id
stringlengths 7
11
| dialogue
stringlengths 15
174k
⌀ | summary
stringlengths 1
399
|
|---|---|---|
34931548 | In the past fortnight, a house has been petrol-bombed, vehicles have been crashed into houses and two teenagers' skulls were taken from a grave.
Levi George Price and his brother Gareth died aged 16 in 2001 and 2005 respectively.
Officers seized firearms and vehicles at sites across northern England.
The raids - co-ordinated by Durham Police and involving Northumbria, Cleveland, and North and South Yorkshire forces - found two sub-machine guns and ammunition.
They were carried out in Doncaster, York, Middlesbrough, West Rainton in County Durham, and near the Baltic Centre in Gateshead.
Ch Insp Caroline Dawson said the operation was designed to target just a small group within the travelling community.
The graveyard attack was firmly linked with the ongoing feud, said Det Supt Adrian Green from Durham Police.
Last week, a lorry crashed into the bay window of a semi-detached property in Darlington, days after a horsebox smashed into a home on the outskirts of the town.
Durham Police were called on Saturday to the cemetery at Metal Bridge near Ferryhill following the discovery that the skulls of George and Gareth Price had been stolen.
Gareth Price died after being found hanging at Lancaster Farms Young Offenders' Institution in January 2005, the day before he was to be sentenced for rape.
His death was partly due to failures by agencies, an inquest jury said.
Levi Price also hanged himself, in the garden of the family home in Ferryhill, in 2001. The coroner found he could not be sure the teenager intended to kill himself.
Several arrests have been made but the skulls have not been found.
Four men, all from the Doncaster area, were separately charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. The charges are unrelated to the skull thefts.
Craig Price, 37, John Watson, 28, and David Watson, 28, have been remanded to appear before Sheffield Crown Court on 22 December.
John Stewart, 20, is due to appear before Sheffield Crown Court on Friday. | A series of raids has been carried out by 150 police officers in an attempt to halt an escalating feud in the travelling community. |
27361467 | Andy Griffin will become principal at Manchester Academy in Moss Side. Mr Griffin was previously the head at Broadoak School in Partington.
The academy, which is state-funded but run by the United Learning charity, has about 900 pupils aged 11-18.
Mr Griffin said: "Its popularity as a local school reflects its current success and future potential."
The current principal, Dr Antony Edkins, is leaving to become chief executive of a charitable trust running six academy schools in the Midlands.
Manchester Academy has agreed to a request from the city council to take on an additional Year 7 class from September due to the demand for places, United Learning said.
United Learning runs 49 schools across England educating about 36,000 pupils. | A new principal has been appointed at an independently-run academy in Manchester. |
33719518 | The robotic version uses the same forces to jump as the water strider - pushing off without breaking the surface.
It takes off with a downward force that never exceeds the surface tension of water - the force that "glues" surface water molecules together.
The South Korea and US team's advance is reported in the journal Science.
Lead researchers Prof Ho-Young Kim and Prof Kyu-Jin Cho, from Seoul National University, used water striders from their local pond in the study.
"To explore [their] amazing semi-aquatic motility, we collected [the insects] and recorded them jumping on water in the laboratory with high-speed cameras," the scientists said.
"[These imaging experiments] revealed that the insect rises upward while pushing the water surface downward and closing four of its legs inward."
So the team set out to build that motion into the design of their robot.
Each robot's 2cm (0.8in) body is made of layers of thin material folded into a vee-shape, with a spring running across its length.
When powered up for a jump, the spring releases, but slowly, dragging the ends of robot's body and its 5cm insect-like legs downward with gradually increasing force to the limit the water surface will withstand.
The robots - and the insects - also rotate their legs inward "to maximise the interaction time between the legs and the water".
The researchers envisage an environmental application for their robotic water strider - monitoring pollution in waterways.
But they added their goal had been not to commercialise their miniature robot, but to explore "a new possibility [for] a robot's aquatic mobility".
Follow Victoria on Twitter | Scientists have developed a tiny robot - based on the water strider insect - that can jump on water. |
27075497 | Leonard Riggio, the company's founder and largest shareholder, said he sold 3.7 million shares on Thursday at $17.30 each.
Investors followed suit and the company's shares fell by 12.5% to close at $16.26 per share on the US markets.
Mr Riggio said he does not plan to sell more shares this year. In December 2013, he sold 2 million shares.
Even with the latest offload, Leonard Riggio remains the largest shareholder at Barnes & Noble.
In a statement, he said the latest sale "is part of his long-term financial and estate planning."
Barnes & Noble operates about 700 stores across 50 states in the US.
As with other brick-and-mortar booksellers, the company has been struggling with competition from online rivals and e-book sellers such as Amazon.
The Borders Group was at one time the second-largest bookstore chain in the US. It too struggled with competition from customers who switched to placing orders for print books online, instead of browsing at the stores.
Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011, burdened by too much debt. | Barnes & Noble's chairman has trimmed his stake in the bookstore to 20%, by selling shares worth $64m (£38m). |
31547455 | The number of cases has doubled since last week to more than 11,000.
Critics have accused the government of failing to distribute medicines, but officials insisted the situation was under control.
This year's outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu, is the deadliest in India since 2010.
The virus first appeared in Mexico in 2009 and rapidly spread around the world.
The northern state of Rajasthan has been worst affected.
Health authorities across India have launched TV and radio campaigns to tell people about precautions they can take to avoid the flu.
Health Minister JP Nadda attempted to rebuff reports of drug shortages.
"If any medicine store refuses to give medicines after showing a medical prescription, it should be reported to the authorities and action will be taken," he said.
He said there was no need to panic, and insisted the government was monitoring the situation closely.
Experts investigating the cause of the outbreak say low winter temperatures are to blame. | Indian health officials are struggling to contain a swine flu outbreak that has killed more than 700 people since it took hold in mid-December. |
34909006 | Kelly Pearce, 36, died in hospital after being found with a serious neck injury at a property in Canvey Island.
Anthony Ayres, of Fairlop Avenue in Canvey, was arrested the following day and charged with murder.
He appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court where he was remanded in custody and a provisional trial date was set for 3 May 2016. | A 48-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with the murder of a woman in Essex last Thursday. |
38836327 | US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement that those killed could include children.
Yemeni sources had previously said that up to 16 civilians were killed in the operation in Bayda province.
Reports say they included the eight-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a US strike in 2011.
The raid was the first such operation authorised by new US President Donald Trump.
The US military had previously said a Navy Seal died and three others were injured in the raid in a village in Yakla district. Several Apache helicopters were reported to have taken part.
It said three al-Qaeda leaders were among 14 militants killed in a 45-minute gun battle, but did not comment on reports of civilian deaths.
On Wednesday, Centcom said civilians could have been hit by air strikes brought in to support the commandos.
"A team designated by the operational task force commander has concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed in the midst of a firefight during a raid in Yemen. Casualties may include children," a statement said.
"The known possible civilian casualties appear to have been potentially caught up in aerial gunfire that was called in to assist US forces in contact against a determined enemy that included armed women firing from prepared fighting positions, and US special operations members receiving fire from all sides to include houses and other buildings," the statement read.
Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the civil war in Yemen to entrench its presence in the south and south-east.
For the past two years, the country has been embroiled in fighting between forces loyal to the internationally recognised president, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Shia Houthi rebels. | The US military says it believes civilians were among the casualties when US commandos raided an al-Qaeda stronghold in Yemen on Sunday. |
34390656 | Lloyd has made the short film Doc Brown Saves the World, marking the 1985 film's end date of 21 October, 2015.
Universal has released a teaser for it, to be included in the 30th anniversary re-issue of the full Back to Future trilogy.
Michael J Fox, who played student Marty, does not feature in the teaser.
Lloyd's eccentric time-travelling inventor Emmett "Doc" Brown is seen getting out of the film's now legendary DeLorean time machine sports car.
What then goes on to unfold is left for fans to conjecture, in true "teaser" style.
Earlier this year, Lloyd also reprised the role in another teaser, this time for the video game Lego Dimensions.
The 30th anniversary re-issue has other extras, including a 2009 retrospective documentary on the trilogy and two episodes of the animated spin-off.
It will be released on 21 October.
The comic science-fiction Back to the Future films followed the adventures of Marty and the scatty inventor.
In the first 1985 film, teenager Marty is sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his future parents, then high school students.
His mother-to-be forms a crush on him, an infatuation he has to quash in order for his parents to fall in love.
The end of the movie sees Marty returning to his original timezone, where together with the inventor Doc Brown, he travels to 21 October, 2015.
The film became the highest-grossing of 1985, making more than $300m (£197m) worldwide. It also received four Academy Award nominations, winning one Oscar for sound effects editing.
Two sequels were made, Back to the Future Part II, set in 2015, and Back to the Future Part III, set in 1885. | Back to the Future's Christopher Lloyd has returned as inventor Doc Brown to celebrate the date on which he and Marty McFly first arrive in the future. |
36539952 | Or at least to be more articulate and confident in speaking up for themselves.
Pupils at School 21, a free school in Newham, were also given some very different perspectives on finding your own voice - from Princess Beatrice.
The princess is co-founder of a charity, Big Change, that supports young people with skills outside a traditional academic curriculum.
This is not one of the capital's wealthier areas.
It is not the stamping ground of yummy mummies. Instead, there is the Mummy Yum chicken and kebab shop on the corner near the school.
But Princess Beatrice says the idea of learning such life skills is important for anyone growing up, regardless of their background. And everyone has had their own inner struggle with trying to communicate.
"For me, school was a nightmare, I struggled," she said, speaking after a workshop with a class of 11- and 12-year-olds.
Dyslexia was her big barrier.
"My earliest memory is trying to read Beatrix Potter and the words were literally jumping off the page," she said.
And "exams were terrifying", despite the support of her teachers.
Princess Beatrice said it had only been when she was in secondary school and could take part in events such as public speaking that she felt able to do well.
She said projects such as that at School 21 were about developing a type of education that was "not just about learning for a test, it is learning for your life".
"It is good to be pushed out of your comfort zone," she said.
Also taking part in the project is Karl Lokko, who as a teenager had been a south London gang leader.
He said the day before he had taken his GCSEs, one of his friends had been killed. "He was murdered by my side," he said.
But even being able to "denounce gangsterism" had meant having to learn a vocabulary and way of communicating he had never acquired growing up.
Mr Lokko, who read one of his poems to the pupils, said he had deliberately set about learning 10 new words a day - underlining words he had not understood in books or articles and then looking up their meaning in a dictionary.
Another co-founder of the charity taking part in the school project was Holly Branson, daughter of Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson.
She said that young people from very different backgrounds all faced their own "struggles to find themselves".
"No matter what walk of life, all children face their own pressures, you can't just say that privileged kids don't have issues," she said.
And lessons could be learned from failure as well as success - a message reinforced by her entrepreneurial father.
"I remember when I was doing my driving test and rang my dad to say I'd passed... and there was disappointment in his voice," she said.
"Oh no, really. I just really wanted you to fail at something," he had told her.
Ed Fidoe, who helped to set up School 21, said schools needed to be able to create more of those experiences, where young people could be "pushed very hard" and succeed after overcoming difficulties.
The school's head teacher, Peter Hyman, said speaking skills represented a major barrier to disadvantaged young people.
Mr Hyman, a former speechwriter for Tony Blair, warned of a "speaking deficit", adding the skills of "oracy" were at "the heart of social mobility".
Too often poorer youngsters and their families lacked the confidence to speak up for themselves, he said.
Mr Hyman said schools should focus much more attention on helping young people express themselves verbally, not least in terms of improving their job chances.
The Big Change charity is raising funds for projects to "help young people thrive in life, not just exams".
And Mr Hyman links speaking skills to children's sense of wellbeing.
There have been many recent concerns about the wellbeing of young people and worries about increasing problems with mental health.
Holly Branson links it to the relentless pressures to conform with the artificial world of social media, saying young people needed to be shown the "online world is not the real world".
Princess Beatrice. said: "It's a really important thing to tackle.
"We can do something that focuses on the symptoms of stress - but it's better to get to the root causes.
"What is this extra pressure? Why do we have young people leaving school not equipped for life? How are we letting them down?
"We live in a world where everything is moving at such a fast pace.
"You have to find an identity that's true to yourself.
"You really have to find your own voice." | Pupils might often get told to stop talking in class - but a project in an innovative school in east London has been encouraging them to talk more often. |
18631552 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The fourth seed had won all three of their previous meetings but this was the first on grass and 6ft 10in Karlovic tested Murray throughout.
But the Scot responded well to dropping the second set and stayed strong in the fourth to win 7-5 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 7-6 (7-4) in over three hours on Centre Court.
He will play Marcos Baghdatis, who beat Grigor Dimitrov, on Saturday.
Murray's always very good at making his opponent play a lot of balls on their serve. That's a priority against Karlovic because it is almost as if he's playing two first serves. It's uncomfortable, you feel a lot of it is out of your control. He's serving second serves at 120 mph.
The balance on Murray's serve was good, he kept his first-serve percentage high, and though he lost his serve from 40-0 in the first game he didn't lose it after that. It was efficient, if not necessarily pretty. It's certainly not the best he's ever played, but he'll just be relieved to get through and with Baghdatis he'll be able to get some rhythm, and be able to control the match a lot more.
"Winning is all that's important when you're playing a guy with his style," Murray told BBC Sport. "It's so challenging to get into a rhythm.
"Tie-breaks are a bit of a lottery with someone like Karlovic. You have to get your racquet on returns and hope he makes a mistake.
"I was seeing the ball fairly well on the return, I was hitting it cleanly on the forehand and I came up with good passing shots at the right time."
Murray looked imperious in his thashing of Nikolay Davydenko on Tuesday but knew this would be a far tougher assignment.
With a game tailor-made for this surface, Karlovic stunned defending champion Lleyton Hewitt 10 years ago and reached the quarter-finals in 2009.
The world number 59 signalled his intent by battling from 40-0 down in the opening game to strike at the first time of asking.
Murray had spoken about the importance of holding serve against a player who would offer few chances on his own delivery - yet he managed to hit straight back with three passing shots and some fine defence.
That brought the crowd to life and seemed to relax both men, Karlovic flicking a magical half-volley past Murray at the net before Murray returned the favour.
But the Briton's superior return game soon told and when a backhand winner gave him a third set point at 6-5, Karlovic hit a double-fault.
Murray was getting an average of 0.571 seconds to react to Karlovic serves and his ability to deal with them waned in the second set.
That said, the Croat was making little impact on the impressive Murray delivery and the second set would have to be decided by a tie-break.
Karlovic's accuracy forced Murray to take risks and after the world number four put a forehand wide to fall 6-5 behind, his opponent levelled the match with a deft volley.
As Karlovic roared in the direction of his support team, Murray sat down and gesticulated to himself throughout the changeover.
"That was a solid effort from Murray. Maybe he didn't play the best he could, but he did it when he had to. That's a tough one for him to get through. That ages you - maybe not physically but emotionally. Whatever amount he gets paid for winning that match, he deserves it."
But roles were reversed at the start of the third set as Murray broke in game one with a lob that left Karlovic throwing his racquet in frustration.
Murray's movement and variety was now far too good for a dejected-looking Karlovic and he calmly put himself back on course for victory.
While neither player seriously threatened the other in the fourth set, there was danger for Murray at 5-6 and 15-40.
However, he served his way out of trouble and yelled "come on!" while pumping his fists as another tie-break beckoned.
The tension was palpable at 4-4 only for Karlovic to produce an untimely double-fault to help Murray wrap up an encouraging victory.
Media playback is not supported on this device | Andy Murray negotiated the threat of big-serving Ivo Karlovic to reach the third round of Wimbledon. |
37219527 | Dearden, 19, will join the first-team squad for their pre-season programme.
"Harry has impressed everybody with his performances and, at 19, is a very exciting young cricketer," said chief executive Wasim Khan.
"He is a left-hander who bats at the top of the order and so he will create competition for places." | Leicestershire have signed teenage batsman Harry Dearden on a contract for the 2017 season after he impressed for the club's second XI. |
38557963 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 30-year-old has returned to lead England in three one-day internationals in India, starting in Pune on Sunday.
"My way of dealing with it was to get away from things, which I did," Morgan told BBC Sport.
"My family saw a lot of it and were very offended, but that is part and parcel of being in the limelight."
Morgan and fellow batsman Alex Hales made themselves unavailable for the trip to Bangladesh in October, the first tour by an international side since 20 people were killed in a siege at a cafe in Dhaka in July.
Before confirming his decision not to travel, Morgan said he would never again take part in a tour where security concerns may affect his game.
"I don't have any regrets," the Middlesex man said on Monday. "When I made the decision I considered all consequences. I felt very comfortable with the decision."
In his absence, a side led by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler won a three-match series 2-1, with Morgan and Hales now returning as England seek a first ODI series win in India since 1984-85.
Ireland-born Morgan, though, drew optimism from England's excellent recent ODI form and their run to the final of the World Twenty20 in India last year.
"The side that we'd had over the past two years have done some very special things and they have not played ODI cricket in India together," said the left-hander.
"Beating India would be a great achievement and it's a huge challenge, but I wouldn't write us off.
"They are not unbeatable, but we will have to play very, very well in order to beat them."
Batsman Joe Root will join up with the rest of the squad on Thursday following the birth of his first child and will be available for the first ODI. | England one-day captain Eoin Morgan says his family were affected by the criticism he received for missing the tour of Bangladesh over security fears. |
38887556 | However, some Russians may be able to compete under a neutral banner, if they can satisfy testing criteria.
Russia was suspended by the IAAF in November 2015, meaning athletes missed the Rio Olympics last year.
The country is now not expected to be fully reinstated until November.
London will host the World Championships between 4-13 August.
The decision to extend Russia's suspension came at an IAAF Council meeting in Monaco on Monday.
Independent chairman of the IAAF Taskforce, Rune Andersen, told the council that the Russian Track and Field Federation (Rusaf) was unlikely to be reinstated until the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) declared the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) code-compliant, probably in November.
However, the taskforce said concerns still exist about drug-testing procedures in Russia.
More than 1,000 Russian athletes were part of a state-sponsored doping programme between 2011 and 2015, according to the McLaren report, commissioned by Wada and published in December.
Athletes who can follow strict IAAF criteria and show they are clean may be allowed to compete - but not under a Russian flag. The IAAF said so far this year, 35 Russians had applied to compete as neutrals.
At the meeting, IAAF president Lord Coe also said that all nationality switches by athletes would be frozen.
He said the current rules were "no longer fit for purpose" and new proposals would be written up.
Andersen said that there is still limited testing of Russian track and field at a national level and there continued to be "troubling incidents", although the situation is improving.
However, he said that in January 2017:
"Our priority is to return clean athletes to competition but we must all have confidence in the process," said Briton Coe.
"Clean Russian athletes have been badly let down by their national system. We must ensure they are protected and that those safeguards give confidence to the rest of the world that there is a level playing field of competition when Russians return."
The IAAF has put together a "roadmap" that Russia must follow before athletes can once again take part in international competition. It includes:
Athletes are now banned from changing nationalities following a proposal by Coe, who said athletics was "vulnerable" to the practice.
"It has become abundantly clear with regular multiple transfers of athletes, especially from Africa, that the present rules are no longer fit for purpose," he said.
The IAAF Council was told African talent was effectively being put up for sale to different nations.
Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, Africa area group representative on the IAAF Council, said: "The present situation is wrong. What we have is a wholesale market for African talent open to the highest bidder.
"Lots of the individual athletes concerned, many of whom are transferred at a young age, do not understand that they are forfeiting their nationality."
At December's European Cross Country Championships, the top two finishers in both the senior men's and women's races were Kenya-born athletes representing Turkey. | Russia will miss this summer's World Championships after athletics' governing body voted to extend their suspension from international competition for state-sponsored doping. |
39602640 | Rangers have won two and drawn two of Caixinha's four games in charge, including an impressive 3-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittdorie last weekend.
The Portuguese has put an emphasis on a more aggressive approach in the attacking third.
"It's a better, quicker, direct style of play which all the forward boys are going to enjoy," Waghorn said.
"I think at times we did try and overplay (under Warburton). The manager wants us, when we play through lines to stay through lines, and attack the box as quickly as we can.
"As a striker it is nice to know we are going to be getting the ball in the box and get chances."
After a blistering start to the season during which he scored five goals in four games, Waghorn's hot streak was halted after he was sidelined with a hamstring problem.
He admits he struggled to rediscover his best form on his return to action, but feels he can find his scoring touch again under Caixinha.
"I was disappointed with how I performed in the first half of the season," the former Wigan striker explained.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I think I could have done a lot better when I got my chance. For one reason or other I didn't take it.
"But that's in the past now. I am pleased that I am playing, getting a run of games, and hopefully I can stay in the side for the new manager."
Waghorn says the whole squad has been given a lift by Caixinha's arrival and the players are responding to the new manager's methods.
"It's been challenging in different ways but the boys have bought into it very well," the 27-year-old added.
"The training methods, the style, how he wants to approach games, the analysis of other teams, has been different to what we are used to, but I've loved every minute of it.
"I have enjoyed the hard work and I think it has shown at the weekend how we defend as a team now as well as attacking as a team.
"We have changed a lot, little things that we have worked on the training pitch, but it's for the right reasons and hopefully it's good for a change going forward." | Martyn Waghorn says Rangers' style of play has improved since Pedro Caixinha replaced Mark Warburton as manager. |
38518637 | The Magpies had a five-point lead at the top of the Championship in November, but are now second and have lost four of their last eight matches.
Benitez told BBC Newcastle: "I don't think we need to rectify anything, we need to try and do the same things.
"We will encourage the players to play with the same confidence, intensity, ability and same spirit."
Newcastle have lost two of their last three games to Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers, with victory over 10-man Nottingham Forest sandwiched in between.
And Benitez says the club are hoping to make use of the transfer window in the coming weeks.
"We know the areas we want to improve and we will try to find something if possible," added Benitez.
"January is not an easy market, but we are working to see if we can find something which is better." | Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez says there is no need to worry, despite the club's recent dip in form. |
36308142 | Resuming on 192-6, Ben Brown added just six to be out for 55 before Ollie Robinson hit an unbeaten 51 as Sussex totalled 278 in their first innings.
Trailing by 213 runs and put back in by the hosts, Sussex closed on 137-3.
Ed Barnard followed up three Sussex first-innings scalps with Joyce's prized wicket to leave Sussex in peril.
Joyce, now 37, maintained the form which brought him a career-best 250 in last week's Championship match against Derbyshire.
The visitors now go into the final day of the match needing a further 76 runs to make their hosts bat again.
But weather-hit Worcestershire's hopes for a first victory of the season could still be denied if the overnight forecast proves correct. More heavy rain is forecast during the next 24 hours.
Worcestershire paceman Ed Barnard told BBC Hereford & Worcester:
"It is a very flat pitch and we've done very well today to take seven wickets. It was hard going but everyone stuck at it.
"The cracks have started to open up and, if you hit the edge, the ball will go up and down.
"I'm not sure the forecast is great. We've played good cricket this season and not got what we deserved from games but hopefully it can stay fine."
Sussex vice-captain Ben Brown:
"We spoke about showing fight and character. We have done it already this season and we have fought hard again here.
"We didn't want to be in this position but Ollie Robinson this morning took some time out of the game.
"He batted well and Ed Joyce and Luke Wells did really well with their partnership in the second innings." | Sussex's former captain Ed Joyce hit 74 at New Road to hold up Worcestershire's hopes of an innings victory after the visitors were forced to follow-on. |
35958920 | They join the already confirmed Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka for the tournament from 13-19 June.
Canadian Raonic, 25, is second in the ATP Race to London standings for 2016, having reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
"I believe I can do better than I've ever done before on grass," said 2014 Wimbledon semi-finalist Raonic.
"Grass is a surface where I have had some of my best results and I believe I can make an impact at Queen's and Wimbledon this year."
Australian Kyrgios broke into the top 20 for the first time in his career this week, beating Raonic in the Miami Open quarter-final.
"Grass courts are my favourite surface," said the 20-year-old.
"The conditions are perfect, all the Australians have played well there over the years and I'm pumped to be coming back."
Never want to miss the latest tennis news? You can now add this sport and all the other sports and teams you follow to your personalised My Sport home. | Milos Raonic and Nick Kyrgios will compete in the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club this summer. |
36470670 | Brother of Manchester United and England captain Wayne, Rooney, 25, turned out over 100 times for Chester.
Barry, 30, most recently played for Accrington, who he joined from Forest Green following a loan spell in 2014.
25-year-old Tilt began his career with Halesowen Town and moved to Hednesford Town before joining boss Rob Smith at AFC Telford United last year.
Rooney had been offered a deal with Chester but chose to join Wrexham on a one-year contract.
The trio join new signings Khallem Bailey-Nicholls, Hamza Bencherif, Callum Powell, Martin Riley, Kai Edwards, Jordan White at the Racecourse Ground. | Wrexham have signed Chester's John Rooney as well as midfielder Anthony Barry and defender Curtis Tilt . |
30875442 | Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also told Sky News she was confident that the US would guard its intellectual property.
She was responding to media reports, citing leaked US documents, of the theft of a huge amount of F-35 data.
Australia has ordered 72 F-35 jets, due to come into service in 2020.
However, China has forcefully denied stealing the designs.
The F-35 is the most expensive defence project in US history. The stealth aircraft, manufactured by US-based Lockheed Martin, was developed at a cost of around $400bn (£230bn), in a process dogged by delays and unforeseen costs.
The US, British and Australian militaries are among the major customers for the jet. Australian and British firms have also been involved in manufacturing parts of the aircraft.
A report by Australia's Fairfax Media says China stole "many terabytes of data" for the new aircraft, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former intelligence contractor who worked at the US National Security Agency (NSA).
The report cites documents posted by German magazine Der Spiegel, which has access to NSA files leaked by Mr Snowden.
In 2013, US newspaper The Washington Post said Chinese hackers had accessed sensitive documents about several US weapons projects, including the F-35.
Fairfax Media says the latest documents detail the scale of the breach, indicating that Chinese cyber-spies acquired the designs for the F-35's radar, engine and exhaust cooling systems.
The Australian government has ordered 72 of the new jets, with an option to increase the order to 100, in a deal worth billions of dollars.
Ms Bishop told Sky News that the report "does highlight the challenges of cyber attacks".
However, she said, she was "confident that the United States has taken measures to ensure its intellectual property is protected".
Mr Snowden leaked a vast tranche of information to the media in 2013, revealing the scale of internet and phone surveillance carried out by US intelligence agencies.
He left the US, where he faces espionage charges, and currently lives in Russia.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei has denounced the accusations as being "baseless".
"The materials disclosed by the relevant person showed that some countries do not have good records to talk about when it comes to cyber-attacks," he said.
"We hope that instead of pointing fingers at other countries for no reason and cooking up stories, they should demonstrate a cooperative attitude and work with us to guard against cyber-attacks." | The reported theft by Chinese spies of designs for Australia's new warplane, the US-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, highlights the risk of cyber-espionage, an Australian minister said. |
32873061 | They were brought to Altnagelvin Hospital on Wednesday evening after becoming unwell.
Police have warned that medication should not be taken without clinical advice. | Four teenage boys who were admitted to hospital in Londonderry after taking prescription medication have been discharged. |
32733369 | These were just some of the reactions across Australia from social media users to express their views about Depp's Yorkshire Terriers.
The actor, who is currently in Australia to film the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, is accused of not declaring Boo and Pistol to customs after he arrived by private jet last month.
"I get that Johnny Depp broke the law by not telling someone about his dogs but the response is death? That's the largest over-reaction ever," said Alexis Rogers on Facebook.
Another Facebook user Bree Graham MacTaggart agreed: "They don't have to kill the dogs. They could just quarantine them."
"Just quarantine the poor dogs. Murdering is animal cruelty," Twitter user Keziah Chung said.
Others, however, did not express much sympathy for the Hollywood actor.
"Very disappointed that Johnny Depp has acted so irresponsibly - he flouted the law," said Facebook user Rebecca Gracey.
"We have strict quarantine laws in Australia for a reason," said Anne Salathiel. "He shouldn't have brought his dogs in like that when he could afford to do it the right way."
Many users however, found humour in the situation by taking to Twitter to share jokes and internet memes using the hashtag #WarOnTerrier.
The hashtag was apparently kicked off by ABC presenter Mark Colvin.
Some users have made the link between the doomed dogs and Australia's controversial policy on migrants and asylum seekers, which sees migrant arriving illegally by sea detained off shore in camps in places like Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Australian celebrity chef Adam Liaw weighed in with the tweet: "Surely we could just hold Johnny Depp's dogs in some kind of offshore facility until their claims can be processed and accurately assessed."
"I am all for the government's hard-line approach to illegal celebrity canine immigrants," said Twitter user Alyx Gorman.
"We can't afford a Lassie faire attitude to the importation of illegal dogs," said another user.
A petition pleading for the lives of Boo and Pistol also made its way online, and had collected more than 6,000 signatures by Thursday evening.
"This seems so extreme and unnecessary. Have a heart Barnaby! Don't kill these cute puppies," its creator said.
But time could soon run out for Boo and Pistol, according to an online death countdown, which says both dogs have now less than 48 hours to live. | An online petition signed by more than 6,000 supporters, a grisly death countdown and an avalanche of social media jokes. |
39175453 | The Chilean forward, 28, was confronted by team-mates on their return to the changing room and one of them had to be held back as tempers flared.
Sanchez was left out of the starting line-up at Anfield but came on in the second half as Arsenal lost 3-1.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said it was a tactical decision to omit Sanchez.
Wenger brought on his top scorer at half-time, with his side 2-0 down, and he provided the pass for Danny Welbeck's goal.
He has been directly involved in 26 goals in his 26 league games this season, scoring 17 and assisting nine.
However, Wenger said he had decided to start Welbeck and Oliver Giroud instead to provide a more direct attacking threat.
The defeat was the Gunners' third in four league games and saw them drop out of the top four.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Former Premier League goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer on BBC Match of the Day 2 Extra:
"I think Alexis Sanchez, and a number of players, are waiting to see what Wenger does. If Wenger stays on, I think we'll see a large turnover of players coming in and players leaving.
"If he leaves then it depends who comes in and replaces him, what his ideas are, and that will determine whether players like Sanchez and (Mesut) Ozil re-sign." | Alexis Sanchez had an angry exchange with Arsenal team-mates after leaving training mid-session in the build-up to Saturday's defeat at Liverpool. |
27488873 | It's a glimpse of how much student life has changed, what students expect from universities and how much pressure they feel about the future.
In the 1970s, students at Reading staged an occupation calling for the abolition of exams. Now, in the depths of the exam season, they are voluntarily occupying the library in the middle of the night, so that they can get in as much revision as possible.
During weekdays in term time the library is open 24/7. Never mind 24-hour clubbing, here it's round the clock studying. It's become part of student life in universities across the UK.
But if libraries are meant to be slow-moving places under layers of dust and silence, then it's nothing like that here.
The lights are blazing in the library building in the middle of the Reading campus. It's full of young people surrounded by notebooks, laptops, mobile phones and snacks. There's a lone printed book on a desk, with almost all the revision taking place online. There's a low level of background chat as students work together.
It would be unusual to see such a busy library in the middle of the day, but here it's buzzing in the middle of the night. There are groups of students coming and going, talking in a cafe - and overnight library figures show there were still more than 100 students there at 03:30.
Niamh, a pharmacy student, has been working there since 09:00 and expected to carry on studying in the library until about 01:30.
Two students revising for second-year exams, Alex and Matthew, say they will be back again at 06:00.
"You have to get in before 08:00 to get a place," says Alex, studying biochemistry. He knows that his generation is a long way from any stereotypes of student slackers.
"We're under more pressure to do well, we have to work harder," he says.
And when students are paying £9,000 per year, they want to have good facilities.
"It's essential to have a good library," says Matthew.
When the weather is good during the day, Alex says people might prefer to study at night. "It's a nice time to work," he says.
There are other students there who say it's better to work in a group rather than alone in their rooms. It's a more sociable way of working through the stresses of the exam season.
None of them see it as strange to be working in a library in the early hours.
Reading's library, with five floors of nocturnal students hunched over laptops, is having a £4.4m revamp. Universities are in the middle of a building boom, as they compete for students with facilities and accommodation.
Like an academic department store, different parts of the library have different moods - there are bright Ikea style open plan areas, for more solitary study there are cocooning booths and quiet corners and other rooms have big traditional desks and softer lighting.
There is a relentless switch to online materials, but there are still rooms with traditional bookshelves, even if there is no longer the metallic crunch of a library stamp putting in a return date. Withdrawals are now self-service and electronic.
Julia Munro, the university's librarian, says that on open days would-be students compare the facilities with what they've seen elsewhere.
And they expect to be able to use the library whenever they want.
"They tell us they want to study when they want to study - and if they want to study at 02:00, they think they should be able to."
It wasn't always this way. The library is exactly 50 years old, and in the reception area there is the original architect's model. It's like a 1960s time capsule, with its clean lines and open-plan civic optimism.
It opened the same month that Terence Conran opened the first Habitat store in London, Joe Orton was premiering his new play Entertaining Mr Sloane and in the United States there were the first major student protests in New York and San Francisco over the Vietnam War.
The Beatles had recently had a number one with Can't Buy Me Love.
In those early days, students couldn't even use the university library at the weekend. Now Julia Munro and her colleague Rachel Redrup say there is likely to be demand for even more open access, such as longer hours during the holidays.
The move to open libraries through the night has been driven by consumer pressure from students. It's a pattern that's spread across universities across the UK - so much so that it's now more or less standard in many institutions.
In the US, it's gone a step further with reports last week of college libraries introducing "nap stations" so that students could have somewhere to crash out during their marathon studying sessions.
The librarians at Reading say the library provides its own barometer of change.
Rachel Redrup says in the 1960s the students using the library would have been part of a small percentage of the population going to university, who would have been confident of walking out into a good job.
Now, says Julia Munro, students are less certain of the future.
"They feel they're under greater pressure. They're worried about jobs," she says. | It's midnight and there are hundreds of students crowded into the University of Reading's library. |
36301716 | Britain's world number two beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in Sunday's Italian Open final, having lost to the Serb in last week's Madrid Open final.
Maclagan said: "This (Italian Open) was his first win over Novak on clay, so he has a deep reservoir of confidence.
"The other players will look at him as a challenger and that counts as well."
The French Open begins on 22 May and Murray reached the semi-finals last year, when the Scot was beaten by Djokovic over five sets.
Maclagan was speaking to BBC Radio 5 live.
We've launched a new BBC Sport newsletter ahead of the Euros and Olympics, bringing all the best stories, features and video right to your inbox. You can sign up here. | Andy Murray is "probably in the best position he has ever been going into the French Open", according to his former coach Miles Maclagan. |
26581453 | The White House said Mr Obama spoke to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson after meeting three Latino lawmakers.
The manoeuvre follows stalled efforts in Congress to pass immigration reform before November's midterm elections.
Two million unauthorised immigrants have been deported under the Obama administration, earning him the nickname "deporter in chief".
"The president emphasised his deep concern about the pain too many families feel from the separation that comes from our broken immigration system," said a statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney on Thursday.
It added: "He told the members that he has asked Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to do an inventory of the department's current practices to see how it can conduct enforcement more humanely within the confines of the law."
It remains unclear, however, what will result from the homeland security review.
Mr Obama recently announced he had already stretched his presidential powers to the maximum on deportation.
Republicans have criticised Mr Obama recently for circumventing Congress through the use of executive orders.
Conservatives have also said they do not expect to pass immigration reform before November's polls.
The Senate passed a bill last June that would have, among other measures, created a pathway to citizenship for about 11 million immigrants in the US illegally. But the legislation went nowhere in the House of Representatives.
Calls for action on the issue have mounted from the Latino community, with one congressman saying the White House has been "dormant for too long" on the matter.
But "it is clear that the pleas from the community got through to the president", Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, one of the three Hispanic lawmakers who met Mr Obama on Thursday, told the Associated Press news agency.
Immigration activists want to halt deportations of parents whose children were brought to the US illegally.
Such separation of families is in part due to a 2012 executive order that removed the threat of deportation for children taken into the US illegally, without extending the protection to their parents. | US President Barack Obama has directed officials to review how to enforce immigration laws "more humanely". |
25285155 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Story of the match:
The defending champions were aiming to become the first nation to retain the title since Brazil in 1962. But, after losing their opening match 5-1 to the Netherlands, they surrendered their crown in a cauldron of noise in the Maracana.
First-half goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz did the damage as Spain failed to contain the rampant Chileans, or muster a response of any real substance.
Their elimination means they are the fifth defending champions to fail to progress from the group stage at the World Cup.
It was Chile's first competitive victory over Spain in 11 matches - and just reward for an attacking masterclass.
Questions will inevitably be asked about the international futures of Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque and several of his most trusted players, such as goalkeeper Iker Casillas and midfielders Xavi and Xabi Alonso.
There was little sign of shock as the full-time whistle sounded; more despondency and resignation. Chile celebrated, but not wildly; they deserved their victory and will not want to stop there.
Spain must now contest a dead rubber against Australia on 23 June, while Chile and Netherlands meet in an encounter that will determine who finishes top of Group B.
Chile were tipped by many to do well in the competition, but few predicted they would administer the fatal blow to Spain and one of the game's most glittering eras.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Their fans arrived in huge numbers and helped generate an incredible pre-match atmosphere, although a group of them storming the media centre before kick-off provided a sour preamble.
They seemed to enjoy far greater representation inside the ground, and the noise levels rocketed as Jorge Sampaoli's team made an encouraging start - Alonso forced into a vital goalmouth clearance before Gonzalo Jara headed narrowly wide.
Spain were narrow victors when the sides met at the 2010 World Cup, and again in a friendly the following year, but needed a last-minute equaliser to snatch a draw last September.
Chile have been dubbed by some the 'Spain of South America' - a reference to the Spaniards in peak form - and their pace, power and pressing is a sight to behold.
They opened the scoring in style after Alonso carelessly under-hit a pass, allowing Alexis Sanchez to begin a scintillating move that ended with Aranguiz squaring for Vargas to round Casillas and slot home.
Spain responded positively, and predictably enjoyed plenty of possession, but Alonso shot way over the bar and Diego Costa fired wide.
Del Bosque made a massive call by relegating Xavi to the substitutes' bench, moving David Silva into his attacking midfield position and using the younger, quicker Pedro on the right.
But, if anything, Spain looked worse without a man who, while enduring a poor campaign and struggling in Friday's thrashing by Netherlands, has for so long been La Roja's outfield leader, the symbol of their philosophy and one of the best players in the world.
The dropping of centre-back Gerard Pique was less of a surprise but, similarly, did not benefit Spain and their defence looked no more assured or unified with Javi Martinez partnering Sergio Ramos.
They needed to get to half-time without conceding again, but even that proved beyond the European champions as Casillas palmed a Sanchez free-kick straight out to Aranguiz, whose control and finish with the outside of his foot was of the highest order.
Spain finally rallied after the break, Andres Iniesta sending Costa clean through - but Mauricio Isla arrived from right-back with a perfectly-timed challenge. Sergio Busquets then missed an open goal from five yards following Costa's overhead kick.
Isla should have extended Chile's lead only to sky a shot from close range, while at the other end Iniesta and substitute Santi Cazorla were twice denied by Claudio Bravo as Spain bowed out.
Match ends, Spain 0, Chile 2.
Second Half ends, Spain 0, Chile 2.
Foul by Fernando Torres (Spain).
Gary Medel (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jordi Alba (Spain).
Felipe Gutierrez (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Jordi Alba (Spain) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left following a corner.
Corner, Spain. Conceded by Felipe Gutierrez.
Attempt blocked. Koke (Spain) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by David Silva.
Attempt blocked. Sergio Ramos (Spain) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Santiago Cazorla with a cross.
Corner, Spain. Conceded by Eugenio Mena.
Attempt missed. Sergio Ramos (Spain) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by David Silva with a headed pass following a corner.
Corner, Spain. Conceded by Claudio Bravo.
Attempt saved. Santiago Cazorla (Spain) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Substitution, Chile. Carlos Carmona replaces Arturo Vidal.
Fernando Torres (Spain) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Francisco Silva (Chile).
Hand ball by Arturo Vidal (Chile).
Attempt saved. Sergio Ramos (Spain) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Andrés Iniesta with a cross.
Substitution, Chile. Jorge Valdívia replaces Eduardo Vargas.
Corner, Spain. Conceded by Claudio Bravo.
Attempt saved. Andrés Iniesta (Spain) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Sergio Busquets.
Andrés Iniesta (Spain) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Marcelo Díaz (Chile).
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Claudio Bravo (Chile) because of an injury.
Foul by Sergio Ramos (Spain).
Claudio Bravo (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Spain. Conceded by Felipe Gutierrez.
Corner, Spain. Conceded by Claudio Bravo.
Attempt saved. Santiago Cazorla (Spain) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Andrés Iniesta.
Andrés Iniesta (Spain) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Francisco Silva (Chile).
Substitution, Spain. Santiago Cazorla replaces Pedro.
Attempt missed. Felipe Gutierrez (Chile) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Alexis Sánchez following a fast break.
Attempt missed. Mauricio Isla (Chile) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is too high. Assisted by Eugenio Mena.
Attempt missed. Eugenio Mena (Chile) left footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Eduardo Vargas.
Foul by Fernando Torres (Spain).
Francisco Silva (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Eduardo Vargas (Chile) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Felipe Gutierrez. | Spain's dominance of global football was brought to a crushing end as they were knocked out of the World Cup by an impressive Chile. |
34415207 | "I will not work with Cage, the NUS will not be working with Cage and there will be no NUS resources used to work with Cage," said Megan Dunn.
The NUS had been criticised by David Cameron for "allying" with Cage.
Cage has argued counter-terror policy threatens "freedom of expression".
The NUS president said she wanted to stop a "lack of clarity" over the relationship between the students' union and the organisation.
Ms Dunn said the NUS was still strongly committed to opposing the government's approach to tackling extremism on campus - but any campaign would have no connection with Cage.
Cage describes itself as "an independent organisation working to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror".
It has criticised counter-extremism policy as creating "unprecedented levels of censorship and self-censorship of Muslim opinion".
But Ms Dunn said she believed working with Cage would not be compatible with the NUS's policies on "anti-racism, anti-fascism and how we define anti-semitism".
Cage spokesman, Ibrahim Mohamoud, said: "We support the NUS's opposition to Prevent, but we disagree strongly with Megan Dunn's assertions about Cage.
"Islamophobia is the new racism and buying into this narrative is simply unacceptable," said Mr Mohamoud.
The NUS president was responding to criticism by Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech on tackling extremism.
"I want to say something to the National Union of Students. When you choose to ally yourselves with an organisation like Cage, which called Jihadi John a "beautiful young man" and told people to "support the jihad" in Iraq and Afghanistan, it really does, in my opinion, shame your organisation and your noble history of campaigning for justice," said Mr Cameron.
Cage has said it "does not support terrorism in any form".
The prime minister's comments followed a motion passed by the NUS annual conference in April which had agreed to campaign against the government's counter-extremism Prevent strategy alongside Cage.
However the NUS president is now making it clear this will not happen.
Ms Dunn accused the prime minister of "grandstanding" and wanting to stop the NUS raising legitimate concerns about the impact of counter-extremism policy in universities.
This term saw new legal duties put on universities to stop radicalisation on campus.
But student leaders argue that it will be counter-productive and make vulnerable students feel that they cannot talk to staff in confidence.
Ms Dunn says that universities are uncertain on what is meant by extremism and that free speech would be limited on campus.
A postgraduate student in Staffordshire University studying counter-terrorism received an apology from the university after concerns had been raised when he was seen reading a book called Terrorism Studies.
"The NUS is against terrorism, that's never been in question," said Ms Dunn.
"But government needs to look at the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act and see that there are consequences to this act that are hugely damaging - and they need to look at it again.
"The NUS and the education sector would be more than willing to engage in a conversation about keeping our campuses safe."
The government's Extremism Analysis Unit says that last year there were at least 70 events in universities where "hate speakers" had appeared.
And it says that a number of people who had committed terror-related offences or travelled to fight in Syria had studied at UK universities.
Universities Minister Jo Johnson wrote to the NUS in September, saying: "Universities represent an important arena for challenging extremist views.
"It is important there can be active challenge and debate on issues relating to counter terrorism and provisions for academic freedom are part of the Prevent guidance for universities and colleges." | The president of the National Union of Students has emphatically ruled out working with the controversial advocacy group, Cage, which has opposed counter-terrorism legislation. |
37491392 | Tuesday's 2-0 home defeat by Derby left Cardiff second from bottom in the table.
Their concerns were compounded by an injury to striker Rickie Lambert, but Trollope believes his players can recover from their poor start.
"We've got a belief within the camp we can dig ourselves out of it and move up the table," he said.
"We were hoping Saturday's win at Rotherham would be a catalyst for that - obviously it's not worked out in that manner, which is frustrating.
"Confidence is not going to be at its best - that's human nature.
"We've taken a few injuries over the last few weeks which we'll have to deal with, but football always gives you a chance to bounce back quickly."
Lambert scored both goals as Cardiff beat Rotherham 2-1 last Saturday to claim only their second win of the season.
However, a hamstring injury forced the transfer deadline day signing from West Brom to leave the field after just 12 minutes of the match against Derby.
With forward Anthony Pilkington already missing through injury, Trollope had to bring on the inexperienced Kenneth Zohore in Lambert's place.
"Losing Rickie so early in the game was a huge blow to us.
"That was a bitter blow on top of the strikers we were already missing," Trollope added.
"I am not here to make excuses. We do have players out but the structure we have means we should have belief we can cope with the quality of opposition we faced."
The loss to Derby was Cardiff's sixth from their 10 Championship games this season.
Next for the Bluebirds is Saturday's trip to Burton, who are two points clear of Cardiff in 18th place.
"We will dust ourselves down, look and learn from it very quickly, and try and get mentally, physically and tactically ready for a trip to Burton," said Trollope.
"The pressure is on. It's a big game and we've got to be ready for that." | Cardiff City boss Paul Trollope insists his side can drag themselves out of the Championship relegation zone. |
35619994 | Jackson Longridge scored his first goal for the club when he slotted home after good work from Charlie Telfer.
Jordan White tapped in a second, but Alloa reduced the deficit when Michael Duffy registered his maiden strike for the club.
Daniel Mullen's lay-off was converted by on-loan Samuel Stanton after more good work from Telfer. | Livingston boosted their hopes of Scottish Championship survival with victory at bottom club Alloa. |
40287330 | New figures show that in the year to March 2017, police arrested 304 people - up a fifth on the previous 12 months.
Combined with those held since March, it means this year's total may top the previous record of 315, set in 2015.
The figures include the dozen held and later released without charge during the Westminster Bridge investigation.
But they don't include those held since the Manchester or London Bridge attacks.
More than 40 people have been held in relation to both of those incidents - with all 22 arrested in Manchester released without charge.
Those arrests, alongside at least 20 further arrests across England since March, indicate that the rate of police operations has been increasing.
It means 2017 will almost certainly be a record year.
Of the 304 arrests to the end of March, 108 resulted in a charge - and 91 of those were charged with a terrorism-related offence.
Nine out of ten of those who ended up in court were convicted - and figures show they are receiving longer sentences than ever before.
Of those that remained, 88 were bailed pending further investigation and 100 were released without charge.
Eight others faced "alternative action"- meaning they may have been detained because they were mentally ill, recalled to prison, or handed over to border officials for deportation.
As of March 2017, there were 186 people in prison for terrorism-related offences - up 15% on the previous year.
Three-quarters of those arrested were classed as being suspected of involvement in "international terrorism" - meaning activity relating to jihadist groups.
Some 16% were classed as being suspected of involvement in domestic extremism - typically meaning neo-Nazi style activity. | The UK is heading for a record number of terrorism-related arrests amid massive investigations into three attacks. |
38415759 | The 26-year-old midfielder has been ruled out for between four and six weeks by top-of-the-table Nice.
He was injured on Wednesday in Nice's goalless draw at Bordeaux.
His absence might mean a call-up for Ajax Amsterdam's Hakim Ziyech, who was surprisingly left out of Morocco's preliminary squad.
Originally coach Herve Renard said he had no place for the 23-year-old in his list of 26 because Belhanda and Mbarak Boussoufa were his first choices as playmakers.
"To play behind the striker, I already have Belhanda and Boussoufa, who are on form and playing in clubs who are leaders of their championship," he said.
"At some point, you have to make choices."
"I think that a guy like Ziyech, if he does not have any playing time after two to three games, will find it difficult- for him and for the staff and for the squad."
Morocco play friendly matches against Iran on January 6 and Finland three days later during in their pre-tournament training camp in the United Arab Emirates.
Morocco are due to play their first match in Gabon against DR Congo on 16 January before games against Togo and Ivory Coast.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou (Girona, Spain), Yassine El Kharroubi (Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Bulgaria), Munir Mohamedi (Numancia, Spain)
Defenders: Amine Attouchi (Wydad Casablanca), Mehdi Benatia (Juventus, Italy), Fouad Chafik (Dijon, France), Manuel da Costa (Olympiakos, Greece), Nabil Dirar (Monaco, France), Hamza Mendyl (Lille, France), Mohamed Nahiri (FUS Rabat), Romain Saïss (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England)
Midfielders: Youssef Aït Bennasser (Nancy, France), Nordin Amrabat (Watford, England), Younes Belhanda (Nice, France), Sofiane Boufal (Southampton, England), Mbark Boussoufa (Al Jazeera, United Arab Emirates), Mehdi Carcela (Grenada, Spain), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord Rotterdam, Netherlands), Fayçal Fajr (Deportivo Coruña, Spain), Ismail Haddad (Wydad Casablanca), Mourir Obbadi (Lille, France), Oussama Tannane (St Etienne, France),
Forward: Rachid Alioui (Nimes, France), Khalid Boutaib (Racing Strasbourg, France), Youssef El Arabi (Al Lekhwiya, Qatar), Youssef Ennesyri (Malaga, Spain). | A toe injury means Nice's Younes Belhanda is set to miss Morocco's campaign at January's Africa Cup of Nations. |
37649135 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Fury, 28, had his licence to fight temporarily revoked the day after he gave up his world heavyweight titles to focus on mental health problems.
Peter Fury said his nephew is being treated for "a form of manic depression".
"He now acknowledges that there is an issue. That's the start to recovery," Peter Fury told BBC Sport.
"But maybe it is a blessing in disguise he is taking some time out and getting this treatment, as it has been lingering on for quite a while."
On Wednesday, Fury vacated his WBO and WBA world heavyweight titles. The British Boxing Board of Control then announced his licence had been suspended.
But Peter Fury believes the former champion will be back in the ring by April and suggested he could become a role model for young people suffering with depression.
"It just shows people it can affect you no matter what you are," he added. "If depression can affect the linear heavyweight champion of the world, it's a serious problem.
"How many young people do you hear about who have committed suicide down to depression? Depression is an illness."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Former world heavyweight champion David Haye said Fury's suspension could be the "catalyst" for him to re-invent himself and come back stronger.
"It's just the beginning of [Fury's] story, not the end," he said.
"I'm hoping he uses this to regenerate himself. [He can be] way better than he's ever been. He'll be back, right as rain, and stronger mentally for it.
"This might not be the end, this might be the start, the catalyst that turns his career around. He can re-invent himself."
Haye, 36, admitted he too had overcome bouts of depression earlier in his career.
"It's not self-inflicted, it just happens," Haye said. "I had it in small quantities and there was nothing wrong with me.
"Physically I was in fantastic shape. I was undefeated, but found myself locked in my room for days at a time in the dark, not talking to anyone, turning my phone off.
"I don't know what caused it. For whatever reason I just laid in bed, under the covers, in the dark, shut the curtains, and stayed there for days." | Tyson Fury's suspension from boxing could be a "blessing in disguise", his uncle and trainer Peter Fury says. |
34395349 | Emergency services were called to Ysgol Y Deri School in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, on Tuesday after the child, thought to be of primary school age, was found in the water.
The child was taken to Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales, but the council confirmed the child has since been discharged from hospital.
Ysgol Y Deri opened in October. | A child had to be taken to hospital after being found in a pool at a school for children with special needs. |
39565790 | Christopher Hutcheson, 68, and his sons Adam, 46, and Christopher, 37, admitted plotting to unlawfully access Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited's system.
His daughter Orlanda Butland, aged 45, denied the same charge.
The prosecution accepted the pleas at London's Old Bailey and offered no evidence in relation to Ms Butland.
Hutcheson Snr is the father of Ramsay's wife, Tana.
The charges relate to a plot to hack into the computer system at the firm, between 23 October 2010 and 31 March, 2011.
Hutcheson Snr was charged under Operation Tuleta, which began in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
At a previous hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, the prosecution said the plot to hack into the system came after Hutcheson Snr was dismissed from the company.
Prosecutor Dan Suter had said: "The prosecution would say as a result of that dismissal he was motivated to access unlawfully the computer system."
At the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Hutcheson, who has a home in France, but gave his address as Wycombe Place, Earlsfield, south west London - the same address as Ms Butland - was released on bail.
Hutcheson Jnr, of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, and Adam Hutcheson, of Sevenoaks, Kent, were also released on bail.
The defendants could face a maximum possible sentence of two years in prison.
Judge Gerald Gordon, who heard the case, formally entered a not guilty verdict in the case of Ms Butland.
He agreed to the preparation of pre-sentence reports and adjourned sentencing, which has been scheduled for 2 June.
A spokeswoman for Ramsay has declined to comment on the case. | Gordon Ramsay's father-in-law has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack a computer system relating to the celebrity chef's business interests. |
35071964 | The museum in Wilton Lodge will be closed to the public while the audit takes place.
Scottish Borders Council said the review would give staff a "better knowledge and understanding" of the collection as a whole.
The museum will be shut from 24 December until 21 March 2016. | A major review of the collection held by Hawick Museum will be carried out over the next three months. |
39869409 | Helmsdale Castle at Helmsdale in Sutherland was built in the 15th Century on the orders of a countess.
It was the scene of a triple murder involving poison. The plot is said to have inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Timespan Museum and Art Gallery will lead the events, which include a screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2010 production of Hamlet.
It starred Scots actor David Tennant in the title role.
Taking place next week, the events will also include marking out the lost boundaries of the castle with balloons.
A storytelling session and a picnic are also to be held.
The castle was constructed on the instructions of Margaret Baillie, Countess of Sutherland and the wife of William, Earl of Sutherland.
It was rebuilt and repaired in 1616 by Alexander Gordon of Garty and was later used as a hunting lodge for landowners and their guests.
Helmsdale Castle fell into ruin and was demolished to clear the site for a road building project in the 1970s.
The triple murder said to have fired the imagination of Shakespeare was committed in 1567.
The 11th Earl of Sutherland and his countess were poisoned over dinner after a day's hunting.
The assailant was the earl's own aunt, Isobel Sinclair, who had also hoped to dispatch her nephew's son and heir in a plot so her own son could inherit the earldom.
In an ironic twist, Sinclair mistakenly administered the poison to her own son too and killed him.
She was sentenced to hang in Edinburgh for her crime, but took her own life before she could be executed. | Events are to be held to recall a medieval castle demolished in the 1970s to make way for a road bridge. |
38205675 | Cloth Cat Animation Studio will collaborate with Beijing-based firm Magic Mall, who will produce a series outside of China for the first time.
The UK Government claims animation tax relief announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement helped the investment.
The Secretary of State for Wales says the deal helps 'showcase Welsh talent.'
The animation series will be based on the popular Chinese character Luo Bao Bei and Cloth Cat think "her popularity ensures the new series will have wide appeal, blending Chinese heritage with a dash of British humour and charm."
The Luo Bao Bei cartoon is expected to launch in China in the spring of 2017.
"This collaboration between Cloth Cat and Magic Mall will see the company reach new international markets and support jobs in Wales," said Alun Cairns, Wales' Secretary of State.
"I'm delighted that our fantastic animation and creative industry sector will be exporting to new markets, and showcasing Welsh talents across the world."
Cloth Cat, whose work has been on Netflix, Disney and the Cartoon Network, is a Cardiff-based animation production company that helped create TV programmes such as CBeebies comedy 'Grandpa In My Pocket' and S4C's BAFTA Cymru award-winning show 'Ha Ha Hairies'.
"The partnership between Cloth Cat and Magic Mall is an exciting opportunity to build our trade relationship with China and export our fantastic animation sector worldwide," added Karen Bradley, the UK culture secretary.
"I'm thrilled that thanks to the UK Animation tax credits, Wales will see even more jobs and benefits as a result of this deal." | A new Chinese pre-school animation series is to be produced in Wales 'supporting up to 40 jobs' and boosting the Welsh economy by £3.2m. |
30080874 | Mr Kassig, 26, is the fifth Western hostage to be killed by IS.
A French prosecutor said one militant was Maxime Hauchard, 22, and another Frenchman might have been present.
A third militant was reported to be a Briton, although the father of Nasser Muthana, 20, now denies it is his son.
The Daily Mail had earlier reported Ahmed Muthana as saying "it looks like my son".
But Mr Muthana now says his son is not among the jihadists in the video.
Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent
The 16-minute video posted online by IS, while graphically sadistic, also reveals a wealth of detail about the perpetrators and their whereabouts. This is deliberate. IS is effectively taunting the Western-led coalition that is arranged against it, saying this is who we are, come and get us if you dare.
Intelligence agencies will be using facial recognition software to identify those involved in the mass beheading, matching their real names and origins to their adopted battle names. IS has even put a place name on the video, Dabiq in northern Syria - a place where according to Islamic hadith, an apocalyptic battle will be fought between Muslims and non-Muslims.
The one person who keeps his identity concealed is the suspected British jihadist known in the UK media as "Jihadi John". He is believed to be from London and both the FBI and MI5 almost certainly know who he is but for reasons known to them, they are not revealing it.
An idealist 'simply trying to help people'
Abdul-Rahman Kassig in his own words
The IS video shows a masked man standing over a severed head, which the White House confirmed was Mr Kassig's.
He was captured by IS, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, in October 2013 while travelling to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria.
His parents, Ed and Paula, from Indiana, said in a statement they were heartbroken by his death.
"We are incredibly proud of our son for living his life according to his humanitarian calling," they said. "We will work every day to keep his legacy alive as best we can."
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Washington: "[IS] leaders assume that the world will be too intimidated to oppose them. But let us be clear: We are not intimidated."
The latest IS video also shows the beheading of 18 Syrian captives, who are identified as army officers and pilots. They are said to have been taken from Tabqa air base last August. They are mostly from the Alawite religious sect and come from Latakia and Tartous, according to UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Unlike previous videos released by IS, the latest shows the faces of many of the militants and specifies its location - Dabiq in Syria's Aleppo province.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins identified Maxime Hauchard as appearing in the video.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said earlier that Hauchard, who was born in 1992 and was originally from the Eure region, "had gone to Syria in August 2013 after a stay in Mauritania in 2012".
Hauchard told French TV station BFM via Skype in July that he was in Raqqa in Syria and had joined IS, adding: "The personal objective of everyone here is shahid (martyrdom). That is the greatest reward."
Hauchard's uncle told French TV on Monday: "I can't believe it was he who cut anyone's head off. It's not possible. He wouldn't hurt a fly. He was a calm and happy little boy."
Mr Molins said another Frenchman could be among the militants but that it had not yet been confirmed.
In Britain, Muthana's father, Ahmed, initially said it was his son, but then said the images were blurry and he was not sure.
He now says that although he has not seen the footage, he is able to confirm it is not his son from images he has seen.
Mr Muthana told the BBC: "It doesn't look like him, much difference. This one's got a big nose, my one has a flat nose."
Nasser Muthana appeared in an IS video in June that was aimed at recruitment.
The man in question stands to the right of another man, who is suspected to be British militant nicknamed "Jihadi John". This man is dressed in black with a balaclava, while the rest of the militants wear army fatigues.
"Jihadi John" has been shown in previous IS videos of the beheadings of the other Western hostages: Britons Alan Henning and David Haines, and US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
Abdul-Rahman Kassig
Former soldier and idealist
Kassig's emotional letters home | Western intelligence officials are trying to identify Islamic State (IS) militants seen in the video that shows the beheading of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig and 18 Syrian prisoners. |
38676419 | New Park School in Eccles, Salford was criticised in the review in November by Ofsted for not knowing where pupils were during break times.
It was praised for its personal, social and health education which included the dangers of drug abuse and keeping safe.
The special school said it was taking "swift action" to address issues.
Ofsted rated the school, which provides specialist education for pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties, as "inadequate" for failing to give its pupils an "acceptable standard of education".
The report said leaders at the school off Green Lane claim pupils "are supervised when they go off-site, but pupils stated this is not always the case".
Pupils told inspectors that "some secondary-age pupils go off the school site to take illegal substances".
Ofsted said it needed to take urgent action to improve safeguarding which was a "serious cause for concern", including reporting disclosures by pupils or concerns about pupils and allowing students to leave the site at break times.
It also recommended an external review be conducted to improve teaching as often the work set is too easy, attendance and reduce exclusions.
Councillor Lisa Stone said Salford City Council and the school were taking the findings in the review "very seriously".
She said processes and procedures had already changed at the school in order to make the improvements demanded by Ofsted.
They include introducing a new method of recording attendance, giving staff direct responsibility for following up absences and safeguarding referrals, staff training.
Inspectors identified strengths in the teaching, behaviour, safety and attendance of pupils between the ages of eight and 11.
The school, which has just under 100 pupils from the age of eight to 16, was classed as "good" in its last inspection in 2013. | A school where pupils were reportedly leaving at break times to take illegal substances has been put in special measures. |
35293070 | He becomes the fifth signing of the January window by boss Micky Mellon.
Fulham loanee Jack Grimmer, midfielder Richie Wellens (Doncaster) and strikers Kyle Vassell (Peterborough) and Andy Mangan (Tranmere) have come in.
But Northern Ireland Under-21 player Darren McKnight has become the fifth player to leave, having not started since signing in the summer.
McKnight's departure follows that of striker Tyrone Barnett, who has joined fellow League One side Southend United, while top scorer James Collins has been loaned to League Two promotion challengers Northampton Town.
Captain Liam Lawrence has also dropped down a level, to join Bristol Rovers, while defender Mark Ellis has completed his move to another League Two side, Carlisle United.
Wallace, 24, has joined fellow League One side Shrewsbury in a bid to gain regular first-team football, having made just 20 appearances since signing from Tranmere in June 2014, following several injuries.
Shrewsbury remain just a point clear of danger in League One, but are much lifted by Sunday's FA Cup third round win at Cardiff City, which has earned a home fourth round tie against another Championship side, Sheffield Wednesday, on 20 January.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Shrewsbury Town have signed midfielder James Wallace on loan from Sheffield United until the end of the season. |
33492984 | Chasing an unlikely 412 to win, Australia lost four wickets for nine runs in 35 balls either side of lunch and were bowled out for 242 one hour after tea in Cardiff.
Stuart Broad was England's inspiration, taking the wickets of three of Australia's top four batsmen.
And, following a brief lower order rally, Joe Root showed his golden touch to take two of the last three wickets, including Mitchell Johnson for a spirited 77.
The win is a huge fillip for England, who lost the last Ashes series 5-0 down under and have only won one of their last five Test series.
Having been reduced to 43-3 on the first morning, they rebounded to produce four days of high-class, aggressive cricket in their first match under Australian coach Trevor Bayliss.
Australia, strong favourites to retain the Ashes before the series, now have only five days to recover and reassess their tactics before the second Test starts at Lord's on Thursday.
After a relatively frustrating morning in which the ball flew repeatedly past the edge, England were contemplating going to lunch with only the wicket of Chris Rogers to show for their efforts.
But Alastair Cook's decision to toss the ball to Moeen Ali for the final over before the interval proved to be a masterstroke.
David Warner, who had dismissively launched Moeen for six over mid-wicket in his previous spell, played around a ball that slid straight on and was out lbw for 52.
The wicket brought palpable relief to a jittery home crowd and dampened the growing optimism among the Aussie-supporting contingent.
Worse was to come for those in green and gold.
Media playback is not supported on this device
In the first over after lunch, Broad drew Steve Smith into an ugly poke away from his body, and for the second time in the match the world's number one Test batsman was out for 33.
As England's relentless accuracy dried up Australia's scoring, captain Michael Clarke succumbed to temptation. Aiming an airy drive at Broad, he picked out Ben Stokes at backward point.
And on it went. Adam Voges nicked his fellow Ashes debutant Mark Wood to Jos Buttler before Cook took a brilliant catch at the second attempt to complete Brad Haddin's miserable match.
When Shane Watson fell lbw to Mark Wood, and once again tossed away a review, Australia were 151-7.
To their credit, Australia launched a mini-recovery as Johnson showed his abilities with the bat in hand.
His partnership of 72 with Mitchell Starc briefly threatened to push the game into a fifth day, only for part-time off-spinner Root to provide the crucial impetus for England.
Having just been smashed for 14 runs in three balls by Johnson, he stayed on to have Starc and Johnson caught at slip by Adam Lyth in successive overs to leave Australia nine down.
And when Josh Hazlewood lofted Moeen to long-on, England and their fans launched into celebrations.
Broad showed himself to be England's man for the big occasion with another influential Ashes performance.
He set the tone with an exceptional opening burst, which started with three consecutive maidens and featured the breakthrough wicket of Rogers, caught at slip to end a run of seven consecutive Test fifties.
Returning after lunch for another probing spell of full, fast seam bowling, Broad gestured to the crowd to raise the noise levels.
And as they roared his run-up from the Cathedral Road End, he responded to remove Smith and Clarke to rip the heart out of Australia's batting.
Seeing Broad in such inspired form carried echoes of 2009 at The Oval, when he took 5-37 on the second afternoon to set up England's Ashes series-winning victory. Then, two years ago, he was England's match-winner in Durham, with a spell of 6-20 in 45 balls as England sealed the series.
Australia, who had won 11 of their previous 16 Tests, suddenly have issues to address as they look to wrestle back the initiative and get back on course for a first Ashes win in the UK since 2001.
The 29th lbw of Watson's Test career must surely raise questions over the all-rounder's place in the team, especially given that his understudy Mitchell Marsh scored hundreds in both of Australia's warm-up games.
Haddin is another player under scrutiny, following his pivotal drop to reprieve England's first-innings centurion Root on nought on the opening morning. The 37-year-old also conceded 24 byes in the match and looked a shadow of the counter-punching batsmen who tormented England in the 2013-14 whitewash.
There are also concerns over the fitness of Starc, who required treatment for an ankle injury after day one, and was visibly limping during England's second innings.
Given Ryan Harris's injury-forced retirement on the eve of the first Test, the Aussies can ill afford another casualty in their bowling ranks.
England captain Alastair Cook: "It was a brilliant performance. This Test couldn't have gone any better and we'll enjoy tonight.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"Joe Root was fantastic and the bowlers were superb.
"Everyone was talking about what's gone on in the past, but this is a different side. We had to look forward. We always took the attacking option in this game."
Australia captain Michael Clarke: "We were outplayed in all three facets. England batted well on day one, we didn't take our catches and our batting let us down in both innings.
"We look forward to making amends in the second Test. I'm sure the selectors will look at everyone's performance and make a decision."
Listen to Geoffrey Boycott and Jonathan Agnew review each day's play on the TMS podcast, and watch a summary of each day with our Pint-sized Ashes videos. | England romped to a crushing 169-run victory over Australia in the first Ashes Test to take a 1-0 lead in the series. |
32556728 | Anna Sharad Gautam, 22, from Kathmandu, and Katharina Hopp, 23, from Germany, are studying international politics at Aberystwyth University.
They have organised a beach barbeque, a cake sale, and a film night.
Anna said she had felt "helpless" after news of the quake came through.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, her parents and sister, who live in Kathmandu, were forced to spend the first few days in temporary shelter and camping in the garden of their home, for fear of further damage caused by aftershocks.
Anna said: "For the first two days it was not possible to contact my family, but now I know they are safe and I'm able to speak to them via the internet.
"My plan is to think beyond the immediate event and raise funds to build better homes, especially in the villages outside Kathmandu. It is the older buildings in Kathmandu and the surrounding villages, often houses built of mud, that have collapsed."
All the money raised by the Aberystwyth International Nepal Emergency Fund will go towards the British Red Cross Nepal Earthquake Appeal
Anna and Katharina will travel to Kathmandu at the beginning of June to start a three-month internship with Saathi, an organisation dedicated to tackling domestic violence against women. | A Nepalese woman whose family were caught up in last week's earthquake is one of two mid Wales students holding a series of fundraising events to support rebuilding work there. |
20829807 | One severe flood warning remains in Cornwall, and there are about 150 flood warnings in England and Wales, and about 20 in Scotland.
Houses have been flooded and evacuated in Stoke Canon, near Exeter, and Stonehaven, near Aberdeen.
Rail services in the south-west of England and between Dundee and Aberdeen have been hit by floods and landslips.
The Environment Agency has flood warnings in place across all of its English regions - South West, South East, Anglian, Midlands, North West and North East, as well as Wales.
From the BBC:
Elsewhere:
Up to 100 homes were evacuated in Stonehaven after the River Carron burst its banks and affected a number of streets in the centre of the town. Residents said water levels were waist-high.
"A significant part of the town has still got water in it and in the part that hasn't, there's a whole lot of mud and debris on the street," said David Fleming, a member of the local community council.
Scotland's environment minister Paul Wheelhouse said public safety was his priority and added: "People planning journeys home for Christmas can check on how their journeys may be affected through a range of resources, including the Traffic Scotland website and Sepa's floodline phone service."
In other developments:
In Stoke Canon, north of Exeter in Devon, 30 properties have flooded, with at least 20 residents being moved to safety, after the River Exe burst its banks.
Steve Hawkins, from Network Rail, said the track at Cowley Bridge, north of Exeter, was last flooded 12 years ago but he added: "Unfortunately in the last four weeks it has happened three times."
Mr Hawkins said the railway line could be repaired only when the flood waters had receded, and he said it could take up to five days to repair.
BBC forecaster Matt Taylor said: "Heavy rain in the north of Scotland will slowly ease and wetter weather will return to central and southern parts of England and Wales overnight, bringing with it the threat of further flooding particularly in parts of Devon and Cornwall."
UK flooding minister Richard Benyon said: "It's terrible to have your home or business flooded at any time of year, but for the families affected it's especially distressing for it to happen during the Christmas season.
"It's crucial people continue to be vigilant by keeping a close eye on the Environment Agency's flood warnings and allowing the emergency services to do their work."
In Umberleigh, near Barnstaple in north Devon, a woman was swept away from her car in the early hours of Sunday after becoming stuck in fast-flowing flood water.
A police helicopter found her clinging to branches of a tree - where she had been for 50 minutes - on the banks of the swollen River Taw, and she was rescued by a RNLI lifeboat. She was treated for exposure to the water.
A man and child who remained trapped in the car were rescued by firefighters wearing drysuits.
Four people and two dogs trapped in two flooded properties in Bishops Tawton, near Barnstaple, were also rescued overnight by a fire crew and RNLI in-shore boat.
The River Caen in Braunton breached its banks for a second night and the village is bracing itself for more flooding on Sunday night.
Diane Cohen, 63, who runs the Mariners Arms pub, said: "We have a mound of sodden carpet out in the garden and are now moving sand bags around so we can get people safely in and out during the course of the day and will sandbag up again tonight because we've got more bad weather coming in and the River Caen is going to flood again."
Cornwall Council says it is expecting another band of bad weather, bringing with it an estimated 10mm to 20mm of rain, from Sunday evening into the early hours of Monday.
The river Severn is also high but flood defences appear to have succeeded in Bewdley, Kempsey and Upton-upon-Severn.
The Environment Agency's area manager said: "Levels are high, and particularly high in Worcester, where it is probably the highest it's been since July 2007."
But he added: "I think the Severn is now as high as it's going to get." | Flooding and heavy rain are continuing to cause problems in south-west England and parts of Wales and Scotland. |
38041510 | The government insists the legislation is aimed at dealing with the widespread custom of child marriage, but critics say that it will legitimise child rape.
Protesters clapped and chanted: "We will not shut up. We will not obey. Withdraw the bill immediately!"
There were demonstrations in other cities including Izmir and Trabzon.
The law would allow the release of men who assaulted a minor without "force, threat, or any other restriction on consent" and married the victim.
About 3,000 protesters gathered in Istanbul's Kadikoy square, according to reports.
Some waved banners with slogans such as "Rape cannot be legitimised" and "AKP, take your hands off my body" - referring to the AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which introduced the bill.
"A rape can't be justified," protester Fadik Temizyurek told the BBC.
She said: "What does it mean to ask a child if they're OK? Until they're 18, a child remains a child, that is why this has to be condemned. We are here so that this law can't pass."
Kadir Demir, a father, said: "I am here because I listen to my consciousness. Because I have children, because of my children. Because I desire to live in a country where we can still live."
Another protester, Cigdem Evcil, said: "I am a mother. How am I supposed to react to this? I can`t believe it, it's not normal, it doesn't make sense.
"This morning when I woke up I heard the news on TV and I've called my daughter maybe 50 times since.
"If I let this happen to my daughter, if the mothers in this country let this happen, it means we are not mothers."
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told a Nato meeting on Friday in the city that the bill would not pardon rapists.
He said: "The bill will certainly not bring amnesty to rapists.... This is a step taken to solve a problem in some parts of our country."
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has reportedly ordered his AKP colleagues to hold talks with the opposition on the bill.
The bill was approved in an initial parliamentary reading on Thursday and will be voted on again in a second debate on Tuesday.
The UN children's fund said it was "deeply concerned" about the bill.
"These abject forms of violence against children are crimes which should be punished as such, and in all cases the best interest of the child should prevail," said spokesman Christophe Boulierac.
The bill follows a previous controversy after Turkey's constitutional court in July annulled part of the criminal code which classified all sexual acts with children under 15 as sexual abuse. | Thousands have protested in Istanbul in Turkey against a bill that would let off men who assaulted underage girls if they marry their victims. |
36078414 | The hosts added 170 to their overnight 110-1 at Bristol before Norwell (102) fell lbw to Chesney Hughes after making his maiden first-class century.
Hughes bowled Dent to end his 312-ball knock on 180, but Hamish Marshall (72) helped keep Gloucestershire on top.
Kieran Noema-Barnett also added 58 from 52 balls as the home side were all out for 563 at stumps, a lead of 119.
Gloucestershire bowler Liam Norwell told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:
"I just thought, 'try and bat a few overs, just frustrate them, score 15, 20 if you can' and I'm still a bit shocked, in all honestly. It's my first hundred in any cricket, so I'm quite happy with that.
"Last year wasn't a great year with the bat. This winter, I worked with the coaching team to just stay still when I'm batting and watch the ball, to stay relaxed when I'm batting. It went OK today.
"Hopefully I can kick on and start to be a bit more consistent down the lower end of the order." | Nightwatchman Liam Norwell and Chris Dent hit tons as Gloucestershire earned a first-innings lead over Derbyshire. |
34693518 | State-controlled Channel One TV said it was the worst disaster in the history of Russian aviation. Russia and Egypt "fully understand each other on issues relating to the investigation of the crash", it quoted Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov saying.
NTV said the black boxes will be deciphered by Russian specialists and the pro-Kremlin rolling news station LifeNews TV said: "The whole world mourns the victims of the air disaster."
"We cannot rule out that terrorists could have had a hand in the air disaster. It is well known that since Russia started a military operation in Syria, a number of jihadist groups have declared a 'holy war' against Russia and its citizens," mass-circulation newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets said on its website.
On Ekho Moskvy radio, a former member of the elite anti-terrorism Alpha force, Sergey Goncharov, dismissed reports that the group calling itself Islamic State (IS) might be responsible for the crash. "This is another publicity campaign by IS," he said.
The pro-government paper, Izvestia, reports that the airline owes the Russian state Pension Fund money for insurance fees, but it notes that the company's alleged cash flow problems stem from tour companies not paying their bills.
An aviation engineer, Viktor Alksnis tells the pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda this is not the first time that "we are stepping on the same rake". He says dozens of small airlines that emerged in "the wild 1990s cannot ensure safety of air travel".
Novaya Gazeta newspaper warns against the tendency by watchdogs to criticise disasters only after they happened. They should focus on trying to prevent them, the article argues. "We have too little information so far to develop versions on the causes of the air crash... The agencies always find airlines' violations after the trouble has happened".
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | Only a handful of newspapers in Russia are published at the weekend and along with the press websites running updates on the story, they have tried to make sense of what exactly happened to Flight KGL9268. |
20158386 | Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, were electrocuted while hiding from police in a sub-station in the eastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
Their deaths sparked weeks of rioting across France's deprived suburbs.
Last year, a lower court dropped a "failure to help" case against the officers for lack of concrete evidence.
The case will now go to the appeals court in the French city of Rennes.
For seven years the teenagers' families and local support groups have campaigned to have the policemen put on trial.
The judgement was welcomed by the lawyer for the families.
He said the officers' "sole objective" that night had been to catch the two teenagers, who had committed no offence.
"At no point... did the police attempt to warn the children of the risk," he said, according to France's Le Parisien newspaper.
The rioting sparked by the two teenagers' deaths spread across the country with thousands of cars torched over 21 nights of violence.
French TF1 television says that across France, 130 police officers and protesters were injured, and 300 buildings and 10,000 vehicles were set ablaze.
The court ruling on Wednesday said the lower court in Paris had not answered the plaintiffs' allegation that the police were unsure that night whether the youths had fled into the electricity sub-station.
In a radio message that night, one of the police officers said: "If they get onto the EDF site I don't much rate their chances", the court heard.
A year after the deaths, an internal police report confirmed that the teenagers had been chased by police before they entered the sub-station. | France's highest court of appeal has overturned a ruling that cleared two policemen of involvement in the deaths of two teenagers in 2005. |
40607573 | Sally Pollard, 39, who had played the role for more than 12 years, died at their home on 16 June.
Tim Pollard, 53, said his wife was "absolutely brilliant".
About £6,000 has been raised which will go to the charities that helped her stay at home in her final months, he said.
Dr Pollard was a genetics scientist and lecturer at the University of Nottingham.
Mr Pollard has played Robin Hood for more than two decades.
The couple fell in love while playing the famous duo and married last September. They have a daughter, Scarlett, aged three.
Mr Pollard, who is employed by the city council to appear as Robin Hood at special events, said: "Sally was absolutely brilliant, not just as a Maid Marian, which she loved doing, being part of the Robin Hood legend and representing the city, but she was a great scientist, teacher, working at the university and helping others.
"Some of her research is ongoing and that's a great legacy for her."
Following his wife's death he decided to raise some money for the charities that had helped her.
He said: "We thought we might get a couple of hundred pounds, but the goodwill Sally has engendered means we've raised well over £6,000."
Sally Pollard's funeral took place on Friday. | Nottingham's official Robin Hood said he had been overwhelmed by donations for Maid Marian - his wife who died of breast cancer. |
34488220 | Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead made the announcement during a speech at the 2015 Scottish Inshore Fisheries Conference in Inverness.
The bid for protected food name (PFN) status in Europe has been made by the Orkney Fishermen's Society.
The group is one of the leading processors of brown crab in the UK.
Last month, bakers launched a bid for the Forfar bridie to be given the same protected status as Champagne.
Other Scottish foods that have already won protection include Stornoway black pudding, Arbroath smokies and Ayrshire Dunlop cheese.
Mr Lochhead said: "Scotland is world-famous for our wonderful food and drink and Orkney crab is well known throughout the food industry for its high quality.
"It's great news that Orkney crab has applied for protected status which could help guarantee the quality and reputation of this iconic product."
Stewart Crichton, of the Orkney Fisherman's Society, said "We've worked very hard for a number of years to build the reputation of Orkney crab, starting from our fishermen and the care and pride they take in their job, to our processing factories and our customers.
"Protecting the integrity of that brand is the next logical step in the process and one we're delighted to be embarking on". | Orkney crab has become the latest Scottish delicacy to be put forward for protected food name status. |
36311507 | Page last week said that there was no truth in reports linking him to the head coach's job at Cardiff City.
He was also again tipped for a return to his former club Sheffield United, prior to another ex-Blade Chris Wilder getting the job - and he is now linked to Wilder's old post at Northampton.
"It's no surprise. He's done very well with a limited budget," said Grant.
"Whether it be someone like Cardiff City or Sheffield United, or whoever it might be, with a big budget, he'd be bound to do well.
"He understands the players inside out," Vale's 28-year-old player of the year told BBC Radio Stoke.
"The players haven't got a bad word to say about him. Even the ones who aren't playing. That says everything about him."
As a player, uncompromising centre-half Page won 41 caps for Wales and made 550 career appearances over 18 years at Watford, Sheffield United, Cardiff City, Coventry City, Huddersfield Town and Chesterfield.
He is halfway through his current two-year contract at Vale Park, having been appointed as successor to Micky Adams, initially as caretaker boss, in September 2014.
He has been in the Potteries for five years, having first been brought in to join the Vale coaching staff in 2011 by Adams.
After being tipped to be relegated at the start of the season, he guided Vale to a top-half finish in League One.
Vale finished 12th, a rise of six places from last season, despite going down to their biggest loss in over two years at home to Walsall on the final day. | Port Vale midfielder Anthony Grant says he is "not surprised" at the reported interest in his manager Rob Page. |
35625057 | The MateBook is designed to be an alternative to laptops and is thinner than Microsoft's rival Surface Pro 4 thanks to its use of a USB-C port.
The Chinese firm is already the world's third-bestselling mobile phone-maker, but until now had only made tablets powered by Android.
Experts said it made good business sense to expand into the new category.
However, there was no mention of the much-rumoured P9 smartphone at Huawei's event.
When questioned about the no-show, the firm told the BBC it did not discuss future products.
The MateBook features a 12in (30.5cm) display and can be clipped into an add-on keyboard and used with a stylus.
Its advantages over Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 are that it is:
However, the disadvantages are that Huawei's machine is only offered with a sixth generation Core M processor, and not Intel's more powerful Core i5 or i7 chips.
In addition, the decision to rely on a USB-C port means that older peripherals cannot be attached directly to the machine and it lacks a built-in display port.
In order to gain USB 2 and external display connections, users will need to carry an adapter, which also includes an ethernet port. The tablet does, however, have a built-in SD memory card slot.
One other unusual feature about the machine is that its stylus includes a laser pointer at the opposite end to its nib.
One company watcher said he was "totally underwhelmed" by the product, but said he could understand why it had been developed.
"I expect that Huawei will receive contributions to its marketing costs from Intel and Microsoft," said Ben Wood from the CCS Insight consultancy.
"Both of them will want to go to great lengths to help it promote the product, and that takes out some of the risk for Huawei.
"I should add that it has also been beautifully engineered. But even so, this is a segment of the market that is getting very crowded very quickly with Lenovo and Samsung also having recently announced similar products."
Apple also put its iPad Pro on sale in November, which likewise has a stylus and clip-on keyboard but still uses the firm's mobile iOS operating system.
PC shipments are forecast to fall further this year - research firm Gartner has predicted they will decrease by about 1% - and tablet shipments as a whole are expected to see an even steeper drop.
But the so-called "detachable tablet" category, which includes the MateBook, is growing.
Sales were up 75% in 2015 and are forecast to double again this year, according to market intelligence firm IDC.
"It's a product category that we are going to see more people get involved in as it's a good way for the mobile players to attack the PC market," commented Tim Coulling, an analyst at the tech consultancy Canalys.
"But the thing is, Microsoft Surface Pro benefits from the company's brand name and also makes use of the firm's business-to-business sales channels."
These are things where Huawei's MateBook could be at a disadvantage, he added.
The entry-level MateBook will cost $699 (£485) when it goes on sale later this year, making it $100 cheaper than the basic Surface Pro 4.
To purchase its keyboard, MatePen and MateDock will cost an additional $277.
Follow all the BBC's MWC coverage via the "Mobile World Congress 2016" tag in its news app.
You can also keep track of our technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones and the rest of the team covering the Barcelona event via a dedicated Twitter list. | Huawei has announced its first Windows 10 tablet, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. |
35504800 | Seven premierships from spells at Australian sides Brisbane Broncos and St George Illawarra are evidence of his talents, as is a World Cup success in 2008 as assistant to Stephen Kearney with New Zealand.
Former Broncos, Australia, Queensland and Wigan centre Steve Renouf flourished under Bennett's coaching, while Australia and New South Wales outside-back Kurt Gidley also played under the 66-year-old at Newcastle Knights.
Wales coach John Kear has plenty of experience from his time in the English game and as an international boss.
The trio spoke to BBC's Super League Show about some of the secrets behind Bennett's success.
International coaches get very little time with the players they select, so building relationships in those short periods is key.
With the Four Nations following the Super League and NRL seasons at the end of 2016, Bennett's timescale is limited.
Renouf: "He knows what to say, he learns about the individual and he takes the time to do that.
"He'll get some ideas off people who know them, but he likes to go one-on-one and is very good at picking personality. He works like that.
"One thing he still has and carries with him today is the motivational side. He can be brutally honest when he needs to be."
Gidley: "He's a wonderful motivator, he just seems to say the right things at the right times in the least amount of words.
"Sometimes people ramble on and say things that end up too complicated for players to understand, but he seems to put it in the simplest terms.
"In the dressing rooms, the training field or even the team meal, he'll say something that will stick in the back of the mind."
Renouf: "You don't realise how much respect we have, anyone who's been coached under him - he's a father figure to us, and we still talk to him when need be.
"I'm 45, and I still speak with him. Guys like (Australia coach) Mal Meninga hold him in such high esteem and one thing good about Wayne is that if he is going to say something to you, you listen.
"I was really happy when I did the job for him, when he asked me to do something on the field - even just a little thing and I did it, and it came off - I was satisfied."
Gidley: "Everyone respects Wayne, especially with what he's been able to achieve in his career.
"We saw the same when he was assistant coach for New Zealand for the 2008 World Cup and they won the competition. I'm sure Wayne's influence had a big part in that."
After securing a fine series win against New Zealand in 2015, England begin the Wayne Bennett era with victory fresh in the mind.
The key for Bennett will be to build on previous coach Steve McNamara's successes, something he did when inheriting Anthony Griffin's squad at Brisbane in his first season back last year.
In the space of a season, the Broncos went from a stuttering play-off exit to a Grand Final - with just a few tweaks to the system and personnel.
Renouf: "No-one could have done what he did with those players. We all knew Brisbane had a good team for a couple of years but weren't getting the right information between their ears about their attitude. He came in and changed that.
"The squad that made the Grand Final was not too different to what went around the year before. A lot of that was down to Wayne and what he did with the players.
"He's got a knack of getting between their ears and getting into their headspace."
Media playback is not supported on this device
With Bennett based in Australia in a full-time role at the Broncos, there is already speculation that an English assistant coach will be brought into help facilitate the handover for the Four Nations.
Bennett has been used to working with a team of staff, going back to his time at Canberra where he co-coached with Don Furner and the Broncos alongside Kevin Walters and Glenn Lazarus.
Renouf: "I was at the Broncos from the age of 17 and I used to think: 'Who are these old blokes that keep talking to us?'
"He'd had all these mentors, old coaches like Bobby Bax [a former coach of Bennett during his playing career] and Ronnie Spalding, with his AFL background, but you look back now and it was all part of his plan."
John Kear: "I think when you've got the best coach of his era - and Wayne is that - who is available and is willing, then you have to seize on it.
"With the success he's had over a number of years, that's how you test the quality of a coach. Wayne has been around the block many times and that experience will be fully utilised for England.
"I expect us to win the World Cup or Four Nations in the next two years."
You can watch the Super League Show on BBC One every Monday in the north of England, with a national repeat on BBC Two every Tuesday and available on the iPlayer all week. | He is known as the 'supercoach', but what exactly is it that makes new England boss Wayne Bennett so super? |
40429847 | The combined event will include the finals of the Davis Cup and Fed Cup.
The hard court event would be held at the Palexpo convention centre for three years from November 2018.
"Change is needed to ensure that we maximise the full potential of these iconic and historic competitions," said ITF president David Haggerty.
Geneva was chosen by the ITF board at its meeting in Frankfurt from a shortlist of six that also included Copenhagen (Denmark), Miami (USA), Istanbul (Turkey), Turin (Italy), and Wuhan (China).
The ITF AGM will be asked to approve the full reform package at its meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in August 2017.
It is proposed initially that the season-ending event will run for three years and could also include the semi-finals of the Fed Cup, meaning the competition would expand from eight teams to 16.
"The creation of the World Cup of Tennis finals is at the heart of a series of reforms that represent the most significant changes in the history of Davis Cup and Fed Cup," added Haggerty.
"We've consulted widely and listened carefully, and believe we will deliver an exceptional new event for fans, players and nations."
Argentina are the Davis Cup holders and the Czech Republic won the Fed Cup in 2016.
The plans have been greeted with dismay by some tennis players, including Jamie Murray's Brazilian doubles partner Bruno Soares and Australian world number 187 Sam Groth.
Soares tweeted that the "ITF itself is slowly killing the competition", while Groth said the ITF "had lost the plot". | Geneva has been chosen by the International Tennis Federation as the preferred venue for the first World Cup of Tennis in 2018. |
38084467 | Police officers who may have information about the incident have been urged to come forward.
John Hemsworth ,39, told his wife he was assaulted in the Springfield Road in west Belfast in the early hours of Monday 7 July 1997.
He died six months later.
Two police investigations were unable to establish if police officers had been responsible for the injuries that led to his death.
Five years ago an inquest concluded "it was highly probable" that one or more RUC officers were responsible for injuries to Mr Hemsworth, which were likely to have played a part in his death.
The inquest heard expert evidence which described his injuries as being consistent with having been struck by a cylindrical object similar to a police baton.
A report by the Police Ombudsman says new evidence confirms that John Hemsworth was assaulted by police officers.
"Our findings are that police officers were involved that night, that he received extensive injuries as a consequence of that interaction with police officers and so, yes, ostensibly this was an example of police brutality unfortunately," said Adrian McAllister, chief executive of the office of the Police Ombudsman.
The assault took place in the Springfield Road area of west Belfast following a night of trouble.
The local police station had come under repeated attack from rioters during widespread trouble across Northern Ireland linked to the Orange Order parade stand-off at Drumcree in Portadown.
Mr Hemsworth was not involved in any of the trouble and had been walking through the area on his way home after a night out.
He alleged that as he was assaulted in Malcolmson Street, a minor road off the Springfield Road. He was later treated in hospital for a broken jaw.
His account of what happened has now been accepted by the Ombudsman.
"The medical evidence is that the injuries sustained by Mr Hemsworth were the sole underling cause of his death in 1998," his report states.
"Further, the available evidence leads me to conclude that those injuries were sustained as a consequence of Mr Hemsworth being assaulted by police officers."
"What I would say to the RUC officers who were present is, 'Let this be on your conscience, you know what happened.'
"Unfortunately the passage of 18 years, being able to get the precise truth becomes, more and more, less likely. We have no ultimate justice."
The report expresses concern that none of the 16 officers on duty in the area where the assault took place was able to recall any details of the incident.
Mr McAllister has urged former or current police officers with information about what happened to come forward.
"Whether we talk about modern policing or policing 20 years ago, honesty and integrity goes to the heart of policing, and I'm satisfied that some officers were involved in that assault that night and that some officers know what went on," he said.
"I would appeal to them once again to come forward and talk to this office, albeit that it's twenty years later, and tell us what happened."
The PSNI said it is a matter of deep regret that police officers who may have been involved in the assault have not been held to account.
Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris appealed to anyone with information about the incident to contact the Ombudsman. | A Police Ombudsman investigation has backed claims by the family of a Catholic man that his death 18 years ago was the result of an assault by RUC officers. |
36384838 | 27 May 2016 Last updated at 10:34 BST
"My gut is telling me go," she told BBC Newsnight. She was speaking as part of its My Decision series, where a number of figures explain how they plan to vote in the EU referendum - and the thinking behind their decision.
More:
Dreda Say Mitchell: 'I'm black and voting for Leave'
Michael Morpurgo: 'I look at the history'
Tom Hunter: 'Where are the facts?'
Tracey Emin: It would be 'insanity' to leave EU
Gillian Duffy: 'I don't want to be a European'
Hilary Alexander: 'My gut is telling me go' | The Daily Telegraph's former fashion editor Hilary Alexander is leaning towards voting out in the EU referendum. |
38103350 | Building on the success of grime acts Stormzy, Kano and Skepta - who won this year's Mercury Prize - newcomers like Ray Blk and Nadia Rose are being tipped for success in the BBC's annual list.
Soul singer Rag N Bone Man and rock provocateurs Cabbage also make the cut.
The list was compiled using tips from a panel of 170 DJs, critics and writers.
It aims to highlight 15 of the most promising rising musical acts for the coming year. Previous winners include Adele, 50 Cent, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith.
Many of this year's nominees have garnered attention by working outside the traditional music industry.
Classically trained rapper Dave racked up more than two million YouTube plays for his self-released single Wanna Know, which was championed, and later remixed, by hip-hop star Drake.
"I had labels playing deal or no deal like I'm Noel Edmonds," the 18-year-old rapped on the single People Know. But he stuck to his guns and released his current EP, Six Paths, on his own label.
Soul singer Jorja Smith is similarly self-sustaining, filming videos at her aunt's house and creating her own artwork.
The longlist also highlights a resurgence in political songwriting, thanks to artists like Declan McKenna, whose recent single Isombard lampoons right-wing US news network Fox News.
The 17-year-old from Hertfordshire previously took aim at Fifa on the song Brazil, which laments the destruction of thousands of homes in preparation for the 2016 World Cup.
Post-punk quartet Cabbage have written songs about Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, while displaying a streak of dark humour that echoes fellow Mancunian John Cooper Clarke.
International artists on the list include hotly-tipped rapper Anderson .Paak, who shot to fame after featuring on Dr Dre's Compton soundtrack last year; and Maggie Rogers, who left Pharrell Williams speechless earlier this year.
The star producer was asked to critique one of her songs during a masterclass at NYU's Clive Davis Institute. But as the song progressed, the stunned look on his face gave way to quiet awe.
"Wow," he said. "I have zero notes."
A video of their encounter went viral; with the song, Alaska, streamed more than 21 million times. Rogers has since signed a deal with Polydor Records.
Gravel-voiced singer Rag N Bone Man hails from Brighton and sounds like a modern-day Joe Cocker. He may already be familiar to viewers of Later... With Jools Holland after performing a stunning acoustic version of his single Human in September.
The song is already a major hit outside the UK and is currently spending its ninth week at the top of the German singles chart.
Other acts on the longlist include grime artist AJ Tracey, pop singer Raye and straight-talking MC Stefflon Don.
There are also spots for electro-pop enigma The Japanese House, Reading-based rock band The Amazons and singer-songwriter Tom Grennan, who recently appeared on the Chase & Status single When It All Goes Wrong.
Last year's winner, Jack Garratt, praised the "very diverse" shortlist, and encouraged fans to embrace new talent.
"There's more music out there than just your favourite act," he said. "It all deserves respect and it all deserves love.
"Even though there are 15 names on the longlist, there are hundreds more that definitely could have been. I think 2017 is going to be a very interesting year."
The Sound of... list launched in 2003 and has a track record in championing new and innovative acts, many of whom have gone on to achieve global success.
According to the rules, the acts should not already be well known to the UK general public - which excludes X Factor contestants and band members pursuing a solo career.
They must not have had a top 20 single or album before 30 October 2016 - although guest vocalists remain eligible.
The 15-act longlist will be whittled down to five in the new year, with the winner announced on 6 January.
Radio 1 DJ Mistajam said the Sound of 2017 showed that the next 12 months would be "filled with amazing music from homegrown talent".
He said: "From the driving rock of The Amazons to Dave's 18-year-old inner city street tales. The list shows the breadth and quality of what we can all expect next year."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | The rude health of British hip-hop is reflected in the BBC's Sound of 2017 line-up, with urban artists making up half of this year's longlist. |
26747101 | In a widely expected announcement, he said on state TV he was appearing "in my military uniform for the last time".
Field Marshal Sisi led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July after mass opposition protests.
Correspondents say he is likely to win the presidency, given his popularity and the lack of any serious rivals.
By Orla GuerinBBC News, Cairo
Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has surprised no-one by announcing his farewell to arms. His exit from Egypt's military was carefully choreographed over a period of months.
In or out of uniform he will be viewed as the military's man. Just three years after the revolution - which was supposed to end decades of military rule - Egypt's generals are again supplying the country's leader.
The softly spoken former intelligence chief - with no combat experience - will now have to fight on several fronts. He will inherit a bitterly divided nation, a crippled economy and a growing insurgency.
Diplomatic sources say he is a reluctant candidate who is well aware of the pitfalls ahead. One problem he won't have is winning.
Sisi enjoys huge support, and so far has no serious challengers. Some potential candidates have refused to run saying the opposition can't campaign freely and the election will be a farce.
Analysts warn that Sisi's strong support could wane if he can't make progress fast.
To his supporters, the 59-year-old former army chief is a saviour who can end the political turmoil dogging Egypt since 2011 when a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's three decades of one-man rule.
But his opponents hold him responsible for what human rights groups say are widespread abuses, and fear that he wants a return to authoritarianism.
His announcement came hours after Egypt's interim authorities ordered the prosecution of 919 suspected Islamists and days after 528 were sentenced to death in a separate case.
In his address, Field Marshal Sisi told Egyptians he first wore his military uniform as a 15-year-old cadet and said: "I will always be proud of wearing the uniform of defending my country."
But he said he was answering "the demand of a wide range of Egyptians who have called on me to run for this honourable office".
He warned of an "extremely difficult task" ahead for Egyptians as the country faces up to its "economic, social, political and security realities", including a threat "by the terrorists".
But he proposed "hard work and self-denial". "If I am granted the honour of the leadership," he said, "I promise that we together, leadership and people, can achieve stability, safety and hope for Egypt".
The starting date of the nomination process for the presidential election will reportedly be announced on Sunday, after which no changes may be made to the electoral roll.
New face of Egypt's old guard
Joy, anger and mockery greet announcement
Sisi announcement
The government has yet to set a date for the vote, although earlier this month al-Ahram newspaper cited interim President Adly Mansour as saying that it would be completed by 17 July.
Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the 2012 election, is the only other candidate to have declared his intention to run.
Gen Sedki Sobhi, the current chief-of-staff of the armed forces, is expected to be named Field Marshal Sisi's successor.
If Abdul Fattah al-Sisi becomes president, he will be the latest in a line of Egyptian rulers drawn from the military; a line only briefly broken during Islamist President Morsi's year in office.
Mr Morsi appointed Field Marshal Sisi as both military commander-in-chief and defence minister in August 2012 - a move seen at the time as an attempt to reclaim power from the military, which had assumed interim control after President Mubarak's fall.
But following mass protests a year later demanding the resignation of Mr Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood-led government, it was Field Marshal Sisi who told the leadership to respond to "the will of the people" or risk army intervention.
When Mr Morsi refused, Field Marshal Sisi suspended the constitution and announced the formation of a technocratic interim government.
Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of members of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood have been detained in a crackdown by the interim authorities, who have designated the Islamist movement a terrorist group.
Mr Morsi and many other senior Brotherhood leaders are currently being tried on a variety of charges, including incitement to murder and conspiring to commit terrorist acts. | Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has announced that he has resigned as Egypt's military chief in order to stand for the presidency. |
37452773 | He's leaning back in the couch and giving it the old 'Come on, what do they know?' when asked about the bookmakers making Davis Love's United States odds-on favourites to beat Darren Clarke's Europe at the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine this week.
What do they know? Probably a whole lot less than Torrance knows, that's for sure. Eight Ryder Cups as a player, one as a (victorious) captain and this week a vice-captain for the third time, his span in the matches stretches back 35 years to his rookie year of 1981 and an 18½-9½ shellacking at the hands of the American Dream Team at Walton Heath.
Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Ray Floyd. "They weren't bad, to be fair."
Eight of the Ryder Cup team that will do battle in Minnesota weren't born when Torrance, 63, hit his first shot in the matches. Six of them weren't around when he holed the winning putt in 1985.
When he played in his last Ryder Cup, in 1995, Rory McIlroy was six, Thomas Pieters was three and Matt Fitzpatrick had just celebrated his first birthday.
Media playback is not supported on this device
The old dog has travelled a long road and his Ryder Cup experience is off the scale. This business of favouritism?
"Doesn't matter a damn who's favourite," he said. "Let them be favourites, we don't care. It's great that they're favourites.
"It takes a lot of pressure off us. It's very close, it's always very close. Papers make the favourites. The bookies make them favourites, but what do the bookies know?"
Where do you start cataloguing Torrance's Ryder Cup years? You go back to the beginning; Walton Heath, third week in September 1981.
Torrance was 28 when he made his debut, a winner of three tournaments on the European Tour. He was in good form, but good very rarely beats great. He came up against the invincibles that year.
The only majors that Europe had won in the 11 years leading up to the 1981 Ryder Cup were both claimed by Seve Ballesteros. By contrast, America had won three that year alone and had nine different major champions - and 35 majors - in their ranks.
Trevino had won five of them.
"I met Lee very early on in my career and he's been a dear, dear friend my whole life," said Torrance. "So he sees me on the Saturday night and the singles draw is out. (Europe were losing by five points). And he says, 'Sammy, I'm gonna beat the moustache off you'. 'OK, Lee'.
"I get up the next morning, I've come out of the hotel and he's waiting for his courtesy car. I've got my own car. I said, 'Come on Lee, I'll give you a lift'. 'Sure, Sammy, let's go'.
"You come out of the hotel and go right to go to the golf club - and he knew this. So I come out and turn left. 'Sammy, where you going? I said, 'To hell with you Lee, we're going to London, half a point each!' And he laughed.
"He beat me 4&3 (actually, it was 5&3). What a player. A dream player. Was he beatable? If I had a gun. And, yes, I shaved my moustache off that night."
The first rookie that Torrance played with at the Ryder Cup was his mate, Ian Woosnam, at West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1983.
"We were on the putting green and we were playing Ben Crenshaw and Calvin Peete. Woosie was nervous. I said, 'Come on, for God's sake, I'll hit off the first, we'll kill 'em, come on, let's go'.
"We bounced up on the tee. I teed it up, hit the opening shot - lost ball. Gone. He hits an iron down the fairway, 6-iron to 3 feet, birdie. Nice one, Woosie."
Some conquer the nerves, some don't, but nobody understands what that first tee is like until they experience it, says Torrance.
"My favourite analogy is one I told (David) Feherty when he made it in Kiawah Island in 1991. He's my best mate. He says, 'Right, come on, tell me what it's really like...' I said, 'I can't'. It's like explaining to somebody who is not a father what's it like to be a father.
"You can't explain that bond that you have between you and your child. It's exactly the same with the Ryder Cup. You just can't explain it."
Torrance's best individual performance was his last, he says - his 2&1 win over Loren Roberts in the singles in 1995 at Oak Hill, only the second victory on American soil. "That boy could putt the eyes off the ball."
His most wounding loss? A 3&1 defeat by Tom Watson in the singles in 1989 at the Belfry. "I played great and I couldn't hole a damn thing. I'm wielding this big long putter and he's got the short twitchy one and he said to me afterwards - and I think it might have been a little bit of a dig - 'The only difference was our putting, Sam'.
"That loss hurt because I felt I could beat him and to get an opportunity to play a man as great as that, that's a scalp you want and I didn't achieve it."
There's not pause for thought about his most fearsome opponent. "Raymond Floyd - he just terrified me. He looked like a big gangster. He really did look like something out of The Godfather. 'You can't beat him. You'll be in trouble if you beat him'.
He faced Floyd in a fourballs match in 1985. Floyd won.
"He was the best. You can't say enough about him. His enthusiasm, his love for the game, his love for you, he would do anything for you (in a Ryder Cup week).
"You could say, 'Seve, I can't get this chip right from thick rough' and he'd spend 40 minutes with you showing you how to play it and you'd go to the French Open the next week and say, 'Seve, I still haven't...' And he'd say, 'Go away, I see you in two years, huh? Go away, go away'. Brilliant.
"We know how great Seve was and we all know how bad he was at the end and I think that was his greatest moment, at Oak Hill in 1995, when he played Tom Lehman. He could have been 10-down after nine he was that bad. He was one-down.
"We were all on the range, because he was first match out and we knew he was going to get beat and he knew he was going to get beat, but he had so much heart. He fought this man tooth and nail right to the end. When Seve walked into the room, he was like Elvis. Just magnificent."
Nick Faldo said of the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island that it "surrendered its dignity" that year. The original Gulf War had just ended and the feeling of patriotism swept around the event.
Some of the American team wore Operation Desert Storm baseball caps and the home crowd spent the three days in a frenzy. "It almost turned into a riot," said Woosnam.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Torrance disagrees. "It wasn't a 'War on the Shore'. That was the press. The crowd were vociferous, of course they were. That's what it's like. That inspires us.
"Now, you can't really call it respectful when you get these idiots shouting 'get in the hole!' on a par five. What do they think we are, supermen?
"I don't even blame them. American sport is very noisy. You go to a baseball match or a football match, it's noisy.
"I don't care what noise they make. As long as they don't make noise when you're hitting. If that happens, there's going to be a problem, but it's not going to happen.
"Kiawah Island was not a war. Every time somebody says that to me, I correct them.
"It became the 'War on the Shore' because of the hat that Corey (Pavin) wore. He's wearing a hat for God's sake. A camouflage hat, he's supporting the Americans fighting in Iraq, or whatever the hell they're doing. He wasn't out there wearing a combat hat against the Europeans.
"It might have been an error of judgment him wearing it, but he wasn't wearing it for the reasons people thought he was wearing it. Brookline (in 1999) was the only one (when the Ryder Cup got out of hand) and it was one incident, one green. Actually, there were a lot more incidents that week, but we'll not go into that."
The 1985 Ryder Cup was held at The Belfry. The USA hadn't lost since 1957. Europe were 9-7 ahead going into the Sunday singles and history was in the air.
Torrance was drawn against Andy North, who had won his second US Open only a few months earlier. "I think I was out in 41," says Torrance. He was two-down at the turn and then double-bogeyed the 10th to fall three-down.
He pegged North back. Standing on the 17th tee, the American's lead had been cut to one. "On 17, I have a putt to go all-square and everything was shaking. You asked me when was I most nervous. That was it, right there. Somehow I kept it together, hit a good putt and it went straight in the hole.
"I hit a drive on 18 that was beyond belief and, as soon as Andy connected with his drive, I knew it was in the water, I knew he was dead. I just started crying. Sobbing. Coming off the tee and all the American wives were there and I so tried to stop this stupid crying. The tears were flooding down my face. 'Come on, show a bit of strength here'.
"I hit a lovely nine-iron to 25ft and I've gone like this with the club in my hands and Woosie appears for a cuddle and I give him such a clatter on the back of the head with my iron.
"The clunk was unbelievable. I thought he was going to go down, but the way we were feeling we weren't feeling any pain.
"Did it change my life? Absolutely - and so much for the better. To this day, I have people saying, 'I was there Sam, I saw that putt'. So was I. It was brilliant."
Such cool under pressure. How many Europeans this time are made of that kind of stuff? "12 of them," he says. Then he chuckles again, like a man who cannot wait for it all to get started. | We're sitting with Sam Torrance in the clubhouse at Woburn and the great man is chuckling. |
39689839 | More than 100 farmers from southern Tamil Nadu state had mounted an eye-catching protest in the capital, Delhi, more than a month ago.
They brandished human skulls, held live mice in their mouths, shaved their heads, and slashed their hands.
They were demanding waivers on farm loan repayments and relief funds, among other things.
Reports say that the farmers, who had been camping in a makeshift tent near Delhi's Jantar Mantar observatory for 40 days, called off their protest on Sunday after an assurance from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami that their demands would be met.
The farmers union said they would resume their protest if their demands were not met by 25 May.
Tamil Nadu is facing its worst farming crisis in decades because of lack of water due to poor rainfall, low crop prices, and dwindling access to formal credit.
More than 50 debt-stricken farmers have taken their lives in drought-affected districts since October, according to officials. A local farmers association insists the number of farm-related suicides and death of farmers is more than 250.
The farmers are demanding ample drought relief funds, pensions for elderly farmers, a waiver on repayments of loans, better prices for their crops and the interlinking of rivers to irrigate their lands. | Drought-hit farmers in India have suspended a protest, after an assurance that their demands would be met. |
37309218 | The American car giant announced this week it planned to make 125,000 new Dragon engines a year instead of 250,000 from 2018.
It blamed changes in global demand.
Unite has written to workers saying "clearly" the employment level could not be sustained on projected levels.
The engine plant currently makes 250,000 engines a year for Jaguar Land Rover but that will end in 2018.
The deal to produce the new engine has been scaled back from a £181m investment to £100m.
Andy Richards, Unite's Wales secretary, said the union had been aware a shortfall in production was likely earlier this year and had been looking for answers.
Unite said it had three questions for Ford:
Mr Richards, a convenor at the plant in the 1980s and 1990s, said he had witnessed "the closure of a great many plants by Ford" which had followed a reduction of investment and criticism of the workforce.
"Unite the union will never roll over and quietly accept the same fate for Bridgend," he told workers in the letter.
Mr Richards told BBC Wales he suspected decisions were not being made on "basic industrial efficiency logic" and were more about company politics, but the union was prepared for a fight if necessary.
"When I started there were 24 Ford plant in Britain. In my view, they're attempting to pull out of Britain," he said.
"It's arguable they're looking to reduce their Ford Europe operations, which will affect places like Cologne too. I think this is more to do with Ford's global repositioning strategy, which seems to favour China and Russia.
"As far as we're concerned we're concentrating on our members' jobs in Wales."
Ford said on Tuesday it did not plan job losses among the 1,850 workforce and said it still had a "substantial commitment" to the plant. | The main union at Ford in Bridgend has said it wants answers as to how it will keep 1,850 staff in work, while cutting the number of new engines it produces by half. |
39150882 | The 89-year-old's manager said he had been in St Peter's Hospital in Surrey since Sunday.
"Sir Bruce Forsyth is scheduled to return home from hospital later today and would like to thank everyone for their good wishes," Ian Wilson said.
He added the entertainer thanked hospital staff for their care.
"[Sir Bruce] and his family would also like to say a special thank you to all the NHS doctors, nurses and staff at St Peter's Hospital for their kindness and care."
In 2015, the presenter underwent keyhole surgery after suffering two aneurysms, which were discovered when tests were carried out following a fall at his Surrey home.
Sir Bruce left Strictly Come Dancing in 2014, having presented it since the first series, but his manager denied reports last October that he had retired from the entertainment industry.
At the time, Mr Wilson said Sir Bruce was "recuperating from various health issues", adding: "His sole focus at the moment is to continue getting better and he has made no formal or informal decision about retiring from showbusiness."
Sir Bruce has not been seen in public recently, and was too frail to attend the funerals of close friends Ronnie Corbett and Sir Terry Wogan last year.
In an interview last October, his wife said he was still having "a bit of a problem moving".
"He's in incredible shape mentally but he gets very tired," she said, adding: "With a little bit of luck he should be back."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Sir Bruce Forsyth is due to return home later after spending five nights in intensive care following a severe chest infection. |
40185927 | Glenn Goodman, 37, was shot on the A64 near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, on 7 June 1992 after stopping a car to make a routine check.
Paul Magee, a member of the IRA, was jailed for life in March 1993 for Mr Goodman's murder.
The private service in Tadcaster was attended by serving police officers and former colleagues.
Read more about this and other stories from across Yorkshire
The officer, who was married and had a young son, had only been with North Yorkshire Police for eight months at the time of the shooting.
His patrol partner, PC Sandy Kelly, was also shot and injured but recovered.
Magee was released from prison in 2000 as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
North Yorkshire's Chief Constable, Dave Jones, said: "Glenn's death was a dark and tragic moment in the history of North Yorkshire Police and he will never be forgotten.
"Glenn was volunteering to help protect his local community when he - and his family - paid the ultimate price.
"Today, there are thousands of others on duty across the UK, facing similar dangers every day who all deserve our support and respect."
Mr Jones added the force's thoughts remained with Mr Goodman's family and friends. | A service to mark the 25th anniversary of the murder of a special constable by an IRA gunman has taken place. |
36049406 | First on the move was Patrick Harvie of the Scottish Greens. He spoke frankly about being arrested by the police and why he would love to give a home to a refugee - but can't.
Asking the questions were Sarah (18); Jamie-Lee (16); Louis (16); Erin (18) and Megan (18).
They are all members of the BBC's Generation 2016 election panel.
Mr Harvie, an elected politician for more than 15 years, was asked if he had ever been arrested by the police.
He recalled that during a demonstration at the Faslane nuclear base, he was "hauled off" - alongside his mother - by officers.
Mr Harvie added: "I think changing the world, sometimes, needs a wide range of different techniques and getting arrested sometimes happens."
When asked whether he would let a refugee live with him, the politician said he "might", but he didn't have the space "at the moment".
Other questions put to Mr Harvie included - would you ever fight in a war, is it fair that the minimum wage is lower for young people and who would you like to get stuck in a lift with?
The Scottish Lib Dems' Willie Rennie; Scottish Tory Ruth Davidson; Scottish Labour's Kezia Dugdale and the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon have also been part of the BBC's Leaders in a Lift series. | Young voters have been quizzing Scotland's party leaders during a five-stop lift journey. |
40490216 | Assets worth a combined 1.24bn yuan ($183m; £141m) belonging to Jia Yueting, his wife, and three affiliates have reportedly been blocked.
The ruling follows LeEco's failure to pay interest due on bank loans taken out to fund its smartphone business.
Neither Mr Jia nor the company has commented on the reports.
LeEco was for a while known as the Netflix of China, a company that streamed content and eventually started making its own original material.
But it then drew comparison with the likes of Apple and Tesla when it began branching out into hardware, including a smart TV, phones and electric cars.
LeEco started selling devices in the US at the tail end of last year, but is now facing a cash crunch and has been forced to slash costs, including making job cuts.
Mr Jia, who resigned as chief executive in May but retains his position as chairman, recently admitted to shareholders that its financial problems were "more severe than we expected".
In April, a $2bn deal to buy consumer electronics-maker Vizio was called off because of "regulatory headwinds".
Meanwhile LeEco's smartphone unit, Coolpad, has further delayed its 2016 financial results because of audit issues. The company's unaudited results from May suggest it lost $542m last year.
Coolpad shares listed in Hong Kong have been suspended from trade for three months.
The news of the court freeze on some of LeEco's assets was welcomed by Philip G Chiu, CEO of US-based marketing firm Beyond Media Global.
He took LeEco business LeTV to court over debts of $1m but claims that it still owes his firm around $100,000.
"LeTV has still not paid all their debt to our company," he told the BBC. | The billionaire co-founder of struggling Chinese technology giant LeEco has had personal assets frozen by a Shanghai court, state media reports. |
35703809 | Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped to finish the day 4.1% up, at 16,746.55 points, the highest point for the index in just over three weeks.
Earlier, US markets had risen on oil prices and strong economic data, suggesting the world's biggest economy was regaining momentum.
Japan's exporters were among the best performers on the Nikkei trading floor.
Electronics giants Sony and Panasonic led the pack, gaining about 5% and 7% respectively.
With Australia's fourth quarter growth beating expectations, the ASX/200 rose 2% to close the day at 5,021.20 points.
The country's economy grew by 3% in the three months to December compared with a year earlier.
Household consumption, construction and public spending were the main factors driving the better-than-expected growth.
Shares in commodity giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton rose by 4.7% and 4.37% respectively.
Moody's cuts China outlook
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed the session up 3.07% at 20,003.49, extending the global rally as investor sentiment brightened on the improved US economic data.
China's mainland benchmark Shanghai Composite also followed the upbeat regional trend and finished the trading day up 4.26% to 2,849.68.
Investor sentiment remained unfazed by US ratings agency Moody's decision to cut its outlook for China from stable to negative.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index finished up 1.6% at 1,947.42 points.
Car makers Hyundai and Kia also rose, boosted by strong sales figures from the US.
Joint sales figures of the affiliated car markers rose by 6.4% in the US in February. | (Close): Japanese shares rose on a strong lead from Wall Street, and other Asian markets also saw strong gains. |
26749410 | Mr Langley had been serving as the force's acting deputy, having been assistant chief constable in charge of all operational matters.
He started his career with Devon and Cornwall Police in 1989 and in 2008 moved to Lincolnshire Police.
Mr Langley said he was "excited and honoured" to be appointed the new deputy chief constable.
He added: "Dyfed Powys is an excellent force and over the last two years I have got to know a lot of officers and staff and I have seen their commitment and hard work to bring about justice, and to deliver services that are truly customer focused.
"I look forward to continuing the work that is already underway to ensure that we put the public at the heart of all that we do, and ensure that everyone receives the quality of service that they are entitled to expect from their police force."
Chief Constable Simon Prince said Mr Langley had already proved himself as "an asset to the force with the work he undertook on operational policing whilst assistant chief constable". | Dyfed-Powys Police have appointed Carl Langley as their new deputy chief constable. |
35454921 | With the aid of a strong breeze, Armagh enjoyed a slender one-point lead at half-time, 0-8 to 1-4, despite Michael Newman's ninth-minute goal for Meath.
The visitors failed to register a score after the break and had Miceal McKenna black-carded after Forker's dismissal.
Sean Tobin (3), Newman (2) and Donal Keogan were Meath second-half scorers.
Armagh made several changes to their starting line-up prior to throw-in as Stephen Sheridan, Ethan Rafferty and Colm Watters came in for Aaron Findon, Niall Grimley and Eugene McVerry.
Stefan Campbell (2), Gavin McParland (2), McKenna (2) Rafferty and Stefan Forker pointed for the Orchard county in the first half, but Rafferty was off-target with an effort at goal.
The hosts made full use of their wind advantage after the break and ran out comfortable victors.
Armagh host Laois at the Athletic Grounds next weekend.
WEEKEND ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE RESULTS
Saturday
Division 1
Down 0-07 3-15 Donegal
Dublin 2-14 0-14 Kerry
Sunday
Division 1
Cork 1-18 0-12 Mayo
Roscommon 1-09 2-10 Monaghan
Division 2
Derry 3-13 1-10 Fermanagh
Meath 1-10 0-08 Armagh
Tyrone 0-10 0-08 Cavan
Laois 1-10 3-12 Galway
Division 3
Clare 1-11 0-07 Sligo
Limerick 1-12 2-09 Tipperary
Offaly 0-12 0-10 Longford
Westmeath 0-11 2-09 Kildare
Division 4
Louth 2-09 0-09 London
Carlow 0-10 1-12 Antrim
Wexford 0-14 1-10 Leitrim
Wicklow 0-13 1-08 Waterford | Armagh lost 1-10 to 0-8 to Meath and had Aidan Forker sent-off late on for a second yellow card offence in their opening Division Two fixture on Sunday. |
40474168 | The Spaniard started from pole position and went on to earn his second victory of the season.
He held off Germany's Jonas Folger, who was second as he earned a first podium finish, with Dani Pedrosa third.
Marquez has 129 points and becomes the fourth leader of the championship this season, with 10 points separating the top four.
Spain's Maverick Vinales, who finished fourth in Germany, is second on 124, while Italy's Andrea Dovizioso dropped from first to third on 123 points after he was eighth at the Sachsenring.
Valentino Rossi, of Italy, was fifth and is fourth in the standings on 119 points.
1. Marc Marquez (Spa/Honda) 40 mins 59.525 secs
2. Jonas Folger (Ger/Yamaha) 41:02.835
3. Dani Pedrosa (Spa/Honda) 41:11.071
4. Maverick Vinales (Spa/Yamaha) 41:13.778
5. Valentino Rossi (Ita/Yamaha) 41:14.505
6. Alvaro Bautista (Spa/Ducati) 41:16.059
7. Aleix Espargaro (Spa/Aprilia) 41:19.261
8. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita/Ducati) 41:19.713
9. Johann Zarco (Fra/Yamaha) 41:20.663
10. Cal Crutchlow (GB/Honda) 41:23.735
1. Marc Marquez (Spa/Honda) 129 points
2. Maverick Vinales (Spa/Yamaha) 124
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita/Ducati) 123
4. Valentino Rossi (Ita/Yamaha) 119
5. Dani Pedrosa (Spa/Honda) 103
6. Johann Zarco (Fra/Yamaha) 84
7. Jonas Folger (Ger/Yamaha) 71
8. Danilo Petrucci (Ita/Ducati) 66
9. Jorge Lorenzo (Spa/Ducati) 65
10. Cal Crutchlow (GB/Honda) 64 | Reigning world champion Marc Marquez won the German Grand Prix to move to the top of this year's title race. |
39232287 | Robert Roskelly, 33, a teacher at Winstanley Community College, Leicester, also admitted staying the night at a pupil's house.
The National College for Teaching and Leadership found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
He was banned from teaching indefinitely.
Live updates and more from Leicestershire
A professional conduct panel heard the teacher held fitness classes at the school during the summer break during which some of the boys "danced topless".
He also had several students and former students as friends on Facebook despite being warned by the head teacher this was not acceptable.
The panel heard the teacher sat on the bed of a pupil while the boy was standing on the floor dressed only in underpants.
Mr Roskelly also admitted taking drugs with a 15-year-old pupil, including mephedrone and legal highs.
Although he did not attend the hearing, his representative said he had regretted his "poor decisions" and "poor choices" relating to drug use.
He also said he was "deeply disappointed" with his choices and conduct.
The school first received a complaint about Mr Roskelly in 2012 and he resigned in December 2014.
He has the right to appeal the case to the High Court. | A science teacher who took legal highs with a student and watched as another one took Viagra has been banned from teaching for life. |
30538284 | In 2009 there were 30 cases of animal cruelty reported to police but so far in 2014, there have already been 66 cases.
A freedom of information request by the BBC revealed cases of animals being beaten, stabbed or blow torched to death.
Other offences included beheadings and paws being cut off.
In other cases, dogs were dragged along by vehicles, a goldfish was fried in a pan, a guinea pig was found skinned with innards removed and a pet snake was cut in half.
Almost 30% of the cases in the last five years relate to cats being shot.
Cases such as a puppy being stabbed resulted in a caution.
Of the 342 offences investigated by Devon and Cornwall Police since 2009, 10% have resulted in a charge, with most cases pending investigation or no suspect identified.
Wildlife crime officer Sgt Robert Bolt said: "It is very worrying that a number of individuals who are committing horrific offences against animals do appear to be getting away with it.
"But we are doing as much as we can. We have officers investigating every offence."
The RSPCA, which also handles cases of animal cruelty, saw a rise in convictions from 33 in 2011 to 47 in 2012. | Animal cruelty crimes have more than doubled in Devon and Cornwall in the last five years say police. |
39158536 | But the slow-moving discussions, which took place in Geneva and are the first in almost a year, still led to no major breakthroughs.
"The train is ready, it's in the station, it's warming up its engine. It just needs an accelerator," said the UN's Staffan de Mistura.
The Syrian government's delegation left without comment.
The proxy talks included a delegation representing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and three opposition groups, who only met at the opening ceremony.
Chief opposition negotiator Nasr al-Hariri said, "Although we are closing this round without clear results ... I can say this time was more positive.
"It was the first time we discussed in acceptable depth the future of Syria and the future of political transition in Syria," he continued.
Russian representatives met both sides behind the scenes, according to Reuters news agency.
Mr De Mistura said the UN-led talks had the support of key regional player Turkey, which supports the opposition, as well as Russia and Iran, who are Syrian allies.
He said, "[There are] people in Syria and outside who still believe there is a military option or a military solution. That is fantasy."
The parties have agreed to return to the negotiating table later in March to discuss four key issues: governance, a draft constitution, elections and counter-terrorism.
Counter-terrorism was added to the agenda at the insistence of President al-Assad's delegation, according to the UN.
The Syrian government considers all rebels to be terrorists.
The UN recognises two groups as terrorists: the so-called Islamic State and the former Nusra Front, which was once an al-Qaeda affiliate. Neither is part of the UN peace process.
Another separate round of talks in Kazakhstan, sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran, and dealing with military issues, is also expected to go ahead later this month. | Syrian peace talks have ended on a more positive note than previous meetings, according to the UN envoy for Syria. |
33030781 | The installation, called Dirty Corner, sits in the grounds outside the palace.
Mr Kapoor said in a French interview it signified "the vagina of the queen coming into power" - but later said the work was open to interpretation.
The Versailles palace was the home of Marie Antoinette, the 18th Century queen of France.
In a tweet, Versailles' mayor said the award-winning artist had "slipped up".
A German tourist, Dunja, told Reuters: "It's confusing, a big vagina and a palace.
"It's one of the most famous places in Paris and I just wanted to see it and I saw this building, this statue, and I don't know what it is."
Another tourist, Megan, from the US, said: "When you think you're coming to Versailles you'd expect like classic French, maybe a big statue of some Roman god but this just seems dirty, gross."
The piece has come in for criticism, but also praise, by female academics in the French press.
Mr Kapoor said on Friday he was misquoted in an earlier interview.
"A work has multiple interpretive possibilities," he said.
"Inevitably, one comes across the body, our bodies and a certain level of sexuality. But it is certainly not the only thing it is about."
The large metal sculpture is only part of Mr Kapoor's installation in Versailles. He also installed large mirrors, and a wall defaced by paint seemingly shot from a cannon.
Mr Kapoor is a former Turner Prize winner whose work has been shown around the world.
He is best known for the Orbital Tower at the heart of the Olympic Park in London. | The British sculptor Anish Kapoor has defended a piece of art in the French palace of Versailles that has been called "dirty" and "gross". |
36330489 | Since the inception of the club 10 years ago, the former Reading captain has taken the club from part time to full time in the Women's Super League.
An anterior cruciate ligament injury ended her playing career but prompted Chambers into management in 2012.
Chambers' quest for success has seen her take on almost every job title.
"The club has been close to my heart for a long time," said Chambers, 30, who currently works as both the club's director of football and first-team manager.
"If I look back to 2006 when the women's team was formed, you would not have ever dreamt of it being here," she told BBC Radio Berkshire.
"It has been a lot of hours, but it was not something that I was going to let fall.
"I would say I'm a workaholic but it is more because of my drive and where I want this club to go."
Chambers is in her second spell as boss, having taken charge of the club when it was in the third tier of English football.
Jayne Ludlow became manager after the club reached Women's Super League Two, but then left to become manager of Wales.
Chambers took charge once more, masterminding promotion to the top flight with a group of players working part time.
"If you think of all the roles that a WSL team needs to have, it was just me that was trying to manage that," she added.
"I was able to do day-to-day stuff in the office and then training in the evenings. We only trained four hours a week and had to produce quality on a Sunday."
Jon Horton, the club's former general manager, says Chambers was the driving force behind their meteoric rise.
"She's taken it from scratch and taken them all the way to the top tier," said Horton.
"It's clear she has devoted her life to get women's football at Reading to the highest level."
That devotion was tested earlier this year, when Horton left the club to join Ludlow's Wales setup.
It came towards the end of the busiest period in the club's history.
Many players had signed full-time contracts and they had completed an ambitious move to the 12,000-seater stadium Adams Park.
And while the club searched for Horton's replacement, Chambers had little choice but to assume control of that role too.
"She is seven months pregnant and in the office first thing in the morning and is the last one to leave," said Reading's current club captain and club secretary Kirsty McGee.
"She pushes things off the pitch that you do not always see."
Chambers' task has become a little less frantic after Russell Fraser was appointed the club's new general manager on 3 May.
"There's now someone looking after the club off the pitch, and driving it where it needs to go," said Chambers
"I can now focus solely on the football, and making sure we get more and more points on the board."
The hard work will not stop at reaching WSL 1 however, with Chambers and her staff pointing to lofty ambitions for the future.
"I wanted this club play in the top flight of women's football, and we're there," she added.
"But now I want us to be pushing for the top of the league, and even the Champions League."
Reading Women's short-term aim is to simply establish themselves in WSL 1 for years to come yet.
If the hard work of Chambers is anything to go by, they certainly have a chance. | Kelly Chambers has devoted almost half of her life to Reading Women and has overseen the most important transformation in the club's history. |
34834645 | Attacks in Paris on Friday claimed the lives of 129 people, with the French president blaming IS militants.
First Minister Peter Robinson said the Paris atrocities reminded him of The Troubles.
Books of condolence have been opened at councils across Northern Ireland.
Martin McGuinness blamed "atrocious decisions" over the US invasion of Iraq for leaving the Middle East in crisis.
But he said democracies needed to stand against those who are trying to push the world into a third world war.
Mr Robinson said the atrocity brought him back to the days when bombs exploded in Northern Ireland's city centres and people "feared for the fate of their loved ones".
He said everyone needed to be vigilant and Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK should be included in any security decisions made by Cobra, the government's emergency committee.
Asked whether Democratic Unionist Party MPs might support extending British air strikes beyond Iraq into Syria, Mr Robinson said "surgical strikes against terrorist leaders would be justified, but not the overall bombing of communities".
On the possibility of IS sympathisers posing as refugees, Mr Robinson said this justified the Prime Minister David Cameron taking care to ensure "people with evil intent" did not "hide behind the cloak of genuine refugees".
Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said MLAs had to take a "firm stand" against the terrorists "who represent a threat to the western world".
He said: "It is hard to accept that in 2015, such as simple act as shopping or socialising should represent an existential threat to life. But that is the grim reality of terrorism."
Newly elected SDLP leader Colum Eastwood told MLAs: "We are united across these islands and across Europe against those who seek to shake the foundation of our peace.
"Let that spirit of unity be the message we send to them - it says more than anything else we could do."
Alliance Party leader David Ford said Friday night was "an attack on ordinary people".
He said: "The message has to be solidarity in the face of those who would carry out such terror." | People involved with so-called Islamic State (IS) are probably beyond negotiating with, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister has said. |
35290939 | Crews from Foyers, Inverness, Beauly and Dingwall tackled the fire at the property near Foyers on 23 December.
Flames from the blaze were visible from the other side of the loch.
Boleskine House was owned by infamous occultist Aleister Crowley and later by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. | A blaze that destroyed large parts of the historic Boleskine House above Loch Ness is not believed to be suspicious, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has said. |
36844782 | The parliament too was in uproar with opposition MPs shouting slogans accusing PM Narendra Modi's government of failing to protect the Dalits.
The four Dalit men were assaulted while trying to skin a dead cow.
Many Hindus consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animal is banned in many Indian states.
Last year, a Muslim man was lynched by a violent mob that attacked his house over allegations that his family had been storing and consuming beef at home.
There have several other attacks across India where Muslim men have been accused of eating or smuggling beef.
A video of the four Dalit men, believed to be tannery workers, being stripped and beaten with sticks allegedly by the members of a Hindu hardline group last week in Gujarat's Una town has gone viral and sparked massive protests by Dalit groups.
On Wednesday, groups of protesters were seen walking around the streets of Ahmedabad city, armed with wooden sticks and shouting slogans.
Protests, which began on Monday, have now spread to several parts of the state.
Protesters have set government buses on fire, blocked a national highway and clashed with the police.
On Tuesday, police fired teargas shells and used sticks to control the stone-pelting mobs.
One senior officer was killed and several others were wounded in the clash.
Hundreds of people have been detained.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has said that her government was committed to protecting the Dalits and ordered an inquiry into the incident. Four policemen have been suspended. | Protests are continuing in the Indian state of Gujarat over last week's beating up of four low-caste Dalit men by cow protection vigilantes. |
35411074 | Hundreds of people have come forward claiming their ticket was lost, damaged or stolen, including a woman who said she washed her ticket by accident.
Half of the record £66m Lotto jackpot from 9 January has not been claimed, but the winning ticket - with the numbers 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58 - was bought in Worcester, Camelot said.
Camelot is investigating all claims.
A spokeswoman said: "With prizes of this size, it's perfectly normal to receive lots of claims from people who genuinely think that they may have mislaid or thrown away what they believe was the winning ticket.
"However, if we believe that somebody has intentionally attempted to defraud the National Lottery, then, just like any other company, we reserve the right to take whatever action we consider is appropriate."
Shula de Jersey, a criminal lawyer at firm Slater and Gordon, said an intentional attempt to make a fake claim could be deemed "fraud by false representation", a criminal offence under section two of the Fraud Act.
The extent to which it could be deemed an offence or prosecuted would depend partly on the extent to which an individual went to fake a claim - for example by falsifying a ticket - she said.
On Saturday, a woman in Worcester, identified in newspaper reports as grandmother Susanne Hinte, claimed she had the winning ticket, but had put it through the wash in the pocket of a pair of jeans.
Natu Patel, who runs Ambleside News in Warndon, Worcester, where the woman made her claim, said the ticket bore the winning numbers, but the date and barcode were illegible.
A lot of people had been in touch since, which had been "very exciting, and worrying as well", he said.
How does the lottery investigate damaged tickets?
His wife said one woman tried to claim Mrs Patel had sold her the winning ticket - but Mrs Patel was in India at the time.
Another woman rang the shop to claim her son had bought the ticket from their shop, but lost it, she added.
"I said, you tell Camelot, not me!" she said.
Under the terms of its licence, Camelot has discretion to pay prizes in respect of stolen, lost or destroyed tickets if a player has submitted a claim in writing within 30 days of the draw.
If the player could provide sufficient evidence, Camelot would investigate and determine "at its discretion whether the claim is valid, and is able to pay the prize 180 days after the draw", a spokeswoman said.
If the Worcester prize goes unclaimed after a deadline of July 7, the money will be donated to good causes, the lottery operator added.
Camelot said it had not released details of the shop where the winning ticket was bought and no retailer had been informed that they sold the winning ticket.
A spokeswoman said: "We would only release details of the shop if we received a valid claim and the ticket-holder subsequently took publicity. We still would urge all players to check their tickets and contact us if they think they have the winning one."
Married couple David and Carol Martin, both 54, from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, won the other half of the £66 million jackpot, the UK's biggest ever Lotto prize. | Lottery bosses have warned they will take action against people who attempt to fraudulently claim a £33m jackpot. |
38564642 | But there are big fines, and BIG fines, and RBS is about to be hit by the biggest one in its troubled history.
RBS is one of the last big banks to settle with US authorities over its role in mis-selling risky mortgages, the scandal at the very heart of the great financial crisis of 2008/9.
According to RBS shareholders the BBC has spoken to, if the US Department of Justice (DoJ) slaps a fine around the $10bn mark, there will be drinks all round at RBS HQ and the share price will probably go up.
RBS itself is loath to offer an estimate as it's worried it may antagonise the very regulators with whom it is in tense and high stakes negotiations.
It has good reason to be cautious. Deutsche Bank tried to create a consensus around a figure of $5bn for its own settlement, only to see the Department of Justice get the hump and hit them with a bill for $14bn.
That riposte saw Deutsche Bank's share price tumble as a fine of that size was nearly 85% of the bank's market value at that time. The two sides eventually settled on a figure of $7.2bn.
RBS had a much bigger share than Deutsche of the sub-prime mortgage market and analysts estimates of the ultimate bill cluster around the low teens of billions. If it is much higher than that, some shareholders think RBS should refuse to settle and instead take the matter to court.
That was the approach taken by Barclays who balked at a figure (thought to be around $5bn) for their comparatively small role in the market, feeling that foreign banks were being disproportionately punished by US regulators compared to American banks. For example, Goldman Sachs was a much bigger player than Barclays in this market and settled for just over $5bn.
A Barclays insider told the BBC: "If the gap between what the DoJ was asking and what we thought reasonable could have been bridged, we would have done it but the gap was just too wide."
Barclays decided it would take its chances fighting the US regulator in court - an option no bank takes lightly. We won't know if that was the right call for many weeks or months.
That is the same dilemma facing RBS. If the DoJ comes back with a number in the high teens of billions - should it pay or fight?
Many shareholders agree that foreign banks are being unfairly punished and would back the bank if it refused to cough up.
One told the BBC: "Justice is not the guiding star for the Department of Justice. You might as well call it the Department of legalised extortion. The US authorities are shaking down the only investment banking competitors to the big US banks."
The Department of Justice declined to comment.
But remember, the DoJ is about to get a new boss appointed by a new President. His preferred choice is Republican Senator Jeff Sessions who has courted controversy for his hardline views on immigration but is fairly inexperienced in financial regulation.
So the gamble is this. Settle with this lot - who have shown themselves to be tough on European banks - or hope you get an easier ride with the new administration who may - or may not - look more favourably on UK institutions.
Whatever choice RBS takes, it will be a massive body blow to a bank already punch drunk with its various regulatory maulings. It was the only UK bank to fail the Bank of England's stress tests in November - in part because of the cloud of this imminent fine.
The Bank of England was satisfied that RBS had a credible plan to bolster its finances further but a particularly vicious upper cut from the US won't help.
This is the last big impediment between RBS and its attempts to return to normality. Just today we saw Lloyds announce that the UK government was no longer its biggest shareholder.
RBS is still 73% owned by the government and is years away from that, but putting all the misconduct and litigation to one side, this is a bank capable of making a billion pounds a quarter in profit.
Many may find banks making profits unpalatable but the truth is economies function better with healthy banks that can get on with the job of being their bloodstream, delivering credit to where it is needed.
Getting this matter settled will be like having a tumor (size TBC) removed. The operation may well be painful, but only when it's done can RBS truly begin to heal. | "Bank faces big fine" is a story so worn out it would almost struggle to make the headlines after years of bad bank behaviour and big misconduct penalties. |
39895688 | Living, earning, studying, playing, buying, travelling, staying, leaving - Westminster has powers over it all.
And on 8 June voters will choose who they want to represent them in parliament and, ultimately, run the UK.
Before that though we want your guidance and for your specific views to shape a live and interactive debate show we're producing for Facebook.
Using the form below please tell us what the most important issue is to you. Maybe you want more police or hospital staff employed, more reassurance about life post-Brexit, or less tax to pay and less confusion over immigration.
Send a message to those in power by highlighting your concerns and your questions about your future.
On Wednesday 7 June, at 7.30pm, we're live-streaming an interactive show to explore your submitted political concerns.
We will be hearing from voters across the West and you will be invited to interact with the studio presenter and live audience via social media or even video calling into the show.
Young adults across Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Via our Facebook accounts for: | What is the one thing you care most about that our politicians could - and should - be sorting out? |
32453345 | The Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) is a co-ordinating body that promotes the welfare of children and young people.
Independent chair Glenys Johnston said: "There is no evidence that children who are brought up by same sex couples are any more at risk of abuse than those brought up by heterosexual couples."
She added: "In many parts of Europe, children who have suffered abuse perhaps at the hands of a man or woman, are sometimes best cared for by same sex couples of a different gender.
"I really don't want children and young people who have same sex carers or parents to worry that they are more likely to be abused, I don't want those people caring for the children to be the subject of adverse comments or criticism, and I don't want the children themselves to be bullied because their carers are the same gender."
SBNI was established by Northern Ireland's Department of Health in 2012.
Mrs Johnston would not be drawn specifically on the comments made by Mr Wells, whose wife is seriously ill.
"I know he's had an extremely difficult personal time for some months," she said.
"He actually appointed me to my post, and I have no indication at all that he's not committed to safeguarding children in Northern Ireland."
Mr Wells, the DUP South Down candidate in the 7 May election, told an election hustings discussion on gay marriage: "You don't bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That a child is far more likely to be abused and neglected...."
In a later statement, he said: "I accept that one line of what I said caused offence and deep concern."
Mr Wells added: "I regret having wrongly made that remark about abuse and I'm sorry those words were uttered. The comment did not reflect my view nor that of my party."
His comments during the election debate have also been disputed by a leading academic.
Prof Susan Golombok of the University of Cambridge's Centre for Family Research told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme: "The minister has got his facts wrong because the evidence points to completely the opposite conclusion.
"More than 35 years of research on the well-being of children with lesbian mothers, and more recently with gay fathers, have shown that these children do just as well with children with traditional families."
A ban on gay and unmarried couples applying to adopt children in Northern Ireland was removed in December 2013.
Mr Wells' predecessor as Stormont health minister, his DUP colleague Edwin Poots, had tried to challenge an appeal court decision to extend adoption rights to gay couples.
However, the Supreme Court said the Department of Health's argument for appeal did not meet the criteria. | Comments made by Northern Ireland Health Minister Jim Wells linking child abuse with gay relationships have been rejected by a child protection body set up by his own department. |
29911476 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
5 November 2014 Last updated at 11:29 GMT
The Amateur Swimming Association says more than 1,000 primaries do not offer swim lessons, even though it is one of the recommended skills to learn at school.
Experts say more needs to be done to make sure children can stay safe around water.
Researchers say pupils should be able to swim 25 metres without help by the time they leave primary school and should spend about 25 hours learning to swim.
Leah went along to a swimming lesson this morning to find out more. | Nearly half of kids in English primary schools can't swim a length on their own, according to a new report out today. |
30474721 | The 1Xtra Weekend Breakfast host will become the second solo female to present the show on 25 January.
Current chart host Jameela Jamil has decided to "travel and work abroad", something she's wanted to do her "whole life".
She said that a recent cancer scare had forced her "to just do it, now, while I still can".
Jameela said: "Radio 1 are my family and have been incredibly supportive, and I am absolutely staying at the station but in a role that is flexible enough that I can leave the country for longer periods of time, than if I have a set weekly slot.
"I've literally never had more fun at work in my life than I do with Radio 1, and I hate to leave the chart, but I'm also excited for my next adventure."
Clara Amfo joined 1Xtra in September 2013 as the host of the station's Weekend Breakfast show and more recently made a series of artist-focused documentaries for 1Xtra Live.
She said: "It's an absolute honour to be taking the reins on a show as iconic as the Official Chart. It is a dream come true and I can't wait to announce the UK's number one for the first time."
Ben Cooper, controller of Radio 1 and 1Xtra, said: "Clara is a fantastic presenter with huge potential and I know that fans of the Official Chart will love her energy and passion for music.
"I'm proud that 1Xtra continues to develop young talent for the BBC and the wider industry."
Jameela joined Radio 1 in 2012 to present the station's Sunday night request show and will continue to be part of the Radio 1 presenter family.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Radio 1 has announced that Clara Amfo will become the new presenter of the station's Official Chart Show. |
36943792 | Xinhua said it could not understand the "suspicious approach that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment".
It follows reports suggesting the UK PM has national security concerns about China's role in the project.
Officially the Chinese government said it hoped for a speedy resolution.
French company EDF, which is financing most of the £18bn project, approved its investment last week - but in a surprise move the UK government then said it wanted until early autumn to review the scheme.
China is expected to fund one third of the project.
Hinkley Point: What is it and why is it important?
On Saturday, former business secretary Sir Vince Cable said then home secretary Theresa May had been unhappy with what she saw as the government's "gung-ho" approach to doing deals with Beijing when they were in the coalition cabinet together.
Nick Timothy, Mrs May's chief of staff and a long-time adviser, has also previously expressed criticisms of the Hinkley deal.
Writing on the Conservativehome website, he said MI5 believes that Chinese intelligence services "continue to work against UK interests at home and abroad".
Xinhua said the delay "not only draws queries from the international community about its openness towards foreign investment, but also adds uncertainties to the 'Golden Era' of China-UK ties".
It went on: "Giving green light to a 24-billion-U.S.-dollar project can never be an easy decision, and China fully understands and respects British government's requirement for more time to ponder. However, what China cannot understand is the 'suspicious approach' that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement."
The news agency said China could "wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but can not tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation".
Carrie Gracie, the BBC's China editor, said the Chinese government "is on the horns of a dilemma".
"It is frustrated by the uncertainty over its future in the UK's nuclear energy industry and it is angered by suggestions that the reason for the delay may be the prime minister's reported concerns about the national security implications of a Chinese role in critical infrastructure," she said.
"But Beijing does not want to feed any such fears by overreacting. Its official statement on Hinkley Point delay was bland... but it masks a very real dismay in Beijing that the so called golden era it cultivated with the previous British government might now be at an end."
Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokeswoman said: "Of course with the role that China has to play on world affairs, on the global economy, on a whole range of international issues, we are going to continue to seek a strong relationship with China." | China will not tolerate "unwanted accusations" about its investments in the UK after the delay of the Hinkley nuclear power project, the country's state-run news agency has said. |
36057246 | The boys, aged nine or 10, were seen kicking the pet in Penllergaer, Swansea, on 12 April at about 12:00 BST.
The black and white cat was found screaming in pain by a driver who saw the incident near the green.
It was taken to a vet and will need an operation on its leg but was not micro-chipped so the owners are untraceable.
Neither boy has been caught but one of them had brown hair and was wearing a red hoodie.
Anyone with information is asked to call the RSPCA 0300 123 8018. | A cat was kicked so hard by two boys it flew into the air and broke its leg, RSPCA Cymru has said. |
34414710 | Images of seals, turtles and seabirds trapped in plastic rings, ropes and sheeting always have the power to shock.
And on a visit to Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, I saw for myself how the island's magnificent albatrosses were eating plastic waste that often proved fatal to them.
The tropical beaches were littered with the bodies of albatross chicks whose bellies were filled with everything from old toothbrushes to cigarette lighters to fragments of plastic toys.
One particularly moving sight was a baby albatross chick with a small plastic hook jammed in its beak - its parents would have mistaken the object for food.
And when a wildlife ranger pulled the hook out, we saw that it was attached to a little net of the kind that holds nuts or sweets in a supermarket.
It was a graphic example of the potentially deadly effect of our disposable culture - and rammed home the point to me that when it comes to throwing away rubbish, "away" is not some abstract space but a real location.
So how bad is the problem? The grim assessment on Midway was that every single bird was likely to have ingested some quantity of plastic.
And that chimes with much more recent worldwide research that estimates that 90% of all seabirds have swallowed plastic - and that by 2050, it's virtually certain that any bird found dead will have plastic in its stomach.
So to make that projection feasible, how much of the stuff is drifting in the oceans?
Getting an exact number is never going to be possible but my colleague Jon Amos reported on research earlier this year that came up with an estimate: that about eight million tonnes of plastic waste are added to the oceans every year.
That obviously comes with caveats - and a range of possibilities - but highlights how the scale of the problem is growing.
That's because the plastic, cleverly and usefully designed to be flexible and durable, lingers in the waters.
First to break down are the plastic bags - the stresses of wind, waves and tides start to tear them apart and eventually break them into a blizzard of millions of tiny pieces.
At this point the waste switches from being a highly visible problem to one that's almost invisible to the naked eye but potentially far more damaging - and these so-called micro-plastics have become the focus of a whole new field of research.
I joined a team from Plymouth Marine Laboratory on board the research vessel, the Quest, as a series of collecting operations was carried out.
At six different sites - each being sampled once a month - an array of three large nets was lowered just below the surface and dragged through the water for 10 minutes at a time.
At the base of each net was a small container and, when the equipment was retrieved on to the stern of the vessel, the contents were filtered and then analysed.
The most striking finding so far is that every single sampling operation in the course of the project has found pieces of plastic - usually very small, some white, some blue, but mingling unmistakeably with clouds of that vital life-form, plankton.
Back in the laboratory, the scientists reckon that roughly one-third of these plastic fragments have come from the remains of bags or wrapping.
Some of the stuff has been blown off landfill sites that are close to the shore. Much of the rest might have come from sewers.
So does this matter? At this stage, no-one can tell.
Tests have shown very clearly that when minuscule particles of plastic are in the water, then the creatures at the bottom of the food chain do ingest them.
Remarkable video footage shows fluorescent pieces of plastic drifting near some copepods - a form of plankton - and then being sucked in by them, travelling into their guts.
And if the plastics reach that fundamental layer of the web of ocean feeding, then in theory they can be passed up into the kinds of seafood that we might eat.
So could plastic pollution harm human health?
One of those involved in the project, Prof Tamara Galloway of Exeter University, quotes research estimating that anyone consuming an average amount of seafood would ingest about 11,000 plastic particles a year.
That sounds a lot, and there's a presumption that this can't be good for people, but getting to grips with the precise implications will take a lot more work.
I ask Tamara and her colleagues if they are now eating less seafood. Yes, is the answer.
I can't help noticing that their sampling bottles are made of plastic but what about their everyday lives - do they avoid the stuff?
Yes, they say - "we don't buy plastic bottles of water and try to avoid plastic wrapping on food".
The plan to introduce a 5p charge for plastic bags in England goes down well - anything that slows the stream of plastic into the environment is welcomed.
But even if that stream could be totally shut off tomorrow - on every continent and in every ocean - the effects will still be felt for decades to come. | As England prepares to introduce a charge for plastic bags - long after many other countries - it's a good moment to catch up on the latest research into plastic in the oceans. |
40562359 | The 20-year-old, who is yet to make a first-team appearance for the Premier League side, has had previous loan spells with Stockport and Grimsby.
Henderson, 20, spent the first half of last season on loan with League Two side Grimsby Town, where he was signed by Paul Hurst, now the Shrewsbury boss.
He was part of the England squad who won this month's Under-20 World Cup.
"I had a few options but the interest the gaffer has shown in me was massive," said Henderson. "But you've got to show progression and I'm obviously delighted to come here."
He is the fourth Town player signed by Hurst to have played for him before at Grimsby, following defender Aristote Nsiala, and two of his eight signings this summer, striker Lenell John-Lewis and midfielder Jon Nolan.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Shrewsbury Town have signed Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson on a season-long loan deal. |
34281833 | On offer, some quite repulsive fare: burgers made of human flesh.
All rather stomach churning, even after you realise they are actually made of veal, pork and bone marrow - although the taste was based on first hand accounts of cannibalism - and were a publicity stunt to publicise a television horror show.
The event, as was intended, generated masses of coverage online, in newspapers and on television. All of it for free.
Yet the concept didn't come from a huge ad agency with a multi-million pound budget. It was the brainchild of a one woman publicity machine, London-based, Emma Thomas, who works under the title Miss Cakehead.
A couple of years earlier she went even further down the road of bad taste, organising a pop-up shop selling what appeared to be freshly-butchered human body parts. This included arms, hands, feet and even penises which in fact were crafted from prosciutto ham, pork ribs and other ordinary meat cuts. For that, Ms Thomas wrote the press releases in her own blood.
And hers is not the only small scale business learning how to generate vast amounts of publicity by going out on a limb.
Earlier this year, New York creative partnership Thinkmodo unveiled the latest in a line of headline grabbing videos. "The Super Strong Meter Maid", has had more than a million and a half Youtube hits and miles of column inches both in the UK and the US. As in all Thinkmodo's campaigns it relies on a carefully rigged public staging of an event that makes onlookers gasp.
In this one, publicising an online car dealership start-up, a traffic warden confronted by a rude taxi driver, picks up and moves his cab with seeming superhuman strength.
But it's rather tame compared to Thinkmodo's previous videos. One was nicknamed the "Devil Baby Attack" and was part of a promotion for horror film, "Devil's Due." The stunt featured a pram with a doll inside which cried and then, when approached, rose up suddenly and vomited. Another involved turning a cafe upside down, as an actor, posing as a customer, was apparently possessed by an evil spirit.
One thing Emma Thomas and Thinkmodo have in common is their size. Although Ms Thomas first started out working for big PR agencies she became frustrated with their way of working.
"Ideas that I thought were really strong weren't even being presented to clients and the mentality was just too old-fashioned and conservative. I thought there's got to be a better way of doing this."
Her approach is paying off. She isn't short of commissions. She keeps her overheads low, working on an average budget of around £15,000 per project ($23,000) and makes a reasonable income of around £30,000 a year.
Yet despite her success, Ms Thomas is loathe to expand her team of one.
"I prefer to work alone; I don't think many people would 'get' how I think. In any case, I don't think you need to be a massive organisation to attract big clients."
Kirsty Howell, head of publicity at Fox International Channels UK agrees that it is creativity that matters more than size.
She was the one who commissioned Ms Thomas to create the human-flesh burger event to publicise series five of the TV horror drama Walking Dead.
"I wanted to do something fun, but shocking, so I searched on the internet and found Emma's site. Her work was really original and it didn't matter that she was a one man band."
But is there a risk of controversial ideas backfiring?
"I've never had bad press. I have had bad public comments though," says Ms Thomas.
"People have said I'm sick, twisted, clearly disturbed and should be arrested, especially with the human butchery shop."
Kirsty Howell says it's all down to context.
"The flesh burgers were in keeping with the theme of the programme," she says. "You need to research the programme and understand it. As long as you do that anything goes."
It's the same attitude that has made PR stunt aristocracy out of the creative duo behind Thinkmodo.
Michael Krivicka and his business partner James Percelay started the company in 2011. Their trick for ensuring their videos go viral is not always subtle but it works. But whilst YouTube hits are always welcome, according to Mr Krivicka, news coverage is the real test,
"We judge our success by the free media we get. Talk shows for example often have a slot where they talk about what's trending online."
The devil baby video got more than 50 million YouTube hits and appeared on the US talk show "Ellen" and dozens more news and current affairs programmes.
Yet despite the partnership's success, its attitude to expansion is similar to Ms Thomas'; they want to stay small.
"Being smaller helps us to be more nimble and reactive," says Mr Krivicka.
But it also means there are fewer checks and balances to stop you making mistakes, something Mr Krivicka admits has happened.
"We were asked to make a promotional Youtube video for the gangster revenge film 'Dead Man Down.' We wanted to see what people's reaction would be to a real life murder so we staged one in a public lift.
"That generated a lot of press, some of it negative. Looking back I think we crossed the line, it was too real, something that could actually happen. It was a lesson for us so now we only do stunts which are literally unbelievable."
Small operators do have one significant advantage over bigger rivals according to Gordon Young, Editor in Chief of marketing magazine, the Drum.
"They have less to lose because they don't have shareholders to keep happy," he says. But that doesn't mean more established companies can't learn a few tricks.
He cites the example of Brewdog, a beer brand which has made an art form of attention-grabbing publicity, in a slightly different vein.
"They're a brand challenger so they want to get noticed. They have a licence to take more risks and that's part of their personality."
Indeed Brewdog is arguably just as famous for its marketing as for its beer. According to James Watt, 'Captain' of the company, the approach has led to commercial success,
"Our PR gets people talking," he says.
Inevitably if these strategies are used too often the audience will eventually become jaded and harder to impress. But not before companies have tried everything they can to compete for attention.
Brewdog's "The End of History" was marketed as the world's most expensive and strongest beer at 55% ABV and £500 or £700 a piece. Bottles were sold encased inside either a taxidermy stoat or squirrel.
'We're not controversial for controversy's sake," says James Watt.
"[It] is about showing people the extremes to which you can take beer, and packaging it in a way that is artistry in one of its weirder forms. We want to make exciting beers that get people talking." | If you were walking down Brick Lane in East London this time last year I can guarantee you would remember one particular stall. |
21998398 | The first of four Malian battalions will train under European instructors at the Koulikoro base some 60km (37 miles) from the capital, Bamako.
A French-led intervention that began in January has regained the main cities of northern Mali from Islamist groups.
However, fighting continues in the north.
Of the 550 troops from 22 EU nations sent to Mali, about 150 are trainers with the rest made up of mission support staff and force protection.
France is the biggest contributor to the force with 207 troops, followed by Germany with 71, Spain with 54, Britain 40, the Czech Republic 34, Belgium 25 and Poland 20.
Training takes place under the control of French Brigadier General Francois Lecointre and is expected to continue for about 15 months.
"Objectively, it [the army] must be entirely rebuilt," said Gen Lecointre.
"The Malian authorities are well aware of the need to reconstruct the army, very aware that Mali almost disappeared due to the failings of the institution."
The first fully trained battalion of Malian troops is expected to be operational in July.
Islamist groups took advantage of a coup in March 2012 to seize the vast north of Mali including major cities including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.
They imposed a strict form of Islamic law in the area.
France intervened after saying the al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on Bamako.
France is now preparing to withdraw its 4,000 troops fighting in Mali, which will be replaced by forces from several West African countries.
French President Francois Hollande said troop levels would be halved by July and reduced to about 1,000 by the end of the year.
The African force in Mali currently numbers about 6,300 soldiers. | An EU mission to train Malian soldiers is due to begin as part of efforts to help the West African country counter an Islamist insurgency. |
35592868 | The firm said net profit came to 45.6m Australian dollars ($32.4m; £22.7m), an increase of 56.7% on the same period a year earlier.
Domino's said the positive figures were a result of "organic growth".
It claimed it had defied the current global economic environment.
On Wednesday, the pizza giant also announced its second profit upgrade since December - sending its shares up more than 10%.
Domino's Australia is listed in Sydney and formally called Domino's Pizza Enterprises. It holds the master franchise rights to the Domino's brand in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and The Netherlands.
The firm said its operations in Japan had increased by 48 stores in six months to December, while its Australia and New Zealand operations were on track to open more than 50 stores for the 12 months to June. It currently has more than 1,700 stores globally.
Over the last 12 months, its shares in Sydney have risen 56.5%.
In December, Domino's launched its first ever 10 minute delivery store, with managing director Don Meij saying his goal over the coming three to five years was to see pizza's delivered in Australia within 12 minutes.
"Our commitment is to a philosophy of being 'slow where it matters, fast where it counts'," he said, referring to the firm's aim to prepare pizzas carefully, but to cook and deliver them quickly.
The Domino's brand globally is owned by the New York-listed Domino's Pizza Inc. Domino's Pizza Group - the UK arm - is listed in London.
Earlier this month, Domino's UK and Domino's Australia completed a joint venture to buy into the world's fourth-biggest pizza market, Germany.
The joint venture, which will see Joey's Pizza brand become Domino's, is two-thirds owned by the Australian company, with the remainder owned by London-listed Domino's, which already had operations in Germany. | Domino's Australia - the largest franchisee for the Domino's Pizza brand outside the US - has posted a more than 55% rise in profits for the six months to December. |
33901883 | The large gender imbalance among crash casualties has been revealed by the investigative news website, The Detail.
It analysed statistics it obtained from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, under the Freedom of Information Act.
The figures also showed that the police area with the highest crash death toll in 2013-14 was County Fermanagh.
Sixteen people were killed on Fermanagh's roads over the last two years.
The second highest death toll was recorded in Newry and Mourne PSNI area, where there were 12 deaths.
The highest number of crashes took place in the PSNI's Lisburn district, where there were 100 collisions and 99 people seriously injured on the roads.
The Lisburn crash rate was five times higher that area with the lowest number of reported collisions, Cookstown, County Tyrone, where there were 20 collisions.
In a detailed breakdown of the statistics, the website found out that of the 136 people who were killed on the roads over the two-year period, 106 were male and 30 were female.
There was also a significant gender imbalance in the injury statistics, with 938 males being seriously injured compared to 492 female casualties.
The figures showed alcohol and speed were the biggest cause of crashes. | Almost 80% of the people killed on Northern Ireland's roads over the last two years were male and almost 25% were young men aged between 17 and 24. |
38276208 | In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, the home secretary said 30 files relating to the UK miners' strike would be sent to the National Archives.
The subject titles show that at least one file relates directly to Orgreave.
In October, Home Secretary Amber Rudd ruled out an inquiry into the clashes between miners and police at the Yorkshire coking site in 1984.
Campaigners have said officers led by South Yorkshire Police were heavy-handed and manufactured statements.
What was the 'Battle of Orgreave'?
Orgreave: The battle that's not over
Writing to Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Ms Rudd said all the remaining miners' strike Home Office files should be publicly available at the National Archives in the first half of 2017.
She said the Home Office was also giving "further consideration to three files, the status of which has yet to be determined".
The "Battle of Orgreave" was the most violent day of the year-long 1984-85 miners' strike.
Huge lines of police clashed with striking miners as they tried to stop lorries carrying coke to fuel the Scunthorpe steel furnaces.
At one stage police horses were sent to charge the crowd up the field, violence erupted on both sides and officers followed to make arrests.
Ms Cooper said: "The home secretary's agreement to make public 30 further files on Orgreave is welcome.
"We are seeking further information and I have now written to a further 18 police forces involved in policing the incident to ask what related written information they hold which is not in the public domain."
Barbara Jackson, secretary of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign said, the group was "very pleased" with the announcement.
She said: "Documentation is so important in anything like this, it leads to knowledge and enables people to start getting their heads around what happened."
Vera Baird, police and crime commissioner of Northumbria Police, who acted for miners when she was a barrister, previously said she was "concerned" that the Home Office was still holding the files in light of Ms Rudd's decision not to have a parliamentary inquiry. | Files relating to the so-called Battle of Orgreave are expected to be made public in 2017, it has been revealed. |
32371769 | One-year leases on 24 unfurnished huts - all in pastel shades of blue, green and lilac - on the promenade at Royal Sands are available.
North Somerset Council has permission to put up more than 100 huts along the seafront, each with no fixed price.
However, some residents are concerned they will be too expensive and could ruin the views along the promenade.
One woman, who did not want to be named, told the BBC: "In Eastbourne, Brighton, and places like that, they've got different ones and I just think it ruins it.
"Because they're all different colours and some people look after them, some don't. Some are quite an eyesore."
North Somerset Council said the first auction would take place between 20 and 25 April.
Other leases will be auctioned off every day from 27 April.
The council said it was hoping to install the huts in the first week of May.
Nick Yates, from the local authority, said the huts would "add something extra" to Weston, whilst raising money for the council and enhancing the seafront.
"We've had over 800 expressions of interest [so far]," he added.
"We think that by having this licensing agreement for a year and doing it on an online auction, it gives the greatest number of people the best chance of having one."
Mr Yates said renting the huts on a day-by-day basis to individuals, like some other seaside resorts, would be "too costly" and "personnel intensive."
The first auction sale began on Monday evening and is due to end on Saturday. | The first batch of soon-to-be installed Weston-super-Mare beach huts have gone on sale via an online auction site. |
35531174 | Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, said the minister would drive policy "to create social good and satisfaction".
A new post of minister of state for tolerance was also created.
Sheikh Mohammed said several ministries would also be merged and unveiled plans to outsource most government services.
"Governments must be flexible. We don't need more ministries, but more ministers capable of dealing with change," he said at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday.
"We want a young and flexible government that will fulfil our youth's aspirations and achieve our people's ambitions."
The minister of state for tolerance would promote the virtue "as a fundamental value in UAE society", Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.
The prime minister also announced the creation of a UAE Youth National Council.
The "elite group of young men and women" would advise the government on youth issues and be led by a female minister of state for youth no older than 22, he said, adding: "The energy of youth will fuel our government in future." | The prime minister of the United Arab Emirates has announced the creation of a minister of state for happiness, as part of a major government shake-up. |
36975248 | Claims of state-sponsored doping, subsequent bans and appeals have meant some athletes arriving in Rio unsure whether they will be competing when the Games open on Friday.
Despite this two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who will represent Russia in tennis, said that the Russian team is "more united than ever".
"I think we come all together and singing the national anthem today, it was a great atmosphere," she told BBC World Service Sport.
"Definitely we try to prove that we deserve it and we are one of the best nations in the world. I think it is very important that this political situation hopefully doesn't touch us and we become even more stronger."
Kuznetsova, who represented Russia at the 2004 and 2008 Games, said that it was "frustrating" for the athletes in Rio who still do not know if they will be allowed to compete.
"I believe we are a clean nation and we all try to do our best each day," she said. "We work really hard to achieve a place to be in the Olympic Games and represent our country.
"Tennis is different to sport. We have our Grand Slams and we have our sport but still the Olympics is very important for us. I feel, for example, very sorry for athletes who compete for their life just to be in an Olympics and they couldn't come, and they deserve to come.
"The athletes try to be stronger and become better and help everybody. Hopefully more athletes that deserve will compete."
A number of British athletes were angry at the decision not to ban Russia from competing in Rio, while British IOC member Adam Pengilly said the Russian federation had "mocked" the Olympic movement.
However, Kuznetsova said that she and the athletes had experienced a "great atmosphere" so far in Rio.
"I think anything we are going to get, support or opposite, it is just going to bring us together and stronger," she continued.
"I didn't feel any reaction from other countries. I feel like we are united. We are here, we deserve a place to be here.
"I just miss half of the team that we are missing. The rest is great."
Despite Russia being under such scrutiny, Kuznetsova said that the athletes were ready to get the Games underway and put the focus back on the field.
"We do have more controls, we do fill out even more forms. We are ready to prove that we are clean and try to do whatever it takes," she added.
"I didn't read the report, it's not my thing. We have our federation who will go against it and go to court or whatever they have to do, they will do.
"My job is to play tennis and try to be more concentrated and motivated and play tennis."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | At a time when competitors should be making finishing touches to their Olympic preparations, Russia's athletes have had a very different build-up to Rio 2016. |
28443486 | It took six hours using a GPS plotting machine to map out and create the maze in a field at the Quex Park and Powell Cotton Museum in Kent.
For the last eight years, a maze has been created with an African theme to connect with the museum in Birchington.
This year the attraction has an exhibition about endangered animals.
'Measuring wheels'
In the past, the maze has been a lion and elephant and last year was shaped to resemble Nelson Mandela.
Dawn Tilley, a partner in Quex Maize Maze, said: "We always have a connection with the museum on an African basis so we are connecting with the Last Chance to See exhibition which the museum is putting on.
"So many people are simply not aware of how rare these species are becoming simply because of the hunt for the horns or the tusks."
Miss Tilley said when they first started creating the maize eight years ago it would take three weeks to map out the picture with measuring wheels and strings.
Now, because of modern technology it takes six hours.
The Powell-Cotton Museum at Quex Park was established in 1896 by Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton to house natural history museum specimens and cultural objects collected on expeditions to Asia and Africa. | A maize maze has been shaped like a rhino head to raise awareness of how rare the species are becoming because of the threat from poachers. |
36384508 | Ex-pensions minister Steve Webb urged caution over "rushed changes" he said could have implications for workers "well beyond the steel industry".
A £485m pension deficit has been deterring potential buyers of Tata Steel's UK business.
A consultation on the pension scheme's future has been launched by ministers.
It includes a "full range of options that consider whether and how the scheme could be separated from the existing sponsoring employer and whether it will be necessary to reduce the benefits within the scheme," the Department for Work and Pensions said in a statement.
One option is to base the scheme's annual increase on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation measure, which is usually below the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure currently used.
The plan has been supported by some union leaders and the British Steel Pension scheme.
In 2011 private sector pension schemes were given more freedom to move to the CPI measure, if their rules allowed it.
Tata Steel is looking to sell its loss-making UK business. It has had seven expressions of interest and a shortlist is expected soon.
Former Lib Dem pensions minister Steve Webb said: "The government is going down a very dangerous path.
"Everyone has huge sympathy for steel workers and for efforts to protect jobs, but rushed changes to pension rules risk driving a coach and horses through the pension security of hundreds of thousands of workers well beyond the steel industry."
There has been a suggestion that the new rules would stipulate that a company could only change their pension liabilities in an emergency. But, speaking to the BBC, Mr Webb said the term emergency was "ill-defined" and that companies could create them artificially in order to reduce their pension payouts.
"Once there's a loophole that says you can walk away from promises you've made. Other [companies] could walk away," he said, adding that he thought there could also be legal challenges.
However, the trustees of the British Steel Pension Scheme welcomed the move, saying it was better than the alternative, which would see the scheme fall into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).
"Although this [government move] would entail future pension increases being cut back from their current levels, benefits would be more generous than those provided by the PPF for the vast majority of Scheme members," said Allan Johnston, chairman of the British Steel Pension Scheme.
But Mark Turner of the Unite union cautioned that he wanted to see the detail.
"We don't want to make changes if they're going to be detrimental to the rest of industry," he told the BBC.
In total the British Steel pension scheme has 130,000 members, one of the largest defined benefit schemes in the country.
Further details are expected when Business Secretary Sajid Javid makes a statement later in the House of Commons.
The pension fund and its deficit have been a source of unease for the current owners Tata and a deal-breaker for any would-be buyers.
Reducing its burden will make a sale easier and may even convince Tata to hang on to its UK steel business.
Any such change would be very controversial as it would set what some would see as a dangerous precedent.
The move is evidence of the business secretary's sense of urgency to resolve an industrial crisis which has put 10,000 steel workers' jobs in imminent danger.
The BBC understands that union leaders have accepted that this proposal is a better deal than seeing the pension scheme shunted into the lifeboat of the Pensions Protection Fund, which can see some members lose 10% of their payout immediately and see lower increments in future years.
Who are the potential bidders?
Jack: How Excalibur and Liberty could join forces
The rise and fall of Britain's steel industry
Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said steel workers' pensions "must be protected".
"If these reports are accurate, the secretary of state for work and pensions should come to the House to explain precisely what is being proposed, including how current and future steel pensioners will be affected and what precedents might be set by any changes to hard-won pension protection legislation," he added. | The government has been warned that a plan to cut pension benefits to help save Tata Steel's UK operations could take ministers down a "dangerous path". |
28692062 | Norman Jones, 81, of Pentre Halkyn, said he could not explain what happened and put it down to his dementia.
Pleading guilty by letter, he apologised and said this crash made it clear he is no longer fit to drive.
Magistrates, who are considering a driving ban, adjourned sentence for two weeks for Jones to be present.
The incident happened shortly before 11:00 BST on 7 December, 2013, in Mold town centre.
Prosecutor Shaun Bartlett-Evans said ten pedestrians were injured when Jones's Citroen Picasso entered the pedestrian section of the high street during the twice-weekly market, which was busy with shoppers.
Witnesses described how the defendant, with his wife in the passenger seat, came down the high street and overtook two cars which were parked at the traffic lights.
With the engine said to be revving, he pulled out to avoid hitting the cars ahead, drove through the junction and careered into the pedestrianised area where the market was being held.
The vehicle collided with market stalls and pedestrians.
Three women were injured; one suffered serious leg injuries which resulted in seven pins being inserted and may require a knee replacement; a second broke her leg and ankle while a third suffered broken ribs, an ankle injury and bruising.
Six other women and a man were also hurt.
In his letter pleading guilty, Jones, who previously has a clean driving licence, said he had been diagnosed with memory loss and dementia some 18 months ago.
He said he was still at a loss to understand what happened and could only assume that it was associated with his medical condition.
He has since given up his licence.
Magistrates said that it was a serious matter with a high degree of culpability, there were serious circumstances surrounding the case and the defendant was needed in court to be sentenced. | A pensioner who drove his car into a Mold street market injuring ten pedestrians just before Christmas has admitted careless driving. |
34947837 | Father-of-four Leonardus Bijlsma, 55, was described as the "right-hand man" in the operation involving specially adapted vehicles and using ports from Essex to East Yorkshire.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
Co-defendant Dennis Vogelaar, 28, was found not guilty by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.
Olof Schoon, 38, and 51-year-old Richard Engelsbel, had already pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
Schoon was described as "the central player" in the operation, which saw a fleet of fully taxed and insured ambulances created in the Netherlands under the pretence of transporting patients to the UK.
Fake invoices and paperwork for false patient transfers to The Royal London Hospital were produced by Schoon's company, despite the hospital having no records of any trips, with false addresses and phone numbers for patients also made.
The scheme ran from April last year until all four men were arrested after a raid by officers from the National Crime Agency in Smethwick in June.
At the time of the arrests, Schoon was believed to have made 39 separate journeys.
We have called them 'fake' ambulances because they weren't used for their intended purpose, but they were the real thing. The drugs smugglers were making so much money they were able to buy a small fleet of vehicles and have them all painted in their "company" livery to make them look like genuine medical transport vehicles.
The conspirators - all Dutch nationals - pretended to run a business repatriating sick British patients for insurance companies. They created fake invoices and receipts and they even hired people to pretend to be patients. It is possible the same vehicles were used to transport narcotics along different routes in Europe.
This was a sophisticated and well funded operation that successfully imported a huge quantity of class A drugs before it was discovered.
Following the arrests, officers uncovered four more ambulances in a raid on two premises in the Netherlands, with analysis finding 45 trips to locations in Essex, London, Manchester, Merseyside, the Midlands and West Yorkshire.
In total an estimated £420m of high-purity drugs with a street value of £1.6bn are believed to have been smuggled into the UK.
Prosecutor Robert Davies said the smugglers acted "arrogantly" in carrying out their deals.
"This was a top-level, audacious, and - up to the point of interception and the arrests - successful and lucrative criminal conspiracy," he said.
The court heard Bijlsma was the "right-hand man" in the operation to bring large quantities of drugs into the UK.
When officers examined the ambulance, they found concealed compartments behind metal rivet panels containing colour-coded parcels.
Inside was 193kg of cocaine worth £30m, 74kg of heroin worth £8m in individual deals, and ecstasy tablets and crystal worth £60,000.
Bijlsma had said he was paid 250 euros (£176) per journey by Schoon to be his "co-driver" and handyman on 16 trips across the Channel.
When his DNA was found on a rivet gun and gloves in one of the hidden compartments, he claimed it was because he had used them, adding he was too "dirty" to go into the "sterilised" part of the ambulance reserved for patients. | A Dutch man has been found guilty over an operation to use a fleet of fake ambulances to smuggle drugs with a street value of £1.6bn into the UK. |
33655417 | The BBC understands Apple removed the products as part of a wider switch to favour smart home devices compatible with its own HomeKit platform.
However, Apple continues to sell the Thermostat in the UK and across Europe.
Nest is owned by Google, which is developing rival technologies to link "internet of things" kit together.
The search firm announced in May that it was working on Weave - a library of common commands - and Brillo - an Android-based operating system for IoT machines.
Nest's Thermostat can already be controlled via its own iPhone or Android app. The division also promotes its own "Works with Nest" programme, which allows third-party products to communicate with the devices.
Mercedes, LG, Whirlpool and Philips are among firms that have taken advantage of the access this grants to Nest's application programme interfaces (APIs) - the code that controls how different software programmes interact with each other.
By contrast, Apple is promoting HomeKit - its own platform that lets users control and co-ordinate the use of smart home devices via its voice-activated virtual assistant Siri.
The firm requires accessory-makers to prove they have adopted tough encryption standards before it will certify them, and has designed the system to limit the collection of data about who used what and when.
"HomeKit introduces a new way for you to control supported devices in your home... and we've taken great care to make sure that the convenience this enables doesn't come at the expense of your privacy," Apple's website states.
The first products to support the standard began going on sale recently, including a thermostat made by Ecobee and a light dimmer switch from Lutron.
A spokesman for Apple declined to comment about its US sales restrictions, which were first reported by Mashable.
Nest's Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector has also been removed from sale.
But a spokesman for the firm said it expected Apple to stock a next-generation version soon, despite the fact it would not be HomeKit certified. This may be because there are no similar alarms yet available for Apple's platform.
In an interview before Apple's move, Nest's chief executive told the BBC he was confident his firm was already doing enough to protect people's privacy.
"We're taking very much a cross-platform approach," said Tony Fadell.
"Through the Works with Nest programme and the protocols that we use inside, it's going to be a very robust thing.
"At the end of the day though, customers do not buy platforms, they buy products first and foremost.
"So, anybody who is selling a product-like platform or trying to convert you on a platform, they're not going to be successful because that's not where customers start."
Read more of Tony Fadell's interview with the BBC | Apple has pulled Nest's internet-connected thermostats from sale at its US stores. |
34134073 | As success here can often lead to Oscar prizes later - Eddie Redmayne's The Theory of Everything and Julianne Moore's Still Alice both premiered at the festival last year - film-makers are keen to get their movies shown.
Here's a look at some of the films receiving their world premiere at the festival, and hoping to make waves on the shores of Ontario.
A closer look at the some of the films featuring British talent will be published on Thursday.
Elle Fanning stars as a teenage girl who, after struggling with her gender identity, transitions from female to male. The film follows how his family come to terms with the situation.
Dallas Buyers Club and Wild director Jean-Marc Vallee returns with Toronto's opening film. Jake Gyllenhall stars as a successful investment banker who struggles to cope after losing his wife in a car crash.
After appearing in last year's closing film, A Little Chaos, Kate Winslet stars in this Australian offering about a dressmaker who returns home to the outback after a stint in Paris to reconcile with her eccentric mother. As well as transforming the women of the town, she also falls in love with a local boy (Liam Hemsworth).
Based on the 2007 Academy Award-winning documentary of the same name, Oscar winner Julianne Moore stars as police detective Laurel Hester who fights New Jersey county officials to leave her pension to her partner Stacie Andree (Ellen Page) after being diagnosed with cancer.
Ridley Scott directs an all-star cast in this big budget sci-fi, based on the novel by Andy Weir. After astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is stranded on Mars, he must use all his skills to signal Earth he is still alive and needs rescue. Also stars Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Anna Kendrick appeared in a trio of films at last year's festival. This year, she closes the event alongside Sam Rockwell and Tim Roth in this action comedy about a woman who falls in love with a hit man on the run.
British director Stephen Frears helms the film recounting the meteoric rise of cyclist Lance Armstrong, and Sunday Times journalist David Walsh who dared to expose the truth behind his Tour de France wins.
Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford team up in this true story newsroom drama set in 2004. The pair star as 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes and presenter Dan Rather, who investigated the then-President George W Bush amid claims he dodged his military service during the Vietnam War.
Honourable mentions
The following movies received their premieres at either Sundance, Telluride, Cannes or the Venice film festivals, but will be receiving "special presentation" screenings at Toronto.
Johnny Depp stars in the true story of Whitey Bulger, the gangster-turned-FBI informant who became one of the most ruthless and dangerous criminals in Boston history. Also stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Whitey's brother, state senator Bill Bulger.
Based on Colm Toibin's 2009 novel, Saoirse Ronan stars as young Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey who leaves her home for New York in the 1950s but has to choose between a new love and her native Ireland.
Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne begins his bid for next year's best actor Academy Award in Tom Hooper's transgender drama. Inspired by the lives of artist Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener, Redmayne stars as Elbe - one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim profiles Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban attack on her life for speaking out on girls' education. The documentary looks at the events leading up to the attack and the aftermath, including Yousafzai's speech to the United Nations.
A big-screen version of Emma Donoghue's 2010 Booker-nominated novel, starring Brie Larson as a woman who is held captive in a small room with her young son for years.
Emily Blunt stars as an idealistic FBI agent opposite shadowy government operatives Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro in this gritty drug-war thriller set in the lawless border area between the US and Mexico.
The festival runs 10 - 20 September. | This year's Toronto Film Festival is set to kick off on Thursday, with almost 400 films set to screen. |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.