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28276739 | Crowds greeted the boats as they arrived at Tower Bridge at 12:45 BST.
Twelve teams, largely made up of novices, tackled hurricanes and tornadoes as they raced between six continents.
The crew from the winning vessel, Henri Lloyd, was presented with a trophy at St Katharine Docks.
The race was founded by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who became the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69.
He said: "It is a tight race, but in racing with a tight crew that is teamwork and that's where you learn you can do things you didn't realise you could do.
"You work together and you trust your lives to each other on a boat."
Most of the crew members - 670 from more than 40 nations - were novices, although each boat was skippered by a professional.
The Clipper Race took in South Africa, Western Australia, Sydney, Singapore, China, San Francisco, Panama, Jamaica, New York, Derry and the Netherlands before returning to London.
During the challenge, one man was rescued from the Pacific Ocean after going overboard for 90 minutes, the organisers said.
It was the first time that London had hosted the event, which left the capital on 1 September. | Hundreds of sailors have returned to London 11 months after setting off on the 40,000-mile (64,000km) Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. |
39417642 | Economy Secretary Keith Brown told MSPs that the bridge's contractors had indicated that strong winds had affected the estimated completion date.
He will give an update on the revised timescale on Wednesday.
The bridge was originally due to open in December but bad weather had already delayed the completion date until May.
Mr Brown said he would provide an update to the Scottish Parliament's rural economy and connectivity (REC) committee on Wednesday.
The £1.35bn link will replace the Forth Road Bridge as the main road route between Edinburgh and Fife.
The final section of the deck was lifted into place last month.
Mr Brown was pressed for clarity on the opening date by Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser following press reports that the bridge was facing further delays.
Mr Brown said he had asked contractor FCBC to carry out "a thorough review of their programme" following his appearance at the REC committee on 8 March.
The structure is 207m above high tide (683ft), equivalent to about 48 double decker buses stacked on top of each other.
It is 50m (25%) higher than existing Forth Road Bridge
The steel required for the bridge deck weighs a total of 35,000 tonnes - equivalent to almost 200 Boeing 747s
The combined steel required for North and South viaducts weighs 7,000 tonnes - enough to make another 23 Kelpies.
The bridge has windshielding to almost entirely eliminate the need for closures during the frequent periods of high winds in the Forth estuary.
"That work has indicated that adverse weather conditions, particularly wind, has had an impact on the removal of the construction cranes and, therefore, on the estimated completion date," he said.
"Transport Scotland is currently assessing that review carried out by FCBC and I expect to receive a report from them this evening.
"I've agreed to provide a detailed update to the committee tomorrow morning."
Mr Fraser said this would be the second delay in the completion of the bridge.
"We were promised by the first minister previously it would be completed by the end of last year, we were then told by the cabinet secretary it would be completed by the end of May, we are now looking at a further delay.
"When will it be ready?" he asked.
Mr Brown would not be drawn on reports that contractors had asked for the completion date to be extended to September.
He said the seven-year project was about a quarter of a billion pounds below budget "and that won't change".
"This bridge will be there for 120 years, it's very important that we both get it right and that we do it safely," he added.
He added that as a result of high winds, it had taken 65 days to take down one of the cranes - a process which would normally have taken 15 days. | The opening of the new Queensferry Crossing is set to be further delayed due to "adverse weather conditions", it has been confirmed. |
38906591 | A study of the attitudes of 15- to 21-year-olds in 20 countries examined levels of optimism, confidence and a sense of being loved.
Japan was the only country lower than the UK on this wellbeing ranking, published by the Varkey Foundation education charity.
Only 15% of young people in the UK said they got enough sleep and exercise.
The study looked at the views and expectations of so-called Generation Z, born in the years around the new millennium, based on a survey of more than 20,000 people in countries including the UK, the United States. France, Germany, India, China and Argentina.
And it suggested that there was no clear link between material wellbeing and mental health.
While the UK was almost at the bottom of the rankings for wellbeing, along with countries such as Japan and South Korea, the top places were taken by young people in Indonesia, India and Nigeria.
South Korea, with a reputation for a fiercely pressurised education system, was the only country where young people actively disliked where they lived.
Young people across this global sample, including the UK, reported that they were more pessimistic than optimistic about the future.
Although young people in China and India both bucked these gloomy expectations - with their young anticipating a more positive future.
The perception of risk from extremism, terrorism and conflict was widespread - more so than worries about climate change or inequalities between rich and poor.
In the UK, extremism and terror was identified as the biggest single reason for being "fearful for the future", followed by the threat of "conflict and war".
There were big differences in attitudes towards the principle of free speech - and whether it should be protected even for views might offend.
Only about a third of young people in Nigeria supported the right to free speech, if it was likely to offend some ethnic groups or religious beliefs.
In contrast, more than two-thirds of young people in Argentina supported free speech, regardless of who it might antagonise.
But there was a common global trend for these young people to hold broadly liberal views on issues such as migration, religious tolerance, equal rights for men and women and acceptance of same-sex marriage.
"At a time of nationalist and populist movements that focus on the differences between people, the evidence shows that young people - whatever their nationality or religion - share a strikingly similar view of the world," said Vikas Pota, chief executive of the Varkey Foundation.
"Teenagers in Nigeria, New Delhi and New York share many of same priorities, fears, ambitions and opinions.
"There is far more unity among young people than a glance at the headlines would suggest.
"Young people are passionate believers in the right to live the life that they choose, whatever their background, free of prejudice of all kinds."
But Mr Pota said that this was also a generation that was "deeply pessimistic about the future of the world". | Young people in the UK have some of the lowest levels of "mental wellbeing", according to an international survey. |
35498357 | The proposed funding will also support de-mining, humanitarian and counter-narcotics projects, he said.
The aid was announced after President Obama held talks at the White House with his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos.
He told Mr Santos the US would be "your partner in waging peace".
It was "an incredible moment of promise" for ending the long-running conflict in Colombia, he said.
The new plan is called Peace Colombia, but the fact is that even if a final agreement to end 50 years of internal conflict with the Farc is achieved - which looks extremely likely - the negotiations with the second largest rebel group in the country, the ELN, seem stalled.
Although much smaller in size, with about 1,400 armed fighters, the ELN has shown it can still do damage.
They are still kidnapping civilians, capturing soldiers and killing members of the security forces in confrontations.
Although an agreement with the Farc would be an accomplishment that should not be underestimated, if the ELN do not follow suit Colombia can hardly yet speak of peace.
That is, unless the government launches such a strong offensive that they defeat the ELN militarily.
Mr Santos has said he expects his government to sign a peace deal with the Farc next month. Both sides have agreed a 23 March deadline to reach an agreement.
It comes after Farc rebels said they were willing to lay down their weapons after five decades of conflict.
Peace negotiations were launched in Cuba in November 2012.
The post-conflict period "is more difficult than the process itself", said Mr Santos.
The Farc, which was founded in 1964, will give up its armed struggle and join the legal political process.
Last week, the United Nations Security Council voted to accept a request from the Farc and the Colombian government to appoint a mission to oversee the end of the conflict.
"This is really a step that makes the process irreversible," Mr Santos told the BBC on Wednesday.
He added the rebels also agreed to "cut every link that they have with drug trafficking", as part of the accord.
"They recognise that they have financed themselves through drug trafficking, or taxing the drug traffickers. That's what they say.
"And they will in a way help us, especially in those remote areas, to convince the peasants to switch to legal crops," he said.
Colombia is the world's top producer of cocaine. | President Barack Obama has said he will ask the US Congress for $450m (£309m) in aid to help Colombia implement a peace deal with the Farc rebel group. |
32909887 | Mr Hatton, the former deputy leader of Liverpool City Council, was thrown out of Labour in 1986 for belonging to the left-wing Militant faction.
The 67-year-old told ITV Granada he had rejoined the party two days after its general election defeat.
"I just felt I should do something," he said, saying there was now "no difference between the parties".
However he will need to appeal against the objection, from general secretary Iain McNicol, if he wants to continue with his application.
The Militant Tendency, which emerged from a Trotskyist group called the Revolutionary Socialist League, held key positions in the Liverpool Labour Party as it battled the Conservative Thatcher government in the 1980s.
After the then party leader Neil Kinnock condemned the council's actions, Mr Hatton, a former firefighter who had been elected to the city council in 1979, was expelled when a disciplinary panel found him guilty of membership of the Militant Tendency and of manipulating the rules of the district Labour Party.
Explaining why he had recently decided to rejoin, two days after Labour's election defeat to the Conservatives, Mr Hatton said the party had "drifted and drifted and drifted", with "the same type of Eton/Oxford person going forward" from the different parties.
"People now need to see that there is a clear choice when they go to the booth," he said.
He said he did not "for one second" expect his past to be a barrier to membership, because "the world is a different place, the Labour Party is a different place, Derek Hatton is a different person".
A Labour spokeswoman said: "The general secretary of the Labour Party has objected to this application to join." | Labour's general secretary has objected to a bid by former firebrand councillor Derek Hatton to rejoin the party. |
40023488 | The move came after investigators were unable to rule out whether Manchester bombing suspect Salman Abedi acted alone, the prime minister said.
Military personnel will now be deployed to protect key sites.
Twenty-two people were killed and 59 injured when a suicide bomber attacked Manchester Arena on Monday evening.
The prime minister said soldiers would be placed in key public locations to support armed police in protecting the public.
Military personnel may also be seen at other events over the coming weeks, such as concerts, Mrs May said, working under the command of police officers.
The prime minister said she did not want the public to feel "unduly alarmed" but said it was a "proportionate and sensible response".
The highest threat level, which is decided by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre - a group of experts from the police, government departments and agencies - has only been reached twice before.
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, who is the national counter-terrorism policing lead, said the investigation was "fast-moving and making good progress".
"However, a critical line of inquiry is whether the dead terrorist was acting alone or part of a group," he said.
"We still have critical lines of inquiry they're chasing down which has led to a level of uncertainty."
The first time the threat level was raised to critical was in 2006 during a major operation to stop a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs.
The following year, security chiefs raised it once more as they hunted for the men who had tried to bomb a London nightclub, before going on to attack Glasgow Airport.
Former Salford University student Salman Abedi - understood to be a 22-year-old born in Manchester to parents of Libyan descent - is thought to have blown himself up in the arena's foyer shortly after 22:30 BST on Monday.
Fans were beginning to leave a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.
Three of his victims have been named - Saffie Rose Roussos, eight, Georgina Callander - thought to be 18 - and John Atkinson, 28.
So-called Islamic State has said - via IS channels on the messaging app Telegram - it was behind the Manchester attack, but this has not been verified.
This is a major and very rare move by the UK's security chiefs.
For the past few years, ministers, police chiefs and others have been at pains to try to warn the public that the threat faced by the UK was severe.
But they have steered clear of warning, even when a major plot was being tracked, that an attack could be close. This time, they feel they have no choice other than to say it may be imminent.
In short, nobody at this stage can say for sure whether Abedi acted alone or with the help of others. They can't rule out if there are other people out there.
What does it mean for us, the public?
Some of us will see the Army in key locations that need guarding so that armed police can be freed to focus on policing rather than guarding.
We should expect additional time-consuming security checks at ports and so on.
The aim for security chiefs is to ratchet up the security while keeping the country moving.
The wounded, who include 12 children aged under 16, are being treated at eight hospitals across Manchester.
Several people are still missing, including Eilidh MacLeod, 14, from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, 15-year-old Olivia Campbell, Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19.
Eilidh's friend, Laura MacIntyre, 15 - who was also reported as missing - was later identified as one of the seriously injured in a Manchester hospital.
Thousands of people turned out for the vigil in Manchester and to hold a minute's silence to remember those who died.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Commons Speaker John Bercow stood on stage alongside Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins.
Vigils have been held elsewhere, including in Birmingham, where the event was interrupted after a man apparently armed with a large knife and a baseball bat was detained nearby.
The arena bombing is the worst terrorist attack in the UK since the 7 July bombings in 2005, in which 52 people were killed by four suicide bombers.
Witnesses at the arena described seeing metal nuts and bolts among the debris of Monday's bomb, and spoke about the fear and confusion that gripped concert-goers.
Andy Holey, who had gone to pick up his wife and daughter, said: "An explosion went off and it threw me about 30ft from one set of doors to the other set of doors."
Emma Johnson, who was waiting for her children, aged 15 and 17, said: "The whole building shook. There was a blast and then a flash of fire afterwards. There were bodies everywhere."
Teenager Abigail Walker told the BBC: "I had to make sure I had my sister. I grabbed hold of her and pulled hard. Everyone was running and crying.
"It was absolutely terrifying." | The UK terror threat level has been raised to its highest level of "critical", meaning further attacks may be imminent, Theresa May has said. |
17955805 | 1492 - The Christian Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon conquer the Emirate of Granada, ending nearly 800 years of Muslim rule in the south and founding modern Spain as a united state.
Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas, heralding the conquest of much of South and Central America. Jews and later Muslims are expelled from Spain during the Inquisition.
16th-17th centuries - Spanish Empire at its height, with Spain the predominant European power. The rise of Protestant states in northern Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean begin the country's gradual decline.
18th century - The War of the Spanish Succession loses Spain its European possessions outside the Iberian Peninsula. Bourbon dynasty, originally from France, centralises the Spanish state, shutting down many regional autonomous assemblies and modernising government and the military.
1807-1814 - Napoleon's France occupies Spain, which has been a French satellite since 1795. Fierce nationalist resistance and British intervention in the Peninsular War gradually force French troops out.
19th century - Napoleonic legacy of political division and economic dislocation leaves Spain weak and unstable, with frequent changes of government and a low-level insurgency by Carlist supporters of a rival branch of the royal family. All Latin American colonies win their independence, with Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in Asia lost during a disastrous war with the United States in 1898.
1910s - Spain sought compensation in conquering colonies in Africa, most significantly northern Morocco and the Spanish Sahara.
1920s - The trade boom achieved by neutrality in the First World War is squandered through fighting Moroccan rebels and the financial mismanagement of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship at home.
1931 - The return of democratic government leads to an electoral backlash against the monarchy and its allies, and a republic is declared. Radical policies of land reform, labour rights, educational expansion and anti-Church legislation deepen the political divide.
1936 - After two years of right-wing government, a Popular Front coalition of left-wing and liberal parties narrowly wins parliamentary elections and seeks to reintroduce the radical policies of 1931. A coup by right-wing military leaders captures only part of the country, leading to three years of civil war.
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy actively support the Nationalist rebels, while only the Soviet Union provides highly conditional assistance to the Republic. Britain and France support an arms embargo that effectively dooms the Republic, despite enthusiastic volunteers from all over Europe and the Americas who join the Communist-run International Brigades.
General Franco's dictatorship spanned nearly four decades
Spanish Mass marks Franco death
Franco's ghost still haunts Spain
1975: Franco's 36-year reign ends
1939 - General Francisco Franco leads the Nationalists to victory in the Civil War. More than 350,000 Spaniards died in the fighting, and Franco purges all remaining Republicans. Spain remains neutral throughout the Second World War, although the government's sympathies clearly lie with the Axis powers.
1946-50 - Francoist Spain is ostracised by United Nations and many countries sever diplomatic relations.
1950s - As the Cold War deepens the US gradually improves relations with Spain, extending loans in return for military bases. Spain is admitted to the UN in 1955 and the World Bank in 1958, and other European countries open up to the Franco government.
El Milagro Espanol - the economic miracle of the late 1950s - sees Spain's manufacturing and tourism industries take off through liberalisation of state controls over the next two decades.
1959 - The Eta armed separatist group is founded with the aim of fighting for an independent homeland in the Basque region of Spain and France. Its violent campaign begins with an attempt to derail a train carrying politicians in 1961.
1968 - West African colony of Spanish Guinea gains independence as Equatorial Guinea.
1973 December - Eta kills Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in retaliation for the government's execution of Basque fighters. Subsequent attempts to liberalise the Franco government founder on internal divisions.
1975 November - Franco dies. Succeeded as head of state by King Juan Carlos. With Juan Carlos on the throne, Spain makes transition from dictatorship to democracy. Spain withdraws from the Spanish Sahara, ending its colonial empire.
King Juan Carlos, pictured in 1975 with General Franco, left, supported moves toward democracy
1978: Spain set to vote for democracy
1977 June - First free elections in four decades. Ex-Francoist Adolfo Suarez's Union of the Democratic Centre manages a relatively smooth transition to stable democracy.
1978 - New constitution confirms Spain as a parliamentary monarchy. Eta's political wing, Herri Batasuna, is founded. 'Galaxia' coup plot uncovered.
1980 - 118 people are killed in Eta's bloodiest year so far.
1981 February - Coup attempt; rebels seize parliament and tanks take to the streets of Valencia in an attempt to prevent the appointment of a new Union of the Democratic Centre government. Plotters surrender after King Juan Carlos makes a televised address demanding an end to the coup.
1982 - Another coup plot by right-wing extremists discovered shortly before Socialists win large majority and form a government. Spain joins Nato.
1986 - Spain joins the European Economic Community, later to become the European Union.
1992 - Summer Olympic Games held in Barcelona. Seville hosts Expo 92. Celebrations mark the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage to America.
1995 - Leader of opposition rightwing Popular Party, Jose Maria Aznar, survives a car bomb blast.
1996 March - Jose Maria Aznar becomes PM following a stability deal with moderate Catalan and Basque nationalists, who hold the balance of power, after a general election in which his Popular Party emerges as the largest party but without an outright majority.
1997 July - Eta, demanding that Basque prisoners be transferred closer to home, kidnaps and kills Basque councillor Miguel Angel Blanco. Killing sparks national outrage and brings an estimated 6 million Spaniards onto the streets in protest.
1997 December - 23 leaders of Herri Batasuna jailed for seven years for collaborating with Eta - the first time any members of the party are jailed as a result of Eta links.
1998 April - Crops destroyed and wildlife wiped out when an iron pyrite mine reservoir belonging to a Canadian-Swedish company bursts its banks causing toxic waste spillage. Waterways feeding Europe's largest wildlife reserve, the Donana national park, are severely contaminated.
1998 September - Eta announces its first indefinite ceasefire since its campaign of violence began. It calls the ceasefire off in November, claiming lack of a response from the government.
2000 - Madrid car bombs mark return to violence. Aznar's Popular Party (PP) wins landslide in general elections.
Eta's campaign for a sovereign Basque state has cost many lives
Timeline: Eta campaign
2002 January - Peseta replaced by Euro.
2002 June - Eta suspected of being behind bomb blasts in several tourist resorts as EU summit held in Seville.
2002 July - Naval standoff with Morocco over disputed rocky outcrop of Perejil ends when foreign ministers agree to restore status quo.
2002 November - North-west coastline suffers ecological disaster after oil tanker Prestige breaks up and sinks about 130 miles out to sea.
2003 March - Indefinite ban imposed on Basque separatist Batasuna party.
2004 March - 191 people killed in explosions on packed rush-hour trains in Madrid in near-simultaneous pre-election attacks by an Islamic group with links to al-Qaeda.
With Spain still in mourning, the Socialists under Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero defy earlier opinion polls and win a general election.
2004 April - Prime Minister Zapatero orders Spanish troops withdrawn from Iraq in May.
2005 February - Voters approve the EU constitution in a referendum.
2005 May - Government offers peace talks with Eta if the group disarms.
2005 June - Parliament defies Roman Catholic Church by legalising gay marriage and granting homosexual couples same adoption and inheritance rights as heterosexual ones.
2005 September-October - At least 11 die and many more are injured in a series of mass attempts by African migrants to enter the enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta from Morocco in a bid to reach Spain. Spain reviews decision to deport those who do get through back to Morocco after expressions of international concern.
2006 January - Lt Gen Jose Mena Aguado sacked as head of army ground forces after suggesting that the military might take action in Catalonia if the region gains too much autonomy.
2006 March - Eta declares a ceasefire. In June, Prime Minister Zapatero says the government will hold peace talks with the group.
2006 June - Voters in Catalonia back proposals to give the region greater autonomy as well as the status of a nation within Spain.
2006 December - Prime Minister Zapatero suspends moves to seek dialogue with Eta after a car bomb attack at a Madrid airport.
2007 June - Eta calls off ceasefire.
2007 October - Twenty-one mainly North Africans are found guilty and given long jail sentences for the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
2007 November - Parliament passes a bill formally denouncing Franco's rule and ordering the removal of all Franco-era statues and symbols from streets and buildings.
2008 March - The Socialists win re-election with an increased margin, but falls short of an absolute majority.
2009 January - Spanish economy enters recession for first time since 1993.
2009 March - Unemployment soars to 17.4%, with over 4 million people jobless.
2009 May - The parliament of the Basque region votes in the first non-nationalist regional government in more than 30 years under Socialist leadership, following elections in March.
2009 July - Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos visits Gibraltar - the first visit by a Spanish minister in 300 years.
2010 February - Thousands of workers demonstrate against government spending cuts and plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 67 - the first mass labour protests since the Socialists came to power in 2004.
2010 May - Unemployment rate climbs to over 20% for first time in nearly 13 years. Parliament approves 15bn-euro (£13bn) austerity package.
2010 September - Eta declares new ceasefire. Spanish government dismisses the move, saying there can be no political settlement until Eta renounces violence for good and disarms.
2011 September - Parliament approves constitutional amendment setting legally binding cap on public sector borrowing.
2011 November - Conservative Popular Party wins resounding victory in parliamentary election.
2011 December - New government headed by Mariano Rajoy takes office. Announces new round of austerity measures to slash public spending by 16.5bn euros (£14bn) and nearly halve the public deficit from about 8% of GDP in 2012.
2012 January - Unemployment total passes the 5 million mark. This represents a jobless rate of 22.8% - the highest in the eurozone. Almost half of all 16-24 year-olds are out of work.
2012 April - Spain slips back into recession as economy contracts by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2012, and by 0.4% in the second.
2012 June - Spain formally requests assistance from the eurozone financial emergency facility to bail out its struggling bank sector. The eurozone had offered to provide up to 100bn euros in help, following an audit.
2012 August - Unemployment climbs to 25.1% of the workforce, with a youth (under-25s) joblessness rate of 52.9%.
Catalonia, which produces a fifth of Spain's economic output, seeks a 5bn-euro (£4.2bn) bailout from the central government, which has set up a 18bn-euro public fund to help the 17 heavily-indebted autonomous regions.
2012 September - Government creates "bad bank" to off-load toxic property assets of indebted banking sector. Eurozone countries demand this as one of a number of conditions for any bail-out loan for Spain.
2012 November - Catalan regional elections held to provide support for a referendum on independence see Artur Mas's governing Convergence and Union alliance losing ground to the left-wing ERC party.
Both support the independence referendum, but the ERC opposes the Catalan government's spending cuts. The Spanish government says it will not recognise a referendum vote for secession.
The European Commission approves the government's plans to restructure the troubled banks Bankia, Banco de Valencia, NCG and Catalunya Banc, which were nationalised after experiencing heavy losses on loans to homebuyers and property developers.
The Basque armed group Eta issues a statement that it is ready to disband, disarm and enter talks with the French and Spanish governments.
2013 March - European Court of Justice rules that Spanish law does not do enough to protect homeowners who default on their mortgages from being evicted. The ruling comes in response to the eviction of an estimated 350,000 families from their homes in the wake of the 2008 property crash.
2013 April - Spain's unemployment rate soars to new record of 27.2% of the workforce in the first quarter, passing six million figure, although the rate of increase slows.
Recession ends
2013 September - Economy registers 0.1% growth in July-September, formally lifting it out of recession.
2014 June - King Juan Carlos abdicates a month after announcing his attention to do so. Succeeded by the crown prince, who reigns as Felipe VI.
2014 November - Spanish government dismisses the result of a symbolic referendum on independence held in Catalonia.
Earlier plans by Catalan regional government to hold formal independence referendum ruled unconstitutional by Spanish courts.
2014 December - A judge orders that Princess Cristina de Borbon, the sister of the Spanish king, be tried on tax fraud charges. No member of the Spanish royal family has ever sat in the dock before.
2015 May - New populist anti-austerity movement Podemos makes dramatic gains in local and regional elections, robbing governing conservative Popular Party and opposition Socialists of majorities in many areas.
2015 December - Popular Party government loses majority in general election that sees Podemos and new liberal Cuidadanos movement perform well. Main opposition Socialist Party declines to join Prime Minister Rajoy in a coalition.
2016 June - Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy claims right to form a government after his Popular Party wins more seats but falls short of a majority in a repeat general election.
2016 August - Mr Rajoy forms a political pact with the centrist, anti-corruption Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, but this still does not give him the absolute majority that he needs in order to become prime minister.
2016 October - Opposition Socialists agree to abstain in a parliamentary confidence vote on which will allow acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to form a minority government and end 10 months of political deadlock. | A chronology of key events: |
35455081 | Mohamed Ali Moncer (pictured) gave Tunisia the lead in the first-half.
But a second-half penalty from Aliou Dieng and a goal with 10 minutes left to play from Abdoulaye Diarra sealed the win for Mali.
The victory sets up a semi-final against neighbours Ivory Coast on Thursday.
Moncer stooped to head home the opener for Tunisia after 14 minutes from a cross by Saad Bguir.
Six minutes later Abdoul Toure came close to a Malian equaliser but Tunisian goalkeeper Rami Jeridi made the save.
Tunisia had chances to extend their lead including a fierce shot from Ali Maaloul which was parried away by goalkeeper Diarra Djigui.
After the break Tunisia seemed happy to try and soak up the pressure from Mali and hold on for the win.
Mali got back into the game with 20 minutes left to play when they awarded a penalty after Zied Boughattas handled in the area, Dieng converted from the spot to level the scores.
The winner for Mali came in the 80th minute when Diarra cut into the penalty area from the left wing and placed his low shot beyond Jeridi into the opposite corner.
The final of the tournament for locally-based players only, will be in Kigali next Sunday. | Mali came from goal down to beat Tunisia 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the African Nations Championship in Rwanda. |
38459772 | The suspected green mamba was found on a ship that had docked in Aberdeen from west Africa in November.
The snake died after it was placed in a freezer by the animal charity. It was later identified as a harmless snake.
Police Scotland received a complaint, but it has now been decided that no further action will be taken.
The snake - which turned out to be a green tree snake - was put in a freezer after attempts to rehome it with specialist reptile keepers failed.
The Scottish SPCA said staff had genuinely believed it was a green mamba, and safety had to be paramount.
The group Animal Concern contacted Police Scotland after receiving complaints from members of the public.
Animal Concern's John Robins has now received an email from Police Scotland explaining that the matter would not be taken further.
It stated: "The decisions made and actions taken at the time were done with their primary consideration being public safety.
"The chief inspector from Scottish SPCA took the decision using the information she had at the time which pointed to the fact this was a deadly green mamba.
"With this in mind the decision has been made that there will be no criminal proceedings in relation to this incident."
Mr Robins said: "We were surprised about the case. A review of procedures would be positive."
The western green mamba feeds on small animals and rodents and is mainly found in the coastal tropical rainforests of western Africa.
Experts say its bite can be fatal in as little as 30 minutes. | No criminal action will be taken after the Scottish SPCA killed what was thought to be one of the world's most deadly snakes. |
34628397 | Ayew, 25, scored a late winner against Aston Villa on Saturday to end Swansea's six-match run without a win.
The Ghana midfielder has now scored five goals in 11 appearances since joining Swansea on a free transfer from Marseille over the summer.
"I believe if I continue to work hard I can do much more," he said.
"It's about getting to know the league better, getting to know my players better. They are helping me with that and giving me the confidence.
"I'm sure with time I can even get better."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Ayew was disappointed not to have given Swansea the lead at Villa Park when a slightly heavy touch allowed on-rushing goalkeeper Brad Guzan to smother his shot in front of goal.
The miss proved even more significant as Guzan's save set Villa on their way to a counter attack that brother Jordan Ayew finished to put Villa ahead.
"It's good for him, but it's even better for us because we got the three points. I'm happy for him but I'm happier for us," added the elder Ayew brother.
Swansea's visit to Villa had been billed as a meeting between two managers under pressure.
Garry Monk's position at Swansea had been brought into focus after failing to win since August, while Tim Sherwood was under far greater scrutiny with just one win to Villa's name all season.
Doubts over Sherwood's future will intensify, as he acknowledged after the match, but Ayew insisted there has been no tension within the Swansea camp.
"The manager never showed any pressure," he said.
"He stayed confident and believed in us. We also believe in what we do and believe in what he proposes to us in training.
"We have great confidence in our manager. That wasn't an issue at all. We just wanted to win because we are all like a family.
"When things are difficult in a family you need to stay united and fight together. That's what we did."
While happy to accept the plaudits for his winning goal, Ayew described Gylfi Sigurdsson's equaliser as the "real match-winner".
Sigurdsson scored a trademark free-kick six minutes after Swansea had fallen behind, giving the visitors fresh impetus to believe a first away win of the season was possible and fuelling Villa's fears of losing again.
"If we hadn't have scored that it would have been a whole different game. But we got the goal and the game changes," said Ayew, already a contender for the best signing of the season.
"We're happy and we hope we're going to continue you like that." | Swansea City match-winner Andre Ayew says there is better to come from him as he grows more accustomed to the Premier League. |
30541605 | The robber stole a three-figure sum from the Niddrie Licensed Grocers in Niddrie Mill Drive during the incident, which occurred around 13:10 on Thursday.
Police have appealed for three customers who were in the shop moments before the robbery to get in touch.
The suspect has been described as a white man aged around 30.
He is around 5ft 10in - 6ft tall (1.8m) and of gaunt appearance.
The man was wearing a black hooded top, a black scarf covering his mouth, black jogging trousers and white trainers.
He was carrying a black and white polythene shopping bag and fled the shop on foot.
Police have said he used a handgun during the incident.
Det Sgt Robbie Wallace said: "While the shopkeeper was not physically harmed, this was a very distressing experience for her.
"We are keen to trace the suspect as quickly as possible, and ask that anyone with information should contact police immediately." | A shopkeeper was threatened by a man with a gun during an armed robbery in Edinburgh. |
40095235 | Thousands of people have descended on the Borders for the first week of events in the TweedLove Bike Festival.
A trail run, mountain bike marathon and family day in Peebles were among the opening attractions.
Children's events were a particular focus with hundreds of riders taking part.
Now in its eighth year, TweedLove describes itself as the UK's biggest cycling festival with more than 40 events over a three-week period.
Its second "big weekend" - from 9 to 11 June - includes a "mega bike demo" with bicycles worth up to £10,000 available for the public to try. | All images courtesy TweedLove Festival. |
37132568 | In a ballot of 3,500 members, just over half took part and 83% voted to strike.
Union officials said the Post Office was "on the path to extinction" and the government must now intervene.
In April, the Post Office announced plans to move up to 61 more branches into WH Smith stores over the next year.
The move is part of a 10-year agreement to relocate more branches into the retailer's stores.
Dave Ward, CWU general secretary, said: "Staff in the Post Office face 2,000 job losses this year, the closure of their pension scheme and a strategy of slash and burn from the board of the company.
"The Post Office is at crisis point and the government has to step in." | Post Office staff have voted for strike action over planned cuts to jobs, services and pensions, the Communication Workers Union has said. |
39281900 | The Germany and Borussia Dortmund midfielder, 24, has been limited to nine Bundesliga starts because of muscular problems since re-signing from Bayern Munich last summer.
Gotze is on a rehabilitation programme and could be training by early summer, but it depends on how he responds to treatment, said the German club.
Dortmund added: "The long-term target for the player is to be fully fit and ready to play for the start of next season".
"BVB wish Mario Gotze a fast recovery, also in the name of their 10 million fans," said Borussia Dortmund's chief executive officer Hans-Joachim Watzke.
Gotze, who scored Germany's extra-time winning goal against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final, has played 24 minutes of Bundesliga action in 2017. | World Cup winner Mario Gotze has been ruled out for the rest of the season as he recovers from a "metabolic disorder" but is expected to be "fully fit" for the start of next term. |
33035787 | About 400 people took part in the event, held on Freshwater West beach near Castlemartin in Pembrokeshire, on Saturday afternoon.
The record attempt was organised by Keep Wales Tidy in a bid to raise the profile of the Welsh coast ahead of the summer season. | Hundreds of people have attempted to break the world record for the most people making sand angels simultaneously. |
39569984 | Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the government will put forward a passenger rights law this spring.
It is expected to include compensation rules for those denied boarding due to factors within the carrier's control.
Mr Garneau announced the plan last year, but restated it as footage of a US passenger being forcibly removed from a flight made global headlines.
The incident on Sunday evening's flight from Chicago to Louisville has been a public relations disaster for United Airlines.
A spokesman for Mr Garneau said he could not get into the specifics of the Air Travellers Passenger Rights Regime legislation before it is introduced to Parliament.
But in a November 2016 speech to Montreal's Chamber of Commerce, Mr Garneau said Canadian travellers report a sense of frustration at both the cost of air travel and confusion about their rights when flight problems arise.
The measure would "ensure that Canadians' rights are protected by rules that are both fair and clear", he said.
In 2008, Canada introduced Flight Rights Canada, a voluntary code of conduct for airlines around passenger rights related to tarmac delays, flight cancellations and overbooking.
Under that code, if a plane is overbooked or cancelled, a carrier must either find the passenger a seat with another flight, buy the passenger a seat on another carrier with whom it has an agreement, or refund the unused portion of the ticket.
The Canadian Transportation Agency receives an average of about 50 complaints a year from passengers saying they were denied boarding.
Ambarish Chandra, with the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, says that airlines bumping passengers is an "unavoidable" fact of air travel.
"I don't think the goal of legislation should be to eliminate bumping," he said, noting that having full flights helps keep ticket costs in check.
"But legislation does need to protect passengers and make very clear what passengers rights are in various situations."
Mr Garneau expects the rights legislation to be in place by 2018. | Canada has said it is taking steps to tackle airline overbooking, following an incident involving United Airlines. |
37015236 | The former Barcelona and Spain striker joined the Cookie Monster and Rosita to film a segment for the television show's Love to Learn campaign.
The 34-year-old, now playing for MLS side New York City FC, taught the two furry characters the importance of sportsmanship and teamwork.
"I grew up watching the show and now my children watch the show, so to me, it's a great honour to join the long list of notable people who have been a part of the historic program," he said.
Villa was part of the Spain squad that won the European Championship in 2008 and World Cup two years later.
He won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2011.
Former England captain David Beckham and basketball legend Kobe Bryant are among the sportspeople to have appeared on Sesame Street. | David Villa's impressive CV boasts a World Cup, a European Championship, the Champions League... and now an appearance on Sesame Street. |
39489942 | The 21-year-old and three others were allegedly involved in a disturbance in the VIP section of Livello in October.
Newcastle Magistrates' Court heard an amateur footballer, Wesley Erskine, was hurt during the incident.
Geoffrey Forrester, defending, said the allegations would be "seriously contested".
The court heard Mr Erskine, had been on a night out in Newcastle with his teammates when violence broke out.
Keith Laidlaw, prosecuting, said: "Mr Wesley Erskine suffered injuries when bottles were smashed and bottles where thrown around by a number of the defendants in this case."
Jamar Collins, 21, from Bristol, Jean Coly, 23, from Liverpool, and Joan Jacob, 45, from Newcastle, also appeared in court.
All three are charged with violent disorder and Coly an additional charge of wounding with intent.
All four were granted unconditional bail and will appear at Newcastle Crown Court on 3 May.
The Jamaica-born winger joined the club in 2012. | Newcastle United winger Rolando Aarons has appeared in court charged with violent disorder over a bar brawl in the city. |
34923388 | Cais said the focus was on the older generation who had been long-time drinkers.
The charity's chief executive Clive Wolfendale added the next task was to stop younger people turning to alcohol.
He pointed to positive signs on that front but said teenagers were experimenting with newer substances like "legal highs".
"The alcohol problem is going to be with us for the next decade," said Mr Wolfendale, who is a former acting chief constable of North Wales Police.
"We can't give up on people who have got themselves in a mess and we'll certainly treat them. We've got to stop the next generation from becoming fixated with the stuff.
"If you look at drinking patterns among teenagers, it's reducing and that's to be welcomed.
"That's down to lifestyle education and skills and a new awareness of fitness and keeping well but I think young people will be experimenting with newer substances.
While north Wales-based Cais has seen the balance shift towards dealing with more alcohol cases than drugs over the last few years, Mr Wolfendale believes "legal highs" are the main problem going forward.
Earlier this year, his charity, along with Sands Cymru in south Wales, opposed UK government plans for a blanket ban on the drugs.
They argued the Psychoactive Substances Bill would only drive the drugs underground.
Mr Wolfendale said dealing with "legal highs" would be the "biggest challenging area" going into 2016.
"It's a huge problem that is present across the board. These things come on to the streets at alarming speeds and can be a significant problem.
"Over the next few years, the impact will really hit home." | Alcohol abuse centres will be dealing with the problem "for the next decade", one of Wales' biggest charities warned. |
34664926 | Air France-KLM reported a better-than-expected improvement in third quarter earnings while Germany's Lufthansa raised its full year profit target as a result of strong demand and low fuel prices.
There have been strikes at both airlines as they tried to compete with lower-cost rivals.
Shares in both airlines have fallen.
"We cannot expect to fly for too long with a tailwind of low oil prices," said Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr.
While it raised its full year profit forecast, it stressed that "does not incorporate any strike-related costs which might be incurred between now and year-end".
For the first nine months of the year it reported a net profit of €1.75bn ($1.92bn; £1.26bn), up from €482m in the same period of 2014.
Meanwhile, Air France-KLM reported a net loss of €158m for the first nine months, compared with a loss of €533m for the corresponding period last year.
"This improvement is however not sufficient to bridge the competitiveness gap with our competitors or to generate the financial resources required to finance the group's growth," said chairman Alexandre de Juniac, inviting union representatives to resume negotiations.
Lufthansa shares fell 2.9% in Frankfurt, while Air France shares fell 1.5% in Paris.
Last month a German court ordered the end of a strike at Lufthansa, which affected 1,000 flights and was the 13th stoppage in 18 months.
Earlier this month, two Air France managers had their shirts torn as they were forced by angry workers to flee a meeting about job cuts . | Two big European airlines have reported improved results but warned more cost-cutting is needed. |
39570119 | Tries from Harvey Livett, Daryl Clark and Kurt Gidley gave Wire a slender 16-12 half-time lead.
Danny Brough then converted his own try, adding a penalty, as the Giants hit back to lead 20-16.
But two late Wire tries turned it round and, although Jermaine McGillvary scored in the corner, Brough could not add the extras from the touchline.
Having started the season with two wins from their first three games, the Giants have not won now in eight games since - and they drop to 11th, while last season's beaten finalists Warrington, who failed to win any of their first seven matches, rise two places to ninth.
Against his old club, Tony Smith's Warrington were ahead inside two minutes, in their first attack, when centre Livett scooped up a wayward Declan Patton pass and stepped inside the Giants cover for his first Super League try.
Fine handling between Brough and Jake Mamo allowed Darnell McIntosh to squeeze over in the corner to level at 4-4, but, having earlier been placed on report for a late challenge on Lee Gaskell, Warrington hooker Clark's try restored the hosts' lead, Patton converting.
Six minutes later the Giants were level again, with a try from Mamo after Kruise Leeming's fine midfield break - and Brough not only landed the conversion but also added a penalty to edge the visitors 12-10 in front.
Warrington finished the half the stronger when Gidley crashed over, Patton converting to extend their half-time lead but that was wiped out seven minutes after the restart when the artful Brough sneaked over from dummy half, to tie it up at 16-16.
Brough added the conversion to edge the Giants back in front with a penalty on the hour mark before two tries in three minutes from Rhys Evans and Toby King, who collected Patton's crossfield kick to score, made it 26-20.
But, in a thrilling climax, King lost possession on his own line and, from the last play of the game McGillvary went over in the corner, only for Brough to just fail from the touchline with his bid to claim a third Huddersfield draw in six matches.
Warrington Wolves coach Tony Smith:
"It was ugly but it was two points. It wasn't the prettiest of games by a long shot but we hung on.
"It's been a while I would suggest since we won both our games over Easter so, because of where we are placed in the table, it was probably important to pick up the two points.
"In terms of performance it was very much a second-game-over-Easter performance from both teams. The big men looked tired today and came up with some stuff they normally don't come up with."
Huddersfield Giants coach Rick Stone:
"It was a toss of the coin sort of kick from the touchline, probably on Danny's right side being a left-footer. He had one in the first half which he struck a fraction left and this one went a bit right - but there's no dramas.
"We are not getting a lot of luck or 50-50 decisions and it tends to happen when you are not winning games.
"You have to make your own luck and be energised and be in a position where hopefully we are going to get the rub of the green because in the last couple of weeks we've not had too much."
Warrington: Ratchford; Evans, T King, Livett, Lineham; Patton, Gidley; Hill, Clark, Sims, Jullien, Hughes, Cooper.
Replacements: Philbin, Dwyer, G King, Savelio.
Huddersfield: Mamo; McGillvary, S Wood, Murphy, McIntosh; Brough, Gaskell; Ikahihifo, Hinchcliffe, Wakeman, Mellor, Roberts, Clough.
Replacements: Rapira, Leeming, Mason, Dickinson.
Referee: Ben Thaler (RFL). | Warrington maintained their resurgence with a third straight win as they twice came from behind to beat Huddersfield. |
34240921 | Whether you call it a 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 formation, there were question marks over the tactics that Reds boss Brendan Rodgers went with at Old Trafford because they left Christian Benteke so isolated up front.
It is easy to say in hindsight that they should have tried something different, but I would suggest that being without the suspended Philippe Coutinho was the biggest reason they offered so little going forward.
You cannot keep making excuses for Liverpool, and some people might respond by saying they just have to be able to adapt when some players are unavailable, no matter who they are.
The fans want to see results now, but there are a few reasons why I don't think it is time to panic - it is extremely early days for a start.
This is a big season for Liverpool and for Rodgers and you certainly cannot judge this team and their prospects of making the top four after only five games, because they have got plenty of time to improve.
I actually feel positive about how Liverpool look in terms of going forward and creating chances, something which was a huge problem for them last season.
They only scored 52 goals in 38 Premier League games, compared to 101 in 2013-14.
When I look at all the attacking players that Rodgers has now got, I think that come the end of the season their goals tally will be fine.
Creativity was an issue at Old Trafford, but Coutinho's absence was a big factor because when he is in the side, they always look a threat.
You could say the fact they missed him so badly means there is a problem with a lack of depth in the squad, but some players are just so good they cannot be easily replaced.
Also, you have to remember they were playing a United team that does not charge forward in the way they did when Sir Alex Ferguson was manager.
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Instead, under Louis van Gaal, United look to keep the ball. They are very well organised and their focus is keeping their back four solid and intact.
To go to Old Trafford and open them up and create chances, you need your best players and Rodgers did not have them on Saturday. And there were too many poor performances.
It is not all doom and gloom, though. Daniel Sturridge is close to returning, with Rodgers saying he is the 'fittest he has been in 18 months'. When he plays up front with Benteke, Liverpool's attack will look very different.
If Coutinho is behind them at the tip of a midfield diamond, or cutting in from the left with Sturridge coming in from the right as part of a front three then they will frighten any team.
It is actually defensively where I have more concerns about this Liverpool team, because that is where they could come unstuck.
It was only down to a loss of concentration that Liverpool went a goal down at Old Trafford, but I would still describe it as a terrible goal to concede.
It was such an easy thing to spot, I think everyone could see what was going on when the United players charged into the box for the free-kick and left Daley Blind in space, but no-one took responsibility out there on the pitch.
Ultimately I think it is whether they can defend well enough for long enough to compete that will decide whether they will get into the top four.
I am still not convinced by Simon Mignolet in goal, and I think he spreads nervousness around the back four.
At centre-half, Dejan Lovren started the season reasonably well but has looked shaky again in the last couple of games, which will be a worry for Brendan.
And of course in front of them in the midfield area you are looking for someone to help your defenders out a little bit.
On Saturday, Lucas Leiva played that role but for me he is probably past his best. If Lucas is playing then it is important to have Jordan Henderson in the team for his athleticism and his ability to break up play, but he was injured.
I do not know how far Henderson is off returning, but Liverpool will be much stronger when he does.
Then they could have a midfield three of James Milner, Henderson and Emre Can, who are all very solid and have good legs.
Benteke is not firing on all cylinders yet but he has still got two goals in five games so he is still contributing, and there is definitely more to come from him.
He will be full of confidence now after his wonder-goal against United but probably the most positive aspect of Liverpool's start to the season has been that a couple of Rodgers' other new signings have done really well.
Nathaniel Clyne has been terrific at right-back, and he had Memphis Depay in his pocket on Saturday.
And Joe Gomez looks a real talent too. He is not a left-back but his performances have been impeccable, other than the penalty he gave away at Old Trafford.
That defeat is all that their fans will be talking about at the moment, though. I've lost to United as a Liverpool player and there is always a big reaction.
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Your pride is hurt, and so is that of the fans. Everybody feels the pain because those games are the biggest in the club's season.
Saturday's result came off the back of a bad result against West Ham, and two defeats in a row when you are going for the top four is damaging for confidence and morale.
The fixture list has not been kind to Rodgers with trips to Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford in Liverpool's first five games but now they have two home games against Norwich and Aston Villa.
Let's not beat around the bush - Liverpool have to be winning those games if they want to get back into the Champions League. I would imagine Rodgers and the players will tell you exactly the same thing, and all the fans will expect it.
It is never quite as easy as it looks on paper, but two home games is exactly what Liverpool need and I think they will go for the jugular against Norwich - look to dominate and score goals.
If they do win that game comfortably and beat Villa too, then they will have 13 points from seven games and their start to the season looks a lot healthier.
The United game would not be forgotten, but it would be put to bed.
Danny Murphy was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan. | Liverpool's approach in their defeat by Manchester United on Saturday has been criticised because of their lack of attacking threat. |
35954116 | Amtrak's Train 89 was heading from New York City to Savannah in Georgia when it struck a mechanical digger - known in the US as a backhoe - that was on the track at Chester.
Some 341 passengers and seven crew members were on board.
All Amtrak services between New York and Philadelphia have been suspended.
An Amtrak statement said the impact with the backhoe had derailed the lead engine of the Palmetto train in Chester, 15 miles (24km) from Philadelphia.
The two people killed are believed to have been construction workers who were unable to get off the track in time.
The statement said local emergency responders were at the scene and an investigation was ongoing.
Chester fire department commissioner Travis Thomas provided the figures on casualties.
Amtrak released an emergency hotline number - 800 532 9101.
In May last year, seven carriages of an Amtrak train derailed on the Philadelphia-New York line, killing seven people and injuring more than 200.
And about 20 people were injured when an Amtrak train derailed 20 miles west of Dodge City, Kansas, last month. | A train has derailed south of the US city of Philadelphia, leaving two people dead and more than 30 others injured. |
38470861 | Conservation groups hailed the decision as "historic" and a "game-changer" for the future of elephants.
The move follows a resolution at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in South Africa in October.
China has the biggest ivory market in the world - some estimates suggest 70% of the world's trade ends up there.
The war on elephants
Why elephants are seeking refuge in Botswana
Ivory can reach $1,100 (£850) per kilogram in China.
China's State Council announced the details of the ban on Friday.
The commercial processing and sale of ivory will stop by 31 March, and all registered traders will then be phased out, bringing a full halt to the market by the end of the year.
Conservation group WWF welcomed the latest news, calling it a "historic announcement... signalling an end to the world's primary legal ivory market and a major boost to international efforts to tackle the elephant poaching crisis in Africa".
Elly Pepper, deputy director of wildlife trade for the Natural Resources Defense Council, praised China for its "great leadership" on the issue.
"Setting such an aggressive timeline to close - once and for all - the largest domestic ivory market in the world is globally significant.
"It's a game changer and could be the pivotal turning point that brings elephants back from the brink of extinction," she said.
While the international market in ivory has been closed since 1989, legal domestic markets have continued in many countries around the world.
A surge in the killing of elephants over the past seven years has seen populations across Africa shrink by a third, according to the recently published Great Elephant Census.
China had backed the Cites resolution in October, surprising participants with the strength of its support for a ban.
Some delegates said Beijing had wanted an even stronger resolution. | China has announced a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017. |
34900167 | It tells the story of young dinosaur Arlo who has lots of fears. But with the help of a new friend, he goes on a journey where he learns to be more brave.
The film's director, Peter Sohn, has worked as a writer and animator but has never directed a full length film before.
He was the voice of Squishy in Monsters University and the character of Russell in UP was even based on Peter's face.
Martin has been speaking to Peter to find out more about The Good Dinosaur and what it was like making the movie. | The Good Dinosaur is the next Disney Pixar animation to hit the big screens this Friday. |
36713890 | The incident happened at Dun Emer Place in Lusk, about 15 miles (24km) from Dublin city.
The man, who is in his late 30s, was shot a number of times.
He has been taken to Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, where his condition is described as critical.
The Garda SÃochána (Irish police force) said a Volkswagen Golf was seen leaving the area and was discovered burnt out at Kilhedge Lane in Lusk a short time later. | A man is in a critical condition in hospital after he was shot in north County Dublin shortly before 10:00 local time on Tuesday. |
34656711 | Whatever the inconsistencies in Moscow's own policies, it has highlighted the deficiencies in Washington's approach - not least the collapse of its ailing "train and equip" programme for Syria, which was largely going nowhere.
Washington badly needs a new approach. US prestige in the region is at a low point.
Most of its allies are in one way or another negotiating with Moscow, and the clear message is that any new diplomatic path will run through the Russian capital rather than Washington.
Moscow's air strikes have overwhelmingly targeted non-Islamic State (IS) groups and to that extent have actually assisted the so-called IS.
Indicative of the ailing US policy is that the frequency of US air strikes against IS targets in Syria has slowed significantly since the Russian air campaign began in early September.
So US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter's appearance before the influential Senate Armed Services Committee provided an opportunity for the Obama administration to set out a new policy, to reflect the changing dynamics in the region.
What he delivered, though, was far from new - and his comments raise all sorts of questions about the scale and scope of any future US military involvement.
Two things should be clear from the outset.
The US can no more than Russia resolve the twin crises in Syria and Iraq from the outside.
That depends upon key regional actors and probably most of all upon the various factions engaged on the ground.
Secondly, the Obama administration is deeply conflicted on intervention in the Middle East.
After all - in the wake of Afghanistan and Iraq - US President Barack Obama cast his foreign policy as one that would withdraw US troops from foreign wars, not engage in new ones.
That policy has had to be modified in the light of the circumstances in Afghanistan.
And we are now seeing the start of the equivalent adjustment for Iraq and Syria.
Before the committee, the US Defence Secretary spoke of a policy guided by what he called the "three Rs", namely "Raqqa, Ramadi and raids".
Much of this remains highly tentative and subject to the same limitations US policy has suffered from the outset - apart from the Kurds, the US lacks effective allies on the ground.
Furthermore, many of the anti-IS forces also opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are either linked to al-Qaeda or more heavily influenced by Turkey or the Gulf States rather than by Washington.
Then there is the question of how much additional military force the US itself is willing to bring to bear.
There is talk of deploying a small number of Apache attack helicopters to Iraq.
That could involve hundreds of extra US personnel.
The question of deploying forward air controllers to maximise the air campaign's impact is also being raised again.
And the new "raiding" policy similarly has many uncertainties.
The mission last week that freed dozens of IS-held prisoners cost the life of one US serviceman, and the Pentagon has been far from clear as to the precise role of US forces in that mission.
A more active policy could well lead to further US casualties, with perhaps only limited tactical results.
Why is there a war in Syria?
Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that, four years on, has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.
Who is fighting whom?
Government forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, as well as less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in the north and east. These groups are also battling each other.
What is the human cost?
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured. Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.
How has the world reacted?
Iran, Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes.
Iran's growing role in Syria's war
Syria crisis: Where key countries stand | Russia's intervention in Syria has changed the military and diplomatic dynamic in the crisis and left the US struggling to catch up. |
27031180 | "It is the right of every human being to choose their gender," it said in granting rights to those who identify themselves as neither male nor female.
It ordered the government to provide transgender people with quotas in jobs and education in line with other minorities, as well as key amenities.
According to one estimate, India has about two million transgender people.
In India, a common term used to describe transgender people, transsexuals, cross-dressers, eunuchs and transvestites is hijra.
Campaigners say they live on the fringes of society, often in poverty, ostracised because of their gender identity. Most make a living by singing and dancing or by begging and prostitution.
By Geeta PandeyBBC News, Delhi
Members of the third gender have played a prominent role in Indian culture and were once treated with great respect. They find mention in the ancient Hindu scriptures and were written about in the greatest epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
In medieval India too, they played a prominent role in the royal courts of the Mughal emperors and some Hindu rulers. Many of them rose to powerful positions.
Their fall from grace started in the 18th Century during the British colonial rule when the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 categorised the entire transgender community as "criminals" who were "addicted" to committing serious crimes. They were arrested for dressing in women's clothing or dancing or playing music in public places, and for indulging in gay sex.
After Independence, the law was repealed in 1949, but mistrust of the transgender community has continued. Even today, they remain socially excluded, living on the fringes of society, in ghettoised communities, harassed by the police and abused by the public. Most make a living by singing and dancing at weddings or to celebrate child birth, many have moved to begging and prostitution.
It is hoped that the landmark court ruling will help bring them into the mainstream and improve their lot.
Rights groups say they often face huge discrimination and that sometimes hospitals refuse to admit them.
They have been forced to choose either male or female as their gender in most public spheres.
"Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue," Justice KS Radhakrishnan, who headed the two-judge Supreme Court bench, said in his ruling on Tuesday.
"Transgenders are also citizens of India" and they must be "provided equal opportunity to grow", the court said.
"The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender."
The judges asked the government to treat them in line with other minorities officially categorised as "socially and economically backward", to enable them to get quotas in jobs and education.
"We are quite thrilled by the judgement," Anita Shenoy, lawyer for the petitioner National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa), told the BBC.
"The court order gives legal sanctity to the third gender. The judges said the government must make sure that they have access to medical care and other facilities like separate wards in hospitals and separate toilets," she said.
Prominent transgender activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, who was among the petitioners in the case, welcomed the judgement, saying the community had long suffered from discrimination and ignorance in the traditionally conservative country, reports the Agence France-Presse news agency.
"Today, for the first time I feel very proud to be an Indian," Ms Tripathi told reporters outside the court in Delhi.
In 2009, India's Election Commission took a first step by allowing transgenders to choose their gender as "other" on ballot forms.
But India is not the first country to recognise a third gender. Nepal recognised a third gender as early as in 2007 when the Supreme Court ordered the government to scrap all laws that discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. And last year, Bangladesh also recognised a third gender.
Tuesday's ruling comes after the Supreme Court's decision in December which criminalised gay sex by reversing a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court order which had decriminalised homosexual acts.
According to a 153-year-old colonial-era law - Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code - a same-sex relationship is an "unnatural offence" and punishable by a 10-year jail term.
Legal experts say Tuesday's judgement puts transgender people in a strange situation: on the one hand, they are now legally recognised and protected under the Constitution, but on the other hand they may be breaking the law if they have consensual gay sex. | India's Supreme Court has recognised transgender people as a third gender, in a landmark ruling. |
30037020 | He said he was confident that they are safe and fit for purpose.
The four constables died when the armoured vehicle crashed and caught fire in County Down in November 2008. They were travelling down a dark, wet road to help a colleague.
The drivers family said the vehicles are unsuitable.
ACC Todd stated that he did not think that the driver of the Shogun, Constable James Magee, had been driving beyond the safe limits of the car or that particular road, and that the Shogun was not an unsuitable choice for him to make that night.
He said: "If I'd been the driver on that night, I would have acted in the same way."
He was unable to confirm whether the non-driving officers had received training in the use of the vehicle's escape hatches.
"I can't look at any of the families here today and tell them hand on heart that the officers who died were trained in the those escape hatches. I'm not able to do that," he said.
ACC Todd confirmed that there was no evidence of testing the Mitsubishi Shoguns when they were first purchased and modified with armour, but that testing since the accident has reassured him of the vehicle's safety.
He said that he would not have continued to allow officers to use those vehicles if he had any remaining concerns.
Due to the rural nature of policing in Newry and Mourne, combined with the high threat level, armoured saloons are simply not appropriate a lot of the time, he said.
The following steps had been taken since the accident, he said:
ACC Todd was the district commander covering Newry and Mourne at the time, and was responsible for 700 officers.
He was the final witness to the Coroner's inquest, and told the court that he had been present for most of the evidence because "these were my people".
Constables Kevin Gorman, James Magee, Kenny Irvine and Declan Greene were killed by a fire in their 4x4 after it crashed.
The crash, near Warrenpoint was the single biggest loss of life in the PSNI's history, and the exact cause of the accident has not yet been established.
A lawyer for Kevin Gorman said that Mr Gorman's family believe the officers were in a vehicle that was unsuitable for the task and which could have contributed towards the accident.
A verdict is expected on Friday. | The police are still using the type of 4x4 in which four officers were killed, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd has told an inquest. |
40850460 | Some of the eggs, which originated from the Netherlands, were also found in France, the country's agricultural ministry said.
The UK's Food Standards Agency say the risk to the public is very low.
The agency is "urgently investigating" the issue, but to the best of their knowledge, the affected products are no longer on shelves.
It says there is no need for people in Britain to avoid eating eggs and any potential exposure is unlikely to harm.
The revelations come after the supermarket chain Aldi withdrew all eggs from sale in its stores in Germany last week.
Tests had shown the chemical fipronil, which can harm kidneys, liver and thyroid glands, was found in the eggs.
It is feared that farmers in the Netherlands may now need to cull millions of birds as it seeks to eradicate traces of the insecticide from production, according to LTO, a Dutch farming organisation.
On its website, the FSA said: "Our risk assessment, based on all the information available, indicates that as part of a normal healthy diet this low level of potential exposure is unlikely to be a risk to public health and there is no need for consumers to be concerned.
"Our advice is that there is no need for people to change the way they consume or cook eggs or products containing eggs."
Belgian officials have already admitted that they knew in June that eggs from Dutch farms might be contaminated with the fipronil insecticide
Fipronil can treat lice and ticks in chickens, but should not be used on food-producing animals because of its toxicity.
Shops in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, have removed the eggs from sale as a precaution.
About 180 poultry farms in the Netherlands have also been temporarily shut in recent days while investigations are held.
The FSA says approximately 21,000 eggs were distributed to the UK from implicated farms in the Netherlands between March and June of this year.
But it says this is a very small proportion of the 1.8 billion eggs the UK imports each year. Around 85% of eggs consumed in Britain are home-produced. | A very small number of eggs contaminated with a toxic insecticide reached the UK earlier this year. |
39192645 | The incidence of Lyme disease on Uist was found to be far greater than that on neighbouring islands, according to figures gathered by BBC Gaelic News.
The infection can be transmitted to humans through a bite from a tick.
NHS Western Isles is to hold the events later this month at Stoneybridge Hall in South Uist.
On 30 March, the health board said local experts would give "a snapshot of the current situation" with regards to ticks and what actions can be taken to avoid bites and what to do if bitten by a tick.
The second event on 31 March will explore incidence of Lyme disease and how this affects land management and use of land.
NHS Western Isles said evidence of the presence of ticks would be presented at this event. People who want to attend have been asked to register their interest with the health board.
Lyme disease and ticks
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread to humans by infected ticks.
Flu-like symptoms and fatigue are often the first noticeable signs of infection. An untreated bite often shows as a distinctive red circle-like mark on a person's skin.
Diagnosed cases of Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics, but, if left untreated, neurological problems and joint pain can develop months or years later.
Ticks are small arthropods related to spiders, mites and scorpions and Britain has a number of different species.
People are most likely to come across sheep ticks, which feed on mammals such as deer and also birds, in open spaces with long grass or bracken.
Hillwalkers and climbers organisation, Mountaineering Scotland, regularly issues advice on how to avoid and deal with ticks.
It suggests people can protect themselves better by tucking trousers into socks or wearing gaiters, and also by making thorough checks of their bodies once back home. It recommends that these checks should be repeated over several days.
If a tick is found attached to a person's skin, it can be removed with a tick hook. If in doubt, seek advice from a doctor, Mountaineering Scotland says.
Last year, the investigation by BBC Alba suggested that over four years a total of 165 individuals on North Uist, South Uist and Benbecula were diagnosed with the disease.
In that same period, Lewis and Harris have recorded just one case and Barra three.
The figures for incidence of Lyme disease on the Western Isles were provided by medical practices across the islands.
NHS Western Isles and other groups have been investigating the reason for the higher numbers on Uist. | Events raising awareness about the risk of ticks and Lyme disease are to be held in part of the Western Isles where problems with both were indentified. |
29975077 | Belgium bossed the first half as Nacer Chadli was denied by Wayne Hennessey and Nicolas Lombaerts hit a post.
But Wales defended stoically and had chances of their own after the interval as Gareth Bale shot narrowly wide.
The point briefly kept Wales top of Group B, before Israel took their place with a 3-0 win over Bosnia-Hercegovina.
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Having made their best start to a campaign since winning their first four qualifiers for Euro 2004, Wales entered this match with renewed hope.
Despite the raised expectations, however, Chris Coleman's men were undoubtedly the underdogs against a Belgian side fourth in the Fifa world rankings.
Welsh hopes rested on Bale, and it was no surprise that it was the world's most expensive player who had the visitors' first shot on target.
The Real Madrid forward unleashed a swerving free-kick from 25 yards, but it was palmed away by Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
The Chelsea man's opposite number, Wayne Hennessey, was also called into action early on and made an excellent low save to deny Tottenham's Nacer Chadli.
With another Chelsea player, Eden Hazard, a constant threat as he drifted infield from the left, Belgium began to dictate and put their opponents under pressure.
From Kevin de Bruyne's in-swinging corner, defender Lombaerts struck a post with a powerful shot and, from the rebound, Divock Origi could only slide the ball wide.
For all of Belgium's Hazard-inspired domination, Wales held firm to keep the home side at bay in the first half.
Coleman's side were close to taking the lead against the run of play 12 minutes after the restart, as Bale skipped past Belgium's static defenders before flashing a shot narrowly wide of the far post.
Having brought Fulham's fast young winger George Williams on for David Cotterill at half-time, Wales posed more of a counter-attacking threat as the match wore on.
Although Belgium continued to control possession for long periods, they seemed wary of the visitors' threat and were careful not to commit too many players forward.
The Red Devils' apparent trepidation made for a tense atmosphere, and the sense of anxiety increased when Hal Robson-Kanu had a shot saved by Courtois.
Dries Mertens then required lengthy treatment after being knocked out following a collision with teenager Williams and the six minutes of injury time that followed were nervous for the Welsh.
A header by Aston Villa's Christian Benteke was cleared off the line as Belgium poured forward in the closing moments, but Wales remained resolute to claim a potentially priceless point. | Wales dug in for a gutsy goalless draw in Belgium to maintain their unbeaten start to their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. |
38265735 | The migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, stormed different points of the 6m-high (19ft) barbed-wire fence from 06:15 local time (07:15 GMT) on Friday.
It is the biggest single breach of the border in a decade, local media report.
Two border guards were injured in the surprise assault on the border, according to Spanish authorities.
Local TV footage showed dozens of migrants celebrating their crossing, while others appeared exhausted, lying on the pavement with visible cuts to their feet and hands.
Most of those who made the crossing have now been detained, with 20% still unaccounted for, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said.
Ceuta is a major crossing point for those seeking work or asylum in Europe.
Together with a second Spanish enclave, Melilla, it is the European Union's only land border with Africa. | At least 400 people have broken through the border fence between Morocco and the enclave of Ceuta, which is part of Spain. |
35791487 | Jack Redshaw headed the Seasiders in front on 34 minutes before being sent off for a rash challenge on David Fox.
Crewe levelled through Marcus Haber's neat flick on 83 minutes before Tom Aldred's deflected shot restored Blackpool's advantage 60 seconds later.
Brad Potts then fouled Tom Hitchcock in the box, but top scorer Inman blazed the resulting penalty over the bar.
Blackpool climb two places to 20th, one point above the drop zone, while Crewe stay 23rd, now eight points from safety, having not won in eight matches. | Brad Inman's last-minute penalty miss handed 10-man Blackpool a vital League One win over fellow strugglers Crewe. |
37701597 | Mr Uribe, leader of the right-wing Democratic Center party, had previously ruled out such talks.
But after a referendum rejected the peace accord between the rebels and the government, he said his group might now take part in the "national interest".
The deal was four years in the making and its rejection was a shock.
It failed to pass by a narrow margin in the popular vote on 2 October.
Opponents of the accord to end 52 years of conflict thought it was too lenient on the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
They were angered that Farc guerrillas were offered congressional seats and non-custodial sentences such as clearing landmines in return for ending the conflict.
Mr Uribe said on Tuesday: "We think that at this time, in the interest of a national deal, spokespeople from 'No' could at some point speak with the Farc."
President Juan Manuel Santos, who spearheaded the accord and won the Nobel Peace Prize this month for his efforts, has been talking with the opposition to try to salvage it.
He said he would take opposition proposals into discussions with the Farc later in the week.
Mr Santos last week extended a ceasefire with Farc rebels until the end of the year to give more time to save the deal.
The UN Security Council agreed on Tuesday that its mission for Colombia could continue to monitor the truce.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the council had received a request "from all parties" to do so and that council members "encourage the parties and all political actors to continue momentum in the peace effort".
An estimated 220,000 people have been killed during the Colombian conflict. | Colombia's ex-president Alvaro Uribe, who led the successful campaign to reject a peace accord with Farc rebels, says he may now be open to talks. |
40555493 | Officers have described the chain of events that led to the pile-up on the A38 in Cornwall on Sunday.
They said a 53-year-old Plymouth man died after getting out of the stopped car and being hit by a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.
A 32-year-old Saltash woman and her six-year-old son in another car also died.
Her four-year-old son has "potentially serious head injuries" but is said to be improving at Bristol Children's Hospital.
More on the fatal crash and other stories from Cornwall
Ch Insp Adrian Leisk from Devon and Cornwall Police said the families involved are "devastated".
One officer at the scene tweeted that it was the "most heartbreaking shift" in her six-year police career.
End of Twitter post by @Adrianleisk
End of Twitter post by @DevonCmdr
The pile-up happened between Tideford and Landrake on the busy main road at about 11:15 BST.
Ch Insp Leisk said a vehicle pulled over and stopped on the single-lane section of the Plymouth-bound carriageway.
"Someone has got out of that vehicle and has been struck by a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction," he said.
"Then a number of other vehicles have become involved and sadly two occupants of another vehicle have died.
"Every road death is a tragedy but it brings it into sharper focus and really hits home when there are children involved."
The driver of the car that stopped was "in a state of shock" and being questioned by police, he added.
The road, which was closed for most of Sunday, has reopened.
Six further people were taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth with minor injuries. Two others were treated at the scene by paramedics. | Two adults and a child died in a five-vehicle crash after a car stopped at the side of the road, police said. |
34490822 | The England striker put the visitors ahead after two minutes, heading home Alex Greenwood's free-kick.
She netted her second after connecting with Danielle Buet's impressive cross and was denied a hat-trick when another effort was ruled out for offside.
Liverpool's best chances fell to Rosie White and Natasha Dowie.
The Lady Magpies will face Arsenal in the final at Rotherham on 1 November, having already finished FA Cup runners-up in August.
Rachel Williams looked a constant threat for County and the midfielder forced the Liverpool defence into two last-ditch clearances following a couple of powerful headers.
The defeat marked the return of Liverpool midfielder Fara Williams, who came on for the last 10 minutes following three months out with a hamstring injury.
Notts County striker Ellen White:
"This is another milestone, obviously we wanted to do a bit better in the league but this is a massive cup for us.
"We want to go to the final and put in a big performance and do it for our coaches more than anything. Rotherham's an incredible stadium and we'll look forward to facing Arsenal."
Liverpool Ladies manager Matt Beard:
"I felt we gave a good account of ourselves but Notts County deserved to win it.
"I thought especially in the second half we were good and created some chances but we've got 10 players who have come through our centre of excellence and nine players out injured.
"All nine of them probably would be in the starting XI and you can't legislate for that."
Liverpool Ladies: Gibbons, Ryland, Beckwith, Murray, Pacheco, Dale (Staniforth 60), Ormarsdottir, Zelem (Williams 81), Hodson, Dowie, White (Green 72).
Substitutes not used: Darbyshire, Wild.
Notts County Ladies: Telford, Walton, Turner, Bassett, Greenwood, Buet, Scott, Crichton; Clarke, Williams, White (Whelan 87).
Substitutes not used: Chamberlain, Whelan, Plumptre, Hassall, O'Neill.
Referee: Ian Hussin
Attendance: 538 | Two first-half goals by Ellen White ensured Notts County beat Liverpool 2-0 to set up a Continental Cup final with Arsenal. |
39856238 | Chris Murphy had gone to court to contest the route of the A6 dual carriageway at Toomebridge.
A High Court judge ruled in March that work could proceed on a section of the £160m new road that skirts Lough Beg.
Mr Murphy said it was an area of "enormous cultural heritage".
Last week, it was announced that major construction work on the A6 would begin within weeks.
However, only minor work will take place along the contested section as Mr Murphy had previously indicated that he intended to challenge the decision.
In his initial challenge, Mr Murphy had claimed that the proper environmental checks had not been done and the decision to proceed had been based on out-of-date surveys.
But lawyers for the Department for Infrastructure had argued that the assessments were based on accurate and regularly-updated information.
They said the chosen route did not cut through the protected wetland.
The judge found the appropriate assessments had been carried out and the decision to proceed with the road had been rational and lawful.
Announcing that he had lodged his appeal on Tuesday, Mr Murphy said: "I am not 'anti-road' as some recent comments have portrayed me, I support dualling of the A6 and smoother travel between Belfast and the north west.
"What I cannot support is the destruction of internationally important wetlands and an area of enormous cultural heritage.
"The area that would be impacted is a designated Special Protection Area due to its ecological value. It is the most important site in Ireland for the Whooper Swan and many other rare species of wildlife.
"In terms of history and heritage, the government's chosen route would impact significantly on a landscape made famous by Seamus Heaney. This should be an area to conserve and promote, not bulldoze and destroy."
Lough Beg is an important habitat for birds, including migratory swans, and has international protection. | An environmentalist who lost a court case challenging the route of a major road scheme close to landscape made famous by poet Seamus Heaney has lodged an appeal against the ruling. |
34979158 | He will give evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee, which is investigating doping in the sport.
Before the hearing, committee member Damian Collins MP said: "There needs to be more humility from the IAAF."
Russia was banned from international events after an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report alleged "state-sponsored doping".
Collins said that Coe "needs to recognise that there have clearly been problems with the way doping issues have been dealt with in the past".
The Conservative MP said he wanted to hear whether Coe will "set up an independent body to manage doping as cycling has done".
Coe ended an ambassadorial paid role with US sportswear giant Nike last week after conflict of interest claims.
It follows the awarding of the 2021 World Athletics Championships to Eugene, Oregon - which has close connections to Nike - without a bidding process.
On Monday three Kenya Athletics officials, including president Isaiah Kiplagat, were provisionally suspended by the ethics commission of the IAAF, which is looking into allegations of "subversion" of the anti-doping process in Kenya and "improper diversion" of funds received from Nike.
Coe was elected International Association of Athletics Federations president in August, succeeding Lamine Diack who is being investigated by French police over allegations he took bribes to cover up positive drugs tests when in charge of the sport's governing body.
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The IAAF president will be questioned about the organisation's response to doping allegations, including Lord Coe's claim that a Sunday Times investigation into suspicious blood results amounted to "a declaration of war on my sport".
Coe's delay in ending a 38-year association with Nike is almost certain to be discussed, while Collins says "there are still questions to answer about the awarding of the Eugene 2021 World Championships".
A BBC investigation on 24 November revealed emails suggesting that when Coe was vice-president of the IAAF, he lobbied former president Diack with support for Eugene.
Coe has told the BBC he "did not lobby anyone" over Eugene's bid, but "encouraged them to re-enter another bidding cycle as they had a strong bid".
Collins told The Times: "The big question is, given he is part of the old guard, is he the right man to lead the IAAF in a radical, new direction? He has to demonstrate that, although he was an IAAF insider for a long time, he is prepared to do whatever it takes."
Coe will also be questioned about receiving £63,000 from UK Sport to pay for his PR team as part of his IAAF presidential campaign.
The select committee called Coe to Parliament after his "declaration of war" comment.
In August, the Sunday Times published data of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes, which it had reviewed by scientists and said revealed an "extraordinary extent of cheating".
The IAAF called the allegations "sensationalist and confusing" and denied it had failed in its duty to carry out effective blood testing.
Coe, in the run-up to the IAAF presidential election, said: "The fightback has to start here. It is a declaration of war on my sport. There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug testing that warrants this kind of attack."
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The hearing on Wednesday will be covered by parliamentary privilege, which gives MPs and Coe the freedom to give evidence and make allegations without the risk of civil or criminal proceedings as result of what is said.
The select committee chairman, Jesse Norman MP, was accused by women's marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe of implicating her in blood doping allegations in September when he suggested London Marathon winners and medallists and "potentially, British athletes" were under suspicion.
Radcliffe, who was not named by Norman, said at the time it was "profoundly disappointing that the cloak of parliamentary privilege has been used to effectively implicate me".
Norman said his comments were "taken out of context".
Last week the IAAF and the UK Anti-Doping agency found Radcliffe innocent of blood doping.
The IAAF said Radcliffe had been "publicly accused of blood doping based on the gross misinterpretation of raw and incomplete data".
The committee has previously taken evidence from Dr Michael Ashenden, one of two scientists used by the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD to analyse the leaked IAAF data.
He and Dr Robin Parisotto concluded that hundreds of athletes had recorded suspicious results between 2001 and 2012 which were not followed up.
Last week the IAAF said the allegation it ignored suspicious results was "based on bad scientific and legal argument".
Dr Ashenden responded to the IAAF statement by describing it as a "disgraced federation" and said of Coe: "He was particularly vocal about my criticism of the IAAF, and defended its anti-doping department. I say the IAAF failed their athletes. Let's wait and see who is sitting on the right side of history."
Conservative MP Norman said: "Recent events have further underlined the seriousness of the issues raised by blood doping in sports, and the depth of public concern about them."
Collins, who has also campaigned for reform at football's world governing body Fifa, tweeted last week: "The IAAF should spend less time declaring war on their critics and more recognising the scale of the crisis world athletics faces."
The committee hearing is due to start at 14:15 GMT. | IAAF president Lord Coe is to be questioned by MPs on Wednesday about blood doping in athletics. |
36686891 | World champion Gwak Dong-han of South Korea defeated Sweden's Marcus Nyman by an ippon to win bronze.
Find out how to get into judo with our special guide.
And in the the other bronze medal contest, China's Cheng Xunzhao beat Mongolia's Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren by a yuko.
It was a good day for Japan in the Carioca Arena, with Haruka Tachimoto winning gold in the women's -70kg.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Japan's Mashu Baker beat Georgia's Varlam Liparteliani by a yuko to win the men's -90kg judo gold at Rio 2016. |
38483392 | Helina Kotlarova, 12, was killed by the driver in Oldham on New Year's Eve with Zaneta Krokova, 11, critically ill in hospital.
The girls had left a shop near their homes when they were hit by a black VW Golf in Ashton Road at about 19:15 GMT.
Greater Manchester Police said the driver of the car did not stop.
Family members have visited the crash site to lay floral tributes
Helina's sister Sylva, 19, told how her mother Sylva and father Robert raced to the scene 300ft (90m) from their home seconds after the crash.
She said: "When we went there she was on the floor. I've seen her face and it was all bleeding.
"I was trying to see if she could breathe or something but she couldn't breathe
"Mum was touching her hair."
She added: "She had asked mum for £2 as she just wanted to buy some food."
The family of seven sisters and one brother came to England from the Czech Republic eight years ago.
Miss Kotlarova said the girls were with a larger group of family and friends who had already crossed the road, one of the main routes into Oldham town centre, and the larger group was waiting on the opposite pavement.
The two cousins then started to cross the road outside the shop.
Miss Kotlarova said: "But as they came to the other side of the road the car ran them over. They were holding hands."
She added: "It is just hard to believe she has gone, she was just too young."
Witnesses said the car was driven fast and "flying away" after the collision. Seconds later friends ran to Helina's home to alert the family.
She said Helina attended the Collective Spirit free school in Oldham.
She added: "She liked dancing and she was always singing."
Her injured cousin is critically ill in hospital in Manchester.
Miss Kotlarova added: "I did speak to her family but they said she's still fighting for her life." | Two cousins were holding hands crossing the road when they were knocked down in a fatal hit-and-run crash, one of the victim's families has said. |
32616085 | Sam and Chris Ogrizovic's grandfather Nicola escaped Brlog when he was 14 years old.
He was kept prisoner in Italy for five years and later moved to Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire, for mining work.
Now his grandsons have hitchhiked the journey in reverse in five days without consulting a map or spending money.
The pair set off on on 1 May. Along the way they spent a night at a service station in the Austrian Alps and hitchhiked to Zagreb with a lorry driver who spoke no English.
As they walked through rural Croatia they met a couple who took them in for the night.
"We explained our story and they took us to their home in Ogulin and we started on the raki [alcoholic drink]," the pair wrote on their Facebook page.
"The hospitality shown has gone beyond kindness.
"Sounds gushy, but a truly life changing night!"
The couple, Toni and Goga, drove the cousins to Brlog and acted as translators as they discovered relatives they had not previously known about.
"We went to the cemetery and found the graves of my Papa's father, mother and sister, then we got taken to someone that knew my Papa and as we were sat talking through the translator they mentioned we were sat in his old house!" they said.
"After that we were told we had family in the village who had been trying to contact us but failed.
"So emotional.....celebrating with family we never knew we had and Papa has returned home!"
Nicola Ogrizovic, known as Nick, died from Alzheimer's disease last year, aged 86.
Sam, 30, from Nottinghamshire and cousin Chris, 31, son of former Coventry City goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic, decided to take on the challenge at their grandfather's funeral.
The pair have so far raised more than £5,300 for the Alzheimer's Society. | Two cousins who set off on a 1,100-mile (1,770km) trek in honour of their late grandfather who fled Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia have reached Croatia. |
31971743 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Far-fetched it may seem, but in domestic hockey one second-tier club is splashing the cash on the country's very best players.
In 2013, England captain Barry Middleton became one of a number of internationals to drop out of the Premier Division and sign for Holcombe, a small club based in Rochester, Kent.
The club's spending model has drawn criticism from local rivals, but is investing in what remains a largely amateur sport a positive development or creating an unfair playing field?
In 2013, Holcombe's men's and ladies' sides were playing in the Conference East, the second tier of English hockey.
With ambitions to climb to the top of the domestic game, the club altered their spending strategy from focusing on facilities and youth to attracting the country's best players.
To achieve this, the club invested heavily, with the money coming predominantly from the club's millionaire chairman David South, founder and chairman of Faithdean, a building construction management firm that turns over just under £60m a year.
Having been at the club for 49 years, and chairman for 37, the success of South's business has enabled him to put his own money into the club.
"We had to do something to give us a boost," he explains. "Our vision is not just the Premier Division; we aim to be a top-four club trying to get into Europe.
"We're just an unfashionable mid-Kent club. We needed some good players and a robust junior system parallel to that. You have to set your sights very high."
The 'boost' has brought instant success with the ladies achieving consecutive promotions in 2013 and 2014, narrowly missing the Premier Division play-offs in 2015.
And having spent seven years in the Conference East, the men are unbeaten this season, winning 17 of 18 league matches, scoring 110 goals and topping the table.
They are now taking part in the Promotion Tournament play-offs with Canterbury, Bowdon and Team Bath Buccaneers, as the four clubs fight for the two spots available in the top flight.
So why would a bunch of England internationals drop down a division from the top clubs in England?
Several of the star signings have had to withstand accusations that their moves were motivated purely for financial gain.
Barry Middleton is one of the most sought after players in the world, fetching over £35,000 at the 2014 Hockey India League auction. But he denies Holcombe's chequebook was the main factor in signing.
"It was a decision based on hockey as well as everything else," explains the 31-year-old.
"We have a team that can push to go up. It was not to play in the Conference for the last 10 years of my career.
"It stopped me going to Holland or Germany, meaning I can live in England, training full-time with GB."
Centrally-contracted internationals only earn up to £20,000 per year. Most supplement their income through sponsorship, coaching and public speaking.
"The England central contract is not enough to survive on," explains hockey journalist Rod Gilmour.
"They do coaching and to have this (money from Holcombe) is good for them. You can't blame the players at all.
"If the England central contracts were more, I think players would stay at Bisham Abbey (home to England Hockey) and find other ways to keep themselves busy."
South adds: "They have to earn a living. Without family support, if they try just to survive on their England contracts, they can't.
"We have to get money into the game. The only way that'll happen is with a few individuals and a few companies, that's the bit that isn't sustainable."
Across the country, the Holcombe approach has divided opinion with some clubs happy at investment in the game but others frustrated that they cannot compete with the riches on offer.
"It has caused considerable friction within the hockey fraternity," continues Gilmour.
"The underlying problem is that other clubs are now becoming jealous because Holcombe have a lot of money."
One of England's most successful sides, Premier Division leaders East Grinstead, will be looking over their shoulder as Holcombe begin to climb the ladder.
They pay some players too, but admit financing a club, where even replacing a pitch costs up to £250,000, can be a struggle.
"We are all to a certain extent in a hand-to-mouth model," says East Grinstead chairman Simon Longhurst. "We have to work hard every month, every year."
When asked if the club would turn away a wealthy investor, Longhurst replied: "It would depend on who they were, what their DNA was and their core values, let's put it that way."
For a sport that is largely amateur, even in the Premier Division, is a club willing to spend big beneficial in the long run?
"I don't criticise Holcombe or their chairman," says England Hockey chief executive Sally Munday.
"I think the more investment we can get is good for the sport."
Gilmour argues: "The main concerns are, one, whether the Holcombe model is sustainable and, two, whether the money is going to benefit Holcombe.
"The club's sponsor is David South's company. Is that sustainable? I don't think so."
With the majority of Holcombe's investment reliant largely on a sole benefactor, a downturn in the economy could have more serious consequences for the Kent club than others.
However, South makes no apologies for the upset his investment has caused, saying he wants to return Holcombe to its community foundations in the coming years.
"It's not win or bust. It must be sustainable," he says.
"Each year, we need to drop away a paid player and replace them with our own so we get back to a sustainable proportion." | Imagine Charlton Athletic signing Wayne Rooney or England rugby captain Chris Robshaw moving to Moseley. |
33302750 | No British victims have been officially identified but the names of some were confirmed by friends and family.
It comes as the relatives of others still missing since the gun attack near Sousse desperately await any news of their loved ones.
More than 1,000 British tourists have returned to the UK, while it is thought 2,500 more could fly home on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Theresa May is to chair a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee later.
Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui, 23, who has links with Islamic State, opened fire on tourists at noon on Friday.
Rezgui fired shots on the beach at the Imperial Marhaba and Bellevue hotels. The attack ended when he was shot dead by police.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered close to the scene a day after the attack for a rally against terrorism, with some holding candles and others carrying flags of the UK and Tunisia.
Further details have been emerging about those who lost their lives in the shooting, which was described as the most significant terrorist attack on British people since 52 were killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
The UK government has warned the death toll will rise in the Tunisia attack.
Among those so far confirmed dead by family or friends are:
One Belgian and one German have so far been identified among the dead, the health ministry said. There were also thought to be Tunisians and French killed in the attack.
At least 36 people were injured, some seriously.
'Only just sinking in'
Adrian Evans, from the West Midlands, was described as popular by his long-standing employer.
"Adrian was a lovely man. I've already been inundated from members of the council and other officers offering condolences to the family. He was well liked. He worked with us for a very, very long time and it's frankly only just sinking in," said Darren Cooper, leader of Sandwell Council, where Mr Evans worked.
Joel Richards, a student at the University of Worcester, was described as a "talented" local football referee, who had "the world at his feet".
"He was highly thought of and will be sadly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this tragic time," added Birmingham County FA.
Walsall FC said both Mr Evans and Mr Richards were fans of the club, and tweeted that those fellow supporters who wished to could lay scarves at the stadium from Monday.
Tributes were also paid to couple Sue Davey and Scott Chalkley, whose sons had taken to Twitter in the aftermath of the attack in a bid to find them.
Ms Davey's son Conor Fulford, posting on Twitter on Saturday night to confirm the death of his mother, said: "Love you always Mom, I've got my teddy bear you got me tonight, Rest easy xxxx"
Mr Chalkley's son Ross Naylor wrote: "I want to say thanks to everyone who has helped, you have all been amazing. One love to all and rest in peace dad."
Other relatives of those still missing continue to face an agonising wait for information.
Daniel Welch, from Swindon in Wiltshire, has not heard from his grandfather John Welch, 74 and his partner Eileen Swannack, 70 since the attack.
He said the hardest thing was "not knowing", adding: "We are at a bit of a loss and we can only expect the worst."
The family of Denis and Elaine Thwaites, from Blackpool, Lancashire, are appealing for information about their whereabouts.
The retired couple, aged 70 and 69, arrived in Sousse on Wednesday and had been staying at the Marhaba.
Their son-in-law Danny Clifford said news the family had received telling them Mr and Mrs Thwaites were in hospital was proved to be misinformation. "We are absolutely frantic," he added.
The UK government has warned the death toll is likely to rise because several people had been "seriously injured" in the attack.
It also warned further terrorist attacks in Tunisia, including in resort areas, were possible, "including by individuals who are unknown to the authorities".
It previously emerged that the gunman - who began his attack by posing as a swimmer but was carrying a rifle under a parasol - was not known to the authorities beforehand.
His parents, sister and close friends have been detained by the Tunisian authorities.
Many of the tourists in the affected hotels have left the country or are waiting for specially arranged flights - however others said they would stay.
Thomson and First Choice said some 5,400 of their customers remain in Tunisia, with up to 2,500 expected to return to the UK on Sunday.
An additional 11 Thomson flights as well as one third-party flight with Nouvelle Air are currently due to leave later.
Some holidaymakers decided not to take earlier flights to allow others to leave first.
Laura Hepple, from Runcorn, who escaped the gunfire by hiding in a hotel bathroom, said: "We had a flight booked for Sunday anyway and we decided we would stick with that, have the last day of the holiday. [We're] probably [in] the safest place at the moment with armed guards around and... let the people with families who're actually got another week left to take the earlier flights." | Tributes are being paid to victims of the Tunisia beach attack which left 38 dead, including at least 15 Britons. |
35880229 | Alun Cairns met UK mobile phone providers on Wednesday to try to address patchy mobile phone reception.
The UK government announced new powers to allow construction of taller phone masts without planning permission in England in the Budget.
Around 4% of users in Wales could not get voice coverage, Mr Cairns said.
He wants the Welsh Government to introduce similar powers, which would allow masts up to 25m in height to be erected in areas with low coverage, without planning permission. The current limit is 15m.
He said: "While I appreciate the success of progress so far and scale of challenge around improving mobile connections in Wales, there remain areas in rural parts of Wales that have no network coverage.
"The UK government used the Budget to announce greater freedoms and flexibilities for the deployment of mobile infrastructure - I'd like to see the Welsh Government consider something similar."
The Welsh Government has been asked to comment. | Taller phone masts, which are to be brought in in England, could help tackle 'not spots' in rural Wales, the new Welsh Secretary has said. |
32232608 | The exchange rate for dollars fell by almost a third on the first day that Blizzard let people swap real cash for game gold.
At launch, players could spend $20 (£13) to get 30,000 gold coins to spend on gear in the fantasy game world.
But 24 hours later the same amount of cash netted players about 20,000.
Before now the only way that World of Warcraft players could artificially boost the fortunes of their characters was by visiting a grey-market site and surreptitiously buying gold from unlicensed vendors.
The practice was fraught with peril because it was technically a violation of the WoW terms and conditions. Anyone caught buying gold this way could have their account closed down.
Late last year Blizzard announced plans to introduce a $20 "game time token" that could be converted into WoW's internal currency. Currently only North American players of WoW can buy the token.
The tokens can be traded on the game's internal auction house for gold - effectively giving people a way to turn real money into virtual cash. Those with lots of WoW gold can buy the token and use it to pay for their subscription to the online game.
The token trading system went live on 8 April and initially the exchange rate for each one climbed past the 30,000 starting point. But within hours the dollar exchange rates fell sharply and are now hovering around 22,000 for $20.
Some speculated that the dollar exchange rate would fall further to reach those seen on grey-market sources of WoW gold, which currently offer 10,000 to 15,000 coins for $20.
Before the launch Blizzard said the exchange rate for tokens would be set by internal game metrics.
Alec Meer, of the game news site Rock, Paper, Shotgun, told the BBC that there had been some initial "overreaction" to the drop in value of each token.
"It doesn't spell doom," he said. "Blizzard is trialling something new. They went in high to see what would happen, and there's going to be a whole lot of fluctuation as a game with a population of several million adapts to it.
"I'm sure the long-term plan is simply to bring more transactions within Blizzard's purview, and in doing so potentially reduce the influence of gold farmers and keep people playing for longer," he added. | The introduction of a way to use real money to buy virtual cash for World of Warcraft has prompted a big change in the value of the game's gold. |
37050490 | Ayling, who played 33 league games for the Robins last season as they finished 18th in the second tier, has signed a three-year contract at Elland Road.
The 24-year-old joined Bristol City in July 2014 from Yeovil, where he had played in 162 league matches.
He started his career at Arsenal, but failed to make a senior appearance before joining the Glovers in 2010.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Leeds United have signed right-back Luke Ayling from Championship rivals Bristol City for an undisclosed fee. |
38358773 | Two fine goals from Ethan Rafferty and a Conor White strike proved enough for Kieran McGeeney's side to triumph.
The Orchard men held out to claim the trophy despite having White and Aidan Forker sent-off in the second half.
Armagh led 2-5 to 0-7 at the break and their third goal 90 seconds into the second half gave them a vital cushion when their numbers were reduced.
Each time the Red Hands went level, the Orchard men hit them with a goal.
Harry Loughran had just tied it up at 0-3 each when White collected Oisin MacIomhair's pass to fire a low, angled shot past Mickey O'Neill.
And in the 36th minute, moments after Cathal McShane's point had made it 1-4 to 0-7, Rafferty set the game alight with a brilliant strike, smashed into the net from 12 yards from Rory Grugan's assist.
The Tyrone defence was caught cold after losing a kick-out, and Rafferty raced through to slot a low shot to the net for his second.
Points from Oisin MacIomhair and Anthony Duffy opened up a massive nine points gap, before White and Forker were both sent off on second bookings.
Tyrone fought back with scores from Declan McClure, Ronan O'Neill and Lee Brennan, but they had too much to do, and Armagh claimed the trophy with six points to spare.
Armagh scorers: Ethan Rafferty 2-3 (0-1 free, 0-1 '45), Conor White 1-0, Rory Grugan 0-2 (2 frees), Oisin MacIomhair (free), Anthony Duffy, Ben Crealey, Paul Hughes, Stefan Campbell 0-1 each.
Tyrone scorers: Ronan O'Neill 0-6 (5 frees), Declan McClure 0-2, Cahir McCullagh, Michael Cassidy, Harry Loughran, Lee Brennan, Cathal McShane 0-1 each
Armagh: Paddy Morrison, Paul Hughes, Brendan Donaghy, Ruairi McCaughley, Joe McElroy, Shea Heffron, Ciaran Higgins, Ben Crealey, Stephen Sheridan, Aidan Forker, Conor White, Rory Grugan, Anthony Duffy, Ethan Rafferty, Oisin MacIomhair.
Subs: Matthew McNeice for Morrison, Stefan Campbell for Duffy, Aaron McKay for Heffron, Charlie Vernon for Higgins, Aaron Findon for Rafferty, Jemar Hall for MacIomhair.
Tyrone: Mickey O'Neill, Ruairi Mullan, Hugh Pat McGeary, Michael Cassidy, Harry Loughran, Johnny Munroe, Conor Meyler, Conor Clarke, Cathal McShane, Declan McClure, Ronan O'Neill, Cahir McCullagh, Darren McCurry, Niall McKenna, Ronan McHugh.
Subs: Peter Harte for Clarke, Niall Sludden for Mullan, Aidan McCrory for McCullagh, Lee Brennan for McKenna, Frank Burns for McHugh
Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan). | Thirteen-man Armagh won the O'Fiaich Cup with a six-point win over holders Tyrone, 3-10 to 0-13, at Crossmaglen. |
14419663 | Animal researchers say that it will be impossible to stop all animal tests.
But most scientists accept that it is extremely important to minimise the suffering of laboratory animals, and to use as few animals as possible.
Some companies and shops offer products that have not been tested on animals. They often put information about this on their website. You can also write and ask the makers of your favourite products for more information. | Alternatives include: |
24617904 | In a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama, he said this was "unacceptable between friends and allies", demanding an explanation.
The White House said the claims "raise legitimate questions".
The NSA spied on 70.3 million phone calls in France between 10 December 2012 and 8 January 2013, it is claimed.
Officials, businesses and terror suspects are among those believed to have been tracked.
The allegations were carried in France's Le Monde newspaper and are based on leaks from US ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
They prompted President Obama to call his French counterpart to discuss the issue on Monday.
Mr Hollande said that such practices "infringe on the privacy of French citizens" and demanded "explanations" from Mr Obama, according to a statement issued by French presidency.
A White House statement said the two presidents had discussed the latest disclosures, "some of which have distorted our activities and some of which raise legitimate questions for our friends and allies about how these capabilities are employed".
It said: "President [Obama] made clear that the United States has begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington would continue "bilateral consultations" to address the issue, describing France as "one of our oldest allies".
"Protecting the security of our citizens in today's world is a very complicated, very challenging task... because there are lots of people out there seeking to do harm to other people," Mr Kerry said.
In an earlier statement, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that "all nations" conducted spying operations.
"As a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations," she said.
Le Monde says the NSA intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key words.
The agency also apparently captured millions of text messages.
It was unclear whether the content of the calls and messages was stored, or just the metadata - the details of who was speaking to whom.
And the paper did not say whether the operation, codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.
France's foreign ministry summoned US ambassador Charles Rivkin over the allegations.
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says the outrage is largely for public consumption, because the French government has been accused of running its own snooping operation similar to the US.
Who is Edward Snowden?
Leaks timeline
Le Monde reported in July that the French government was storing vast amounts of personal data of its citizens on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE intelligence service.
The latest revelations follow claims in the German media that US agents hacked into the email account of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Mr Snowden, a former NSA worker, went public with revelations about US spying operations in June.
The information he leaked led to claims of systematic spying by the NSA and CIA on a global scale.
Targets included rivals like China and Russia, as well as allies like the EU and Brazil.
The NSA was also forced to admit it had captured email and phone data from millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is currently in Russia, where he was granted a year-long visa after making an asylum application.
The US wants him extradited to face trial on criminal charges. | French President Francois Hollande has expressed "deep disapproval" over claims the US National Security Agency secretly tapped phone calls in France. |
36038793 | The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced the measures in its final UK air show safety regulation review following the fatal disaster in 2015.
It will also strengthen the requirements of post-display reports to "reflect the importance of feedback".
A vintage Hawker Hunter jet crashed on to the A27 on 22 August, killing 11.
The aircraft had been performing aerobatics at the annual Shoreham Airshow when it plummeted to the ground.
This year's show has been cancelled.
The head of the CAA, Dame Deirdre Hutton, said the measures were being brought in so the public had "every confidence that UK air shows meet the highest safety standards".
She added: "We began this review immediately after the accident at Shoreham last summer with the sole purpose of doing all that we can to make UK civil air shows even safer.
"It has been an extensive review, looking closely at all aspects of air show safety to identify any areas where the system can be strengthened.
"Air shows are enjoyed by millions of people up and down the country and we want them to be successful."
The "enhanced measures" include:
The CAA said restrictions introduced following the crash in August would remain in place until the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) had published its final report.
These measures saw Hawker Hunter jets grounded, ex-military jets restricted to fly-pasts over land and air shows subject to enhanced risk assessments.
The CAA also increased its air show charges from 1 April - by up to £2,695 for larger displays - to fund the measures.
Sywell air display in Northamptonshire will not go ahead because of the "likelihood of much higher CAA fees" and the people behind a display at Thockmorton in Worcestershire have threatened to cancel their event.
Organisers of the Manchester Airshow have blamed the timing of the review on the cancellation of its event this year.
Dame Deirdre said the CAA was working with the air-show community to make sure the "measures are implemented" for the upcoming display season and beyond".
The CAA is responsible for allowing air shows to go ahead and monitoring their safety. | Ex-military jets will have to perform aerobatic stunts at higher altitude and further away from crowds following a Shoreham crash report. |
33578174 | The Sun has published the film which shows the Queen aged about seven, with her mother, sister and uncle.
The palace said it was "disappointing that film, shot eight decades ago... has been obtained and exploited".
The newspaper has refused to say how it got the footage but said it was an "important and interesting story".
The black and white footage, which lasts about 17 seconds, shows the Queen playing with a dog on the lawn in the gardens of Balmoral, the Sun says.
The Queen Mother then raises her arm in the style of a Nazi salute and, after glancing towards her mother, the Queen mimics the gesture. Prince Edward, the future Edward VIII, is also seen raising his arm.
The footage is thought to have been shot in 1933 or 1934, when Hitler was rising to prominence as Fuhrer in Germany but the circumstances in which it was shot are unclear.
A Palace source said: "Most people will see these pictures in their proper context and time. This is a family playing and momentarily referencing a gesture many would have seen from contemporary news reels.
"No-one at that time had any sense how it would evolve. To imply anything else is misleading and dishonest."
The source added: "The Queen and her family's service and dedication to the welfare of this nation during the war, and the 63 years the Queen has spent building relations between nations and peoples speaks for itself."
BBC Royal correspondent Sarah Campbell said Buckingham Palace was not denying the footage was authentic but that there were "questions over how this video has been released".
Dickie Arbiter, a former Buckingham Palace press secretary, said the Palace would be investigating.
"They'll be wondering whether it was in fact something that was held in the Royal Archives at Windsor, or whether it was being held by the Duke of Windsor's estate," he said.
"And if it was the Duke of Windsor's estate, then somebody has clearly taken it from the estate and here it is, 82 years later.
"But a lot of questions have got to be asked and a lot of questions got to be answered."
Sun managing editor Stig Abell said he did not accept Buckingham Palace's accusation that the footage had been "exploited".
He said the newspaper had decided to publish the story because it was of great public importance and the involvement of Prince Edward gave it "historical significance".
The then Prince of Wales faced numerous accusations of being a Nazi sympathiser and was photographed meeting Hitler in Munich in October 1937.
BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt
It's an arresting, once private image on the front of a national newspaper.
Its publication has prompted Palace officials to talk about a breach of privacy and the Sun to argue it's acting in the national interest.
Apart from the obvious anger on one side, it's striking how both sides have talked of the need to put the home movie in its "proper context".
From the Palace perspective this is a six-year-old princess who didn't attach any meaning to the gesture. Such an explanation doesn't, of course, explain the thinking of her mother.
Those around the royals are also keen to focus on the war record of the then King, Queen and their two daughters.
What they're less keen to focus on - and what the Queen would like not to be reminded of - is the behaviour of her uncle.
A man, who was briefly King, and whose fascination with Nazi Germany is well documented.
Read Peter Hunt's blog here
Mr Abell said: "We are not using it to suggest any impropriety on behalf of them. But it is an important and interesting issue, the extent to which the British aristocracy - notably Edward VIII, in this case - in the 1930s, were sympathetic towards fascism.
"That must be a matter of national and public interest to discuss. And I think this video and this footage animates that very clearly."
Mr Abell told the BBC the video was a piece of "social history" and said the paper had set out the context of the time and explained that the Queen and Queen Mother went on to become "heroes" of World War Two.
He denied the video had intruded into the Royal Family's privacy.
"I think this is a piece of social history. One of the most significant events in our country's history, the Second World War, the rise of Nazism, one of the most pernicious movements in human history, and I think one is entitled to have a look at some of the background to it."
He added: "We're very clear. We're of course not suggesting anything improper on behalf of the Queen or the Queen Mum."
The Queen was 13 when World War Two broke out and she later served in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service.
In June she made a state visit to Germany where she visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and met some of the survivors and liberators. | Buckingham Palace has said it is disappointed that footage from 1933 showing the Queen performing a Nazi salute has been released. |
37474396 | It arrived amid a fierce debate about the future of fracking in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
The tanker, carrying 27,500m3 of ethane from US shale fields, is bound for the Grangemouth petrochemicals plant owned by Ineos.
Ineos said the gas would secure the future of the plant's workforce.
But many politicians and environmental groups have criticised the shipment.
They claim the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals into the rock at high pressure damages the environment.
Drilling for shale gas is only at an exploratory phase in the UK.
The Scottish government has placed a moratorium on all fracking in Scotland while a study into its impact is carried out.
It said ministers were "unavailable to attend" the arrival of the shale gas shipment.
The tanker had been due to dock at midday. A fresh attempt will be made at about midnight.
By John Moylan, BBC employment and industry correspondent
Ineos says access to cheap US shale gas will transform the economics of Grangemouth.
And it believes that the creation of a chemical and manufacturing hub around the plant could pass that competitive advantage on to others.
But cheap US ethane won't just help Grangemouth.
Ineos has also signed a long term supply agreement with the Exxon Mobil/Shell Ethylene plant in Fife.
A pipeline will also carry ethane from Grangemouth to Ineos's plant in Hull where it recently announced a multi-million pounds investment to take advantage of shale gas economics.
Now rivals are responding. US shale gas will soon be coming to another petrochemicals plant on Teesside, where the Saudi chemicals firm SABIC has also announced a "very significant" investment.
Some say this could amount to a renaissance for our chemicals industry which provides key products for manufacturers across the UK.
At the very least it should boost its global competitiveness and help safeguard jobs for years to come.
Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos founder and chairman, said shale gas had helped to secure 10,000 jobs.
He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that the chemicals industry was "not perfect" and that there would be the "occasional" environmental issue.
Mr Ratcliffe added: "What I am saying is I don't think it is any different to the chemical industry - there isn't a product that you buy or consume that doesn't require a chemical of one form or another.
"And the chemical industry is extremely good at managing environmental issues and safety issues, but it is not perfect. It is like a puncture in your car - occasionally you get a puncture and occasionally we have an accident in chemicals."
The company said the shipment aboard the carrier Ineos Insight was the culmination of a £1.6bn investment resulting in eight tankers forming a "virtual pipeline" across the Atlantic between the US and the UK and Norway.
Ineos argues that with the North Sea's supply of ethane dwindling, the shipments from the US are the only way of bringing in sufficient gas at low enough prices to maintain its olefins and polymers business at Grangemouth in the face of global competition.
It believes the US shale gas will provide sufficient raw material to run its manufacturing site at full rates, something that has not been possible for many years.
By BBC Scotland energy and environment correspondent Kevin Keane
Most people imagine shale gas as something you burn to create electricity and energy. What Ineos will do with it at Grangemouth is take ethane from the gas and create plastic pellets for general manufacturing.
It's something that's already being done at the plant and up until now Ineos has been getting that ethane from North Sea natural gas.
The company says that previously there have been plentiful supplies in the North Sea, but for the past three or four years it's been diminishing and the pellet-making process has been running at half speed.
The US shale gas means Ineos can push Grangemouth back up to full production with weekly deliveries creating a "virtual pipeline" that will allow them to keep supplies topped up.
The Grangemouth facility is home to Scotland's only crude oil refinery and produces the bulk of fuels used in Scotland, with the site said to contribute about 3% of Scottish GDP.
It is also home to Europe's biggest ethane tank, which is capable of holding 60,000m3 of gas after it arrives by tanker.
Ineos has said the shale shipments should safeguard the future of Grangemouth's 1,300 workers.
The company has signed 15-year contracts with suppliers to pipe ethane from the shale fields in the US to purpose-built export facilities on the east and Gulf coasts of America.
From there, the gas will be shipped across the Atlantic in a fleet of eight specially-designed Dragon-class ships commissioned by Ineos.
Ports in Norway, Portugal, and Spain have all received shale gas shipments this year following the lifting of a ban on the export of US oil and gas, but the arrival of the Ineos Insight will be the first to the UK.
Unconventional oil and gas extraction remains controversial in the UK, with the UK Labour Party following Scottish Labour in backing a ban on fracking if it wins the next general election.
Despite pleas from Ineos to embrace shale gas drilling, the Scottish government moratorium on the practice remains in place, in contrast to the pro-fracking stance of the UK government.
The Scottish Parliament voted to support an outright ban on fracking in June after SNP MSPs abstained.
The Scottish government said it had commissioned a series of independent research projects into unconventional oil and gas to examine potential environmental, health and economic impacts to inform its "evidence-led approach" to the issue.
A spokesman said these projects were due to report later this year, with the public consultation taking place during winter 2016-17.
He added: "The moratorium will remain in place throughout this process and the Scottish government will use the results of the consultation to inform its decision on the way forward."
Mary Church, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "It is completely unacceptable to attempt to prop up Ineos's petrochemicals plants on the back of human suffering and environmental destruction across the Atlantic.
"The fact that Scottish public money is tied up in this project is disgraceful.
"Setting aside the devastating local impacts of fracking, the climate consequences of extracting yet more fossil fuels are utterly disastrous." | The first shipment of US shale gas to be delivered to the UK remains anchored in the Firth of Forth, unable to dock because of strong winds. |
40325035 | Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna are testing the safety of their experimental treatment in 72 volunteers.
The jab is designed to stop fatty deposits from clogging the arteries.
It would offer patients an alternative to taking daily pills to cut their risk of stroke, angina and heart attacks.
It will take years more of testing to know if the treatment will be safe and effective enough for human use, Dr Guenther Staffler and colleagues from The Netherlands Organisation of Applied Scientific Research say in the European Heart Journal.
Even if it does become available, in six years' time, it should not be seen as an excuse for people to avoid exercise and eat lots of high-fat food, they add.
The jab helps the body's immune system to attack a protein, called PCSK9, that would otherwise allow "bad" low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol to build up in the bloodstream.
The researchers envisage that patients could have a yearly booster shot to top up their immunity.
In mice, the treatment cuts LDL cholesterol by up to 50% over 12 months and appears to protect against the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries (atherosclerosis).
Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in the blood. We all need it, but too much "bad" LDL cholesterol increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
"Good" high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, on the other hand, is beneficial because it helps transport other types of cholesterol from the blood to the liver, where it can be broken down.
Some people have high cholesterol because of an inherited condition called familial hypercholesterolaemia.
Poor diet, high alcohol consumption, smoking and inactivity are also linked with high cholesterol.
People with high cholesterol can take cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.
But although these are very cheap and effective, they will not work for everyone.
Some people dislike taking daily medication or forget to take it because they are feeling well. Rarely, there can be side-effects.
Researchers have been looking at alternative treatment options that they can give to patients alongside or instead of statins.
The first phase of testing on 72 human volunteers should be completed by the end of the year.
This will check if there are any safety issues or side-effects before more studies in people can begin.
There is a concern that the therapeutic vaccine might increase the risk of diabetes.
The researchers at the Medical University of Vienna who are conducting the human studies will be on the look out for this.
Dr Tim Chico, a cardiologist from the University of Sheffield, said: "Many questions remain about whether this approach could work in man.
"This is yet more proof that cholesterol causes heart disease, and lowering cholesterol reduces risk of heart disease, so it confirms the importance of a healthy lifestyle for everyone and medications such as statins for some people to reduce risk of heart disease."
Prof Sir Nilesh Samani, from the British Heart Foundation, said: "Finding new ways to manage people's cholesterol levels is absolutely vital.
"Although only tested in mice, this vaccine could lead to a simple way to target high cholesterol and ultimately reduce people's risk of heart disease."
Follow Michelle on Twitter | Human trials of a cholesterol-lowering vaccine to help prevent heart disease are under way after successful studies in mice. |
39103970 | Since the 1920s, people have come here from across the UK and around the world to look for work.
The town's enormous trading estate welcomed them all.
And everyone has benefited.
Today, Slough has one of the most successful economies in the country.
Unemployment is just 1.4%, and the average wage is £558 per week.
But Slough is not quite the model of integration it seems.
Ten years ago, I came to the town to make a BBC Panorama programme about immigration.
Back in 2007, Slough had seen thousands of new arrivals from Central and Eastern Europe.
Many of the older residents didn't like it.
"If you go to the shop, you can't buy Kingsmill," one woman told me. "It's all Polish bread."
"They're very angry around here," another said.
"Not being disrespectful to the Polish, but they're moving in and they give them houses."
The Poles weren't getting all the houses and you could buy English bread, but you could feel a resentment that immigration had gone too far.
Ten years on, immigration is now a national debate.
So, where does that leave the town that made its fortune with the help of migrant workers?
In a noisy workshop on the outskirts of the town, Salvatore Caruso and his workers cut and polish marble.
Mr Caruso, son of an Italian migrant, was using Polish workers when I came here 10 years ago, and he still is now.
He tells me his workforce has tripled in size in the past decade.
"If you take the migrant workers out of it, who's going to do the work?" he asks.
Slough's economy relies on migrant workers.
So many new arrivals might make a town successful, but they also change it. For some here, the change was too much.
Slough voted for Brexit. The town that made its fortune with migrant labour wanted out of Europe.
Sylwia Leszczynska is Polish and came to Slough 11 years ago to work as a carer for elderly people.
She planned her future in the UK.
She bought a house with her husband, Konrad.
Their children go to British schools.
But she doesn't believe in the dream anymore.
''Immigration, it's not so good an idea, like we thought before," she says.
"I now think more about going back to Poland.
"I've got a feeling they don't want us here.'
Her husband nods, and adds quietly: "Mr Farage opened Pandora's box.
"And now it's just worse really, worse than it was before."
Slough is an extraordinary mix.
It's the most ethnically diverse area outside London.
There are 150 different languages spoken there.
The last census found that two in every five of the town's residents had migrated to the UK.
But something else is happening here.
White British people are abandoning Slough.
Bernie and Ann Downes are moving out.
Mr Downes is deep in his garage, digging out the things he wants to take to their new home in Norfolk.
He and his wife have lived in Slough for most of their lives.
But they say it has changed too much.
"I feel quite sad," says Mrs Downes.
"I just loved Slough and everything about it.
"But now I can't find anything I like about Slough."
In 2001, there were 69,441 white British people living in Slough.
By 2011, that figure had dropped to 48,620.
White British people are now a minority.
Mr Downes says he is not a racist, but immigration is an issue.
"I don't feel any antipathy against the people," he adds.
"What I am against is the uncontrolled immigration."
There are plenty of people in Slough who are unhappy about immigration.
"Strain on the resources" is the most common complaint you hear.
But despite the pressure, research suggests most communities still get along.
Rob Deeks runs a charity that works with children.
"When we ask them if they've experienced racism, they have, but not in Slough," he says.
"They say, 'In the town up the road,' or, 'On the train.'
"This place is diverse, but it gets on."
Slough is about change, and it never stops.
The reason migrants came here in the 1920s is the reason they come here now - jobs.
On an icy Slough morning, a father and son brave the chill to walk to work.
They are from Seville in southern Spain, but Arturo Benjumeda and Arturo Jr are both now working at a printing company.
Arturo Sr moved to Slough after the Brexit vote.
The 60-year-old says he needed to work.
In Seville - a city where almost a third of the population is unemployed - he faced losing his home.
"I arrived here at night time, and I was already working in the morning," he says.
"Everything was new for me, so I felt quite stressed and very nervous."
His wife, Maria, has also found work, in a pub.
She says the Brexit vote didn't put them off.
"Our situation was so desperate, we had nothing to lose by coming here," she says.
Slough's story is driven by economics: the town that built its success on immigration, where some have had enough of the change it brings.
Richard Bilton's report, Life in Immigration Town, is on Panorama on BBC One at 20:30 on Monday 27 February and will be available to watch later via BBC iPlayer. | Walk down Slough's High Street, and you can see how the town has made its money: this place is built on immigration. |
32395923 | Emergency services were called to the scene near Gower View Foods factory, Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, at 08:05 BST. The man died at the scene.
A second man was taken to Llanelli's Prince Philip Hospital as a precautionary measure, said the Welsh Ambulance Service.
The Health and Safety Executive is assisting police with their inquiries.
The incident was on the site of a new factory being built for Gower View Foods and next door to its original plant.
Gower View Foods director Jon Lewis said: "We are devastated for the builder and for the family. It's a very sad situation."
A digger has been cordoned off at the scene.
An ambulance service spokesman said: "We sent a rapid response car and two emergency ambulances to the scene, where sadly a man was pronounced dead."
An HSE spokeswoman said: "There was a fatality this morning at Gower Foods in Cross Hands. The HSE is aware and we are assisting police with their enquiries at this stage." | A 22-year-old man has died after an incident involving a digger-type machine, say Dyfed-Powys Police. |
32100125 | But that didn't stop Lewis Hamilton taking pole position for Mercedes.
He finished 0.074 seconds ahead of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, whilst Nico Rosberg came in third.
It's Hamilton's 40th finish in pole position; he'll be hoping to win again on Sunday. | Lightning, thunder and heavy rain delayed the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix for more than half an hour. |
31790574 | The network ran a slate referring to the film's title, during the hour-long slot when it should have aired.
The film, which features an interview with one of the men convicted of the Delhi bus rape, was due to be broadcast by the channel on Sunday night.
But it was outlawed by the Indian authorities on the grounds of "objectionable content".
Explaining its decision not to broadcast an alternative show from 21:00 to 22:00 local time (15:30-16:30 GMT), editorial director Sonia Singh said in a tweet: "We won't shout, but we will be heard."
Other Twitter users praised the decision. One comment read: "Kudos @ndtv for the #IndiasDaughter protest. A surprisingly mature decision in a mediascape that seems to deteriorate by by the day."
Another said: "@ndtv they may not always be right, but this time they are."NDTV
Filmmaker Leslee Udwin, who directed India's Daughter, has rejected claims by the authorities that the documentary contained offensive remarks towards women, and could cause a public outcry.
She also denied allegations that she broke a contract with the prison by airing the interview with rapist, Mukesh Singh.
He is facing the death penalty for his part in the rape and murder of a medical student on a bus in Delhi in 2012, which sparked protests across India.
The BBC's director of television, Danny Cohen defended the corporation's decision to show the film in the UK, despite a request from the Indian government that it shelve the broadcast.
"We do not feel the film as currently edited could ever be construed as derogatory to women or an affront to their dignity," he said. | India's NDTV has halted programming in protest at the banning of the BBC documentary India's Daughter. |
37271002 | Placards reading "save our A&E" and "Our NHS is here to stay" were waved along the route from Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (HRI) to Greenhead Park.
Under the proposals, all emergency acute and high-risk planned care would be brought together at Calderdale Royal Hospital in neighbouring Halifax.
NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG said no decision had been made on the plans.
The proposals, which could save the NHS £31m, would see a new site developed in Acre Mills, Huddersfield, as a hospital for planned care, but with no A&E.
A public consultation recently revealed 60% of 7,500 respondents felt they would be negatively hit.
Karl Deitch, from the Hands off HRI group, said the march was to show the town "won't take it lying down".
"We're not stopping, they need to take a look and think - we have to go to a plan B, we need another alternative," he said.
Speakers at a rally at Greenhead Park included Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, and Jason McCartney, Conservative MP for Colne Valley.
Several demonstrations against the proposals have now been staged, with a petition signed by more than 63,000 supporters.
A spokesperson for NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG said: "The CCGs' governing bodies will make the decision on the outcome of the consultation and next steps regarding the proposed changes to local hospital and community health services at a meeting in parallel on 20 October." | Hundreds of people have marched in Huddersfield against the proposed closure of the town's A&E department. |
37960809 | They responded to seven incidents last weekend and five first responders are using pedal-power again on Saturday as the city hosts big crowds with Wales' rugby and football teams in action.
The service could be rolled out in other areas, according to the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.
"I'm sure this will save lives in the city centre," said boss Richard Lee.
It could also help to avoid sending an emergency ambulance if suitable treatment can be administered on scene in city centre locations like pedestrianised areas.
Bob Tooby, head of the ambulance's operations in Cardiff & Vale, said: "We have tested the bikes across the Vale of Glamorgan and are already in discussion to expand their use across other areas around Wales over the next three years.
"Early results are promising with the new bikes having been tested last weekend during the Wales v Australia international, and the team responded to seven calls in the busy city centre and Cardiff Bay."
The service is already in operation elsewhere in the UK and St John Ambulance have had cycle responders for several years. | Paramedics are using bicycles to get to callouts quicker in Cardiff city centre. |
34075388 | The outstanding issues involving the 24-year-old Belgium midfielder's proposed transfer from Wolfsburg have now been resolved.
The fee will exceed the £49m City paid Liverpool for Raheem Sterling in July.
De Bruyne was not included in the Wolfsburg squad for Friday's Bundesliga game against Schalke.
The former Chelsea player is set to become the second most expensive signing by British club after Manchester United's £59.7m deal for Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid in 2014.
He started just five matches for the Blues after joining from Genk in January 2012 and spent 2012-13 on loan at Werder Bremen.
De Bruyne joined Wolfsburg in January 2014 for an undisclosed fee thought to be around £16.7m.
On Thursday, Wolfsburg's director of sport Klaus Allofs admitted that Manchester City had made an "astonishing" offer to the player.
He said: "We can't compete with that. I would prefer to keep him, not to get the money." | Kevin de Bruyne is set to have a medical with Manchester City before a club-record move to the Premier League side. |
38978613 | Managing director Stewart Robertson said Rangers "want to be a modern football club", adding that a director of football would bring "continuity".
"It works provided everyone involved in the club is willing to get behind it," Smith told BBC Scotland.
"I feel it's the right way ahead."
Former Scottish FA chief executive Smith, 62, served as director of football for 10 months under the Craig Whyte regime, leaving shortly after the club entered administration in February 2012.
"It's a continental strategy," Smith explained. "We've been a bit reluctant in Scotland to apply it but you have some clubs now who are doing it, and Hearts are a good example. It's working well there so I think that's exactly what Rangers need to do to take the club forward in a very positive sense."
Ally McCoist was the manager when Smith, a former Rangers player, took up his position.
"If it's something that comes in from the higher echelon then there's more chance of it working.
"When I went in six years ago, there was no, I would say, good feeling about it in terms of the people that were already there. They didn't think it was required and I found it very difficult to do my job even in terms of the reports I had done, the changes that needed made.
"The person who goes into that job actually has to operate the strategy of the club. I was trying to put a strategy in place at that time that was uniform and that everyone could adhere to but I had difficulties with it."
Smith, who made his Rangers debut in 1977 after a move from Kilmarnock, warns that a new approach will take time to bed in.
"You're looking at a medium to long term strategy," he said.
"What you're looking at is to say 'OK we need to put things in place; the club in general has to run in a certain way'. The first team will still have a coach and there will still be pressure on the first team manager to deliver results.
"But other than that, you need to put something in place for the club as a whole in terms of youth development and the scouting department and everything to do with the media and all that sort of thing so the club runs in a very clear and good operative manner.
"It could take a while there's no doubt about that. It needs finance coming in as well to compete at where Rangers want to be."
Willie Miller, Aberdeen director of football from 2011-12
I think it's a good model but there are question marks in Scotland about whether coaches and managers would buy into it, older managers in particular.
I thought it worked well at Aberdeen. It's working well at Hearts.
Managers or head coaches need that help behind the scenes. There's an awful lot of work, particularly in negotiating contracts, that can be taken out of their hands and they can focus fully on coaching the team.
I know how Gordon Smith feels, it is a very difficult job to implement, particularly when you've got a bit of negativity going about in terms of whether it actually is the right way to go or not. | Rangers are correct to pursue a model in which a new manager would work under a director of football, according to Gordon Smith, who previously struggled to make an impact in such a role. |
31607065 | Bill O'Reilly told his Fox News viewers there was "horrific" violence during an assignment for CBS News in Buenos Aires, even though it was hundreds of miles from the conflict.
An article last week questioned his claims he reported in a "war zone."
Few reporters made it to the islands where the war was fought.
On Monday night's The O'Reilly Factor, he said: "As you may know, some left-wing zealots have attacked me, your humble correspondent.
"They say I trumped up my war experiences in the Falklands conflict and El Salvador - at issue, the huge riot immediately after the Argentines surrendered to the British in 1982.
"As I reported accurately, the violence was horrific."
He showed clips from the CBS video that he said proved what he said was true. And he spoke to journalists who said it was a "real war" on the streets of the Argentinean capital.
But former CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg, who was there, described O'Reilly's account as "dishonest".
In an interview with the Huffington Post, he disputed O'Reilly's claim that his cameraman had been knocked down and needed rescuing.
Mother Jones broke the story shortly after NBC News anchor Brian Williams stood down for six months for misrepresenting his experiences in the Iraq War.
Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes has said he fully supports O'Reilly. | One of the most famous news show hosts in the US has hit back at allegations that he exaggerated his involvement in reporting on the Falklands War in 1982. |
36714557 | Fans have been delighted by images of players including Gareth Bale, Hal Robson-Kanu and Ashley Williams celebrating with their children in their victorious run to the last four.
However Uefa said: "It is a European Championship, not a family party."
Wales, who beat Belgium 3-1 in the quarter-final, face Portugal in Lyon.
Tournament director Martin Kallan said: "A stadium is not the most safe place for small kids if fans invaded the field, and with stadium staff operating machinery on the playing surface."
A Uefa official said: "It is nice pictures. We are not 100% against it but we are cautious."
Pictures of Gareth Bale holding his daughter Alba on the pitch following Wales' defeat of Northern Ireland were splashed across conventional and social media, and his team-mates followed suit after Wales' victory over Belgium last week. | Wales' players have been asked not to bring their children onto the pitch after Wednesday's Euro 2016 semi-final because it is "not a safe place". |
36399667 | Sandra Weir, 41, is accused of killing Mary Logie at the pensioner's home in Leven on 5 January 2016.
It is claimed she repeatedly struck Mrs Logie on the head and body with the rolling pin "or similar instrument".
Ms Weir is further accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by cleaning blood at the property and disposing of clothing.
Prosecutors also claim Ms Weir stole from Mrs Logie on various occasions over more than six years.
Ms Weir made her first public appearance at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.
The indictment alleges she took a bank card or cards in the pensioner's name.
She is also said to have stolen greeting cards containing money, cash, two rings as well as what is described as "correspondence".
The charge states this occurred between April 2010 and the day of the murder.
She faces another charge of using a bank card in Mrs Logie's name to steal a total of £4,460.
A further allegation claims Ms Weir fraudulently used a debit card to buy £314 of goods at a shop in Leven.
A separate fraud charge then claims she pretended to be authorised by the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity to collect cash for them.
Prosecutors also accuse her of possessing drugs and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Her QC, Murray Macara, pled not guilty on her behalf. He also lodged a special defence of alibi in connection with the murder charge.
The hearing was told the case could involve 200 witnesses. | A woman is to stand trial in December charged with murdering an 82-year-old woman with a rolling pin in Fife. |
39218677 | These are just some of the reactions to Barcelona's astonishing Champions League comeback from a 4-0 first-leg defeat by Paris St-Germain.
The Catalans turned the tie on its head - and scrambled the senses of fans worldwide - by winning the return leg 6-1 at the Nou Camp. They were 5-3 down on aggregate in the 88th minute.
Social media sites were ablaze with comment but one Tweet, from Dunfermline Athletic's official account, stood out.
".@FCBarcelona... congratulations guys.... fancy a friendly to say sorry for taking our record," read the tongue-in-cheek invite from the Scottish Championship club.
So, what is the record the Fifers are referring to, and is it the finest comeback involving a Scottish team in Europe?
Valencia won the 1961-62 Fairs Cup by beating Barcelona 7-3 on aggregate. The following season the holders journeyed to East End Park on an icy night just before Christmas boasting a 4-0 lead from the first leg.
Manager Jock Stein, less than three years before his appointment at Celtic, had urged his Dunfermline players to attack from the first whistle.
And the team, who had beaten Everton in the previous round, rattled the Spaniards with three goals within 17 minutes.
The Fifers then conceded a goal but scored two more to peg the match at 5-5 on aggregate at half-time.
Centre-half Jim MacLean deflected a shot into his own net to dampen the hosts' hopes before Alex Smith made it 6-2 on the night, 6-6 on aggregate.
In the days before the away goals rule, the tie was decided in a third game in Lisbon, which Valencia won 1-0 to reach the quarter-finals. The Spaniards went on to retain the trophy with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
Arguably, Kilmarnock's feat against Eintracht Frankfurt in their first year in European football trumps the Pars' claim.
The Germans, who had lost 7-3 to Real Madrid in the famous 1960 European Cup final at Hampden, were 3-0 up from the first leg.
And they looked to have killed off any Killie hopes of progressing to round two of the Fairs Cup when they scored within two minutes at Rugby Park to make it 4-0.
But the 14,930 fans roared the hosts forward and Ronnie Hamilton netted twice with Brian McIlroy, James McFadzean and John McInally also scoring to seal a sensational comeback.
Celtic came close to over-turning a 5-0 first-leg defeat by Artmedia Bratislava in 2005, winning the second leg 4-0. But can anything better those games involving Killie and the Pars?
Use the comments section to provide us with suggestions and share your memories of great European nights involving your club. | "Crazy and unbelievable", "the best match I have ever played in my life", "a historic achievement that will be remembered forever". |
38923451 | Mr Bercow said this week he would be "strongly opposed" to US President Donald Trump addressing Parliament, accusing him of "racism and sexism".
James Duddridge said Mr Bercow had "overstepped the mark" although he did not expect his motion to be debated.
The Speaker is the highest authority of the House of Commons and is expected to remain politically impartial.
Who is John Bercow?
Mr Duddridge told the BBC: "I've done this because Speaker Bercow for a long time has been overstepping the mark and with his comments on the state visit [of President Trump] he has clearly expressed views.
"That is not the role of the Speaker, and it is impossible for him to chair debates as Speaker adjudicating on things he has expressed a view on.
"I've tabled a motion to the House of Commons. I expect over the week of recess for people to be supporting that but they can't actually sign it until the first day back.
"But to be frank, I think there's a very real possibility that once the level of discontent is known and Speaker Bercow sees the writing is on the wall he will go of his own accord."
BBC Parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy said other senior backbenchers doubt that Mr Duddridge's tactics would work.
He said Mr Bercow has a reservoir of support on the backbenches - particularly among pro-Brexit Conservative backbenchers - and was seen to have enabled MPs to challenge the government far more effectively.
Mr Duddridge, Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East, had already written to the prime minister, asking for MPs to be given a free vote if there was a vote of no confidence in the Speaker.
Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke tweeted on Thursday that he disagreed with President Trump's executive order barring migrants from seven countries but added: "John Bercow has politicised the office of Speaker and his position is untenable."
But fellow Conservative Claire Perry said on BBC One's Question Time: "I think for us to try and remove a speaker over something that he said would be really rather drastic. He's entitled to his opinions, perhaps he just shouldn't have addressed them on this particular issue."
Meanwhile an early day motion calling for officials to withhold permission for Mr Trump to address Parliament, has now been signed by 204 MPs - largely from the Labour Party.
That motion was sponsored by the Labour MP Stephen Doughty - whose point of order about it on Monday prompted Mr Bercow's initial comments.
President Trump has accepted an invitation from the Queen for a state visit to the UK, which can include an address to both Houses of Parliament, later this year.
However, responding to a point of order in the Commons on Monday, Mr Bercow said he was opposed to Mr Trump speaking to MPs and peers saying it was "not an automatic right", but an "earned honour", to applause from Labour and SNP MPs.
He has since said it was time "to move on to other matters".
In March 2015 a bid to change the rules on electing Commons speakers - which was seen by some as a bid by the Tory leadership to oust Mr Bercow - was defeated by 228 votes to 202.
Mr Bercow is one of three "key holders" to Westminster Hall - where Mr Trump's predecessor Barack Obama spoke in 2011 - along with the Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Fowler, and the Lord Great Chamberlain, a hereditary peer in charge of certain parts of the Palace of Westminster.
All three must agree in order for an address to take place there.
No date for Mr Trump's visit has been announced. | A Conservative MP is hoping to increase pressure on Commons Speaker John Bercow by tabling a no-confidence motion. |
36065939 | The bodies were found at a house in Dawson Avenue in Spalding on Friday.
Police believe they are Elizabeth Edwards, 49, and her 13-year-old daughter Katie although they have not been formally identified.
The two teenagers have both been remanded to appear before Lincoln Magistrates' Court on Monday.
They are believed to be a boy and a girl, but officers have not confirmed this.
Post-mortem examinations on the victims are due to be carried out shortly.
Det Ch Insp Martin Holvey, who is leading the inquiry, has appealed for anyone who was in the Dawson Avenue area from about midday on Wednesday 13 April to the same time on Friday to contact the police.
He added: "Our officers will continue to carry out inquiries in the locality and local uniformed officers will also be in the area.
"If you have any concerns please don't hesitate to talk to them."
Neighbours said that they last saw Ms Edwards, a dinner lady at a local primary school, on Tuesday.
Posting on Facebook, Ms Edwards' partner Graham Green wrote: "My babe has gone but you will always in my heart forever and ever and ever.
"The lady meant the world to me, she was my rock. Katie, so young, lots of good times in front of us been taken away r.i.p."
A friend of Katie's described her as being "like a sister" and Ms Edwards as a second mother. | Two 14-year-olds have been charged with murder after the deaths of a mother and daughter in Lincolnshire. |
37617663 | Spink, part of Bruce's backroom team at Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland, has been linked to Villa.
But, although he hopes Bruce gets the job, at 58, Spink says he is too old.
"I'm racing towards 60. If I started kicking 100 balls a day, probably my leg would fall off," he told BBC WM.
"I'm pro Steve Bruce. And I'm happy to speak to him about all departments and would give him 100 per cent backing. But there's nothing in that story.
"I haven't spoken to Steve for some 18 months or so. I texted him when Hull City got to the FA Cup final, wished him all the best and got a nice reply. But I've since been busy with my business.
"And if he was to ask me, the answer would probably be no. That might come as a surprise to Villa fans, but a goalkeeping coach job is for a younger man."
Spink continued: "I'm fit and healthy, my business is running well and, if I took the job and it only lasted two years, I would lose business which it would take a while to get back.
"In any case, I enjoy being a fan. I know we haven't had much to jump and down about over the last two years, but I still enjoy going down there. To be sat watching the supporters and their passion has been a real eye opener."
Spink, who came off the bench against Bayern Munich in Rotterdam to help the club win the European Cup in 1982, was also part of the last Villa team to be promoted to the top flight under Graham Taylor in 1988.
After working as a goalkeeping coach for four clubs, he now runs his own white-van courier business, in Sutton Coldfield.
Pat Murphy, BBC Radio 5 live
"Villa's managerial recruitment team have completed their due diligence on the short list and will recommend a candidate in the next 24 hours to the club's owner, Dr Tony Xia.
"Dr Xia is in China on business and, unlike his sole decision in the summer to appoint Roberto Di Matteo, will be relying on the findings of chief executive Keith Wyness, former manager Brian Little and technical director Steve Round. But the final decision rests with Villa's owner.
"Steve Clarke, acting caretaker manager was interviewed on Monday, while the three discussions Bruce has had with Wyness over the past five days constitute a formal interview in the opinion of the recruitment team. But Bruce and Clarke are not the only candidates.
"Villa are also considering an approach to a manager contracted to another club, but need to be certain he is the one they definitely want before committing themselves.
"If they do and they fail in their overtures after asking for permission to speak to that manager, then Bruce and/or Clarke will know they were not first choice.
"There is no timescale on the appointment. Once the candidate agrees to join Villa, there will be detailed discussions over the contract, backroom staff and budgets. It may be a day or so before the successful applicant is publicly confirmed. But Bruce remains the odds-on favourite."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Aston Villa legend Nigel Spink has dismissed reports of a goalkeeper coaching role with the Midlands club if his old boss Steve Bruce is appointed as the club's new manager. |
34594762 | The Upper Chinese Pagoda is at risk from ground movement and will be placed in storage, Liverpool City Council said.
The pagoda was a defining image of the 1984 festival, which was launched in a bid to boost tourism in the city.
The council wants to regenerate the festival site with housing and space for public events.
The pagoda, which was initially developed as a temporary structure for the Chinese Garden at the site, will be stored "with a view to possible future re-use", the council said.
It became neglected, but was later refurbished. | One of the last remaining features of Liverpool's International Garden Festival is to be dismantled. |
30244208 | Ben Staff, 33, and his wife, PC Catriona Staff, 31, are due in court next month.
They were charged with another man, Kevin Nixon, 50, following a police investigation into Norfolk construction business Mr Trades Ltd.
Charges include blackmail, money laundering and fraudulent trading.
Norfolk Police said Mr Staff was a former serving officer, while his wife had been suspended from her duties pending the outcome of the prosecution.
The case follows an investigation by the police's Eastern Region Specialist Operation Unit.
PC Staff, of Lucas Court, Norwich, has been charged with three counts of money laundering totalling over £215,000.
Mr Staff, of the same address, and Mr Nixon, of Shortthorn Road, Stratton Strawless, are jointly charged with blackmail relating to the development of a recycling centre outside Norwich and the transfer of a lease agreement on a piece of land.
Mr Staff is charged with eleven further offences, including fraudulent trading, fraud by false representation and false accounting in relation to Mr Trades Ltd.
He also faces two further counts of false accounting, one in relation to a second company, SES East Anglia, three further counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of money laundering, totalling over £1,113,000.
All three have been released on bail until their appearance before Norwich Magistrates on 12 December. | A former police officer and his wife, who is a serving constable in Norfolk, have been charged with offences relating to a £1.1m fraud. |
37048239 | Original features at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds will be restored and accessibility is to be improved.
The 102-year-old cinema is receiving £2.4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Kelmscott Manor in west Oxfordshire, which inspired arts and crafts designer Morris, receives £4.7m to help double its opening days and visitor numbers.
Hyde Park Picture House opened in November 1914, just after the outbreak of World War One, when it broadcast news bulletins and morale-boosting dramas. It still has nine working gas lights, which are used every day when the cinema is open.
General manager Wendy Cook said staff were "delighted" about the grant.
"We are so grateful, so happy and every other possible positive descriptive word there is," she said. "We are doing a lot of work to preserve the fabric of the building - the wonderful period features like the gas lighting and the beautiful balcony and plasterwork.
"We're making sure this heritage site is preserved for the next 100 years."
She said upgrades were being planned because there are currently no accessible toilets and there is limited access to the cinema.
"It means there's a whole section of our community who aren't accessing our films and the events we put on - this is our opportunity to open up to them," Ms Cook added.
The cinema's archives, including film programmes dating back to its opening, will also be shared with the public as part of the project.
Meanwhile, two of Kelmscott Manor's rooms, which are currently closed, will be opened as exhibition and archive spaces, and historic buildings in the grounds are to be restored as a cafe, learning centre and activity space.
The manor's buildings were described by Morris, a writer and social activist as well as a designer, as looking like they had "grown up out of the soil".
Gill Andrews, president of the Society of Antiquaries of London, which owns and manages the manor, said: "For William Morris, Kelmscott was a 'heaven on earth' and our aim is to offer visitors of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to explore the inspirational impact that Kelmscott had on Morris and to appreciate his enduring worldwide legacy."
A total of 12 projects and places are receiving a share of the HLF funding.
Other recipients include:
HLF chief executive Ros Kerslake said: "Whether sharing the source of William Morris's inspiration or saving a century of cinema and community heritage, the impact of National Lottery players' money reaches far and wide.
"Today's investment will boost tourism and local economies, secure some of our nation's heritage for future generations to enjoy and provide some fantastic opportunities for volunteers and visitors of all ages."
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or email [email protected]. | The world's only surviving gas-lit cinema and William Morris's former home are among those sharing a £55m National Lottery funding pot. |
38701246 | The Spitfires made a strong start but were unable to make it count with Bondz N'Gala among those to see good chances saved by Michael Poke.
Gozie Ugwu punished the hosts for their early profligacy, nodding home Dennon Lewis' cross from close range in the 16th minute to notch his 12th goal of the season.
Garry Hill's side, who beat Torquay last time out, went down to 10 men when Lewis saw red for a second yellow in the 68th minute, but they came through a nervy finish unscathed as Eastleigh pushed for a late winner.
Woking are now up to 19th, two places and a point above the relegation zone.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Eastleigh 0, Woking 1.
Second Half ends, Eastleigh 0, Woking 1.
Hakeem Odoffin (Eastleigh) is shown the yellow card.
Max Kretzschmar (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Woking. Max Kretzschmar replaces Charlie Carter.
Substitution, Woking. Jake Caprice replaces Macauley Bonne.
Second yellow card to Dennon Lewis (Woking) for a bad foul.
Dennon Lewis (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Mekhi Leacock-McLeod replaces James Constable.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Sam Muggleton replaces Michael Green.
Second Half begins Eastleigh 0, Woking 1.
First Half ends, Eastleigh 0, Woking 1.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Mikael Mandron replaces Tyler Garrett.
Charlie Carter (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Woking. Ismail Yakubu replaces Brian Saah.
Goal! Eastleigh 0, Woking 1. Gozie Ugwu (Woking).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Woking climbed out of the National League drop zone with victory at Eastleigh, despite playing with 10 men for most of the second half. |
38800987 | They say that fossilised traces of the 540-million-year-old creature are "exquisitely well preserved".
The microscopic sea animal is the earliest known step on the evolutionary path that led to fish and - eventually - to humans.
Details of the discovery from central China appear in Nature journal.
The research team says that Saccorhytus is the most primitive example of a category of animals called "deuterostomes" which are common ancestors of a broad range of species, including vertebrates (backboned animals).
Saccorhytus was about a millimetre in size, and is thought to have lived between grains of sand on the sea bed.
The researchers were unable to find any evidence that the animal had an anus, which suggests that it consumed food and excreted from the same orifice.
The study was carried out by an international team of researchers, from the UK, China and Germany. Among them was Prof Simon Conway Morris, from the University of Cambridge.
He told BBC News: "To the naked eye, the fossils we studied look like tiny black grains, but under the microscope the level of detail was jaw-dropping.
"We think that as an early deuterostome this may represent the primitive beginnings of a very diverse range of species, including ourselves. All deuterostomes had a common ancestor, and we think that is what we are looking at here."
Degan Shu, from Northwest University in Xi'An, Shaanxi Province, where the fossils were found, said: "Saccorhytus now gives us remarkable insights into the very first stages of the evolution of a group that led to the fish, and ultimately, to us."
Until now, the deuterostome groups discovered were from between 510 to 520 million years ago. These had already begun to diversify into not just the vertebrates, the group to which we and our ancestors belong and animals such as starfish and sea urchins.
Because they looked so different from one another, it was difficult for the scientists to determine what an earlier, common ancestor might have looked like.
The study suggests that its body was symmetrical, which is a characteristic inherited by many of its evolutionary descendants, including humans.
Saccorhytus was also covered with a thin, relatively flexible skin and muscles, leading the researchers to conclude that it moved by contracting its muscles and got around by wriggling.
The researchers say that its most striking feature is its large mouth, relative to the rest of its body. They say that it probably ate by engulfing food particles, or even other creatures.
Also interesting are the conical structures on its body. These, the scientists suggest, might have allowed the water that it swallowed to escape and so might have been a very early version of gills.
Follow Pallab on Twitter | Researchers have discovered the earliest known ancestor of humans - along with a vast range of other species. |
34866620 | The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said sales volumes fell 0.6%, which followed a 1.7% rise in September when sales were helped by the Rugby World Cup.
The monthly fall in food store sales was the biggest drop since May 2014.
Retail sales volumes rose 3.8% compared with a year ago, compared with a 6.2% annual rise in September.
Average shop prices, including petrol stations, were 3.3% lower in October than a year earlier.
The ONS said department stores and clothing also dragged on retail sales growth last month.
However, sales volumes in the three months to October compared with the previous three-month period - seen as a better indicator of the underlying trend - rose 0.9%.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said October's drop in sales "looks to be a one-off and masks a reassuringly solid underlying trend".
Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight, said shopping in the run-up to Christmas was "of vital importance to retailers", and that the extent of Black Friday discounting would be "interesting".
"Will UK retailers match or even surpass the substantial discounting that took place on Black Friday at the end of November last year? Or will retailers decide that less aggressive is needed this year due to consumers' improved purchasing power and relatively high confidence?" he said.
The ONS said that online sales in October increased by 11.2% compared with the same period in the previous year.
Earlier this week, online retail sales association IMRG said sales had increased by 8.9% compared with last year, which was the lowest growth for fifteen years.
It said the prospect of Black Friday discounts probably caused consumers to hold off on spending in the hope of a bargain. | UK retail sales volumes fell in October after a drop in trading at food stores, according to official figures. |
35456665 | The value-added tax of 10% is applied to the sale of most goods and services.
The federal government collects GST revenue, which is then paid to the states to fund services.
Monday's Newspoll survey found 54% of participants would oppose a GST rise from 10% to 15%, while 37% would support it, leaving 9% undecided.
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said a 5% GST increase could raise an extra A$30b ($21b; £15b) to help fund health and education.
"Raise the GST on the existing base, provide those funds towards the Commonwealth Government and give them an opportunity to improve the tax mix," Mr Baird said in a video statement.
The Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison said the government's tax plan would be revealed later in the year.
He also warned against going into a ""tax and spend cycle". | Australian politicians are discussing whether to increase the goods and services tax (GST) as polling shows more than 50% of voters oppose a rise. |
13257441 | There have been cheers and jubilation in the US and elsewhere in the West, but capital cities around the world are already bracing for the repercussions of Bin Laden's killing.
Hundreds of dedicated and would-be jihadis will be mourning and swearing to give their lives in revenge for his death at the hands of US special forces in the city of Abbottabad.
There is little doubt that the death of Bin Laden is a huge blow to al-Qaeda.
But at the same time the network has moved over the years from a highly centralised hierarchy - with recruiting, training and orders all scrutinised by its top leaders - to something much more loose and amorphous.
Today al-Qaeda's philosophy is one man, one bomb. It does not need another 9/11 to make its mark.
One bomb in Times Square in New York placed by a dedicated suicide bomber or a bomb in a New York subway - both attacks were attempted in in recent years - are big enough indicators that al-Qaeda is alive and kicking.
Al-Qaeda has been a franchise for many years.
Anyone can join it by planting a bomb somewhere. Almost anyone can come to Pakistan or Afghanistan and be offered training with key al-Qaeda allies such as the Pakistani Taliban or the Afghan group headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani.
The facilitator in Pakistan's cities has been Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) - a banned militant group which previously fought in Kashmir but now attacks many different targets and helps al-Qaeda.
After 9/11 it helped hide many senior al-Qaeda figures and it may well have played a major role in hiding Bin Laden.
Pakistan has refused to go up against al-Qaeda allies like Haqqani because they were operating in Afghanistan not Pakistan.
Likewise, allies like LeT are close to Pakistan's intelligence services because their main target is Kashmir and India.
Thus the threat is there.
Before 9/11 there were no known al-Qaeda cells in Europe except for the one in Hamburg which launched those attacks.
However, today every single European country has an al-Qaeda cell. Hundreds of Muslims with European passports have travelled to Pakistan's tribal areas for training and returned to Europe.
After the arrest of three Moroccans in Germany last week for planning to plant bombs in public places, German authorities admit that over 200 German citizens have had training in the tribal areas and many of them have returned to Germany.
The same is the case in Britain, Scandinavia, France, Spain and Italy.
The fear now of random suicide bombings in subway or train stations in the US or Europe is particularly high.
So is the threat of plane hijackings and bombings of Western military targets and embassies in the Middle East, where they are already a frequent target.
There is also the possibility of the amateur jihadi placing a bomb in a supermarket.
Other kinds of attacks are also likely.
Some may be carried out by dedicated long-term jihadis who have been placed amid Western societies and who now may spring into action with a plot and target that they have been working on for years.
Such lone attackers have been found in the US before, with individuals travelling to the tribal areas for training and then returning to a major US city and trying to carry out an attack.
These have usually been foiled by law enforcement agencies at the last moment.
Afghanistan, Pakistan and India are also particularly at risk from more organised attacks.
In the former, the al-Qaeda influence among dedicated jihadis like the Haqqani group is still strong.
Pakistan is also extremely vulnerable to attack. Despite a constant spate of denials from the Pakistani authorities - which have now been proven wrong - al-Qaeda recently had its base in Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda and its affiliated Pakistani groups will be determined to launch a bombing campaign in Pakistan in memory of Bin Laden. This will heighten tensions in a country that is already beset with power shortages and an economic crisis.
Finally al-Qaeda and its allies may find this the right moment to create major divisions between India and Pakistan by launching another Mumbai-style attack on Indian territory.
This would aim to take the heat off the hunt for al-Qaeda members in Pakistan.
The Middle East also remains a big vacuum for al-Qaeda because of the ongoing Arab revolt.
It is still a prime target for al-Qaeda as it seeks to gain influence and clout among the new generation of leaders who have emerged in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and the Gulf states. But this task will be much more difficult after Bin Laden's death.
Clearly Bin Laden's death will give intelligence agencies around the world many clues and leads to catch other leaders, but al-Qaeda will not disappear overnight.
Ahmed Rashid's book, Taliban, was updated and reissued recently on the 10th anniversary of its publication. His latest book is Descent into Chaos - The US and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. | The killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is a huge blow to the organisation but as guest columnist Ahmed Rashid reports, its decentralised nature means it has the potential to carry out attacks on any number of targets. |
18800210 | Rossnowlagh and Murvagh beaches had been given red flags when concerns were raised.
Swimming had been banned at the beaches while the problem was resolved.
Donegal County Council said in a statement that this was a "natural phenomenon."
The algae is not toxic to humans but may result in dead marine life washing up on shore.
A local website has reported that some people have been lifting dead fish from the beaches.
The council has said it will be monitoring the beach closely and will keep the public updated on changes. | Two beaches in Donegal that had been closed following the discovery of a toxic algae which was killing fish have been re-opened. |
34104124 | Lidiane Leite, 25, lived a life of luxury in the capital of Maranhao state, prosecutors said.
They say her only contact with her town, Bom Jardim, was through daily WhatsApp messages to her cabinet.
An arrest warrant has been issued against her and her boyfriend, who served as her main adviser.
Ms Leite's lawyer said she was not aware of any wrongdoing.
She was in her early 20s when Beto Rocha, her boyfriend, was banned from running for mayor in 2012 for alleged corruption.
Ms Leite stepped in and was elected. She appointed Mr Rocha as her main adviser and went to live in the state capital, Sao Luis, 275km (170 miles) away.
"She was too young and and inexperienced when she took office," said her lawyer, Carlos Barros. "She lacked confidence and delegated many tasks to Mr Rocha."
Brazilian media say the couple ended their relationship earlier this year and Mr Rocha resigned shortly after.
Ms Leite went on the run after her name was mentioned in a federal investigation on the misuse of state education funds.
Operation Eden uncovered evidence that some $4m (£2.6m) in funds for Bom Jardim's schools went missing.
The town's already precarious education system has now collapsed. Teachers are not being paid.
An arrest warrant was issued on Thursday and a new mayor - Ms Leite's former deputy - was sworn in on Saturday promising to carry out a full investigation.
A state judge said he would seek an international arrest warrant if she does not hand herself in by Tuesday.
Maranhao, in north-eastern Brazil, is one of the country's poorest states. | A mayor in Brazil is on the run after she was accused of siphoning off funds from the school system and running the town remotely through WhatsApp. |
38114558 | Ms Park is accused of allowing her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to manipulate power from behind the scenes.
The president has apologised twice, but has so far resisted calls to resign.
Organisers said 1.5 million were in Seoul, and another 400,000 in other regions of the country. Police put the turnout in the capital at 270,000.
About 25,000 officers were deployed in Seoul but there were no reports of violence.
The protests, which began five weeks ago, were the largest in South Korea since pro-democracy demonstrations of the 1980s.
Those attending on Saturday came from a cross-section of South Korean society, with farmers, Buddhist monks and university students all involved.
"I was watching the news and thought this cannot go on - people really want her to step down but she hasn't," one of the protesters, Kwak Bo-youn, told Reuters.
"This is the second time for me to the protests, but the first time for my husband and kids."
Ms Park, whose approval rating has dropped to 5%, apologised earlier this month for putting "too much faith in a personal relationship", and has pledged to co-operate in an official investigation into the scandal.
South Korea's constitution does not allow a sitting president to be prosecuted, and Ms Park has 15 months left in her term.
But now that prosecutors have directly linked her to the scandal, it is possible she could be impeached for breaking the law.
Prosecutors are expected to bring charges against Ms Choi, along with two former presidential aides. She was arrested earlier this month.
Ms Choi is accused of trying to extort huge sums of money from South Korean companies, and suspected of using her friendship with Ms Park to solicit business donations for a non-profit fund she controlled. | Huge rallies have been held across South Korea for what are thought to be the largest protests so far demanding President Park Geun-hye steps down. |
12845107 | In a referendum organised by the Dover People's Port Trust, 5,244 people voted in favour, with 113 against.
The result, which is non-binding on the government, was a reaction to Dover Harbour Board's privatisation plans.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: "I hope this will give strength to the campaign to ensure the port of Dover is owned by the people of Dover."
Mr Elphicke, a Conservative, said he would now be making "a strong case" to the secretary of state for transport that residents' "voices should be listened to and we should have the port owned by the Dover community as a landmark project".
Dover Harbour Board, which has run the port as a trust since 1606, asked the government for permission to privatise it in January last year. A decision is still awaited.
A Port of Dover spokesperson said it had always recognised the importance of local opinion and had involved the community extensively in the consultation process and beyond.
"As such we will reflect on the result of this Dover town poll, but we remain absolutely convinced that our voluntary scheme, developed over a number of years, represents the best and only option."
But Neil Wiggins, chairman of the Dover People's Port Trust, said he believed the result of the referendum was "possibly more binding" on the government than other referenda in the past because of its own "flagship policy of Big Society and communities taking charge of their own futures".
"This has been a clear example of the community of Dover showing a desire to take charge of its own future," he said.
About 21,000 people were eligible to vote in the referendum, and the turnout was about 25%.
The people's trust started its £200m bid to buy the port in October, a move which attracted support from Dame Vera Lynn.
Dover District Council organised the vote but its cost, which has not yet been revealed, will be met by Dover Town Council, which called for the referendum. | The residents of Dover have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a plan to try to buy the town's port. |
37892360 | Scores of prisoners reportedly flooded on to the prison's gangways in chaotic scenes at about 17:00 GMT on Sunday.
Police and specially-trained officers were called to the Category B prison amid reports of loud bangs or explosions coming from inside.
The prison service said no staff were hurt, but two prisoners were treated.
However, their injuries were not thought to be serious.
Live: Latest on HMP Bedford riot
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The Prison Officers Association (POA) said about 230 inmates got out of their cells and seized keys, broke into medicine stores and started small fires.
Glyn Travis, a POA spokesman, said prison officers were brought in from across the country to deal with the situation, which is a common occurrence when dealing with disturbances.
However, he said the number of inmates involved was unusual.
"They'd taken control of two wings. The situation was dangerous and was sensitively and professionally managed to ensure no one was injured," he added.
The Prison Service said the situation was brought under control after an operation that lasted more than six hours.
A Prison Service spokesman said: "Specially trained prison officers and staff from the emergency services have successfully resolved an incident involving a number of prisoners at HMP Bedford.
"An investigation into this incident will take place. We are absolutely clear that prisoners who behave in this way will be punished and could spend significantly longer behind bars."
In a recent report on HMP Bedford, inmates claimed it was easier to get hold of drugs than clothes or bedding.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the POA, said the incident at HMP Bedford involved "concerted ill-discipline".
He said some officers had retreated to a "safe place" and teams of riot-trained staff had been deployed.
Mobile phone footage apparently from inside the prison was posted online, revealing chaotic scenes, with scores of prisoners out of their cells and in the prison's gangways, shouting and bellowing.
One video showed what appeared to be paper and furniture strewn across an atrium floor, although the footage could not immediately be verified.
In a report on Bedford Prison published in September, almost twice the number of prisoners said it was "easy" to access drugs, compared to a previous inspection in February 2014.
The number saying they had developed a drug problem while at the prison increased from 4% to 14%.
The BBC understands the process of "safe unlocking" of HMP Bedford inmates by prison officers had been a "bone of contention" for some time, according to the POA.
Initial reports suggested staff had refused to unlock prisoners as they had concerns about what could happen. Prison sources told the BBC they were overruled by managers.
Last week, Justice Secretary Liz Truss unveiled a White Paper detailing £1.3bn investment in new prisons over the next five years, and plans for 2,100 extra officers, drug tests and more autonomy for governors. | A riot at HMP Bedford saw prison officers from across the country brought in to control hundreds of inmates who had taken over two wings. |
39958936 | Cricket Australia (CA) has proposed to increase pay for men and women but end benefits from a revenue-sharing scheme.
The offer was rejected, and CA said it would not pay players after 30 June.
Vice-captain David Warner suggested the men's team might strike, but Lehmann said: "I'm sure that won't happen."
He added: "I have my views but I'm not going to share it. I'm talking to both players and CA.
"I think both parties have just got to get talking. They'll get a deal done and once that happens, everyone will be right and we'll move forward and get the game going the way it should be."
If the dispute is not resolved, there would be uncertainty over what team Australia could field after 30 June.
They have a two-Test series in Bangladesh scheduled for August, before a home Ashes series against England which runs from 23 November 2017 to 8 January 2018.
The Women's World Cup also takes place in England between 24 June and 23 July - and Australia's elite female players have shown solidarity with their male counterparts over the dispute, despite CA's March offer to double the elite women's pay.
Australia's men's team play their first warm-up game before the ICC Champions Trophy - held in England and Wales from 1-18 June - against Sri Lanka on 26 May.
"It is going to be a bit of a distraction, there's no doubt about that," Lehmann said.
"But just getting together and working it out is the way to go. There's no panic, it's just about the two parties getting together." | Australia coach Darren Lehmann says the ongoing dispute over players' pay will not threaten November's Ashes series, but admits it will be a "distraction" during the Champions Trophy in June. |
36535925 | Mr Carson, 28, was shot in front of his family at his home in Walmer Street, Belfast, on 26 February.
He was having a meal with his partner and nine-year-old son when an armed gang forced their way into the house.
The 35-year-old man who was questioned about the murder was detained in Belfast on Monday. | A man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering Stephen Carson in February has been released pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service. |
11478261 | They are a quirk of ocean currents - a naturally created vortex known as a gyre - where floating rubbish tends to accumulate.
The largest is in the North Pacific and covers an area twice the size of France. Others have since been discovered in the North Atlantic and most recently the South Atlantic.
Scientists now fear the same process is probably taking place in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
As well as damaging coasts and killing marine life who mistake the plastic for food, contaminants in the water, which attach to the plastic debris, are transporting waste chemicals across the world's oceans.
At the UK's University of Sheffield, scientists are investigating how they could accelerate the speed at which the plastic breaks down by looking at micro-organisms already found in the sea that naturally feed on plastic.
Promising results have already been seen in finding out which microbes are attaching themselves to plastic in coastal waters around the UK.
The next stage will be to analyse how these enzymes work in the natural environment and how they might work in controlled environments where plastic would be the prominent carbon source.
But the researchers emphasise that even if they can narrow down the microbes and encourage their proliferation in an area like the plastic waste patch just found in the South Atlantic, this would be a very slow process.
"It's a bit like imagining how long it would take us to eat something the size of Canary Wharf," says the university's Dr Mark Osborn.
"If you have hundreds of thousands or millions of organisms colonising one piece of plastic then you can imagine the potential for scale up in terms of the rates of potential degradation."
Biological intervention to restore the ocean environment, otherwise known as bioremediation, is a relatively new field and would require careful assessment of any potential consequences.
And most current work is based on stopping plastic getting into the oceans in the first place.
In Ireland at a plastic fuel plant, Cynar, scientists are using waste plastic to make a synthetic fuel in a process known as plastic pyrolysis.
Plastic waste that would otherwise have ended up in landfill, is cleaned, dried and then heated to more than 300C (570F) in the absence of air.
The resulting molten liquid is turned into a gas which is then fractioned off to produce a diesel-like fuel.
"We do believe this is a terrific solution to a massive issue of landfill diversion as well as fossil fuel alternative," says Cynar's chief executive, Michael Murray.
Pyrolysis has the potential to be set up at waste disposal sites across Europe, with the fuel produced being used to power the waste disposal trucks and machinery.
But it costs money to establish the plants and burn the plastic, and this is only partly recovered by the cost of the fuel generated.
Much of the solution lies in more recycling says Murray, pointing out that only 50% of the 25m tonnes of plastic waste the EU produces every year is recycled.
The challenge is to prevent it reaching landfill in the first place.
Our plastic lifestyle is at the heart of the problem according to Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology at the University of Plymouth.
Varying colours of plastic and different components such as sports caps which are made of different plastic types, make them harder to recycle compared to clear and strong plastic.
Despite campaigns to improve recycling, many plastics - such as food packaging packaging - are still not recyclable.
"The diversity of different polymers and different forms of packaging we use... is compromising the recyclability of the product," Professor Thompson explains.
"The best way to solve this problem is to close the loop, to turn a bottle back into a bottle," he says.
Eighty percent of the plastic in our seas has come from the land where it has either been flushed through drains or blown off landfill sites.
Until there is an effective alternative to dumping, the floating plastic in our oceans will continue to accumulate.
Costing the Earth, Fake Plastic Sea will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday 6th October at 9pm and after on BBC iPlayer | Scientists are investigating ways of dealing with the millions of tonnes of floating plastic rubbish that is accumulating in our oceans. |
33268211 | One of those 10 has three convictions, a BBC Essex freedom of information request revealed.
Deputy Chief Constable Derek Benson said most of the offences were committed before the officers joined the police.
He said cases were judged on their own merits.
The crimes committed also include assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage. Two drink-driving offences were committed by officers after they were recruited.
One officer has three convictions.
All the officers' offences are now spent and were committed before 2009.
Mr Benson said: "There are guidelines available to us now which gives us a framework to work on as to what should or should not happen.
"It would be very unusual now for an applicant to the police service to be accepted with a criminal conviction."
The police and crime commissioner for Essex, Nick Alston, said he understood some of the offences were committed when the officers were young and those people had "turned their lives around". | Ten serving Essex police officers have criminal convictions ranging from robbery to drinking and driving, it has emerged. |
32958574 | The man, understood to be Robert Gillespie, from Larbert in central Scotland, died on Saturday.
Local media reports in Spain said his death was being investigated. It is thought he fell from a fifth-floor balcony at the Piscis Park hotel in San Antonio.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed that a British man had died.
"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this sad time," he added. | A British man has died whilst on holiday in Ibiza. |
19132959 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Ennis claimed gold in the Olympic heptathlon to kick-start a remarkable 45 minutes for the host nation.
Greg Rutherford then took gold in the long jump before Mo Farah capped a stunning night by winning the 10,000m.
"Three golds is unbelievable," said Ennis. "Hopefully we are inspiring a new generation and it'll have a knock-on effect for the next few years."
Britain won a total of six gold medals and one silver on Saturday - their most successful day at an Olympics in 104 years.
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Britain have more medal chances with Andy Murray in two tennis finals, plus Ben Ainslie and the pair of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson going for sailing medals.
In the gymnastics apparatus final, Louis Smith goes for Britain and Ed Clancy is another British hope on the cycling track.
In athletics, Christine Ohuruogu will try to defend her 400m title, before the men's 100m final.
By the time Sheffield star Ennis entered the Olympic Stadium for the final event of the heptathlon, Britain had already won two rowing golds, in the men's four and women's double sculls, plus track cycling gold in the women's team pursuit.
"We've witnessed something sensational," said Lord Coe, chairman of Games organisers Locog and a two-time former 1500m gold medallist. "I've never known a night in UK athletics like that, it was unbelievable."
He also told BBC Radio 5 Live it must be considered one of Britain's greatest ever days in sport and, like Ennis, hoped it would prove a catalyst for the younger generation.
"This is the best opportunity any of us will have in our lifetime to get more young kids into sport," he said. "We've really got to build on that."
Andy Hunt, chef de mission of the British team, added: "What unfolded over the course of a single day has been years in the making. It is a day unlike any that has been seen in the modern history of British Olympic sport and it is a day our country will never forget.
"Most importantly, it is a day for the athletes - the Olympic champions - and the millions of supporters throughout our country who have lifted them on their shoulders and helped make this possible."
Saturday's stunning haul took GB's medal total for London 2012 to 14 and left them clear in third place, behind the United States and China.
It also put the host nation well on the way to eclipsing their tally of 19 golds at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Denise Lewis on Ennis: "It's hard to find the words. We have witnessed greatness, we have witnessed someone who had a dream to come and deliver on the world stage."
Michael Johnson on Farah: "Mo went in with a race plan. He showed great enthusiasm and guts. I am really pleased for him because he had a lot of expectation on his shoulders."
Darren Campbell on Rutherford: "He is so talented but he hasn't had that bit of luck to get onto the podium in a major championship before. This time he has had that little bit and now he is the Olympic champion."
"I have achieved my goal," said the 26-year-old Ennis, who has been one of the faces of London 2012 in the build-up to the Games.
"You never think you are really going to get there. Then you do and it's just amazing. There has been so much pressure on me, but I have had so much support."
Ennis, who missed the 2008 Games in Beijing, thanked the 80,000-capacity crowd inside the Olympic Stadium for their backing, a sentiment echoed by Farah.
"The atmosphere when you walk into that stadium, it's like someone gave you 10 cups of coffee," he said. "I was pumped up so much. If it wasn't for the crowd, I don't think I would have won that race. It was very close."
Farah uprooted his family, moving to the United States to spend more time with his new coach, three-time New York Marathon winner Alberto Salazar.
"You have to make sacrifices," said Farah, who was born in Somalia before moving to London as an eight-year-old.
"I moved my family, changing my whole lifestyle, a new coach, moved to the other side of the world."
But the sacrifices have paid off for the 29-year-old runner.
"To be Olympic champion right on your doorstep is the best moment of my life and to see my wife and daughter on the track was incredible," said the world 5,000m champion. "It hasn't quite sunk in yet. It's unbelievable."
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Rutherford is already thinking about a defence of his Olympic title at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"I want to go through to Rio and become a double Olympic champion, then maybe keep going until I'm 33 and become triple Olympic champion," said the 25-year-old from Milton Keynes. "You have to have confidence in yourself."
He also believes he can jump much further than 8.31m, the distance that gave him gold.
"I expected to jump much further than that," he said. "Technically, I was very poor. Once I get it together, people better watch out because I'm going to jump very, very far. The sky's the limit. I want to win everything. Why not?"
UK Sport, the body that funds Britain's Olympians, set Team GB a target of at least 48 medals before the Games began. Britain already has 29.
They are expected to add to that tally on Sunday, with a number of strong contenders for gold.
Ainslie can win his fourth Olympic gold from 14:00 BST if he gets the better of Danish rival Jonas Hogh-Christensen in the Finn medal race.
London 2012 is already Great Britain's joint third most successful Olympic Games. Below is list of GB's best gold medal hauls:
Fellow Sailors Percy and Simpson are also looking good to defend their Olympic title in the Star class at 13:00.
Clancy is in a strong position to win another track cycling gold for Team GB. He stands fourth in the omnium after three events, with another three to come on Sunday. The final event, the time trial, begins at 18:16.
Murray will also play for double gold at Wimbledon. He takes on Roger Federer in the men's singles final at 14:00, before teaming up with Laura Robson for the mixed doubles. Both matches take place on Centre Court.
In gymnastics, Smith - who won a bronze in 2008 - goes in the apparatus final at 15:41.
Back on the track, Ohuruogu has a chance of defending her Olympic title in the 400m at 21:10.
Troubled by injury, she is beginning to show signs of returning to her best form, although American Sanja Richards-Ross and Russian Antonina Krivoshapka will the start the final as favourites.
The evening of athletics will finish with the men's 100m final at 21:50 BST.
Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin are all through to the semi-finals, which take place at 19:45, as are the British trio of Dwain Chambers, Adam Gemili and James Desaolu. | Jessica Ennis hopes Great Britain's triple triumph in the Olympic Stadium on Saturday can "inspire a generation". |
33861620 | President Barack Obama managed, during his recent African Union speech, to use almost 400 words to tell us that it is a good thing to have limits on presidential terms.
The truth is many people on this continent do know this, despite President Pierre Nkurunziza's recent re-election in Burundi.
African countries started independent and constitutional life with term limits clearly spelled out.
But whenever they became inconvenient, parliaments simply amended the rules and the constitutions to allow third or fourth terms or declared Presidents for Life.
Often, these amendments came with the enthusiastic support of academics, local and foreign, who found theories to support whatever changes the leader wanted.
The theories ranged from African Socialism to Nkrumahism - the ideology based on the philosophy of Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah.
At the heart of it all was the idea that a particular leader was special and without him, the country would disintegrate.
Or, as Louis XV, who reigned France for almost 60 years, reportedly said "apres lui, le deluge" (after me, the flood).
This was said about all the first presidents and even if they didn't start like this, they came to believe it themselves.
The soldiers who staged the coups and ruled much of Africa in the 70s and 80s said it about themselves and sycophantic followers and academics for hire endorsed them.
The freedom fighters who marched into the capitals and overthrew colonial powers or indigenous autocrats said so about themselves and proceeded to turn into worse dictators before our very eyes.
Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire used to say it and so did Brother Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
Any criticism about having been in power for too long was answered with: They held their countries together.
You had to wonder if it was possible that Mobutu's Zaire could possibly get any worse than it was under his corrupt rule.
In the event, after he was ousted from power, we looked back with nostalgia.
Much better to have the obscene opulence of Gbadolite, the city in the middle of nowhere, than the disaster that has been the Democratic Republic of Congo that followed the ousting of Mobutu.
Likewise in Libya, better to have Muammar Gaddafi's Green Book of political pronouncements.
Much better to have him crowned the King of Kings of Africa by traditional leaders and let him fund the African Union.
And better surely to put up with his air-conditioned tents and long rambling speeches at the United Nations than the chaos that is today's Libya after he was overthrown.
And if Obama had looked up the files just a few years back he would have found another US President, Bill Clinton, saying during his time that there was a "new Africa".
Two leaders who were part of the new Africa of the Clinton years are now refusing to leave office in the Obama years.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni used to be openly contemptuous of African leaders who cling to office.
Next year, some 30 years after he marched into Kampala to chase out Milton Obote, he is proposing to stand for another term as president.
Next door, an enthusiastic parliament has opened the path for Paul Kagame to stand for another term as president of Rwanda in case the great successes he has achieved are jeopardized by someone else taking his place.
The West African leaders under the auspices of the regional body Ecowas (the Economic Community of West African States), tried to make a two-term limit for presidents binding on their members.
They retreated quietly once Togo and The Gambia protested.
I am told the unspoken answer these days to presidents not wanting to leave office in Africa is: "DRC and Libya, or Mobutu and Gaddafi".
More from Elizabeth Ohene:
Our presidents are addicted to titles
Britain's speedy high-drama elections seen through Ghanaian eyes
Taking advantage of a crisis
Tolerating fufu made in a microwave | In our series of letters from African journalists, Ghanaian writer Elizabeth Ohene - a former government minister and member of the opposition - asks why some leaders refuse to leave office. |
40831430 | The 29-year-old said he would donate the money to Common Goal, run by the organisation streetfootballworld, which supports football charities worldwide.
"I am leading this effort, but I don't want to be alone," Mata said in a blog.
The Spaniard, who joined United from Chelsea for £37.1m in 2014, reportedly earns £7m a year.
Mata said he was shocked by the poverty he saw on a visit to Mumbai, India, and the long-term aim was for the entire football industry to contribute one per cent of revenue to grassroots football charities.
He added: "I am launching something that I hope will change the world, even if only in some small way."
Mata said he wanted to create a 'Common Goal starting XI', made up of 11 players who each donate 1% of their wage to the charity.
He has made his appeal at a time when football clubs are spending heavily on transfer fees and player wages.
This week, French side Paris St-Germain signed forward Neymar for a world record fee of 222m euros (£200m) from Barcelona. The Brazilian will earn 45m euros (£40.7m) a year - 865,000 euros (£782,000) a week - before tax. | Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has pledged to donate 1% of his salary to charity and has called for other professionals to do the same. |
39414145 | Boyd swept home Jeff Hendrick's cross 12 yards out after the Republic of Ireland international had beaten two Stoke defenders on the left flank.
The goal was one of only three shots on target for Sean Dyche's side but gives them their 10th home win of the season.
Stoke had the better chances in the 90 minutes but were not clinical with Marko Arnautovic wasting the visitors' best opportunities.
Victory for Burnley sees them moves eight points clear of the relegation zone and up to 12th, one place below Stoke.
Only Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool have won more home games than Burnley this season and it is no surprise their poor run ended at Turf Moor.
The Clarets' last win came on 31 January against Leicester after which they climbed to ninth but had since fallen to 15th, starting the game just five points clear of 18th.
While Burnley were not at their intense best in the match, they did convert from their only clear opportunity and Hendrick's run - to beat Joe Allen and Charlie Adam - was one of the better moments of quality in the match.
The victory also emphasises the strides Burnley have taken, with their 35 points beating their previous highest Premier League total with seven games remaining.
It also means - in their third Premier League season - survival for the first time is within touching distance.
On the back of consecutive defeats in their previous two games, Mark Hughes made four changes to his starting line-up and switched to a 3-4-3 formation.
The shape suited the Potters - particularly in the first half - allowing them to create more chances from open play than their hosts.
Arnautovic played in a free role behind lone striker Saido Berahino and was twice played in behind by the Englishman and should have been more clinical.
First, the Austrian miscontrolled when clean through on goal and later took too much time on the ball allowing Joey Barton to track back and block.
Then, in the second half, when a cross from Adam glanced off the head of Burnley centre-back Michael Keane, Arnautovic headed a difficult chance wide of the left-hand post with his back to goal.
Hughes' side now fall out of the top half - where they have been since the start of February - and have failed to score in their last five away games.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Burnley manager Sean Dyche: "It was a very important win, not just because of the remaining games but we have been on a really tough run. Five out of our seven games have been away and the two at home against the top two.
"We knew it was a tough run and to come out with a deserved win is pleasing.
"We have played big games at Turf Moor, the players are adapting. They know there are big games and have produced a performance when it counts.
"We have got to stay focused. We are in good shape with a record number of points and still seven games to go."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Stoke manager Mark Hughes: "I thought we played well in terms of withstanding what Burnley do and defensively we were rock solid.
"[I thought] it was just a matter of time for us to score. We had a couple of real opportunities when we were clean through and that is the disappointing thing for us.
"We were the side in the ascendency but they were able to go up and put the ball into the box and it was a good strike but I don't recall them having too many others.
"It is disappointing. On the night I thought we were the better team.
"It was one of those nights for Marko [Arnautovic]. On another night we take at least one of those chances. As it was we couldn't get the goal we needed and when that happens you are always at risk at the other end."
Burnley travel to 19th placed Middlesbrough on Saturday while Stoke host Liverpool (both 15:00 BST kick-off).
Match ends, Burnley 1, Stoke City 0.
Second Half ends, Burnley 1, Stoke City 0.
Foul by Bruno Martins Indi (Stoke City).
Ashley Barnes (Burnley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Erik Pieters (Stoke City).
George Boyd (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Erik Pieters (Stoke City).
Ashley Barnes (Burnley) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Ashley Barnes (Burnley) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by George Boyd.
George Boyd (Burnley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Marc Muniesa (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by George Boyd (Burnley).
Bruno Martins Indi (Stoke City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Bruno Martins Indi (Stoke City).
Ashley Barnes (Burnley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke City).
Ashley Barnes (Burnley) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Stoke City. Ibrahim Afellay replaces Joe Allen.
Substitution, Burnley. James Tarkowski replaces Sam Vokes.
Attempt missed. Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Charlie Adam with a cross.
Geoff Cameron (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Ashley Barnes (Burnley).
Foul by Peter Crouch (Stoke City).
Matthew Lowton (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ashley Barnes (Burnley).
Geoff Cameron (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Burnley. Ashley Barnes replaces Andre Gray.
Attempt missed. Peter Crouch (Stoke City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is close, but misses to the right following a set piece situation.
Attempt blocked. Bruno Martins Indi (Stoke City) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Peter Crouch with a headed pass.
Foul by Joey Barton (Burnley).
Joe Allen (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Charlie Adam (Stoke City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Sam Vokes (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Charlie Adam (Stoke City).
Attempt blocked. Charlie Adam (Stoke City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Marko Arnautovic.
Substitution, Stoke City. Peter Crouch replaces Saido Berahino.
Offside, Burnley. Ben Mee tries a through ball, but Andre Gray is caught offside.
Attempt blocked. Robbie Brady (Burnley) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Joey Barton.
Jeff Hendrick (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Bruno Martins Indi (Stoke City). | George Boyd scored the only goal as Burnley beat Stoke at Turf Moor to end their seven-game winless run. |
36634536 | The newspaper says traces of a banned anabolic steroid were allegedly found in a sample given by Fury last year.
The boxer's promoter, Hennessy Sports, says it is "baffled" by the story.
Undefeated Fury, 27, this week postponed his rematch with Wladimir Klitschko after injuring an ankle during training.
Hennessy's statement said that fight, originally scheduled for 9 July, will now take place in October.
Fury beat Ukrainian Klitschko, 40, in November to win the WBA and WBO heavyweight titles.
The Sunday Mirror reports "unacceptable levels of nandrolone" were found in a sample taken from Fury in the lead-up to that fight.
Nandrolone, which is produced naturally in the body in small amounts, can increase muscle growth and reduce tiredness.
Ukad says it refuses to discuss cases "until due legal process has been completed".
The British Boxing Board of Control is aware of the investigation, according to the Sun. | British world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has denied doping, after the Sunday Mirror said he was being investigated by UK Anti-Doping. |
34959191 | The striker immediately signalled he was unable to carry on after having a shot blocked in Sunday's 1-1 draw with the Baggies.
"That worried me more than the result. I don't know if it's too early before the scan but it looks like a muscle injury," said Bilic.
"It's a big blow for us after Enner Valencia and Dimitri Payet."
Attacking midfielder Payet was ruled out for three months with an ankle injury in early November.
Meanwhile, Valencia has been out since July after suffering an ankle injury in a Europa League qualifying match.
Media playback is not supported on this device | West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has concerns over an injury Diafra Sakho picked up against West Brom. |
33320898 | It was a devastating blow to a country still struggling to recover from another attack on tourists in the heart of its capital just three months earlier.
And it was claimed by Islamic State (IS), whose actions have spread fear throughout the region and beyond.
"We note that Tunisia faces an international movement," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said shortly after Friday's attack. "It cannot respond alone to this."
While much remains unclear about the extent and nature of the threat within Tunisia that the events in Sousse may expose, observers have pointed once more to two specific risks.
First, the threat posed by neighbouring Libya, a fractured country with porous borders that has been awash with weapons since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, and where Islamic State now has an established presence.
And second, the apparently large number of Tunisians who have left to fight in Syria and Iraq, hundreds of whom are estimated to have returned home.
Other countries in the region also face cross-border threats, and it is hard to get a truly accurate idea of how many Tunisians have been radicalised fighting abroad.
But Tunisia appears to be more exposed than its neighbours to high-impact attacks against foreign civilians.
Neither Libya nor Algeria have mass tourism, and though Morocco does, it also has a pervasive security network and has been politically stable.
Tunisia, by contrast, has a "big, soft underbelly", said Geoff Porter, the head of North Africa Risk Consulting.
"I don't think Tunisia does have a disproportionately greater jihadi problem than Algeria or Morocco," he said. "What Tunisia has is a security problem.
"It's simply that there are a greater number of targets in Tunisia and the security forces are less effective."
Full coverage of the Sousse attack
Before the uprising of 2011, the focus for those security forces was enforcing control under former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali - a job at which they were long efficient, developing a vast web of informers.
But security reform has been slow, and the challenge may now be for the police to repurpose towards counter-terrorism work, Mr Porter said.
That will be a complex task, partly because of the demands of training and equipping police officers and soldiers, but also because of the democratic political process and the fine line between ensuring security and reverting to repression.
In a cruel twist, some contend that Tunisia has been targeted partly because it has achieved a democratic transition and is often held up as the single success story of the Arab Spring.
Its progress as a modern democratic state on friendly terms with the West, if halting, is unwelcome to the militants of Islamic State and other extremist groups.
Over the last four years, Tunisian governments are seen to have vacillated between granting radical Islamists political space and cracking down on them - only taking the latter course more decisively after the assassination of Chokri Belaid in February 2013.
A new Tunisian anti-terrorism law that would broaden police powers and provide for harsher penalties has been stuck in committees since the start of 2014.
The attack in March on the Bardo Museum - next to the parliament building - focused attention on the bill, but shortly after it was redrafted, 13 non-governmental organisations called for it to be dropped or amended, saying it would violate international human rights standards and guarantees under the Tunisian constitution.
The president of the Tunisian parliament now says it will be approved within the next month.
Then there are the broader internal challenges.
The Tunisian economy has become more fragile since 2011, and like other states in the region, the country has a large pool of unemployed or underemployed young men who may be susceptible to radicalisation.
As Sayida Ounissi, a Tunisian member of parliament from the Islamist Ennahda party, told the BBC: "What we are seeing today is terrorism is actually nourishing itself from social exclusion, from economic injustice, from the lack of education."
In the short term, the number of potential recruits is only likely to grow as the tourist sector - which accounted for about 15% of GDP last year - takes another big hit. | The attack that killed 38 people in the resort city of Sousse has left Tunisia looking particularly vulnerable. |
34546359 | Members of the Australian Border Force (ABF) intercepted 71 tonnes of tobacco in three shipments, Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said.
Two containers from Indonesia were found in Sydney while the third was seized before it could leave Indonesia.
Mr Dutton said a new ABF "strike team" was being set up to target tobacco smugglers.
"This tobacco would have cost Australia over A$27m (£13m) in legitimate tax revenue if it had been successfully smuggled into the country and sold here," Mr Dutton said in a statement.
The two containers found in Sydney held 47 tonnes of loose leaf tobacco and had come from Indonesia. The third, with 24 tonnes, was seized by Indonesian authorities before it could be shipped out, the statement said.
Mr Dutton said a high degree of organisation had been behind the shipments.
And he said the seizures - made under Operation Wardite - were the result of co-operation between the ABF and Indonesian Customs.
"There are clear links to organised crime and we know that groups smuggling illicit tobacco into Australia are also involved in other illegal activities such as narcotics," he said.
"The ABF is determined to disrupt their activities and the new ABF strike team will focus on the organised crime syndicates behind shipments like this and collect intelligence on their operations."
Earlier this week, the ABF announced it had seized almost six million smuggled cigarettes in raids in Melbourne.
It says it has also recently dismantled two major organised crime groups involved in tobacco smuggling, one in New South Wales and the other in Victoria. | Australia's border protection agency has made its largest ever seizure of illicit tobacco in a single operation. |
40407105 | Police were called to Nuthurst Park in Moston, Manchester, just before 18:55 BST on Saturday.
Greater Manchester Police said officers responded to reports of a girl being raped. A boy was arrested in a nearby shop.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was remanded to appear at Manchester Crown Court on 10 July.
Dressed in a grey tracksuit, he stood in the dock and spoke only to give his name and address during the five-minute hearing at Manchester Youth Court.
Only reporters and lawyers were present in court along with the defendant's mother and father, who sat in the public gallery holding hands.
No plea was entered by the defendant, the court heard, and there was no application for bail.
As he remanded the teenager in custody, District Judge Mark Hadfield told him: "This charge is an extremely serious charge."
The defendant smiled and nodded to his parents as he was taken down. | A 16-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with the rape of an eight-year-old girl in a park. |
32106048 | It follows a deal made by the UK government on behalf of the devolved governments with the drug manufacturer Glaxo Smith Kline.
Negotiations over the cost of the vaccine had gone on for months.
The delay in availability angered campaigners who said children's lives had been put at risk.
It is likely the vaccine will be available in Scotland from September.
The announcement follows lengthy discussions between the UK government with another drugs supplier - Novartis - which used to own the vaccine, called Bexsero.
GSK acquired the vaccine from Novartis, which resulted in the price of the vaccine being reduced and the deal being struck, UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said.
Health advisers recommended a year ago that the vaccination be made available to all babies in the UK.
'Routine immunisation'
Meningitis B is a bacterial infection that particularly affects children under the age of one.
It commonly affects children under five years of age, and is also common among teenagers aged 15 to 19.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "The Scottish government has been consistent in its support for the introduction of the Meningitis B vaccine, Bexsero.
"We will now work to roll out the vaccination programme as quickly as possible.
"The Meningitis B vaccine will now form part of the routine childhood immunisation programme in Scotland, underlining our commitment to ensuring the health and wellbeing of our children."
The vaccination will be given in three doses at two, four and 12 months, with all babies in Scotland aged two months at the point of introduction being eligible.
There are about 1,870 cases of the infection each year in the UK.
Symptoms include a high fever with cold hands and feet, confusion, vomiting and headaches.
'Step forward'
Most children will make a full recovery with early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, although it is fatal in one in 10 cases.
About one in four of those who survive is left with long-term problems such as amputation, deafness, epilepsy and learning difficulties.
Sue Davie, chief executive of the charity Meningitis Now, said: "To know that babies will be protected against MenB is fantastic and another great step forward in our fight against meningitis." | Health Secretary Shona Robison has confirmed that a vaccine for meningitis B will be made available for babies in Scotland. |
35109455 | Campaigners have said the law was discriminatory as most couples end up using the husband's surname.
However, the court said the law did not violate the constitution, public broadcaster NHK reported.
It did, however, deem a separate law that stops women remarrying within six months of a divorce unconstitutional.
Both sets of laws date back to Japan's 19th Century Meiji era.
Surname row: What do other countries do?
Judge Itsuro Terada noted that among the Japanese there was already informal use of maiden names, which eased the impact of the surname law.
He said parliamentarians should decide on whether to pass new legislation on separate spousal names.
The Japan Times cited studies in the past 40 years which show that more than 96% of Japanese couples opt for the husband's surname.
The surname case was brought by three individual women and one couple in a civil partnership, who argued that the law was unconstitutional, discriminatory and archaic.
Two lower courts have already ruled against them and public opinion on the questions was split.
Women in Japan were traditionally able to retain their maiden names after marriage, until 1898 when the law was enacted as part of a feudal family system where all women and children came under control of the male head of the household.
The system was abolished in 1948 - but the surname law has been retained.
Separately, a divorced woman had filed a legal challenge to a law that states women cannot remarry within six months of divorce.
The law was originally intended to help determine the paternity of a child born shortly after the divorce.
The Supreme Court agreed with her that it was unconstitutional, but in its ruling left room for the possibility of retaining the law with a shorter waiting period.
The two sets of laws were previously debated in the 1990s when a government panel suggested changing them, but were retained unchanged when conservative politicians opposed the move. | The Japanese Supreme Court has upheld a law that married couples must have the same surname, in a blow to women's rights activists. |
39708731 | Mrs Danczuk, who found fame posting "selfies" on Twitter, is hoping to be chosen to stand for Labour in the marginal Bury North constituency.
The 33-year-old served as a Labour councillor from 2012 to 2015 in her home town of Rochdale.
The seat is held by Conservative David Nuttall who had a majority of 378 at the last general election.
She waived her right to anonymity last year after her brother was jailed for raping her as a child.
She then became patron of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood and stated previously she wants to become an MP to help victims of sexual abuse.
"Politics is changing, you only have to look across Europe and the rest of the world," she said.
"Parliament needs more common sense and someone who can connect with voters. I really believe I'm a voice of the people."
Mrs Danczuk is the ex-wife of Simon Danczuk, the sitting MP in Rochdale.
He was suspended by Labour in 2015, pending an investigation, following revelations he exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old girl.
Mr Danczuk, 50, who currently serves as an independent MP, recently said he "expects" to fight the general election for Labour in Rochdale on 8 June.
The snap election has resulted in the suspension of the usual Labour Party selection procedures of a panel interview and a vote by local members.
Instead, candidates in seats where there is no Labour MP, such as Bury North, will be selected by a panel of the party's ruling National Executive Committee.
A spokeswoman for the party said candidates selected to stand for Labour in the general election will be made public on 2 May. | Karen Danczuk is hoping to become an MP after applying to be a Labour candidate at the general election on 8 June. |
40383699 | The Labour manifesto included a pledge to raise the minimum wage to the level of the Living Wage - now paid to those aged 25 or over - for 18-24 year olds.
But questioned about whether 16-year-olds should get it, Mr Corbyn said it "should apply to all workers".
"I don't think young people eat less than old people," he added.
The National Living Wage was introduced by the Conservative then-chancellor George Osborne in his July 2015 Budget.
As of April this year, it is paid at a rate of £7.50 an hour for workers aged 25 and over, with the aim of increasing it to £9 an hour by 2020.
Labour's general election manifesto pledged to raise it to at least £10 an hour by 2020 for workers aged 18 or over. But when Mr Corbyn was asked whether 16-year-olds should get it as well, he replied: "You're absolutely right.
"Yes, the £10 an hour living wage, real living wage, is correct and also should apply to all workers, because I don't think young people eat less than old people - that's my experience anyway."
Currently workers aged 21-24 get a minimum wage of £7.05 an hour, while those aged 18-20 get £5.60 and under 18s get £4.05 an hour. If you are an apprentice. it can be as low as £3.50 an hour.
Mr Corbyn also used his address to the conference to link the Grenfell Tower fire, which is thought to have killed at least 79 people, to "austerity economics".
"Make no mistake about it - this is the brutal reality of austerity economics that has failed in its own terms, and leading to falling living standards, rising inequality and disasters," he said.
He added that Labour was "ready for another election at any time, to finish the job of beating the failed, clapped-out Tories and form a government that works for all". | Jeremy Corbyn has said that 16-year-old workers should be paid at least £10 an hour, as he addressed the Unison conference in Brighton. |
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