance of the value of pharmacies to local communities, to the NHS, and to social care, and will do great damage to all three. We cannot accept them."
The PSNC - which negotiates with the Department of Health and NHS England on behalf of pharmacies - said it had been told pharmacies would receive £113m less than expected from December 2016 to March 2017 and £208m less the following year.
The cuts amount to 12% in the coming months and 7% for the next financial year, compared with current spending.
Earlier this year, the then health minister Alistair Burt suggested between 1,000 and 3,000 pharmacies could be closed after spending cuts, although the Department of Health now says it does not recognise the figure.
Officials have been negotiating cuts to the money pharmacies receive from government since last December.
Plans for a £170m cut this year were delayed after 2m people signed a petition opposing the change.
Pharmacies get around 90% of their income from the money government pays for dispensing prescriptions. It costs the taxpayer £2.8bn a year.
A Department for Health spokesman said it was investing £112m to put 1,500 pharmacists in GP's surgeries.
He said: "We have worked collaboratively with the PSNC and have listened to their suggestions and counter proposals over the course of many months.
"Ministers are considering a proposed package for the sector and no final decision has been taken, but we are committed to offering more help to those pharmacies people most depend on compared to others." | Pharmacies in England could face steep funding cuts within weeks that will force some to close, the industry's negotiating body has said. |
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The Red Devils reached the final of the competition on Saturday by beating Everton 2-1 at Wembley.
Van Gaal, 64, had been expected to leave at the end of the season - one year before his contract expires.
"I'm not looking at anything other than this competition," the Dutchman said when asked about his future.
"We live in the present. For the future, I discuss this with my board."
Progressing to a record-equalling 19th FA Cup final means Manchester United, fifth in the Premier League, have the chance to end a disappointing season with a trophy.
They had to work for their win against Everton, who finished strongly before Anthony Martial struck the injury-time winner.
Van Gaal felt his side should have won by a more comfortable margin, but he accused referee Anthony Taylor of making decisions that "changed the game".
After Marouane Fellaini's opener, Everton were awarded a penalty midway through the second half when Timothy Fosu-Mensah was adjudged to have fouled Ross Barkley.
David De Gea saved Romelu Lukaku's spot kick but the Toffees equalised through Chris Smalling's own goal.
"The referees are deciding the game and not the players any more," Van Gaal told BBC Sport.
"I think we deserved to go to the final. I think the referee... we didn't have any fouls in our benefit. He changed the match I think." | Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal will leave it up to the club's board to decide whether he should remain at the club even if he wins the FA Cup. |
26238612 | Born into a well-off family with links to the business and oil sector, Lopez, now 44, was educated in the United States and has a master's degree from Harvard University.
He came to prominence when he was elected mayor of Caracas's Chacao district, a position he held from 2000 to 2008.
While he was barred from running for re-election in the 2008 polls for allegedly misusing public funds, he did not retire from public life.
His supporters say the charges were politically motivated as he was neither convicted nor put on trial over the allegations.
But the BBC's Irene Caselli says Lopez has long been seen as a "problem" - not only by the government but also by some outside observers.
In a 2009 classified cable published by Wikileaks, the political counsellor of the US embassy in Caracas, Robin D Meyer, wrote that Lopez had become a "divisive figure within the opposition".
"He is often described as arrogant, vindictive, and power-hungry - but party officials also concede his enduring popularity, charisma, and talent as an organiser," the US diplomat wrote.
During the protests in 2014, Lopez used social media to found a movement with the hashtag #lasalida, which in Spanish means both "the exit" and "the solution".
The Venezuelan government has indeed been quick in reminding citizens of the part Lopez played in past unrest.
In 2002, parts of the opposition, backed by elite businessmen and some military leaders, briefly removed then President Hugo Chavez - Nicolas Maduro's late predecessor - from power.
The coup came after street protests, in which Lopez took an active role, prompting the government to label him a "coup leader".
But a large sector of Venezuela's middle class identify with Lopez and his strategy, our correspondent says.
"If Leopoldo [Lopez] is attacked by the government, the people will defend him," student leader Daniel Alvarez said last year.
David Smilde, a Caracas-based senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, said Lopez was an appealing figure for people to rally around.
"He is visible, attractive and talks well," he said.
But even if anger at Lopez's conviction manages to unify Venezuela's middle class behind him, he will still be faced with the government's wide base of popular support. | Leopoldo Lopez - who has been jailed for nearly 14 years for inciting violence during mass protests in 2014 - is considered a political maverick and has long been a thorn in the side of the government. |
39416221 | Southampton Itchen MP Royston Smith called on the government to fund a planned £4m memorial to the plane.
The memorial would feature a replica aircraft in Mayflower Park, overlooking Woolston where the plane was built.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Ellison, said funding would be given "full consideration".
The planned 131ft (40m) stainless steel replica will be one-and-a-half times the size of the actual plane.
Mr Smith told a debate at Westminster Hall the plane was a "symbol of freedom".
"In a world divided and troubled, the Spitfire reminds us how we stood up against evil and we prevailed," he said.
The aircraft was designed by RJ Mitchell at the Supermarine Spitfire factory in Woolston.
Thousands of Spitfires - which played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain in World War Two - were built at the site.
The factory was also the reason much of Southampton was destroyed by German bombing during the war.
Mr Smith said the government's contribution could come from Libor fines levied over inter-bank lending.
Labour MP for Southampton Test, Alan Whitehead, and Eastleigh's Conservative MP Mims Davies also spoke in favour of a memorial.
Ms Ellison acknowledged the "passionate" comments during the debate.
"I do want to reassure all colleagues that should further Libor funding opportunities arise, any application from this the National Spitfire Project which falls within the published scope will of course be given full consideration along with other applications."
Attempts to raise funds for the statue via crowdfunding, after city council planners gave permission for it to be built in 2014, have to date failed to raise the cash needed. | A national memorial to the Spitfire would be a "fitting tribute" to those who flew and worked on the World War Two fighters, an MP told Parliament. |
18690303 | The 75-year-old has been on hunger strike in recent years at Ashworth psychiatric hospital in Maghull, being force-fed daily to keep him alive.
He has requested a transfer to a Scottish prison, where there is no precedent for force-feeding prisoners on hunger strike.
Brady's fate will be determined by a mental health tribunal. A previous tribunal hearing in July 2012 was postponed after Brady fell ill days beforehand.
Few killers achieved the notoriety, or attracted as much public loathing, as the so-called "Moors Murderer".
He was jailed in 1966 for three counts of murder, and has been detained at the top-security psychiatric hospital since 1985.
But the real number of victims was higher: over a period of 18 months, Brady and his accomplice, Myra Hindley, kidnapped and murdered five children and teenagers in north-west England.
They buried at least three of their victims on Saddleworth Moor, near the Lancashire town of Oldham.
Details of the crimes shocked Britain, not least because Brady's accomplice was a woman but also because of the complete lack of remorse either showed during the subsequent trial.
Brady was born Ian Stewart on 2 January 1938, the illegitimate son of a Scottish waitress.
His violent personality was shaped by an unstable background. His mother neglected him and he was raised by foster parents in the Gorbals, Glasgow's toughest slum.
After a spree of petty crime as a teenager the courts sent him to Manchester to live with his mother and her new husband, Patrick Brady.
Ian assumed his stepfather's name, continued his criminal activities and developed into a fully-fledged teenage alcoholic.
By now he had acquired new interests, building up a library of books on Nazi Germany, sadism and sexual perversion.
He first met Myra Hindley when she worked as a secretary at the same company in Manchester in which he was working as a stores clerk.
For Hindley it was love at first sight. Brady impressed her by reading Mein Kampf in the original German.
As their relationship developed, they began taking obscene photographs of each other before turning their attention to kidnapping, child molestation and murder.
Between July 1963 and December 1964, 16-year-old Pauline Reade, 12-year-old John Kilbride and Keith Bennett, also 12, were reported missing, all in the Manchester area.
Another victim, 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, disappeared on 26 December 1964.
Authorities were baffled by what they referred to as the "unrelated" cases, and were left without a single piece of solid evidence.
In the meantime, Brady and Hindley were intent on a campaign to corrupt Myra's brother-in-law, David Smith, and recruit him into their circle.
A petty criminal with convictions of his own, Smith was amused when the conversation turned to murder and he questioned Brady's ability to follow it through.
On 6 October 1965, Brady offered a practical demonstration with Edward Evans, a homosexual teenager, striking him fourteen times with a hatchet before finishing the job by strangling him.
Horrified, Smith phoned the police next morning, directing them to Brady's address.
The officers found Brady and Hindley at home. In a room upstairs they discovered Mr Evans' corpse. The bloody murder weapon was also recovered, along with Brady's collection of books on perversion and sadism.
A 12-year-old girl and neighbour recalled several trips she had made with the couple to Saddleworth Moor, and the police launched a search which uncovered the body of Lesley Ann Downey on 16 October.
Four days later, another search of Brady's flat turned up two left luggage tickets for Manchester Central Station, leading police to a pair of suitcases.
Inside the cases, they found nude photographs of Lesley Ann Downey, along with tape recordings of her final tortured moments, pleading for her life as she was brutally abused.
A series of seemingly innocent snapshots depicted portions of Saddleworth Moor, and detectives paid another visit to the desolate region on 21 October, unearthing the body of John Kilbride.
Police announced that they were opening their files on eight missing persons, who had disappeared over the previous four years, but no new charges had been added by the time the couple went to trial.
Jurors were horrified by the Downey tape, and by Brady's bland description of the recording as "unusual".
On 6 May 1966, both defendants were convicted of killing Edward Evans and Lesley Ann Downey. Brady was also convicted of murdering John Kilbride, while Myra Hindley was convicted as an accessory after the fact.
Brady was sentenced to concurrent life terms on each count, while Hindley received two life terms plus seven years in the Kilbride case.
Nineteen years later, in November 1985, Brady was transferred from prison to a maximum-security hospital after being diagnosed a psychopath.
There, he confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett, whose remains had still not been found, in an interview with tabloid reporters.
Searchers returned to the moors a year later, with Myra Hindley joining them for an abortive outing in December 1986 and Brady joining them in 1987.
They uncovered the remains of Pauline Reade on 30 June 1987, nearly a quarter-century after her disappearance.
It took pathologists a month to decide that the girl had been sexually assaulted, her throat slashed from behind.
The whereabouts of the remains of Keith Bennett are still unknown.
The Director of Public Prosecutions announced in 1988 that, in the public interest, there would be no prosecution of the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett.
In August 1987, Brady posted a letter to the BBC, containing sketchy information on five "new" murders he said he had committed, but police decided there was insufficient evidence to pursue an official investigation.
Brady had accepted from the start that he would never be released, unlike Myra Hindley who, in trying to secure parole, claimed that Brady had forced her into the murders by abusing and torturing her into submission.
But Brady reacted to her allegation by claiming that "for 20 years I continued to ratify the cover I had given her at the trial whilst, in contrast, she systematically began to fabricate upon it to my detriment".
Myra Hindley died in 2002, still a prisoner.
Brady has said he would rather die quickly than rot slowly in jail.
But his attempts to force the authorities to allow him to starve himself to death have failed. In March 2000 a judge described his hunger strike as part of his "obsessive need to exercise control".
The mental health tribunal's decision on his request to be moved to prison will dictate whether or not Brady can take control of how he dies. | Moors Murderer Ian Brady wants to be allowed to die. |
40712528 | The Vatican treasurer, 76, is accused of historical assaults involving "multiple complainants", Victorian police said last month.
He has said he will strenuously defend himself against the allegations.
Cardinal Pell made no comment as he entered Melbourne Magistrates' Court flanked by police officers.
Dozens of local and international media representatives have gathered outside the court, along with security guards and other onlookers.
The filing hearing, which is expected to be brief, will take place in a courtroom that can accommodate about 50 people, local media said.
Last month, Cardinal Pell said he was "looking forward" to his day in court.
Cardinal Pell had to slowly wade through a legion of camera crews and reporters to reach the entrance of the court.
He has vowed to vigorously defend himself against the allegations, and here he was at the start of what could be lengthy legal proceedings.
Rarely has an Australian court been besieged by such a large media contingent, with their satellite trucks and coverage taking the story all over the world.
Pedestrians were forced off the pavement on to the road outside, while one passing motorist paused briefly to shout abuse at reporters.
Supporters of Australia's most prominent Catholic figure had also gathered, queuing patiently to witness the hearing.
A middle-aged woman told me she was here with friends to "support George" as other curious onlookers captured the scene on their smartphones.
Cardinal Pell arrived in his home country earlier this month, after being granted a leave of absence from the Vatican to fight the charges.
Victoria Police said they had made the decision to charge the cleric after receiving advice from prosecutors earlier this year.
"Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges and there are multiple complainants," Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said last month.
Last month, Cardinal Pell told reporters: "I am innocent of these charges, they are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me."
He said in a press briefing at the Holy See that he had been the subject of a "relentless character assassination".
As Vatican treasurer, Cardinal Pell is considered to be the third-ranking official in the Catholic Church. | Cardinal George Pell has arrived at an Australian court, amid a large media scrum, to face charges of sexual assault. |
19640175 | The crude production posted on YouTube has sparked violent protests and riots across the Muslim world for its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
It is unclear who made the film, but it has been linked to an Egyptian Coptic Christian living in the United States.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for US Christian pastor Terry Jones.
One woman and seven men, including Mr Jones, are accused of "insulting the Islamic religion, insulting the Prophet and inciting sectarian strife", according to the prosecutor's office.
It said international police agency, Interpol, would be notified of the warrants.
However, Interpol later denied it had received a request and noted that its constitution forbade it from "undertaking any matter of a predominantly political, military, religious or racial nature".
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a convicted fraudster living in California who has already been questioned by police there, is among those facing charges, the prosecutors office said.
The film, a crudely-made portrayal of the life of the Prophet Muhammad ignited angry protests last week, mostly outside US and other Western diplomatic offices.
The unrest in Cairo has been among the most violent. Demonstrators there managed to scale the US embassy, tear down the US flag and replace it with an Islamist one.
Mystery has shrouded the individuals behind the film, entitled Innocence of Muslims.
Florida-based Mr Jones is said to have promoted the film.
He sparked protests two years ago when he pledged to organise a mass burning of copies of the Koran in Florida.
In a separate development, a Copt who lives in central Egypt was on Tuesday sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted by a misdemeanour court of blasphemy, insulting the Prophet Muhammad and insulting President Mohammed Mursi.
Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were allegedly published on his Facebook page. The man, who is a teacher, denied the charge. | Authorities in Cairo have ordered the arrest of seven US-based Egyptian Coptic Christians for their alleged involvement in an anti-Islam video. |
37657954 | Analysis by the King's Fund think tank, seen by the BBC, suggests 40% of the 58 trusts saw budgets cut in 2015-16.
It found six of them had seen budgets cut three years in a row.
An NHS spokeswoman said mental health services were "wider" than trusts, and care was funded in other ways.
Mental health spending overall was up 8.4% in 2015/16 compared to the previous year, the NHS said.
Neil Jewell, who had schizophrenia, died after failings in his care, accepted by the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) looking after him.
Its chief executive says improvements in care have since been made, but he warned mental health care missed out on funding in comparison to acute hospitals.
NSFT is one of the six trusts identified as having had its budget cut three years in a row.
Inspectors have just recommended the trust be taken out of special measures after almost two years, despite saying safety there is still inadequate, and raising concerns about high death rates.
Chief executive Michael Scott said: "If NSFT had received the same growth in funds that NHS acute services had received over the last four years it would have had £30m more in its budget."
Last year, for the first time, NHS commissioners in England were instructed to increase money for mental health, in line with increases in their own budgets - something called "parity of esteem".
King's Fund chief executive Chris Ham said: "Cuts in mental health services are just as risky as cuts in acute hospital services. We are talking about people in crisis who need expert support in a timely way.
"If they don't get it, it's bad for them and their families - and for the communities in which they live.
"The crisis in mental health services is real and serious. We all need to wake up to that reality."
He added: "Parity of esteem is a laudable ambition that hasn't been followed through in practice."
Neil Jewell had a heart attack in January 2014 while being reintroduced to his medication.
He had not had enough medication over the Christmas holiday period. When he was seen by a mental health team in early January, he was not offered a safe hospital bed and was driven 75 miles while he was having a psychotic episode, under restraints, to a different unit, where he died.
His sister, Christine Welfare, says there was a catalogue of failings in local mental health services both in the community and in hospital.
"It was a complete nightmare - it should never have happened. And then you start getting angry.
"These are people's lives. Anybody in society, no matter who you are, can suffer at various times in their lives with mental health issues and it's very important that people sit up and take notice."
Michael Scott said: "Our thoughts are with this patient's family and friends. This is an extremely sad situation, and they have our deepest sympathy.
"Since his death, our trust has ensured that patients based in the community have a named mental health professional or duty worker co-ordinating their care, to offer greater support.
"We also try to work closely with families and carers wherever possible, and with a patient's consent."
A spokeswoman for NHS Clinical Commissioners said: "Mental health trusts provide invaluable and critical services but it must be recognised that mental health service provision is wider than trusts.
"To get the best possible outcomes for their population, clinical commissioners are also investing in out-of-hospital care that focuses on prevention, recovery and community-based care.
"They are also looking at partnerships with voluntary and third-sector providers, and crucially investing in primary care mental health services." | Mental health trusts in England are still having their budgets cut, despite government assurances they would be funded on a par with physical healthcare, figures suggest. |
37415057 | It was to prove a baptism of fire for O's interim manager Andy Edwards, who stood in after Andy Hessenthaler was sacked on Monday.
With only 20 seconds on the clock, Orient captain Robbie Weir lunged in with a heavy tackle on Ben Purrington and was shown a red card by referee Charles Breakspear.
On 12 minutes, the table-toppers took the lead when David Goodwillie slipped a free-kick past a static home defence for Spencer to run on and slide the ball past keeper Alex Cisak.
Then O's midfielder Liam Kelly limped out of the game with an injury before Orient's problems were further compounded when their debutant defender Jens Janse saw red after being adjudged to be the last man when he brought down Jake Jervis.
The home side showed battling qualities against an Argyle outfit for whom Graham Carey was an influential playmaker.
However, the visitors failed to add to the slender advantage as Cisak parried away a Carey effort and then saved a close-range shot by Spencer.
Early in the second period, Nigel Atangana, who had replaced Kelly, was himself substituted after suffering a leg injury.
The one-way traffic continued after the break as the heroic Cisak prevented the visitors causing further damage producing outstanding saves from Spencer and Carey while a number of other Plymouth opportunities went sailing wide of the goal.
Argyle finally found the target again with six minutes of normal time remaining when Spencer crossed for substitute Donaldson to tuck the ball home from close range.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Leyton Orient 0, Plymouth Argyle 2.
Second Half ends, Leyton Orient 0, Plymouth Argyle 2.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Jordan Bowery.
Attempt blocked. David Goodwillie (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Alex Cisak.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Tom Parkes.
Attempt blocked. Craig Tanner (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Callum Kennedy (Leyton Orient) right footed shot from long range on the right is too high from a direct free kick.
Nauris Bulvitis (Plymouth Argyle) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Nauris Bulvitis (Plymouth Argyle).
Jay Simpson (Leyton Orient) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Craig Tanner (Plymouth Argyle) hits the bar with a left footed shot from outside the box.
Goal! Leyton Orient 0, Plymouth Argyle 2. Ryan Donaldson (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Ben Purrington.
Attempt missed. James Spencer (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left.
Attempt saved. Craig Tanner (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Substitution, Leyton Orient. Jordan Bowery replaces Paul McCallum.
Ben Purrington (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Gavin Massey (Leyton Orient).
Nicky Hunt (Leyton Orient) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Plymouth Argyle. Ryan Donaldson replaces Connor Smith.
Foul by Gary Miller (Plymouth Argyle).
Jay Simpson (Leyton Orient) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Ben Purrington (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sandro Semedo (Leyton Orient).
Attempt missed. David Fox (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.
Substitution, Plymouth Argyle. Craig Tanner replaces Jake Jervis.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Callum Kennedy.
Corner, Leyton Orient. Conceded by Ben Purrington.
Attempt blocked. Callum Kennedy (Leyton Orient) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Ben Purrington (Plymouth Argyle) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Ben Purrington (Plymouth Argyle).
Jay Simpson (Leyton Orient) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt saved. James Spencer (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Corner, Leyton Orient. Conceded by Sonny Bradley.
Foul by Connor Smith (Plymouth Argyle).
Tom Parkes (Leyton Orient) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.
Attempt saved. David Fox (Plymouth Argyle) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner, Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Alex Cisak. | Goals from Jimmy Spencer and Ryan Donaldson earned League Two leaders Plymouth victory at nine-man Leyton Orient. |
32672363 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The British Olympic heptathlon champion, 29, was racing for the first time since July 2013 following injuries and the birth of her son, Reggie.
Tiffany Porter won in 12.86 seconds, with fellow Briton Lucy Hatton second and Ennis-Hill third in 13.14.
Olympic champion Greg Rutherford won the long jump with a leap of 8.01m.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Ennis-Hill, who claimed gold at the London 2012 Olympics, is targeting the defence of her title in Rio next year.
But her preparations have been hampered by a recurring Achilles problem.
Returning to the track in a four-woman field in her favourite discipline, Ennis-Hill was always unlikely to challenge European champion Porter, but she declared herself satisfied with her performance in front of an appreciative crowd on Deansgate.
"You always put pressure on as an athlete, and that can take the enjoyment and fun out of it, but I enjoyed that," Ennis-Hill told BBC Sport.
"I loved soaking up the atmosphere. It's a starting point. I'm a bit disappointed to not get sub-13 but I can build on this and get sharp."
In the women's 200m hurdles, Ennis-Hill's heptathlon rival Katarina Johnson-Thompson was pipped to the line by her fellow Briton Meghan Beesley.
Beesley won the event for the second year in a row in 25.28 seconds, just 0.03 secs ahead of European Indoor pentathlon champion Johnson-Thompson.
"It's a bit daunting - it just looks so far up the straight," said Johnson-Thompson after running the distance for the first time. "But it's a bit of fun and I got there in the end."
In the women's 150m, Britain's Dina Asher-Smith pulled off a surprise victory over European 100m and 200m champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands.
Asher-Smith pulled away in the closing stages of the race to win in 16.82 seconds.
Rutherford, who will look to add the world title to his Olympic, European and Commonwealth crowns later this year, won the long jump with his first leap of the competition.
"You always want to jump further but the weather conditions aren't great," he said. "I just couldn't quite get what I wanted. I love doing these events when you are so close to the crowd and it's always good to win."
Michael Rodgers of the United States won the men's 100m in 10.25 secs, with Britain's Richard Kilty 0.04 secs behind in second. | Jessica Ennis-Hill marked her return to competitive athletics with third place in the 100m hurdles at the Great City Games in Manchester. |
37577698 | Carl Gregory suffered fatal injuries in a car park in Margate Road, Broadstairs, Kent, on Tuesday night.
Two men, aged 20 and 27, who are believed to have been known to him, are being held on suspicion of murder.
Mr Gregory's family stressed that "contrary to media reports, Pokemon Go cannot be attributed to his death".
More news from Kent
In a tribute, they described him as a "loving son, brother and grandson", who would be greatly missed by family and friends.
Mr Gregory died at the scene after emergency services were called to the car park at about 22:15 BST. | A man who died following an incident in a car park has been described as a typical 20 year old who enjoyed gaming, modern technology and Pokemon Go. |
21319168 | The crash happened at 18:30 on Sunday near Yucaipa on the edges of the San Bernardino National Forest, some 80 miles (128 km) east of Los Angeles.
It took rescuers more than two hours to get all the passengers out of the bus.
Officials said 27 people were taken to nearby hospitals, at least six of them in a critical condition.
The cause of the crash is not yet clear, but California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the bus driver reported brake problems as he descended a road leading from the Big Bear ski resort area.
The bus was in collision with a sedan car and a pick-up truck pulling a trailer, Mr Lopez said.
Her colleague, Michelle Profant, described the gruesome scene.
"It's really a mess up there with body parts," she said.
Some of the passengers were said to have been thrown from the bus, while others were trapped inside.
As firefighters worked to free those stuck, rescuers from at least eight different agencies were on the scene to help stabilise and transport the wounded, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The passengers were part of a tour group from Tijuana in Mexico, the Department of Transportation spokeswoman Michelle Profant was quoted by AP as saying.
A representative from the Mexican consulate reportedly went to the crash scene. | At least eight people have died and dozens are wounded after a tour bus collided with two other vehicles on a mountain road in southern California. |
36708780 | 4 July 2016 Last updated at 20:37 BST
He was speaking to BBC Newsnight's Adam Parsons in his first interview since the collapse of BHS.
Mr Chappell bought BHS in 2015 for £1. He took a total of £2.6m out of the company, including a £600,000 salary. The business collapsed this year with the loss of up to 11,000 jobs and a big hole in the pension fund.
Watch the full interview on BBC Newsnight at 22:30 BST on BBC Two - or catch up afterwards on iPlayer | The former owner of BHS, Dominic Chappell, has defended the money he took out of the company as a "drip in the ocean". |
38079396 | Judge Jose Perals also called for a five-year sentence for former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and a fine of 8.4million euros (£7.2m) for the club.
It asked to drop charges against current president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Rosell, Neymar and his father are set to stand trial.
Under the Spanish legal system, prison terms of under two years are typically suspended.
The case stems from a complaint by Brazilian investment group DIS, which owned 40% of Neymar's transfer rights and alleges it received less money than it was entitled to from transfer fee.
Rosell resigned as the club's president in 2014 for his role in the affair and testified in court in February alongside Bartomeu, Neymar and Neymar's father.
The club struck a deal with prosecutors in June to settle a separate case, paid a £4.7m fine and avoided trial on charges of tax evasion over the transfer.
Barcelona thought they had brought the affair to a close when judge Jose de la Mata archived the case in June, although Spain's public prosecutor successfully overturned the ruling in September, allowing the case to proceed.
Neymar's Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud earlier this year. He has appealed against the sentence.
Since moving to the Nou Camp, 24-year-old Neymar has won two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey trophies, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
He signed a new five-year contract with Barcelona in October. | Spanish prosecutors have called for Barcelona forward Neymar to be sent to prison for two years for his part in a corruption case over his transfer from Brazilian club Santos in 2013. |
20553183 | The 8in x 24in (20cm x 60cm) photo from 1941 was sold by a man who had bought it from one of Monroe's classmates.
It was taken at the Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School in Los Angeles.
Karen Fairweather, of Omega Auctions in Stockport, said the only other photo from the event had fetched £15,000 because it boasted Monroe's signature.
The photograph, which sold to an online UK bidder, had belonged to one of the actress's classmates called Barbara Chapbaum, who had it signed by several of her friends but not the future Hollywood legend.
A collector from the North East of England bought it off Ms Chapbaum several years ago and has now sold it.
At the time of the photograph, Monroe, then aged 15, was a brunette whose real name was Norma Jeane Baker.
Five years later she began modelling which eventually led to her acting career which saw her star in such movies as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot and The Misfits.
The star died on 5 August 1962. | A rare photo of Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe at her school graduation has sold for £990 at auction in Greater Manchester. |
35595103 | Police in Plymouth sped to the Drake's Circus shopping centre after members of the public reported a man thought to be carrying a rifle.
But when the armed response vehicle arrived at the scene officers found the man was carrying a lightsaber in a bag.
In a tweet Devon and Cornwall Police quipped, "May the force be with you!"
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said officers were called just before 12:00 GMT to reports of a man in his 50s "possibly in possession of a rifle".
The misunderstanding was made clear when officers approached the man and no arrests were made.
Lightsabers originated in the Star Wars movies and are classed as toys, rather than weapons. | Armed police officers called to reports of an armed man at a busy shopping centre found the suspect carrying a lightsaber. |
11371138 | The number of Nato forces peaked at about 140,000 in 2011, but decreased in subsequent years as Nato countries wound down combat operations, handing over control to local security forces.
Countries with troops still in Afghanistan include the US, Georgia, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Italy, the UK and Australia.
Nato ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in December 2014, leaving a 13,000-strong residual force used for training and counter-terrorism operations, including 9,800 US troops.
The US originally planned to withdraw all but a small embassy-based force of 1,000 troops by the end of 2016.
However, due to a growing Taliban threat, US President Barack Obama has announced he will maintain troop numbers at 9,800 for most of 2016.
About 5,500 troops will still be in the country when he leaves office in 2017.
The top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Campbell, said last week that an enhanced military presence would be necessary if the Taliban were to be repelled.
That depends on how you look at it.
On 18 June 2013, the last Afghan districts - mainly along the eastern frontier, and in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban - moved formally from Nato forces to a full Afghan combat lead, a handover with great symbolic impact.
But if improving security for the average Afghan is the criterion by which success is measured, the answer is very different.
Militant violence has increased across the country following the departure of most foreign forces last year.
After more than a decade of war, the Taliban are a long way from being defeated and remain a formidable fighting force.
In recent weeks Taliban militants succeeded in briefly seizing the provincial capital of Kunduz, before eventually being repelled by Afghan forces.
It was their most significant military gain since being ousted from power in 2001.
Al-Qaeda also continues to operate in Afghanistan, while Islamic State militants have also conducted attacks in the country.
The Afghan government will welcome the move to extend the US military presence.
President Ashraf Ghani's government signed a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US in September 2014, allowing US soldiers to stay in the country to train and assist Afghanistan's security forces.
Earlier this year, Mr Ghani also said that a slower withdrawal would allow Afghan forces to be better trained and equipped.
Relations between the US and Afghanistan have significantly improved under Mr Ghani - his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, had refused to sign the BSA with the US. | International troops were sent to Afghanistan by the Western military alliance Nato after the Taliban were ousted in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks in the United States. |
23421571 | Richard Pope, Simon Odoni and Paul Gunter conned British investors out of £80m.
This was then funnelled off into US bank accounts for them to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.
The men were the backbone of an international crime gang that swindled at least 2,300 UK citizens.
The City of London police believe it's the UK's biggest boiler room scam.
"These men are amongst the most arrogant, ruthless and destructive criminals the City of London police have ever dealt with and deserve every day they will spend behind bars," said Det Insp Kerrie Gower, who led the investigation.
The men co-ordinated what police described as a network of Spanish boiler rooms, employing hundreds of people to cold call investors, using high-pressure and misleading sales tactics to con them into buying worthless shares.
Most of the victims were retired professionals whose losses ranged from a few hundred pounds to £1m.
Andrea Goswami, from Yorkshire, still can't find the words to describe her loss. Her husband Mark killed himself after losing around £200,000.
"How could they be so arrogant to think they could get away with it, and have no conscience about it, and just to destroy people's lives in this way, just for money and just for sheer greed, and is it greed that's all that it's about - they say money's the root of all evil and they are evil for what they've done," she said.
"I'm never going to get my life back - the life I had with my husband, my chances of a happy married life with my daughter - we were trying for another child at the time, those hopes have been destroyed. Financially it's been devastating and it's a struggle, it will continue to be a struggle because of what they did."
Mark Goswami's money, and all the other stolen savings, were used to expand the criminal network and pay for the gang's extravagant purchases.
They included a £350,000 private plane, 26 properties and a number of luxury cars and speedboats.
The sentencing marks a major milestone in a seven-year transatlantic investigation involving an array of law enforcement agencies, from Spain to Florida.
John Joyce, special agent in charge in Tampa, Florida, said the case was a great example of how law enforcement partnerships worked on an international scale.
"The United States Attorney's Office, HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] and the US Secret Service worked this case with their law enforcement partners from London to investigate, prosecute and convict Mr Gunter, Mr Odoni and Mr Pope.
"Their sentences should send a clear message to other fraudsters."
The fraud began in 2004 when Pope, 55, Gunter, 64 and Odoni, 56 acquired the identity of several fraudulent US-based companies. Call centres based in Spain were then used to try to sell fake stock to unsuspecting investors.
Websites and glossy brochures were used to give credibility to the gang's bogus investment opportunities.
The enormity of the case first came to light in 2006 when the City of London police linked a number of inquiries in the UK to activities under investigation by federal agencies in the US.
"The devastation and the impact that victims have suffered has been huge and it's had drastic consequences to individuals lives - marriages breaking down, selling of properties, individuals losing their businesses, having to work again when they were about to go in to retirement," said Det Insp Gower.
"The enormity and scale of the devastation, I can't even say in words what has happened in relation to this case."
Andrea Goswami travelled halfway round the world to tell her story in a Tampa courtroom.
"Going into the courtroom was the hardest thing I have ever had to do," she said.
But she was determined to get justice for her husband.
She said he was utterly destroyed by the realisation he'd been conned and the shame of losing everything he had invested in. Andrea only discovered the true scale of the losses after he died.
"He didn't want me to worry about it. My husband's a very proud man and he would never have told me the truth, he would have soldiered on. If he hadn't been so desperate at that time, if he'd only been able to talk to me about it - we could've got through it.
"He must have been so desperate about the situation and obviously didn't know what to do for the best - he'd feel like he failed us. It wasn't his fault but he wouldn't have seen it that way because that's the sort of person he was - very loving, kind and caring and very intelligent and wanted to do the best."
Richard Pope, originally from St Albans in Hertfordshire, was arrested in Spain and extradited to the US. He pleaded guilty in March 2011 of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud between 2004 and 2008.
In March 2013, the trials of Paul Gunter and Simon Odoni took place with Pope testifying against them. Both men were found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, as well as 19 counts of mail and wire fraud and 19 counts of money laundering.
Pope and Gunter had originally worked together in insurance in the UK.
Gunter had lived in London but later emigrated to the US.
Odoni, also originally from St Albans, tried to avoid his bail in the UK by relocating to the Dominican Republic, living in one of the beachside properties purchased through the scam.
He was later arrested in Florida while travelling through Miami Airport.
Paul Gunter was sentenced to 25 years, Simon Odoni got 13 years and 4 months while Richard Pope received a far shorter sentence in return for his co-operation of 4 years and 9 months.
All three men are spending years behind bars. But no sentence will be long enough for Andrea Goswami and her family.
"They've got families of their own. Would they do that to their own families? It doesn't even bear thinking about what sort of a mind they must have. To me it's incomprehensible and it makes me so, so angry that when I see what they bought with all the victims' money - they bought houses and boats and cars and property and left us with nothing. No amount of money can ever ever replace my husband." | Three British men have been sentenced to a total of 43 years in prison in the United States for their part in one of the UK's biggest investment frauds. |
35999738 | Tooting Fire Station manager Sally Harper's daughter Katie Holloway, 22, joined the same south London station where her mother started in 1988.
The service had only seven women firefighters when the Ms Harper joined, compared with more than 300 now.
The new recruit was "immensely proud" of the role of women in the brigade.
Ms Harper said: "Katie may have joined the same station as me, but it has changed so much since the late '80s.
"My locker was in a cupboard, which I had to go through the men's changing rooms to access.
"After giving birth to my first daughter, Joanne, I was the first firefighter to come back to station after having a baby and attitudes towards women in the fire service were sometimes very challenging."
Ms Harper recalled a teacher's reaction at a school play when her daughter said: "I'm driving a fire engine like my mum."
"The teacher tried to correct her and said 'don't you mean your dad?' and Katie came straight back with 'No. Like my mum'," she said.
Ms Holloway, who has just completed her first full tour of duty, said: "I'm immensely proud of the work my mum and others have done for women in the fire service, which makes it a completely different experience to when she joined."
Her mother will be retiring later this year. | A mother and daughter have created history by serving as firefighters at the same time in the 150-year-old London Fire Brigade. |
37209271 | Nick Thomas, 45, from Ellesmere in Shropshire, was pulled unconscious from the water as he neared the end of the 21-mile endurance feat.
A spokesman for the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation said he was taken from the water "less than a mile from the finish in France".
Mr Thomas had set off from Dover on Saturday morning and had been swimming for about 16 hours.
He was pulled unconscious from the water on Sunday before being given CPR and taken to Calais where he was pronounced dead.
"There was an extremely experienced support team on board the support vessel," the spokesman added.
"It is an extreme sport, we know the risks. He was doing what he loved doing. Our thoughts are with his family."
The 45-year-old had successfully swum the Channel in 2014 as part of an Enduroman ultra triathlon but at that time was wearing a wetsuit.
He was not wearing one on Saturday to comply with the Channel Swimming Association's rules for cross channel swimming.
Enduroman Ultra Events, which was tweeting his solo progress, wrote: "Our friend Nick Thomas left us whilst doing what he loved - he just kept going.
"He'll always be a part of what we do and who we are." | A man has died while trying to swim the English Channel. |
38849393 | The incident happened on the B4314 Princess Gate, Narberth, at about 20:15 GMT on Thursday.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the women were not trapped but have been taken to hospital. The extent of their injuries is unknown.
The car was winched out from underneath the tree, the fire service added.
High winds caused disruption on several roads across Wales on Thursday evening.
The A485 was partially closed by a fallen tree at Llanilar in Ceredigion, as was the A470 in Brecon.
Trees also came down on the A4075 at Yerbeston in Pembrokeshire and the A5104 at Penyffordd in Flintshire.
The A55 Britannia Bridge across the Menai Straits was closed to high-sided vehicles. | Three women have been injured after a tree fell onto a car in Pembrokeshire during high winds. |
28088743 | Presiding officer Tricia Marwick will formally receive the giant tapestry which has been touring the country.
She will call for people from across Scotland to help stitch a new People's Panel into the artwork.
It is hoped the new panel will be "a colourful commemoration of the parliament building and its link to the Tapestry".
Tapestry artist Andrew Crummy will be present at the ceremony, as will author Alexander McCall-Smith and historian Alistair Moffat.
The Great Tapestry of Scotland is the world's longest embroidered tapestry.
The 143m-long design tells the "story of Scotland" across 160 intricate panels.
Each covers a different period of Scottish history, from the Battle of Bannockburn to the reconvening of the Scottish parliament in 1999.
It took 1,000 volunteers more than 50,000 hours to complete the work, which is 70m longer than the famous Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy.
The charitable trust which looks after the tapestry will display it at the parliament until 13 September. | The Great Tapestry of Scotland returns to Holyrood later, with the public being urged to help complete it. |
38894024 | The United Automobile Workers union negotiated a profit sharing deal in 2011.
It is worth up to $1,000 per $1bn of profit the company makes in the continent.
However, net profit for the whole of GM dropped 2.7% last year to $9.43bn after foreign exchange losses.
A jump in sales in mid-size pick-up trucks and SUVs aided sales in the US. Chevrolet was the fastest growing US GM brand in 2016, increasing its share of the US retail market by 0.5 percentage points.
A year earlier, payments of up to $11,000 were awarded to union workers after $11bn of North American profits were posted. The award is based on working more than an average of 35 hours per week during the year.
In Europe, the company reported a narrower loss of $257m, compared with $813m in 2015, as sales rose.
GM sold a record 10 million vehicles in 2016, up 1.2% from 2015, with 3.04 million vehicles sold in the US.
In China, deliveries rose 7.1% to a record 3.87 million vehicles and in Europe, its Opel and Vauxhall marques posted a 4% sales increase.
GM said fourth-quarter net profit fell partly because of $500m in currency losses, mostly from the decline of the pound.
The carmaker forecast profit per share in 2017 would be the same or slightly better than last year. | Workers paid hourly at General Motors in the US will receive bonuses of $12,000 (£9,700) after the firm made a profit of $12bn in North America. |
40328605 | Ryan Smyth, 29, from Windsor Gardens in Bangor, was also charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
He applied for bail but was refused during a hearing at Downpatrick Magistrates Court.
A detective told the court: "We believe the murder was part of ongoing mounting tensions within South East Antrim UDA."
He said the police had carried out a number of searches, but had yet to find the murder weapon.
Mr Horner, 35, was shot in front of his three-year-old son outside Sainsbury's on the outskirts of Bangor three weeks ago.
Ten days ago, a 28-year-old man from Newtownards, Alan Wilson, was also charged with the murder. | A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Colin Horner outside a Bangor supermarket last month. |
35683137 | Media playback is not supported on this device
UK users only
Scrum V is every Sunday throughout the rugby season on BBC Two Wales, online or on demand. | Scrum V highlights as Scarlets' pro 12 title challenge takes a wobble with defeat at Edinburgh. |
34667089 | Nathan Matthews said he held the power tool using one hand and had acted alone when he dismembered his stepsister after accidentally killing her.
But the prosecution say his account of Miss Watts' death is a "complete nonsense" and he and his girlfriend were "in it together" from the start.
Mr Matthews and Shauna Hoare deny murder and conspiring to kidnap Becky.
Under examination about how he cut up the body at 14 Cotton Mill Lane, Mr Matthews said it "took a while" to dismember Becky's body, but said it was "stupid" to suggest it might have been six hours.
Mr Matthews said he believed Miss Watts could be subdued and kidnapped in "five minutes", while his girlfriend was in the garden at 18 Crown Hill, smoking a cigarette.
But things had gone "horribly wrong" and he could not tell anyone about it.
"The truth is, I didn't plan for this, for what happened," Mr Matthews said.
Mr Matthews claimed Becky had not put up a violent struggle for her life and had not screamed or called out when he attacked her, wearing a mask and covering her mouth with tape before trying to get her into a suitcase.
Prosecutor William Mousley said his account of events on the morning of 19 February were exposed as a "complete nonsense" when examined in any detail.
He suggested that Mr Matthews had never worn a mask - and that Miss Watts had laughed at him thinking it "all rather pathetic" - and Mr Matthews "lost it and killed her".
But it would also have been an "awful lot easier" to kidnap Becky, if he had help, Mr Mousley suggested.
Mr Matthews, of Hazelbury Drive in Warmley, South Gloucestershire, admits perverting the course of justice, preventing lawful burial and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Ms Hoare, 21, of Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, denies murder and conspiracy to kidnap, a weapons charge, perverting the course of justice and preventing a burial.
Two other men, Donovan Demetrius, 29, and James Ireland, 23, deny assisting an offender.
The trial continues. | The man accused of murdering Becky Watts said he closed his eyes when he used a circular saw to cut up her body. |
30892550 | The city will vote on 7 February and counting is due on 10 February.
Ms Bedi will challenge the former chief minister and anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Delhi has been without a government for a year after Mr Kejriwal resigned when his anti-corruption bill was blocked.
Since then, the state has been governed directly by the federal authorities.
"Today the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] parliamentary board met... and decided that Kiran Bedi will fight for the BJP in the coming Delhi election," party president Amit Shah told reporters at a late-night press conference on Monday.
"She will be the chief ministerial candidate," he added.
In her first comments since joining the BJP, Ms Bedi has promised good governance and to make Delhi safer for women.
Ms Bedi, 65, was the first woman to join the Indian police service in 1972 and held several senior positions, working in traffic, prison management and drug control, and later serving as a UN peacekeeping adviser.
She attracted global attention when she headed Delhi's notorious Tihar Jail, where she introduced yoga and literacy classes for inmates.
Ms Bedi and Mr Kejriwal worked together during the anti-corruption campaign, led by social activist Anna Hazare, but the two have had a falling out in recent months.
Mr Kejriwal congratulated her on her nomination and challenged her to a public debate.
Ms Bedi said she accepted the challenge, but said she would debate him "on the floor of the house".
The AAP did not do well in last summer's general election, but in recent weeks Mr Kejriwal has once again emerged as the major challenge to the BJP's electoral hopes in Delhi.
The BJP was the single largest party in the 70-member state assembly in the December 2013 election when the party won 31 seats and one seat was won by its ally the Shiromani Akali Dal.
But because the BJP fell short of a majority in the assembly, Mr Kejriwal formed a government with support from the Congress party. The AAP had 28 seats while the Congress had just eight.
Mr Kejriwal resigned on 14 February after 49 days in office after opposition politicians blocked his bill, which would have created an independent body with the power to investigate politicians and civil servants suspected of corruption. | India's governing BJP party has named former senior policewoman Kiran Bedi as its candidate for chief minister in upcoming Delhi elections. |
37961500 | The woman was attacked in an alleyway in Tunbridge Wells.
She first saw the man in Mount Pleasant Road at about 02:00 GMT on Friday. Two passers-by walked her to Camden Road, but she later saw the man again. He raped her near Albion Road.
An 18-year-old man has been arrested and remains in custody. Kent police are trying to find witnesses.
Det Insp Geoff Payne said: "We would also particularly like to speak to two men, who before the incident, came forward to offer assistance to the victim and walked with her." | A woman has been raped by a man she had seen while walking through a town centre in the early hours. |
35737027 | The world number three is 12 under par, with overnight leader Adam Scott (73) and defending champion Dustin Johnson (71) nine under.
England's Danny Willett (72) is two shots further back, alongside Phil Mickelson (70) and Bubba Watson (71).
Northern Irishman McIlroy has not dropped a shot for 33 holes.
He has switched to a 'crosshanded' putting method after missing the cut at the Honda Classic last week.
"It was good. The wind was coming from a different direction so it made the course play a little bit tougher," said McIlroy.
"I played a solid round of golf, didn't make any mistakes. I felt really good about it. I'll have to do the same thing tomorrow."
McIlroy, who started the day two behind Australia's Scott, birdied the first, fifth, seventh and 10th before parring the last eight holes, sinking testing putts at the 12th and 18th.
American Johnson sank a six-foot birdie putt at 16 to reach 10 under but bogeyed the last, while Scott also slipped back with a late bogey, dropping a shot at 17.
McIlroy is aiming to win his 12th PGA Tour title and first since Quail Hollow last May, and his 20th career victory overall. | Rory McIlroy fired a four-under 68 to move into a three-shot lead going into the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral. |
25212514 | A spokesman confirmed the effort was being headed up by Andy Rubin, who was previously in charge of the Android operating system.
The spokesman was unwilling to discuss what kind of robot was being developed.
But the New York Times reports that at this stage Google does not plan to sell the resulting product to consumers.
Instead, the newspaper suggests, Google's robots could be paired with its self-driving car research to help automate the delivery of goods to people's doors.
It notes the company has recently begun a same-day grocery delivery service in San Francisco and San Jose, called Google Shopping Express.
That would pitch the initiative against Amazon's Prime Air Project, which envisages using drones to transport goods to its customers by air.
"Any description of what Andy and his team might actually create are speculations of the author and the people he interviewed," said Google of the NYT article.
One UK-based expert welcomed the news.
"This is a clear sign that days of personalised robotic technology entering the mainstream market is imminent," said Prof Sethu Vijayakumar, director of the Robotics Lab at the University of Edinburgh.
"Movement and sensing systems for robotics technology have made great strides. Now, with mainstream companies like Google taking up the challenge, other elements such as robust software integration, standardisation and modular design will pick up pace."
The search giant's robotics project is based in Palo Alto, California, and will have an office in Japan - one of the world's leading nations in the field.
Speaking to the NYT, Mr Rubin said Google had a "10-year vision" for bringing the effort to fruition.
"I feel with robotics it's a green field," he said.
"We're building hardware, we're building software. We're building systems, so one team will be able to understand the whole stack."
The companies acquired by Google to jumpstart its effort are: | Google has revealed it has taken over seven robotics companies in the past half a year and has begun hiring staff to develop its own product. |
36811976 | The Welsh 400m hurdler, 32, met the Olympic qualifying time in May, but failed to win automatic Rio selection at the British Championships.
The 2012 Olympian failed in his appeal against the decision.
"I'm pretty disappointed he hasn't been selected," Jackson told BBC Sport.
"I think what he's capable of is under 49 seconds - I truly believe that - and if you can get under 49 seconds, you can be in the final."
A British Athletics statement explained that because Williams was only eligible in round four of the organisation's selection process, the "selection panel would need to believe he would win a medal in Rio or at a future Olympic Games" in order for him to be included.
Williams has never won an Olympic medal, but did claim gold at the 2012 European Championships.
Asked if Williams could feel hard done by, Jackson said: "I think so. I have really mixed emotions with that [British Athletics' stance]. Sometimes it feels like they favour some athletes over others.
"They say Rhys may not be able to do it [win a medal], but I know Rhys had a really good, consistent winter and he's put a lot of time and effort in there and has no injuries.
"He's always scrapping for that great result he's capable of, and when you've had the winter preparation he has, he's more than capable of doing that.
"You just never know what you can do when you go to a major championship. It's not like he won't get through the first round - he's likely to get through to the semi. And when you get through to the semi, anything can happen."
Williams, who received a four-month ban for doping in 2014, had previously spoken of his belief that he could be selected for Rio.
But he was left out of the squad after missing out on a place in the top two at the British Championships in June and finishing fifth at the European Championships in July.
Seren Bundy-Davies was the only Welsh track and field athlete named in Great Britain's team for the Olympics when it was announced on Wednesday.
It means Wales will have just one athletics competitor at an Olympics for the first time since the 1952 Helsinki Games. | Rhys Williams has reason to feel aggrieved about his omission from Team GB's squad for the Rio Olympics, says former 110m hurdles world record holder Colin Jackson. |
35695648 | Abu Anis only realised something unusual was happening when he heard the sound of explosions coming from the old city on the western bank of the Tigris as it runs through Mosul.
"I phoned some friends over there, and they said armed groups had taken over, some of them foreign, some Iraqis," the computer technician said. "The gunmen told them, 'We've come to get rid of the Iraqi army, and to help you.'"
The following day, the attackers crossed the river and took the other half of the city. The Iraqi army and police, who vastly outnumbered their assailants, broke and fled, officers first, many of the soldiers stripping off their uniforms as they joined a flood of panicked civilians.
It was 10 June 2014, and Iraq's second biggest city, with a population of around two million, had just fallen to the militants of the group then calling itself Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham/the Levant (Isis or Isil).
Four days earlier, black banners streaming, a few hundred of the Sunni militants had crossed the desert border in a cavalcade from their bases in eastern Syria and met little resistance as they moved towards their biggest prize.
Rich dividends were immediate. The Iraqi army, rebuilt, trained and equipped by the Americans since the US-led invasion of 2003, abandoned large quantities of armoured vehicles and advanced weaponry, eagerly seized by the militants. They also reportedly grabbed something like $500m from the Central Bank's Mosul branch.
Despite territorial losses, IS survives, thanks in no small part to its status as "the best-funded terrorist organisation" in history. While most people decry the validity inferred from the name of IS as a "state", the group's financing is certainly more reminiscent of a state than that of organisations such as al-Qaeda that relied heavily on donations to fund their operations.
Islamic State: The struggle to stay rich
"At the beginning, they behaved well," said Abu Anis. "They took down all the barricades the army had put up between quarters. People liked that. On their checkpoints they were friendly and helpful - 'Anything you need, we're here for you.'"
The Mosul honeymoon was to last a few weeks. But just down the road, terrible things were already happening.
As the Iraqi army collapsed throughout the north, the militants moved swiftly down the Tigris river valley. Towns and villages fell like skittles. Within a day they had captured the town of Baiji and its huge oil refinery, and moved on swiftly to seize Saddam Hussein's old hometown, Tikrit, a Sunni hotbed.
Just outside Tikrit is a big military base, taken over by the Americans in 2003 and renamed Camp Speicher after the first US casualty in the 1991 "Desert Storm" Gulf war against Iraq, a pilot called Scott Speicher, shot down over al-Anbar province in the west.
Camp Speicher, by now full of Iraqi military recruits, was surrounded by the Isis militants and surrendered. The thousands of captives were sorted, the Shia were weeded out, bound, and trucked away to be systematically shot dead in prepared trenches. Around 1,700 are believed to have been massacred in cold blood. The mass graves are still being exhumed.
Far from trying to cover up the atrocity, Isis revelled in it, posting on the internet videos and pictures showing the Shia prisoners being taken away and shot by the black-clad militants.
In terms of exultant cruelty and brutality, worse was not long in coming.
After a pause of just two months, Isis - now rebranded as "Islamic State" (IS) - erupted again, taking over large areas of northern Iraq controlled by the Kurds.
That included the town of Sinjar, mainly populated by the Yazidis, an ancient religious minority regarded by IS as heretics.
Hundreds of Yazidi men who failed to escape were simply killed. Women and children were separated and taken away as war booty, to be sold and bartered as chattels, and used as sex slaves. Thousands are still missing, enduring that fate.
Deliberately shocking, bloodthirsty exhibitionism reached a climax towards the end of the same month, August 2014.
IS issued a video showing its notorious, London-accented and now late executioner Mohammed Emwazi (sardonically nicknamed "Jihadi John" by former captives) gruesomely beheading American journalist James Foley.
In the following weeks, more American and British journalists and aid workers - Steven Sotloff, David Haines, Alan Henning, and Peter Kassig (who had converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Rahman) - appeared being slaughtered in similar, slickly produced videos, replete with propaganda statements and dire warnings.
In the space of a few months, IS had blasted its way from obscurity on to the centre of the world stage. Almost overnight, it became a household word.
Seven-and-a-half thousand miles (12,000km) away, then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott summed up the breathtaking novelty of the horror. It was, he said "medieval barbarism, perpetrated and spread with the most modern of technology".
IS had arrived, and the world was taking notice. But the men in black did not appear out of the blue. They had been a long time coming.
The theology of murder
The ideological or religious roots of IS and like-minded groups go deep into history, almost to the beginning of Islam itself in the 7th Century AD.
Like Christianity six centuries before it, and Judaism some eight centuries before that, Islam was born into the harsh, tribal world of the Middle East.
"The original texts, the Old Testament and the Koran, reflected primitive tribal Jewish and Arab societies, and the codes they set forth were severe," writes the historian and author William Polk.
"They aimed, in the Old Testament, at preserving and enhancing tribal cohesion and power and, in the Koran, at destroying the vestiges of pagan belief and practice. Neither early Judaism nor Islam allowed deviation. Both were authoritarian theocracies."
As history moved on, Islam spread over a vast region, encountering and adjusting to numerous other societies, faiths and cultures. Inevitably in practice it mutated in different ways, often becoming more pragmatic and indulgent, often given second place to the demands of power and politics and temporal rulers.
For hardline Muslim traditionalists this amounted to deviationism, and from early on, there was a clash of ideas in which those arguing for a strict return to the "purity" of the early days of Islam often paid a price.
The eminent scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780-855), who founded one of the main schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, was jailed and once flogged unconscious in a dispute with the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Nearly five centuries later, another supreme theologian of the same strict orthodox school, Ibn Taymiyya, died in prison in Damascus.
These two men are seen as the spiritual forefathers of later thinkers and movements which became known as "salafist", advocating a return to the ways of the first Muslim ancestors, the salaf al-salih (righteous ancestors).
They inspired a later figure whose thinking and writings were to have a huge and continuing impact on the region and on the salafist movement, one form of which, Wahhabism, took his name.
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born in 1703 in a small village in the Nejd region in the middle of the Arabian peninsula.
A devout Islamic scholar, he espoused and developed the most puritanical and strict version of what he saw as the original faith, and sought to spread it by entering pacts with the holders of political and military power.
In an early foray in that direction, his first action was to destroy the tomb of Zayd ibn al-Khattab, one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, on the grounds that by the austere doctrine of salafist theology, the veneration of tombs constitutes shirk, the revering of something or someone other than Allah.
But it was in 1744 that Abd al-Wahhab made his crucial alliance with the local ruler, Muhammad ibn Saud. It was a pact whereby Wahhabism provided the spiritual or ideological dimension for Saudi political and military expansion, to the benefit of both.
Passing through several mutations, that dual alliance took over most of the peninsula and has endured to this day, with the House of Saud ruling in sometimes uneasy concert with an ultra-conservative Wahhabi religious establishment.
The entrenchment of Wahhabi salafism in Saudi Arabia - and the billions of petrodollars to which it gained access - provided one of the wellsprings for jihadist militancy in the region in modern times. Jihad means struggle on the path of Allah, which can mean many kinds of personal struggle, but more often is taken to mean waging holy war.
But the man most widely credited, or blamed, for bringing salafism into the 20th Century was the Egyptian thinker Sayyid Qutb. He provided a direct bridge from the thought and heritage of Abd al-Wahhab and his predecessors to a new generation of jihadist militants, leading up to al-Qaeda and all that was to follow.
Born in a small village in Upper Egypt in 1906, Sayyid Qutb found himself at odds with the way Islam was being taught and managed around him. Far from converting him to the ways of the West, a two-year study period in the US in the late 1940s left him disgusted at what he judged unbridled godless materialism and debauchery, and his fundamentalist Islamic outlook was honed harder.
Back in Egypt, he developed the view that the West was imposing its control directly or indirectly over the region in the wake of the Ottoman Empire's collapse after World War One, with the collaboration of local rulers who might claim to be Muslims, but who had in fact deviated so far from the right path that they should no longer be considered such.
For Qutb, offensive jihad against both the West and its local agents was the only way for the Muslim world to redeem itself. In essence, this was a kind of takfir - branding another Muslim an apostate or kafir (infidel), making it justified and even obligatory and meritorious to kill him.
Although he was a theorist and intellectual rather than an active jihadist, Qutb was judged dangerously subversive by the Egyptian authorities. He was hanged in 1966 on charges of involvement in a Muslim Brotherhood plot to assassinate the nationalist President, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Qutb was before his time, but his ideas lived on in the 24 books he wrote, which have been read by tens of millions, and in the personal contact he had with the circles of people like Ayman al-Zawahiri, another Egyptian who is the current al-Qaeda leader.
Another intimate of the al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden said: "Qutb was the one who most affected our generation." He has also been described as "the source of all jihadist thought", and "the philosopher of the Islamic revolution".
More than 35 years after he was hanged, the official commission of inquiry into al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 concluded: "Bin Laden shares Qutb's stark view, permitting him and his followers to rationalise even unprovoked mass murder as righteous defence of an embattled faith."
And his influence lingers on today. Summing up the roots of IS and its predecessors, the Iraqi expert on Islamist movements Hisham al-Hashemi said: "They are founded on two things: a takfiri faith based on the writings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and as methodology, the way of Sayyid Qutb."
The theology of militant jihadism was in place. But to flourish, it needed two things - a battlefield, and strategists to shape the battle.
Afghanistan was to provide the opportunity for both.
Rise of al-Qaeda
The Soviet invasion in 1979, and the 10 years of occupation that followed, provided a magnet for would-be jihadists from around the Arab world. Some 35,000 of them flocked to Afghanistan during that period, to join the jihad and help the mainly Islamist Afghan mujahideen guerrillas turn the country into Russia's Vietnam.
There is little evidence that the "Afghan Arabs", as they became known, played a pivotal combat role in driving the Soviets out. But they made a major contribution in setting up support networks in Pakistan, channelling funds from Saudi Arabia and other donors, and funding schools and militant training camps. It was a fantastic opportunity for networking and forging enduring relationships as well as tasting jihad first hand.
Ironically, they found themselves on the same team as the Americans. The CIA's Operation Cyclone channelled hundreds of millions of dollars through Pakistan to militant Afghan mujahedeen leaders such as Golbuddin Hekmatyar, who associated closely with the Arab jihadists.
It was in Afghanistan that virtually all the major figures in the new jihadist world cut their teeth. They helped shape events there in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, a period that saw the emergence of al-Qaeda as a vehicle for a wider global jihad, and Afghanistan provided a base for it.
By the time the Taliban took over in 1996, they were virtually in partnership with Osama Bin Laden and his men, and it was from there that al-Qaeda launched its fateful 9/11 attack in 2001.
The formative Afghan experience provided both the combat-hardened salafist jihadist leaders and the strategists who were to play an instrumental role in the emergence of the IS of today.
Most significant was the Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who more than anybody else ended up being the direct parent of IS in almost every way.
A high-school dropout whose prison career began with a sentence for drug and sexual offences, Zarqawi found religion after being sent to classes at a mosque in the Jordanian capital, Amman. He arrived in Pakistan to join jihad in Afghanistan just in time to see the Soviets withdraw in 1989, but stayed on to work with jihadists.
After a stint back in Jordan where he received a 15-year jail sentence on terrorist charges but was later released in a general amnesty, Zarqawi finally met Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in 1999. By all accounts the two al-Qaeda leaders did not take to him. They found him brash and headstrong, and they did not like the many tattoos from his previous life that he had not been able to erase.
But he was charismatic and dynamic, and although he did not join al-Qaeda, they eventually put him in charge of a training camp in Herat, western Afghanistan. It was here that he worked with an ideologue whose radical writings became the scriptures governing subsequent salafist blood-letting: Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir.
"The brutality of beheading is intended, even delightful to God and His Prophet," wrote Muhajir in his book The Theology of Jihad, more generally referred to as the Theology of Bloodshed. His writings provided religious cover for the most brutal excesses, and also for the killing of Shia as infidels, and their Sunni collaborators as apostates.
The other book that has been seen as the virtual manual - even the Mein Kampf - for IS and its forebears is The Management of Savagery, by Abu Bakr Naji, which appeared on the internet in 2004.
"We need to massacre and to do just as has been done to Banu Qurayza, so we must adopt a ruthless policy in which hostages are brutally and graphically murdered unless our demands are met," Naji wrote. He was referring to a Jewish tribe in seventh-century Arabia which reportedly met the same fate at the hands of early Muslims as the Yazidis of Sinjar did nearly 14 centuries later: the men were slaughtered, the women and children enslaved.
Naji's sanctioning of exemplary brutality was part of a much wider strategy to prepare the way for an Islamic caliphate. Based partly on the lessons of Afghanistan, his book is a detailed blueprint for provoking the West into interventions which would further rally the Muslims to jihad, leading to the ultimate collapse of the enemy.
The scenario is not so fanciful if you consider that the Soviet Union went to pieces barely two years after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Naji is reported to have been killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan province in 2008.
Iraq fiasco
The fallout from the 9/11 attacks changed things radically for the jihadists in late 2001. The US and allies bombed and invaded Afghanistan, ousting the Taliban, and launching a wider "War on Terror" against al-Qaeda.
Bin Laden went underground, and Zarqawi and others fled. The dispersing militants, fired up, badly needed another battlefield on which to provoke and confront their Western enemies.
Luck was on their side. The Americans and their allies were not long in providing it.
Their invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003 was, it turned out, entirely unjustified on its own chosen grounds - Saddam Hussein's alleged production of weapons of mass destruction, and his supposed support for international terrorists, neither of which was true.
By breaking up every state and security structure and sending thousands of disgruntled Sunni soldiers and officials home, they created precisely the state of "savagery", or violent chaos, that Abu Bakr Naji envisaged for the jihadists to thrive in.
Iraq was on the way to becoming what US officials are now calling the "parent tumour" of the IS presence in the region.
Under Saddam's tightly-controlled Baath Party regime, the Sunnis enjoyed pride of place over the majority Shia, who have strong ties with their co-religionists across the border in Iran.
The US-led intervention disempowered the Sunnis, creating massive resentment and providing fertile ground for the outside salafist jihadists to take root in.
They were not long in spotting their constituency. Abu Musab Zarqawi moved in, and within a matter of months was organising deadly, brutal and provocative attacks aimed both at Western targets and at the majority Shia community.
Doctrinal differences between the two sects go back to disputes over the succession to the Prophet Muhammad in the early decades of Islam, but conflict between them is generally based on community, history and sectarian politics rather than religion as such.
Setting himself up with a new group called Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Tawhid means declaring the uniqueness of Allah), Zarqawi immediately forged a pragmatic operational alliance with underground cells of the remnants of Saddam's regime, providing the two main intertwined strands of the Sunni-based insurgency: militant Jihadism, and Iraqi Sunni nationalism.
His group claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks in August 2003 that set the pattern for much of what was to come: a suicide truck bomb explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed the envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 20 of his staff, and a suicide car bomb blast in Najaf which killed the influential Shia ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim and 80 of his followers. The bombers were salafist jihadists, but logistics were reportedly provided by underground Baathists.
The following year, Zarqawi himself was believed by the CIA to be the masked killer shown in a video beheading an American hostage, Nicholas Berg, in revenge for the Abu Ghraib prison abuses of Iraqi detainees by members of the US military.
As the battle with the Americans and the new Shia-dominated Iraqi government intensified, Zarqawi finally took the oath of loyalty to Bin Laden, and his group became the official al-Qaeda branch in Iraq.
But they were never really on the same page. Zarqawi's provocative attacks on Shia mosques and markets, triggering sectarian carnage, and his penchant for publicising graphic brutality, were all in line with the radical teachings he had imbibed. But they drew rebukes from the al-Qaeda leadership, concerned at the impact on Muslim opinion.
Zarqawi paid little heed. His strain of harsh radicalism passed to his successors after he was killed by a US air strike in June 2006 on his hideout north of Baghdad. He was easily identified by the tattoos he had never managed to get rid of.
The direct predecessor of IS emerged just a few months later, with the announcement of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) as an umbrella bringing the al-Qaeda branch together with other insurgent factions.
But tough times lay ahead. In January 2007, the Americans began "surging" their own troops in Iraq from 132,000 to a peak of 168,000, adopting a much more hands-on approach in mentoring the rebuilt Iraqi army. At the same time, they enticed Sunni tribes in western al-Anbar province to stop supporting the jihadists and join the US-led Coalition-Iraqi government drive to quell the insurgency, which many did, on promises that they would be given jobs and control over their own security.
By the time both the new ISI and al-Qaeda leaders were killed in a US-Iraqi army raid on their hideout in April 2010, the insurgency was at its lowest ebb, pushed back into remote corners of Sunni Iraq.
They were both replaced by one man, about whom very little was publicly known at the time, and not much more since: Ibrahim Awad al-Badri, better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Six eventful years later, he would be proclaimed Caliph Ibrahim, Commander of the Faithful and leader of the newly declared "Islamic State".
Territorial takeover
Baghdadi's career is so shrouded in mist that there are very few elements of it that can be regarded as fact. By all accounts he was born near Samarra, north of Baghdad, so the epithet "Baghdadi" seems to have been adopted to give him a more national image, while "Abu Bakr" evokes the first successor to (and father-in-law of) Prophet Muhammad.
Like the original Abu Bakr, Baghdadi is also reputed to come from the Prophet's Quraysh clan. That, and his youth - born in 1971 - may have been factors in his selection as leader.
All accounts of his early life agree that he was a quiet, scholarly and devout student of Islam, taking a doctorate at the Islamic University of Baghdad. Some even say he was shy, and a bit of a loner, living for 10 years in a room beside a small Sunni mosque in western Baghdad.
The word "charismatic" has never been attached to him.
As a youth, Baghdadi had a passion for Koranic recitation and was meticulous in his observance of religious law. His family nicknamed him The Believer because he would chastise his relatives for failing to live up to his stringent standards.
Who is Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
But by the time of the US-led invasion in 2003, he appears to have become involved with a militant Sunni group, heading its Sharia (Islamic law) committee. American troops detained him, and he was reportedly held in the detention centre at Camp Bucca in the south for most of 2004.
Camp Bucca (named after a fireman who died in the 9/11 attacks) housed up to 20,000 inmates and became a university from which many IS and other militant leaders graduated. It gave them an unrivalled opportunity to imbibe and spread radical ideologies and sabotage skills and develop important contacts and networks, all in complete safety, under the noses and protection of their enemies.
Baghdadi would also certainly have met in Camp Bucca many of the ex-Baathist military commanders with whom he was to form such a deadly partnership.
The low-profile, self-effacing Baghdadi rang no alarm bells with the Americans. They released him, having decided he was low-risk.
But he went on to work his way steadily up through the insurgent hierarchy, virtually unknown to the Iraqi public.
By the time Baghdadi took over in 2010, the curtains seemed to be coming down for the jihadists in the Iraqi field of "savagery".
But another one miraculously opened up for them across the border in neighbouring Syria at just the right moment. In the spring of 2011, the outbreak of civil war there offered a promising new arena of struggle and expansion. The majority Sunnis were in revolt against the oppressive regime of Bashar al-Assad, dominated by his Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
Baghdadi sent his men in. By December 2011, deadly car bombs were exploding in Damascus which turned out to be the work of the then shadowy al-Nusra Front. It announced itself as an al-Qaeda affiliate the following month. It was headed by a Syrian jihadist, Abu Mohammed al-Julani. He had been sent by Baghdadi, but had his own ideas.
Jostling with a huge array of competing rebel groups in Syria, al-Nusra won considerable support on the ground because of its fearless and effective fighting skills, and the flow of funds and foreign fighters that support from al-Qaeda stimulated. It was relatively moderate in its salafist approach, and cultivated local relationships.
Al-Nusra was slipping out of Baghdadi's control, and he didn't like it. In April 2013, he tried to rein it back, announcing that al-Nusra was under his command in a new Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (Syria or the Levant). Isis, or Isil, was born.
During the short and turbulent period over which it has imposed itself as a major news brand, so-called Islamic State has confused the world with a series of name changes reflecting its mutations and changing aspirations, leaving a situation where there is no universal agreement on how to refer to it.
But Julani rebelled, and renewed his oath of loyalty to al-Qaeda's global leadership, now under Ayman al-Zawahiri following Bin Laden's death in 2011. Zawahiri ordered Baghdadi to go back to being just the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) and leave al-Nusra as the al-Qaeda Syria franchise.
It was Baghdadi's turn to ignore orders from head office.
Before 2013 was out, Isis and al-Nusra were at each other's throats. Hundreds were killed in vicious internecine clashes which ended with Isis being driven out of most of north-west Syria by al-Nusra and allied Syrian rebel factions. But Isis took over Raqqa, a provincial capital in the north-east, and made it its capital. Many of the foreign jihadists who had joined al-Nusra also went over to Isis, seeing it as tougher and more radical. In early 2014, al-Qaeda formally disowned Isis.
Isis had shaken off the parental shackles. But it had lost a lot of ground, and was bottled up. One of its main slogans, Remaining and Expanding, risked becoming empty. So where next?
Fortune smiled once more. Back in Iraq, conditions had again become ripe for the jihadists. The Americans had gone, since the end of 2011. Sunni areas were again aflame and in revolt, enraged by the sectarian policies of the Shia Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki. Sunnis felt marginalised, oppressed and angry.
When Isis decided to move, it was pushing at an open door. In fact, it had never really left Iraq, just gone into the woodwork. As it swept through Sunni towns, cities and villages with bewildering speed in June 2014, sleeper cells of salafist jihadists and ex-Saddamist militants and other sympathisers broke cover and joined the takeover.
With the capture of Mosul, Isis morphed swiftly into a new mode of being, like a rocket jettisoning its carrier. No longer just a shadowy terrorist group, it was suddenly a jihadist army not only threatening the Iraqi state, but challenging the entire world.
The change was signalled on 29 June by the proclamation of the "Islamic State", replacing all previous incarnations, and the establishment of the "caliphate". A few days later, the newly anointed Caliph Ibrahim, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made a surprise appearance in Mosul in the pulpit of the historic Grand Mosque of Nour al-Din al-Zangi, heavily laden with anti-Crusader associations. He called on the world's Muslims to rally behind him.
By declaring a caliphate and adopting the generic "Islamic State" title, the organisation was clearly setting its sights far beyond Syria and Iraq. It was going global.
Announcing a caliphate has huge significance and resonance within Islam. While it remains the ideal, Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders had always shied away from it, for fear of failure. Now Baghdadi was trumping the parent organisation, setting IS up in direct competition with it for the leadership of global jihadism.
A caliphate (khilafa) is the rule or rein of a caliph (khalifa), a word which simply means a successor - primarily of the Prophet Muhammad. Under the first four caliphs who followed after he died in 632, the Islamic Caliphate burst out of Arabia and extended through modern-day Iran to the east, into Libya to the west, and to the Caucasus in the north.
The Umayyad caliphate which followed, based in Damascus, took over almost all of the lands that IS would like to control, including Spain. The Baghdad-based Abbasid caliphate took over in 750 and saw a flowering of science and culture, but found it hard to hold it all together, and Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols in 1258.
Emerging from that, the Ottoman Empire, based in Constantinople (Istanbul), stretched almost to Vienna at its peak, and was also a caliphate, though the distinction with empire was often blurred. The caliphate was finally abolished by Ataturk in 1924.
So when Baghdadi was declared Caliph of the Islamic State, it was an act of extraordinary ambition. He was claiming no less than the mantle of the Prophet, and of his followers who carried Islam into vast new realms of conquest and expansion.
For most Islamic scholars and authorities, not to mention Arab and Muslim leaders, such claims from the chief of one violent extremist faction had no legitimacy at all, and there was no great rush to embrace the new caliphate. But the millennial echoes it evoked did strike a chord with some Islamic romantics - and with some like-minded radical groups abroad.
Four months after the proclamation, a group of militants in Libya became the first to join up by pledging allegiance to Baghdadi, followed a month later by the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis jihadist faction in Egypt's Sinai. IS's tentacles spread deeper into Africa in March 2015 when Boko Haram in Nigeria took the oath of loyalty. Within a year, IS had branches or affiliates in 11 countries, though it held territory in only five, including Iraq and Syria.
It was in those two core countries that Baghdadi and his followers started implementing their state project on the ground, applying their own harsh vision of Islamic rule.
To the outside world, deprived of direct access to the areas controlled by IS, one of the most obvious and shocking aspects of this was their systematic destruction of ancient cultural and archaeological heritage sites and artefacts.
Some of the region's best-known and most-visited sites were devastated, including the magnificent temples of Bel and Baalshamin at Palmyra in Syria, and the Assyrian cities of Hatra and Nimrud in Iraq.
It wasn't just famous archaeological sites that came under attack. Christian churches and ancient monasteries, Shia mosques and shrines, and anything depicting figures of any sort were destroyed, and embellishments removed even from Sunni mosques. Barely a month after taking over Mosul, IS demolition squads levelled the 13th Century shrine of the Imam Awn al-Din, which had survived the Mongol invasion.
All of this was absolutely in line with IS's puritanical vision of Islam, under which any pictorial representation or shrine is revering something other than Allah, and any non-Muslim structures are monuments of idolatry. Even Saudi kings and princes to this day are buried without coffins in unmarked graves.
By posting videos of many of these acts which the rest of the world saw as criminal cultural vandalism, IS also undoubtedly intended to shock. In that sense, it was the cultural equivalent of beheading aid workers.
And there was a more practical and profitable side to the onslaught on cultural heritage. In highly organised manner, IS's Treasury Department issues printed permits to loot archaeological sites, and takes a percentage of the proceeds.
That is just the tip of the iceberg of a complex structure of governance and control put in place as IS gradually settled into its conquests, penetrating into every aspect of people's lives in exactly the same way as Saddam Hussein's intelligence apparatus had done.
Captured documents published by Der Spiegel last year give some idea of the role of ex-Baathist regime men in setting up and running IS in a highly structured and organised way, with much emphasis on intelligence and security.
Residents of Sunni strongholds like Mosul and Falluja in Iraq, and Raqqa in Syria, found that IS operatives already knew almost everything about everybody when they moved in and took over in 2014.
At checkpoints, ID cards were checked against databases on laptops, obtained from government ration or employee registers. Former members of the security forces had to go to specific mosques to "repent", hand over their weapons and receive a discharge paper.
"At first, all they did was change the preachers in the mosques to people with their own views," said a Mosul resident who fled a year later.
"But then they began to crack down. Women who had been able to go bare-headed now had to cover up, first with the headscarf and then with the full face-veil. Men have to grow beards and wear short-legged trousers. Cigarettes, hubble-bubble, music and cafes were banned, then satellite TV and mobile phones. Morals police [hisba] vehicles would cruise round, looking for offenders."
A Falluja resident recounted the story of a taxi-driver who had picked up a middle-aged woman not wearing a headscarf. They were stopped at an IS checkpoint, the woman given a veil and allowed to go, while the driver was sent to an Islamic court, and sentenced to two months' detention and to memorise a portion of the Koran. If you fail to memorise, the sentence is repeated.
"They have courts with judges, officials, records and files, and there are fixed penalties for each crime, it's not random," said the Falluja resident. "Adulterers are stoned to death. Thieves have their hands cut off. Gays are executed by being thrown off high buildings. Informers are shot dead, Shia militia prisoners are beheaded."
An activist based in Raqqa from a group called Al-Sharqiya 24 has been keeping a diary of what life is like under Islamic State group rule.
Life under 'Islamic State': Diaries
There are IS departments that carry the organisation's grip into every corner of life, including finance, agriculture, education, transport, health, welfare and utilities.
School curricula were overhauled in line with IS precepts, with history rewritten, all images being removed from schoolbooks and English taken off the menu.
"One thing you can say is this," said the Mosul resident. "There is absolutely no corruption, no wasta (knowing the right people and pulling strings). They are totally convinced they are on the right track."
One recent story tells a lot about IS and its ways.
As Iraqi security forces were pressing forward in areas around Ramadi earlier this year, civilians were fleeing the battle - and IS fighters, losing the day, were trying to sneak out too.
Two women, running from the combat zone, approached a police checkpoint.
As they were being waved through to safety, one of the women suddenly turned to the police, pointed at the other, and said : "This is not a woman. He's an IS emir [commander]."
The police investigated, and it was true. The other woman was a man, who had shaved, and put on makeup and women's clothes. He turned out to be top of the list of wanted local IS commanders.
"When IS arrived, he killed my husband, who was a policeman, raped me, and then took me as his wife," the woman told the police.
"I put up with him all this time, waiting to avenge my husband and my honour," she said. "I tricked him into shaving and putting on makeup, then denounced him to the police."
"Nour" is a woman from Raqqa, the so-called Islamic State's (IS) capital inside Syria. She managed to escape the city and is now a refugee in Europe, where she met up with the BBC.
This story is based on her experiences and those of her two sisters, who are still inside the IS-held city.
Taking on the world
Having taken over vast swathes of territory in Iraq with their lightning offensive in June 2014, the militants might have been expected to calm down and consolidate their gains.
But, like a shark that has to keep moving or else it will die, IS barely paused before initiating a new spiral of provocation and reprisals that was predictably to draw it into active conflict with almost all the major world powers.
Already, the June offensive had threatened the approaches to Baghdad, prompting the Americans to start bringing in hundreds of military advisers and trainers to see how to help the struggling Iraqi army.
Just two months later, the attack on Kurdish areas in the north triggered US air strikes in defence of the Kurdistan capital, Irbil, and then to help stave off the threat of genocide to the Yazidis. Fourteen other nations were to join the air campaign.
Ten days later, IS beheaded James Foley and the others followed, in line with the doctrine of exemplary brutality as punishment, deterrent and provocation. The most shocking was to come some months later, with the burning alive of the downed Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh. Shock intended.
The US-led bombing campaign was extended to Syria in September 2014 after IS besieged the Kurdish-held town of Kobane on the Turkish border. Coalition air strikes turned the tide there. IS lost hundreds of fighters killed at Kobane and elsewhere. More revenge was called for. IS turned abroad.
From the declaration of the caliphate until early 2016, some 90 terrorist attacks were either carried out or inspired by IS in 21 countries around the globe, from California to Sydney, with an estimated 1,400 victims killed. The attacks carried the same message of punishment, deterrence and provocation as the hostage beheadings, while also demonstrating IS's global reach.
At the same time, they carried through the militants' doctrine of distracting the enemy by setting fires in different locations and making him squander resources on security. For IS, "the enemy" is everybody who does not embrace it. The world is divided into Dawlat al-Islam, the State of Islam, and Dawlat al-Kufr, the State of Unbelief.
The most consequential of these atrocities were the downing of a Russian airliner over Sinai on 31 October 2015 and the Paris attacks on 13 November, provoking both Russia and France to intensify air strikes on IS targets in Syria.
The lone-wolf massacre at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, on 12 June 2016, while apparently inspired rather than organised by IS, would undoubtedly further stiffen the US's already steely resolve to finish the organisation.
Had IS gone mad? It seemed determined to take on the whole world. It was goading and confronting the Americans, the Russians, and a long list of others. By its own count, it had a mere 40,000 fighters at its command (other estimates go as low as half that).
Could it really challenge the global powers and hope to survive? Or could President Barack Obama fulfil his pledge to "degrade and ultimately destroy" IS?
Final showdown
If there seems to be something apocalyptic about IS's "bring it on" defiance, that's because there is.
When the organisation first brought out its online magazine - a major showcase and recruitment tool - just a month after the "caliphate" was declared, it was not by chance that it was named Dabiq.
A small town north of Aleppo in Syria, Dabiq is mentioned in a hadith (a reported saying of the Prophet Muhammad) in connection with Armageddon. In IS mythology, it is the scene where a cataclysmic showdown will take place between the Muslims and the infidels, leading to the end of days. Each issue of Dabiq begins with a quote from Abu Musab Zarqawi: "The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify - by Allah's permission - until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq."
The prospect of taking part in that final glorious climax, achieving martyrdom on the path of Allah and an assured place in paradise, is one of the thoughts inspiring those heeding the IS call to jihad.
That could help explain why the organisation seems to enjoy an endless supply of recruits willing to blow themselves to pieces in suicide attacks, which it calls "martyrdom-seeking operations" (suicide is forbidden in Islam). Hundreds have died in this way, and they happen virtually daily.
It's one of the elements that makes IS a formidable fighting force that will be hard to destroy even in strictly military terms.
IS is in many respects a project of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, but now with a different ideology. Former agents or officers of Saddam Hussein's regime dominate its leadership... They represent a battle-hardened and state-educated core that would likely endure (as they have done through US occupation and a decade of war) even if the organisation's middle and lower cadres are decimated.
Is Islamic State invincible?
The head of security and intelligence for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, Masrour Barzani, tells the story of a frustrated would-be suicide bomber who screamed at his captors: "I was just 10 minutes away from being united with the Prophet Muhammad!"
"They think they're winners regardless of whether they kill you or they get killed," says Barzani. "If they kill you, they win a battle. If they get killed, they go to heaven. With people like this, it's very difficult to deter them from coming at you. So really the only way to defeat them is to eliminate them."
Probably for the first time in military history since the Japanese kamikaze squadrons of World War Two, suicide bombers are used by IS not only for occasional terrorist spectaculars, but as a standard and common battlefield tactic.
Virtually all IS attacks begin with one or several suicide bombers driving explosives-rigged cars or trucks at the target, softening it up for combat squads to go in. So much so that the "martyrdom-seekers" have been called the organisation's "air force", since they serve a similar purpose.
Formidable though that is, IS as a fighting force is much more than a bunch of wild-eyed fanatics eager to blow themselves up. For that, they have Saddam Hussein to thank.
"The core of IS are former Saddam-era army and intelligence officers, particularly from the Republican Guard," said an international intelligence official. "They are very good at moving their people around, resupply and so on, they're actually much more effective and efficient than the Iraqi army are. That's the hand of former military staff officers who know their business."
"They are very professional," adds Masrour Barzani. "They use artillery, armoured vehicles, heavy machinery etc, and they are using it very well. They have officers who know conventional war and how to plan, how to attack, how to defend. They really are operating on the level of a very organised conventional force. Otherwise they'd be no more than a terrorist organisation."
The partnership with the ex-Baathists, going back to Zarqawi's early days in Iraq, is clearly a vital component in IS success.
But that does not mean its fighters are invincible on the battlefield. The Kurds in north-east Syria were fighting IS off with no outside help for a year before anybody noticed. And even now, IS makes what would conventionally be seen as costly mistakes.
In December 2015, they lost several hundred fighters in one abortive attack east of Mosul alone, and probably 2,500 altogether that month. In total some 15,000 are estimated to have been killed by Coalition air strikes since August 2014.
But they seem to have little difficulty making up the numbers. With a population of perhaps 10 million acquiescent Sunnis to draw on in Iraq and Syria, most recruiting is done locally. And if IS remains in place, there will soon be a new generation of young militants.
"I didn't join out of conviction," says Bakr Madloul, a 24-year-old bachelor who was arrested in December at his home in a Sunni quarter in southern Baghdad and accused of taking part in deadly IS car bomb attacks on mainly Shia areas, which he admits.
Bakr says he was working as a construction foreman in Kurdistan when IS took over Mosul. He was detained for questioning by Kurdish security, and met a militant in jail who persuaded him to go to Mosul, where he joined up with IS and manned a checkpoint until it was hit by a Coalition air strike.
He was then sent back to his Baghdad suburb to help organise car bombings. The explosives-packed vehicles were sent from outside Baghdad, and his job was to place them where he was told by his controller, usually in crowded streets or markets.
"Only one of the five car bombs I handled was driven by a suicide bomber," he says. "I spoke to him. He was 22 years old, an Iraqi. He believed he would go to paradise when he died. It's the easiest and quickest way to Heaven. They strongly believe this. They would blow themselves up to get to Heaven. There were older ones in their 30s and 40s."
"I asked my controllers more than once, 'Is it OK to kill women and children?' They would answer, 'They're all the same.' But to me, killing women and children, I didn't feel at all comfortable about that. But once you're in, you're stuck. If you try to leave, they call you a murtadd, an apostate, and they'll kill you or your family."
Bakr knows he will almost certainly hang. I asked him if he would do the same things over if he had his life again. He laughed.
"Absolutely not. I would get out of Iraq, away from IS, away from the security forces. I took this path without realising the consequences. There is no way back. I see that now."
But up in Kurdistan, another IS prisoner, Muhannad Ibrahim, has no such regrets.
A 32-year-old from a village near Mosul with a wife and three children, he was a construction worker for a Turkish company when IS took over the city. Two of his older brothers had died fighting the Americans there in 2004 and 2006. He joined IS without hesitation and was commanding a small detachment when he was captured in a battle with the Kurds.
"We were being oppressed by the Shia, they were always insulting and bothering us," he says. "But that's not the main motivation, religious conviction is more important. All my family is religious, praise be to Allah. I came to IS through my faith and religious principles."
"If I had my time over again, I would take the same path, the same choices. Because I am convinced by this thing, I have to go to the end. Either I am killed, or Allah will decree some other fate for me."
Taming Mosul
Defeating IS militarily is less about its own strengths and vulnerabilities than it is about the deficiencies of the forces arrayed against it. IS is as strong as the weaknesses of the failed states whose collapse into "savagery" has left room for it to take root and grow.
Iraq and Syria have to be the primary focus, as the commander of Coalition forces, Lt Gen Sean MacFarland, spelled out in February 2016:
"The campaign has three objectives: one, to destroy the Isil parent tumour in Iraq and Syria by collapsing its power centres in Mosul and Raqqa; two, to combat the emerging metastasis of the Isil tumour worldwide; and three, to protect our nations from attack."
It goes without saying that Coalition air strikes, deadly and effective as they are, have their limitations. Only in co-ordination with cohesive, motivated ground forces can the territory taken by IS be regained. And that's the crippling problem, in both countries.
The Kurds in the north of both Iraq and Syria have made considerable progress in pushing IS back from areas they regard as theirs, with the help of Coalition air strikes. But they are neither capable of going all the way, nor should they: in both countries, they would stir up acute communal sensitivities in the Sunni Arab areas where IS is rooted.
Pro-government forces in Iraq largely dislodged IS from Diyala province and the Tikrit area north of the capital in 2015, but that was mainly the work of Iranian-backed Shia militias who leapt to the defence of Baghdad and the south as IS descended in June 2014 after the army collapsed.
Using them in mainly Sunni areas is fraught with risk.
Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar to the west, was recaptured at the end of 2015 in an offensive spearheaded by the government's US-built Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), with the Shia militias kept out of this Sunni stronghold. The city was left in ruins, its entire population fled.
When that even more iconic Sunni citadel, Falluja, became the focus of the next government offensive, launched at the end of May, the limitations of the official state forces soon became even more apparent.
The CTS spearheaded the advance from the south, but on other fronts, it was primarily the Iranian-backed Shia militias which were fighting their way in around the other sides of the city, backed by an array of government units and some anti-IS Sunni tribal elements.
The militias were not supposed to enter the limits of the city itself, but they swiftly took control of the deeply Sunni surroundings, amidst allegations of abuses against civilian males detained for vetting as IS suspects.
The Falluja battle did not augur well for the much bigger challenge awaiting in the north - Mosul, something like 10 times the size, and the real core of the IS state enterprise.
The Americans would clearly have liked Mosul to be retaken by the end of 2016, as a legacy item for President Obama.
But the ferocious battle for Falluja would inevitably take a toll on the CTS, whose already limited numbers could not be easily or swiftly replenished. The alternative, to accord an even bigger role to the Shia militias in this heavily Sunni area, could be laden with perilous consequences.
Over in Syria, IS was also under pressure by mid-2016. Something of a race was developing for the group's supposed headquarters at Raqqa.
Despite objections from their Turkish Nato allies, the US-led Coalition was providing backing with air strikes and advisers to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), largely composed of seasoned Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) fighters leavened with some Sunni Arab elements, as they slowly eroded IS control in northern border areas controlling the approaches to Raqqa.
At the same time, Syrian government forces supported by Iranian-backed Shia militias and Russian air power were starting to thrust eastwards from Hama towards Raqqa.
Who would get there first, and with what consequences for the future shape of Syria?
The civil war truce engineered by the Russians and Americans in February had largely broken down, and the Geneva peace talks had stalled, leaving all the cards up in the air in a conflict whose outcome has always defied prediction.
But even if IS was to lose all its territory in Syria - still a distant prospect in mid-2016 - it is much less deeply embedded in the Sunni population there than in Iraq. Disgruntled Syrian Sunnis have many other vehicles for pressing their grievances against the Assad regime.
So it keeps coming back again to Iraq, and specifically, to Mosul. Ten times the size of Raqqa. And that's not the only reason for its significance.
"Mosul is the beating heart of IS," says a senior Western official in northern Iraq. "IS is essentially an Iraqi creation. The tragic reality is that at the moment, it is the main Sunni political entity in Iraq. From the West, it's looked at as a kind of crazed cult. It's not. Here in Iraq it represents an important constituency. It represents a massive dissatisfaction, the alienation of a whole sector of the population."
"That's not to say that the people in Mosul are enthusiastic about IS, but for them, it's better than anything that comes from Baghdad."
But if a Mosul offensive does go ahead, the fear is that a wrongly-conceived short-term victory, if it is achieved, will turn into long-term disaster, given the total lack of national reconciliation between Sunnis and Shia in the wake of the sectarian carnage that followed Saddam's overthrow in 2003.
Sunni grievances in Iraq are such that if IS did not exist, it would have to be invented. Without reconciliation and a sense of Sunni empowerment and partnership in a credible national project, IS in some shape or form will always be there, just as the Taliban are now resurgent in Afghanistan despite everything that was done to oust them.
But the Iraqi expert on radical movements, Hisham al-Hashemi, believes that IS could be badly damaged if the Coalition succeeds in one of its top-priority tasks - to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Leaders have been killed before, and replaced with little obvious effect on the course of history. But Hashemi believes Baghdadi is different.
"IS's future depends on Baghdadi," he says. "If he is killed, it will split up. One part would stay on his track and announce a new caliphate. Another would split off and return to al-Qaeda. Others would turn into gangs following whoever is strongest."
"The source of his strength is that he brought about an ideological transformation, blending jihadist ideas with Baathist intelligence security methods, enabling him to create this quasi-state organisation."
Hashemi believes only Baghdadi can hold it together. There have been numerous false reports of him being hit in air strikes, but he appears to be stubbornly and elusively still alive, not seen in public since that mosque appearance in early July 2014.
The Americans are unlikely to rest until they have killed Baghdadi, not least because of their belief that he personally repeatedly raped an American NGO worker, Kayla Mueller, and then had her killed in early 2015.
But even if they do get him, and even if IS does break up, the Sunni problem in Iraq will not go away.
Capitalising on chaos
IS had in any case been busy spreading its bets and developing other territorial options beyond the "parent tumour" of Iraq and Syria.
Libya proved the most promising. It had just the kind of failed-state anarchy, the "savagery", that left room for the jihadists to move in, forging alliances with local militants and disgruntled supporters of the overthrown regime of Muammar Gaddafi, just as they had done in Iraq.
IS signalled its arrival there in typical style, issuing a polished video in February 2015 showing a group of 21 bewildered Egyptian Christian workers in orange jumpsuits being beheaded on a Libyan beach, their blood mingling with the waters of the Mediterranean as a warning to the "crusader" European countries on the other side of the sea.
The man who voiced that warning was believed to be the IS leader in Libya, an Iraqi called Wissam al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Nabil. By coincidence, Zubaydi was killed in a US air strike on the same day IS struck in Paris, 13 November 2015.
The US and its allies were powerless to halt IS advances in Libya.
The group took over a big stretch of the coast around the central city of Sirte, which was to Muammar Gaddafi what Tikrit was to Saddam Hussein. Another American air strike in February killed (among nearly 50 other people) Noureddine Chouchane, reputedly an IS figure responsible for the deadly attacks on Western tourists in his native Tunisia.
By the summer of 2016, however, the militants were under pressure in Libya too. Militias loyal to the Government of National Accord, which had been born out of UN efforts in late March, were pressing in on Sirte.
But Libya remained a deeply fragmented country, and its new government far from powerful or universally accepted. There would likely continue to be pockets of chaos there for the jihadists to exploit.
And there was no shortage of other possibilities already beckoning - Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia... wherever there are dysfunctional states and angry Muslims, there are opportunities for IS, competing strongly with a diminished al-Qaeda as a dominant brand in the jihadist market.
Adding the extra risk for the West, that that competition could be another spur for spectacular terrorist attacks which they know are being actively plotted.
Clearly, IS has lost a lot of ground since it reached the high tide of its expansion in 2014 and it is under daily pressure wherever it exists.
But the outside powers, working with whatever local forces on the ground they can muster, will have to sustain a monumental effort if they are eventually to succeed in completely uprooting IS militarily, a prospect still far from achievement.
If that were to happen, IS would of course mutate back into the shadows as a sinister terrorist outfit with global reach, either plotting or inspiring spectacular strikes both in Middle East conflict countries and in the West, something that is already happening.
With no territorial base, its already diminished appeal and credibility as an idealised Islamic state would more or less evaporate.
But other voids that it has filled, and the failures and dysfunctions which enabled IS to happen, would remain, because they have been largely unaddressed.
Battle for minds
In the first 18 months after the declaration of the "Islamic State", the number of foreign fighters making their way to join jihad in Syria and Iraq rose dramatically. The New York-based security consultancy Soufan Group estimated that 27,000 foreign jihadists had made the trip from 86 countries, more than half of them from the Middle East and North Africa.
Clearly, the caliphate had appeal, despite - perhaps in some cases because of - its graphically publicised brutality. A tribute to its extraordinary skill in using the internet and social media as a propaganda and grooming tool.
Ten months after vowing to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the organisation, President Obama ruefully acknowledged that IS "has been particularly effective at reaching out to and recruiting vulnerable people around the world including here in the United States, and they are targeting Muslim communities around the world".
And he put his finger on the real challenge, monumentally greater than the comparatively simple task of defeating IS militarily:
"Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas, a more attractive and more compelling vision," he said.
On a relatively normal day... there was a total of 50 distinct pieces of propaganda. The photo reports and videos included depictions of an IS offensive in northern Syria and eulogies for the dead in Salahuddin... Overwhelmingly, though, the propagandists were preoccupied with a carefully refined view of 'normal' life.
Fishing and ultraviolence
The problem is that when disenchanted people in the region look around them - especially the young, the idealistic, or the hopeless unemployed who have no future - they see scant evidence of "better ideas" or attractive and compelling visions.
They see the ruins of an "Arab Spring" which raised hopes only to dash them cruelly.
The brutal, corrupt dictatorships which it shook have either fragmented into chaos and sectarian and tribal upheaval, like Syria itself, Libya, Yemen and (with Western intervention) Iraq, or the "deep states" of their former regimes came back, even more harshly in the case of Egypt, more gently in the case of Tunisia.
While many of the European jihadists may have heeded the call for other reasons, socio-economic factors play an important part in radicalising some of the Arab jihadists, and will continue to do so unless addressed.
The flow of recruits, both fighters and families, leaving their homes in Europe to live under so-called Islamic State rule in Raqqa in Syria has slowed dramatically.
"It reached its peak in 2013-14, when it was far easier for jihadists to cross the 822km-long (510-mile) Turkey-Syria border, when IS propaganda on social media went largely unchallenged, and when IS was on a roll militarily, seizing ever more territory across northern Syria and north-western Iraq.
"While all three of those factors have now changed to the detriment of IS, the underlying factors propelling young Britons and Europeans towards joining the group have not gone away. So what are they?
Islamic State: What is the attraction for young Europeans?
One of the biggest contingents is from Tunisia, where a detailed survey in the poorest suburbs of the capital Tunis showed clearly that the radicalisation of young people there had far less to do with extreme Islamic ideology as such than it did with unemployment, marginalisation and disillusion after a revolution into which they threw themselves, but which gave them nothing, and left them hopeless.
A rare insight into the types of people who volunteer to join IS came with the emergence in European media in March 2016 of batches of what are believed to be "secret" IS files with personal details of recruits.
The data from 2013-14 purported to identify members from at least 40 countries. It included names, addresses, phone numbers and skill sets - a potential treasure trove for intelligence agencies trying to track and prosecute nationals who have signed up with the group.
IS is also filling a desert left by the collapse of all the political ideologies that have stirred Arab idealists over the decades. Many used to travel to the Soviet Union for training and tertiary education, but communism is now seen as a busted flush. Arab socialism and Arab nationalism, which caused such excitement in the 1950s and 1960s, mutated into brutal, corrupt "republics" where sons were groomed to inherit power from their fathers.
In this vacuum, IS took up the cause of punishing the West and other outsiders for their actions in the region over the past century:
The roots of IS also lie in a crisis within Islam.
"Isil is not Islamic," said President Obama, echoing statements by many Western leaders that "IS has nothing to do with Islam".
It has.
"It is based on Islamic texts that are reinterpreted according to how they see it," says Ahmad Moussalli, professor of politics at the American University of Beirut. "I don't say they are not coming out of Islamic tradition, that would be denying facts. But their interpretation is unusual, literal sometimes, very much like the Wahhabis."
Hisham al-Hashemi, the Iraqi expert on radical groups, agrees.
"Violent extremism in IS and the salafist jihadist groups is justified, indeed blessed, in Islamic law texts relied on by IS and the extremist groups. It's a crisis of religious discourse, not of a barbaric group. Breaking up the religious discourse and setting it on the right course is more important by far than suppressing the extremist groups militarily."
Because ancient texts can be interpreted by extremists to cover their worst outrages does not implicate the entire religion, any more than Christianity is defined by the Inquisition, where burning at the stake was a stock penalty.
Extremist ideas remain in the dark, forgotten corners of history unless their time comes. And IS time came, with Afghanistan, Iraq, and everything that followed.
"Salafism is spreading in the world, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Arab countries," says Prof Moussalli.
He blames the Saudis for stifling the emergence of a moderate, democratic version of Islam, the "alternative Islamic discourse" to salafism that President Obama would like to see.
"A moderate Islamic narrative today is a Muslim Brotherhood narrative, which has been destroyed by the Gulf states supporting the military coup in Egypt," says Prof Moussalli, referring to the Egyptian military's ousting of the elected President Mohammed Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, in July 2013.
"We lost that opportunity with Egypt. Egypt could have paved the way for real change in the area. But Saudi Arabia stood against it, in a very malicious way, and destroyed the possibility of changing the Arab regimes into more democratic regimes that accept the transfer of power peacefully. They don't want it."
Saudi Arabia's ultra-conservative Wahhabi religious establishment and its constant propagation have raised ambiguity over its relations with radical groups abroad. Enemies and critics have accused it of producing the virulent strain of Wahhabism that inspires the extremists, and even of supporting IS and other ultra-salafist groups.
But Jamal Khashoggi, a leading Saudi journalist and writer who spent time in Afghanistan and knew Bin Laden, says that simply is not true
"We are at war with IS, which sees us as corrupt Wahhabis." he says.
"IS is a form of Wahhabism that has been suppressed here since the 1930s. It resurfaced with the siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 and spread here and there. But Saudi Arabia didn't back it at all, it saw it as a threat. So it's true that salafism can turn radical, just as the US right-wing produces some crazy lunatics."
Hundreds of people died in a two-week siege when extremist salafists took over the Grand Mosque, the holiest place in Islam, in protest at what they saw as the Kingdom's deviation from the true path.
More recently, Saudi Arabia's security forces and its Shia minority have in fact been the target of attacks by IS, and the kingdom has executed captured militants. It has an active deradicalisation programme.
But Mr Khashoggi agrees that the Saudis made a huge mistake when they backed the overthrow of the elected Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt and the subsequent crackdown on the movement, which has pushed political Islam into the arms of the radicals.
"There were no pictures of Isis, Bin Laden or al-Qaeda in Tahrir Square," he says. "It was an opportunity for democracy in the Middle East, but we made a historical blunder for which we are all paying now."
But the Kingdom's extreme conservatism, its distaste for democracy, and its custodianship of the shrines in Mecca and Medina to which millions of Muslims make pilgrimage every year, have made it one of the main targets for calls for an unlikely reformation within Islam as part of the battle to defeat IS and other extremist groups.
"We must accept the fact that Islam has a crisis," says a senior Sunni politician in Iraq.
"IS is not a freak. Look at the roots, the people, the aims. If you don't deal with the roots, the situation will be much more dangerous. The world has to get rid of IS, but needs a new deal: reformation, in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, al-Azhar [the ancient seat of Sunni Islamic learning and authority in Cairo]."
"You can't kill all the Muslims, you need an Islamic reformation. But Saudi and Qatari money is blotting out the voices so we can't get anywhere. It's the curse of the Arab world, too much oil, too much money."
Regional rivalry
IS is at the heart of yet another of the region's burning themes - the strategic geopolitical contest, the game of nations, that is taking place as Syria and Iraq disintegrate.
When the US-led coalition destroyed the Iraqi state in 2003, it was breaking down the wall that was containing Iran, the region's Shia superpower, seen as a threat by the Saudis and most of their Sunni Gulf partners since its Islamic revolution in 1979.
Iran had for years been backing anti-Saddam Iraqi Shia factions in exile. Through those groups, the empowerment of the majority Shia community in Iraq after 2003 gave Iran unrivalled influence over Iraqi politics.
The arrival of the IS threat led to even more Iranian penetration, arming, training and directing the Shia militia who rose in defence of Baghdad and the South.
"If it weren't for Iran, the democratic experiment in Iraq would have fallen," says Hadi al-Ameri, leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organisation, one of the biggest Shia fighting groups.
"Obama was sleeping, and he didn't wake up until IS was at the gates of Erbil. When they were at the gates of Baghdad, he did nothing. Were it not for Iran's support, IS would have taken over the whole Gulf, not just Iraq."
For Saudi Arabia and its allies, Iranian penetration in Iraq threatens to establish, indeed largely has, a Shia crescent, linking Iran, Iraq, Syria under its minority Alawite leadership, and Lebanon dominated by the Iranian-created Shia faction Hezbollah.
From the outset of the war in Syria, the Saudis and their Gulf partners, and Turkey, backed the Sunni rebels in the hope that the overthrow of Assad would establish Sunni majority rule.
So then a north-south Sunni axis running from Turkey through Syria to Jordan and Saudi Arabia would drive a stake through the heart of the Shia crescent and foil the Iranian project, as they saw it.
That is essentially what IS did in 2014 when it moved back into Iraq, took Mosul and virtually all the country's Sunni areas, and established a Sunni entity which straddled the suddenly irrelevant border with Syria, blocking off Shia parts of Iraq from Syria.
If IS had just stayed put at that point and dug in, who would have shifted them? Had they not gone on to attack the Kurds, the Americans would not have intervened. Had they not shot down a Russian airliner and attacked Paris, the Russians and French would not have stepped up their involvement.
"Had they not become international terrorists and stayed local terrorists, they could have served the original agenda of dividing the Arab east so there would be no Shia crescent," says Prof Moussalli.
We may never know why they did it. Perhaps their virulent strain of salafism just had to keep going: Remaining and Expanding.
Could they now just row back and settle in their "state", stop antagonising people, and eventually gain acceptance, just as Iran has after its own turbulent revolution and international isolation?
It seems unlikely, for the same driving reasons that they made that escalation in the first place. And even if IS wanted to, the Americans also seem set on their course, and they have proven implacable in their pursuit of revenge for terrorist outrages.
But what is the alternative? Given the problem of assembling capable ground forces, can the Americans be complicit in a takeover of Mosul by Iranian-backed Shia militias, and of Raqqa by Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian regime forces or other non-Sunni groups like the Kurds? Is their hostility to IS so strong that they would watch the Iranians connect up their Shia crescent? And would the Saudis and Turks go along with that?
There are no easy answers to any of the challenges posed by IS in all the strands of crisis that it brings together.
That's why it's still there.
Author: Jim Muir
Editor: Raffi Berg
Production: Ben Milne, Susannah Stevens
Graphics: Henry Clarke Price
Video: Mohamed Madi | All images are subject to copyright |
22310502 | A total of 21 women were nominated for the Welsh Asian Women Achievement Awards (WAWAA).
Prof Meena Upadhyaya was inspired when she was put forward for another award.
"I looked round the room and saw there were no other Asian women. That was the catalyst," she said.
Prof Upadhyaya, who is now internationally recognised in her role as professor of medical genetics at Cardiff University, said although she did not win, being at those awards drove her to do more.
"I had dedicated my life to work," she said. "I feel that all my life I have done science, but now I wanted to give something back to the wider community and to share my experiences with women."
It could have all been so different, as she readily admits.
She moved to the UK from what she calls a comfortable and privileged life in Delhi more than 30 years ago.
While her husband was initially a student in Scotland, she was happy to live as a housewife and as a mother to their young daughter.
But then, she admitted, she got bored and accustomed to going round shopping centres, and wanted to get a job.
"I expected I would get a job at Woolworths. But my husband was horrified. He said he could not go out to work because my family back in India would think he could not support me."
Instead, a long and successful medical career was to follow - an MSc from Edinburgh to add to the BSc she had gained in India, and then a PhD from Cardiff, and a fellowship from the Royal College of Pathologists.
But for most of those years Prof Upadhyaya was on her own after her husband's early death at 35.
"Winning the Welsh Asian Small Business Woman of the Year award in 2011 was one of the most momentous events of my life," she said.
"At the ceremony I was left speechless (well almost!), but afterwards I felt that it was a confirmation that all the hard work in setting up my business had been worth it and gave me renewed confidence in my abilities.
"Since then, there have been a number of developments in my business, much of which can be attributed to the publicity surrounding the award and the kudos associated with it.
"I am receiving enquiries from as far afield as Ilford, Bristol and Birmingham and there has been an increase from Cardiff and the surrounding areas.
"Also, following media coverage, the proportion of my clientele from non-Asian background has significantly increased giving my business a wider base."
She said it had been difficult rising to the top of her chosen career path being Asian and a woman.
"I felt excluded, I had to work so hard to achieve in a world dominated by men. And now I want to pass on all my experiences and help others," she said.
"But my experience also shows it's never too late to change. Everybody has potential."
The awards have grown since their launch two years ago, with about 300 guests attending the Cardiff City Hall ceremony on Saturday night.
Prof Upadyaya said as well as an extra category - life achievement - this year's ceremony had invited women from more Asian countries and gained sponsorship.
She was "privileged and inspired" to be involved with the those taking part - role models not just for their communities but also for women as a whole.
"Our aim is to empower these women so that they can be role models, not only for the Asian community, but also Welsh women," she said.
In the future they intend to use the platform to tackle issues which affect women in the community such as domestic violence, sex trafficking and education. | Asian women from all walks of life have been celebrated an awards ceremony in Cardiff pioneered by a university professor who wants to share her experiences and empower others. |
35640192 | Lincolnshire Trading Standards said retailers were becoming "far more ingenious than a few fags hidden under the counter".
In once recent case in Spalding, a haul was found behind an electronically operated false wall.
Officials said smuggled tobacco products often contained rat droppings, arsenic and human excrement.
More on this and other stories at Lincolnshire Live
Earlier this month, The Baltic Store in Winsover Road, Spalding, had its Alcohol Premises Licence revoked by South Holland District Council.
Kirsty Herbertson, of Lincolnshire Trading Standards, said: "They had built false walls, and there were electronic systems in place with a hatch on one side and a sliding door on the other.
"Only by operating the electronic system would you be able to get access to the tobacco," she said.
"We had to bash through the wall."
"These smuggled goods do not conform to UK legislation - which says if a cig is left unattended it should self-extinguish," she added.
Sgt Kim Enderby from the Alcohol Licensing Team said: "In two separate stock rooms at the rear of the store, we found elaborate electronic hides built into the walls. These were found to contain thousands of illegal cigarettes.
"This was a sophisticated attempt to avoid detection." | Shops are using increasingly sophisticated methods to hide illegal tobacco products, officials have said. |
34380258 | Their report, in the journal Nature Genetics, identified genes involved in how the body repairs itself.
Ultimately the findings could contribute to a fertility or menopause test, or lead to new drugs.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the results were important for those at risk of an early menopause.
Most women go through the menopause between the ages of 40 and 60. However, what controls that timescale is not completely clear.
Comparing the DNA of nearly 70,000 women allowed the researchers to identify the differences between those starting the menopause early and late.
The team at Exeter and Cambridge universities showed that at least two repair mechanisms were involved.
The first is used when the eggs are being formed and the woman's DNA is being broken, rearranged and repaired.
The second corrects damage, caused by factors such as smoking or alcohol, throughout a woman's life.
Both would influence the number of viable eggs a woman has.
Women become infertile about 10 years before the menopause starts.
So could this knowledge lead to a test that predicts the age of menopause?
Dr Anna Murray, one of the researchers from the University of Exeter, told the BBC News website: "We would love to be able to do that, but the answer is no.
"[But] possibly by adding other risk factors such as smoking, hormone levels we might be able to get towards something more useful."
The age of menopause is thought to be controlled by a 50-50 split between genetics and lifestyle choices.
However, even after discovering 56 genetic variants linked to the age of menopause, that comprises only 6% of the total variation.
Dr Murray said the findings could help develop new drugs: "We really don't understand the process of egg loss, the timing of it, so better understanding of the basic biology of losing eggs will help us with that."
The researchers also found genes that controlled menopause timing were involved in both the age of puberty and the development of breast cancer.
Dr Edward Morris, a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "We have known for some time about the fact that an early menopause protects against breast cancer whilst a late menopause increases the risk.
"It is reassuring that such a large study taking a genetic approach has clearly demonstrated this link.
"In addition this study has shown that there may well be future possibilities not only to have a clearer understanding of the length of a woman's reproductive life, but possibly to find treatments in the future.
"This type of knowledge would be of particular importance in women with a high risk of early menopause." | Sections of DNA that control when women go through the menopause have been identified by scientists. |
22754944 | It says there is not enough information about the chemical risks to foetuses from cosmetics and food packaging.
Items which it suggests should be avoided include tinned food, ready meals, shower gel and even new cars.
Critics say the advice is unhelpful, unrealistic and alarmist.
The RCOG says its paper on the issue is informing women and filling a void - until now, there has been no official advice for pregnant and breastfeeding women to turn to.
It is unlikely that any of the exposures are truly harmful for most babies, say the report's authors, and, based on current evidence, it is impossible to give an accurate assessment of risk.
Nevertheless, they say women should make an informed choice and at the same time "not wrap themselves up in a bubble".
They say pregnant women can be exposed to a complex mixture of hundreds of chemicals at low levels through the food they eat and the everyday products they use.
Chemicals, such as bisphenol A and phthalates, can leach into food packaging and containers, including food and beverage cans and plastic-wrapped ready meals, say the authors, Dr Michelle Bellingham and Professor Richard Sharpe.
Among other warnings:
And do not assume natural or herbal products or remedies are safe, say the authors.
Prof Sharpe said: "For most environmental chemicals we do not know whether or not they really affect a baby's development, and obtaining definitive guidance will take many years.
"This paper outlines a practical approach that pregnant women can take, if they are concerned about this issue and wish to 'play safe' in order to minimise their baby's exposure."
He said women should not be alarmed and that the potential risks were likely to be small.
Dr Bellingham added that the paper was primarily aimed at health professionals advising women at ante-natal classes.
"We are trying to empower women, not scare them. There is a void at the moment in terms of information about chemicals," she said.
But many expert organisations were quick to criticise the RCOG advice.
Tracey Brown, of Sense About Science, said: "Pregnancy is a time when people spend a lot of time and money trying to work out which advice to follow, and which products to buy or avoid. The simple question parents want answered during pregnancy is: 'Should we be worried?'
"What we need is help in navigating these debates about chemicals and pregnancy. Disappointingly, the RCOG report has ducked this."
Rosemary Dodds, of the National Childbirth Trust, said it was unacceptable that pregnant women today were still having to make decisions without clear information on possible risks.
Janet Fyle, of the Royal College of Midwives, said pregnant women must take the advice with caution and use their common sense and judgement and not be unnecessarily alarmed about using personal care products, such as moisturisers, cosmetics and shower gels.
"There needs to be more scientific and evidence-based research into the issues and concerns raised by this paper," she said.
Dr John Harrison, director of Public Health England's Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, said: "We agree that it would be sensible for pregnant women to avoid using hazardous chemicals such as pesticides or fungicides as a precaution, or in line with product information. However, there is no evidence to suggest that chemicals in items such as personal care products are a risk to public health."
Dr Chris Flower of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association said there was no need for anyone - pregnant or otherwise - to worry.
"The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has advised pregnant women to take a 'safety first' approach to cosmetic products and the good news is that there are already strict laws in place for cosmetics that allow us all to do just that."
He said a full safety assessment of every cosmetic product and all its ingredients was undertaken before a product could go on the market and, by law, all of the ingredients in a cosmetic product had to be listed on its packaging. | The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has been criticised for saying pregnant women may want to "play it safe" and avoid chemicals found in many common household products. |
36811368 | An International Olympic Committee (IOC) session is set to announce on 3 August that the sport will be added to the programme for four years' time.
It is one of five sports put forward by Tokyo organisers, a proposal backed unanimously by the IOC executive board.
Skateboarding, surfing, karate and baseball/softball could also become Olympic sports at next month's meeting.
Future Games hosts are being given a chance to bring in one or more sports popular in their country to boost ratings and attract greater sponsorship.
The event programme for the existing 28 Olympic sports - which includes golf as it returns this year for the first time since 1904 - will be finalised in mid-2017.
More than 20 male golfers, including the top four in the world, have pulled out of this summer's Games, with many citing concern over the Zika virus - a mosquito-borne virus linked to brain defects in newborn babies.
IOC president Thomas Bach said this week that the absences would be considered when the Tokyo 2020 line-up is decided.
The five new sports "offer a key focus on youth", the IOC has previously said, have a "significant popularity in Japan and beyond", and would be the "most comprehensive evolution of the Olympic programme in modern history".
Sport climbing involves participants scaling permanent anchors, like bolts, fixed to the rock.
According to the International Federation of Sport Climbing, more than 140 countries have climbing walls, with 35 million climbers around the world. The average age is 23 years old, with 40% under 20.
Great Britain's Shauna Coxsey, the Bouldering World Cup champion, told the Guardian: "This will make climbing even more popular and hopefully open it up to people who normally wouldn't give it a go."
Rob Adie, competitions officer at the British Mountaineering Council, which has helped campaign for climbing to be made an Olympic sport, said: "Climbing is such a wide-ranging sport and there are so many different facets. It is a good thing that it will be recognised on a world stage." | Sport climbing is expected to be confirmed as a new Olympic sport for the Tokyo 2020 Games next month. |
40635526 | The article alleges that Kelly, best known in the UK for hits like I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition (Remix), targets young women who come to him for help with their fledgling music careers.
It claims he seduces them before taking control of their lives - forbidding contact with the outside world, and taping their sexual encounters.
The allegations come from the parents of several women, who say their daughters have all but vanished.
Kelly, 50, has strenuously denied the story - but this is not the first time the R&B star has faced accusations of sexual misconduct, with many of the stories centring around the predatory pursuit of teenage girls.
The star was himself the victim of child sex abuse, detailing in his autobiography how he was raped by an older women when he was eight years old who told him to keep it a secret. He added that "she did it repeatedly for years".
Here is a brief history of the accusations against him.
The star, then aged 27, marries 15-year-old singer Aaliyah at a secret ceremony in Chicago. Vibe magazine later discovered that Aaliyah had lied on the wedding certificate about her age, listing herself as 18. The marriage was annulled in February 1995.
For the rest of her career, Aaliyah dodged questions about the nature of her relationship. "When people ask me, I tell them, 'Hey, don't believe all that mess,'" she told one interviewer. "We're close and people took it the wrong way."
Kelly himself has rarely spoken about Aaliyah since she died in a plane crash in 2001. She is not mentioned in his autobiography, where his author's note explains that "certain episodes could not be included for complicated reasons".
In a 2016 interview with GQ magazine, he described their relationship as "best best best best friends"; but declined to comment on their marriage, saying: "I will never have that conversation with anyone. Out of respect for Aaliyah, and her mother and father who has asked me not to personally."
Tiffany Hawkins sues R Kelly for the "personal injuries and emotional distress" she suffered during a three-year relationship with the star.
In court documents, she said she began having sex with Kelly in 1991, when she was 15 and he was 24, and the relationship ended three years later, when she turned 18. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Hawkins sought $10 million in damages, but accepted a fraction of that amount ($250,000) when the case was settled in 1998.
Kelly's spokeswoman said she had "no knowledge" of the accusations.
Tracy Sampson sues R Kelly, accusing him of inducing her "into an indecent sexual relationship" when she was 17 years old.
The woman, a former intern at Epic Records, claimed she was "treated as his personal sex object and cast aside".
"He often tried to control every aspect of my life including who I would see and where I would go," she said in her legal case against him. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, said the New York Post.
Kelly is sued for a third time by Patrice Jones, a Chicago woman who claims he impregnated her when she was underage, and that she was forced to have an abortion.
A woman named Montina Woods also sued Kelly, alleging that he videotaped them having sex without her knowledge. The recording was allegedly circulated on an R Kelly "sex tape" sold by bootleggers under the title R Kelly Triple-X.
The star settled both cases out of court, paying an undisclosed sum in return for a non-disclosure agreement.
The star is charged with 21 counts of making child pornography, involving intercourse, oral sex, urination, and other sexual acts.
Chicago police accused him of videotaping each of these acts and enticing a minor to participate in them. All of the charges related to one girl, born in September 1984.
His arrest stemmed from a video which was sent anonymously to the Chicago Sun Times earlier in the year. They passed it on to police, who verified the authenticity of the tape with help from FBI forensics experts.
Kelly, who posted $750,000 bail, immediately denied the charges in an interview with MTV and later pleaded not guilty in court.
It took six years for the case to come to trial, during which time Kelly released his wildly successful Trapped In The Closet album; and was nominated for an Image Award by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), prompting widespread criticism.
The jury eventually concluded they could not prove that the girl on the tape was a minor, and Kelly was found not guilty on all counts.
Kelly is charged with a further 12 counts of making child pornography in Florida, where he was arrested at his holiday home.
These charges came after police seized a camera during the arrest, which allegedly showed the star having sex with an underage girl.
The charges were dropped when a judge agreed with Kelly's defence team that police lacked sufficient evidence to justify a search.
Buzzfeed reports that Kelly lures young women into his inner circle and keeps them against their will inside his homes in a "cult-like" atmosphere.
The story says six women are being held in the star's properties, where he controls all aspects of their lives.
Buzzfeed also interviewed three former members of Kelly's inner circle, and reports the singer controls every aspect of the women's lives: dictating "what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records".
The superstar also confiscates the women's cell phones, the report says, barring contact with friends and family. He gives them new phones that they are only allowed to use to contact him or others with his permission.
The story was written by Jim DeRogatis, who has covered the allegations against R Kelly for two decades, principally for the Chicago Sun Times.
All of the women cited in his article are of legal age; and one has denied accusations that she is being held against her will.
"I'm not being brainwashed or anything like that," said 21-year-old Joycelyn Savage in a video call to TMZ. However, she would not reveal where she was speaking from, nor the nature of her relationship with Kelly.
R Kelly's lawyer, Linda Mensch, has also issued a strongly-worded denial of the accusations.
"Mr Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him," the statement said.
"Mr Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | On Monday, Buzzfeed published a long and detailed report accusing R Kelly of trapping six women in a sex "cult". |
39258837 | GP Rosemary Platt said her surgeon, Ian Paterson, said he would recommend his own wife to have the same procedure if in the same position.
Mr Paterson has denied 20 counts of wounding with intent on nine women and one man.
His trial has heard he carried out the operations for "obscure" reasons.
Mr Paterson, 59, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, was formerly employed by Heart of England NHS Trust and also practised at Spire Healthcare in the West Midlands.
The procedures are alleged to have been carried out between 1997 and 2011.
More news from Birmingham and the Black Country
Dr Platt, now retired, told Nottingham Crown Court she trusted Mr Paterson's advice to have the operation in 2001 after growths in her breast were found.
She said her husband had asked Mr Paterson if his own wife had the same symptoms and results would this be the course of action he would take, and he said yes.
Dr Platt first went to Mr Paterson in 1997, when she was 47, after finding a lump in her right breast.
She later underwent an excision of the lump and had another procedure on her armpit a month later.
More lumps were found and four years later it was suggested she would have a mastectomy and reconstruction.
She said that despite her profession, she "left her GP hat at the door" and trusted the advice given to her by the consultant.
"I felt he was a trusted professional, he was a doctor who cared about his patients and he would give me the best advice in this situation," she told the court.
As she recovered from the operation Mr Paterson suggested to her that in the long term she would need a procedure on the left side. But she said she felt so ill she asked to leave it under review.
Cross examined by Mr Paterson's defence lawyer, Nicholas Johnson QC, it was suggested Dr Platt's memory might be affected by the passage of time.
But she said she thought pain, such as having stitches removed from a breast cut, helps you remember things.
The trial continues. | A doctor had an "unnecessary" operation to remove a breast after being told she had cancer that could turn aggressive at any time, a court heard. |
33220639 | Two women in their 20s reported being followed in Maida Vale by a teen who tried to engage them in conversation before inappropriately touching them.
The first assault happened on 1 June on Kilburn Park Road while the second was on 17 June on nearby Saltram Crescent. Both occurred at about 22:00 BST.
Police believe the assaults are linked and arrested the boy in Kilburn. | A 13-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out two sex assaults in west London. |
38010262 | The 21-year-old Spaniard was injured during the the north London derby against Tottenham on 6 November.
"He got injured in the last 10 seconds in a very strong tackle from Danny Rose," said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Bellerin, who has played in all 11 of Arsenal's league fixtures this season, could miss eight games, including the visit of Paris St-Germain.
He will sit out the Champions League trip to Basel on 6 December, as well as the EFL quarter-final against Southampton at Emirates Stadium on 30 November.
Arsenal are fourth in the Premier League as they prepare to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday (12:30 GMT).
They will assess the fitness of Alexis Sanchez on Friday after the forward scored twice for Chile in a 3-1 win over Uruguay on Tuesday, despite being a doubt before the game. | Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin has been ruled out for four weeks with an ankle injury. |
38526914 | The statue was installed by activists outside the Japanese consulate in the South Korean city of Busan last month.
South Korea has long called for reparations for "comfort women", who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two.
Japan says the statue violates a previous agreement on the issue.
Bad blood between Japan and Korea persists
'Comfort women' - a painful legacy
The big row over a small Australian statue
The 1.5m-tall (5ft) bronze statue depicts a young, barefoot woman sitting in a chair.
It has become a symbol of hardships faced by the women and the perceived lack of adequate apology and compensation from Japan.
Many of the estimated 200,000 women forced to be wartime sex slaves were Korean. Others came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.
It is a perennial issue that has dogged relations with Japan.
The matter has only escalated with each passing year as many of the survivors are old and dying. About 46 survivors are thought to remain in South Korea.
No. In fact a more famous statue is outside the Japanese embassy in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
It was put up in 2011 to mark the 1,000th rally by activists calling for an apology and compensation.
Another 37 are thought to exist in South Korea, while in Australia a similar statue has sparked a row between Korean and Japanese community groups.
South Korean activists put up the statue in Busan on 28 December as a protest against a deal struck exactly one year before, in which Japan apologised and promised to give 1bn yen (£7m; $8.6m) to a fund for Korean women.
Critics say it was reached without consultation with victims, did not contain Japan's acknowledgement of legal responsibility, and did not provide direct compensation to the victims.
Busan police initially removed the statue but there was fierce domestic pressure for it to remain, reported The Korea Herald.
Days later, after Japan's defence minister visited a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, local authorities allowed it to be reinstalled.
Japan says the statue violates the 2015 deal, which agreed that Japan's reparations would "finally and irreversibly" resolve the issue.
In a statement on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was important that both countries carry out their agreement.
It has withdrawn its Busan consul-general and South Korean ambassador. It also suspended a currency swap and postponed high-level economic discussions.
"We have repeatedly asked South Korea to handle the resolution of this issue appropriately, but the situation has not improved, so we have taken this action," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
The statues have been a constant source of irritation for the Japanese.
Japan has previously claimed the statue outside its Seoul embassy is illegal as it breaches the 1961 Vienna Convention, which dictates that host countries must protect the premises of diplomatic missions. | Japan has temporarily withdrawn its ambassador to South Korea, amid an escalating row over a statue representing wartime sex slaves. |
30631059 | The home side declared on 318-9 at lunch on the final day, setting India 384 to win in 70 overs.
Virat Kohli (54) and Ajinkya Rahane (48) led India's resistance after they lost three wickets for 19 runs.
Captain MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin then survived a nervous final hour to push India to safety, as they closed on 174-6.
Australia resumed their second innings on 261-7 and had been expected to bat aggressively to add runs quickly before declaring, but Shaun Marsh and Ryan Harris took their time in a 69-run partnership, also knowing a draw would be enough for Australia to clinch the series.
Marsh was run out for 99 shortly before lunch as he attempted a rash single to bring up his first Test century on home soil.
After the break, Harris struck with the second ball of the second over to dismiss Shikhar Dhawan for a duck before Lokesh Rahul continued his forgettable Test debut by falling for one to a Mitchell Johnson short ball, following his three in the first innings.
Josh Hazlewood then claimed his first Test dismissal of the Test, trapping opener Murali Vijay lbw for 11 to leave India 19-3 after 8.2 overs.
But Kohli and Rahane steadied the innings to leave Australia needing seven wickets in the final session.
Kohli fell to the first ball after the tea break, caught at backward square leg, before Chetshewar Pujara was bowled by Johnson for 21 while Rahane was caught at mid-wicket off Hazlewood, to leave India on 142-6 with 15 overs remaining.
However, Dhoni, who announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket after the match, and Ashwin saw off 11 of the overs before a draw was mutually agreed with four overs remaining.
The result sees Australia regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy. | Australia drew the third Test against India to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series. |
30940542 | Brian Martin, 57, and Christopher McMultan, 40, are alleged to have entered Sarah Gloag's home in Perthshire on 19 January.
They are accused of holding a knife to her throat, and tying up Mrs Gloag and her husband as well as two children.
The men were remanded in custody after appearing in private at Perth Sheriff Court.
Sarah Gloag is the step-daughter of Ann Gloag, the founder of the Stagecoach transport company.
The charges against Mr Martin and Mr McMultan also allege that they stole jewellery worth £200,000 and £4,000 in cash from the house.
Both also face a number of other charges.
They made no plea or declaration. | Two men have been accused of abducting members of one of Scotland's richest families at knifepoint. |
40088691 | You could argue for each of them, but in the end it's what happens in the classroom that matters most.
So perhaps we should be asking instead - does the teacher know their subject inside out, and are they experts in passing on their knowledge?
England has a teacher shortage and it could be one of the biggest headaches facing a new education secretary.
For several years now, not enough people have started teacher training.
At the same time a baby boom has been working its way through primary schools and is now hitting secondary schools.
By 2024, that means there will be 8% more pupils in primary schools, and 20% more secondary pupils, compared to 2015.
Last year, the target number for graduates starting training as a secondary teacher was missed by 18% overall.
And there's another problem too: growing numbers of young teachers are leaving within a few years.
Maths and science teachers are among the most likely to leave, which is why they are headhunted by secondary schools already.
That's despite the £25,000 to £30,000 you can get as a bursary to train as a teacher in these shortage subjects.
More maths and physics lessons than five years ago are being taught by someone who hasn't studied the subject beyond an A-level themselves.
So what's behind this?
Like the rest of the public sector, teachers have now had years of pay restraint, which has led to pay falling behind other graduate jobs.
A mid-point graduate starting salary outside London was estimated in 2015 to be £28,000 whereas a teacher starting out now could expect £22,244.
In other words, a social worker, quantity surveyor or IT analyst for business could expect a slightly better starting salary outside London.
Economists say the 1% cap on public sector pay should be looked at again if teacher shortages continue.
There's no sign of reassessing the cap in the Conservative plans - but Labour and the Lib Dems say they'd allow pay rises to go above 1% - keeping up with rising living costs.
But it's not just about pay.
Despite an effort by ministers to look at ways of reducing their workload, it remains an issue.
Teachers want more time outside the classroom to do their job properly.
Compared to the most successful education systems in the world, they get less time to prepare or to study themselves to become better teachers. | In the last few weeks you'll have heard that it's funding, or the kind of school, or what subjects pupils study. |
38750143 | The top-seeded Englishman needed a tie breaker before defeating the qualifier from Scotland 5-7 10-4 2-1.
Bence, from Blantyre, told BBC Sport: "It was great to play against the world number one.
"I enjoyed the game and did my best. It is the best I've played in a while. I thought I had him."
Brett admitted he was relieved to reach the quarter-finals after a match full of humour broadcast live on BBC television.
"Charlie was fantastic on the green," he said. "I've just had my eyes tested and he told me I'll have to do it again.
"I played some good bowls early on and he was killing me.
"I was very terrified. He played fantastic."
Scotland's Stewart Anderson, seeded nine, eased to victory over Irish qualifier Graham McKee 11-4 12-2.
McKee and Bence had both knocked out seeds in the opening round, with the former knocking out three-time champion and eighth seed Andy Thompson of England.
Bence had put paid to the chances of 16th-seeded Englishman Mark Dawes.
Jason Greenslade, the 12th seed from Wales, was also knocked out - by unseeded American Neil Furman - while Scottish 13th seed Jonathan Ross was ousted by unseeded Englishman James Rippey.
Englishman Mark Royal, the 11th seed, lost to Debbie Wilford, but the unseeded New Zealander was beaten in the next round by former champion Paul Foster, the sixth seed from Scotland.
Joining Foster in round three are English third seed Robert Paxton and former champion Greg Harlow, the fourth seed, who defeated Rippey.
Three Scottish former champions are in second-round action on Thursday, with David Gourlay, seeded five, facing Furman, Darren Burnett, seeded seven, taking on 10th-seeded Englishman Mervyn King and Alex Marshall, the second seed, facing 16th seed Les Gillett of England.
Meanwhile, the ladies' final will be between holder Ellen Falkner and Katherine Rednall after England filled all four semi-final places.
Falkner, seeking a fourth title, beat Janice Gower (Eng) 6-5 8-7, while Rednall defeated Amy Stanton. | Holder Nick Brett came close to a shock second-round defeat by 71-year-old Charlie Bence at the World Indoor Bowls Championships in Great Yarmouth. |
37621960 | The man, who cannot be named, said he fell unconscious at Stephen Port's east London flat in June 2014.
He told the Old Bailey the pair had arranged to meet after contacting each other via gay dating website Fitlads.
Mr Port, 41, denies 29 charges including murder, manslaughter, drugging, rape and sexual assault.
The man told the court he met the defendant at his flat three times, where they watched TV and chatted.
On the fourth occasion Mr Port's accuser, a practising Muslim, said he was offered a glass of Coke after refusing an alcoholic drink.
He said his throat burned "immediately", and felt as if someone had "poured acid" down it.
After Mr Port denied putting something in the drink, the man said he visited his flat again on a fifth occasion.
He said the defendant gave him a massage, and offered him some amyl nitrate - also known as poppers - which caused him to fall asleep.
When he woke, Mr Port gave him a glass of clear liquid, saying it was water.
"As soon as I drank it, I went unconscious," he said.
"The next thing I remember I was on the floor screaming and shouting. It was like I was going mad."
He added he was naked, did not know his own name, where he was or who he was.
"I felt like I never had any control over my body," he told jurors.
He said when he got home he called Mr Port: "I was shouting at him: 'What did you give me? What the hell did you give me, because it certainly wasn't poppers?'"
"The more angry I got, the less he answered my questions. I got the impression it was a normal thing what happened to me," he said.
The court heard Mr Port took him to Barking train station where the police and ambulance service were called.
During cross examination, the man said he decided not to file a police report as he was worried his parents would find out and he just wanted to go home.
He said he thought he was going to die in the flat and "if the police were not in the station, I don't know what he'd have done".
PC Alesha Owers, from British Transport Police, said Mr Port was "worried and jittery" at the station, had said the young man "arrived at his address in that state", and that he had been taking him home. He also admitted taking meth.
Jurors heard the alleged victim had told officers he had been at Mr Port's all day and had fallen asleep.
Earlier, he told the court that a couple of months later he returned to the defendant's flat where Mr Port had said "I am sorry", but he was unable to find out what he had been given.
The trial continues. | A student awoke "sore and naked" after being given a drink by a man accused of four murders and a string of rapes, a court has heard. |
13834032 | Media playback is not supported on this device
McIlroy became the youngest US Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923 and the youngest major winner since Tiger Woods triumphed at the Masters in 1997.
The 22-year-old broke a host of scoring records and shot a final-round 69 to end 16 under par at Congressional.
Australian Jason Day (68) was second, with Lee Westwood (70) tied in third.
Alongside Westwood were Yang Yong-Eun (71) of South Korea and Americans Kevin Chappell (66) and Robert Garrigus (70).
McIlroy banished memories of his Masters meltdown, when he blew a four-shot lead going into the final day, and marched to a first major title at his 10th attempt as a professional.
He led from start to finish, carding 65, 66, 68, 69 to post a tournament record total of 16-under 268, four better than the previous mark.
Leaving his rivals in his wake, he became the quickest player in the 111-year history of the US Open to reach 10 under par (after 26 holes), the first player to go beyond 12 under, reaching as much as 17 under on Sunday, and also recorded the best 36 and 54-hole totals.
He becomes the second successive Northern Irishman to win the US Open after Graeme McDowell triumphed at Pebble Beach last year and the third major champion after Fred Daly won the Open in 1947.
He is also the 11th different major winner in a row and the eighth of those 11 to be clinching their first major title. For the first time in history there have been no American winners in five successive majors.
"The whole week has been incredible - I could not have asked for any more and I am so happy to hold this trophy," said McIlroy, who rises to number four in the world rankings thanks to his win.
I know a few of my friends will be partying and I can't wait to get home and join them
"For such a small nation to win two US Opens in a row is pretty special. As Graeme [McDowell] said last year, there will be a lot of pints of Guinness going down.
"I know a few of my friends will be partying and I can't wait to get home and join them."
During the presentation ceremony McIlroy shouted across to his father Gerry: "Happy Father's Day - this one's for you.
"I have to mention my mum too. Everything they have done for me I can't thank them enough."
McIlroy's humbling of the field - and the supposedly tough 7,574-yard Blue Course, albeit softened by recent rain - evoked memories of Woods, who was 21 when he won the 1997 Masters by 12 shots to capture the first of his 14 major titles. He did, however, fall short of Woods's record 15-stroke victory when winning the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000.
"I know how good Tiger was in 2000 to win by 15 in Pebble. I was trying to go out there and emulate him in some way," McIlroy added.
With an eight-shot lead going into the final round, McIlroy showed few signs of nerves and opened with a birdie, stretching his lead to 10 shots, with another at the fourth to get to 17 under.
He birdied the short 10th after hitting his tee shot to six inches and made only his second bogey of the week after driving into sand on the 12th.
Like Woods at his best, McIlroy made a number of crucial putts for par to keep up the momentum but he was really competing in his own tournament. He got back to 17 under with another birdie at the long 16th but, with the title in his pocket, he leaked his first three-putt of the week on the 17th to drop a shot. A safe par at the last gave him the fourth highest winning margin in US Open history.
McIlroy's Masters meltdown might have gone down in history, but the coronation at Congressional could become the stuff of legend
Read more of Rob's blog
"Unbelievable," said Gerry McIlroy. "With what's happened over the last couple of months, and to come back and do this, it's fantastic. After the Masters, he worked so hard. It's fantastic. You couldn't beat it."
Behind, a fierce battle was raging for the minor places. Westwood, who began the day nine shots back in third, had the wind knocked out of his sails when he found the water on the sixth, while Frederik Jacobson was flying until he four-putted the 12th green.
Chappell and Garrigus launched late surges, while Yang, playing with McIlroy in the final group, slipped back with two bogeys in his last four holes.
Day had a bogey-free round to secure his second successive runner-up spot in majors, while Sergio Garcia (70) and Peter Hanson (67) both dropped back to five under late on.
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (66) and fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen (67), the Open champion, were tied ninth at five under.
McDowell (69) ended in a tie for 14th at two under, with England's world number one Luke Donald (69) five over and five-time US Open runner-up Phil Mickelson (71) seven over.
Media playback is not supported on this device | Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy completed a remarkable four days to clinch his first major title with an eight-shot victory in the US Open. |
40310543 | The 19-year-old joins the National League club after signing his first professional contract with Palace last June.
He failed to feature in any first-team games for the Eagles last year but can play both centre-back or right back.
"I'm a local boy," Wynter said on joining Bromley. "The club is definitely going in the right direction and I can't wait to get started."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Bromley have signed teenage defender Ben Wynter from Crystal Palace. |
23432301 | BT said slow speeds or a lack of service experienced by customers in parts of the north of Scotland had been traced to SHEFA-2.
The cable was laid to improve connections between North Atlantic communities and Europe.
Faroese Telecom, which owns the link, has been working on repairs.
BT said the damaged section of the fibre optic cable was where it passes through the Moray Firth.
SHEFA-2 runs from Torshavn in the Faroe Islands to Banff on the Aberdeenshire coast via Shetland and Orkney. | A problem with a subsea cable that runs between the Faroe Islands and Scotland has affected internet connections, it has emerged. |
36202521 | The transaction will give the group another 160,000 customers and increase assets under administration by £9.8bn.
The deal will create one of the UK's largest advisory platform businesses.
It will have combined assets under administration of £36.4bn and 350,000 customers.
Edinburgh-based Standard Life said the acquisition would be funded from its existing cash resources.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
Barry O'Dwyer, managing director for corporate, retail and wholesale at Standard Life, said: "I am excited about the opportunity to bring together two award-winning adviser platforms at a time when the need for high quality advice has never been greater.
"We have a track record of successful acquisitions and an integration approach focussed on building a sustainable commercial model for the Elevate platform.
"Today's announcement demonstrates further progress towards building a simplified and well diversified investment company by strengthening Standard Life's leading position in one of our key growth channels." | Standard Life has moved to boost its advisory platform business by buying insurance group Axa's UK portfolio services arm Elevate for an undisclosed sum. |
34001405 | She has homed in on businesses and offshore bank accounts allegedly linked to President Ilham Aliyev's family, and made allegations of massive embezzlement of oil funds by government ministers.
In 2011, a sex tape was published as part of a blackmail campaign against her - one of a series of challenges that would test her commitment.
Now she faces seven and a half years in jail for embezzlement and tax evasion following a trial that human rights groups say was politically motivated.
Born in Baku in 1976, Khadija Ismayilova's father was a high-ranking government official and her mother was an engineer.
Her mother, Elmira, has described how she excelled at school - especially in literature and music - and was unusually honest for a young child.
She studied Turkic languages at Baku university, where she developed an interest in journalism.
Ms Ismayilova went on to work as a translator, trainer and investigative reporter.
She has described how the assassination of fellow journalist Elmar Huseynov in 2005 made her more determined in her pursuit of truth.
Ulviyya Asadzade, who worked with her at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Baku, remembers meeting her friend in about 2007.
"One day I was surprised to find red flowers on my desk, and on other people's desks," she recalls.
"When I asked who put them there, someone pointed to a young woman, a little bit overweight, with a white jacket on."
That was the young woman who would become Radio Liberty's Baku bureau chief.
'A good headache'
Ms Ismayilova had been working as an anchor for Voice of America in Washington, but returned to Azerbaijan to cover events in her own country.
Her colleagues speak of her as a demanding editor, with exceptionally high standards.
"She was a headache," says then radio station director, Kenan Aliyev, who hired her. "But she was a good headache - always pushing for better."
Ms Ismayilova presented a daily talk show for Radio Azadliq, RFE/RL's Azeri service, gaining popularity and notoriety with her no-nonsense tone, and became recognised as a leading figure in the national media.
"She doesn't relent on anything," says Drew Sullivan, who worked with her at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
"She's incredibly stubborn and self confident as a journalist. She's funny, cutting... someone who will hold court."
Ms Ismayilova's journalism has landed her a number of prestigious awards - but has also led to difficulties at home.
Government officials and pro-government media outlets have accused her of being "pro-Armenian" or an "international agent", with some newspapers making more personal attacks.
In March 2011, Khadija Ismayilova received a letter and photos showing her having sex with her boyfriend - taken with a hidden camera in her bedroom without her knowledge.
The letter ordered her to stop investigating alleged government corruption, or she would be publicly shamed.
She refused to give in, and the following week a sex video was posted online.
Her friends say she was deeply upset by the intrusion into her private life, despite remaining resolute.
But it may have made her better prepared for what was to come.
Ms Ismayilova was arrested on 5 December 2014 - something she had apparently been expecting for months.
She was charged with incitement to suicide, an allegation she rejected. The man who brought the claim against her, a former colleague, has since withdrawn the complaint, and the charge was dropped.
But she was later also charged with embezzlement, tax evasion and abuse of power.
Apart from pro-government media organisations, no other journalists were allowed into the court room to cover the trial which began in late July - including those from the BBC.
She maintains the trial is politically motivated. But Azerbaijan's government insists the judiciary operates independently.
Prosecutors say the defendant attempted to disrupt the trial with petitions to the court.
While she has been in custody, investigations that Ms Ismayilova began into the business activities of Azerbaijan's ruling family have been published by the OCCRP.
And she has spoken out in court about "illegal activities and corruption" in prisons.
"Prisoners are not getting the meat and cheese that they are entitled to. It would be better if prosecutors investigated this," she announced.
Her ex-boss, Kenan Aliyev, says this is characteristic of the "extraordinary, difficult woman" who has continually "hounded" the government.
Her supporters do not expect her to stop now. | As one of Azerbaijan's best-known journalists, Khadija Ismayilova has made life difficult for the Azeri government for years. |
32444066 | The man, who cannot be named to protect the girl's identity, admitted attacking her from the age of 10.
After his sentencing at Derby Crown Court, his daughter ran to him, crying out that she still loved him.
Judge Stuart Rafferty QC said it was difficult to "describe his depravity" and ordered he serve at least 15 years.
The court heard that the father had "poisoned" his daughter against her mother, who did not live with them, as part of a grooming process.
Suspicions were first raised when it was discovered the youngster was pregnant.
The man, fearful that the authorities would find out, encouraged his daughter to continue kick boxing in the hope it would trigger a miscarriage but when that failed they fled.
Eventually a DNA test revealed what he had done.
Giving evidence at his sentencing, the girl shook as she told the court that her father had destroyed her childhood and teenage years.
But she added: "I know what he did was wrong but I grew up with my dad at my side.
"I just wanted him to get help, to make him better, but unfortunately this never happened and it came to this. It has come to me having a baby."
In sentencing him, Judge Rafferty said: "It is difficult to find words that can properly describe the extent of your depravity and damage it has caused - not to a stranger but to your daughter.
"To be a parent is a privilege. Children do not ask to be born, children are to expect the best from their parents in terms of care and parental love.
"You gave your daughter a warped version of that which suited you and not her."
He added: "You took your daughter's life. You did not take it once you did every time you had sexual intercourse with her against her will."
As the man was led away following sentencing his daughter tried to run across the court, crying and screaming "I love you dad". | A father who repeatedly raped his daughter over a four-year period resulting in her having a baby has been jailed for life. |
18531008 | In a statement on his Twitter account, Mr Carr said he was no longer involved in the K2 tax shelter.
Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday called Mr Carr's use of the scheme "morally wrong".
But the PM refused to comment on Take That star Gary Barlow's tax affairs - saying it was a different case - after Labour called for his OBE to removed.
The K2 tax scheme used by Mr Carr is a way of lowering the amount of tax paid. It is legal and Mr Carr made clear in his statement it was fully disclosed to HMRC.
In a
series of messages on Twitter
Mr Carr said: "I appreciate as a comedian, people will expect me to 'make light' of this situation, but I'm not going to in this statement.
"As this is obviously a serious matter. I met with a financial advisor and he said to me 'Do you want to pay less tax? It's totally legal'. I said 'Yes'."
"I now realise I've made a terrible error of judgement.
"Although I've been advised the K2 Tax scheme is entirely legal, and has been fully disclosed to HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs).
By Kevin PeacheyPersonal finance reporter, BBC News
Do regular taxpayers care whether a comedian pays his tax? Or do they think it a joke that he, and hundreds of others, are given the opportunity to avoid paying it?
The government says it wants to put an end to "contrived" avoidance schemes. It needs the extra tax income after all.
Next year it plans to bring in a new general anti-abuse rule, to stop cunning schemes designed solely to avoid tax.
But accountants are lining up to argue that the line between artificial avoidance and legitimate tax planning is blurred - and the proposals will not end disputes entirely.
Which side of the line is sheltering your family from inheritance tax? And what about tax breaks for investing in small businesses?
Clearly Jimmy Carr's "error of judgement" will not be the punchline to this story.
Most common tax avoidance schemes
When is tax dodging illegal?
"I'm no longer involved in it and will in future conduct my financial affairs much more responsibly. Apologies to everyone. Jimmy Carr."
More than 1,000 people, including Mr Carr, are thought to be using the Jersey-based K2 scheme, which is said to be sheltering £168m a year from the Treasury.
Under the K2 scheme, an individual resigns from their company and any salary they subsequently receive is paid to an offshore trust.
Downing Street welcomed Mr Carr's apology.
A spokeswoman said: "HMRC are working hard to investigate the sort of scheme that Jimmy Carr had been reported to be involved in to ensure that they are not aggressively avoiding tax, and, if they are, they are closed down."
She defended Mr Cameron's decision to speak out about an individual's tax affairs - in contravention of normal government practice.
"The prime minister was expressing what probably lots of people felt after reading the coverage," she said.
Business Secretary Vince Cable also backed the prime minister, telling BBC Radio Sheffield he was not prepared to go "through a hit-list of our celebrities" but adding: "We just want people to pay their dues."
The Lib Dem minister said he did not use tax avoidance schemes himself and that, as far he knows, no members of the cabinet did either, saying: "We observe the law... but also try to set an example."
According to The Times newspaper, which first published details of Mr Carr's tax arrangements, the K2 scheme enables members to pay income tax rates as low as 1%.
The prime minister was asked about Mr Carr's arrangement on Wednesday during a visit to Mexico for the G20 summit.
He told ITV News the comedian's tax affairs were "straightforward tax avoidance" and it was unfair on the people who pay to watch the comic perform that he was not paying his taxes in the same way that they did.
"I think some of these schemes - and I think particularly of the Jimmy Carr scheme - I have had time to read about and I just think this is completely wrong.
"People work hard, they pay their taxes, they save up to go to one of his shows. They buy the tickets. He is taking the money from those tickets and he, as far as I can see, is putting all of that into some very dodgy tax avoiding schemes.
"That is wrong. There is nothing wrong with people planning their tax affairs to invest in their pension and plan for their retirement - that sort of tax management is fine.
"But some of these schemes we have seen are quite frankly morally wrong. The government is acting by looking at a general anti-avoidance law but we do need to make progress on this.
"It is not fair on hard working people who do the right thing and pay their taxes to see these sorts of scams taking place."
Labour leader Ed Miliband opted not to join in with the chorus of criticism of the 8 Out of 10 Cats star's tax affairs.
He said: "I'm not in favour of tax avoidance obviously, but I don't think it is for politicians to lecture people about morality.
"I think what the politicians need to do is - if the wrong thing is happening - change the law to prevent that tax avoidance happening."
Shadow leader of the House of Commons Angela Eagle turned her fire on Take That star Gary Barlow, who with two bandmates, is facing questions about £26m they are alleged to have invested in a scheme that is facing a legal challenge from HMRC.
The Labour MP said: "The prime minister rushed to the TV studios to condemn the tax avoidance scheme used by Jimmy Carr but he did not take the opportunity to condemn as morally repugnant the tax avoidance scheme used by Conservative supporter Gary Barlow, who's given a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Take That'.
"If it's all so morally repugnant, why has he just been given an OBE in the birthday honours list?
"Why is the prime minister's view of what's dodgy in the tax system so partial? Sir Philip Green has interesting tax arrangements but far from being labelled morally repugnant in a Mexico TV studio, he's got a government review to head up."
Retail magnate Sir Philip has firmly denied avoiding hundreds of millions of pounds in tax by transferring ownership of his Arcadia business, saying that Arcadia was bought by his wife, Lady Green, in 2002 and because she has not lived in the UK for 15 years no tax was due on any dividends that were paid to her.
During a joint press conference with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Mr Cameron declined to comment on Mr Barlow's tax affairs.
He said he was not "going to give a running commentary on different people's tax affairs", and said he had made "an exception yesterday... it was a particularly egregious example".
Mr Carr, who has satirised "fat cat" bankers, is reported to protect £3.3m a year from tax by channelling cash through the K2 scheme, which is under investigation by HMRC.
The comedian is thought to be one of more than 1,000 beneficiaries who shelter some £168m from the taxman each year using the company. | Comedian Jimmy Carr says he has "made a terrible error of judgement" over using a tax avoidance scheme. |
38308050 | Two Juan Pablo Socino scores along with tries from Sonatane Takulua and Hodgson gave the hosts a 34-10 half-time lead.
Zach Kibirige and Callum Chick added further tries after the break as Hodgson kicked seven from seven.
Paul Bonnefond scored Lyon's fourth try in the last play of the game as they earned a try bonus-point.
The Falcons were beaten 42-12 in France last week and now sit third, a point behind Lyon in their group.
Newcastle: Catterick; Marshall, Burdon, Socino, Kibirige; Hodgson, Takulua; Rogers, Sowrey, Welsh, Green, Civetta, Temm, M Wilson (capt), Chick.
Replacements: Nelson, Vickers, Ryan, Young, Orr, Egerton, Willis, Agulla.
Lyon: Porical; Regard, Bonnefond, Barassi, Romanet; Loursac, Figuerola (capt); Mavinga, Mapusua, Attoub, Bekhuis, Paulino, Cretin, Tison, Tuifua.
Replacements: Paulo, Menini, Kaabeche, Tarazona, Fourie, Potgieter, Durand, Couilloud.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter. | Joel Hodgson scored 21 points as Newcastle Falcons secured a bonus-point win over Lyon to keep their hopes of progressing in the Challenge Cup alive. |
36059405 | Villa have lost eight successive matches and are 15 points from safety with five games of the season left.
"They're probably going to be relegated," Black said. "This could very easily implode. It could very easily turn into anarchy.
"I'm going to try and ensure that is not the case."
He added: "If they're all relegated I can only put certain parameters down to ensure that doesn't happen."
Villa will drop out of the top flight for the first time since 1987 if they fail to win at Manchester United on Saturday or if Norwich avoid defeat by Sunderland earlier in the day.
Black has told forward Gabriel Agbonlahor to undergo a personal fitness programme after deeming him unfit. He will not play for at least two weeks.
Black added: "The players are waiting to see what's going to happen here. They're all in limbo.
"They are not great elements to motivate yourself every single day.
"That's my responsibility and I will do my utmost to ensure that it continues to be done on an extremely professional basis." | Aston Villa caretaker manager Eric Black says he will take a hardline stance to prevent "anarchy" if they are relegated from the Premier League. |
40496688 | Nijamul Islam, 44, of Farm Road, Edgware, north London, pleaded guilty to two charges of being in charge of a dog, dangerously out of control.
Beata Obuchowski was working as a kennel maid when she was savaged by a Belgian Shepherd dog and a German Shepherd dog for about half an hour.
Islam's dogs attacked her on a deserted farm in Hertfordshire in 2014.
The farm was being used to train guard dogs and the court was told that for between 30 to 40 minutes, Polish mother-of-one Ms Obuchowski found herself under attack from the animals.
She was repeatedly bitten about her hands, arms and legs.
In the end, as the dogs began to tire, Ms Obuchowski - armed with a stone she had picked up to defend herself - pretended to be dead and lay lifeless on the ground.
The court was told her injuries were so severe that she remained in hospital for two and a half months following the attack.
Her right middle finger had to be amputated at the knuckle and the right index finger had to be amputated below the fingernail.
Following the attack, police found 99 animals were being kept at the farm in Great Amwell, near Ware.
Jurors heard Islam kept the dogs in horrendous conditions and a vet who attended the scene for the RSPCA was shocked by what she found.
Forty of the dogs had to be put down including the dogs that had attacked Ms Obuchowski.
Islam's barrister, Mr Joe Sidhu QC, asked that he be given credit for his guilty pleas on the day of his trial. | A man who kept two dogs that ferociously attacked a mother has been jailed for two and a half years. |
35601122 | The Nikkei 225 closed up 2.28% to 16,196.80 points.
Rising oil prices supported investor sentiment through the trading day together with better-than-forecast US economic data released earlier.
Toyota's shares closed up 1.71% in Tokyo trade despite a global recall of several million vehicles.
The firm said in the event of a crash, some seatbelts on a range of vehicles could be damaged by a metal seat frame part.
Toyota Australia said it was recalling approximately 98,000 RAV4 vehicles built between August 2005 and November 2012 due to the issue, but that no accidents had occurred as a result of the problem.
"The repairs will take approximately 60 minutes and will be conducted free of charge," said Toyota.
Australia's ASX 200 index closed higher, up 2.25% to 4,992.00 points.
Big energy companies supported the index with giants like BHP up more than 6% on higher oil prices.
In China, markets were in positive territory for much of the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 2.32% to 19,363.08.
However, the Shanghai Composite ended flat, down 0.16% to 2,862.89.
Fresh official numbers showed that inflation in China rose to 1.8% in January, slightly weaker than analysts expected.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi index finished up 1.32% to 1,908.84 in line with the rest of the region. | Japanese stocks led gains in Asia on Thursday despite disappointing trade figures that showed exports had fallen for a fourth straight month. |
36860427 | The former shadow Welsh secretary said he wanted First Minister Carwyn Jones to play a bigger role in Labour at Westminster.
Mr Smith said he would have Mr Jones sit in a shadow cabinet with metropolitan English leaders and the Scottish Labour leader.
Meanwhile he blamed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for the party's fall in support at the assembly election.
Labour fell short of a majority at the May election, losing one seat.
Mr Corbyn launched his campaign to hold on to the Labour leadership on Thursday, urging MPs to get behind the party.
Mr Smith said the perception that he thought there should be no further powers devolved to Cardiff Bay was an impression Plaid Cymru was "keen to build up as they were trying to drive a wedge between me and Carwyn Jones".
He said Mr Jones knew "that isn't true".
"I'm a committed devolutionist," he said, saying he thinks devolution should be extended across England.
He said he was also "someone who believes we've got to think about what it is we want to hold in common as well as what we can devolve".
Mr Smith said the Welsh Labour leader and first minister "should be much more associated with big decisions being taken in Westminster".
He explained he would have Mr Jones "alongside other leaders from metropolitan bits of England and the leader in Scotland, sitting regularly in effectively a regional shadow, national shadow cabinet to make big decisions, to think about defence, economic areas where there isn't responsibility held in Wales but where there is clear interest in Wales, or in Scotland, in those decisions."
Pontypridd MP Mr Smith also said that voters in Labour heartlands had lost faith and hope in Labour because of Mr Corbyn's leadership and failure to speak powerfully for the party at Westminster.
"We've lost credibility, we've lost respect in many of our communities, communities that have been traditional Labour-voting areas.
"For us to almost lose Blaenau Gwent, for us to lose the Rhondda, these were hammer blows to the Labour Party and that's something Jeremy Corbyn needed to respond to, but he's been poor at taking Labour's case to the Tories in Westminster and he's not been successful in going beyond slogans." | Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith has denied he is anti-devolution. |
30103480 | The officers are 10 of 13 referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) by the force.
Two are not being investigated while a third officer remains under review.
A report, published by Professor Alexis Jay in August, found the abuse of 1,400 children in Rotherham over a 16 year period was ignored by agencies.
IPCC Commissioner Kathryn Stone said: "The amount of public concern across the country about this episode and the impact on confidence in the police means it is important that a fully independent investigation is conducted to establish how South Yorkshire Police dealt with child sexual exploitation.
"I sincerely hope that victims and their families will see this investigation as a positive step towards answering the many questions they must have."
1,400
children were abused, 1997-2013
1/3 of victims were already known to social services
157 reports concerning child sexual exploitation made to police in 2013
10 prosecutions were made between 2013 and April 2014
The IPCC probe comes after a whistleblower told the BBC she had regularly passed details about alleged abusers to senior police officers but they had failed to act.
The 10 officers - some of whom are still serving with South Yorkshire Police - were identified in Professor Jay's report, which detailed how children had been subjected to trafficking, rape and other sexual exploitation between 1997 to 2013.
Allegations against them included failures to progress investigations into children being abused and the loss of evidence.
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: "The force has met with the IPCC and remains absolutely committed to assisting them with their independent investigation in any way we can to ensure the full facts are established relating to any alleged misconduct.
"We will fully co-operative with the investigation into the force's handling of child sexual exploitation and anyone found to have not acted appropriately will be held to account."
The controversy that followed the report led to a series of high-profile resignations, including Rotherham's strategic director of children's services, Joyce Thacker, and South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright, who had been the councillor with responsibility for children's services between 2005 and 2010. | The police watchdog is to investigate 10 South Yorkshire Police officers over the handling of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. |
40515325 | Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar said the city now enters a new era of "security, peace and reconciliation".
If confirmed, victory would mark a major advance for the one-time commander in the army of late strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
The LNA is not recognised by Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli.
Libya's unrest since the 2011 ousting of Gaddafi saw extremist organisations, including so-called Islamic State, gain a foothold in the country.
In a televised speech on Wednesday, Field Marshal Haftar said that "after a continuous struggle against terrorism and its agents that lasted more than three years... we announce to you the liberation of Benghazi".
His announcement comes after bloody battles this week in Benghazi's Sabri district in which dozens of LNA fighters and various local Islamist militants died.
Pictures posted on social media sites showed some civilians in Benghazi and other parts of the country celebrating the end of a bitter conflict that left large parts of the country's second city in ruins and displaced thousands of people in recent years.
But Field Marshal Haftar also has many political and armed opponents in Libya.
He does not recognise the government in Tripoli, and instead backs the authorities in the east.
Opponents accuse the commander, who has backing from some foreign powers, of trying to impose autocratic rule in Libya.
Benghazi's conflict over the last three years at times appeared to have no end in sight, and - as it grew - so too did the Field Marshal Haftar's political and military ambitions.
This is a significant gain for him, and a city that has been aching for respite from the war.
Opinions over the conflict in Benghazi are largely divided; many will be celebrating what they see as a war brought to their doorstep by Islamist militias at a time when political actors in Libya barely acknowledged there was a problem there, despite the near daily bombings and killings in the city.
Others view it as a product of a man who was power-hungry and lumped up all of his enemies under the banner of "Islamist terrorists" to pave the way for a future political role through the might of the gun.
His short address dedicated to the people of Libya had an unusually reconciliatory tone, but it is not one that will ease worries over what his, or his opponents' next move might be.
In Libya today, a military victory in one battlefield often opens the door to conflict in others. | The head of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) has said his forces "liberated" the eastern Benghazi city after years of fighting with Islamists. |
37497744 | Noreen McPolland, 54, told the High Court in Glasgow that Ronnie Coulter made the alleged confession when she visited him in Barlinnie Prison.
She said the conversation took place in 1998 or 1999 when he was on remand awaiting trial for Mr Chhokar's murder.
Mr Coulter denies murdering Mr Chhokar and blames two other men.
The 48-year-old, from Wishaw, denies stabbing the 32-year-old in Garrion Street, Overtown, North Lanarkshire, on 4 November 1998.
Mr Coulter has lodged a special defence blaming his nephew Andrew Coulter and another man, David Montgomery.
At the High Court in Glasgow, prosecutor Alex Prentice QC asked Ms McPolland whether Mr Coulter had ever said anything about the death of Mr Chhokar.
She replied: "He said 'I stabbed him'."
Ms McPolland, who was married to Mr Coulter's brother, Andrew, for 15 years, told the jury that she visited her brother-in-law in prison with his sister Margaret Chisholm when he made the remarks.
She added: "Margaret told him to own up to what he had done and he told us he had stabbed Mr Chhokar."
Mr Prentice asked: "What was your reaction?" She replied: "I got up and went to the canteen and I bought some stuff. I didn't want involved in it."
The prosecutor then asked if Mr Coulter had said anything else and Ms McPolland said he had when he visited his brother just days after the death of Mr Chhokar.
Mr Prentice said: "Did he make any reference to the death of Chhokar," and she responded saying: "My husband asked him if if he had stabbed Mr Chhokar. He said he had stabbed Mr Chhokar.
"He said Mr Chhokar was shouting after he had stabbed him. He was shouting 'Liz, Liz they've stabbed me.'
The jury has heard that Ronnie Coulter, his nephew Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery went to see Mr Chhokar on 4 November 1998, in a row over a £100 Giro cheque.
After an altercation, Mr Chhokar collapsed dying in the street in front of his partner Liz Bryce.
In evidence given earlier in the trial Andrew Coulter admitted hitting Chhokar on the arm with a home-made lead-filled bat, but denied stabbing him. Mr Montgomery also denies stabbing him.
Pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner revealed that Chhokar was stabbed in the chest three times and died from massive blood loss.
The jury earlier heard that Ronnie Coulter was tried and acquitted of murdering Mr Chhokar in 1999.
The trial before judge Lord Matthews continues. | A man accused of murdering Surjit Singh Chhokar in 1998 admitted to his former sister-in-law that he stabbed him, a murder trial has heard. |
23089180 | The Woking-based outfit are sixth in the constructors' championship, with neither Jenson Button nor Sergio Perez finishing higher than fifth place.
Dennis told BBC Surrey: "Losing is an inevitable repercussion of not doing a good enough job.
"It doesn't mean to say that we are in any shape or form not focused on reversing that trend."
He added: "If you compete at the top and challenge for world championships - whether it is Formula 1 or any other category of sport - you have to come to terms with the fact that you can't always be at the top.
"It is just too difficult. Every Grand Prix team experiences it.
"It is just about hard work, a focused and committed work force, good design and good support from the people who invest in you.
"Ultimately, the tide is there to be turned. It just takes time.
"It would be great if it could be sooner rather than later, but it is not that easy."
Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, described McLaren's form as "embarrassing" following last month's Spanish Grand Prix.
And managing director Jonathan Neale admitted this week that there was a "big gap" from McLaren to the front of the grid.
Dennis, who first took over as McLaren team principal in 1981 and stepped down in 2009, says some outsiders have been quick to criticise the team this season.
"We live in a world, and England tends to excel in it, at jumping on people who fail and quickly forgetting when they succeeded," he said.
"McLaren's statistics do not make good reading and the biggest problem is they don't seem to have a clue where they are going.
"No team deliberately builds an uncompetitive car. At the launch they were all very happy that it was a step forward and I agreed. I still think the concept is an improvement but the devil is always in the detail and somewhere in there they have lost themselves."
"It goes with the job. If you are a high-profile organisation that is used to winning, you shouldn't be at all surprised when people are critical when you are not doing the job that they expect."
Dennis says the team must remember their previous success in the sport as they look to return to the front of the grid and the higher echelons of the classifications.
McLaren have won the constructors' championship eight times and helped their drivers to the drivers' championship on 12 occasions.
"Whilst we don't rest on our laurels, it is important to remember that we have been around 50 years and we've won 182 Grands Prix," he said.
"Since 1966, when we first competed in Formula 1, we have won one in four races in which we have entered.
"We really know what it is to win, but equally we understand what it is to lose." | McLaren executive chairman Ron Dennis is confident they will recover from their difficult start to the F1 season. |
36437207 | The eggs were being transported by the Great Bustard Group as part of efforts to create a breeding population on Salisbury Plain.
But the charity's 4x4 broke down at Folkestone causing a power cut and risking the eggs inside the incubator.
Director David Waters said: "In the grand scheme, they survived the journey without any trouble or mishaps."
The eggs need to be kept at a constant temperature of 37.5C.
The incubator was off for 25 minutes causing the temperature to drop by "a couple of degrees," Mr Waters said.
"If the incubator was allowed to cool either too much or too long there does come a point where the eggs would start to suffer which would have been absolutely heart-breaking in so many ways," he added.
The incubator was plugged in at a petrol station at Folkestone once the problem was discovered.
Later the AA plugged the incubator in to 12-volt chargers while transporting the shipment and Mr Waters to Birdworld in Farnham where the eggs were safely hatched.
"Those 10 chicks are really good, strong, healthy chicks.
"If the incubation hasn't been perfect or close to perfect there are various problems that can occur - there's wet chick syndrome, or you can have curled toes or different things like that which are all suggestive of an incubation problem," added Mr Waters.
This year, 20 eggs were brought back in three shipments.
The eggs were collected from Castilla y León in North-western Spain, and then hatched and released on to Salisbury Plain.
Currently there are around 40 birds in Wiltshire and so far this year, five nests have been spotted in the wild. | A charity has said 10 out of 12 great bustard eggs have hatched despite a power cut on the way home from Spain. |
37675903 | Betfred, owned by billionaire Fred Done, will buy 322 shops and Stan James the other 37 for a total of £55.5m.
Competition regulators ruled in July that Ladbrokes and Coral must sell 350-400 shops for their merger to be cleared.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will now assess the shop deals.
Jim Mullen, the chief executive of Ladbrokes, said: "The sale of these shops will clear the last significant hurdle to delivering on the merger with Coral and paves the way for our focus on completion and quickly delivering on the opportunities the merger offers."
The two bookmakers said they would seek approval from the CMA to complete the merger once they sell one further shop.
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral are the UK's second and third largest retail betting firms, behind William Hill.
Ladbrokes has about 2,150 outlets in Britain and 77 in Northern Ireland. Coral runs 1,850 shops in Britain.
A merger between the two would make them the UK's largest High Street bookmaker.
However, William Hill is seeking its own tie-up with Canadian operator Amaya, owner of the PokerStars franchise, to keep up with the competition and bolster its online offering.
It was widely reported over the weekend that William Hill plans to press ahead with the £4.5bn deal despite misgivings from its largest shareholder. | Ladbrokes and Coral have agreed to sell 359 shops to rival betting firms in what they say is the "last significant hurdle" for their £2.7bn merger. |
40111189 | Media playback is not supported on this device
They won nine consecutive league titles between 2004 and 2012.
And they were the first British women's side to lift the European Cup as they won four major trophies in 2007.
"I don't think you ever want women's football in this country to be how it was back then again," Scott said.
"When you look back, 10 years ago, we were dominant, but some of those games were easy. It's more competitive now because every team wants to set the bar. That's great for the league."
Scott, 32, struck the only goal when Arsenal won the 2007 Uefa Women's Cup - which was later rebranded as the Women's Champions League - over two legs against Swedish side Umea.
No British side has reached the final since, although Manchester City did become England's third different semi-finalists since 2011 when they reached this season's last four before losing to French holders Lyon.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Scott added: "It would be a massive feat for anyone to get to the Champions League final again.
"We knew it would take a long time. We knew, when we won the quadruple, that it was just an amazing year."
In the club's 30th-anniversary year, BBC 5 live's Arsenal Ladies - The Games Changers show will air from 21:00 BST on Thursday, as Lyon and Paris St-Germain meet in Cardiff in the 2016-17 Women' Champions League final.
The current Lyon side could arguably be likened to the Arsenal team of old, having won 11 consecutive French league titles.
Under former manager Vic Akers, the Gunners won 10 Women's FA Cups between 1993 and 2009.
"The quality of players is now more divided," Akers said. "We had most of the England team at that time.
"It's harder, at this point, because other clubs [in Europe] are making progress. They've upped their game.
"It is going to be harder for English teams to win the Champions League now, but certainly not impossible."
Alex Scott and Vic Akers were speaking to BBC Sport's Jo Currie. | Arsenal's dominance of women's football 10 years ago will not be emulated, because the depth of competition is now so much greater, says England right-back Alex Scott. |
30376250 | The Art Council's announcement is described as a "fundamental shift" in the organisation's approach.
Each body it funds will have to demonstrate how they have promoted diversity within their leadership, workforce, programming and audiences.
"Our work should reflect and engage with all our talent and communities," said chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette.
The implementation of the new plans is due to start in April 2015.
Sir Peter revealed the plans in a speech at Sadlers Wells, which he described as one of the most important he has made in his role.
"Britain has got many, many talents. And our work should reflect and engage with all our talent and communities. That's how we will ensure work of true ambition and enduring quality," he said.
He admitted that in the past the the Arts Council had tried to promote diversity "without grasping how complex it is" and said they "can and must do better".
Sir Peter pointed out that some national organisations and museums were making good progress but they had been "shouldering this responsibility alone for too long".
All groups that they fund will be asked to shape their artistic programme to better reflect the communities they serve and they will be held to "account" on their progress when it comes to their next round of funding in 2018.
Sir Peter did not go into further details of how that would be imposed.
He told The Guardian he saw this as encouragement rather than a threat.
"I call it a carrot because it is a is a way of making it work better - I don't call it a stick."
He also announced their Creative People and Places programme will fund a further £25 million to areas with low engagement in the arts, while their strategic touring fund will target the needs of specific audiences.
In his speech, Bazalgette said he hoped the plan would produce major changes.
"For things to change, long-term, they need to become more uncomfortable at the top. We have to open up access to power and to resources.
"Looking up, too many see the white cliff-face of the arts establishment and feel they just cannot climb it.
"We can't give people creative talent. But we can and must give those with talent creative opportunities. The arts are a mirror for society; and if we sort this, the arts won't have to make the case for diversity. The arts will simply be the case."
The plans were welcomed by entertainment union Bectu.
Janice Turner, Bectu's diversity officer, said: "Welcome is Peter Bazalgette's acknowledgement that the focus, until now, has been almost entirely on black, Asian and minority ethnic-led companies, which let the rest of the industry off the hook."
Actress Meera Syal, meanwhile, is the latest star to call for more diversity in theatre.
She told The Stage that theatres should cater more for Asian audiences and take advantage of the 'brown pound'.
"There's a very gregarious, moneyed, new generation [of Asian audiences] coming up, who spend an awful lot of money on entertainment and culture. And I think the theatres are missing a trick if they're not putting on stuff that might appeal to those audiences," she said.
Syal is currently starring in Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre.
She said Asian audiences are "extra supportive and extra excited when they see stories that reflect their experiences or a diverse cast of people that they might know." | Arts organisations could have their funding cut if they fail to improve diversity under newly-unveiled plans. |
36073869 | The world number 15 lost 10-7 to Sam Baird in the first round in Sheffield.
The 24-year-old, who has won one ranking tournament, admitted he could not focus against the qualifier and world number 59 at The Crucible.
"I do suffer a bit with depression and stress can bring it on and make it feel worse," White told BBC Wales Sport.
"The honest truth is I couldn't focus out there at all and I don't really know where to turn at the moment with my game.
"I've got to get my mental state right first before I can go anywhere."
Five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has tipped Neath-born White as a future title winner.
White was the youngest player ever to make a competitive century when he did so at the age of nine and was world amateur champion by the age of 14.
He won his first world ranking title at the 2015 Indian Open in Mumbai with victory over Ricky Walden. | Wales' Michael White does "not know where to turn" with his game after revealing he suffers from depression following his World Championship exit. |
39153591 | Howe's side are winless in 2017, with two points from seven league matches and an FA Cup exit, conceding 23 goals in total.
The 14th-placed Cherries travel to Manchester United on Saturday.
"We need all our players to excel to have any chance in this game," Howe told BBC Radio Solent.
"That has been the frustrating thing in recent weeks, where we have not quite got the performances individually and collectively that we want.
"Time is running out for us. We need to make sure we hit those levels very quickly."
A defeat on Saturday would mean five successive league losses for Bournemouth for the first time since March 2013, when they were in League One.
"We are in desperate search of a win," said Howe.
"We have been training well. Elements of our game have been very good, and we are hoping the tide will turn for us." | Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe says "time is running out" for his team to halt the slump which has taken them to within four points of the bottom three. |
20947274 | The rotating wire bristles cleared a roughly 5cm-wide patch on an area of ground dubbed "Ekwir 1" by scientists.
Brushing away the dust gives the robot's survey instruments a clearer view of the texture and chemistry of the underlying rock.
Curiosity is building towards using its hammer-drill, the last major tool yet to be deployed on the mission.
This should see action very soon, provided a suitable rock can be identified. The drill will produce a powdered sample that can be put in the robot's on-board laboratories for analysis.
The rover is currently investigating a location in Mars' Gale Crater known as Yellowknife Bay, a small depression several hundred metres from the point where it landed back in August.
It is using its mast-mounted colour cameras and laser spectrometer, together with its arm-held "hand lens" camera and X-ray spectrometer, to try to find the best drill candidate. Scientists need to be sure that when the big hammer tool turns in a rock it breaks the surface into a useable powder that will not clog or damage the sample handling mechanism.
Brushing the surface of rocks with Curiosity's dust removal tool first enables the arm-held hand lens camera and X-ray spectrometer, in particular, to see features that might otherwise be obstructed. This information could be critical in selecting the most suitable rock for drilling.
Explore the Red Planet with Nasa's robot
"We wanted to be sure we had an optimal target for the first use [of the dust removal tool]," said Diana Trujillo from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"We need to place the instrument within less than half an inch of the target without putting the hardware at risk. We needed a flat target, one that wasn't rough, one that was covered with dust. The results certainly look good."
Curiosity has now spent more than 150 Martian days on the Red Planet.
It is trying to determine whether past environments in Gale Crater might have allowed any microbial life to flourish. Already it has identified rock deposits that were laid down in a streambed billions of years ago. | Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity has used its brush tool for the first time to sweep dust off the surface of a rock. |
33998299 | The group claims the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) will in effect subsidise the rent, which the LLDC denies.
The group added there were "serious questions" about the amount taxpayers would be relied upon.
West Ham said it had won the deal though a fair and "robust process".
The coalition of supporters, made up of trusts from clubs including Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, has started an online petition which has so far gained more than 5,800 signatures in favour of an inquiry.
The supporters also said they had concerns the deal would give the Hammers a competitive advantage.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request previously revealed West Ham contributed £15m to the £272m conversion of the stadium.
The LLDC, which owns the stadium, will pay for "facilities and services" such as pitch maintenance and for stewarding on match days, which can cost £2.5m annually.
It is understood West Ham, which earned £76m in Premier League payments last season, will pay up to £2.5m a year in rent.
In comparison, Manchester City, who moved into the former Commonwealth Games venue, pay overheads on top of £4m rent, while Chelsea and Tottenham are expected to pay between £11m and £15m a year to play at Wembley on a temporary basis.
The coalition said: "The fact that so many supporter groups have come together to call for this inquiry shows that the issues raised go beyond football tribalism.
"As football fans and as taxpayers... this shady deal is not in the interests of the game of football and does little to promote public confidence in the way our money is being spent."
West Ham said: "Our presence underwrites the multi-use legacy of the stadium and our contribution alone will pay back more than the cost of building and converting the stadium."
The LLDC said in a statement: "The stadium is a publicly-owned multi-use venue that will host 25 West Ham United home matches and many other sporting and entertainment events every year. This contract will ensure commercial success.
"West Ham United secured their anchor tenancy after winning a competitive tender process that was heavily publicised and open to any organisation in the world."
West Ham is due to move from Upton Park in August 2016. | A group of London football supporters have called for a public inquiry into the rental of the Olympic Stadium by West Ham United. |
35677549 | He said the software controlling the new system would not be ready for the start of the season on 18-20 March.
"My guys who do the timing said: 'Mr E, we don't want to be put in the position because we don't think we can get it done properly in time'," he said.
He added the system "wasn't my idea" and he wanted a different approach.
Ecclestone said the new system would go ahead, however.
Governing body the FIA announced on Wednesday that a new qualifying system had been agreed that would feature the slowest car being eliminated every 90 seconds in three knock-out sections of qualifying.
The teams were to spend the next few days making sure there were no unintended consequences before it was formally adopted, but the problems have instead been discovered by Ecclestone's Formula 1 Management company, which handles the timing software.
"It's not quite that easy," Ecclestone, 85, said. "You've got all the graphics to go on the screen.
"If you're going to try and explain it to the public properly, it's not just a case of 'OK, the guy was the last one, bye-bye'. You can't just do that.
"We'll have to deal with it. I've told the FIA this and asked them what they'd like to do with it but the bottom line is there's not a lot they can do with it because we do all the timekeeping. So, that's it."
The idea behind the new qualifying format is to introduce an element of uncertainty that could lead to cars qualifying out of position.
But Ecclestone said his original idea had been for a different way of shuffling the order.
"I don't want to touch the current qualifying, which I think is good," he said.
"What I've said was, if the guy that's on pole won the last race, for example, we'd have to come up with some sort of a format to say in the end he starts 10th. And the guy who was third in the last race starts maybe eighth or something like that.
"And then you will find you get a whole mix-up of the grid and some of the guys who don't get as much TV coverage will be up at the front.
"Because you can guarantee the guy who's on pole will still win the race but it ain't going to be like pole man disappears and that's it."
He said the teams were opposed to this idea.
"People at the time that don't want any change at all thought: 'Well, Ecclestone's going to push through something so we might as well agree with that rather than have something that is a bit more drastic'," he said.
"Because it could happen that the guy on pole doesn't get through the pack.
"Monaco, Hungary - there's lots of places where you wouldn't want to put your money on the guy coming through the field." | Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says the introduction of a new elimination qualifying format will be delayed until the fifth race of the season. |
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