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38656748 | Toure, 33, was the subject of interest from the Chinese Super League last summer.
He decided against moving then and gave the same response when he was contacted again to say the offer remained open during the current transfer window, which closes on 31 January.
The Ivorian's contract at the Etihad expires in the summer.
Toure's future appeared in doubt when he was left out of the City squad by Pep Guardiola at the start of the season.
However, he has been a regular for the club since he was recalled in November and started his seventh consecutive game in the 4-0 defeat at Everton in the Premier League on 15 January.
Toure has been free to sign pre-contract agreements with clubs overseas since 1 January but it is understood he still enjoys the English game.
Guardiola has not given Toure any guarantees about his future beyond the summer.
The Ivorian, who joined City in 2010, has become more important since Germany midfielder Ilkay Gundogan suffered a cruciate ligament injury against Watford on 14 December that is likely to rule him out for the rest of the season.
Midfielders Oscar and John Mikel Obi left Chelsea to move to China earlier this month, while former Manchester United and Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez reportedly became the world's highest-paid player when he joined Shanghai Shenhua.
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Chelsea striker Diego Costa, the Premier League's joint-top scorer with 14 goals, had been linked with a move to Tianjin Quanjian, who recently signed Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel for a salary of more than £15m a year. But the club ended their interest after the Chinese Super League reduced the number of foreign footballers allowed to play.
New rules stipulate that Chinese clubs will be able to field a maximum of three foreign players per game when the new season starts in March. | Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has turned down a £430,000-a-week offer from China. |
35804251 | The posts will be in sales, engineering and online operations and should be filled by the end of the year.
Facebook currently employs 1,300 people at its Dublin headquarters.
"The announcement is a key milestone in Facebook's commitment to investing and growing its presence in Ireland," a Facebook spokesman said.
The social network giant recently doubled the size of its premises in Dublin's Silicon Docks, where it already employs 1,300 staff. | Facebook is to expand its international headquarters operation in the Republic of Ireland with the creation of 200 jobs. |
37629637 | After Doumbia was knocked unconscious in a challenge with Sunderland's Lamine Kone, Aurier intervened to stop the Rostov player swallowing his tongue.
Mali's manager Alain Giresse added that he spoke to Aurier after the game to thank him for his "superb reactions".
Ivory Coast went on to win the home 2018 World Cup qualifier 3-1 in Bouake.
"All the players realised that Doumbia was choking and was about to swallow his tongue," Giresse told French radio station RMC.
"That's when Aurier, with one of our players, quickly put him on his side and pulled out his tongue, because he was about to lose his life."
However, Aurier later caused controversy by making a throat-slit gesture towards the crowd after his side's third goal.
The celebration was the latest in a string of incidents involving the full-back.
In September, he was sentenced to two months in jail for elbowing a police officer, but remains free pending an appeal.
And in February, he was suspended by Paris St-Germain after appearing to use homophobic language to insult then-coach Laurent Blanc.
He had also called team-mate Angel di Maria a "clown" as he answered questions from fans on social media app Periscope. | Paris Saint-Germain and Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier has been praised after "saving the life" of Mali forward Moussa Doumbia on Saturday. |
16056256 | According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will focus on the scandal of Wright and his mistress, Martha 'Mamah' Cheney, who was murdered in 1914.
Cheney, her two children and four others were killed by a domestic worker at Wright's home while he was away.
"It's a very good script," Beresford said of Nicholas Meyer's screenplay.
Meyer also directed two of the Star Trek movies.
"There's a documentary by Ken Burns but it's odd that there's never been a film about him," Beresford told the Hollywood Reporter.
The 1998 documentary was made by Oscar-winner Burns, who picked up an Academy Award for his film about the Statue of Liberty.
Beresford is currently scouting for locations in and around Chicago. Casting is yet to be announced.
Wright is considered by many to be one of the 20th Century's greatest architects. He designed over 1,000 buildings, 532 of which were completed.
His Ennis House, designed in the style of a Mayan temple, was bought for $4.5m (£2.8m) earlier this year.
Built in 1924, the house overlooks Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles and has featured in films including Blade Runner, House on Haunted Hill and Grand Canyon.
Wright also designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York. | Driving Miss Daisy film-maker Bruce Beresford has signed up to direct a biopic about the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. |
40498149 | Massanka, 20, spent the second half of last season with Dean Keates' side scoring four times in 18 appearances.
He joins for an initial six-month spell to become the Welsh side's 10th signing of the summer.
Massanka was spotted by Manchester United as a schoolboy where he spent six years before moving to Manchester City and later signing professional terms with Burnley in 2015. | Wrexham have re-signed striker Ntumba Massanka on loan from Burnley. |
39540417 | Dywedodd Heddlu De Cymru fod canŵiwr wedi dod o hyd i'r corff yn y dŵr yng nghored Radur ychydig wedi 11:00.
Fe dreuliodd swyddogion dair awr yn yr ardal fel rhan o'u hymchwiliad.
Does dim manylion pellach ar hyn o bryd. | Cafodd corff ei ganfod yn Afon Taf yng Nghaerdydd ddydd Sadwrn. |
34392787 | Emergency response time targets will be scrapped for all but life-threatening cases during a one-year trial.
Calls will now be graded and it is estimated 10% of the 420,000 ambulance emergencies a year will be coded "red" for the most critical.
Welsh Ambulance Service chief executive Tracy Myhill said the new system was based on clinical evidence.
"These changes are about putting our sickest patients first," she added.
Meeting the targets has been a long term problem for the Welsh Ambulance Service.
The latest figures out on Wednesday showed a drop in performance after seven successive months of improvement.
In August, 58.8% of emergency responses to life-threatening category A calls arrived within eight minutes - below the 65% target and down from 61.7% in July.
Managers argue the current against-the-clock system can lead to two vehicles - a rapid response team followed by an ambulance - going to what often turns out to be a less critical case.
But as soon as it is clear a case is life-threatening, an emergency vehicle will be sent.
HOW EMERGENCY CALLS WILL NOW BE GRADED
Voice recognition software which identifies key words will be used to help screen calls and identify critical cases.
But when it is unclear how serious a call is, control centre staff will have extra time - up to two minutes - to judge how to respond.
Paramedic and nursing expertise will also be available over the phone.
Until now, about 40% of 999 calls have been classed as life-threatening and categorised Red 1 and Red 2 - the former being the most critical, such as heart attacks and where the patient has stopped breathing.
In future, under the traffic light system, the trust estimates 65% of 999 calls will fall under "amber" which may still see ambulances dispatched, but not against the clock.
However, managers say the quality of patient care, including the outcomes, will still be measured in quarterly figures.
Another 25% are expected to be graded "green" and could end up being dealt with by GPs or NHS Direct instead.
Opposition parties have accused the Welsh government of political expediency by changing targets, which follows a review into the under-performing service two years ago by a health economist.
Plaid Cymru called the trial a "dangerous experiment".
But the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust said the new way of working would make it "one of the most progressive in the world."
Man in Ely with seizure and scalding
Man, 90, in Roath with chest pains
Man in Ely with seizure and scalding
Man, 90, in Roath with chest pains
BBC News app users can tap here to view videos.
BBC Wales health correspondent Owain Clarke went on the road with paramedic Geoff Lane, attending two 999 calls in Cardiff.
In both cases, Mr Lane said the speed of response would not have made much difference to what eventually happened to the patients.
His first call is to Dennis, in Ely, who had an epileptic seizure and was scalded by water from a kettle. He gives pain relief and decides Dennis needs an ambulance, which follows within 20 minutes.
"Getting here in eight minutes, has it done him any extra favours? No," said Mr Lane.
He then waits in Roath where he receives the next call to a 90-year-old man with chest pains.
It's a "bread and butter" case. Ken has a history of heart attacks and strokes and his carer called Ken's son Wayne who dialled 999 after struggling to get through to a GP.
"In all fairness a lot of people try and get frustrated," said Geoff.
"The gentleman had been in some distress, with pain and difficulty breathing but did us getting there in eight minutes make a difference to the way he was treated? No."
Dr Brendan Lloyd, ambulance service medical director, said: "Since 1974 our ambulance service has been measured by the time it takes to reach emergency calls.
"Para-medicine and pre-hospital care has developed rapidly since then, but the focus is still on how many ambulances arrive at calls within eight minutes regardless of the clinical outcome.
"That's why we're moving away from time-based targets to look more at the quality of what we do for our patients once we arrive." | A new system for dealing with 999 calls for ambulances in Wales has come into force. |
20177210 | From allegations of keeping its currency artificially low to boost exports to the labelling of some of its firms as a security threat, China's growth has put the relationship between the world's two biggest economies to the test.
And with both President Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney promising to put further pressure on China, the tests are only likely to get tougher.
Add to the mix the fact that China is also set for a once-in-a-decade leadership change over the next few days. Its new leaders will be keen to stamp their authority not just on the domestic front, but also on the global stage.
This could potentially see both sides taking hardline stands on a range of trade issues which have been the focus of debate between them in recent times: | No other country's economic rise has been debated as ferociously or caused as much concern in the US, as that of China. |
35353049 | Her playing career took her from Nigeria to China and then to Sweden - where she has been based in the northern town of Skelleftea for more than seven years.
Now the multiple African champion and African Women's Footballer of the Year is helping others who have made a very different journey, to the same destination.
She is player-coach for a local team, but much of her spare time this winter is being taken up coaching a group of Afghan teenagers, some of the hundreds of young migrants who have arrived in the town in recent months.
"I feel that it's similar - which is why I have to try to make them happy, because I know where they came from," she told the BBC.
"I feel so glad that I connected with them and we started this project together.
"We try to make them feel welcome, try to make them feel happy, try to make them get friends and associate with other Swedish [people]."
Afghan teenager Habibullah:
"She's a good coach - you see there's many people playing football here and they're really enjoying it. We're all happy"
The project, which has only been running since November, was set up by her club, Clemensnas IF, in co-operation with the local football association and the Swedish church.
"It is really a way of giving these immigrants and refugees something to do during the day," said Jens Karlsson, the chairman of Clemensnas.
"If they love soccer they can come here and practise with Perpetua, who is a great soccer player - so that's the purpose of the whole thing, to help in the immigration of these guys."
The enthusiasm of the youngsters, many of whom travelled alone from Afghanistan, is plain to see as they get stuck in to their drills - under the watchful eye of their illustrious trainer.
It is far from clear if the boys are aware of the stature and achievements of the player who is putting them through their paces.
But if they can't list Nkwocha's titles and trophies, they certainly recognise her qualities, even if at the start some were apparently surprised to be coached by a woman.
Now there are no such doubts.
"She's a good coach, we're all happy," Habibullah told the BBC - before excitedly outlining plans for a team being put together once the group has settled in.
Migration is as controversial an issue in Sweden as it is elsewhere across Europe - but the local authorities in Skelleftea, who support the Clemensnas project, are adamant that they need people to come to the town, and make their life there.
"We have a problem with people moving away - down into the big towns in the south," local councillor Daniel Adin told us.
"[For] many of our smaller towns and villages, they see this as a way to keep the countryside alive."
And he is a keen supporter of using the football scheme to try to bring the new arrivals into society.
"We have seen that sport is a really simple way of creating these meetings between people, because you don't have to know the language - you can meet and have a natural way of communicating and meeting."
Nwocha says she enjoys her life in Skelleftea, people are friendly - it is just the cold that is difficult.
"You cannot get used to this weather. There is no fashion in winter," she says, adding that layers are imperative.
She has a busy life, attending classes to improve her Swedish - as well as the teenage-coaching project.
Her main role will be to lead Clemensnas to success once the season gets going again in May.
But the so-called "Football for All" scheme is close to her heart - and she is putting just as much effort into that at the moment.
"I feel so great being with these lovely children here," she said.
"I feel like I'm home, you know - just like when I train my boys back home in Nigeria - I feel the same way here." | Nigerian football star Perpetua Nkwocha knows what it's like to find yourself many miles from home, making a new life. |
37009300 | The gait, which makes horses comfortable to ride on long journeys, is an inherited trait that springs from a single genetic mutation.
According to this new analysis, it first appeared in horses in York about AD850.
Vikings took these horses to Iceland, and the trait spread globally.
Horses have three essential speeds:
However, a four-beat rhythm, where the horse moves both legs on the same side at the same time has long been a prized feature of some breeds.
Called an ambling gait, the step produces a much smoother ride, particularly over longer distances or rough terrain.
It is as comfortable as a walk but the horse goes as fast as a trot.
In 2012, researchers examined Icelandic horses, and discovered that a single mutation in a gene involved in the movement of limbs was responsible for this ambling ability.
In this new study, scientists extended their search for the origins of this variation of the DMRT3 gene by examining genetic material from 90 horses, some dating back before 3500BC.
The earliest examples they found were in samples from York dating between AD850 and AD900, when the area was being raided and temporarily settled by Vikings.
"The first occurrence of this mutation was in two samples from medieval England from the York Archaeological Collection," said one of the authors, Dr Arne Ludwig, from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
"It is unlikely that it was present before, especially not in high frequency, because this is a big advantage, this specific movement of the horses."
The more comfortable ride offered by these horses would have made them extremely valuable.
Within a few decades, they had turned up in Iceland, probably brought there by Vikings.
The rough Icelandic territory with few roads was a good environment to show off the abilities of these foreign horses and their unusual stepping action.
The locals liked what they saw, and the English imports were rapidly crossbred with the local horse population.
"It looks like the Vikings discovered the advantage of this mutation, and they had the benefit that Iceland had a small population of horses, and it is much easier to fix a trait in a small population than in a population with a huge number of horses," said Dr Ludwig.
The mutation is now found in many breeds and many different ambling styles exist.
Earlier work has also shown the trait is key to the racing performance of trotting horses.
The study has been welcomed by others in this field.
"It adds significantly to our understanding of the domestication of the horse and especially the role of selection in development of horse breeds beginning over 1,000 years ago," said Prof Ernest Bailey, from the University of Kentucky, who was not connected to the study.
"The origin of the DMRT3 variant was not widespread before AD900, and the first detection was among horses in the British Isles, with a relatively recent point of origin.
"It was highly selected once recognised, as demonstrated by the rapid increase in the presence of the gene after AD1000."
While the researchers cannot rule out the possibility that ambling horses were also present in other parts of the world, they believe it is unlikely.
The authors point out that trade was a major element of Viking society, as well as their fearsome reputation for raiding.
They believe this is the most likely route by which the horses were introduced into Asia and the Middle East.
"They fixed the mutation in their stock there in Iceland, and then they have distributed it via trade right around Europe and Asia." said Dr Ludwig.
The study has been published in the journal, Current Biology.
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathBBC and on Facebook. | The speedy, almost comical horse step known as an ambling gait originated in England in the middle of the Ninth Century, scientists say. |
35118144 | The 32-year-old from St Asaph - the BDO World Champion in 2008 - plays his first round match on Friday.
He does not know his opponent, but with the next round starting on Boxing Day, is keen to claim a victory.
"You want to get through so you can sit down on Christmas Day knowing you're still in the competition," he said.
"I don't tend to look too far ahead because with there being a Christmas break after round one it's like you're playing in separate competitions.
PDC World Championship schedule in full
"But it's nice to get through because I've been out of the tournament on Christmas and that's not a good feeling."
Webster faces the winner of the the preliminary round match between Qiang Sun of China and Ireland's Mick McGowan.
The tournament gets underway on Thursday, with Welshman Jamie Lewis from Cardigan facing Daryl Gurney of Northern Ireland.
Webster is looking for a return to form after what he admits has been "a couple of lousy years on the main circuit".
He added: "At the back end of this year I've had some positive results. I've made a semi-final and a quarter final in major events so hopefully I can build on that."
If he can rediscover his best form, Webster could face a quarter final showdown with 14-time champion Phil "The Power" Taylor.
But the Welshman says he is not looking that far ahead, and believes the man to beat is World No1 and reigning champion Michael van Gerwen of Netherlends. | Mark Webster is hoping to give himself an early Christmas present by earning a place in the second round of the PDC World Darts championship. |
35098540 | Fifty-one refugees travelled to Belfast from Lebanon. Eleven of them are children aged under five.
They will spend their first few days in a special welcome centre, before moving into Belfast's private rented sector.
They are among 20,000 Syrian refugees who will be resettled across the UK over the next five years.
Each of the families will be helped to find a home, a job and school places for their children
Denise Wright, co-ordinator for Refugee Asylum Forum, explained what would happen once they arrived in Northern Ireland.
"They'll be taken to a welcome centre where they'll obviously get a meal and just recuperate from the travel," she said.
"Over the next few days they will be going through the systems in order to get recorded on different databases and make sure they get everything they are entitled to and link them up with key workers who will help them get through that process."
Ms Wright said the forum had been "overwhelmed" with people wanting to help.
"Obviously these are only 10 families that are coming. There are only so many buggies and so many bags of clothes we can take so we had suggested that people might send us welcome cards," she said.
"We've been completely inundated, hundreds and hundreds of them, just to show that real sort of Belfast, Northern Ireland, welcome."
She said she was aware that some people were "not happy" about the arrival of the refugees.
"They're a tiny minority and it's always worth remembering that and hopefully the communities that these people move into will rally around them," she added.
The Department for Social Development has direct responsibility for overseeing the operation of bringing the refugees into Northern Ireland.
The chair of the social development committee, Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey, said the priority was to ensure the refugees arrival was as smooth as possible and that their privacy was respected.
"These people are traumatised, they're coming from a camp from which they've been staying for some time, they're coming on a direct flight, so they've a lot to be contending with over the next number of days," he said.
"I think the people directly responsible for sorting them out want to have as peaceful and manageable a situation if at all possible.
"First of all there is the privacy, there is also the actual need to be able to process in peace and quiet.
"There will obviously be well wishers who will also probably want to be there as well, but that is not what we want at this stage of the game.
"The security issue is one which would be in the back of people's minds but it wouldn't be a predominant fear, I don't think."
This is the first time Northern Ireland has participated in a refugee resettlement program.
It will accept a second group of refugees between January and April next year.
They will be settled in the north west of Northern Ireland.
Messages and cards drawn up by local schoolchildren to welcome the Syrian families to Northern Ireland were put on display at the reception centre on Monday. | The first group of Syrian refugees have arrived in Northern Ireland as part of the UK's Vulnerable Persons Relocations Scheme. |
36281363 | Edwards, 36, retired on Wednesday and is the only player - man or woman - to captain England in 200 internationals.
"Grassroots is an area we've not taken enough care of recently," said England women's cricket director Clare Connor.
"We must make sure we look after every player and make sure they are as valued as Charlotte Edwards."
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Connor, herself a former England captain, added that the grassroots game would be "an area of investment" for the England and Wales Cricket Board "over the next few years" as they try to capitalise on the 'Chance to Shine' initiative, which has attracted 1.3 million female players to the game in the past decade.
The Women's Super League is also scheduled to start in July and England will host the World Cup in 2017.
Speaking at the Women's Sport Trust Awards, Connor told BBC Sport: "It's no good just having an elite game.
"We have to think more broadly about how we make sure the inspiration of the England team connects with the next generation.
"We've seen huge growth in girls playing the game. The number of clubs is up by 600% over the past 10 years so the numbers are looking healthy.
"But we've got to become more strategic about how we convert those huge numbers into lifelong players. That doesn't mean they all go on to play county cricket, or for England, but stay with clubs for a long time." | There must be greater focus on the English grassroots game to build on the legacy of Charlotte Edwards, says the head of England women's cricket. |
33479362 | However, that was measured before the slump in oil prices, which has hit the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire economy.
Glasgow was found to have the lowest amount of spending money per head, after tax and benefits, while the west Highlands and Ayrshire were the parts of Scotland relying most on benefits.
The findings are from a study by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
It showed that disposable income in Scotland in 2013 averaged £17,039. That compares with £17,599 for the whole UK.
In real terms, that has risen faster in Scotland, at 27%, than the UK as a whole, at 23%, in the 16 years to 2013.
In cash terms, excluding the effect of inflation, income was up 81% in Scotland over that period, and by 75% in the UK as a whole.
That shows the gap between Scotland's average income and that of the UK as a whole has narrowed since 1997.
The study also showed how that disposable income differs across Scotland. Only the north-east and Edinburgh were above £20,000 per head, putting those areas in the top 20% for the UK as a whole.
The areas with the lowest level of spending money per head were in west central Scotland, West Lothian and parts of Tayside.
The highest income areas were more than £5,000 per head better off than Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, which were in the bottom 25% for UK income.
Disposable income per head in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire was 35% above Glasgow.
The analysis also went into the question of how much that ranking depends on social benefits, including pensions and welfare.
Of Scottish disposable income, 21% came from benefits, while the figure for the whole UK was just below 20%.
Areas with a high concentration of older people or with greater poverty are combined among the areas where most income comes from benefits.
The area with the highest share of income from benefits, at 28%, was a region that includes Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh, Arran and Cumbrae along with Argyll and Bute. That puts it in the top 10% of UK regions for reliance on benefits as income.
Another insight into Scottish income came this week from the Budget for Fiscal Responsibility, in a document released alongside the Budget at Westminster.
Using HM Revenue and Customs statistics, it split the 2012-13 income tax-paying population of Scotland, Wales and the UK into five segments, and showed how they differ in distribution.
The outcome showed Scotland is slightly more weighted towards the lower earning segments. But it is only in the share of those earning more than £150,000 that there was a big difference.
The difference between Welsh income distribution and that of the UK was much wider than Scotland's. | The north-east is ahead of the Scottish capital in the latest assessment of disposable income across the country. |
19796019 | Abu Hamza is among five men asking judges to grant an injunction against their extradition from the UK.
Abu Hamza says handing him over would be "oppressive". Fellow suspect Khaled al-Fawwaz, meanwhile, says new evidence discredits the case against him.
The UK government said the last-ditch case was an abuse of the legal process.
It has said it wants to deport the suspects "as quickly as possible".
The men are among six terror suspects held in the UK who are wanted in the US.
The application for injunctions came after the European Court of Human Rights backed successive UK courts in ruling that the men could be sent to the US to face charges.
To avoid extradition, Abu Hamza, Mr al-Fawwaz, Syed Ahsan, Babar Ahmad and Adel Abdul Bary must convince the High Court that there are "new and compelling" reasons for their cases not now to proceed.
Abu Hamza's lawyer Alun Jones QC said the "uncontradicted medical opinion" was that an MRI scan was "medically necessary".
He asked the court for a temporary injunction blocking Abu Hamza's removal until tests has been competed as he may be unfit to stand trial.
Mr Jones said a judge referred to Abu Hamza's "very poor health" at an extradition hearing in 2008.
"Over four years later, it appears there has been, or may have been, a further deterioration, perhaps attributable to sleep deprivation and the continued confinement of the appellant in an unrelentingly harsh environment."
Profiles: UK-held terror suspects
Abu Hamza, a former preacher at Finsbury Park Mosque in London, is accused of planning a terror training camp in Oregon and assisting hostage-taking in Yemen.
He was arrested at the request of the US in May 2004 - but the extradition was halted when the UK decided to try him on allegations relating to his sermons. He was convicted in 2006.
Mr al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary are accused of being aides to Osama Bin Laden in London.
Mr al-Fawwaz's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said a diplomatic cable existed which reportedly said the US was considering "de-listing of Mr Fawwaz" from a UN "terror list", and there was "evidence in the possession of M15 and MI6 that suggests that the claimant could not be guilty as alleged".
Between 1999 and 2006, Mr al-Fawwaz and Mr Bary were indicted on various terrorism charges in the US, with Mr al-Fawwaz accused of involvement in, or support for, the bombing of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998.
Mr Fitzgerald said Mr al-Fawwaz publicly disassociated himself from Bin Laden after the al-Qaeda leader issued a fatwa against Americans in 1996.
But a lawyer for the US authorities, James Lewis QC, told the court there was evidence that Mr al-Fawwaz had drafted the fatwa, and that faxes were found on him claiming responsibility for the embassy bombings "two-and-a-half hours before the bombs went off".
Fingerprints from Mr Bary, meanwhile, were on a fax claiming responsibility for the bombings, which was sent to the press, Mr Lewis added.
By Dominic CascianiHome affairs correspondent
The court is absolutely packed with lawyers, reporters and interested parties. The only people absent are the men themselves.
So why is this hearing taking place when the highest European judges have already ruled these men can be extradited? There are two key issues. Firstly, lawyers for Abu Hamza and Khaled al-Fawwaz say there are new facts that need to be considered - facts which haven't been dealt with before.
Abu Hamza's case comes down to his reportedly deteriorating health and whether he is fit to plead. A similar argument led to General Augusto Pinochet avoiding extradition a decade ago.
Extradition law has changed since then. Today's judges can only stop or adjourn the process if the appellant is so poorly that it would be oppressive to continuing the extradition.
Secondly, Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan say they should be prosecuted here - because that's where their alleged crimes were committed.
James Eadie QC, for the home secretary, told the court the suspects' arguments and applications could have been heard "many moons ago".
But they had been "stored up" to cause unnecessary delay and amounted to an abuse of process, he said.
Meanwhile, the court will hear on Wednesday if director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer acted unlawfully in ruling out a private prosecution of Babar Ahmad and another terror suspect, Syed Ahsan, after a legal challenge from the pair.
Mr Ahmad, a computer expert from South London, has been held in a UK prison without trial for eight years after being accused of raising funds for terrorism with his co-accused, Mr Ahsan, through a website.
Campaigners against UK extradition laws had tried to get them put on trial for offences they said were committed in this country.
However, Mr Starmer said on Monday that the documents they provided were "very short, lack any meaningful detail and do not provide any real support for a prosecution".
Haroon Aswat, Abu Hamza's co-accused, who is also facing extradition, was allegedly involved in the plot to establish a US training camp. He was arrested in August 2005 but is not involved in the High Court hearing.
The European Court of Human Rights has "adjourned its examination" of Mr Aswat's claim because it requires further details about his mental health problems. | Terror suspect Abu Hamza al-Masri's health has worsened and he should not be extradited to the US before a scan, his lawyer has told the High Court. |
32770068 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 34-year-old was given a rousing reception by supporters in his 709th game for the Reds, which ended in a 3-1 defeat by Crystal Palace.
"It was very emotional. An unbelievable send-off," he told BBC Sport.
"I am very proud looking back at the last 17 years and I will never forget this day."
He added: "It's a day I've been dreading, because I will miss it so much."
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Gerrard will play his final game for his hometown club away at Stoke next weekend, before leaving to play for LA Galaxy in the United States in the summer.
Liverpool supporters arrived at Anfield hours before the game against Palace to pay tribute to the former England midfielder, who was given a guard of honour by both teams on his way to the pitch before kick-off.
The result did not match the sense of anticipation in the ground, with Palace coming from 1-0 down to win 3-1.
But the Liverpool faithful roared its approval as Gerrard addressed the crowd after the game, while his team-mates looked on, all wearing shirts with the name Gerrard and the number eight on the back.
"Steven got a wonderful send-off and he gave everything right to the end," said Reds manager Brendan Rodgers.
"It was fantastic for him and his family but obviously the result and performance were disappointing.
"Steven is a player and a person who is irreplaceable in terms of what he has given over his time here. The standards he has set have been second to none."
Eagles manager Alan Pardew paid his own tribute to Gerrard, saying: "For me, he's carried the nation at times. We should all be honoured to have someone who has conducted himself as Steven has."
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Gerrard was asked about the possibility of him returning to Liverpool on loan in the future.
"I wanted to say goodbye in a proper way," he said.
"The only way I'd ever come back would be an emergency situation, but I hope I'm not needed come the winter."
"You have to be good enough. This is a big club and can be brutal at times.
"I'm trying to go through the coaching badges and it's a bridge I will cross in a couple of years."
"It was a cruel blow losing Luis Suarez in the summer [to Barcelona] and Daniel Sturridge's injuries.
"But there is a big core of potential and it's important we strengthen to compete and bridge that gap between the top sides."
"It will be a difficult challenge, with less pressure, but I want to play for a few more years.
"Only then will I decide what's next for me." | Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has brought his 17-year career at Anfield to an "emotional" end after playing his final home match for the club. |
35869733 | Liz O'Neill came across the meat at Crosland Moor and posted the pictures on Facebook to warn others after her dog ate some.
She described those responsible for leaving the meat as "sick".
Previously, drawing pins were found scattered on the same field, which is used by a local dog agility club.
Ms O'Neill said she became concerned after her four-year-old dog Marley ate some of the meat left near a hut on the Dryclough recreation ground.
"It was fresh raw meat, no smell. Nothing on it," she said.
She said the experience had left her feeling frightened, but thankful Marley seemed to be fine.
During a previous incident, dozens of drawing pins were scattered on the field.
In 2014, officials from Springers Agility and Flyball Club told the Huddersfield Daily Examiner those responsible were also putting children at risk of injury.
Police said they had received several reports in recent months of poisoned, or tampered with, meat left in popular dog walking areas.
Last month, bran flakes thought to have been laced with rat poison were eaten by a dog near Guiseley Football Club.
Sausages laced with nails were also reported at Dovestone Reservoir, Oldham.
West Yorkshire Police urged people to remove food out of harm's way and advised anyone affected to take their pet to a vet.
The force said it has increased patrols in the area. | Dog walkers are being warned to be vigilant after pieces of raw chicken with safety pins attached were left on a playing field in Huddersfield. |
37401557 | Diane James said the leader of the party in Wales, Nathan Gill, had her "complete and utter support".
She called on the leader in the Assembly, Neil Hamilton, to "step up to the plate, but focus on Wales and the Assembly".
The two men have been embroiled in a feud which has seen Mr Gill quit the UKIP group of AMs in Cardiff Bay.
He now sits as an independent AM but is still the party's leader in Wales as well as a Member of the European Parliament.
Asked what she was going to do about the "civil war engulfing the party in Wales", Ms James said: "I'm going to ask Neil Hamilton to focus on the Welsh Assembly, on winning elections in Wales.
"I'm going to ask Nathan to continue doing the superb job he does in terms of representing Wales in the European Union."
Asked if that meant the party had "two kings", she replied: "Nathan has my complete and utter support.
"He has a huge legacy in terms of his membership, a huge wealth of knowledge in terms of the issues facing Wales if Mrs May doesn't action the vote to leave the European Union."
She added: "Neil, I'm asking you, step up to the plate, but focus on Wales and the Assembly."
Ms James was elected as UKIP party leader on Friday, replacing Nigel Farage.
Mr Gill said in a speech to the UKIP conference on Saturday that members should now unite behind their new UK leader.
Responding on BBC Wales' Sunday Politics Wales programme, Mr Hamilton, who did not support Ms James for the leadership, said: "She obviously hasn't been watching the televised debates from the Assembly week in week out since we were elected on May 5.
"That's exactly what I've been doing in Cardiff four days a week is concentrating on my job as an AM in the Assembly, and as the leader of the group." | UKIP's new leader has tried to heal divisions within the party in Wales, and denied it has "two kings". |
36354083 | The 29-year-old Spaniard, who leaves Yamaha at the end of the season to join Ducati, held off compatriot Marc Marquez by 0.019 seconds in Mugello.
Local hero Valentino Rossi, who was on pole, encountered a mechanical problem on lap eight and soon retired.
The Italian, 37, is now 37 points behind Lorenzo with 12 races remaining.
Lorenzo took the lead from Rossi at the first corner, and to the despair of the home crowd the nine-time world champion bowed out midway through the 23-lap race with smoke billowing from his bike.
Marquez, the 2013 and 2014 champion who remains second in this year's standings, took the lead on the final lap, before Lorenzo seized the victory metres from the chequered flag in the closest finish of the season to date.
The Spaniard admitted his third victory of the season was a surprise and added: "I used up a lot of energy to stay in the lead during the race and I thought that Marquez had more energy when he passed me, so I just wanted to stay in second place and take the points.
"I tried a crazy move, and my bike was quite fast, so I could take the win off Marquez and I won this unexpected victory."
Andrea Iannone of Italy finished a distant third but set a new MotoGP top speed record of 354.9kmh (220.5mph).
In Moto2 Britain's Sam Lowes leads by two points after finishing third behind Johann Zarco of France and Italian Lorenzo Baldassarri.
South African Brad Binder consolidated his Moto3 lead by recording a third successive win.
Italian MotoGP result:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 41 minutes, 36.535 seconds
2. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 41:36.554
3. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 41:41.277
4. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 41:41.445
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 41:42.791
6. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 41:45.205
7. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 41:49.875
8. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 41:51.133
9. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 41:55.178
10. Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati 41:58.833
Other:
11. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 42:04.471
Overall standings (after race 6 of 18):
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 115 points
2. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 105
3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 78
4. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 66
5. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 59
6. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 49
7. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 48
8. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 43
9. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 41
10. Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Ducati 36
Other:
12. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 29 | Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo extended his lead in the MotoGP standings to 10 points after a dramatic victory at the Italian Grand Prix. |
40907084 | But a new find by the Antarctic Heritage Trust suggests it's no match for a 106-year-old British fruitcake.
Conservators found the elderly cake on Cape Adare, and believe it belonged to British explorer Robert Falcon Scott - known as Scott of the Antarctic.
Although the cake's tin was rusted, the team said it was in "excellent condition" and smelled edible.
The New Zealand-based Trust found it in Antarctica's oldest building, a hut built by Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink's team in 1899, and used by Capt Scott in 1911 during his Terra Nova expedition.
The polar pioneer was said to be fond of this particular cake, made by the British biscuit company Huntley & Palmers.
"Fruitcake was a popular item in English society at the time, and it remains popular today," Lizzie Meek, conservation manager for artefacts at the Trust, told National Geographic.
"Living and working in Antarctica tends to lead to a craving for high-fat, high-sugar food, and fruitcake fits the bill nicely, not to mention going very well with a cup of tea."
Conservators have been excavating artefacts in the hut since May 2016, and have unearthed some 1,500 items. They include tools and clothing, and - according to Ms Meeks - some "badly deteriorated" meat and fish, and "rather nice-looking" jams.
Everything they find - fruitcake included - is restored and returned to its original resting place.
The cake's survival is bittersweet, as Capt Scott and his companions were not so lucky. They successfully reached the South Pole, only to find a Norwegian team had beaten them to it by 33 days. The British explorers all died on their way back to base. | Ice-covered Antarctica is one of the earth's most hostile natural environments. |
39156138 | There was a bomb scare at the town hall in Gaggenau after officials withdrew permission for Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag to address a rally. Police found no bomb, so the alarm was lifted.
Cologne has prevented another Turkish minister from speaking at an event.
Turkey is trying to woo ethnic Turkish voters ahead of a key referendum.
About 1.4m Turks living in Germany are eligible to vote in the April referendum, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan aims to win backing for sweeping new powers.
The constitutional changes would boost Mr Erdogan's presidency and significantly weaken parliament's role.
A spokeswoman for Chancellor Merkel said Germany wanted to lead by example on issues of freedom of speech and opinion.
Despite the Cologne restriction, Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci vowed to visit the city anyway on Sunday and meet ethnic Turks face-to-face.
"If we see that they still don't give us permission, I'll go from coffee house to coffee house, from house to house, to meet our citizens anyway," he said.
Tensions between Germany and Turkey have escalated into a war of words. About 3m people of Turkish origin live in Germany.
The row is troubling for Chancellor Merkel because she persuaded Turkey to help block the surge of migrants - many of them Syrian refugees - into the EU.
In Turkey, dozens of writers and journalists have been arrested in a far-reaching crackdown that followed a failed coup against Mr Erdogan in July 2016.
The authorities have purged the police, schools and other public services of alleged supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric blamed for the coup. He denies plotting against Mr Erdogan.
Turkey arrested a German-Turkish reporter last week, straining ties.
Deniz Yucel, who works for Die Welt, is accused of producing terrorist propaganda and undermining the Turkish government.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the German government of backing opposition to Mr Erdogan's planned constitutional changes.
Speaking in English, he said: "You are not Turkey's boss. You are not a first class [country] and Turkey is not second class. We are not treating you like that, and you have to treat Turkey properly.
"If you want to maintain your relations with us, you have to learn how to behave. You cannot tackle these matters with these methods. It can't go on this way. If necessary we will respond in every way. And then you can think about the rest. This is our message to Germany."
Earlier, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas sent his Turkish counterpart, Mr Bozdag, a sharply-worded letter warning against "dismantling the rule of law".
He said the Turkish treatment of Mr Yucel was "disproportionate".
"If Turkey fails to uphold core European values, then closer relations with the European Union will become more difficult, or impossible," he wrote. | German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she respects local leaders' decisions to cancel Turkish political rallies, despite Turkish government anger. |
40123806 | Despite being African champions, the Junior Chipolopolo entered the tournament with huge question marks hanging over their title aspirations.
But after sealing a place in the last eight with a dramatic 4-3 extra-time win over Germany on Wednesday, Chambeshi was full of praise for his team.
He credited the players' fighting spirit for their triumph over the Germans which set up Monday's quarter-final showdown against Italy.
"It's amazing and I'm happy to see this team go this far. I'm proud of my team and my technical staff," said Chambeshi.
For sure we have to respect every team and they also have to respect us
"The most important thing is that we have character in the team, we have players who've got that heart [to fight on]."
Indeed, it is testament to Zambia's battling qualities that they overcame a late fightback from Germany to advance to the next round.
During the group stage, the Zambians also fought back from 2-0 down to beat Iran 4-2 and book their place in the second round.
"This is a tournament where you can't run from any team so what we need is to prepare well and face whichever team comes our way.
"For sure we have to respect every team and they also have to respect us."
However, Chambeshi admitted that a leaky defence has been been the least pleasing aspect of their remarkable run in South Korea.
He said: "It's unfortunate that we are conceding goals, we can't run away from that, it is football.
"Zambia is a football loving nation; you give them a win and everyone is happy!" | Zambia coach Beston Chambeshi has hailed the fighting spirit of his team ahead of their quarter-final clash with Italy at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup. |
39528013 | The crossing was one of three built over the Church Village bypass near Pontypridd in 2010 - at the cost of £190,000 to the taxpayer.
Rhondda Cynon Taf council has been criticised for not replacing one of the bridges, which collapsed in storms in January 2016.
The council said a proposal was being considered by Natural Resources Wales.
Made of wire mesh tubes suspended between trees and tall poles, the crossings were put in place as part of wildlife protection plans ordered before the bypass was approved.
The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales said, while the effectiveness of the bridges was not yet clear, families of dormice could become "extinct" in the event of disease if they were unable to move habitat due to the road.
Rose Revera, people and wildlife officer, said: "Dormice are easily predated upon, they tend to travel in the tops of trees. If a road goes through a wood or shrub land it causes a huge barrier they cannot cross.
"If they are not able to move they are more vulnerable".
The Taxpayers' Alliance said the situation was "completely absurd" as the bridges had been paid for by the Welsh Government as part of the construction of the £4.4m road.
John O'Connell, chief executive of the group, said paying £190,000 in the first place for crossings for mice was wrong.
He said: "When the council should have been looking to cut out waste and find savings, local taxpayers have every right to question how this was ever signed off.
"Their intentions might have been good but £190,000 is a huge sum of money and surely the council could have found far-cheaper ways of doing the same thing."
The bypass opened more than 20 years after the need between Church Village, Llantwit Fardre and Tonteg was first identified to ease congestion on the A473.
A council spokeswoman said: "Rhondda Cynon Taf council engineers and ecological specialists have formed a proposal which is currently being considered by NRW." | A £63,000 bridge to help dormice cross a busy bypass safely has not been replaced 16 months after it fell down. |
39875373 | There have been changes in format and final venues since their inception in 1987, but they are now a staple of the football calendar that offer delirium and desolation in equal measure.
To mark the 30-year anniversary of the play-offs, BBC Sport is asking you to vote on your most memorable Championship play-off final moment.
The online vote will take place during our live text coverage of the 2017 final between Huddersfield Town and Reading at Wembley on Monday.
Voting will start at 13:00 BST and end at 17:30 BST, and we will announce the winner shortly afterwards.
Here are the eight options to choose from...
1993: Swindon Town 4-3 Leicester City
Swindon had won the second-tier play-offs three years earlier, but were denied promotion to the top flight having admitted 36 breaches of league rules - 35 of them concerning illegal payments made to players.
They were back at Wembley in 1993 under player-manager Glenn Hoddle, who scored the first goal as Swindon went 3-0 up against Leicester.
Back came the Foxes. Julian Joachim, Steve Walsh and Steve Thompson all scored in a 12-minute spell to level the match at 3-3, and it took a late penalty from Paul Bodin to secure Swindon's promotion.
Four days later, Hoddle resigned to take charge of Chelsea.
1995: Bolton Wanderers 4-3 Reading (aet)
The English league structure was being reorganised in 1994-95, so only one team was promoted automatically from the second tier that season.
Reading, who had finished second in the table behind champions Middlesbrough, were 2-0 ahead after 12 minutes against Bolton and also had a penalty saved just before half-time.
Wanderers pegged them back in the closing stages, as Owen Coyle and substitute Fabian de Freitas sent the game into extra-time.
Mixu Paatelainen and De Freitas' second extended their advantage, although Jimmy Quinn fired in Reading's third before Bolton's promotion was confirmed.
1996: Leicester City 2-1 Crystal Palace (aet)
Steve Claridge developed a habit of scoring big goals for Leicester City. Less than a year before his 1997 League Cup final winner for the Foxes, he had sent them back up to the top division at the expense of Crystal Palace.
Garry Parker's penalty cancelled out Palace's opener from Andy Roberts, and the game was deadlocked until the final minute of extra-time, when Claridge found the corner with a shot from 20 yards.
Even Leicester manager Martin O'Neill had been expecting a shoot-out. Seconds before Claridge's winner, he had substituted goalkeeper Kevin Poole for giant Australian Zeljko Kalac, believing he would be a better bet at saving penalties.
Kalac did not touch the ball during his brief cameo at Wembley.
1997: Crystal Palace 1-0 Sheffield United
Crystal Palace got over the disappointment of their 1996 defeat by Leicester to go up via the play-offs in 1997 - and in similarly dramatic circumstances.
This time it was Sheffield United on the wrong end of some late Wembley drama, as Palace captain David Hopkin curled a shot into the top corner from 25 yards in the final minute of normal time to seal a 1-0 victory for the Eagles.
Palace have won four second-tier play-off finals, more than any other club.
1998: Charlton Athletic 4-4 Sunderland (aet, 7-6 pens)
Only two second-tier play-off finals have been settled by penalty shoot-outs - Birmingham beat Norwich in 2002, four years after Charlton had defeated Sunderland.
Clive Mendonca's superbly taken hat-trick for Charlton would have grabbed the headlines in any other year, but that was only part of the story.
Sunderland led three times but the Addicks would not be shaken off. It was 4-4 after extra-time, which meant penalties.
After 13 successful spot-kicks, Michael Gray's tame effort was saved by Sasa Ilic and Charlton were promoted at the end of a remarkable final.
2008: Hull City 1-0 Bristol City
Dean Windass saved one of his best goals for one of the biggest stages in English football, as he sent his hometown club Hull City into the top division for the first time in their history.
The 2008 final was a big occasion for the Tigers and their opponents Bristol City, who had gone 28 years without top-flight football and were one win away from a second successive promotion.
Hull-born Windass settled the contest with a stunning 20-yard volley from Fraizer Campbell's cross - one of the finest goals ever scored in a play-off final.
2011: Swansea City 4-2 Reading
No Welsh club had tasted Premier League football until Swansea City won promotion to the top flight in 2011.
They made a fast start against Reading and led 3-0 at half-time thanks to Scott Sinclair's double and a third goal from Stephen Dobbie.
Reading pulled it back to 3-2 and Jem Karacan hit the post as they searched for an equaliser, but Sinclair converted his second penalty of the game to complete his hat-trick and send Brendan Rodgers' Swansea up.
Mendonca, Sinclair and Preston's Jermaine Beckford (for Preston in the 2015 League One final) are the only players to have scored three times in a Wembley play-off decider.
2014: QPR 1-0 Derby County
QPR secured an immediate return to the Premier League with yet another last-minute play-off final winner against Derby.
Rangers played most of the second half with 10 men after Gary O'Neil was sent off for cynically bringing down Johnny Russell, who was bearing down on goal.
Derby had dominated the match before O'Neil's dismissal and there looked to be only one winner until Zamora's last-minute intervention.
Zamora, who had scored West Ham's winner against Preston in 2005, capitalised on a poor clearance by Rams defender Richard Keogh and, with QPR's only shot on target in the match, found the corner from 15 yards to guarantee promotion.
Want to tell us about your favourite play-off final moment? Get in touch using #bbcefl on social media and the best observations will be used in BBC Sport's live text coverage of the 2017 Championship play-off final. | Few games in English football have provided more drama over the past 30 years than some of those in the play-offs. |
38463998 | Mireslaw Kowalczuk, 29, was fatally stabbed in the chest at a house on Cross Farm Road in Peasley Cross on Tuesday evening.
Merseyside Police said he died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
Thirty-four-year-old Karolina Rutkowska has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Friday. | A woman has been charged with murdering a man who was stabbed to death in St Helens, police have said. |
26903938 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 11-year-old beat Balthazar King (14-1) by five lengths, with Double Seven (10-1 joint favourite) third, Alvarado (33-1) fourth and Rocky Creek (16-1) fifth.
Teaforthree, the 10-1 joint favourite, fell as 18 of the 40 horses finished.
Aspell, 37, had finished second on Supreme Glory in the 2003 National.
For the second year running, all horses and jockeys returned safely from the marathon steeplechase, however the 39 jockeys who started the race later refused to attend a stewards' inquiry into a false start.
Pineau De Re, who finished third in the Pertemps Final over hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival in March, jumped the final fence in a clear lead and his rivals never looked like bridging the gap as he galloped all the way to the line.
Aspell, who retired from the saddle in 2007 but was tempted back two years later, said: "It's a wonderful day - this is what we do it for.
"I've been watching the National since I was a very young boy.
"As much as you enjoy sharing everyone's success, you crave a bit too.
"To get a chance to ride in the National is a great thing, and to get on one with a chance is even better."
Dr Newland trains a small stable of horses at Claines in Worcester, having stopped surgery practice earlier this year. Pineau De Re was his first runner in the National.
"We are so lucky to have such a lovely horse. It's a dream come true - a dream that we've had for about 30 years," he told BBC Sport.
"John [Provan, the owner] is one of my oldest racing friends. We've been coming here for over 20 years, before I started training - he had horses before me and taught me a lot about it.
"Leighton is a top-class jockey - he had a plan and delivered it superbly. One of the reasons I put him on the horse was because he's had a bit of a comeback season. I just thought maybe, with his confidence high, he could go one better."
There was a false start because of Battle Group's reluctance to join the other runners and when they started at the second attempt, the Johnny Farrelly-trained nine-year-old again stood motionless and took no part.
Among those to fall early in the race was former Cheltenham Gold Cup victor and dual King George VI Chase winner Long Run.
Across The Bay led for a long way until almost being taken out by a loose horse as the field headed out for the second circuit, effectively ending his chances of victory.
Aspell took his time aboard Pineau De Re, named after a wine and bought out of Ireland last year after he won the Ulster National, as he moved comfortably into contention before making his challenge.
The Philip Hobbs-trained Balthazar King, winner of the cross-country chase at the Cheltenham Festival, was never too far off the pace, as Richard Johnson rode him into the runner-up spot.
Hobbs said of Balthazar King: "He's amazing. He ran well in the race last year but finished much better this time.
"I have enormous pride in the horse - he's one of the best, most consistent, tough horses, he tries so hard."
Third-placed Double Seven, saddled by former Grand National-winning trainer Martin Brassil, was the mount of AP McCoy.
The 18-time champion jockey said: "Martin had the horse in great form, but the ground was a fraction dead for him.
"Jumping the third-last I thought I had a chance of winning, but then I think the dead ground found him out.
"Dr Newland and Leighton are nice people and it's great for them to win it." | Pineau De Re, ridden by Leighton Aspell and trained by Dr Richard Newland, won the 167th Grand National at Aintree at odds of 25-1. |
38157220 | British American Tobacco, Imperial, Japan Tobacco International, and Philip Morris had challenged the legislation which has been in force since May.
It requires all tobacco packaging to be uniformly olive green and with large images intended to act as health warnings.
But the firms had called the rules "disproportionate".
They initially challenged the rules in the High Court in May but lost the case, with Judge Justice Green calling the legislation "valid and lawful in all respects".
The cigarette companies then took their case to the Court of Appeal, but on Wednesday three judges in London rejected their challenge against the High Court's decision.
Public Health and Innovation Minister Nicola Blackwood told the BBC: "We are pleased that this decision will help many people to lead longer and healthier lives."
But a British American Tobacco (BAT) spokesperson said it did "not necessarily" mark the end of the challenge and that it was considering its options.
The government introduced The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Act in May, claiming it would allow a generation would "grow up smoke-free".
The legislation not only requires packaging to be uniform but also feature graphic picture health warnings covering 65% of the front and back of every packet of cigarettes. Additional warnings must feature on the top of packs, too.
But the tobacco firms argued the rules would destroy valuable intellectual property rights and render products indistinguishable.
They challenged the legislation on a number of grounds, including claims that they violated UK and EU laws, and were "disproportionate" and "must be quashed".
Commenting on today's Court of Appeal ruling, a BAT spokesperson said: "Despite today's decision, we remain firm in our belief that plain packaging is an ineffective policy that doesn't work to reduce smoking levels."
"These are issues of significant constitutional and commercial importance which, if left unchallenged, would have serious implications for other legitimate businesses and for the ability of the government to act first and justify later when it comes to regulation," they added.
Japan Tobacco International said it disagreed with the decision, saying: "This commercial vandalism sets a dangerous precedent for other targeted industries, who must be concerned that their brands will now be under threat. We are considering an appeal to the Supreme Court."
But Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity Ash, called the decision a "victory for public health and another crushing defeat for the tobacco industry".
"This ruling should also encourage other countries to press ahead with standardised packaging, now that the industry's arguments have yet again been shown to be without foundation," she said.
The EU's Tobacco Products Directive also came into effect in May, setting out other rules such as banning packs of 10 cigarettes.
That month, the European Court of Justice ruled that the directive, which had been held up by legal challenges ever since it was adopted in 2014, was lawful. | Several major tobacco firms have lost a second appeal against a ruling forcing them to adopt plain packaging. |
32335069 | World number nine Wawrinka, who beat fellow Swiss Federer in last year's final, lost 6-1 6-2 to Bulgaria's world number 11 Grigor Dimitrov.
Second seed Federer was beaten 6-4 7-6 (7-5) by Frenchman Gael Monfils, the world number 18 and 14th seed.
Eight-times winner Rafael Nadal beat America's John Isner 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-3.
The Spaniard, who won every title at the clay court event from 2005-12, saved two set points in the opener but broke big-serving Isner in the fourth game of the decider.
Nadal faces compatriot David Ferrer in the fourth round after he beat France's Gilles Simon 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-1
Monfils's victory over 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer was his second successive triumph on clay after his straight sets win during last year's Davis Cup final.
Federer, 33, four times a beaten finalist in this event, was competing for the first time since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Indian Wells final nearly four weeks ago.
He was broken in the ninth game of the first set and then squandered a 5-3 lead in the second set tie-break, losing four successive points.
Wawrinka had won two of the previous three meetings with Dimitrov, including a clay court encounter at the 2013 World Tour Masters in Madrid.
But the 30-year-old Swiss made 41 unforced errors and had just four winners against the ninth seed.
He was guilty of 13 of those unforced errors as Dimitrov raced 4-0 ahead, and failed to convert four break points in the sixth game of the second set. | World number two Roger Federer and defending champion Stan Wawrinka both suffered third-round defeats at the Monte Carlo Masters. |
34734275 | Mr Cheney, Mr Bush said, built "his own empire" and Mr Rumsfeld "served the president badly," US media report.
Mr Bush also called Mr Rumsfeld "an arrogant fellow" with "swagger".
Mr Cheney was vice-president and Mr Rumsfeld was defence secretary under George W Bush.
"I don't like what he did, and I think it hurt the president having [Mr Rumsfeld's] iron-ass view of everything," Mr Bush said, according to an article in The New York Times that cites the biography's author, Jon Meacham.
"There's a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He's more 'kick ass' and 'take names, take numbers'. I think he paid a price for that."
Jeb Bush has had plenty of drama in his presidential quest recently, with poorly reviewed debate performances and sinking poll numbers leading to a recently unveiled "Jeb can fix it!" campaign reboot. Now, thanks to his father's new biography, he is likely to face questions once again about his family's tangled presidential dynasty.
Jeb has repeatedly asserted that he's his own man and is forging an identity distinct from that of his presidential relatives, but that hasn't stopped reporters from pressing him on his views of George W Bush's time in the White House, including the wisdom of the Iraq War. His answers, to put it kindly, have been less than clear and consistent.
It's only a matter of time before Jeb is asked whether he agrees with his father's view that George W occasionally used overheated rhetoric and relied too heavily on bellicose advisers like Vice-President Dick Cheney. No matter how he answers, questions like these will push him off his desired message at a critical time in his campaign.
Mr Cheney, Mr Bush said, changed in the time between serving him and his son.
"He just became very hardline and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with," Mr Bush reportedly said, attributing this to the 9/11 attacks.
He told author Jon Meacham that Mr Cheney was "iron-ass" and had acted too independently of his son in matters of national security.
Of his son, Mr Bush said he would often worry about the former president's rhetoric.
Citing the "axis of evil" reference in the 2002 State of the Union address, he said: "You go back to the 'axis of evil' and these things and I think that might be historically proved to be not benefiting anything."
Author Jon Meacham interviewed Mr Bush for the book Destiny And Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush. | Former American President George HW Bush has publicly criticised Dick Cheney and Donald H Rumsfeld, key members of his son's administration, in a biography due out next week. |
35608759 | The Lionesses, who finished third at last year's World cup, take on Germany, France and host nation USA at the tournament, which begins on 3 March.
Head coach Mark Sampson will announce his 23-player squad on Monday.
He said: "It's great news that the BBC is showing our games and giving our supporters the opportunity to follow us out in America."
England's opening game against World Cup winners USA in Tampa will be live on BBC One on Friday, 4 March (kick-off 00:45 GMT).
The second match against European champions Germany in Nashville on Sunday, 6 March (22:45) and the final game against France in Boca Raton on Wednesday, 9 March (22:00) will be shown on the Red Button and the BBC Sport website.
England's subsequent home match, a Women's Euro 2017 qualifier against Belgium on Friday, 8 April (19:55), will be broadcast live on BBC Two.
Sampson added: "We are playing the best of the best in this tournament and we know they'll be tough, exciting and entertaining games which will help develop our squad even further and stand us in good stead for our Euro qualifying campaign." | England's three matches at next month's inaugural SheBelieves Cup will be broadcast live on the BBC. |
40484346 | The charity was contacted by a member of the public who spotted the animal at St Mary Magdalene Church in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
Inspector Georgia McCormick said the animal was completely trapped and unable to free itself when she got to the site last Thursday.
The animal, which was not injured, was rescued and released into the wild.
See updates on this and other stories from across Coventry and Warwickshire here
Ms McCormick said: "I'm not sure how he managed to get there, or how long he had been there for, but he really was in a tight spot.
"The call came into us at 11am, and as foxes are nocturnal animals I can only imagine he had been there from the night before.
"I managed to carefully free him and check him over - thankfully he wasn't injured and so he was released back into the wild.
"I dread to think what could have happened to him if we hadn't have been contacted." | A fox got itself wedged between two headstones at a cemetery and had to be freed by the RSPCA. |
37980320 | And it appears as though patients at the renal unit of Wrexham Maelor Hospital would agree.
Kidney patients undergoing dialysis treatment there are being offered personal performances by members of the locally-based NEW Sinfonia orchestra.
Numbers requested have ranged from The Beatles and Frank Sinatra, to musicals and traditional Welsh tunes.
The project, part of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board's arts in health and wellbeing' programme, is led by violinist Robert Guy and his clarinettist brother Jonathan, who established NEW Sinfonia to make classical music more accessible to audiences across north Wales.
Robert, who is also a critically-acclaimed conductor, said: "We really enjoy coming and we find it's quite a humbling experience for us.
"We always have two musicians and vary the players who come along. Today it's been myself on violin and my brother Jonathan on clarinet but other times we'll have someone playing cello or flute."
His brother Jonathan, who has also played with the BBC Philharmonic, said: "We like to play anything that helps to lighten the atmosphere and we also do requests.
"In fact, one patient recently asked for something by an English jazz clarinettist called Monty Sunshine who worked with some of the big names back in the 1950s and 1960s.
"I had to work quite hard to find it but when I did we played it for him and he really enjoyed it."
Last year a study by Brunel University found music could reduce some post-operative pain by up to 77%.
But for others the performances are more about adding quality of life.
Gwendoline Evans, from Llay, has been on dialysis for seven years and says the music helps make her sessions more enjoyable.
"The dialysis sessions, which I have three times a week, are essential but they can be boring, so I look forward to hearing the musicians when they come in," she said.
"I ask for requests and they always try to play them for me. I really like songs from the shows and I try to sing along with them." | Bob Marley once said: "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain". |
19359111 | 1500 - Portuguese land in the area and claim it for the Portuguese crown.
1822 - Son of Portuguese king declares independence from Portugal and crowns himself Peter I, Emperor of Brazil.
1888 - Slavery abolished. Large influx of European immigrants over the next decade.
1889 - Monarchy overthrown, federal republic established with central government controlled by coffee interests. Brazil produces 65% of world's coffee by 1902.
1930 - Revolt places Getulio Vargas at head of provisional revolutionary government.
1937 - Vargas leads coup, rules as dictator with military backing. Economy placed under authoritarian state control, start of social welfare revolution and reform of laws governing industry.
1939-45 - Brazil initially declares itself neutral but in 1943 joins Allies in World War II.
1945 - Vargas ousted in military coup. Elections held under caretaker government. New constitution returns power to states.
1951 - Vargas elected president, but faces stiff opposition.
1954 - Vargas commits suicide after military gives him the options of resigning or being overthrown.
1956-61 - Juscelino Kubitschek is president, helping Brazil achieve rapid economic growth.
1960 - Kubitschek moves capital to Brasilia.
1960 - Janio Quadros elected president, but resigns after several months, plunging country into constitutional crisis. Succeeded by left-wing vice-president Joao Goulart.
1964 - Goulart ousted in bloodless coup, flees into exile. Military rule associated with repression but also with rapid economic growth based on state-ownership of key sectors.
1974 - General Ernesto Geisel becomes president, introduces reforms which allow limited political activity and elections.
1982 - Brazil halts payment of its main foreign debt, which is among the world's biggest.
1985 - Tancredo Neves chosen as first civilian president in 21 years under the electoral college system set up by the military, but falls ill before he can be inaugurated and dies shortly afterwards. His vice president Jose Sarney becomes president at time of economic crisis.
1986 - Sarney introduces Cruzado Plan, freezing prices and wages in effort to control inflation. But inflation explodes when freeze is lifted.
1988 - New constitution reduces presidential powers.
1989 - Fernando Collor de Mello becomes first directly elected president since 1960. Introduces radical economic reform but promised economic improvements fail to materialise, and inflation remains out of control.
Foreign debt payments are suspended.
1992 - Earth Summit in Rio.
Collor resigns after being accused of corruption. He is later cleared. Replaced by vice president Itamar Franco.
1994 - Fernando Henrique Cardoso elected president after helping to bring inflation under control. Makes controversial moves on land issue, seizing land for distribution among poor, and allowing indigenous land claims to be challenged.
1995 - President Cardoso acknowledges the existence of slavery in Brazil and pledges to tackle the problem.
1996 - Police kill 19 Amazon peasants in town of Eldorado dos Carajas.
1997 - Constitution changed to allow president to run for re-election.
1998 - Cardoso re-elected. IMF provides rescue package after economy hit by collapse of Asian stock markets.
2000 - Celebrations to mark Brazil's 500th anniversary marred by protests by indigenous Indians, who say that racial genocide, forced labour and disease have dramatically cut their population from an estimated 5 million before the Portuguese arrived in 1500 to the current 350,000.
2001 - Government says it is prepared to amend a development programme which critics say will have a catastrophic impact on the Amazon. Government expects to spend $40 billion over seven years on roads, railways, hydroelectric projects and housing in the Amazon basin.
2001 May - President Cardoso abolishes two development agencies for the Amazon and the north-east. The authorities say the agencies set up bogus projects to steal development funds estimated at more than $1 billion.
2002 March - Members of the Landless Workers Movement, demanding land reform, occupy President Cardoso's family ranch.
2002 June - Fans jubilant as Brazil triumphs in World Cup - the football-mad country's fifth such victory.
2002 July - Currency hits all-time low and financial markets panic over the prospect of left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva winning October's presidential elections.
2002 October - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, wins presidential elections. The former shoeshine boy heads Brazil's first left-wing government for more than 40 years. At his inauguration in January 2003 he promises political and economic reforms and pledges to eradicate hunger.
2003 August - Space rocket explodes on the ground at the Alcantara launch base, killing 21 people.
2004 April - Wave of land invasions, dubbed "Red April" by activists.
2004 September - Brazil, along with Germany, India and Japan, launches an application for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
2004 October - Brazil launches its first space rocket.
2005 February - Murder of US-born missionary and campaigner for Amazon peasant farmers Dorothy Stang throws conflict over land and resources in Amazon into spotlight. Government unveils plan to protect part of region from encroachment.
President Lula strove to help Brazil's poorest while fostering growth
2005 March - Death squad kills at least 30 people on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, the city's worst massacre in over a decade. It is suggested that rogue police are responsible.
2005 June-August - Corruption allegations rock the governing Workers' Party. A wave of resignations ensues. The president makes a televised apology.
2005 October - Voters in a referendum reject a proposal to ban the sale of firearms.
2006 May - Scores of people are killed in gang attacks and a police backlash in Sao Paulo state. The violence is sparked by a series of prison uprisings.
2006 October - President Lula is re-elected.
2007 July - Anti-slavery team frees more than 1,000 people from a sugar-cane plantation in the Amazon.
2007 August - Government officially recognizes for first time human rights abuses carried out under military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985. More than 500 people are believed to have been killed or "disappeared".
2007 December - The speaker of the Brazilian Senate and a key ally of President Lula, Renan Calheiros, resigns in order to avoid an imminent impeachment hearing following a long-running corruption scandal.
2008 January - The EU halts all imports of Brazilian beef, saying its foot-and-mouth disease checks are "unacceptable".
2008 May - Environment minister Marina Silva resigns, after conflicts with the government over Amazon development.
2008 July - A congressional commission rejects a bid to legalise abortion in the world's most populous Catholic nation.
2008 August - Government launches scheme offering cash payments and immunity for illegal weapons, in an effort to get 300,000 guns off the streets.
2008 September - President Lula suspends intelligence chiefs amid allegations their agencies spied on officials, politicians and judges.
2008 October - Brazil turns down an invitation from Iran to join the international oil cartel, Opec.
2009 June - Brazil says it will offer $10bn to the International Monetary Fund, to help improve the availability of credit in developing countries.
2009 July - Brazil and Paraguay reach a deal to end their long-running dispute over the cost of energy from the giant Itaipu hydro-electric plant on their border.
2009 October - The government says it is to set up a truth commission to investigate abuses committed during military rule in Brazil from 1964 to 1985.
2009 November - Brazil's two largest cities - Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo - are hit by major blackouts due to a problem at a massive hydro-electric dam.
2010 March - President Lula begins push for bigger Brazilian diplomatic role with visit to Middle East. Weeks later he goes to Iran.
2010 August - Brazil gives formal approval for construction of controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rainforest, expected to be the world's third largest.
2010 October - Dilma Rousseff, of President Lula's Workers' Party, wins second round run-off to become Brazil's first female president.
2011 January - Opening of controversial road connecting Brazil's Atlantic coast with Peru's Pacific seaboard.
2011 May - Chamber of Deputies votes to ease restrictions on the amount of land farmers must preserve as forest, raising fears of further deforestation in the Amazon.
Amazon is home to 30% of all plant and animal life
Iron ore mining dilemma in Amazon
2011 June - Brazil grants building permit for Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon, a project opposed by indigenous groups and environmentalists.
2011 June - Security forces occupy one of the biggest slums in Rio de Janeiro, as part of a major crackdown on organised crime ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
2011 June - President Rousseff's chief of staff resigns amid corruption allegations.
2011 June - Government launches Brasil Sem Miseria (Brazil Without Poverty) welfare scheme, aimed at lifting millions out of extreme poverty.
2012 August - Parliament approves affirmative action law for universities that requires them to reserve 50% of their places for state school students, and increases the number of spaces allotted to black, mixed-race and indigenous students.
2012 October - Brazil enacts controversial law meant to protect forests and force farmers to replant trees on scattered swathes of illegally cleared land. Aspects of the law are criticised by both the farm lobby and environmentalists.
2013 June - A wave of protests sweeps the country. People take to the streets in dozens of cities to demonstrate over poor public services, rising public transport costs and expense of staging the 2014 World Cup. The protests continue into the autumn.
2013 October - The rights to explore Brazil's biggest oilfield are awarded to a consortium led by the state-run energy giant Petrobas backed by French, Anglo-Dutch and Chinese firms. Critics say that allowing foreign companies a stake in the Libra oilfield will damage national interests.
2014 October - Incumbent Dilma Rousseff wins another term as president.
2015 March - Petrobras state oil company implicated in massive corruption scandal that brings hundreds of thousands onto the streets in protest at President Rousseff, who was company chairperson during the period in question.
2015 August - Hundreds of thousands of protesters march to demand President Rousseff's resignation, blaming her and the leftist Workers' Party over alleged large-scale corruption and looming recession.
2015 October - Top finance court says government borrowed billions illegally to offset 2014 budget shortfall. Election commission reopens probe into allegations that President Rousseff misused funds during 2014 presidential election campaign.
2015 December - Congress agrees to launch impeachment proceedings against President Rousseff.
2016 February - World Health Organisation declares a global public health emergency following an outbreak of the Zika virus centred on Brazil.
2016 March - Junior coalition Democratic Movement Party leaves government. Judge bars President Rousseff from appointing ex-president Lula da Silva to her cabinet after he is accused of money-laundering, which he denies.
2016 April - Lower house of Congress votes overwhelmingly in favour of sending impeachment motion against President Rousseff to Senate. She rejects the accusations that she manipulated government accounts during the 2014 presidential election campaign and accuses her opponents of launching a "coup d'etat" against her.
2016 May - Senate votes overwhelmingly in favour of subjecting President Rousseff to an impeachment trial. She is suspended from her post pending the trial.
2016 August - Olympic Games are held in Rio de Janeiro.
2016 August: Senators vote to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for illegally using money from state banks to bankroll public spending. Michel Temer is sworn in to serve the rest of her term to 1 January 2019.
2016 November - President Michel Temer says he will block attempts to approve controversial legislation giving amnesty to politicians who received illegal donations from private companies for their electoral campaigns.
Violent anti-austerity protests take place outside the Brazilian Congress.
2016 November - A plane carrying the Brazilian football team Chapecoense Real crashes in Colombia killing 71 people.
Government freezes Rio de Janeiro state's bank accounts, ordering the struggling state to pay up to 53m US dollars in overdue debt.
2016 December - Senate approves 20-year government spending freeze billed as the centrepiece of the government austerity reforms aimed at restoring economic health to Brazil.
Rio de Janeiro if awarded UNESCO world heritage status.
2017 January - Around 30 inmates are reportedly killed in a prison riot at the Alcacuz prison in the northeastern state of Rio Grande. It is the latest in a string of prison riots in Brazil in which around 100 inmates have died. | A chronology of key events: |
19901944 | "Prince" Roy Bates set up the Principality of Sealand in international waters seven miles off the coast of Felixstowe, Suffolk.
Mr Bates died on Tuesday at a nursing home in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
His son "Prince" Michael said he would be remembered as a man who stood up to the establishment.
World War II veteran Roy Bates was involved in setting up the pirate radio station Radio Essex at a different offshore platform before moving to Roughs Tower, which he renamed Sealand and declared it as independent territory in 1967.
The tower was built as a platform for anti-aircraft guns during World War II.
Michael Bates, who lives in Southend, Essex, said: "He was an extremely intelligent and active man and he developed Alzheimer's, which he would have absolutely hated, and he barely recognized his family over the last few years.
"My father will always be remembered for shaking up the establishment with pirate radio, declaring Sealand's independence and confronting the Royal Navy and other foreign governments."
During the Bates' time on the platform, they saw off an attempt by the Royal Navy to evict them, and an attempt by a group of German and Dutch businessmen to seize control of the platform by force in 1978.
Michael Bates said they were taken to Holland and he returned with his father to successfully recapture Sealand and the five men who were on it.
He said: "We were both armed and that's certainly one of the most memorable days I spent with him."
Britain extended its territorial waters in 1987 to include Sealand.
Roy Bates' funeral service is due to take place at Southend-on-Sea Crematorium next Wednesday.
As well as his son, Roy Bates leaves his widow "Princess Joan", his daughter Penny and four grandchildren.
Sealand, now run by Michael Bates, is used as a base for internet servers and other business ventures. | A man who established his own independent state on a former military platform in the sea off East Anglia has died at the age of 91. |
38619818 | The Hatters would have leapfrogged their opponents in the League Two table with victory, but their poor discipline came back to haunt them, with Johnny Mullins' sending-off their eighth of the campaign.
Luton came within inches of taking the lead when Danny Hylton played in strike partner Jack Marriott but his rising shot clipped the top of the crossbar on its way over.
The deadlock was broken by the visitors in the 56th minute when skipper Scott Cuthbert attacked Jake Gray's corner at the near post and goalkeeper Jamal Blackman could not keep out his header.
The Hatters then had Mullins sent off for a wild lunge on Wycombe substitute Scott Kashket with 15 minutes left and the visitors could not hold on.
The Chairboys played to a big strength in the 82nd minute as striker Akinfenwa rose at the back post from Joe Jacobson's deep cross to thump a brilliant header past Christian Walton.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Wycombe Wanderers 1, Luton Town 1.
Second Half ends, Wycombe Wanderers 1, Luton Town 1.
Foul by Sido Jombati (Wycombe Wanderers).
Jonathan Smith (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Adebayo Akinfenwa (Wycombe Wanderers).
Scott Cuthbert (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Scott Kashket (Wycombe Wanderers) left footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Substitution, Luton Town. Stephen O'Donnell replaces Jack Marriott.
Luke Gambin (Luton Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Joe Jacobson (Wycombe Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Luke Gambin (Luton Town).
Attempt missed. Scott Kashket (Wycombe Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.
Goal! Wycombe Wanderers 1, Luton Town 1. Adebayo Akinfenwa (Wycombe Wanderers) header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Joe Jacobson.
Foul by Sido Jombati (Wycombe Wanderers).
Jack Senior (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Adebayo Akinfenwa (Wycombe Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Isaac Vassell (Luton Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right.
Attempt blocked. Sido Jombati (Wycombe Wanderers) header from very close range is blocked.
Corner, Wycombe Wanderers. Conceded by Jack Senior.
Adebayo Akinfenwa (Wycombe Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Glen Rea (Luton Town).
Attempt missed. Sam Wood (Wycombe Wanderers) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.
John Mullins (Luton Town) is shown the red card.
Dominic Gape (Wycombe Wanderers) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by John Mullins (Luton Town).
Attempt missed. Scott Kashket (Wycombe Wanderers) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Substitution, Luton Town. Glen Rea replaces Jake Gray.
Substitution, Luton Town. Isaac Vassell replaces Danny Hylton.
Dominic Gape (Wycombe Wanderers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Luke Gambin (Luton Town).
Anthony Stewart (Wycombe Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Anthony Stewart (Wycombe Wanderers).
Danny Hylton (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Wycombe Wanderers. Sam Saunders replaces Paul Hayes.
Substitution, Wycombe Wanderers. Scott Kashket replaces Paris Cowan-Hall.
Luke O'Nien (Wycombe Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Pelly Ruddock (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Luke O'Nien (Wycombe Wanderers).
Attempt saved. Pelly Ruddock (Luton Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Danny Hylton (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half. | Adebayo Akinfenwa scored late on to rescue a point for Wycombe Wanderers against fellow promotion-hopefuls Luton Town. |
34120166 | Iris Teale died in hospital 16 days after suffering a fractured thigh bone at Aston Court Nursing Home in 2011.
Three care assistants told a coroner they did not use a hoist to lift her in or out of bed. One said she was aware of other carers mishandling residents.
The leg break "accelerated" Mrs Teale's death, the inquest heard.
Nurse Santhosh Rajan was found not guilty of her manslaughter earlier this year.
He told the hearing he had nothing to do with her injury and denied dropping her and doctoring paperwork from his rounds.
He said when he last checked on Mrs Teale during his night shift she was "fast asleep" and he did not move her.
Former care assistants Kerry Pemberton, of Walsall, and Rachel Foulger, of Little Aston, and current employee Rizwana Kosar, of Walsall, admitted handling Mrs Teale incorrectly at the inquest.
But they all said Mrs Teale, who had heart disease, chronic renal failure and dementia, was fine when they last had contact with her.
Mrs Pemberton told the inquest that she did not use a hoist to move her the day before she was admitted to hospital on 7 October.
She said it was something that happened quite often at the Bupa-run home near Sutton Coldfield but that she did not alert management.
Mrs Teale's family barrister, John Coughlan, asked Mrs Foulger: "There was a culture of manual handling otherwise than in accordance with the care plan, wasn't there?"
She told the hearing at Cannock Coroner's Court that it did happen "quite frequently".
Pathologist Alexander Kolar said Mrs Teale had a 16cm spiral fracture of her left thigh with significant bruising over a 60cm area of her leg.
He said it occurred about 14-21 days before her death.
With her underlying poor health, Dr Kolar said the break was "a significant event, resulting in multiple consequences, essentially acting as a tipping point to her pre-existing conditions".
The hearing continues. | Care staff did not follow procedure when moving residents at a West Midlands care home, an inquest into the death of a 91-year-old woman has heard. |
39967618 | Dr Tom Black said there needed to be an an additional £120m investment.
GPs maintain that the future of the profession has become "unsustainable" because of problems with recruitment, funding and workloads.
In December, hundreds of local GPs signed undated resignation letters.
In January, members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted to collect undated resignations; the BBC understands the BMA is still collecting these resignations from practices.
In a speech later on Friday to GPs from across the UK, Dr Black is expected to tell delegates that while a plan for reform had been agreed before Christmas with the previous health minister, since the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly, matters had become critical.
"We have found that the only thing worse than having politicians is having no politicians," he is expected to say.
"We need to see an investment in general practice of an additional £120m to bring us up to the level of spending in the GP Forward View."
Dr Black is also expected to say that while his members want to stay and work in the health service, they are prepared to leave if that means protecting GP services.
"These are difficult and dangerous times, fraught with risks and challenges.
"On behalf of NIGPC let me throw down this challenge to the incoming minister for health in Northern Ireland: Work with us or work against us." | The chair of Northern Ireland's GP Committee (NIGPC) is challenging local politicians to either "work with or work against" members over the future of general practice. |
37998595 | The Western Trust confirmed in May that the shortfall in learning disability services was "in the last couple of years".
Michelle O'Neill said she has taken steps to ensure the focus returns to "the delivery of frontline services".
Her intervention follows a breakdown in talks between the trust and a disability group.
John McCann, of Western Learning Disability Action Group (WLDAG), said the group had withdrawn because they had concerns over the "openness and transparency" of the process.
Mrs O'Neill said she has since appointed a senior health department official "to oversee progress and to be a point of contact for the families".
She also said an independent facilitator would "be appointed to support a process of co-production between the trust and local families".
Mr McCann said WLDAG welcomed the minister's intervention and was "now looking forward to moving forward".
He said the underfunding - which he said could go back as far as 1996 - had created a "bottleneck" in learning disability services and caused "a lot of distress to families and carers".
The minister also said an increased investment of £3m in adult community learning disability services is now in place with a further £5m earmarked for future investment.
In a statement the Western Trust said: "The health minister has spoken to the chief executive of the trust regarding the learning disability issue and in going forward the trust will be engaging in a full Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) process with the families and the carers of those affected by an adult learning disability." | The health minister has intervened to help resolve a row over a health trust's £8m funding shortfall. |
35447746 | Media playback is not supported on this device
It was a match of few chances and little free flowing football in the torrential Tayside rain.
Partick had their chances but they lacked the killer touch in front of goal.
It leaves Mixu Paatelainnen's men dreaming of Hampden and celebrating their second win in a row.
The last time these two faced each other in the Scottish Cup United went all the way to win it in 2010.
Distant and almost unbelievable memories for the Tannadice faithful who have gone from celebrating silverware to praying for top flight survival in a relatively short space of time.
Alan Archibald's Partick started with the confidence of a side with two league wins against their opponents already this season.
Sean Welsh in particular fancied his chances from distance against Eiji Kawashima in the United goal - his first effort blazed over the bar but his second was spilled before Gavin Gunning swept it clear.
After initial signs of promise though the first half descended into drudgery - occasional flurries of football broke out in-between the ball being bludgeoned from end to end but serious chances dried up as the rain began to fall.
Simon Murray had the best of the home side's efforts but his shot on the angle was saved comfortably by Tomas Cerny.
The second half started as the first ended, with wayward passes and niggling fouls conspiring to stifle any threat of free-flowing football.
Alan Archibald threw on Mathias Pogba on the hour and the visitors instantly looked more of a threat.
But despite four corners in quick succession, United dealt with the pressure.
They started to create a few chances of their own as the game started to open up.
John Rankin flashed a ball across the six yard box after great running on the left hand side but it eluded everyone including the onrushing Billy McKay.
Minutes later substitute Scott Fraser watched in frustration as his 20 yard goal bound effort was deflected past.
But frustration turned to delight shortly afterwards when he put the home side ahead.
Blair Spittal found him in space at the edge of the box and he shaped and curled a sumptuous strike low past Cerny and into the back of the net.
The fans jumped to their feet to celebrate knowing if their side held on, it would be back to back wins and Scottish Cup progression.
They did and it is.
Dundee United manager Mixu Paatelainen: "It was a fighting performance from both teams.
"I'm quite surprised really. I was hoping one or two players would be a bit calmer and put their foot on the ball, be a bit more patient instead of that very quick football.
"The attitude again was the most important thing."
Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald: "It was a great opportunity today to go and have a good run in this cup.
"We've seen other teams do it and we had good backing from our fans today as well. So we're bitterly disappointed." | Dundee United progressed to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup thanks to a late strike from substitute Scott Fraser. |
35462789 | It put him in a coma and punctured both his lungs.
For the past six years - along with other survivors - he has been fighting for Transport for London (TfL) to improve its bus safety.
While TfL says the London bus fleet is one of the safest in the world, someone is killed or seriously injured roughly once every two days in an incident involving a bus.
There are 6.5m bus journeys a day and the latest figures from 2014 show 180 people were killed or seriously injured.
There is no doubt these campaigners have been a thorn in the side of the administration, and today TfL announced new policies to try and make buses safer.
Here is a list of the changes TfL will start to implement:
1) Develop a world leading bus safety standard for London
A range of innovative new technologies is currently being considered.
These include collision avoidance systems, which utilise sensors to warn drivers of potential dangers and trigger Automatic Emergency Braking systems, and Intelligent Speed Adaption, which is currently being trialled on our buses.
Other potential design innovations include improving wing mirror design and windscreen glazing to reduce the impact of any collision.
The latest safety technologies and products will be developed and tested by manufacturers on London buses throughout 2016 and incorporated into new buses delivered from September 2017.
2) Update TfL's bus contracts to include new safety incentives
Over the next three months TfL will be updating its bus contracting system and will develop incentives to encourage an even greater focus on safety.
3) Provide a UK first Incident Support Service for those affected by fatal or serious injuries
In order to provide a better service to those affected by a fatal or life-changing injury on the transport network, TfL is creating a UK first Incident Support Service within its Customer Services Team, which will be available from April 2016.
4) Publish additional bus collision data and making it more accessible
TfL began publishing bus safety statistics on its website in June 2014 to further improve transparency for customers and other stakeholders.
Initially, details of incidents resulting in a fatality or injury requiring hospital attendance were published.
Last year, TfL extended this to publication of all incidents resulting in any form of injury.
A new web page will also link to the London Collision Map, which highlights when and where bus collisions have occurred.
5) Provide greater transparency on bus collision investigations
For the first time, TfL will clearly set out how fatal and serious injury collisions on the bus network are investigated and the processes that are followed by TfL, the bus operators and the police.
In addition, TfL will be reporting annually on the legal outcome of all fatal and serious bus collisions.
6) Provide a new safety training module to all 24,700 drivers
TfL continues to invest in the most stringent bus driver training in the UK.
By the end of 2016 bespoke 'In the Zone' training will have been delivered to all 24,700 bus drivers in the capital.
It is hoped that over time the training will encourage drivers to make small but significant adjustments in the way they assess risks and that this will lead to a reduction in the number of incidents on London's roads.
The training will form part of the City & Guilds qualification that is compulsory for all new drivers and replaces the BTEC qualification from April 2016.
Darren Johnson, from the Green Party on the London Assembly said:
"It was good news when the mayor told me he planned to rollout confidential whistle-blowing software on all buses, and I'm equally pleased that TfL will now include safety incentives in bus contracts.
"That must mean an explicit focus on reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured by London buses."
Tom Kearney told me today this was a "victory for survivors". | Tom Kearney was in Oxford Street standing on the pavement when he was hit from behind by a bus's wing mirror. |
36320604 | Both the Port Talbot and Conwy RNLI crews are about to mark a half century and a raft of special events are planned.
Among those joining the celebrations is fisherman Tom Hewlett who became a volunteer after being himself rescued in the River Neath.
He said: "It's a way to show my gratitude for saving me."
The experienced angler got into difficulty in July 2014, when the tide suddenly rushed in around him and cut him off and Port Talbot RNLI soon swung into action.
He said: "I went fishing in the River Neath without first checking the tide times.
"Being a stranger to the area, I had no idea I could be cut off by the tide.
"I was standing on a small pinnacle of rock fishing when I realised the incoming water had cut off my route back to the river bank.
"I rang the coastguard on my mobile and the lifeboat was launched to my rescue. They were brilliant. Fortunately I was just shaken up and didn't need any hospital treatment."
After being safely returned to shore, Mr Hewlett decided to volunteer with the Port Talbot crew. He has been volunteering at the station for nearly two years and has just completed his training.
He added: "I would recommend anyone to join the RNLI, it is a brilliant organisation with a great team spirit and I get a lot of satisfaction from being a part of it."
Mr Hewlett will be at a coffee morning on Friday to mark on the station's achievements during half a century of lifesaving. The current volunteer crew will meet former crew members and reflect on how the station has changed over the years.
Also present will be Alec Stewart, who was a volunteer when the station first opened its doors on 21 May 1966. He will be introducing a historic book he has written chronicling the station's history.
Other guests include people who have been rescued over the years by the Port Talbot crew, as well as Jean Jones, 80, who has been a key part of the station since it was established in the 1960s.
Mrs Jones and a group of friends first joined forces to raise funds for the RNLI nearly 50 years ago and decided to form a ladies section. Over the years she has been pivotal to charity efforts to raise thousands of pounds for the crew.
She said: "The crew are like my family. I call them my boys and it has been my life for 50 years.
"I've always felt it was something I had to do. Everybody needs saving and when you step into the water you never know what might happen so we need our crews there to save us if something goes wrong.
"I first got involved for the social aspect and back in the day we held big balls and cocktail parties."
Mrs Jones said her proudest moment was receiving a medal for long service 10 years ago, and she is due to have a gold bar added to the medal to mark 50 years volunteering with the charity.
The crew will also come together at the Aberafon Beach Hotel on 28 May for a special anniversary dinner.
Robbie Harris, current RNLI lifeboat operations manager at Port Talbot, said: "Keeping a station afloat for 50 years is no mean feat, but we have been very lucky to have never struggled to find competent crew in all these years.
"We have a great family in Port Talbot and are so well supported by our fundraisers.
"It's a real treat to see people from our past and present coming together to celebrate this very special occasion for us all."
Central to celebrations at Conwy will be the presentation of an award to their longest-serving volunteer Trevor Jones, who joined Conwy RNLI when it first opened its doors in June 1966.
Mr Jones is also set to receive an award for 50 years of volunteering with the RNLI.
He said: "As a young lad, joining the lifeboat was a natural thing for me to do - I was a fisherman on the River Conwy and the two went hand in hand.
"Back in those days, all the lifeboat crew were fishermen and we knew the river like the back of our hands.
"We were all confident and felt safe in the environment we worked in, so it seemed like the right thing to do to help others who got into trouble."
He said that now none of the current crew are commercial fishermen, training is more important than ever before.
"The RNLI provides the very best training and equipment for our crew to do their jobs in the safest possible way and that training is paramount."
Once he had retired from the crew, Mr Jones helped authorise the launch of Conwy's lifeboat and he still volunteers today in an administrative role.
Mr Jones added: "When I first came into the station it was a wooden shed and the lifeboat had nothing like the modern search and rescue equipment it has today.
"The RNLI has certainly come a long way in half a decade but one thing which hasn't changed is the fantastic support we have from the public, which keeps us going."
Also attending the celebrations on the quay side will be the station's newest crew members.
With them will be crew member Pete Hughes, who is the same age as Conwy Lifeboat Station and was encouraged to sign up by Mr Jones.
The actual anniversary at Conwy will fall on 18 June, when the crew come together at Conwy Comrades Club for an anniversary dinner to mark the occasion.
Conwy RNLI lifeboat station was established in June 1966 when D-class lifeboat D-97 was placed on service.
One of the most memorable services came just four years later in 1970, when Trevor Jones, Brian Jones and Ronald Craven rescued two men from the cabin cruiser Fulmar which had broken down one mile west of West Shore, Llandudno on the afternoon of 30 August.
The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum was accorded to all three for their part in that rescue. | Lifeboat volunteers at two Welsh stations are gearing up to celebrate 50 years of saving lives at sea. |
34660715 | There's only one reason Sir Ian McKellen signed up to star in a new adaptation of The Dresser, and that's "because Anthony Hopkins was in it."
He says he'd seen Sir Ronald Harwood's 1980 play on stage, watched the 1983 film starring Sir Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney and thought: "They'd covered it. Who needs me?
"Then they said, 'well, Anthony Hopkins is playing Sir'," he tells the BBC. "So I said, 'well, that would be a joy!' And it was."
The latest adaptation of Sir Ronald's play, filmed at Ealing Studios for BBC Two, is the first time the pair have shared a screen together.
"We should be old friends," says Sir Ian. "We were in a company together under Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic when he ran the National Theatre, but we didn't actually act together.
"And since Tony went to live in the States, there haven't been many possibilities when our paths could have crossed, we've never done a film together. So this was just bliss."
The drama in The Dresser takes place backstage at a theatre during the Blitz, where tyrannical and aging actor-manager Sir (Hopkins) - who is deteriorating in body and mind - prepares for his starring role in King Lear, with the help of his devoted dresser Norman (McKellen).
The camera ensures the audience are right up close to all the action. Did having such an esteemed sparring partner mean both actors upped their game?
"It may surprise you, [but] acting isn't a competition," smiles Sir Ian. "It's not a race, it's a communal activity we do together. It's more like a family, so no.
"[Sir Anthony] said after the first week he'd not enjoyed doing a job so much for years. At the end of six weeks he said, 'I can't bear it, it's coming to an end! Can we work together again?'"
According to Sir Ian, after years in Hollywood, Sir Anthony is now considering taking to the stage again.
"That was the effect this play had on him! It reminded him of how much he enjoyed theatre," says Sir Ian.
"He was working with people of his own age, who persisted in the business. Ronald Harwood, [director] Richard Eyre, [co-star] Edward Fox and me - so he felt very much determined, he was very relaxed."
Co-star Emily Watson - who plays Sir's wife 'Her Ladyship' (and King Lear's daughter, Cordelia, in the play they're staging) - says working with the two actors was an almost religious experience.
"We weren't quite kneeling in the wings, but nearly, it was like being in church. It was so brilliant," says Watson.
"To be going into work every day and having long, complex, big acting scenes with, one day it was Ian McKellen, the next day it was Anthony Hopkins. Both of them just playing to the top of their game, [it] was just thrilling."
Sir Ian says people shouldn't be put off by The Dresser being a "backstage story", full of so-called 'luvvies'.
"It's surprising how often actors are asked to play caricatures of themselves. But these are not caricatures - they're exaggerated characters, but they are absolutely believable and true to life," he says.
"You see people struggling against the odds, you see people riding high, you see people with ambition, people who know it all and people who don't know anything - all mixed together, trying to get on and I think that's the charm of it all and the power of it all."
The Dresser's producers say it is "harking back to the great days of Play for Today", when single dramas were a staple on British television.
Sir Ian reckons plays "should be more available" on TV now too, as "plays work very well on television. You can get in very close, you can see it, but you hear all the words.
"I'm not quite sure why British broadcasters relinquished the one-off play. I think it's because they found it difficult to sell in the Radio Times, [which] loves series.
"You know where you are [with series]. 'Oh, it's this again', 'come and watch the same thing all over again'.
"The joy can be in the surprise of discovering something - 'give it a chance, let's see if you enjoy it! Give it five minutes, oh give it ten minutes, oh this is good! Let's watch it through to the end,'
"It's lost that, and it's a pity. You cut yourself off, you'll cut the audience off from meeting great, great drama.
"We don't want to have pretend Agatha Christie all the time. I don't anyway - 'oh, not another detective series.'
"Unless I'm starring in it and playing Sherlock Holmes, of course," he adds quickly laughing, in reference to his recent film Mr Holmes, in which he plays a retired Sherlock.
Mr Holmes saw him working again with Gods and Monsters director Bill Condon, who has since sorted Sir Ian out with a role in Disney's live-action version of Beauty and the Beast.
"I did frankly just say to him, 'what's my part in Beauty and the Beast?' A few days later he said, 'I think there is a part, but not a large one," says Sir Ian.
"I didn't do much work on it, because for most of the film my character's actually a clock. But when the clock turns back into a human being, that's when I come into my own."
Sir Ian says he has no idea how popular the film - starring the "wonderful" Emma Watson as Belle - will be.
"It is astonishing to me how many people tell me that the animated version of Beauty and the Beast is their favourite film of all time and they can't wait for this," he reveals.
"The anticipation is more than it was even for the filming of The Hobbit book after Lord of the Rings, so I'm very lucky to be involved."
Before we get to see it - likely to be in 2017 - there will be more of his ITV sitcom Vicious, in which he and Sir Derek Jacobi play a gay couple who've been together more than 50 years.
"I think we're hopefully going to do a few more episodes of Vicious to put those characters literally to bed - a little group [of episodes]."
He's also taking to the stage next summer with another friend and former co-star, Sir Patrick Stewart, for a production of No Man's Land by Harold Pinter.
"Two old actors will be on the road, two Sirs will be on the road," he laughs, "but hopefully [we'll be] nothing like the character Anthony Hopkins plays in The Dresser!"
The Dresser is on BBC Two on 31 October at 21:00 GMT. | Sir Ian McKellen tells the BBC why working with Sir Anthony Hopkins on The Dresser was "bliss", why plays make good TV and what it was like filming Disney remake Beauty and the Beast. |
34835720 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The Briton, 28, won 6-4 6-4 at the O2 Arena and will next play the winner of the evening match between Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal.
Another victory on Wednesday would ensure Murray ends the year as world number two for the first time.
The Scot's season will continue next week as Great Britain take on Belgium in the Davis Cup final.
"It was a tough match with a lot of long rallies," said Murray. "He fought hard right to the end and made it extremely difficult.
"He didn't serve as well as he can and I played a bit better at the end of both sets, and that got me the win."
After some uncertainty over whether Murray would sacrifice his place in London to remain healthy for the showpiece in Belgium on 27-29 November, the Scot was in committed mood once he stepped out into the O2 Arena for his first round-robin match.
He spent several days last week practising on clay for Britain's first Davis Cup final since 1978, but there was little sign of rustiness on the switch back to an indoor hard court.
Four break points slipped by in the first eight games before Murray finally broke through, thanks to a fine volley and a Ferrer double fault.
The seventh seed, 33, was misfiring, making just 47% of first serves, and he was thankful for a loose Murray service game at the start of the second set.
Ferrer was soon battling to keep Murray at bay once again, however, succumbing in game six as the Scot levelled.
Serving to stay in the match, an eighth double fault saw Ferrer go 0-30 down. Then presented with a first match point a bouncing Murray leapt to put away a smash at the second attempt.
The victory gives him an early lead in Group Ilie Nastase, with two players to qualify for the semi-finals on Saturday.
Former British number one Tim Henman: "A straight-sets win against the world number seven is very good, but to compete against the best players there are too many peaks and troughs in his intensity and level of play.
"When he starts talking to his box, he's not focused on the next point and then he's giving the opponent the chance to be the proactive one dictating play."
BBC Sport tennis commentator Andrew Castle: "Apart from one lapse of concentration that lasted 10 or 15 minutes that was a very impressive performance from Andy Murray. There weren't any real dramas but he had to focus hard in the second set to get the job done." | Andy Murray began his ATP World Tour Finals campaign with a convincing win over Spain's David Ferrer in London. |
39293430 | Speaking ahead of Friday's G20 meeting, Mr Schaeuble said he would want to negotiate a Brexit deal in which the City of London remains a global financial force.
He said it was not feasible to move all of the City's operations abroad.
To do so would involve a huge upheaval, Mr Schaeuble pointed out.
In a keynote address to the IIF Conference in Frankfurt, he said: "I am convinced that for Europe as a whole - and I'm not sure this will be very beloved in Paris - it's in our own interests to have strong financial centre in London."
Although he did promote Frankfurt as an alternative EU base for international banks in the wake of Brexit, Mr Schaeuble said he would want to negotiate a deal in which the City of London kept a key role.
However, he cautioned, it had not been easy to "brainstorm" with his British counterparts.
Mr Schaeuble's comments, made in conversation with UBS chair Axel Weber, come after Mr Weber confirmed that his bank would not wait for the outcome of Brexit negotiations to move up to 1,500 staff from London to an EU base.
The finance minister also declared his support for strong international banking regulations.
In a thinly disguised broadside at the new US administration, which has signalled it intends to roll back Wall Street regulation, Mr Schaeuble said: "I'm fully aware that many of you in the room are not fans of regulation".
After some nervous laughter, he added that the regulation big banks have had to bear is "far less" than the burden that taxpayers have had to shoulder due to lax regulation.
Mr Schaeuble met his US counterpart, Steve Mnuchin on Thursday. Mr Schaeuble described their discussion as "friendly and constructive".
On Friday, he will hold discussions with leading finance ministers in Baden Baden at the first G20 meeting of 2017. | Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said it is in the EU's interest to have a strong financial centre in London. |
37305422 | Mr Reid, 63, was found in his apartment on Donaghadee Road, Bangor, on Christmas Eve that year.
Stuart Alexander Reid, whose address was given as Bingham Street in Bangor, was charged with his murder on a date unknown between 18 to 21 December.
His solicitor said he is currently detained at Knockbracken Health Care Park in south Belfast.
The lawyer asked for the case to be adjourned for two weeks, as arrangements for Mr Reid's attendance would have to be made with the hospital.
The application was granted by the judge. | A 37-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Ronald Reid in County Down in 2014. |
40567719 | 11 July 2017 Last updated at 09:32 BST
Watch this whale hanging out with a pack of dolphins just playing in the waves.
The video was taken with a drone off the coast of Western Australia.
Looks like they're having a whale of a time together!!
Pics courtesy of jaimenhudson | Sometimes even whales just want to have fun in the water! |
31485934 | The move comes in the light of last week's allegations that the bank had helped hundreds of people evade UK tax using hidden HSBC accounts in Geneva.
The regulator's chief executive, Martin Wheatley, admitted to MPs last week that the FCA had only heard of the scandal via the media.
Now it says it has joined other regulators to probe the matter.
"The FCA is working closely with the firm and other agencies which have an interest in this matter to ensure that any questions this may raise in relation to any current practices and culture of HSBC are addressed," said the FCA.
The announcement is the first official indication by any UK regulator or authority that it may investigate the role of the bank, rather than just the individual customers who hid taxable income abroad.
However, this action by the FCA falls far short of a full investigation.
A spokeswoman pointed out that the FCA does not regulate tax advice, nor does it regulate the activities of any bank based in Switzerland.
"We are looking at the bank's conduct and will bring this up with the bank if appropriate," she said.
Both the Bank of England and the Serious Fraud Office said last week that they might be prepared to start looking at the scandal, along with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
HSBC published a full-page apology in several Sunday newspapers for the past behaviour of its "private bank" based in Geneva.
The scandal has been a grave embarrassment for the UK's financial regulators, as well as the bank.
Despite the evidence being in the hands of HMRC for nearly five years, none of the other authorities in the UK had been alerted to it or been asked to take an interest - until now.
And no action has so far been taken against the bank for its role in apparently orchestrating some of the tax-dodging.
Last week, top HMRC officials were lambasted by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee for their "pathetic" response to the evidence, which indicated that some HSBC bankers in Switzerland had actively helped some of their wealthy clients hide their money in secret accounts there. | The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says it is looking into the HSBC bank over its Swiss tax-dodging scandal. |
38769146 | The budget has divided Holyrood's political parties, with Finance Secretary Derek Mackay yet to win vital opposition support for his tax and spending proposals.
Common to all the committee reports were concerns about the constrained timetable for this year's budget, with MSPs across the board calling for more scope for scrutiny in a revised budget process.
Mr Mackay delayed publication of his draft budget until late December, after the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, and while many committees acknowledged the reasons for this there was "frustration" with the "unrealistic" timetable, which members said was "clearly not sufficient".
Elsewhere, there were several calls for clarity about funding for local authorities and about the potential impact of Brexit on budgets.
Here is a summary of what each committee has published so far.
As the lead committee on the budget, the finance committee's report was the longest and most detailed of those published, and they had the most time to deliberate, taking evidence from Mr Mackay on several occasions.
The group highlighted that the "historic" 2017-18 budget marks the first time Holyrood will set rates and bands of income tax, using new devolved powers.
But they warned that this adds complexity to the system, "potentially introducing a much higher level of uncertainty and volatility to the budget process", adding that added uncertainty arising from Brexit "significantly increases the challenge".
Members said this meant it was "critical that there is a sufficient level of transparency to ensure public confidence" in the operation of new financial powers.
Meanwhile, MSPs were split on the allocation for councils, noting that "due to the different presentation and sets of numbers relating to the local government settlement some members were concerned about the level of financial resource available to local government in the settlement."
Read more on the finance committee report here.
One of the most contentious areas of Mr Mackay's draft budget was the allocation to local authorities and local services.
As the committee noted, the core council budget grant fell in the budget proposals - however, the government included a range of "other sources of support", such as money going directly to schools and to health and social care partnerships, which when added together showed an overall increase in funding for services.
Members said this use of money from other budget lines made the local government allocation "very difficult to follow". They said it was "essential" that parliament was clear on "exactly how much money local authorities can be expected to receive", demanding "greater transparency" from the government.
They asked for "detailed proposals" from the government on how they could make the local government settlement more transparent in future budgets.
Elsewhere, the committee welcomed the lifting of the council tax freeze, and recommended a move towards multi-year budgets.
Committee members said they were "concerned" about cuts to the budget of Scottish Enterprise, questioning whether this was "prudent in the interests of promoting economic growth" in the post-Brexit landscape.
They did welcome increases in support for international trade, but asked for assurances from the government that increases would not be "undercut" by reductions in funding elsewhere.
Noting the "frustrations" around the budget timetable, the committee said they "expect nothing less than clearly defined arrangements better suited to effective parliamentary scrutiny to be in place in time for the next budget".
Members also highlighted fuel poverty as an area of concern.
Their report said the government's failure to meet a target of eradicating fuel poverty by November 2016 was "entirely predictable" but "no less disappointing for that", urging ministers to "examine forthcoming policy initiatives through 'a fuel poverty lens'".
The education committee pulled no punches in its assessment of education funding, and the recently introduced Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in particular.
They said said it was "clear" the Scottish Qualifications Authority still needs resources to develop CfE - contrary to claims from Education Sectary John Swinney that the framework has been devolved to "a very advanced stage".
Their report concludes that the committee "does not believe it is accurate that the CfE has reached the stage of maturity that the Scottish government believes is the case", questioning whether the government was allocating funds based on the support needed, or "due to budget pressures".
Members said they were "very concerned that there is a lack of clear accountability in the delivery of CfE".
They also said the committee was "unclear how a cash funding reduction of 1.3% in higher education resource matches with a commitment to protect core research and teaching grants".
Elsewhere, the report highlighted the confusion over local authority funding, noting that "the value of the overall settlement to individual local authorities and whether this represents a net gain or loss is complex and dependent on a number of factors".
Like the local government committee, members asked for "full clarity" on this issue, warning that they "may return to this matter" in future depending on the final outcome for councils.
And members noted "concern" at reports the Scottish Funding Council will have to return a £50m underspend to the Scottish government, asking for "a much more detailed explanation of the circumstances".
While making "no specific recommendation" about the budget, the environment committee raised concerns about the potential loss of EU funding for groups like Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which have seen budgets cut in recent years.
They said there was "considerable uncertainty" about the loss of funding, with "no doubt as the to the potential impact of both a reduced budget and the removal of EU funding might mean to Scotland's landscapes, habitats and wildlife".
The committee asked the environment secretary to provide further details on the implications of losing EU funding.
Members also said they were "concerned with the reduction of overall funding" for climate change research, asking the government what it would do to address any negative impact of this cut.
The Equalities and Human Rights Committee also raised concerns about Brexit, saying it was "expected to place additional pressures on third sector and voluntary organisations".
While the equalities budget has been maintained in real terms, the committee pointed out that this meant a real-terms cut after inflation, saying that this combined with the loss of EU funds "could see the Scottish government's equalities policies being undermined and progress rolling back".
Members called on the government to push for talks between the third sector and voluntary organisations, the UK government and EU authorities on how funding gaps could be addressed.
The Justice Committee voiced "concern" about the unchanged cash settlement for the Crown Office, which equates to a real-terms cut.
Members said this might mean the prosecution service "will have to absorb inflation increases and other costs", and asked the government for assurance that extra funds would be available should the Lord Advocate deem it necessary to ask for it.
They said "any reduction in staff numbers" at the Crown Office would be a concern.
The committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the role and responsibilities of the prosecution service, and noted that the new leadership within the service "provides an ideal opportunity to take a fresh look at the priorities, resources and demands" upon it.
The rural economy committee made some of the strongest comments about the budget timetable, saying it was "unrealistic" and "severely undermined the ability of the committee to conduct scrutiny of sufficient depth and quality".
Members welcomed increased tree planting levels, targets for superfast broadband rollout across the country by 2021, and a rail fares discount scheme.
However they said they were "concerned" about the amount of loan funding going to Prestwick Airport and said the government should take "all possible action" to make sure past issues with common agricultural policy farm payments were not repeated.
The committee highlighted real-terms cuts to the budgets of VisitScotland and Creative Scotland, commending the groups for their ability to manage their finances in light of these cuts.
Members encouraged the government to "consider" the point at which funding freezes would "result in a reduction in the projects, support and services that can be delivered" by the bodies.
MSPs did welcome the increases in international aid and humanitarian aid budgets, and the government's approach to trade hubs in light of "the need for Scotland to promote itself internationally following the EU referendum".
They also called for multi-year budgets, recommending a three-year cycle in relation to cultural bodies in particular to allow them to plan ahead. | The Scottish Parliament's committees have published their reports on the government's budget plans, with less than a week until the first vote. |
39289877 | Rescue teams picked up a signal from the Rescue 116 helicopter near Blackrock Lighthouse on Wednesday.
They are searching for three crewmen still missing after the helicopter crashed at about 01:00 on Tuesday.
A fourth crew member, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick died in hospital after she was recovered from the sea on Tuesday.
The search for chief pilot Mark Duffy and winchmen Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith continues.
Irish chief air accident investigator Jurgen Whyte described the location of a signal as "hugely significant" and said he hoped the recorder was in or near the helicopter wreckage.
"To get the signal is the big thing," he told Irish broadcaster RTÉ.
"We are now in what would be described as a football pitch and somewhere within that football pitch there is a very small tweeting, chirping sound and as we move around that field we hope to get closer and closer to it.
"The likelihood is that the three missing persons may be within that area as well - so our focus is still on recovering the three crew members and we believe that by finding the recorder that will bring us closer to that goal."
Accident investigators from the UK have joined the search for the black box with specialised equipment to assist the operation.
The Irish Navy, RNLI, police divers and fishing boats are searching the coast off Mayo.
Captain Robert McCabe, Director of Operations and Navigation with the Commissioners of Irish Lights, said all the lighthouses in the area were in "full working order" on the morning of the incident.
Capt McCabe added that aids to navigation at Blackrock Lighthouse were functioning properly at the time of the crash.
The Irish coastguard asked the Irish Defence Forces to provide top cover for the fatal rescue mission at 22:06 on Monday, but its fixed-wing aircraft were not available, so Rescue 116 was deployed instead.
The Irish Defence Forces added that at 01:45 on Tuesday, the Irish Air Corps logged an emergency request from the Irish coastguard "to provide an aircraft to conduct a search for a missing helicopter, Rescue 116".
"The Air Corps initiated its recall plan and as a result was able to offer a Casa CN235 maritime patrol aircraft.
That plane took off from Casement Aerodrome south of Dublin shortly before 04:30
Rescue teams are using sophisticated underwater equipment which picks up a faint chirp from the locator beacon on the flight recorder.
It's in water about 40m deep and only about 50 or 60m from Blackrock which is a tall, rocky island topped by a lighthouse about 10 miles off the Mayo coast.
The next stage is to pinpoint its exact location and then attempt to recover the device either by using an underwater robot or dive teams.
There are two black boxes, one which records the engine and flight data and the other which captures the voice and radio communications and investigators hope they'll be able to retrieve the data to find out what happened in the final moments of the flight.
The water conditions are described as difficult, there are very strong currents and the weather today could impede the search with large swells forecast
The Irish naval ship, LÉ Eithne, is helping to co-ordinate the ongoing search and rescue operation.
On Wednesday, civil defence volunteers carried out searches along the shore.
Irish Transport Minister Shane Ross visited Blacksod in County Mayo and spoke to relatives of the crew.
"It's a very, very devastating experience for them as can be expected," he said.
The Dublin-based helicopter crew had been assisting colleagues from Sligo in a rescue operation on a UK fishing vessel about 150km (95 miles) west of Eagle Island.
They lost contact at about 01:00 local time on Tuesday on a refuelling journey to Blacksod.
Capt Fitzpatrick was the mother of a young son and the most senior pilot with CHC which runs the contract to provide search and rescue services in the Republic of Ireland.
R116 from Dublin was sent to help the Sligo aircraft communicate with the base at Malin, as the fishing boat was too far out for the first helicopter to stay within communication range.
The Sligo crew picked up the fisherman, who had a serious hand injury, and transferred him to hospital.
Shortly afterwards, communication was lost with the Dublin-based aircraft.
Conditions were described as good when the helicopter lost contact on its final approach to Blacksod refuelling depot.
It is the second fatal accident involving Irish Coastguard crew members over the past six months.
In September 2016, volunteer Coastguard Caitriona Lucas died while assisting in a rescue operation off the County Clare coast.
The mother-of-two was one of three crew members on board a rigid inflatable boat which flipped over during a search for a man near cliffs at Kilkee.
Irish coastguard helicopters have been used for a number of operations in Northern Ireland. | Poor weather conditions have hampered efforts to find the black box from the Irish coastguard helicopter that crashed into the sea off County Mayo. |
39035610 | The hosts made a bright start with Craig Eastmond and Biamou both testing Grant Smith in the Wood goal.
Sutton finally broke the deadlock in the 31st minute when a long ball from Jamie Collins was headed on by Adam Coombes for Biamou to rifle home right-footed from 15 yards for his second goal in as many games.
Eastmond wasted a chance to double the lead four minutes later when he cleared the bar in a great position on the edge of the area.
Will Puddy, signed on a month's loan from Bristol Rovers following an injury to Ross Warner which meant striker Simon Downer had to go in goal on Saturday, rescued the hosts just before the break by making a great save - rushing out to deny Bruno Andrade.
Smith was much the busier of the two goalkeepers after the break and he did well to push efforts from Coombes and Roarie Deacon round the post.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Second Half ends, Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Mark Ricketts (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Jack Jebb (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Simon Downer (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Sutton United. Craig Dundas replaces Adam Coombes.
Substitution, Sutton United. Gomis replaces Maxime Biamou.
Maxime Biamou (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Boreham Wood. Angelo Balanta replaces Kenny Davis.
David Stephens (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Ben Nunn (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Second Half begins Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Substitution, Boreham Wood. Ben Nunn replaces Anthony Jeffrey.
First Half ends, Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Kenny Davis (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0. Maxime Biamou (Sutton United).
Craig Eastmond (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Boreham Wood. Jason Williams replaces Morgan Ferrier.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Maxime Biamou's first-half goal gave FA Cup giant-killers Sutton a deserved 1-0 victory against Boreham Wood at Gander Green Lane. |
11821804 | Patrick Honohan said: "As far as I'm concerned, they are for sale".
The Irish government will outline plans to reform the banking sector, into which it has pumped 45bn euros ($61bn; £38bn), on Wednesday.
It is getting a European Union-led bail-out that may total 90bn euros.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will also contribute to the rescue package.
Mr Honohan described the EU and IMF funding as "a kind of a backstop for the banking system".
Stock markets around the world fell on Tuesday as a result of fears both that the bail-out may not resolve the Republic's debt crisis, and that other countries with high budget deficits may be forced to ask for assistance.
Among the stocks hit hardest were Bank of Ireland, which slumped 27%, and Allied Irish Bank, which fell 14%.
"I've been an advocate for many years of the value for small countries to have foreign owners for their banks, because the risk is carried by the foreign owners," Mr Honohan said.
Analysts said that the government would have to accept a cut-price deal in the event of any sale.
"We are of the view that any fast-track forced disposal of assets will more than likely have to come at a discount to book value," said Ciaran Callaghan at NCB in Dublin.
Mr Honohan also said that plans for a so-called "bad bank", known as the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA), designed to buy up the bad debts of the big Irish banks, had not worked as planned.
"[NAMA] has not had the result we have hoped for," he said.
He did, however, say that it was "not surprising" the plan had not yet worked given the scale of the bad debts held by Irish banks.
The Irish government will publish a four-year budget plan on Wednesday, which will provide some detail of spending cuts and tax rises amounting to 15bn euros, including 6bn euros next year.
The Irish Republic has already implemented billions of euros of cuts, which have proved deeply unpopular with the Irish population.
There are growing calls for an immediate Irish general election in protest at the government's handling of the economy. | The Republic of Ireland's top banks - bailed out by the government at huge cost during the downturn - should be sold, the head of the country's central bank has said. |
38467344 | Unlike Ulster, Leinster had most of their internationals, but uncapped Rory O'Loughlin scored two of their tries.
O'Loughlin exploited dreadful defending to score his first try and Ulster were asleep as scrum-half Luke McGrath ran in a second after a quick line-out.
Wing O'Loughlin scored his second try after half-time, and Charles Piutau's try prevented Ulster being whitewashed.
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Leinster were able to punch holes in Ulster's defence at will in the first half as the visiting pack badly missed Rory Best and Iain Henderson, who were rested because of the IRFU's player management programme.
Ulster will look back on a missed chance by Tommy Bowe when they were 10-0 down midway through the first half, but the visitors' lack of line speed in defence and physicality during the crucial opening period were the key factors.
Ulster did prevent Leinster achieving a bonus point, but the home side's win still moved them above the Ospreys into second place.
With Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien, Josh van der Flier, Sean Cronin and Garry Ringrose all back after missing Monday's 29-17 defeat by Munster, Leinster looked to have the stronger hand, and so it proved.
Ulster welcomed back Andrew Trimble after a six-week injury absence but his return never looked likely to offset the absence of Best, Henderson and fly-half Paddy Jackson.
Jackson's absence meant a switch to fly-half for Ruan Pienaar but the South African looked uncomfortable in the role during the crucial opening period, which included two penalty misses.
O'Loughlin, with remarkable ease, ran from inside his own half to score his sixth-minute try as he sped past Trimble and Paul Marshall after finding a gap between Pienaar and Stuart McCloskey.
With superb lock Hayden Triggs and the ever-industrious Jack McGrath among Leinster's energetic ball-carriers, a Nacewa penalty increased their advantage.
But Bowe wasted an immediate chance to reply as he fumbled with the line seemingly gaping following O'Brien's misfield from the kick-off.
Leinster's second try was a horror show for Ulster as Cronin's quick line-out to Jack McGrath at the front allowed the prop to set up his scrum-half namesake to score.
Trailing 17-0 at the break, it got worse for Ulster immediately after the restart as impressive fly-half Ross Byrne's grubber kick in behind a badly positioned Piutau set up O'Loughlin's second touchdown.
To Piutau's credit, he was Ulster's most impressive performer by a distance as his carry count by the end of the contest reached 15.
After wasting a series of chances to open their account - even during Jack McGrath's sin-binning - Ulster eventually did register on the scoreboard as the New Zealand star ran through in the 77th minute following a clever no-look pass from Pienaar.
Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss: "It wasn't the start we wanted. I give credit to Leinster. They ramped it up and very very clinical.
"We're disappointed but we expected nothing else from Leinster. They've been doing that to teams all year.
"We were being physical but we were being outsmarted a few times. When we got into their territory, we were not clinical enough."
Leinster wing Rory O'Loughlin: "We're disappointed not to get the bonus point seeing as we scored so early in the second half.
"We got the win and that's what we came from but there's much to improve on."
Leinster: I Nacewa (capt); A Byrne, G Ringrose, N Reid, R O'Loughlin; R Byrne, L McGrath; J McGrath, S Cronin, M Bent, D Toner, H Triggs, S O'Brien, J van der Flier, J Heaslip.
Replacements: R Strauss for Cronin 60, A Porter for A Byrne 57, J Loughman for Porter 65, M Kearney for Triggs 66, J Conan for O'Brien 68, J Gibson-Park for L McGrath 60, T Daly R Byrne 68, Z Kirchner for O'Loughlin 66.
Ulster: C Piutau: A Trimble, D Cave, S McCloskey, T Bowe; R Pienaar, P Marshall; A Warwick, R Herring (capt), R Ah You, K Treadwell, F van der Merwe, C Ross, S Reidy, R Wilson.
Replacements: J Andrew for Herring 28, C Black for Warwick 65, J Simpson for Ah You 48, P Browne for van der Merwe 73, C Henry for Wilson 54, B Herron for P Marshall 74, L Ludik for Trimble 59, J Stockdale for Bowe 66.
Referee: J Lacey (Ireland) | Leinster earned a dominant win in the Pro12 Irish derby after a sloppy first-half display by under-strength Ulster. |
36192114 | It was flown inside a small lantern on a special flight from the Swiss city of Geneva to Brasilia.
President Dilma Rousseff lit the Olympic torch which will be carried around Brazil by 12,000 runners.
But it could be one of President Rousseff's last public acts ahead of a possible impeachment trial.
The Senate is expected to vote next week on whether proceedings against her should go ahead.
If a simple majority votes in favour, Ms Rousseff will be suspended from office for up to 180 days and Vice-President Michel Temer will take over.
Ms Rousseff is accused of manipulating government accounts ahead of her re-election in 2014.
She has denied the charges and says the impeachment proceedings are a "coup d'etat" designed to remove her Workers' Party from office.
The BBC's Wyre Davies in Brasilia says that generating public support for the Rio Games will be one of the main challenges during the torch's 95 day journey around Brazil.
Aside from the political crisis Brazil's economy has slumped.
The torch will pass through more than 300 towns and cities from the Amazon to Brazil's southern border, arriving at the Maracana Stadium in Rio on 5 August.
Among the first torchbearers will be a Syrian refugee who now lives in Brazil. | The Olympic flame has arrived in Brazil for the start of a torch relay that will culminate with the opening of the Olympic Games in Rio in August. |
40358138 | A study by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics says government must protect people from an unregulated industry.
The report also condemns makeover apps and online plastic surgery games aimed at children as young as nine.
The authors fear such apps are contributing to growing anxieties around body image.
Much of the cosmetic procedures industry is unregulated so reliable data on its size is hard to come by.
In 2015 one market research company estimated the UK market could be worth as much as £3.6bn.
But there is little doubt it has grown significantly over the past decade.
The report identifies several factors that are encouraging young people in particular to focus on body image.
These include increasing levels of anxiety around appearance, the rise of social media where photos can receive positive or negative ratings and the popularity of celebrity culture, complete with airbrushed images and apparently perfect lifestyles.
Prof Jeanette Edwards, from the University of Manchester, who chaired the council's inquiry into ethical issues surrounding cosmetic procedures, said some of the evidence around games aimed at younger children had surprised the panel.
"We've been shocked by some of the evidence we've seen, including make-over apps and cosmetic surgery 'games' that target girls as young as nine.
"There is a daily bombardment from advertising and through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat that relentlessly promote unrealistic and often discriminatory messages on how people, especially girls and women, 'should' look."
The report describes how apps with names such as "Plastic Surgery Princess", "Little Skin Doctor" and "Pimp My Face" could be contributing to mental health problems in young people.
Prof Edwards also called for cosmetic procedures to be banned for anyone under 18 unless they involve a multi-disciplinary team of specialists, GPs and psychologists.
"Under 18s should not be able to just walk in off the street and have a cosmetic procedure.
"There are legal age limits for having tattoos or using sun beds. Invasive cosmetic procedures should be regulated in a similar way."
Charlie Massey, chief executive of the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, said that it had already introduced standards for those performing cosmetic procedures to ensure they work safely and ethically and was developing similar guidelines for surgeons.
"Cosmetic interventions are not without risk, and anyone considering a procedure must have confidence that those carrying it out have the necessary skills and competence to do so safely.
"We hope this certification system will, in time, help set the standard for similar forms of accreditation in different areas of practice, that will provide additional reassurance to patients."
A government spokesperson also said action had been taken to improve regulation.
But they added: "This report highlights once again that we live in a world where young people are under immense pressure on a daily basis about how they should look - it is ethically wrong for companies to exploit this and offer unnecessary cosmetic procedures to under 18s."
Kevin Hancock, of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, whose members helped compile the report, said it "voices many of the same concerns" his organisation has. | Young people are turning to cosmetic procedures such as botox and dermal fillers as a result of social media pressure, according to a report. |
20466495 | The 10 original sculptures became a social media sensation and the artist was described as a "literary Banksy".
The artist, whose identity is still being kept secret, has produced the new works as part of Book Week Scotland.
The new sculptures, inspired by classic Scottish stories, have been hidden at secret locations across the country.
Clues released online each day this week will help literary fans to track them down and win their own sculptures.
The first was found on Monday by Emma Lister at Glasgow School of Art. It is a Lanark book sculpture inspired by Alasdair Gray's classic.
The original 10 sculptures were left at locations across Edinburgh between March and November last year.
They returned to the Scottish Poetry Library at the weekend after being seen by thousands of visitors while on display in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Dunfermline and at the Wigtown Book Festival.
The first of the sculptures appeared in March 2011, when the artist left an intricate paper 'Poetree' sculpture at the Scottish Poetry Library.
The work was based on the Edwin Morgan poem, A Trace of Wings, and had a gift tag attached which proclaimed that it was "in support of libraries, books, words and ideas".
Over the next eight months, a further nine "gifts" were left at locations around Edinburgh, including the National Museum of Scotland, the Writer's Museum, the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the city's international book festival.
The book sculptures caused a sensation and were discussed around the world.
The identity of the artist remains a secret but she did reveal in a note to Poetry Library staff that she was a woman, who believed free access to libraries, art galleries and museums made life much richer.
After being contacted via an anonymous email address, the woman agreed to make five new sculptures for Book Week Scotland.
Marc Lambert, chief executive of the Scottish Book Trust, which organises Book Week, said: "It's an ideal time to celebrate these unique pieces of art, inspired as they are by a love of books, reading, and libraries.
"We are delighted that the artist has agreed to come out of retirement, if not hiding, to give booklovers across Scotland a chance to own one of these amazing homages to literature."
More than 350 free events will take place throughout book week.
Highlights include: | The anonymous artist behind a series of intricate book sculptures which mysteriously appeared across Edinburgh last year has produced five new works. |
19522744 | The Canadian government cited Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and failure to comply with UN inspectors as the reason for the move.
Iranian diplomats have been given five days to leave Canada.
An Iranian spokesman called the decision "hasty and extreme", the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Ramin Mehmanparast, from the country's foreign affairs agency, added that the Canadian government had "a long record of animosity" towards Iran.
Mr Baird's statement on Friday said that Canada viewed Iran "as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today".
He also said that Iran had engaged in "racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide", and had shown "blatant disregard" for the protection of diplomatic personnel.
"Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran," he added.
Ottawa also designated Iran as a state-sponsor of terrorism and included it among a list of countries subject to travel warnings for Canadian citizens.
"Because of the hostile decision by the government of Canada, the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa is closed and has no choice but to stop providing any consular services for its dear citizens," a note in Persian posted on the door of Iran's Canadian embassy said, according to the Associated Press.
Canada's decision removes another channel through which the US gets first-hand diplomatic updates from the country.
"We share Canada's concerns regarding Iran's behaviour," US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Friday. "We want all countries to join us in isolating Iran." | Canada is closing its embassy in Iran and expelling the remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada, Foreign Minister John Baird has said in a statement. |
38862191 | Hamilton, 45, who has never won a ranking event, beat Selby 5-2 on Friday before beating Hawkins 5-4 later on.
On Saturday, Hamilton plays world number two Stuart Bingham after his 5-2 victory over China's Yan Bingtao.
In the other semi-final, 2016 winner Martin Gould meets two-time World Championship finalist Ali Carter.
Gould's win last year remains his only ranking title and he moved into the final four by beating Ryan Day 5-2, while Carter beat Tom Ford by the same scoreline.
Talking about the win over Selby, Hamilton told World Snooker: "It is the highlight of my season by a mile.
"I'm not playing great but I have managed to win a few matches. My attitude is good and I'm enjoying it."
Friday's results
Last 16: Stuart Bingham 5-4 David Gilbert, Michael Holt 1-5 Yan Bingtao, Ben Wollaston 2-5 Barry Hawkins, Anthony Hamilton 5-2 Mark Selby.
Quarter-finals: Martin Gould 5-2 Ryan Day, Tom Ford 2-5 Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham 5-2 Yan Bingtao, Barry Hawkins 4-5 Anthony Hamilton.
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app. | World number 66 Anthony Hamilton has reached the semi-finals of the German Masters after wins over world champion Mark Selby and Barry Hawkins in Berlin. |
28623760 | Media playback is not supported on this device
By the end of Saturday, they were 11 golds ahead of nearest challengers Australia - who could only win seven of the 11 left to be decided - meaning the English will be the most successful nation at a Commonwealth Games for the first time in 28 years.
Saturday was also a successful day for two other home nations in the boxing ring, with Scotland - who passed the 50-medal mark overall - and Northern Ireland both securing double gold.
Representatives of medal table-topping England and closest rivals Australia will meet on Sunday in the finals of both the mixed doubles and men's doubles in squash - one of just five sports with issues still outstanding.
Champions will also be crowned in badminton, netball, hockey and road cycling, with home nations athletes well-placed to add to their country's hauls.
And with Nick Matthew and Adrian Grant, and Peter Barker and Alison Waters in the squash finals, Chris and Gabby Adcock in the final of the badminton mixed doubles, and Lizzie Armitstead and Laura Trott in the road race, England's lead could even be extended.
Scotland, too, could add to their record tally of 19 golds, with Kirsty Gilmour in the final of the badminton singles. And both Wales - who are certain to beat their best medal haul - and the Isle of Man will look to the road race where Geraint Thomas and Peter Kennaugh respectively are among the favourites to win.
But Saturday's focus was on the track, the ring and the pool.
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Having spent most of 2014 prevaricating before finally committing to compete, Bolt arrived in Glasgow like a hurricane, caused a storm, then ran like the wind to anchor Jamaica to gold in the 4x100m relay.
Handed the baton by Nickel Ashmeade, the 27-year-old six-time Olympic champion was in second place but raced clear of England's Danny Talbot down the final stretch of the Hampden track to win his first Commonwealth medal, wagging his finger as he crossed the line.
The manner in which he enjoyed the celebrations that followed - cavorting around Hampden wearing a tartan bunnet and scarf and wrapped in a Saltire - was a retort to those who scoff at the merit of the event, as was the reaction of Olympic champion Adams after she became the first female Commonwealth boxing champion.
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The 31-year-old Leeds flyweight was awarded victory over Northern Ireland's Michaela Walsh after a split decision, although the 21-year-old Belfast fighter was deeply unhappy with the decision.
Scotland and Northern Ireland both saw two champions crowned in the men's competition, with wins for Charlie Flynn and Josh Taylor, and Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlon respectively.
The latter had taken bronze in London, the same as English diver Daley, but the Delhi champion took Commonwealth gold once again on Saturday when he retained his 10m platform title, to add to his silver in the synchronised event.
On a day of success for the big names, however, there was ignominy for another.
Botswana's Amantle Montsho was suspended from competition after failing a doping test. The former 400m world champion, who finished fourth in the event on Tuesday, tested positive for the prohibited stimulant methylhexaneamine.
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The 31-year-old, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Dehli four years ago, has been provisionally suspended while her B sample is tested.
Montsho's sanction means she will not be at Sunday's closing ceremony (21:00 BST) at Hampden Park.
Entitled "All Back to Ours", it has been described by head of ceremonies David Zolkwer as "inviting the world into our front room".
He said: "In many ways I think the last 11 days of sport was the actual party and this is the bit where someone says, 'we don't want this to end so let's go back to our house and carry on'.
"We'll be delivering all the pomp without getting pompous about it." | Usain Bolt, Nicola Adams and Tom Daley won Commonwealth gold on a pulsating penultimate day of Glasgow 2014, as England ensured they will finish top of the medal table. |
29821439 | The ITV soap opera, set in fictional Kings Oak in the Birmingham area, was famous for wobbly sets but had 18 million viewers at its height.
The Sutton Coldfield Ramada site was used for outdoor filming in the 1980s before the ITV soap was axed in 1988.
Memorabilia including popular character Benny Hawkins' hat were on show at the event.
Launched on 2 November 1964, four years after Coronation Street, the show initially ran five days a week and became famous for fluffed lines.
Tony Adams, who played womanising Adam Chance for 10 years from 1978, said it was recorded without stopping.
He said: "It was tortuous, terrifying… yes there was pressure, but it was enormous fun.
"Hardly anybody lifted a cup because they were stuck to saucers so they didn't rattle.
"It was one of the best shows I ever did... if you went into M&S, to Scotland, to Ireland, to Jersey, people recognised you."
Adams, 73, of Saltdean, Brighton, said one viewer upset at the way his character treated girlfriend Miranda Pollard got into the Birmingham studios.
He said: "He pulled a knife. Fortunately, there were two security guards. I didn't get hurt, but it was a bit of a shock."
Crossroads was revived in 2001, again starring Adams, but axed in 2003.
An anniversary cake featuring the motel sign has been baked for the Sutton Coldfield event.
But the original red motel sign was not on show because "it's so big" to transport, the Crossroads Appreciation Society said.
Proceeds from sales of props and photographs will go to the Crossroads Care charity network, which gives a break to carers.
Fan club member Chris Stacey, 55, of Newham, east London, said: "As a child growing up it was like an extended family... they featured Spaghetti Junction in the opening titles at one point."
But he said while it was "escapism", there were "bizarre" storylines including "when Amy Turtle, a famous Brummie, the cleaner… was thought to be a Russian spy". | Fans of TV soap Crossroads have marked its 50th anniversary at a real hotel which doubled up as the show's motel. |
38955980 | Leanne Wood said Wales was not being "sufficiently listened to" ahead of UK negotiations to leave the EU.
She told BBC Radio Wales that Westminster politics was not heading in a "very positive direction" for Wales.
Ms Wood campaigned in the referendum to remain in the EU, but a majority in Wales as across the UK voted to leave.
Speaking to the Jason Mohammad programme, Ms Wood said: "There's lots that we need to do in terms of our economy before we can become an independent nation.
"But I think now is a good time to start to have that discussion, certainly if the prime minister proceeds with a Brexit that is going to be damaging to this country.
"Because to be honest with you the way in which politics is developing in Westminster at the moment is not in a very positive direction as far as I can see from Wales' perspective."
Ms Wood said Wales was in a "different situation" to Scotland, which had an independence referendum in 2014.
"We've not had a campaign, we've not really had a debate about Welsh independence like they have in Scotland," she said.
A spokesperson for the Welsh Conservatives said: "This is confirmation from the nationalist leader that a vote for Plaid Cymru is a vote for independence, and a break from the most successful economic union in the history of the world.
"For Wales to become independent would be equivalent to jumping out of a plane without a parachute." | Independence for Wales could be on the agenda if Theresa May proceeds with a "damaging" Brexit, the Plaid Cymru leader has said. |
35686079 | None of the 26 pupils from Easingwold School were injured when the bus was driven into flood water near Newton-on-Ouse on the 5 January.
The bus company said as a result of its investigation, the driver, who has not been named, was no longer employed.
North Yorkshire Police said the driver had been interviewed and its investigation was ongoing.
The bus company, Stephenson's of Easingwold, said: "A full report has been provided to the relevant authorities, including North Yorkshire County Council, and a communication to relevant parents has also been sent via the school secure mailing system.
"The company cannot comment further on any other investigation by other authorities but can confirm that, as a result of this incident, the driver concerned is no longer employed by the company."
North Yorkshire County Council said at the time of the incident the road had been closed due to flooding and it believed signs had been in place advertising the closure. | A driver who stranded a school bus in flood water near York no longer works for the company involved. |
35558762 | The committee will hear from seven head teachers on Friday.
Figures in October showed 2.8% of grammar pupils are eligible for free school meals compared with 13.4% in non-selective schools.
Councillors are also examining grammar schools' admission criteria and their outreach work to support poorer pupils.
Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Vye said the statistics were "appallingly low" and the gap was still too wide.
He said he believed more could be done in primary schools to bring children from poor households to a level where they could face the Kent Test - the county's selective 11-plus - "with confidence".
Conservative councillor Jenny Whittle said figures were improving with grammar pupils eligible for free school meals now over 3%.
Adding that she would like the figure to double, she said: "Clearly we need to do more."
Both councillors are on the Kent County Council committee set up to tackle social mobility in the county's grammars. The committee is chaired by Ms Whittle. | Head teachers are giving evidence to a committee set up to tackle social mobility in Kent grammar schools as councillors admit more should be done. |
40738394 | The report, which was compiled by Birmingham City Council's licensing team, contains police allegations that up to £93,042 was taken from customers of Legs 11 on Broad Street.
The council has suspended the club's alcohol licence, pending a full review.
Legs 11 has not responded to a request for a comment.
In the council report Supt Andy Parsons said two men had claimed they were drugged, with one testing positive for methadone with a home testing kit.
The force is also investigating claims large amounts of money was taken from people's bank accounts without their knowledge.
Some customers had paid for dances "in a private area" but additional transactions were taking place that they had not authorised, he said.
One victim claimed he had lost as much as £19,417.
"In this year alone, four fraud offences have been reported totalling £23,965 with two of the victims reporting they had been drugged," he said.
"One of the victims went as far as getting a home drug test kit which indicated he was under the influence of methadone. This victim had £9,000 taken from his credit card."
The club was being investigated over 17 fraud-related allegations since 2013, West Midlands Police said.
Supt Parsons added "intelligence checks" suggested the club was linked to "organised crime groups from Albania".
"These premises are involved in serious criminality and serious offences are being committed at the premises," he said.
The report also contained details of an undercover trading standards investigation, during which officers were offered sexual services in a locked room for a fee of £1,000 and were "rubbed" by naked dancers, contravening the club's licence. | A lap dancing club allegedly drugged customers and charged thousands of pounds of unauthorised transactions to their credit cards, a report claims. |
15385562 | The 51-year-old actress will replace Len Goodman for a week while the head judge takes a break.
Grey won Dancing with the Stars - the US version of the celebrity dance show, on which Goodman also judges - last year with her partner Derek Hough.
She will join fellow judges Craig Revel Horwood, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli on the panel on 5 and 6 November.
"I so look forward to making the pilgrimage to the birthplace of the greatest dance show, the mecca of spray tans and tangos, and to sit in for the great and pernickety Len Goodman," Grey is quoted as saying.
Goodman films Strictly and its US counterpart concurrently, with Dancing with the Stars airing live on Monday and Tuesday straight after the judge finishes his duties with the UK show.
Fellow judge Tonioli also sits on the US judging panel, alongside US choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba.
"Flying back and forth between London and LA doing the two shows is very gruelling, so this year the BBC have kindly agreed to give me a week off to rest," Goodman said.
A BBC spokesman added: "It was always agreed that Len would take a week off from Strictly due to his commitments with Dancing with the Stars."
Goodman will return to the UK judging panel from 12 November.
Grey remains best known for her role as Frances 'Baby' Houseman in 1987's Dirty Dancing, in which she appeared with the late Patrick Swayze. | Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey is to guest judge on Strictly Come Dancing next month. |
37417855 | Isle of Man Railways said the move was necessary because only one of their trains is currently working.
Director of Transport Services Ian Longworth apologised to passengers.
He said: "We operate Victorian locomotives and we have experienced a high level of failures that require substantial repairs."
The revised schedule will start immediately and run until 6 November.
Isle of Man Railways said their No.8 locomotive Fennela is their only train in service.
The narrow gauge steam-operated railway runs 15.3 miles (24.6 km) between Douglas and Port Erin. | The Isle of Man Steam Railway will operate a revised timetable until the end of the 2016 season because of a "high level of operational issues". |
40187393 | Although the 6,833 houses and flats completed is slightly down on the previous year, it is the second highest figure in nine years.
It includes 1,243 social and council homes, according to Welsh Government figures, which are based on National Housing Building Council returns.
This is the second highest number of new homes for social and housing association landlords since 1998-99.
Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan are where the largest numbers of houses were built in 2016-17. Cardiff had the largest number of flats - nearly a third of the total completed in Wales.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), in its programme for government, has called for 14,000 new homes a year to be built in Wales over the next five years.
But it said the figures on Wednesday showed "a lot of room for improvement" and believes smaller building firms should be brought into the mix more, particularly those parts of Wales less attractive to the big house builders.
Ifan Glyn, director of FMB Cymru, said: "Around 75% of homes in Wales are now built by five big companies. House building on small parcels of land needs to be made more attractive to small and medium sized construction companies, who are at the moment working on things like house extensions."
The FMB wants small building firms brought into the local development plan process and for an end to social housing stipulations for small private developments.
Community Housing Cymru, which represents the social housing sector, welcomed the figures.
With the Welsh Government and Welsh Local Government Association, it set a target last year for 20,000 affordable homes to be built by 2021, including 12,500 by housing associations.
AMs discuss housing need
Stuart Ropke, chief executive of Community Housing Cymru, said: "Our members completed 1,224 new homes in 2016-17, 98% of new homes in the social sector. While we have an excellent delivery track record and, in fact, over-delivered on the previous target, continued investment in the sector is vital to ensure that we meet this new target."
It has also highlighted welfare issues facing tenants and support for the construction industry in its Homes for Wales campaign for the general election. | The number of new homes built in Wales in the last year has held steady. |
34421565 | It follows a crash involving two riders and a spectator at this year's event.
Spectator Violet McAfee, 44, had to be airlifted to hospital after the crash.
The changes include fewer riders and bikes starting in each wave on the grid, as well as more announcements to improve communication to riders.
Mervyn Whyte, event director of the North West 200, said: "We have taken on board the views of everyone involved in the race and have been engaged in intensive consultation with fans, team principals and riders over the past four months.
"Our aim is to improve the race organisation, making its operation both faster and more efficient. As a result we intend to introduce these significant changes for 2016."
The changes to be brought in are:
Ms McAfee was in the garden of a friend's house when three bikes crashed during the opening race last week.
She suffered serious head and leg injuries but has been making a good recovery. | The organisers of the North West 200 motorbike road races say there will be significant changes to next year's event, aimed at improving safety and efficiency on the course. |
39347138 | The fissure on the South West Coast path between Bowleaze Cove and Redcliff Point first appeared last March.
The initial drop in the cracked section was just over 1m (3ft) but the land has since fallen away further.
Dorset County Council said the landslide was likely to continue for some time.
"Looking along this 300ft-long crack which last year had a six foot drop, now the drop must be at least 25 or 30 ft," BBC reporter at the scene Laurence Herdman said.
Sam Scriven, the county council's Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site earth science manager, said: "This landslide has progressed quite a lot since it began and the slipped material is now collapsing further.
"This is exactly what we would expect and it will continue for some time to come.
"As always, we would encourage people to not stand near the cliff edge, where the rocks might still be unstable, and take care when exploring the beach below as rock falls will be more common as a result of the slip."
The original drop in the cracked section was just over 1m (3ft), the coastguard said at the time.
Source: Dorset County Council/Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site | A giant crack that first appeared on a cliff top on Dorset's Jurassic Coast a year ago has developed into a significant landslip. |
37104913 | O'Sullivan, 40, was the last winner of the Northern Ireland Trophy, the last world ranking tournament to be hosted by World Snooker in Belfast, in 2008.
The five-time world champion faces a busy autumn schedule.
O'Sullivan has also entered the English Open in Manchester, the Shanghai Masters, the European Championship and the International Championship.
Last season, O'Sullivan, currently ranked world number 10, did not play competitively until December.
The Irish Open will see 128 of the world's leading players compete in Belfast from 14-20 November.
The tournament is part of the new Home Nations quartet of events, with any player winning all four tournaments receiving a £1m bonus.
Total prize money for each of the Home Nations events will be £366,000, with the winner to receive £70,000.
The first of the four tournaments, the English Open, will take place in October, followed by the Irish Open, the Scottish Open in December and the Welsh Open in February 2017. | Ronnie O'Sullivan has confirmed his participation in the inaugural Irish Open at Titanic Belfast in November. |
34916854 | A memorandum of understanding has been agreed between the council and the consortium, led by Kelvin Thomas, which is taking over the Cobblers.
The deal would see the debt wiped out, with the council taking over land near Sixfields for development in return.
The club currently faces both an administration and winding-up petition.
The Cobblers owe the council the money over a loan given for unfinished redevelopment work at Sixfields Stadium, and also owes HM Revenue & Customs £166,000 in unpaid tax.
The loan was originally paid to the League Two club for building the new East Stand, along with a hotel and conference centre - none of which have been completed.
The council said the outline agreement signed off by its cabinet would see Thomas's consortium pay off the debt to HMRC and finish work on the stand.
Mary Markham, leader of the council, said: "It is clear that if the club is to survive and have some stability, we have to find a way of repaying the debt.
"This deal puts us in the strongest position to ensure that the public purse is protected."
Northamptonshire Police is investigating "alleged financial irregularities" surrounding the loan to the club. | Northampton Town could be relieved of its £10.25m debt owed to the borough council, after the authority agreed to back a deal to sell the club. |
35714975 | Tomas Lowe, 27, Kris Leonard, River Reeves, and Jack Dakin, all 20, and their manager Craig Tarry, 33, were killed when their car plunged into a canal on 13 February.
Inquests into their deaths were opened and adjourned earlier in Warrington.
Senior Coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinberg released the five men's bodies so funerals could take place.
The brief hearing at Warrington Town Hall was attended by 11 family members.
Det Sgt Elaine Duddle from Cheshire Police told the inquests the band's car was travelling along the E4 motorway and passed through a restricted area when it collided with barriers.
She said the five men suffered severe injuries and the car then fell into the canal below the bridge, about 18 miles from Stockholm in Sodertalje.
Mr Rheinberg heard that cooperation between UK and Swedish Police had been good since the crash in Stockholm last month.
He praised the work of the Swedish Police and said: "In all my career I have never had such immediate and positive response from a foreign organisation"
Full inquests will be heard at a later date.
Read more about the band | The bodies of band Viola Beach - who died in a car crash in Sweden - have been released to their families. |
36675910 | Stuart Wishart, 45, died in the accident near Clovenfords at about 19:20 on Monday.
He was riding a dark Kawasaki motorbike when it was in collision with the tractor near Caddonlee Farm.
Police are continuing to appeal for witnesses to the accident or anyone who saw the vehicles beforehand.
Mr Wishart's family issued a short statement through Police Scotland.
"Stuart's family and friends are devastated at our loss," it said.
"The support we have had since the accident is very much appreciated and has been a comfort."
PC Paul Aitchison said it was a "very difficult time" for Mr Wishart's family and friends and offered his condolences.
"Our enquiries continue and I'd urge anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or seen either vehicle shortly beforehand, to get in touch," he said.
"I also want to thank the local community for their patience while road closures were in place and investigations conducted at the scene." | The family of a motorcyclist killed in a crash with a tractor and trailer on the A72 in the Borders have said they are "devastated" by their loss. |
40846959 | The sanctions, which were unanimously passed by the UN on Saturday, were a "violent violation of our sovereignty," the official KCNA news agency said.
Separately, South Korea says the North has rejected an offer to restart talks, dismissing it as insincere.
The sanctions will aim to reduce North Korea's export revenues by a third.
The UN Security Council decision followed repeated missile tests by the North which have escalated tensions on the peninsula.
In its first major response on Monday, North Korea insisted that it would continue to develop its controversial nuclear weapons programme.
The state-run KCNA news agency said Pyongyang would "not put our self-defensive nuclear deterrent on the negotiating table" while it faces threats from the US.
It threatened to make the US "pay the price for its crime... thousands of times," referring to America's role in drafting the UN sanctions resolution.
Speaking to reporters at a regional forum in the Philippine capital, Manila, North Korean spokesman Bang Kwang Hyuk said: "The worsening situation on the Korean peninsula, as well as the nuclear issues, were caused by the United States.
"We affirm that we'll never place our nuclear and ballistic missiles programme on the negotiating table, and won't budge an inch on strengthening nuclear armament."
The remarks come after reports emerged that the North and South Korean foreign ministers had met briefly on Sunday evening on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Manila.
South Korean media reported that its Foreign Minister, Kang Kyung-wha, shook hands with her North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, in a brief and unarranged meeting at an official dinner event.
A South Korean official told the BBC that Mr Ri had dismissed Ms Kang's offer of talks as "insincere".
South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Ms Kang as saying that Mr Ri's rejection of the talks proposal appeared to be connected to the new sanctions.
"I told him that [the two offers for talks] are an urgent matter that should be carried out immediately with any political agenda put aside and asked him to proactively react," she was quoted as saying.
The foreign minister of China, which is Pyongyang's closest ally, told journalists on Monday: "My feeling is that the North did not entirely reject the positive proposals raised by the South."
Wang Yi added that China also supported the South's initiatives, and was "100%" committed to enforcing the latest round of UN sanctions.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also at the Asean forum, where he spoke about North Korea.
Noting Russia and China's participation in the unanimous vote, he told journalists it was clear there was now "no daylight among the international community" on their desire for North Korea to stop its tests.
"The best signal that North Korea can give us [is] that they are prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches," he added.
Russia and China have previously differed with others on how to handle Pyongyang, but in recent months have joined calls for North Korea to stop its missile tests - while also urging the US and South Korea to halt military drills, and withdraw an anti-missile system from the South.
Meanwhile, the US military has said it is working with its close ally South Korea to review guidelines covering the size of missile warheads that South Korea can deploy.
The current bilateral guidelines limit the power of South Korean missiles, but Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said these restrictions might be altered.
"It is a topic under active consideration here and I would tell you that we would be favourably inclined to do anything which furthers the defensive capabilities of South Korea," he told reporters.
"We will always adapt to the threat as it changes."
On Monday, US President Donald Trump spoke to his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in over the phone about relations on the Korean peninsula.
They agreed that North Korea "poses a grave and growing direct threat" and the two leaders were committed to fully implementing the latest round of UN sanctions, the White House said in a statement. | North Korea has vowed to retaliate and make "the US pay a price" for drafting fresh UN sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons programme. |
24434795 | The chapel, to commemorate the Battle of Towton (1461), was begun by Richard in 1483 but his death two years later meant it was never completed.
A team from the University of York said masonry found at Towton, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, was "likely" to be the remains of the structure.
The team said a larger excavation would be needed to prove it beyond doubt.
Lead archaeologist, Tim Sutherland, has been searching for the remains of the chapel since 1997.
"We were beginning to think there was no structural remains left but we eventually came across large chunks of medieval masonry.
"We've talked to various stonemason experts and they have said 'yes it is almost certainly evidence of a late 15th century ecclesiastical structure.'"
The Battle of Towton was a key battle in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic clash for the English throne in the 15th century between the Houses of York and Lancaster.
Historians regard it as one of the bloodiest battle on British soil with up to 28,000 men being killed.
The Yorkist victory at Towton ensured Edward of York became King as Edward IV replacing the Lancastrian Henry VI.
Edward IV died in 1483 and his brother Richard III took the throne.
Work began on the chapel but, Mr Sutherland said, it is not known how complete it was when Richard was defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
He said the chapel's exact location was not being disclosed as it was on private land and excavation work was continuing. | Archaeologists claim to have found the remains of a chapel built by Richard III after a 16-year search. |
36756182 | The 25-year-old from Glasgow took control after the interval when the players were tied at 2-2, resuming with a break of 96.
A tight final frame was settled when McGill cleared up after potting the last red.
The win lifts him from 29th to 18th in the world rankings.
Having never been beyond the last eight in a ranking event, McGill is Scotland's first new winner at this level in a decade.
He defeated former world champions Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy en route to the final.
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app. | Anthony McGill clinched his first ranking title with a 5-2 success over Kyren Wilson in the final of the Indian Open in Hyderabad. |
36293185 | The 59-year-old was crossing Glasgow Road in Blantyre at about 00:45 when he was hit by a car.
He was taken to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride but died a short time later. The 18-year-old driver of the car and his two teenage passengers did not require medical treatment.
Police are continuing to investigate the crash and a full report will be sent to the procurator fiscal. | A man has died after being struck by a car in Lanarkshire early on Saturday. |
39777983 | They will include Aberfeldy-based furniture maker Angus Ross, Edinburgh designer Jennifer Gray and Fife-based creative studio Tom Pigeon.
Others taking part will be Linlithgow's Method Studio, Glasgow's Scotland Re:Designed and Scottish silversmiths.
National body, Craft Scotland, has arranged a showcase event for Ross and Gray.
Ross' products included the Unstable Stool, which is made from a single length of wood which is steamed and then bent into shape. The design was shortlisted for The Wood Awards in 2009.
Gray's jewellery has included a bracelet made to mark 20 years since the creation of Dolly the Sheep, a cloned sheep created at the Roslin Institute just outside Edinburgh. | Scottish makers are to exhibit their work at London Craft Week, which opens on Wednesday. |
36541594 | The 55-year-old will replace Dunga, who was sacked from his second spell in charge after Brazil were knocked out of the Copa America after losing to Peru.
Tite has won two league titles, the Copa Libertadores and the World Club Cup with Corinthians.
The club's president, Roberto de Andrade, said Tite had accepted a Brazil football federation (CBF) offer.
Earlier, CBF officials confirmed they had met Tite but said talks had been "inconclusive", adding that "the sides decided to take it up again soon".
Andrade said he was "furious" with the CBF, telling reporters: "They didn't even call us once."
"It wouldn't have changed anything if they'd called us and asked for permission to talk to the manager. Of course I'd have said yes," he added.
However, in a statement, the CBF said it had "strictly complied with the ethical and institutional procedures" during its search for a new coach.
The governing body said attempts to contact Andrade had been unsuccessful despite efforts lasting nearly 10 hours, and added it would begin "arrangements for hiring the coach" from Thursday onwards. | Corinthians coach Tite has agreed to become Brazil's new manager, the club's president says. |
34773441 | Craig Malcolm converted a penalty for the visitors after Luciano Nequecaur had been fouled by Jass Sukar.
Rory McAllister fired in a well taken free-kick just before half-time.
The hosts went close as the lights began to fade, with Kevin Dzierzawski and McAllister, now on 19 goals for the season, firing efforts narrowly wide.
Match ends, Peterhead 1, Stranraer 1.
Second Half ends, Peterhead 1, Stranraer 1.
Trialist (Stranraer) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Nathan Blockley (Peterhead).
Attempt missed. Kevin Dzierzawski (Peterhead) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
Substitution, Stranraer. Trialist replaces Paul Cairney.
Nathan Blockley (Peterhead) hits the bar with a right footed shot from outside the box.
Substitution, Peterhead. Shane Sutherland replaces Scott Ross because of an injury.
Corner, Stranraer. Conceded by Leighton McIntosh.
Corner, Stranraer. Conceded by Ally Gilchrist.
Attempt blocked. Jamie Longworth (Stranraer) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Foul by Scott Robertson (Stranraer).
Kevin Dzierzawski (Peterhead) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Stranraer. Mark McGuigan replaces Jamie McCluskey.
Corner, Stranraer. Conceded by Ally Gilchrist.
Substitution, Peterhead. Ryan Strachan replaces Jass Sukar.
Jamie Longworth (Stranraer) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Nathan Blockley (Peterhead).
Corner, Stranraer. Conceded by Ally Gilchrist.
Attempt blocked. Paul Cairney (Stranraer) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Craig Pettigrew (Stranraer) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt blocked. Rory McAllister (Peterhead) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Peterhead. Leighton McIntosh replaces Andy Rodgers.
Attempt missed. Rory McAllister (Peterhead) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Foul by Liam Dick (Stranraer).
Cameron Kerr (Peterhead) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Kevin Dzierzawski (Peterhead) left footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high.
Foul by Dale Keenan (Stranraer).
Andy Rodgers (Peterhead) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Stranraer. Jamie Longworth replaces Luciano Nequecaur.
Attempt missed. Scott Rumsby (Stranraer) header from the left side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left following a corner.
Corner, Stranraer. Conceded by Graeme Smith.
Corner, Stranraer. Conceded by Kevin Dzierzawski.
Attempt missed. Scott Robertson (Stranraer) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
Dale Keenan (Stranraer) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Jamie Redman (Peterhead).
Corner, Peterhead. Conceded by Dale Keenan.
Foul by Ryan Thomson (Stranraer).
Rory McAllister (Peterhead) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Second Half begins Peterhead 1, Stranraer 1. | Peterhead and Stranraer shared the spoils in a match beset by floodlight issues, with the closing stages played out in near darkness. |
38841763 | But government-controlled Cadw will become independent in recommendations to Economy Secretary Ken Skates.
An independent review of National Museum Wales (NMW) will also be held and will be published by the summer.
It follows strong opposition to proposals to merge some commercial functions of heritage bodies into a new organisation Historic Wales.
This opposition came from NMW and others in the heritage and museums industry.
Formal discussions have taken place between historical monument and buildings body Cadw, NMW, the National Library of Wales (NLW), the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments (RCAHMW) and trade unions.
Meanwhile, five meetings of a steering group have been held in recent months, with nine recommendations submitted to the Welsh Government following its final meeting on 27 January.
Despite the government stating its intention last year was to "bring together" the commercial functions of Cadw and NMW, only a more informal collaboration in some front-of-house areas has been agreed.
The recommendations include:
The group will also ask the Welsh Government to decide whether the Historic Wales brand will be used and in which areas.
A NMW spokesman said its trustees would consider the recommendations.
"It is important to us that any recommendations taken forward are subject to feasibility studies and business cases.
"This is to ensure that they respect the identity, integrity, independence and core purpose, as well as the commercial interest of each institution, whilst also increasing collaboration and income generation."
Mr Skates has issued a ministerial statement, in which he said he would "consider the recommendations in the report in detail" and would respond to each in due course.
He has also announced an independent review of NMW, which he said followed a letter from the museum last year setting out the challenges facing the organisation.
It will be carried out by Dr Simon Thurley, the former chief executive of English Heritage, to examine the museum's performance and potential.
Doubts about the plans to formally merge some functions were expressed by the Museums Association and the director of National Museums Liverpool, while objections were also made by the former librarian of NLW Andrew Green and ex-arts council chairman Prof Dai Smith.
NMW's director general David Anderson told the assembly's culture committee that the museum would be "tied by the legs" if it lost management of some of its commercial operations.
The Museums Association warned the plan could risk the museum's financial sustainability.
The creation of Historic Wales was a commitment in Labour's election manifesto - one which Mr Skates said would "help build a heritage sector that is global in ambition and internationally renowned" and ensure the institutions were more "financially resilient". | Welsh heritage bodies have rejected a formal merger of any of their functions. |
38342162 | Saturday, 17 December
(Kick-offs 15:00 GMT unless stated)
Crystal Palace v Chelsea (12:30 GMT)
Middlesbrough v Swansea City
Stoke City v Leicester City
Sunderland v Watford
West Ham United v Hull City
West Bromwich Albion v Manchester United (17:30 GMT)
Sunday, 18 December
Bournemouth v Southampton (13:30 GMT)
Manchester City v Arsenal (16:00 GMT)
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley (16:00 GMT)
Friday, 16 December 2016
Norwich City v Huddersfield Town (19:45 GMT)
Saturday, 17 December
Blackburn Rovers v Reading
Bristol City v Preston North End
Burton Albion v Newcastle United
Cardiff City v Barnsley
Fulham v Derby County
Leeds United v Brentford
Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sheffield Wednesday v Rotherham United
Wigan Athletic v Ipswich Town
Birmingham City v Brighton and Hove Albion
Sunday, 18 December
Queens Park Rangers v Aston Villa (12:00 GMT) | Team news, previews and the best statistics for the weekend's Premier League and Championship matches. |
37326026 | The Silkmen made a decent start but soon found themselves on the back foot as James Constable and Jai Reason both went close for Eastleigh in the early stages.
Danny Whitaker blazed a great opportunity over the bar for the hosts in the 38th minute, before Luke Coulson scored the winner five minutes after the interval.
Constable was inches away from doubling Eastleigh's lead in the 64th minute after Reason crossed in from the byline, but in the end it did not matter as Moore's side extended their unbeaten run to seven games.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Macclesfield Town 0, Eastleigh 1.
Second Half ends, Macclesfield Town 0, Eastleigh 1.
John McCombe (Macclesfield Town) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Adam Dawson replaces Jake Howells.
Jai Reason (Eastleigh) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Macclesfield Town. Andy Halls replaces Neill Byrne.
Neill Byrne (Macclesfield Town) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Macclesfield Town. Jack Mackreth replaces Danny Whitaker.
Substitution, Macclesfield Town. David Fitzpatrick replaces Mitch Hancox.
Kingsley James (Macclesfield Town) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Macclesfield Town 0, Eastleigh 1. Luke Coulson (Eastleigh).
Second Half begins Macclesfield Town 0, Eastleigh 0.
First Half ends, Macclesfield Town 0, Eastleigh 0.
Paul Lewis (Macclesfield Town) is shown the yellow card.
Joe Partington (Eastleigh) is shown the yellow card.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Eastleigh remain unbeaten under new manager Ronnie Moore after victory over Macclesfield at Moss Rose. |
37115410 | Daniel Burgess, aged 37, of Chywoone avenue Newlyn, Penzance is accused of killing 48-year-old Michael Horner, Bodmin Magistrates' Court heard.
Mr Horner's body was found by police on 29 December at his home on Gwavas Road, after concerns were raised about his welfare.
The case has been committed to Truro Crown Court where Mr Burgess is due to appear on Friday.
A second man had been arrested over the incident but Devon and Cornwall Police said no further action would be taken against him.
More on this case and other stories | A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in Cornwall. |
38701243 | Vadaine Oliver was twice denied early on by Shots goalkeeper Jake Cole, who pulled off two superb reflex saves as his team flew out of the blocks.
His opposite number Kyle Letheren got in on the act by blocking Shamir Fenelon's close-range effort after 20 minutes, but it was the hosts who asked the most questions.
When Oliver did manage to beat Cole from close range just after the hour mark, the post came to York's rescue.
The visitors had Jon Parkin sent off in stoppage time, but it was too late for Aldershot to take advantage.
Report provided by the Press Association.
Match ends, Aldershot Town 0, York City 0.
Second Half ends, Aldershot Town 0, York City 0.
Second yellow card to Jon Parkin (York City) for a bad foul.
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Jim Kellerman replaces Shamir Fenelon.
Jon Parkin (York City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Kundai Benyu (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Idris Kanu (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Second Half begins Aldershot Town 0, York City 0.
First Half ends, Aldershot Town 0, York City 0.
Cheye Alexander (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Aldershot Town and 10-man York City played out a goalless draw in the National League at the EBB Stadium. |
38402728 | A selection of the best photos from across Africa this week: | Images courtesy of AFP, EPA, Reuters |
39944831 | They are the victims of Roman Heinze, a 61-year old Australian, who was sentenced to at least 17 years in prison on Wednesday for kidnapping, assault and indecent assault.
During his trial the women, both aged 24, told the court how they thought they would die during their ordeal at Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide. The pair had met their attacker on an online classifieds site.
Justice Trish Kelly said Heinze had cast Australia in the worst possible light. "In committing these crimes you have undermined yet again the reputation of this country as a safe, friendly and attractive destination for young backpackers from all over the world," she said.
The crimes of the Adelaide man are a shocking reminder of the dangers potentially facing foreign backpackers in Australia.
Between 1989 and 1993, serial killer Ivan Milat murdered seven young travellers, including two British women, in the Belanglo State Forest south-west of Sydney.
The man who led the investigation, Clive Small, a former police assistant commissioner in New South Wales, believes backpackers from overseas are an "easy target" for criminals.
"Backpackers are still looked at [by criminals] because they are isolated, they are not going to be missed within the next day or night because they didn't come home, and that gives the offender a greater chance of escape," Mr Small explained to the BBC from his home in Sydney.
"Because of their constant movement and travel they don't keep regular contact with family back at home. When they [relatives] don't hear from them for a while they just assume that they have been hitchhiking or changing location, and so it may well take some time before they start to become concerned."
Last August, two young Britons, Mia Ayliffe-Chung and Thomas Jackson, were stabbed to death at a hostel in Home Hill, south of Townsville. A Frenchman has been charged with their murders.
Also in Queensland, a 22-year-old woman from Liverpool was rescued by police in March after being allegedly raped and held captive for weeks by a man she had befriended in the city of Cairns.
The tropical city is a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, and is towards the northern tip of the well-worn backpacker trail that snakes along eastern Australia.
Cairns's warm autumn climate, glittering nightlife and jobs are a magnet for those seeking adventure from afar.
"I chose Australia because I thought it was one of the safest places and so far it hasn't proved me wrong," said Madison from the United States.
"There are always going to be a few weirdos. You've just got to steer clear. I've come across them in America, I've come across them here."
So has Tom, 18, from north Wales, who is travelling on a gap year with two mates.
"Yeah, there are a few oddballs over here. Just some strange people," he said.
Becky Chalmers, a gap year student from Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, said her parents worried more than she did.
"If we think anything is dodgy, we just stay away from it. We just don't go anywhere near it," she said.
Few of the young international travellers the BBC spoke with on the waterfront at Cairns knew much about the grisly side to Australia's backpacker history, such as the Milat murders, the killing of the Huddersfield tourist Peter Falconio at Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory in 2001, and an arson attack at a hostel in the farming town of Childers the year before that killed 15 people.
"When you hear of a young girl being kidnapped, or somebody else being raped or, on rare occasions, people being murdered as well, then obviously it damages Australia's reputation," explained Roger Maynard, a veteran Sydney-based journalist, who has written books on the Milat and Falconio murders.
The overwhelming consensus on the Esplanade in Cairns is that Australia is safer for travellers than most countries. According to Australian government statistics, the number of international visitors staying in backpacker accommodation grew by 8% to more than 645,000 in 2016.
But there are other concerns, too. Exploitation of backpackers on farms has been well documented. Often those who are underpaid and overworked are, for example, picking fruit to satisfy employment criteria to extend their working holiday visas.
"There's plenty of scammers out there," said John Lynch, the manager of The Jack Hotel in Cairns.
"They play on the fact that some of these backpackers are quite desperate to stay for another year, so they are willing to perhaps work for a little bit less than they should. But it's about doing your research, doing your homework. Unfortunately being naive and believing everything you hear is the exact way you might get yourself into trouble."
The vast majority of travellers will head home with treasured memories and friendships that will never fade, but Australia should come with a precautionary health warning, according to Mr Maynard.
"The problem is a lot of young people who come here tend to think it is very much like back home and they get a false sense of security, and they tend to drop their guard," he said.
"They might party too much and they may not be quite as responsible as they might be back home. Be responsible, be aware of potential dangers but don't let it ruin your trip." | A Brazilian backpacker is found naked and screaming for help on a remote beach in South Australia, while her friend from Germany is covered head-to-toe in blood. |
35383436 | So getting Davos partygoers to care about centuries old artefacts, some of which are being destroyed thousands of miles away, is not the easiest of tasks.
But for Peter Salovey, the president of Yale University, the conference's obsession with the present, and with mammon, is short-sighted.
After a year in which sites such as Palmyra in Syria and Bhaktapur in Nepal have been destroyed by war and natural disaster, he decided to devote Yale's annual bash at the Belvedere Hotel to the importance of preserving the earth's cultural history.
"They are essentially what documents our humanity," he tells me, moments before opening the doors to a horde of Davos dignitaries - including celebrated cellist Yo Yo Ma.
"Will [our cultural heritage] be there to inspire us, to unify us as humans?
"Will it be there to transcend national boundaries and political conflict?" he says.
In order to drive the point home, Yale's guests are handed unusual freebies.
There are 3D replicas of a 19th Century BC ancient Babylonian mathematical tablet illustrating Pythagoras' theorem - centuries before Pythagoras - and an exquisite limestone funerary relief from Palmyra of a woman called Haliphat who died in 231 AD.
On the back, a small QR code directs curious recipients to a website with more information on these antique treasures.
The giveaways are the result of preservation work carried out at Yale's Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, both of which study how to protect relics from the elements, and how to digitise objects using high-tech imaging techniques.
Their work, Peter Salovey says, is more important than ever before.
"[Aretfacts] are in incredible danger today," he warns, "from human activity, from war, they are in danger from natural disaster and from climate change; they are in danger from the very tourists who love to see them."
But for those who remain unmoved by pleas to safeguard the future of civilisation, the university has an economic incentive.
"If you go to Venice, and buy a cappuccino in St Marks Square, why do you pay €14 (£!0; $15)?" asks Stefan Simon, the director of Yale's institute.
"It's because you are sitting in front of St Mark's cathedral, in front of Porta della Carta, and the Doge's Palace, and all the centuries of history of that magnificent city."
Despite the rise of "virtual museums", in which people can digitally inspect ancient artefacts, Prof Simon argues there is still huge demand to experience cultural heritage first hand.
"Why does a city like Berlin have 10 million overnight tourism stays, and not a single DAX company?
"Because people want to see the Berlin Wall, the national museums, the castles."
It's an argument that may convince potential donors, but the institute's event is also aimed at those with political power.
Prof Simon would like to see a return of the "Monument's Men", a US Army unit deployed to save art stolen by the Germans in World War Two, and popularised in a recent Hollywood movie.
"I'm advocating for having a cultural preservation component in the military, with the United Nations, with the OECD."
But if world leaders won't commit to troops on the ground while sipping Yale's champagne, the events' organisers are hoping that those with deep pockets will help support cultural conservationists and academics.
"Leaders in all sectors need to think about these issues," says Peter Salovey.
"We want future leaders to appreciate the importance of cultural heritage and to pitch in in protecting it.
"This," he adds, "is the future of the past." | To be thought of as "forward thinking" is a badge of honour at the World Economic Forum, where pundits compete for the most quotable prediction of what the next 12 months will bring. |
39035388 | The fixture was due to start at 19:45 GMT but was called off after a pitch inspection at 17:00 GMT.
A new date for the League One game is yet to be confirmed.
Both 10th-placed Rochdale, who are without a win in seven games and 21st-placed Port Vale, who are on an eight-game winless streak, will have to wait to try to end their poor league runs. | Rochdale's League One match against Port Vale has been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch. |
37199667 | The Real Madrid forward, 31, has not played since being substituted in the Euro 2016 final against France in July.
Portugal face Gibraltar in a friendly on 1 September before their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign stats against Switzerland in Basel five days later.
Eder, who scored the winner in the Euro 2016 final, is in the 24-man squad.
Manager Fernando Santos has also included Southampton defenders Cedric Soares, 24, and 32-year-old Jose Fonte.
Goalkeepers: Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon), Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Eduardo (Dinamo Zagreb).
Defenders: Joao Cancelo (Valencia), Cedric Soares (Southampton), Pepe (Real Madrid), Bruno Alves (Cagliari), Jose Fonte (Southampton), Luis Neto (Zenit St Petersburg), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Eliseu (Benfica).
Midfielders: William Carvalho (Sporting Lisbon), Danilo (Porto), Joao Moutinho (Monaco), Adrien Silva (Sporting), Andre Gomes (Barcelona), Joao Mario (Sporting Lisbon), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich).
Forwards: Rafa Silva (Braga), Bernardo Silva (Monaco), Nani (Valencia), Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas), Eder (Lille), Andre Silva (Porto).
Media playback is not supported on this device | Captain Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of Portugal's first squad since winning Euro 2016 as he continues his recovery from a knee injury. |
22920542 | Officials say four gunmen were killed during a siege of part of the hospital where the wounded are being treated.
Nurses, hospital security personnel and a senior city official were among the 10 others killed in the stand-off.
An extremist Sunni militant group, Laskar-e-Jhangvi, told the BBC it carried out both attacks.
A man calling describing himself as a spokesman for the group said they were a revenge for an earlier raid by security forces against the group in which a woman and children were killed.
By Shahzeb Jillani BBC News, Pakistan
Balochistan is strategically significant because it borders Iran and Afghanistan. The province is rich in minerals and natural resources - and yet it has remained the country's most impoverished province.
Ethnic Baloch nationalists have long accused the central government in Islamabad of exploitation. Thousands of Pakistani troops are deployed across the province to fight militancy. They stand widely accused of abductions and killings of Baloch activists.
In recent years, Balochistan has seen more lethal violence by extremist Sunni militants. Groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have carried out major bombings against Shia religious minorities. The group is known for close ties with the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months.
The latest violence began when a bomb exploded on a bus carrying female students at a university.
"It was an improvised explosive device placed in the women university bus," police chief Zubair Mahmood said.
Later explosions rocked the medical centre where the students were being treated.
Militants armed with grenades were positioned there and exchanged fire with members of the security forces who rushed to the scene.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a subsequent siege ended after security forces stormed the building.
Mr Ali Khan said security forces freed 35 people trapped inside the building, killed four of the attackers and arrested another.
Profile: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Quetta Police Chief Mir Zubair told the BBC that suicide bombers were involved in the attack, with one blowing himself up during the stand-off with security forces.
Mr Zubair said the hospital was a big medical complex and had suggested it could take a few hours to totally clear the area.
Pakistani officials say a senior Quetta official, Abdul Mansoor Khan, who had gone to the hospital to visit the wounded students, was killed in the stand-off.
The violence came hours after militants carried out a rocket attack against a historic home in the Ziarat area of Balochistan, which was used by Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The house is said to have been severely damaged.
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months.
Some attacks are carried out by separatists and others by Islamists who oppose women's education.
Last month the Taliban killed at least 11 people in an attack on security forces in Quetta. | Gunmen have attacked a hospital in the western Pakistani city of Quetta, hours after an explosion on a bus killed 14 female university students. |
39100750 | The body of 42-year-old Steven Quail was discovered at the property in Greenend Avenue, Johnstone, at about 10:45 on Saturday.
Police Scotland said Mr Quail had suffered "significant" injuries.
Detectives believe there was a disturbance after someone came to his door in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Det Insp Mark Henderson, who is leading the murder inquiry, said: "Mr Quail was found with significant injuries and as such extensive police enquiries are ongoing to establish how he came about these injuries and trace the person or persons responsible.
"We believe that there was a disturbance at the house around 00:50 hrs on Saturday 25 February when a person or persons came to the door and I appeal to anyone who may have heard anything at this time or anyone who saw anyone hanging around Greenend Avenue to contact police immediately.
"I understand that crimes of this nature can cause concern in the local community and I would like to reassure local residents that additional officers will be on patrol in the area and anyone with any concerns or information can speak to these officers."
Mr Quail's relatives have been informed of his death and a report will be sent to the procurator fiscal. | The death of a man at his home in Renfrewshire is being treated as murder following a post-mortem examination. |
36171337 | The man admitted charges of child cruelty by wilful ill-treatment and assault in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health.
The offences occurred on dates between 28 February and 10 August 2012.
Two additional charges of assaulting the children were withdrawn.
Dungannon Magistrates Court heard the little boy was in his primary school on 23 March 2012, and a classroom assistant noticed he had swelling and bruising to his nose.
She asked how this had happened and the boy said he had been doing his homework and was finding it very hard.
His father had hit him in the face causing the injuries.
Whilst this was noted, the school did not report it and opted to monitor the situation.
Just over four months later on 7 August 2012 the NSPCC contacted police to say an anonymous caller had reported the two children had told her their father beat them with a belt, and proceeded to show marks.
On being spoken to initially the little girl said this had not happened to her, but later claimed both her father and step-mother beat her with a belt.
The children were medically examined and a report found marks on the boy "could be consistent with belt marks".
Having been removed from the family home, the little boy gave a video-interview in which he stated both he and his sister were beaten with a belt by their father and step-mother.
He stated he was glad he did not have to go home as he was afraid of his father.
He further disclosed his step-mother had told both children they were not to tell anyone of the beatings.
It emerged on one occasion the children returned home from the park and their step-mother asked what they had talked about.
The children claimed they "had told the other boys and girls about the beatings", and this led the step-mother to beat them again with a belt.
Police arrested the father, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his children, and during interview he made no comment replies to all questions.
When his son's allegations were put to him he said it was all lies and he had never beaten his children.
He claimed to have punished them by taking things away or grounding them.
However, he accepted he had witnessed his wife strike the children once or twice, and it may have left marks.
In court, a defence barrister clarified, "My client accepts he used a belt to punish the children".
The judge ruled a pre-sentence report would be required.
The man, who was accompanied in court by his wife, was ordered to appear for sentencing next month.
He was warned by the judge: "I strongly advise you to co-operate with probation. These are very, very serious charges." | A man in his 30s from County Tyrone has pleaded guilty to beating his son and daughter, who were under 10, with a belt. |
37581026 | The players released a joint statement saying that they were not responsible for leaking the video of a "private act involving fully consenting adults".
The pair were dropped for Eibar's friendly against fellow La Liga side Leganes on Wednesday.
Luna joined Villa from Sevilla in 2013, playing 17 times for the English side.
The statement, signed by both players, added: "We hope this incident won't degrade the image of the club or of our team-mates."
They added they were sorry if the video "offended our fans and the city of Eibar in general'.' | Former Aston Villa defender Antonio Luna and Eibar team-mate Sergi Enrich have apologised after a video appeared online of them having sex with a woman. |
18981495 | Since then, rockier times. From an initial share price of $38, Facebook's stock dipped to below $29 in May.
This week, there comes another huge test for the site as it releases the financial results for its first quarter of public trading.
The BBC has asked four key experts for their views on where Facebook's challenges lie in the coming months.
What do you think Facebook should do next? Send us your comments at the bottom of this page.
Jennifer Lynch is a staff attorney at the Electronics Frontier Foundation, a privacy campaign group. Ms Lynch is concerned about Facebook's recent takeover of a facial recognition company:
Facebook's acquisition of facial recognition software face.com is concerning from a privacy perspective for two reasons.
First, it is unclear what Facebook intends to do with the facial recognition data face.com collected. Face.com has stated that its database includes over 30 billion face prints.
If this data is combined with the facial scans from the 300 million images Facebook users upload every day, it would likely create the largest (and largest privately-owned) facial recognition database in the world.
The United States government regularly asks for copies of all photographs in which a user is tagged when it issues a warrant to Facebook. And government agencies in the States and abroad that are building out facial recognition databases have an interest in acquiring as many face images as possible.
Face.com and Facebook's combined data could become a honeypot for government if Facebook doesn't take steps to protect it properly.
Second, as Facebook expands the tools face.com developed to use mobile devices to collect images and identify people, the security of the data becomes a real issue.
Facebook must show it has adequate measures in place to protect both the integrity of the face recognition data and its users' accounts from hacking and fraud.
Ahead of going public, Facebook, itself, predicted it might struggle to make money from its mobile users who have been reluctant to engage with ads while on the go. If this is to ever change, argues independent app developer Malcolm Barclay, Facebook's mobile offering needs to improve greatly.
The existing app suffers from endless loading, refresh problems and feels more like using a website from the late 90's. To put it another way, it is like listening to a transistor radio. Rewriting it in a different programming language, Objective-C, will be more akin to surround sound, an experience people expect from their £400+ devices.
A rewrite in Objective-C is exactly what the Facebook app needs. Facebook's existing app is written mostly in HTML5.
It is a very promising and useful technology, but right now more suited to desktop web browsers. Objective-C is the native programming language of the iPhone. It can exploit all of its features, it is fast and has a tool kit of interface elements that users are familiar with.
So why did Facebook make the app in HTML5 in the first place? It was cheaper, HTML5 can run on many different devices (eg Android), hence it costs less to maintain and there's no need to make separate apps. I doubt Facebook really benefited from this - users certainly did not.
Last week Facebook purchased the developers at Acrylic, a tiny operation. Google did the same and acquired Sparrow, a very popular mail app for Mac & the iPhone - all of these apps are written in Objective-C.
Reports suggest that Facebook has already begun working on rebuilding their app from the bottom up. I hope this is the case - experience matters.
Graham Cluley is a security researcher and blogger with Sophos. He argues that Facebook needs to get a firmer grip on the third-party applications on its platform, perhaps taking a few cues from a familiar computing giant:
Want to see who has viewed your profile? There's a Facebook app for that. But you shouldn't be too quick to grant it permission to access your account.
Rogue Facebook apps, created by internet scammers and cybercriminals, want to access your personal data, and hope to make money by luring you into following links.
These apps run on the Facebook platform itself (don't confuse them with the apps you run on your computer or smartphone), and - if you allow them - have access to your profile, your personal info, your photos..
The result is that you don't know who you are sharing your information with, and who is going to access it. The apps can even present themselves as though they are entirely located on Facebook - even when hosted on third-party websites that could be under the control of any Tom, Dick and Harry.
Most chilling of all, rogue Facebook apps can actually post messages in your name - tricking your online friends into thinking that it's you spreading a link, which could be designed to infect their computers or steal further information.
Maybe Facebook should learn a lesson from Apple? Apple reviews all iPhone/iPad apps before they are allowed in the iOS App Store. That doesn't just stop yet another fart app, it also makes it harder for hackers to spread dangerous code via this route. Whatever Apple is doing, it seems to be doing it right.
Not everyone may like Apple's "walled garden" approach, but you cannot deny that it has kept the Apple iPhone a relatively safe place to be.
Maybe Facebook should consider something similar.
And maybe users need to think carefully about what data they upload to Facebook - that's the one sure way of ensuring it is never grabbed by a rogue app.
Many have speculated that Facebook is looking at creating its own device - the so-called "Buffy" phone. Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Gartner, questions the logic behind any such predictions:
"Speculations about a possible Facebook phone have been on and off for the past couple of years.
After the first round of rumours we saw mobile phone maker HTC bring to market the HTC Salsa and the HTC ChaCha. Both had dedicated Facebook keys and both saw only modest sales.
So why would Facebook come out with its own phone? I struggle to see why it would.
Although social is a key part of today's mobile life for many consumers, only a sub-set of users would actually want a phone that totally centres on social networking.
Users would also not compromise on the specifications of the hardware, meaning that Facebook would have to bring to market a device comparable to a high-end Android phone in order to be taken seriously.
Manufacturing costs would likely be too high to be covered by advertising revenue.
The reality is that most consumers are perfectly happy with an app on their current phone. We believe that a deeper integration of Facebook on the current operating systems iOS, Android and Windows Phone will deliver a much wider addressable market to Facebook than not a dedicated phone. And what is social about if not the mass market?
If we put rumours aside for a second and we look at the facts, we know that Facebook is to be integrated more tightly with Apple's next mobile operating system, iOS 6. One has to wonder if Apple would have made such a decision if the possibility of a Facebook phone was actually on the horizon." | When Facebook first floated on the stock exchange earlier this year, it started out at an astronomical high, valued at over $100bn (£65bn). |
36824897 | A SpaceX cargo ship sent the sequencer into orbit on Monday, along with other items for the crew.
It was developed by the UK-based company Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
The device is designed to show whether DNA sequencing is possible in microgravity.
Nasa hopes DNA sequencers could enable the environmental monitoring of microbes to identify potential causes of illness and understand the health of astronauts.
Last year, Nasa microbiologist Dr Sarah Castro said of the project: "Currently aboard the space station there is not a real-time method for identifying microbes, diagnosing infectious disease, and collecting any form of genomic and genetic data concerning crew health.
"Meeting these needs relies on returning samples from space to Earth and subsequent ground-based analysis, which takes time."
The sequencer, which is just 9.5cm long and weighs 120g, is tiny compared to the microwave-sized devices used on Earth. | Nasa has sent a DNA sequencer to the International Space Station in an effort to help astronauts monitor their own health. |
38403426 | The hole is the global shortage of skilled staff that keeps security hardware running, analyses threats and kicks out intruders.
Currently, the global security industry is lacking about one million trained workers, suggests research by ISC2 - the industry body for security professionals. The deficit looks set to grow to 1.8 million within five years, it believes.
The shortfall is widely recognised and gives rise to other problems, says Ian Glover, head of Crest - the UK body that certifies the skills of ethical hackers.
"The scarcity is driving an increase in costs," he says. "Undoubtedly there's an impact because businesses are trying to buy a scarce resource.
"And it might mean companies are not getting the right people because they are desperate to find somebody to fill a role."
While many nations have taken steps to attract people in to the security industry, Mr Glover warns that those efforts will not be enough to close the gap.
Help has to come from another source: machines.
"If you look at the increase in automation of attack tools then you need to have an increase in automation in the tools we use to defend ourselves," he says.
That move towards more automation is already under way, says Peter Woollacott, founder and chief executive of Sydney-based Huntsman Security, adding that the change was long overdue.
For too long, security has been a "hand-rolled" exercise, he says.
That is a problem when the analysts expected to defend companies are "drowning" in data generated by firewalls, PCs, intrusion detection systems and all the other appliances they have bought and installed, he says.
Automation is nothing new, says Oliver Tavakoli, chief technology officer at security firm Vectra Networks - early uses helped antivirus software spot novel malicious programmes.
But now machine learning is helping it go much further.
"Machine learning is more understandable and more simplistic than AI [artificial intelligence]," says Mr Tavakoli, but that doesn't mean it can only handle simple problems.
The analytical power of machine learning derives from the development of algorithms that can take in huge amounts of data and pick out anomalies or significant trends. Increased computing power has also made this possible.
These "deep learning" algorithms come in many different flavours.
Some, such as OpenAI, are available to anyone, but most are owned by the companies that developed them. So larger security firms have been snapping up smaller, smarter start-ups in an effort to bolster their defences quickly.
Simon McCalla, chief technology officer at Nominet, the domain name registry that oversees the .uk web domain, says machine learning has proven its usefulness in a tool it has created called Turing.
This digs out evidence of web attacks from the massive amounts of queries the company handles every day - queries seeking information about the location of UK websites.
Mr McCalla says Turing helped analyse what happened during the cyber-attack on Lloyds Bank in January that left thousands of customers unable to access the bank's services.
The DDoS [distributed denial of service] attack generated a huge amount of data to handle for that one event, he says.
"Typically, we handle about 50,000 queries every second. With Lloyds it was more than 10 times as much."
Once the dust had cleared and the attack was over, Nominet had handled a day's worth of traffic in a couple of hours.
Turing absorbed all the information made to Nominet's servers and used what it learned to give early warnings of abuse and intelligence on people gearing up for a more sustained attack.
It logs the IP [internet protocol] addresses of hijacked machines sending out queries to check if an email address is "live".
"Most of what we see is not that clever, really," he says, but adds that without machine learning it would be impossible for human analysts to spot what was going on until its intended target, such as a bank's website, "went dark".
The analysis that Turing does for Nominet is now helping the UK government police its internal network. This helps to block staff accessing dodgy domains and falling victim to malware.
There are also even more ambitious efforts to harness the analytical ability of machine learning.
At the Def Con hacker gathering last year, Darpa, the US military research agency, ran a competition that let seven smart computer programs attack each other to see which was the best at defending itself.
The winner, called Mayhem, is now being adapted so that it can spot and fix flaws in code that could be exploited by malicious hackers.
Machine learning can correlate data from lots of different sources to give analysts a rounded view of whether a series of events constitutes a threat or not, says Mr Tavakoli.
It can get to know the usual ebbs and flows of data in an organisation and what staff typically get up to at different times of the day.
So when cyber thieves do things such as probing network connections or trying to get at databases, that anomalous behaviour raises a red flag.
But thieves have become very good at covering their tracks and, on a big network, those "indicators of compromise" can be very difficult for a human to pick out.
So now cybersecurity analysts can sit back and let the machine-learning systems crunch all the data and pick out evidence of serious attacks that really deserve human attention.
"It's like the surgeons who just do the cutting," says Mr Tavakoli. "They do not prep the patient, they are just there to operate and they do it very well."
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook
Click here for more Technology of Business features | There is a gaping hole in the digital defences that companies use to keep out cyber thieves. |
40078071 | The top four all recorded personal bests, with Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam winning with 7,013 points and Johnson-Thompson scoring 6,691.
The Briton, 24, led overnight by three points but saw that disappear in Sunday's first event, the long jump.
Carolin Schafer was second with 6,836 and Laura Ikauniece third with 6,815.
Find out how to get into athletics with our inclusive guide.
United States' Jackie Joyner-Kersee holds the heptathlon world record - 7,291, set at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Such was the high quality of the event that Johnson-Thompson's points total was the highest for a fourth-placed finish in heptathlon history.
She began Sunday with 6.53m in the long jump, but it was eclipsed by Thiam's 6.56m and then a 6.57m from Schafer - the German's fifth personal best in five events.
In the javelin, Belgian Thiam moved 185 points clear following a throw of 59.32m, while Johnson-Thompson produced 39.98m - her best in a heptathlon since 2014.
The Briton needed to run two minutes 11.72 seconds in the final event, the 800m, to record a new PB. She managed to clock 2:11.12 to break her previous best total by nine points.
Johnson-Thompson split with her long-term coach Mike Holmes last November, and left her home city of Liverpool to join a new training group in Montpellier.
In the decathlon, Briton Ashley Bryant recorded a personal best of 8,163 to qualify for the World Championships. He finished in 10th place. | Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson broke her personal best but only finished fourth in an incredible heptathlon event in Gotzis, Austria. |
40306869 | Markets closed little changed, in spite of steep declines in supermarket chains, with Kroger down 9.2%, and Target and Walmart falling about 5%.
Shares in Amazon rose 2.4% while Whole Foods jumped 29% to $42.68, above the price of Amazon's bid.
Analysts said the deal was potentially a seismic shift in the sector.
The S&P 500 index held steady edging up 0.69 points to close at 2,433.15 in early trade.
The Dow Jones climbed 0.11% to 21,384.28, while the Nasdaq slid 13.74 points to 6,151.76.
A report from the US census also showed new housing construction slowed in May, a sign of economic weakness that pushed Treasury yields lower. | Retail stocks tumbled on Friday as investors digested the news that Amazon had agreed to buy upmarket grocer Whole Foods for $13.7bn. |
35841498 | Police have issued a warning to the public after the incident in Castle Douglas on Thursday.
The woman was contacted by someone claiming to be from the Visa Fraud Unit over suspicious account activity.
She was asked to transfer funds to another account to "protect" them but when she did so the money was taken and the scam completed.
Det Insp Dean Little said: "More and more we are finding that those carrying out these scams are becoming increasingly proficient and professional in the way they come across to those whom they target.
"The public need to be alert to anyone who calls them out of the blue and take time to think about what it is that the caller is asking them.
"Our advice is to note details and before taking any action on that first call, stop and think, and even discuss with friends or relatives what it is the caller is requesting."
He also stressed that personal details or details of account numbers should never be discussed over the telephone. | A 68-year-old woman in south west Scotland has been conned out of £20,000 in a telephone scam. |
21530291 | Villagers told the BBC that 10 gunmen opened fire as people were leaving the mosque after early morning prayers.
Five men were killed and then two women who heard shots and came to investigate were also shot dead.
The attack comes less than two weeks before elections in a region where security is a problem.
Residents of Malaley 1 village told the BBC nothing was stolen and the gunmen, armed with AK-47 rifles, then fled.
Garissa county commissioner Maalim Mohammed told the AFP news agency that two people were also wounded in the shooting.
"Heavily armed men stormed a mosque and shot at people indiscriminately," he said.
"The two women had responded to the screams from the mosque when they were shot."
The village is about 45km (28 miles) north-east of Dadaab refugee camp, which houses some 500,000 people who have fled years of conflict and drought in Somalia.
In the past year, the region has also been prone to attacks blamed on al-Qaeda-aligned Islamist militants in Somalia.
The Somali al-Shabab group vowed to take revenge when Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October 2011 to help the UN-backed government seize territory from the militants.
Banditry is also a problem in the arid and sparsely populated area.
The BBC's Bashkas Jugsodaay in Garissa, the region's main town, says tensions are also running high because of the upcoming polls - the first general election since the disputed election of December 2007.
More than 1,000 people died in the violence following that vote and 300,000 people fled their homes. | Seven people have been shot dead in an attack on a mosque in a village in north-eastern Kenya near the border with Somalia, officials have said. |
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