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37671862 | Moments after Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe had struck the post for the visitors, Bale cut inside and found the bottom corner.
A Marcelo shot saw Tomasz Jodlowiec deflect in for an own goal but Miroslav Radovic pulled one back from the spot.
Marco Asensio smartly side-footed in from 18 yards, and after the break substitutes Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Morata completed the scoring.
Cristiano Ronaldo was on target as Zinedine Zidane's side won 6-1 at Real Betis on Saturday but he remains stuck on 98 goals in Europe despite having nine shots at the Bernabeu, finding the target twice.
Ahead of kick-off in Madrid, three Polish fans were arrested for incidents in the city. The reverse fixture on 2 November will be played behind closed doors after Legia were punished for crowd trouble in their 6-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund.
Zidane admitted he hoped to improve upon the number of chances his side gave the Polish champions and Danilo's needless foul on Radovic for the penalty perhaps summed up some of Real's slack defensive work.
But Los Blancos are now unbeaten in 24 competitive outings and move second in Group F, level on seven points with leaders Borussia Dortmund, who won 2-1 at Sporting Lisbon.
CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev has now gone 40 Champions League matches without a clean sheet.
Akinfeev, who has 92 caps for Russia, thumped the ground in frustration when Monaco's Bernardo Silva made it 1-1 with just three minutes remaining in their Group E match in Russia.
Lacina Traore, a Monaco player on loan at CSKA, had opened the scoring but the Russian side are now bottom of Group E and winless in seven Champions League matches.
Monaco lead the group on five points, one clear of Tottenham who drew 0-0 at Bayer Leverkusen.
Like Bale, Samir Nasri had not scored in the Champions League since 2014 but his calm near-post finish earned Sevilla a 1-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb.
The Frenchman is on loan from Manchester City and now has three goals this season, one more than he managed for his parent club in 2015-16.
Sevilla are on seven points, trailing Juventus on goal difference at the top of Group H after the Italian side secured a late 1-0 win in Lyon through Chelsea loanee Juan Cuadrado's superb strike.
There was also late drama in Group G where Andre Silva's injury-time penalty completed a comeback as Porto beat Club Brugge 2-1 to move third, five points behind leaders Leicester.
Match ends, Real Madrid 5, Legia Warsaw 1.
Second Half ends, Real Madrid 5, Legia Warsaw 1.
Attempt saved. Nemanja Nikolic (Legia Warsaw) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe.
Attempt saved. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Marcelo with a cross.
Corner, Real Madrid. Conceded by Bartosz Bereszynski.
Attempt missed. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) header from very close range is just a bit too high. Assisted by Mateo Kovacic following a corner.
Attempt blocked. Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Corner, Real Madrid. Conceded by Adam Hlousek.
Attempt missed. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Lucas Vázquez.
Corner, Real Madrid. Conceded by Arkadiusz Malarz.
Attempt saved. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Mateo Kovacic.
Attempt missed. Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (Legia Warsaw) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Michal Kucharczyk.
Corner, Legia Warsaw. Conceded by Keylor Navas.
Attempt saved. Nemanja Nikolic (Legia Warsaw) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Goal! Real Madrid 5, Legia Warsaw 1. Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Foul by Pepe (Real Madrid).
Michal Kopczynski (Legia Warsaw) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Karim Benzema.
Substitution, Legia Warsaw. Michal Kopczynski replaces Thibault Moulin.
Substitution, Real Madrid. Mateo Kovacic replaces Marco Asensio.
Attempt missed. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Karim Benzema.
Offside, Legia Warsaw. Thibault Moulin tries a through ball, but Adam Hlousek is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Nemanja Nikolic (Legia Warsaw) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Adam Hlousek with a cross.
Substitution, Legia Warsaw. Nemanja Nikolic replaces Miroslav Radovic.
Substitution, Legia Warsaw. Valeri Kazaishvili replaces Guilherme.
Attempt saved. Marco Asensio (Real Madrid) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Karim Benzema.
Corner, Real Madrid. Conceded by Jakub Czerwinski.
Corner, Real Madrid. Conceded by Bartosz Bereszynski.
Attempt missed. Adam Hlousek (Legia Warsaw) left footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Miroslav Radovic.
Goal! Real Madrid 4, Legia Warsaw 1. Lucas Vázquez (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Álvaro Morata with a cross.
Foul by Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid).
Miroslav Radovic (Legia Warsaw) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Corner, Legia Warsaw. Conceded by Raphael Varane.
Substitution, Real Madrid. Álvaro Morata replaces Gareth Bale.
Substitution, Real Madrid. Lucas Vázquez replaces James Rodríguez.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid).
Bartosz Bereszynski (Legia Warsaw) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Miroslav Radovic (Legia Warsaw) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. | Gareth Bale scored his first Champions League goal since 2014 as holders Real Madrid comfortably beat Legia Warsaw. |
34903886 | DCH says it has been reviewing its services after the government announced a 1% rent cut for social housing in England over four years.
A spokeswoman for the association said it was reviewing staffing and there could be up to 40 redundancies.
She said it would have to save up to £4.5m a year.
The spokeswoman said this was between 2.6% and 3.4% of the association's annual income.
"The consultations will consider changes to 85 roles and we anticipate that around 40 staff may be made redundant. Our focus now is on minimising redundancies."
She said it was not possible to go into more detail on what the budget cut would mean for services at the moment.
The national Housing Association Federation said the 1% rent cut could see the whole sector lose up to £3.9bn per year.
A spokesman said: "Housing associations are the most successful public-private partnerships in history and have created their business plans based on the current rental formula.
"Housing associations want to work with the Government to meet its housing ambitions, but this policy will make it much harder for them to do so."
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: "Social housing rent has risen by 20% since 2010, more than double the increase in the private sector.
"Lowering social rents will help protect social tenants from rising housing costs, while ensuring fairness for taxpayers." | Dozens of jobs could go at one of the largest housing associations in the South West due to planned rent cuts, according to the association. |
37952449 | "I don't think any of us were prepared for Donald Trump to be president," singer Billie Joe Armstrong told the BBC.
"I think there's going to come a time when the protests get larger and larger - and that I fully support."
The star, who has been an outspoken critic of Mr Trump, said he felt like his "country is being set on fire".
Protests against a Trump presidency have broken out across the US, with demonstrations in New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Baltimore and San Francisco.
Twenty-six people were arrested in Portland, Oregon on Thursday night after violence broke out amongst demonstrators.
Green Day were in London when the Republican's victory was announced, shortly after they collected the Global Icon award at Sunday's MTV Europe Awards in Rotterdam.
Speaking to the BBC on Friday afternoon, 44-year-old Armstrong said the news was still sinking in - but refused to criticise Green Day fans who voted for Mr Trump.
"If there's anybody who, because of this election, feels like marginalised in any way, those are the people I feel the most sympathy for.
"So whether you're black, brown, white, gay, straight, trans, Muslim - those are the people I want to rally with."
A Green Day concert is a "safe house for anyone who feels marginalised" he added.
Formed in 1986, Green Day have been one of the most political bands of their generation, notably on the 2004 album American Idiot, which expressed anger at the war in Iraq and the presidency of George W Bush.
Their latest album, Revolution Radio, debuted at number one last month, and tackles topics including America's mass shootings and the Black Lives Matter movement.
"I write songs when I'm confused or scratching my head and asking why things are happening in the world," Armstrong said.
"You're trying to make sense of what's going on and what's happening to you - and somehow through it you can find kindred spirits or a solution."
However, he said he had been unable to write since the US election.
"It's really hard to laugh when you're scared."
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Rock group Green Day say they "fully support" the protests against US president elect Donald Trump. |
26087306 | A young woman in a headscarf asks the name and district of a caller. So far so unremarkable, but this is a call centre with a difference.
"Sometimes we receive calls from the Taliban," she tells me, "they call to tell us that there should be no election."
This is where our reporters share stories beyond the daily conflict and politics of a country preparing for the most important poll in its recent history as foreign troops withdraw.
We'll focus on the surprising while treating the familiar from fresh angles, combined with a street-level view of a country in transition.
Most of the posts will be written, photographed or filmed by our journalists across Afghanistan.
You can use #BBCAfghanNotebook to follow our reports via Twitter.
On song, off message
Struggling restaurants
Russian chocolate
Welcome to Afghanistan's "190" election hotline.
Around 60 staff, juggling computer, mouse and headphones provide an everyday information service, from 07:00 in the morning to 20:00 at night advising on everything you need to know about the crucial 2014 presidential and provincial polls.
The Taliban have threatened the election and everyone associated with it, so the building where they work is secured by guards and blast walls.
Qais Safi, one of the mostly young workers manning the phones says that callers usually have practical questions.
"People ask how they can get voting cards, who the presidential candidates and their deputies are, what symbols they use and what number they are on the polling papers."
Because two-thirds of Afghans are thought to be illiterate, the logos chosen to identify candidates during the campaign and on ballot papers are important, and include anything from an oil lamp to a bulldozer.
The call centre staff have been trained for three days, with more workshops to follow as the campaign unfolds.
Syed Baryali Shuaib, the head of the centre, says they get 5,000 to 6,000 calls every day, and expects numbers to rise. But only 10% of callers are female.
The Election Commission has other means to reach voters too: it produces TV and radio slots and installs roadside billboards.
And in a country with almost 20 million mobile users, SMS texts have become as important as messages read out in mosques after Friday prayers. | A group of telephonists are working in tightly packed rows of desks at a secret location in Kabul, taking calls from all around the country. |
34721418 | Tests on 97 men, described in Science Translational Medicine, were able to tell whether tumours were already resistant to the drug abiraterone.
Doctors at the Institute of Cancer Research in London will now trial the test to see if it can extend lives.
Prostate Cancer UK said such a test would also avoid unnecessary side-effects for men.
Abiraterone is a potent drug able to shrink tumours, but only some men benefit.
Cancers can evolve resistance to drugs over time, so the team of scientists set about looking for evidence in the fragments of tumour DNA that float in the blood stream.
Abiraterone works by hitting the male hormone receptor on prostate cancer cells.
But the team discovered that mutations affecting the male hormone receptor stopped the drug from working.
The men were more than seven times more likely to respond to treatment if they did not have these mutations.
Dr Gerhardt Attard, from the Institute of Cancer Research, told the BBC News website: "We have identified a group that should not have abiraterone and another set who have great benefit.
"This is the first study in prostate cancer to predict which patients are going to respond, it's very compelling data to suggest we could have a test."
Only 17 men in the trial had tumours shrinking in response to the therapy.
Fifteen of them had normal male hormone receptor, and only two had the abiraterone-resistance mutation.
And those two, who seemingly responded, had only a short-lived effect and their cancer rapidly rebounded.
The researchers are now trailing the test in 600 men to see if those with abiraterone-resistant tumours would be better off being given chemotherapy straight away.
Dr Attard said several new drugs were being developed for advanced prostate cancer.
"It's a very exciting time in prostate cancer, but we do not know which treatments to give to which patient," he said.
Blood tests - also known as liquid biopsies - are seen as crucial for determining which patients will respond to therapy.
One of the key advantages they have is the ability to picks up mutations from every tumour throughout the body.
A traditional biopsy can test only the area that has been sampled.
The drug abiraterone was rejected for use by the NHS in England because of the cost.
A test to determine who will respond could make the drug more cost-effective.
Dr Iain Frame, the director of research at the Prostate Cancer UK charity, said: "We know that a one-size-fits-all approach to treating prostate cancer doesn't work.
"When the clock is ticking for a man with advanced prostate cancer, finding out early that his treatment needs changing can not only save precious time, but can also help avoid unpleasant side-effects from a treatment that no longer works for him."
Dr Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, said: "If these important early results bear up in larger clinical trials it could lead to a test which would indicate which patients might benefit more from trying other therapies instead."
Follow James on Twitter. | A blood test can determine whether prostate cancer patients are likely to respond to drugs, scientists say. |
39789773 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The proposals by European Athletics are part of attempts to make a clean break with the sport's doping scandals.
If the move is approved, world records would only be recognised if they can stand up to strict new criteria.
But Powell, 53, told BBC World Service he would legally challenge any ruling.
"I've already contacted my attorney," said the American, whose mark of 8.95 metres set in August 1991 has never been bettered.
"There are some records out there that are kind of questionable, I can see that, but mine is the real deal. It's a story of human heart and guts, one of the greatest moments in the sport's history.
"They would be destroying so many things with this decision, without thinking about it. It's wrong. Regardless of what happens, I am going to fight."
Lord Coe, president of athletics' governing body the IAAF, called for a "global debate" around the issue.
He told BBC London: "These proposals will come back to the council and I look forward to maybe counter proposals and maybe changes, maybe thoughts around it.
"We have to start somewhere. This is a debate the athletes have prompted the administrators to have for far too long."
Media playback is not supported on this device
European Athletics set up a taskforce to look into the credibility of world records in January.
Its ruling council has ratified the proposals put forward by the taskforce, and it wants world governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to back them when its council meets in August.
Taskforce chair Pierce O'Callaghan told BBC Sport on Tuesday the plans were about "restoring credibility".
"Obviously this has to stand up to a court of law," he added.
"This is about the sport regaining control of its rules and records. Because in the past there have been threats of legal action when this has been mooted."
Asked whether more legal challenges were expected, he said: "No, we've just changed the rules of the sport. These are sports rules. It would be like somebody challenging the referee in a football game."
IAAF President Lord Coe has called for a "global debate" around the issue, telling BBC London: "It's important that we have these discussions.
"These proposals will come back to the council and I look forward to maybe counter proposals and maybe changes, maybe thoughts around it.
"We have to start somewhere. This is a debate the athletes have prompted the administrators to have for far too long."
Paula Radcliffe, who faces losing her 2003 marathon world record, has called the proposals "cowardly".
However, fellow British runner Darren Campbell says the move would be "for the greater good".
Powell set the long jump world record at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, beating Bob Beamon's mark of 8.90m, which had led the field for 23 years.
Twenty-six years on, only the discus throw (1986), the hammer throw (1986) and shot put (1990) world records have stood for longer in men's outdoor athletics.
Media playback is not supported on this device | Plans to rewrite world records set before 2005 are "disrespectful, an injustice and a slap in the face", says former long jumper Mike Powell, who stands to lose his own world record. |
34039601 | Daniel Schofield, 29, shot Roy Hanson, 50, with the weapon on his farm on the Lizard in Cornwall, Truro Crown Court was told.
It happened after Mr Hanson had viciously assaulted his wife, Mr Schofield's older sister Julia Hanson, the court heard.
Mr Schofield denies murder and manslaughter.
In her evidence Mrs Hanson told the jury about her husband's temper and violence, saying that he had dangled her out of a hotel second-floor window on their honeymoon.
She had left Mr Hanson and was staying with Mr Schofield, when Mr Hanson, a plumber from St Keverne, arrived at the farm on 25 October last year.
An argument followed and Mr Hanson attacked his wife, putting his hands around her neck, the court heard.
The jury was told Mr Schofield confronted Mr Hanson with a loaded and cocked crossbow.
It was discharged and the bolt hit Mr Hanson in the chest, passing straight through his heart and a major blood vessel before exiting through his back.
They were also shown the blood-soaked bolt and the crossbow that fired it.
The trial continues. | A man murdered his violent brother-in-law by firing a crossbow bolt straight through his body, a court heard. |
33331512 | This is the highest honour given by the Institute of Physics in London.
Prof Eli Yablonovitch of the University of California, Berkeley, proposed and created the crystals in the 1980s.
They are now used in data processing and in wave guides for laser surgery; they have also been discovered in bird feathers and the skin of chameleons.
"I'm very, very honoured," Prof Yablonovitch told the BBC.
His seminal description of photonic crystals was published in 1987 when these materials had never been manufactured, and were not known by that name.
It is the second most-cited paper ever published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.
Surprisingly enough, the same concept was described in a second paper three weeks later by Sajeev John, now a professor at the University of Toronto.
Both researchers built on an idea put forward 100 years earlier in 1887, by British physicist Lord Raleigh. He suggested that a material with a repeating, regular structure - such as a crystal - could block light of particular wavelengths.
This happens, Raleigh calculated, because if the light has a wavelength that is similar to the size of the repeated units in the structure, then the waves reflected off its internal surfaces will interfere and cancel each other out. That produces a "stop band" (later called a "photonic bandgap") - a range of light wavelengths that will be repelled by the crystal.
"[Lord Raleigh] developed the idea of the one-dimensional photonic crystal," Prof Yablonovitch explained.
"That's something that we've lived with for over 100 years. But over that entire period, no-one really thought of extending Raleigh's idea into two and three dimensions."
That was where he and Prof John stepped in, almost simultaneously - at a time when controlling light was a subject of great interest, for applications such as optical fibres and solar cells.
"It's just one of those ideas - maybe after 100 years the time had come, and two people thought of it within a few months of one another," Prof Yablonovitch said.
But, he added, expanding the idea into more dimensions, to block light in all directions, was very difficult because "it wasn't clear what the crystal structure should be".
A one-dimensional photonic crystal is a simple stack of layers, but nobody knew what shape a 2D or 3D example would take.
It took Yablonovitch's team four years, and a lot of failed experiments, to produce "Yablonovite" - the first 3D photonic crystal. It consisted of a ceramic material, drilled with three intersecting series of cylindrical holes, 6mm across.
Its power was obvious, Prof Yablonovitch said.
"The multiple scatterings work out such that no matter which way the light tries to go, it's blocked - in every imaginable direction. And even in directions that we cannot imagine, it's still blocked."
Today, 2D photonic crystals are used in "silicon photonics" - integrated circuits that use both light and current to transfer information. These are becoming common in large data centres.
Other researchers have adapted the discovery to guide types of light that are useful in the surgery, including lasers.
"I myself am totally amazed at the applications of these things," Prof Yablonovitch said.
He particularly appreciates the photonic crystals that have evolved in the natural world. Butterfly wings and the colourful plumage of peacocks and some parrots all contain examples, which were only understood after Yablonovitch and his fellow physicists fully described photonic crystals in the 1980s.
"Other people then started looking in a new way at nature," Prof Yablonovitch said.
"When they started... using electron microscopes and so forth, they discovered that the microstructure corresponded to that of a photonic crystal."
Even the chameleon was recently shown to produce - and control - its colour using the shape of photonic crystals.
Prof Yablonovitch will receive the Isaac Newton Medal at an awards dinner on 5 November, where the Institute of Physics will also present a range of other awards.
Prof Chris Lintott, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford and BBC Sky at Night presenter, will be awarded the Kelvin Medal for his education and outreach work.
Prof Lintott runs the successful citizen science platform Zooniverse.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter | The US physicist who first discovered "photonic crystals" which can repel, trap and steer light is to receive the Newton Medal, the BBC can reveal. |
34107489 | Initially it was calm, even after MPs had voted for the draft bill that the activists were protesting against.
I was covering the vote inside parliament.
But some minutes after the speaker brought the session to a close I heard noises coming from the square near the parliament. Almost everything was visible through the window.
At first there were minor clashes.
Two walls of people faced each other - well-equipped police and protesters.
The demonstrators numbered barely more than a few dozen - mainly young men, most of them masked. They started the fights with police, but others supported them.
The protesters tried to pull the policemen away from their lines. They beat them and took their shields and helmets. Soon about a dozen young men were almost as well-equipped as the police.
It was hard to tell who threw the first smoke grenade as they came from both police and protesters.
Several times the atmosphere near the building seemed to calm down for a while, with clashes starting up again.
And then the explosions began.
Anyone who experienced the clashes in the centre of Kiev in early 2014 will remember the blasts being very loud but generally harmless.
But suddenly there was a blast that was clearly louder than the previous explosions.
The grenade - or whatever it was - fell between the parliament building and the wall of police, just behind them.
I saw some people - policemen and a fireman - falling to the ground, and some running away from the site, limping. I saw pools of blood just near the wall of parliament
Several policemen appeared to be heavily injured. As the clashes continued their colleagues tried to help them
The violence after that was not as intense. There were more blasts, and everybody seemed frightened by what had happened.
An ambulance arrived at the parliament entrance and about five policemen limped over to it.
Most of the masked young men had by now disappeared from the square. A few protesters threw plastic bottles at the police, but finally the explosion of violence was over. | Several hundred activists had been protesting close to the Ukrainian parliament building from early in the morning. |
37870647 | Seth Dixon, seven, was hit by a car driven by a woman while she was chatting to a friend using her mobile phone's loudspeaker function, in 2014.
Seth's mother, Alice Husband, has launched a petition.
The government said current legislation means drivers distracted by the use of hands-free sets can be prosecuted.
Road safety campaigners at the time criticised magistrates - the driver admitted careless driving in the crash at Tydd St Mary, Lincolnshire, and was fined £90 and given five points on her licence.
More on this and other local stories from across Lincolnshire
Mrs Husband said driving hands-free could be as bad as drink-driving.
She said: "Research is showing us how it impedes on your driving ability to use a phone hands-free.
"Unlike having a passenger in the seat next to you, it's about the conversation you are having - it takes more thought - and the person at the other end of the phone is not aware of the situation you are in."
In response to Mrs Husband's petition, which has attracted more than 11,500 signatures, the government said it planned to introduce tougher new penalties in 2017.
But it is yet to say whether any changes to legislation will include a ban on hands-free devices.
The government will launch its Think! Campaign next year, aimed at making mobile phone use whilst driving as socially unacceptable as drink driving. | A mother whose son was killed by a driver using a hands-free phone is calling for a total ban on mobile use for drivers. |
33382006 | The suspension comes in a week that two managers of the taxi-ordering app Uber were arrested for "illicit activity".
In June France's interior minister ordered a ban on UberPOP after a day of nationwide protests by taxi drivers.
Bernard Cazeneuve has said Uber's service is '"illegal". It has been banned in France since January.
Uber is unpopular with registered drivers in many cities because they tend to undercut prices, and there have been violent protests.
The firm said on Friday that it was suspending the service as a safety measure.
"We have decided to suspend UberPOP in France from 20.00 [19.00 BST] this Friday evening, primarily to assure the safety of Uber drivers," Thibaud Simphal, head of Uber France, told Le Monde. | Uber has suspended its UberPOP taxi-ordering app in France, according to newspaper Le Monde. |
36016256 | The moves come after Prime Minister David Cameron released details of his tax affairs.
Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies has vowed to do the same.
Labour's Carwyn Jones said he was comfortable publishing his "boring" tax returns, but UKIP's Nathan Gill said he would not "jump on the bandwagon".
Information about David Cameron's 2009-15 tax and earnings was released on Sunday in an attempt to defuse a row about his investment in his late father's offshore fund, details of which emerged in a leak of documents from Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have now also published their tax returns.
Scottish party leaders, including the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, also published their tax returns over the weekend.
Labour leader Carwyn Jones has published his tax payments for 2014/15 - his party's website says he was charged £41,147 on taxable income of £118,800.
He told BBC Wales: "I'm comfortable publishing my tax returns. They are very boring."
He added: "It's inevitable now that the public will want to see the tax returns of politicians. I think most of them will be fairly mundane."
Leanne Wood became the first Welsh political leader to make her tax details public on Sunday evening.
The self-assessment tax calculation shows she paid £9,043 income tax on taxable income of £38,547.
"It's a shame I've been almost forced into a position of doing this because of the question of what's been going on with the prime minister and the distrust towards politicians from people," she told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.
"It's a shame that politics has come to this but I believe in openness and transparency.
"I think if you're in the public eye, especially if you're the leader of a political party - certainly if you're the prime minister - you have an obligation to be honest with people and explain exactly what your financial situation is."
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams published her self-assessment tax calculation on Monday. It shows she paid £15,281 on taxable income of £54,143.
Ms Williams said: "What's we've seen is massive disquiet over the last week and a half about the prime minister's tax affairs, and calls for greater transparency.
"Well if that's good enough for the prime minister those same rules have to apply to all political leaders."
But Nathan Gill of UKIP Wales, who is an MEP, said he was not going to do the same.
He said: "My income is on the record in any case. My sole income is from the European Parliament.
"But I am not jumping on the bandwagon of the Americanisation of British politics to score a cheap point against the prime minister.
"As far as I am concerned I have no desire to see what Carwyn Jones earns."
The Welsh Conservatives said leader Andrew RT Davies will publish his tax returns over the next few days.
Mr Davies said: "The prime minister has laid out his arrangements more transparently than any previous prime minister and shown how this government is leading the way internationally on cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion." | Leaders of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Welsh Labour have revealed details of what they pay in tax. |
40482841 | The gaffe came as the country celebrated its 150th birthday at the weekend.
Kicking off celebrations, the PM name-checked 12 of Canada's 13 provinces and territories - but not Alberta.
Within minutes, angry Albertans were debating the slip on social media, with many insisting it was deliberate.
"The omission was completely intentional. He had a teleprompter," fumed Twitter user Dave Dunbar.
"When you let the whole country know how you feel about #Alberta eh' #Trudeau," wrote one young woman in the western province.
"Did Justin Trudeau really leave out Alberta in his speech? I'm howling here, oh my God what a moron," rued chooseylucy1 in Toronto.
Mr Trudeau quickly realised his mistake, and jumped back on the stage at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
"I love you, Alberta," he called out, blowing a kiss.
The Liberal Party leader was seen shaking his head as he sat down again. A little later, he repeated his apology online.
But as word of the error spread, Mr Trudeau's political critics moved to capitalise on it.
Michelle Rempel, a Conservative member of Parliament representing Calgary, posted a video on Facebook where she claimed "something really bad happened on Parliament Hill".
"The prime minister of our country - on Canada Day! - forgot that Alberta exists," she said. "I don't think this was an accident. Justin Trudeau continually forgets our province."
Unfortunately, the PM picked the wrong four million people to slight.
Alberta, traditionally a more conservative province, was a hotbed of opposition to his father - former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
In October 1980, he ended deadlocked talks about energy pricing by pushing through the National Energy Programme, raising outrage in oil-rich Alberta.
While the critics raged, many other Canadians failed to see the big deal.
"For all you people whining that PM Trudeau forgot Alberta - RELAX," tweeted Jacqueline Roy from Ottawa, adding the hashtags "#peoplemakemistakes", "#HappyCanadaDay", and "#mycountryincludesAlberta".
The attempts to smooth ruffled feathers only raised more, though, as Albertans defended their right to be furious.
"Can you imagine the stink raised he if he would have forgot Ontario.... or God forbid, Quebec!!!!" one Twitter user commented.
"If he would have missed Quebec there would have been riots in the streets," agreed Cal Howard.
Perhaps keen to ensure they aren't overlooked again, miffed Albertans shared a mock geography test online.
It seems unlikely Mr Trudeau will repeat the blunder in future. | Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has infuriated people from Alberta, after failing to give the province a shout-out on Canada Day. |
40501304 | The BBC has spoken to one man who says four members of his family were killed in a night raid involving the SAS in 2011.
The Sunday Times has also reported other allegations of unlawful killing by British special forces.
An investigation into British troops' conduct in Afghanistan began in 2015.
In 2016, the Ministry of Defence said about 600 complaints against British forces in Afghanistan had been made, relating to a period between 2005 and 2013.
The MoD says 90% of those have already been dismissed, with fewer than 10% still the subject of investigation by the Royal Military Police under Operation Northmoor.
The man, who did not want to be named, told the BBC he was held, blindfolded, in a room overnight.
"Early morning, they came and opened my eyes and said to me that I should not go out until they left the area. When the helicopters left the area we came out of the room.
"As soon as I came out of the room I saw that they had shot my father, two brothers and cousin."
The BBC has been told the raid did involve special forces and is now being investigated.
A former British Army intelligence officer, Chris Green, who served in Afghanistan, said he had been blocked when he tried to look into allegations of abuses by special forces officers.
"British forces, and the troops that I worked with, worked under very very strict rules of engagement and it seemed to me that special forces did not have to apply the same rules in quite the same way," he said.
"My overview of their accountability was - I didn't see any.
"When I sought information from them, this wall of secrecy was put in front of me and I could see no good reason why the information I was asking for was denied from me and nor could they give me a good reason for denying me that information."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, are among those who have called for an independent inquiry into the claims.
"Our armed forces have a reputation for decency and bravery," said Mr Corbyn.
"If we do not act on such shocking allegations we risk undermining that reputation, our security at home and the safety of those serving in the armed forces abroad."
The former head of the army, General Lord Richard Dannatt, said people shouldn't jump to conclusions.
"No witch hunts, but no cover ups," he said.
"If there is evidence of wrongdoing, it should be investigated, but we should be very, very careful of throwing mud at our very special, special forces."
Allegations of widespread abuse in Iraq have already been mostly discredited and that investigation is now closed. | The Royal Military Police is investigating an allegation that British special forces killed unarmed Afghan civilians, the BBC understands. |
38633035 | Bill Lucas said a glass of wine or sherry before lunch also kept him strong.
Mr Lucas, also the country's oldest living Bomber Command pilot, competed in the 5,000m track event at the 1948 London Olympic Games.
He celebrated his birthday at a party organised by his athletics club, Belgrave Harriers.
A member of the Belgrave Harriers club for 81 years, Mr Lucas said his call-up to the RAF deprived him of a chance of an Olympic medal.
The decorated pilot, who lives in Cowfold, West Sussex, ran his 1948 heat in 14 minutes 30.6 seconds - 20 seconds off that required to qualify for the final.
He said: "I spent six years in the service and I had done very little training and I'd missed 1940 and 1944, where I might well have got a medal or something like that... but Hitler deprived me of those, so I went and bombed them instead."
The 1948 Olympic Games took place in London as Europe continued to emerge from the shadow of World War II.
Dubbed "the Austerity Olympics", the Games were greeted enthusiastically by thousands who attended the opening ceremony and watched the torch being carried into Wembley Stadium by British athlete John Mark.
When Mr Lucas competed for Great Britain, aged 32, he had already flown 81 missions over Germany.
He trained for the 1948 Games while working full-time in insurance and living off rations in the post-war era.
Belgrave Harriers presented Mr Lucas with a 172-year-old bottle of Madeira wine at the party in Wimbledon, south-west London, on Sunday.
The party was the father-of-two's first outing since Christmas after he was cut out of a car following an accident in November.
He said the celebration was "absolutely marvellous".
Mr Lucas will spend his birthday on Monday with his family.
His wife Sheena, 87, said: "I'm immensely proud - I love him dearly and we have a wonderful life together." | An evening whisky is the key to a long life, according to Britain's oldest living Olympian on his 100th birthday. |
36281300 | South Bank Square aims to develop land close to the Caw roundabout with frontages to Crescent Link and Clooney Road.
If approved, the scheme would take about 10 years to complete.
House builders in Northern Ireland are beginning major schemes for the first time since the property crash.
Private house building collapsed when a house-price bubble burst in 2007 and 2008.
Official figures show just over 4,500 private housing units were completed in Northern Ireland in 2014-2015.
That compares to more than 16,500 completions in 2005-2006.
South Bank Square is controlled by Maghera businessman Seamus Gillan.
His main firm, BSG Civil Engineering, mainly carries out engineering work for public sector clients like Northern Ireland Water.
Mr Gillan said the proposed development had got "extremely constructive and positive feedback in consultation with local residents".
He said he knows the importance of addressing traffic issues at the Caw roundabout and the planning application "responds to these issues".
Brian Kelly, the director of Turley and the lead planner for South Bank Square, said recent statistics suggest that housing completions in the Derry City and Strabane Council area have been slower than elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
He added that the scheme would represent 18% of the housing needed to accommodate the projected growth of the city's population over the next 20 years. | A developer has submitted plans to build 800 houses in Londonderry in what would be the city's biggest residential scheme in over a decade. |
36062590 | Eric and Ann Whalley, originally from Cockermouth and Maryport, have given the money to the Cumbria Community Foundation's Flood Recovery Fund.
The appeal was launched in the wake of heavy storms in December.
The Whalleys, who now live in Boston, emigrated 27 years ago.
Mr Whalley lost sight in one eye and suffered shrapnel damage to his brain when terrorists detonated two bombs close to the finish line of the city's annual marathon on 15 April 2013.
His wife sustained shrapnel and burns injuries to her limbs, neck and face.
They underwent more than 20 operations each in the aftermath.
A social media campaign launched following the attack raised £100,000 for the medical bills of the former Cockermouth Grammar School pupils.
In a statement accompanying their donation, the couple, who are both 68, said: "We were so touched by the well wishes, kindness, support and generosity from family, friends and fellow west Cumbrians which helped significantly with our recovery.
"We are sad to learn about the devastation resulting from the floods in Cumbria and we would like to thank you all by giving forward."
Andy Beeforth, chief executive of the foundation said the Whalleys "embody the true 'Spirit of Cumbria' which we have seen time and again since the terrible floods". | A couple badly injured in the Boston Marathon bombings have marked the third anniversary of the attack by donating £10,000 to a charity appeal helping flood victims in Cumbria. |
29594066 | The 24m (78ft) sculpture weighs 15 tonnes and is made of wood draped with swathes of brightly coloured fabric.
The sculpture, by the US artist Richard Tuttle, is suspended over the atrium and is intended to resemble aeroplane wings.
Tuttle said it was "the job of the artist is to try to find a reunion between the mechanical and the human".
The wooden shapes of the sculpture, he continued, were designed to resemble aeroplane parts in order to "raise the issue of genocide".
"I wanted to be a pilot and passed everything and then realised that they wanted me to fly over Vietnam at such a height and drop bombs on innocent children," he went on.
"I'm born in the 20th Century and my soul, if you will, is a 20th Century soul. Sometimes I call this the first piece of the 21st Century."
The Tate commission, which will remain on view until 6 April, ties in with a retrospective of the renowned sculptor and poet's work at the Whitechapel Gallery in east London.
According to Tate Modern, the work "brings together three specially-made fabrics, each of which combines natural and man-made fibres.
"These are suspended from the ceiling as a sculptural form... to create a huge volume of joyous colour and fluidity."
The last work to be seen in the Turbine Hall was Tino Sehgal's live performance piece These Associations two years ago.
That free-form, interactive piece saw visitors swept up in impromptu dances, races and conversations by choreographed performers.
There have been no art installations in the Turbine Hall since then due to building work.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Korean car manufacturer Hyundai would be the hall's new sponsor, beginning in 2015.
Work in the atrium was previously sponsored by Unilever, whose 12-year association saw large works by Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread and others occupy the space. | The Tate Modern gallery in London has unveiled the latest art commission to fill its vast Turbine Hall space. |
35967248 | The Scottish SPCA set a humane trap after the creature was seen near the Alladale Wilderness Reserve near Bonar Bridge on 11 March.
Last week it emerged that a raccoon was filmed by wildlife detection equipment near Garve on 17 March.
This sighting was made about 30 miles (48km) north of Alladale.
It is not known if it is the same animal.
Raccoons are listed as one of the top 50 invasive, non-native species in Scotland. Kept as pets and in zoos, there have been several escapes in the last few years.
Scottish SPCA senior inspector Dougie Campbell said it was a mystery how a raccoon, or raccoons, had ended up living wild in the Highlands.
He said: "We haven't received any reports of a local wildlife park losing a raccoon and we aren't aware of anyone in the area that keeps them.
"I set a humane trap at Alladale Wilderness Reserve around three weeks ago but we've not been able to catch the raccoon yet.
"It isn't completely out of the question that the raccoon seen at Alladale is the same as the one seen in Garve but it is a huge distance for it to have travelled."
Mr Campbell said people should contact the Scottish SPCA if they spot a raccoon.
He added: "If someone is able to contain the creature without putting themselves at risk of being bitten, for instance in a shed or outbuilding, this would be ideal.
"If we are successful in rescuing a raccoon we will be looking to re-home it to a zoo or wildlife park which has suitable facilities."
Raccoons join a list of animals that have escaped or been illegally released in Scotland.
For several years, sightings have been made in the Highlands of wild boar and also free-roaming pigs believed to be a mix boar and domestic pig.
In 2012, boar were seen in the Strathnairn area near Inverness after escaping from a farm.
Feral wild boar were spotted searching for food in the gardens of homes in Invermoriston, near Loch Ness, in 2011.
Residents told of seeing the pigs on their properties and nearby roads.
In 2002, police were involved in efforts to catch a wild boar roaming between Newtonmore and Laggan. It was later shot by a local landowner.
Beavers have also been found in Tayside and in 2008 a beaver was found dead on a beach at Eathie in the Black Isle north of Inverness.
Three years ago, a large Eurasian eagle owl spent several days on the loose around Inverness city centre after escaping.
Three men claimed to have been attacked by the bird of prey, a species of owl not native to the UK.
Escaped eagle owls were previously caught in Inverness in 2009 and in 2006, when an owl was seen feeding from bird tables in people's gardens.
And in 1980, a puma was captured at Cannich, Inverness-shire.
It was taken to the Highland Wildlife Park, at Kincraig. Nicknamed Felicity, it spent five years at the park.
After the cat died it was stuffed and is on display at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. | An animal welfare charity has attempted to trap a raccoon that was spotted several miles from where one was filmed in the Scottish Highlands. |
31769164 | The people of Iraq are justifiably proud of this ancient heritage and its innovations and impact on the world.
The reported destruction by Islamic State militants at Nimrud, following similar destruction at the site of Nineveh and the Mosul Museum, is an attack on the people of Iraq as well as a tragedy for the world's cultural heritage.
Nimrud was the capital of what many scholars consider the world's first empire, the Neo-Assyrian Empire of the 1st millennium BC.
Lying 35km (22 miles) south of the modern city of Mosul in north Iraq, Nimrud covers some 3.5 sq km (1.35 sq miles), with a prominent "citadel" mound within the city walls, on which are clustered the main administrative and religious buildings.
These buildings include the enormous palaces of several Assyrian kings and the temples of Ninurta, the god of war, and of Nabu, the god of writing.
The site was first established by the 6th millennium BC but was expanded and developed into the ancient imperial city of Kalhu by King Ashurnasirpal II from about 880 BC.
It remained the Assyrian imperial capital until about 700 BC and continued to be an important city until 612 BC and the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
The Palace of Ashurnasirpal, also known as the North-West Palace, was first excavated by the British explorer Austen Henry Layard in the 1840s. His excavations are the source of the winged bull gatekeeper statues currently displayed in the British Museum.
Layard also recovered large numbers of stone panels that lined the walls of rooms and courtyards within the palace. These panels are of a local limestone, carved in low relief with beautifully detailed scenes of the king seated at state banquets, hunting lions, or engaged in warfare and religious ritual.
Extended excavations at Nimrud were next carried out in the 1950s-60s by Max Mallowan, the husband of crime writer Agatha Christie.
Mallowan and his team reconstructed the complex plans of the palace, temples and citadel, and his excavations recovered rich finds of carved ivory furniture, stone jars and metalwork, as well as hundreds of additional wall reliefs and wall paintings.
Near the entrance to the palace's throne room, Mallowan also discovered a free-standing stone slab, which depicted the king in a pose of worship and included a long text in Assyrian cuneiform that described the construction of the palace and its surrounding gardens.
The text's details of precious metal door fittings, cedar roof beams, and hundreds of artisans at work hint at the unique reach and power of the Assyrian empire.
This text also described a luxurious banquet for almost 70,000 guests that took place at the palace's dedication, involving hundreds of animals and birds, fruit, and flowing beer and wine.
Other rooms of the palaces and temples contained archives of the imperial administration.
Large parts of Ashurnasirpal's palace were reconstructed by Iraq's antiquities board during the 1970s and 1980s, including the restoration and re-installation of carved stone reliefs lining the walls of many rooms.
The winged bull statues that guard the entrances to the most important rooms and courtyards were re-erected.
These winged bulls are among the most dramatic and easily recognised symbols of the Assyrian world.
They combine the most highly valued attributes of figures from nature into a complex hybrid form: a human head for wisdom, the body of a wild bull for physical power, and the wings of an eagle for the ability to soar high and far and to see and prevent evil.
The Iraqi restoration project also led to the dramatic discovery of several tombs of the queens of the Assyrian empire. These tombs contained astonishingly rich finds of delicate gold jewellery and crowns, enamel ornaments, bronze and gold bowls, and ivory vessels.
The technical skill and aesthetic sense of the artisans responsible are unrivalled in the ancient world.
Nimrud was for a long time a popular site for family picnics and local school group visits, and the reconstruction of the palace provided a rare opportunity for visitors to experience the buildings' scale and beauty in a way that is impossible to find in a museum context.
Nimrud is unique and its buildings and artworks are irreplaceable.
This destruction is a huge loss for archaeologists, for Iraqis, and for the world. | Ancient Iraq is famous for many global "firsts" - Mesopotamia gave us the first writing, the first city, the first written law code, and arguably the first empire. |
40956489 | The service, which runs on Friday and Saturday nights, launched on 19 August last year with two lines running. It has run on five lines since December.
The eight millionth journey on the Night Tube is expected to take place this weekend as the service marks its one-year anniversary.
The mayor's office says 3,600 jobs are supported by the Night Tube.
Sadiq Khan said it had been a "huge success" which had "significantly" boosted the night time economy.
The most popular stations are Leicester Square, Oxford Circus, Brixton, Liverpool Street and Stratford.
226,641
Entries and exits on 17 December, the most popular night
153,250 Entries and exits a night on average
6,995 Average number of entries and exits per night of the busiest station, Leicester Square
65 Average number of entries and exits of the least popular station, Fairlop
BBC London has analysed data from Transport for London (TfL) on how many people entered and exited each Tube station every half an hour between 19 August and 18 February.
It shows that:
The service cost £20.5m to run in the financial year of 2016-17.
It was first proposed in November 2013 by former mayor Boris Johnson and was due to begin in September 2015.
But it faced a difficult start as a series of strikes over pay delayed trains by nearly a year.
Dates when the Night Tube opened on different lines:
Mr Khan said: "No one could have predicted just how successful the Night Tube would be."
Val Shawcross, deputy mayor for transport, said City Hall were now looking "at how we can move ahead" including expanding to other lines.
The service is due to run on part of the Overground later this year, but Ms Shawcross suggested it could open on the Circle and District "when they've finished their upgrades in the 2020s".
The Night Tube has had some complaints over increased night noise near Tube lines but Ms Shawcross said TfL was "actively working" to reduce complaints. | About 300,000 journeys are being made every weekend on London's Night Tube service, analysis reveals. |
35198384 | He was found unconscious at Appleford Court in Pitsea, Essex, shortly after officers were called to a disturbance at about 00:30 GMT on Wednesday.
The unnamed man, thought to be in his mid-20s to mid-30s, was given first aid before being declared dead.
The 50-year-old suspect was arrested in Rectory Road afterwards, but police are still looking for a second man.
He is described as white, 5ft 5in tall (1.65m), in his mid-30s, with short dark hair, and was wearing dark clothing.
Police have cordoned off the scene and a forensic examination and house-to-house inquiries are under way. | A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found in a stairwell at a block of flats. |
38966115 | The AnaOno Intimates show was devised by US designer, and breast cancer survivor, Dana Donofree, and introduced by Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino.
Models with different shapes and stories proudly bared signs of surgery.
Nearly half of the models had metastatic, or advanced, breast cancer, according to Ms Donofree.
All proceeds went to Cancerland, an outreach and advocacy charity in the US.
Warning: This article contains images of partial nudity
"I felt sexy, I felt beautiful, and I was proud," Paige Moore, 24, said after taking part in the show.
Five weeks ago, she had preventative double mastectomy after genetic testing.
"I was like these scars are sexy and awesome, and I am here, I am alive and I feel good. That is all that matters," she said.
In the US and the UK, cancer researchers say one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
"It is a very important moment for them [the models] to get out there and experience something like this because breast cancer has taken over their bodies," Ms Donofree told Reuters.
Ms Donofree also had a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with the disease, aged 27.
She started designing underwear for others who have undergone breast surgery after realising that traditional garments no longer fitted.
Ms Donofree wrote about her story and the inspiration for the show on her website.
"As I slowly rebuilt my own self-esteem and confidence, first by getting a mastectomy tattoo, then by talking to other women about life after acute treatment, and finally trying on my first bra prototype, I wondered why none of this was part of some greater 'What to Expect When You're Expecting a Mastectomy' pamphlet they handed out at your surgeon's office."
"Whether I have nipples or breasts or not, I am a woman," said model Chiaro D'Agostino, a New Jersey teacher and blogger. | Women who survived breast cancer took over the catwalk at New York Fashion Week in an alternative lingerie show to raise funds for charity. |
39707674 | Sarries hope to better second-placed Exeter's result against Saints as they battle for a home play-off semi-final.
Already-relegated Bristol make two changes, as Jack O'Connell comes into the front row and Ollie Robinson returns to the back row.
The visitors could give a debut to prop Ollie Dawe from the replacements bench.
Veteran forward Kelly Brown and scrum-half Neil De Kock will make what could be their final appearances for Saracens at the Allianz after distinguished careers with the club.
Brown, 34, who has played for Sarries since 2010, will become the academy coach at the end of the season, while 38-year-old De Kock ends an 11-year stay in north London by moving back to South Africa.
There are further landmarks for Saracens, with Schalk Brits making his 200th appearance and captain-for-the-day Farrell playing his 150th game for the side.
Bristol backs coach Dwayne Peel told BBC Radio Bristol:
"There is an eagerness from the lads to finish the season very well.
"If we are competitive and really have a go at Saracens, we can be pleased with our performance.
"Saracens are a very difficult team to emulate. What they are is together, with world-class players, and fight to the end for each other."
Saracens: Goode, Ashton, Tomkins, Lozowski, Wyles; Farrell (capt), De Kock; M Vunipola, Brits, Koch; Itoje, Kruis; Brown, Burger, B Vunipola.
Replacements: George, Lamositele, Du Plessis, Hamilton, Earl, Wigglesworth, Gallagher, Ellery.
Bristol: Woodward; Edwards, Hurrell, Henson, Tovey; Searle, Mathewson; O'Connell, Jones (capt), Cortes, Phillips, Sorenson, Jeffries, Robinson, Eadie.
Replacements: Crumpton, Dawe, Ford-Robinson, Glynn, Fenton-Wells, Williams, Pisi, Piutau.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter. | Saracens captain Brad Barritt misses the game with a knock, so Owen Farrell takes the armband and Alex Lozowski starts at centre against Bristol. |
36900506 | The 2013 double world champion missed the 2012 London Games because of injury and struggled with form and fitness before gaining selection for Rio.
"If you'd said to me seven months ago 'keep training hard you'll be going to the Olympics' I probably would have said no," James admitted.
"I really can't believe it, this is just surreal for me."
James will compete in the keirin on the track at Rio.
The Welsh racer won gold in the keirin and sprint at the 2013 Track World Championships in Minsk, but was then plagued for two-years with shoulder and knee injuries, as well as enduring a cancer scare.
Her return to the track in August 2015 saw James a long way off the pace and she faced a tough and unsuccessful World Cup series before making a breakthrough at the World Championships in London in March, 2016.
"I remember my first race back in August and I was just so off the pace and I couldn't see how I could get back to where I was or even better, because I knew the rest of the world just keeps moving on," said the 24-year-old from Abergavenny.
"I struggled in the World Cup - I had to race in the World Cup to qualify for the World Championships and if I didn't do that I wouldn't qualify for the Olympics.
"I didn't really get any results in the World Cups and I was losing belief in myself and after Hong Kong [World Cup event] I had five weeks of training before the Worlds and something just changed.
"I was really happy and I just thought 'whatever happens now is just going to be' and I think that's what helped me get into the final of Keirin."
James finished third in the final, a moment she puts on an equal footing with her best in the sport.
"For me it was on a par with winning my world titles," she said.
"I would never have imagined winning a medal again so it felt like a gold medal for me and I think for the rest of the team too."
James puts her return to the British team down to her own hard work and help from coaches and those close to her.
"I think [it was] the support from my family, George [North] my boyfriend and all the staff at British cycling," added James.
"They kept saying they believed in me, and that they knew I'd get back - but I just found it really hard on those darker days but I'm glad I knuckled through now."
And the family will be in Rio to cheer her and the British team as they try to emulate their nine-medal haul from the track in 2012.
"There's a big crowd of my family. I've got eight supporters - both my parents are coming," she said.
"And George, my grandparents, my uncle and my auntie who live in Argentina and my little sister so, yeah, it's a big family outing.
"Obviously there's a little bit of pressure, but for me I've got my own mindset, I know exactly what I want to do and I'm going to keep it that way and, you know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to just enjoy every minute of it." | Cyclist Becky James says that as recently as the start of 2016 she was not sure she would make the Olympics. |
19880964 | But another significant, and so far less widely discussed, issue is coming to the fore - if and when peace is achieved, what role can or should the Colombian military play?
Much of the focus to date has seemingly been around the possible demobilisation of the several thousand Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels who have been fighting the Colombian state for almost five decades.
"People are talking about the demobilisation of the Farc," retired Col Hugo Bahamon told a recent seminar of academics and high-ranking officers at Bogota's Military Club.
"But if a peace agreement is reached, we need to think about the demobilisation of many members of the armed forces as well."
Currently there are an estimated 400,000 serving military personnel in Colombia.
What would peace mean to them?
The Colombian armed forces are looking for protection from what could potentially happen if a post-conflict Farc were to become a legitimate political force and enter mainstream national politics.
Speaking at the same meeting, Armed Forces Commander Gen Alejandro Navas said: "They [the Farc] have the objective of winning the national elections in 2018. The presidential elections in 2014 are just a test and then they will be unstoppable at the ballots if there are no solid political parties."
Whether such a scenario would arise and the Colombian electorate would back a Farc party to the degree Gen Navas fears may be disputed.
But military men like him and Col Bahamon are clearly concerned, particularly as serving members of the armed forces do not have the right to vote.
They are worried that members of the security forces may end up in the dock.
In such a long-running conflict, atrocities have been committed by the guerrillas and the armed forces.
If - and it is a big if - the rebels benefit from amnesties, will the same be true for the armed forces?
Col Bahamon expressed fears that even if amnesties are in place for the security forces, the situation could change.
"Look at what has happened in Argentina and Chile, where, 20 years on, the guerrillas who threatened the state are in power, amnesties have been overturned and now [former soldiers] of 70 and 80 years of age are being imprisoned," he said.
"Why can't we get the right to vote, after all we have been defending the country and fighting for her for 60 years?"
Without the right to vote, members of the military feel they have no judicial security from potential lawsuits.
In a law passed earlier this year that sets out the framework for peace, one highly controversial clause was to try the military in civilian courts rather than military tribunals. This is yet to be resolved.
One key element of the debate is whether the Farc rebels are still militarily powerful or more of a political entity.
Lt Col Laureano Novoa, a leading intelligence expert, recalled that the last time peace talks were tried, and failed, the Farc held the upper hand.
"This time around they are not making the rules," he said.
But Ronald Archer, a special adviser to the US Army, believes that the Farc as a movement has significant power due to its political activities - and that is why the army must do more to improve its own relations with the civilian population.
""The Farc's support is concentrated in rural areas, which have been subjected to years of indoctrination," said Mr Archer.
"Their declarations that the Colombian State has abandoned these hard-to-reach lands must be exposed through showing the people the benefits of a state presence."
The agenda for the peace talks includes agrarian reform, recognising the rights of the victims of the conflict and accepting the political legitimacy of opposition movements that may emerge in the wake of a peace deal.
It is set to be a long road, but if peace does come, it will herald many changes in a country marked by conflict for the past 48 years, which has seen more than three million people displaced by the violence.
But should the Farc demobilise, there will be a potential power vacuum in some parts of Colombia.
There is a fear that well-trained members of the military, like demobilised paramilitary fighters before them, could enter the rank and file of the "Bacrims", the illegal criminal bands involved in drug trafficking and extortion.
And while Farc rebels may be ready to give up their fight against the state, it is unclear how many will opt to remain involved in the illegal drugs trade. | With long-awaited peace talks under way between the Colombian government and Farc rebels in Oslo, one key question is how to incorporate the guerrillas back into civilian life. |
39506199 | None of them will be offering the product immediately.
Only three providers will offer the Lisa this month, and they are all investment platforms which will operate a stocks and shares version only.
The Lisa, the brainchild of former Chancellor George Osborne, offers savers a 25% annual bonus.
The Treasury said other providers had already announced plans to launch Lisas. It added that it expected the market for Lisas, including cash accounts, to continue to grow this year as more providers put systems in place and developed their products.
Some providers said they preferred to offer the existing Help to Buy Isa; others said they have not had time to get ready for it.
"It's a bit of a damp squib as there are no cash Lisas yet confirmed for launch," said Hannah Maundrell, editor-in-chief of Money.co.uk.
"Yet again the government has promised consumers the chance of a shiny new savings vehicle without consulting with the industry on how and when they can deliver it."
From Thursday 6 April, those between the ages of 18 and 39 were due to be able to open a Lisa cash savings account.
But banks and building societies have complained that the product is too complex for customers to understand.
And there have been worries that workers might stop saving into a pension because of it.
Some providers have even warned that savers could also lose money in the short term, if they want to withdraw their cash.
The Lisa is designed for people who want to save for a house, or for retirement.
Savers benefit from a government bonus of £1,000 a year, if they deposit the maximum amount of £4,000.
But apart from in the first year, they will lose 25% of everything they take out of it, unless it is to buy a house, or unless they have reached the age of 60.
Last December Nationwide said it would not offer Lisas because they were too complicated.
Lloyds, which will continue to reconsider its plans, said it was a "longstanding advocate of the simplicity of Isa wrappers".
Both Nationwide and RBS said they preferred to continue with the existing Help to Buy Isa, even though the Lisa potentially offers a larger government bonus.
The maximum bonus from a Help to Buy Isa is £3,000, whereas the maximum from a Lisa is £32,000.
However, most banks say they will consider launching a Lisa in the months ahead. The Skipton Building Society is planning to issue a product in June.
Nevertheless, three investment platforms, Hargreaves Lansdown, Nutmeg and the Share Centre, are launching Lisas on Thursday. These will be for those who want to invest cash in shares, funds or bonds. | The government's flagship savings programme, the Lifetime Isa (Lisa), has been snubbed by banks and building societies on the day it launches. |
40582786 | "We have a lot of evidence about what works in schools, but it's not spread within the school system," she said.
Sir Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, will be the first to take the role.
Ms Greening said her top priority would be to improve social mobility.
But, speaking at a Sutton Trust event in London, she said there would now be an "evidence champion" to make sure changes were informed by objective evidence.
Ms Greening said the evidence champion would ensure more "value for money and impact".
"You can have some fantastic work and insights in a school in Exeter, but it won't necessarily get to a school in Newcastle," she said.
"We want to disseminate the best practice."
The role of expert opinion has sometimes been controversial in education.
During the debate over plans to reintroduce grammar schools, the government was challenged over whether it was refusing to accept the evidence of experts.
Former Education Secretary Michael Gove also prompted a debate, during the Brexit referendum campaign, with comments that "people have had enough of experts".
Ms Greening said the new "guiding mission" of the Department for Education would be addressing the lack of social mobility.
She said there was a "social mobility emergency" - a problem that in some respects had "gone backwards".
In particular, she warned of some parts of England with "entrenched disadvantage", where low skills and poor employment were found in a downward spiral alongside underachieving schools.
Ms Greening has previously announced 12 "opportunity areas", where attention will be focused on raising standards and encouraging better training and work opportunities.
These areas are Doncaster, Bradford, Fenland & East Cambridgeshire, Hastings, Ipswich, Stoke, Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, Scarborough, and West Somerset.
Sir Kevan said his role would be to ensure the evidence of research was being applied.
"Let's start with what we know, rather than what we think we know," he said.
There had been much detailed work into the "blockages" in social mobility, said Sir Kevan, and this needed to be shared.
"It's another signal that we're being thoughtful and rigorous," he said. "Let's look at the evidence."
The Education Endowment Foundation was created to test ideas that would help to raise standards in disadvantaged areas. | Education Secretary Justine Greening has announced the creation of an "evidence champion" who will make sure that decisions on improving schools in England are based on real evidence. |
33409391 | The 29-year-old all-rounder took over the captaincy from Glen Chapple this season but has only been able to play one County Championship match.
Last summer, Smith took more than 50 wickets in the Championship for the first time and hit 773 runs.
"This is a huge blow for Tom and for the club," said cricket director and head coach Ashley Giles.
"As club captain, Tom remains a very important part of the team and our season, and we look forward to him being able to start the journey to play after the operation." | Lancashire captain Tom Smith will miss the rest of the season as he needs to have surgery on a back injury. |
38979114 | The Ukrainian Eurovision team say they were stripped of major responsibilities in December, when a new boss was appointed to the organising committee.
According to their resignation letter, they were "completely blocked" from making decisions about the show.
The EBU, which founded Eurovision, told Ukraine's public broadcaster to "stick to the timeline" despite the upheaval.
It insisted the event would go ahead as planned in Kiev this May.
Among the team members who resigned were two executive producers of this year's show.
All the staff were appointed by the Ukraine Public Broadcaster (UA:PBC), which is organising the contest after Ukrainian singer Jamala won last year's event with the song 1944.
In an open letter published by Strana, the team said: "Hereby we, the Eurovision team, for whom this contest has become not only part of our work but also part of our life, officially inform that we are resigning and stopping work on preparations for the organisation of the contest."
Putting on the Eurovision Song Contest is a huge undertaking. In 2010, Norwegian broadcaster NRK had to ditch the World Cup because it couldn't afford to pay Fifa and foot the bill for Eurovision at the same time.
In Ukraine, the task has proved even more problematic. The decision over which city would host the show was delayed three times and there were even rumours the contest would be moved to Russia.
Now, with just three months to go, the core team has quit. They've been at loggerheads with their boss, who they claim has been blocking all of their decisions. They also say there have been problems finalising contracts with subcontractors. At worst, that could include the teams who build the stage.
The show must go on - and the EBU, which has organised the contest since 1956, has the financial and political muscle to make sure it does. But it will be interesting to see how close to the wire it gets.
They said preparations "stopped for almost two months" after the appointment of Eurovision co-ordinator Pavlo Hrytsak last year, adding, "the work of our team was completely blocked".
They also said a decision to increase the event's budget to 29m euro (£24.5m), up from 22m euro (£18.6m) would deprive Ukraine's state broadcaster of millions in profit.
The EBU said it could not comment on the staffing matters raised in the letter, but thanked the team for their hard work.
In a statement, it added: "We have reiterated to UA:PBC the importance of a speedy and efficient implementation of plans already agreed, despite staff changes and that we stick to the timeline and milestones that have been established and approved by the Reference Group to ensure a successful Contest in May."
This year's Eurovision Song Contest final is due to take place in Kiev on 13 May.
Britain will be represented by former X Factor contestant Lucie Jones in this year's competition. The Welsh singer was chosen by a public vote after performing her ballad, Never Give Up On You, on BBC Two's Eurovision: You Decide.
The song was co-written by Danish star Emmelie de Forest, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song Only Teardrops.
There has already been controversy over the decision to hold the Eurovision opening ceremony in the Saint Sophia complex, a well-known religious landmark which dates back to the 17th Century.
The use of the venue was called "blasphemy" by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy.
"From all viewpoints, this is a very bad decision," Andrei Kurayev, a prominent deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was quoted as saying by Mosokovski Komsomolets. "Now, on the tombstone of [Mstislav I of Kiev], there will be dances."
Later, Zurab Alasania, head of Ukraine's national TV and radio company, resigned amidst reports that the country was having troubles financing the song contest.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | The Eurovision Song Contest has hit a major road bump, after 21 top level staff organising the event resigned. |
34952987 | Two UN peacekeepers from Guinea and a civilian contractor were killed in the attack in Kidal, officials said.
Eight days ago, gunmen attacked a hotel in the capital, Bamako, taking scores hostage. Twenty-two people were killed.
The peacekeeping mission in Mali was approved in 2014 after France led a military campaign to drive out Islamist militants from the north.
The Minusma force comprises some 10,000 soldiers from dozens of different contributor countries - the majority from Mali's west African neighbours.
World's most dangerous peacekeeping mission
The UN mission - criticised by some at the time of its approval because there is no peace deal to support - has suffered more casualties than any other in recent years, with 56 troops killed.
Islamist militants are suspected of being behind Saturday's attack, in which 14 people were injured, several seriously, reports suggest.
"Our camp in Kidal was attacked early this morning by terrorists using rockets," said an official from the Minusma force.
Militancy in Mali | Three people have been killed in a rocket attack on a UN peacekeepers' base in northern Mali, the UN says. |
38139449 | Kinder Morgan Inc's Trans Mountain pipeline and Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline were given the green light by Ottawa.
But the federal government rejected a separate Enbridge project, the Alberta-to-British Columbia Northern Gateway.
Mr Trudeau's decision is a major test as he tries to balance his environmental and economic promises.
His announcement angered environmental groups and some First Nations.
It also comes as energy politics look set to undergo a shift in the US under president-elect Donald Trump.
Mr Trudeau said on Tuesday the approved projects are in the national interest and part of Canada's "clean energy transition".
"We are under no illusion the decision today will be bitterly disputed," he said.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce applauded the decision, saying it will diversify Canada's energy markets and create jobs.
Environmental groups were quick to react, saying the decision raised doubts as to whether the country would be able to meet its international climate commitments.
The approved pipelines will be a boon to the Alberta oilpatch, which has struggled under prolonged low oil prices and in the wake of the Fort McMurray forest fires.
Canada is one of the world's largest energy producers.
The Trans Mountain Alberta-to-British Columbia project will twin an existing pipeline and increase its capacity from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000 barrels a day.
Enbridge's Line 3 Alberta-to-Wisconsin pipeline will replace an existing aging pipeline currently running at half capacity. Once completed, it would carry up to 760,000 barrels of various crude oils per day.
Despite their approval by Ottawa, the projects will likely face protests and litigation.
Northern Gateway was a twin pipeline project from Alberta to northern British Columbia, where a marine terminal would have been built.
It had been in limbo since a federal court in June overturned an earlier National Energy Board approval. The ruling found Ottawa had not adequately consulted Indigenous people along the route.
Mr Trudeau also announced a moratorium on crude oil tankers on British Columbia's north coast.
In September, Indigenous nations from across North America signed a letter committing to oppose five pipelines, including Line 3, Northern Gateway, Trans Mountain and the Keystone XL.
Grand Chief Terry Nelson of the Winnipeg-based Southern Chiefs Organization told the BBC that opposition to many of these projects runs deep.
"People should not simply dismiss this as rhetoric," he said.
First Nations opposition to energy infrastructure projects is not unanimous, however. Numerous First Nations have signed on as equity partners to various proposed projects.
Mr Trudeau will also have to find a political calculus between his climate agenda and Mr Trump's.
Canada and the US often act in concert on climate initiatives. There are concerns that unilateral initiatives would give the US a leg up on jobs and investment.
Mr Trump's position on initiatives is very different from Mr Trudeau's. He has vowed withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and to revive the coal industry. He has also expressed interest in resuscitating TransCanada's Keystone XL Alberta-to-Texas pipeline project.
That is underscored by a planned visit to Fort McMurray by Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor on US Pesident-elect Trump's transition team.
Ms Conway will be touring the oil sands and meeting Alberta businesspeople in January, shortly before the inauguration.
Earlier this year, Mr Trudeau announced Ottawa would implement a minimum nationwide carbon tax for 2018 and would phase out traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030. | Canada will approve two major pipeline projects, but reject a third proposal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced. |
37502538 | The major oil exporting nations struck the deal at talks in Algeria on Wednesday to ease fears of oversupply.
"Opec made an exceptional decision today," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, rose almost 6% to nearly $49 a barrel on the news.
While oil saw only small gains in early Asian trade, energy firms across the region soared.
Oil ministers said full details of the agreement would be finalised at a formal Opec meeting in November.
Output will fall by about 700,000 barrels a day, although the cuts will not be distributed evenly across the cartel, with Iran being allowed to increase production.
Disagreements between Iran and its regional rival Saudi Arabia had thwarted earlier attempts to reach a deal.
Many of Opec's smaller members pushed for the cut after seeing oil prices plunge from $110 a barrel over the past two years due to oversupply and slowing demand.
Nigerian Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said it was a "very positive deal", while Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Bouarfaa said: "The decision was unanimous, and without reservations."
The outline deal will limit output from Opec countries to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels a day, said Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar's energy minister and current president of Opec.
Current output is estimated at 33.2 million barrels per day, although Iraq questioned on Wednesday how Opec measures the oil production of its members.
Some oil traders remain sceptical about the deal, saying they want to see the full terms, including the cuts agreed by individual member states, before passing judgement.
Jeff Quigley, director of energy markets at Stratas Advisors, said it was "too preliminary" to get excited.
"The devil's in the details here," Mr Quigley said. "And for them to say it's going to start in November is very suspect to me. We don't know yet who's going to produce what." | The oil producers cartel Opec has agreed a preliminary deal to cut production for the first time in eight years, sending crude prices surging. |
40524146 | The quartet of Michael Bingham, Martyn Rooney, Andrew Steele and Robert Tobin were upgraded to third after retested urine samples found Russia's Denis Alekseyev had used a banned substance.
"I can't wait to get the Olympic medals we all deserve," Rooney said.
The failed test was announced last year but was then subject to appeals.
It had initially been hoped these medals, and others, would be reallocated at the World Championships in London in August but the relay team will now receive their medals in front of a London Stadium crowd and live BBC television audience at 13:43 BST on Sunday.
"While it would have been an unforgettable moment to receive my medal in Beijing, I can't think of a better substitute than to stand on the podium in the London Stadium, in front of an appreciative and supportive British crowd," Rooney added.
The British Olympic Association is still waiting for final confirmation of reallocated medals from three other Beijing 2008 events - the women's javelin, women's 4x400m relay and heptathlon - which should result in bronze medals for the likes of Goldie Sayers and Kelly Sotherton. | Britain's men's 4x400m relay team from Beijing 2008 will finally receive their Olympic bronze medals at the Anniversary Games on 9 July. |
40373201 | Rajesh Khunti, 30, appeared at Leicester Crown Court accused of killing Dilovan Fazil Mohammed on 8 March.
Mr Mohammed, also aged 30, died after being taken to hospital.
Mr Khunti, previously of Kinley Road in Leicester, was remanded back into custody and is due to stand trial at Nottingham Crown Court on 21 August. | A man has pleaded not guilty to murdering a man who was found stabbed outside Leicester railway station. |
37521051 | Luke Sansom was searching with a metal detector in Farndon, near Chester, when he stumbled across the silver piece.
Made with carnelian gemstone, it features a fallen soldier or gladiator holding a shield towards what appears to be a large cat or panther.
Cheshire assistant coroner Dr Janet Napier declared to find to be treasure at an inquest at Warrington Town Hall.
The pendant will now be valued by the British Museum.
The Grosvenor Museum in Chester has expressed an interest in buying it and Mr Sansom, of Saltney near Chester, would stand to receive half the money, with the rest going to the owner of the field.
Elizabeth Montgomery, the museum's collections officer, said: "I am very excited by this.
"It is a rare find especially with the image of the soldier fighting with the large cat or panther.
"The gemstone certainly dates back to the Roman era around the first century BC but the pendant is a bit older.
"It is late Roman or early Anglo-Saxon and would have belonged to someone wealthy.
"Chester had a big Roman military garrison but this was found outside the city walls." | An amateur treasure hunter has found a rare 2,000-year-old Roman pendant in a field in a Cheshire village. |
21921139 | The advert, showing three women bound and gagged in the boot of a Ford Figo, appeared on a website.
Mr Berlusconi was shown in the driver's seat with a slogan: "Leave your worries behind with Figo's extra-large boot."
The advert has not been used commercially.
Reports say that it was posted online by the India-based advertising agency hired by Ford.
The company said it regretted the incident and called the images "contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford".
"We deeply regret this incident and agree with our agency partners that it should have never happened," Ford said.
A spokesperson told the BBC that the company was taking the incident "seriously and are reviewing approval and oversight processes, and taking necessary steps to ensure nothing like this ever happens".
Last year Ford's chief executive Alan Mulally told the BBC that the Indian market was becoming "increasingly important" for the company. | The Indian unit of Ford Motor Company has apologised for an advertisement showing former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with a group of bound women in the boot of a car. |
38367103 | Ralph Clarke, of Erdington, Birmingham, is thought to be the oldest person convicted in British legal history.
Judge Richard Bond QC said Clarke had been guilty of "systematic abuse" between 1974 and 1983.
He was found guilty of 21 counts of abusing two girls and admitted nine charges relating to a boy during his trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
For more on this story and other Birmingham and Black Country news
The court heard the retired haulier abused the girls at his home in Holly Lane, Erdington, his garden shed, and in the cab of his truck.
The former RAF serviceman, who was born in March 1915, was given details of the sentencing by an intermediary.
Judge Bond said the passage of time did not mean abusers would escape justice.
He told Clarke: "You present as a fragile old man; however, what was plain to see was that, despite your guilty pleas, you have no remorse whatsoever."
The judge added: "Those who were sexually abused even in the distant past can rest assured that any complaint will be treated with sympathy and compassion."
The court heard Clarke is the "oldest person tried in English criminal court".
He had been able to follow proceedings because special arrangements had been made.
Passing sentence, Judge Bond said the effect of a jail term on him would be "enormous" and he would sentence in a "measured and reflective manner" due to his age and infirmity.
However, he said the case was so serious "only a lengthy sentence" was justified.
Looking pale, Ralph Clarke walked into court using his walking stick, wearing a zip-up cardigan. As Judge Bond outlined the reasons behind his sentencing, Clarke shook his head.
His victims sat with their heads bowed and were crying as the judge spoke. Many of their family members were also in tears as details were given of the "systematic abuse" they had suffered.
The court heard Clarke had been aged between 59 and 68 when he committed the offences.
Judge Bond revealed details about how the victims had been affected, which included how one said she had never felt loved or cared for and still suffered nightmares.
Another victim said it had an impact on everything she had done and contributed to the breakdown of her marriage.
Clarke's victims reported the offences to West Midlands Police in August last year after seeing Facebook posts celebrating his 100th birthday.
Clarke admitted two counts of attempting to commit a serious sexual offence, two of indecency with a child and five indecent assaults on a boy.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Clarke's age and wellbeing were considered but the serious nature of his offences, breach of trust and vulnerability of his victims meant a "prosecution was in the public interest".
"Ralph Clarke used fear and intimidation to control the victims and sexually abuse them," a spokesman said.
The police and CPS also praised the victims' courage and bravery in bringing Clarke to justice.
The NSPCC said: "Clarke not only inflicted appalling abuse on his victims, he put them through the harrowing ordeal of a crown court trial - and did not show a shred of remorse throughout.
"This case sends out a clear message that it is never too late for survivors of abuse to speak out." | A 101-year-old man has been jailed for 13 years for committing 30 child sex offences. |
31060742 | The rugby league club was given about 50 lights and transformers that were confiscated in a raid on a cannabis farm in north-west Leeds on Tuesday.
West Yorkshire Police said the move would save the force and club money.
Head groundsman Ryan Golding said: "The lights will certainly be put to good use, especially at this time of year."
He added: "We have a great relationship with the police, especially through the work of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation and this just further grows those links."
If they had not been given to the club, the lamps would have been thrown away, PC Kevin Hussey said.
"When I found that we could donate equipment seized from cannabis farms to local groups I discussed it with their head groundsman to see how we might be able to help them out," he said.
"Previously, we would have to pay to hire skips to dispose of all the equipment but this way we can save money and see something that criminals have been using in the illegal drugs trade put to a positive use in the local community."
Unused soil and pots from the raided house were donated to Brudenell Primary School for its community garden.
A man has been charged with cannabis production and immigration offences. | High-powered cannabis factory lamps seized by police have been put to use by Leeds Rhinos to grow some grass of their own - on the pitch. |
40111853 | Manxman Cavendish won the road race title in 2013, while Adam Blythe will be looking to defend his crown.
Deignan will aim to win her fourth national road race title, with Olympic gold medallist Dani King challenging.
The men's and women's time trials take place on the Isle of Man on 22 June, followed by the road race on 25 June.
Cavendish has not raced since March after being diagnosed with a virus which causes glandular fever.
He is one of four Manx cyclists who will be competing on home soil including two-time double British road race champion Peter Kennaugh and Anna Christian.
Alex Dowsett will attempt a record sixth British title in the men's time trial, while Hayley Simmonds will go for her third consecutive title in the women's time trial.
Director of cycling Jonny Clay said: "The calibre of the riders who will be taking to the start line speaks volumes for both the health of road racing in Great Britain and the draw of a championships taking place in such an iconic venue which is synonymous with our sport."
Mark Cavendish, Scott Thwaites (Dimension Data), Adam Blythe, Andrew Fenn (Aqua Blue Sport), Peter Kennaugh, Jonathan Dibben, Owain Doull, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Tao Geoghegan Hart (all Team Sky), Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates).
Alex Dowsett (Movistar), James Gullen (JLT Condor), Ryan Perry (Team Raleigh GAC), Sam Harrison (Team Wiggins), Owain Doull, Ian Stannard (Team Sky).
Lizzie Deignan (Boels Dolmans), Dani King (Cylance Pro Cycling), Hannah Barnes (Canyon - SRM), Alice Barnes, Anna Christian (Drops).
Hayley Simmonds, Katie Archibald (Team WNT), Elinor Barker (Matrix Pro Cycling), Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRM). | Former world champions Mark Cavendish and Lizzie Deignan will race in the National Road Championships in June, British Cycling has announced. |
30583240 | The council vehicle then crashed into the Millennium Hotel, near Queen Street station in George Square, at 14:30 GMT.
One eyewitness told Newsbeat the scene "was like something out of a movie".
Steven McNeil, who among thousands in the city doing Christmas shopping, said: "I witnessed something that was horrific."
After coming out of one of the shops he heard screams.
He said: "If you imagine people on top of a roller coaster about to go over the edge.
"We actually thought there was something happening in George Square because just now there's an ice rink, there's the Ferris wheel."
Police Scotland declared a major incident but said there appeared to be nothing "sinister" about the crash.
The force has launched a dedicated number - 01786 289070 - for anyone who has concerns about relatives or friends.
It has also urged people who we're shopping today in the city centre to let relatives know they are safe and well.
McNeil continued: "As we turned around to the left we've seen this massive green city council lorry coming towards bystanders.
"We didn't see it hitting them face on but we've seen the aftermath of it.
"What we witnessed today was like something out of a movie.
"If you can think of it like a game of bowling. You throw the bowling ball down and it hits all the pins and the pins scatter, that's what it was like.
"My heart goes out to their families, I hope I never see anything like this again in my life."
George Square, which is a hotspot for tourists, was the site for a dance event on the first night of Radio 1's Big Weekend in June.
Steven said the city centre was "chaos" because of all the Christmas shoppers and that the car park he intended to use was full.
He said that if there were spaces, he would have parked there and would have been walking up the same side of the road that the bin lorry crashed into.
"It was just so sick, especially this time of year.
"It's really, really sad and I hope the families are pulling through."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Six people have been killed and eight others injured after an out-of-control bin lorry crashed into pedestrians in central Glasgow. |
35384674 | The singer's second single, Stitches, took 17 weeks to reach number one, bucking a trend for songs to enter the UK chart at the top spot.
Only one song has taken longer: Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud, which had a 19-week climb to the summit in 2014.
Mendes rose to fame on the video-sharing app Vine, much like Bieber who was originally discovered on YouTube.
He beat his rival by just 1,500 combined sales and streams - although Bieber still had the most-streamed song of the week, with Love Yourself racking up 3.72 million plays.
In reaching the top spot, 17-year-old Mendes ends an unprecedented run of success for Bieber.
The star spent eight of the last nine weeks at number one - and recently became the first artist in chart history to occupy the top three spots, with the songs Love Yourself, Sorry and What Do You Mean.
His residency at number one was only interrupted by the NHS Choir, whose charity single A Bridge Over You became the Christmas number one after Bieber urged his 72 million Twitter followers to buy their single instead of his.
A lack of new releases, combined with Beiber's continued success, has resulted in a top 10 where every single is at least 10 weeks old.
In the album chart, David Bowie continues to exert an influence, with his final album Blackstar retaining the number one position.
The Best Of Bowie compilation from 2002 jumps from 18 to number three; while a more recent hits collection, 2014's Nothing Has Changed, is at number six.
Hunky Dory, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Next Day, Low and Let's Dance also feature in the top 40.
The death of The Eagles co-founder Glen Frey also prompted a surge in sales, with the US band's Complete Greatest Hits re-entering the chart at 29.
Elsewhere, US rock band Panic! At The Disco scored their first top five album with Death of a Bachelor, a new entry at number four.
And husky-voiced songwriter Jack Savoretti sees his fourth album, Written In Scars, enter the top 10 for the first time, after a performance on Graham Norton's show last week. | Canadian teen star Shawn Mendes has ended his countrymate Justin Bieber's extended run at the top of the charts. |
38134004 | On Tuesday, this otherwise unassuming woman marked her 117th birthday, looking back on a life which has not only spanned three centuries but also survived an abusive marriage which started with blackmail, the loss of her only son and a diet which most would describe as anything but balanced.
Ms Morano, the oldest of eight siblings, all of whom she has outlived, was born on 29 November 1899 in the Piedmont region of Italy.
This year, she officially became the world's oldest living woman after American Susannah Mushatt Jones died in May. She is also officially the last person still living born in the 1800s.
Ms Morano's longevity, she admits, is partly down to genetics - her mother reached 91 and several sisters reached their centenary - and partly, she says, down to a rather unusual diet of three eggs - two raw - each day for more than 90 years.
It was a regime she took up as a young woman, after the doctor diagnosed her with anaemia shortly after World War One.
These days, she has cut down to just two eggs a day, and a few biscuits.
It does defy all accepted advice on healthy living, her doctor of 27 years, Carlo Bava, told AFP news agency:
"Emma has always eaten very few vegetables, very little fruit.
"When I met her, she ate three eggs per day, two raw in the morning and then an omelette at noon, and chicken at dinner."
Despite this, he noted, she seems to be "eternal".
There is one other thing Ms Morano credits with her longevity: kicking her husband out in 1938, the year after her baby boy died, aged just six months.
The marriage had never been healthy, according to Ms Morano. She had been in love with a boy killed during World War One and had no interest in marrying someone else.
But, she told La Stampa newspaper in an interview when she was a spritely 112, she was left with little choice.
"He told me: 'If you're lucky you marry me, or I'll kill you'. I was 26 years old. I got married. "
Eventually, it became too much. Though she kicked him out they remained married until he died in 1978. Ms Morano, who worked until she was 75, chose never to marry again.
"I didn't want to be dominated by anyone," she told the New York Times.
It is this determination which has inspired a special musical performance, telling the story of her life in prose and dance. The show was being performed in the northern Italian town of Verbania, her home for the majority of her long life.
The play, the writers say, "represents the feminine courage which rebelled against domestic violence".
Ms Morano herself has not left her two-room flat for 20 years but she was surrounded by well-wishers on Tuesday who took part in her birthday celebrations.
Among them was Mr Bava, who is starting to feel the pressure, a bit like "the keeper of the Tower of Pisa".
"The day it topples over, someone will be held responsible," he told AFP. "When Emma dies, people will hold me accountable." | When Emma Morano was born, Umberto I was still reigning over Italy, Fiat had only just been established and Milan Football Club was still a few weeks off creation. |
33553048 | His daughter Reverend Mpho Tutu said the infection was "below the belt" but was not in his prostrate, where his cancer lies dormant and was being well cared for.
It is going to take a few days before he returns home, she said in Cape Town.
He retired from public life in 2011 but continues to travel widely.
The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate cancelled a planned trip to Rome in December following another infection.
His hospitalization comes a few days after he renewed his wedding vows to his wife Leah Tutu to mark their 60th wedding anniversary.
She has remained by his bedside in a Cape Town hospital, says the BBC's Nomsa Maseko in South Africa.
Desmond Tutu:
Profile: Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Tutu in his own words | South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu is in "good spirits" after his admission to hospital on Tuesday for an unspecified infection, his family says. |
12192960 | And it is now undermining the living standards of most people in the UK.
Although the rate of inflation has generally dropped over the last year, prices are still rising above the government's target rate of 2%.
The inflation rate still stands higher than the level of wage rises, so millions of people are seeing their household bills rising - and their income failing to keep pace.
Inflation is the rate of change in the level of prices for goods and services, which affects the purchasing power of money.
It is measured by the Office for National Statistics, which charts the prices of hundreds of goods and services - from basic items such as bread to new products.
On the government's preferred measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), inflation stood at an annual rate of 2.5% in August, compared with 2.6% in July.
But as with many economic measures, the headline figures do not always tell us the whole story.
So, with prices rising, who is being hit the hardest?
The key is to consider inflation alongside wages and interest rates.
At present, interest rates are at a record low. With the Bank of England's main rate, Bank rate, at 0.5%, savings are not gaining in value very much.
This particularly hits those who have not moved their savings around to get a better rate of interest.
The Bank of England says that the average instant access account offers interest of just 0.21%, while cash Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) offer, on average, just 0.66%.
Following the August inflation figures, financial information service Moneyfacts said that a basic rate taxpayer needed to find a savings account paying 3.12% a year to beat CPI inflation.
A higher rate taxpayer, with an income tax rate of 40%, needed to find an account paying at least 4.2% to beat CPI inflation.
Taxpayers could choose from 198 accounts that negated the effects of tax and inflation out of a total of 1,017 on the market, Moneyfacts said.
"Once again, we have the ridiculous situation where we have more savings accounts that do not beat inflation than those that do," said Sylvia Waycot at Moneyfacts.
"Savers need to be vigilant and take advantage of tax breaks such as Isas and, if they can, lock their money away for a fixed period to ensure better rates."
Anyone on a fixed income or trying to live off the income from savings is suffering from the effects of inflation - because the things they are buying are rising in price, unlike the funds they have to pay for them.
People on low incomes have suffered higher inflation than those on higher incomes in the past decade, according to a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The IFS said the difference in fortunes had been particularly marked since 2008, with pensioners on state benefits especially hard hit.
People on lower incomes spend a higher proportion of their money on gas, electricity and food, while those on higher incomes have benefited more from lower mortgage rates.
Investment company Alliance Trust suggested that in August, all age groups witnessed a lower inflation rate than in July.
However, for the 10th consecutive month, the over-75 age group still had the highest rate of inflation, at 2.8%.
This was primarily the result of the higher proportion of their income that this group spends on domestic gas and electricity, as well as food which has seen a pick-up in prices.
Workers who have seen their wages held down, or even frozen, are seeing their spending power fall.
However, 30 to 64-year-olds witnessed the lowest inflation rate in June, the Alliance Trust said, at 2.3%. The 30 to 49-year-old age group has seen the lowest level of inflation since the start of the year. The latest dip in their inflation rate was a result, in part, of lower clothing and footwear prices.
Inflation is also used in the calculation of some services, such as rail fares.
A formula links some regulated rail fares - such as season tickets and off-peak intercity tickets - to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation in July.
From January, rail fares in England will rise by 6.2%, while in Scotland they will go up by 4.2%. Wales has yet to set a figure for its increase.
There are no fare increases currently planned in Northern Ireland, where fares are not linked to RPI, after a 3% rise in April.
The September measure of inflation will instruct the increase in a number of benefits next April.
While inflation and low interest rates may be eating away at savings, the same effect could be good news for those in debt.
Over time, the value of the debt will reduce, since the amount borrowed will not be worth as much, because of the effects of inflation.
In fact, 4% inflation every year will halve the value of money in 18 years. Inflation at 5% will do the same in just 14 years. | Inflation - or the rising cost of goods and services - is one of the key measures that affect our financial well-being. |
34709167 | The Pentagon said the test lasted around three minutes and was designed to "validate the safety protocols" agreed last month.
Last month both countries' planes entered the same "battle space" and came within miles of each other.
After this a deal was signed to avoid clashes between the two air forces.
The test was conducted in "south central Syria" and "assured that the first time this mode of communication was used would not be during an unplanned encounter," a Pentagon statement said.
A senior Russian military official said the test was designed to "to train crews and ground services for incidents of dangerous proximity of aircraft".
In September, Russia started carrying out air strikes against rebels in Syria, after Damascus suffered a string of defeats at the hands of both rebel forces and the Islamic State (IS) group.
Should there be a Syria no-fly zone?
High-stakes gamble over Syria
If not Assad, then who?
Where key countries stand
Earlier on Tuesday the Russian foreign ministry said it was not crucial for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to stay in power, saying it was up to the Syrian people to decide.
However, a spokeswoman for the ministry said that this did not represent a change of position.
When asked if saving the Syrian leader was a matter of principle for Russia, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "Absolutely not, we never said that."
Russia is supporting the Syrian government with air strikes on rebels.
Russia is seen as one of Mr Assad's strongest backers. His future is seen as a key sticking point between those backing rival sides in the conflict.
The US has said Mr Assad can have no part in Syria's political future.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that Moscow was aiming to host a round of talks between Syrian government officials and members of the country's opposition in Moscow next week.
Last week world powers - including key Assad ally Iran for the first time - met in Vienna and agreed to renew efforts to end the conflict.
The ministers agreed to ask the United Nations to start a process that could lead to a ceasefire and new elections. New talks are due in two weeks.
Why is there a war in Syria?
Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that, four years on, has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.
Who is fighting whom?
Government forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, as well as less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in the north and east. These groups are also battling each other.
What's the human cost?
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured. Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.
How has the world reacted?
Iran, Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes. | One Russian and one American plane have carried out a "planned communications test" in the skies over Syria, US officials say. |
37336604 | For children in Syria, Eid al-Adha would usually mean new clothes and shoes, home cooked meals with family, and gifts.
But for the past few years for the children of Aleppo caught up in months of intense bombardments and massacres, Eid has turned into a more subdued celebration.
The clothes are simple, and the family dinner table is now half empty.
Amid the chaos, small pleasures are sacred, as illustrated in pictures from the Aleppo Siege Media Centre.
They show children in the run up to Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, which begins in Syria at sunset on Monday evening.
The cruel irony is the human sacrifice many in the besieged city have had to make.
They play together in the street, an old bomb now used as a climbing apparatus.
The Aleppo Siege Media Centre is a collective of doctors and media professionals that document attacks in the city.
The group was responsible for the footage of five year old Omran Daqneesh sitting in an ambulance following an airstrike in Eastern Aleppo which went viral in August.
Abdulkafi Alhamdo a professor in Aleppo described seeing children as their pictures were being taken.
"I walked around and saw children in their new clothes playing together. It is fantastic to see life from the ashes of war.
"The children of Aleppo are still alive, they didn't give up. It seems that they are the ones who give us hope to carry on.
"They run, play and laugh. I like them so much because they are so patient and courageous.
"When they hear there is a helicopter in the sky, instead of running away, they ask where while looking up at the sky."
For months Aleppo has come under intense aerial bombardment by Syrian government troops backed by Russian forces.
The latest target was a market in rebel-held Idlib which killed up to 60 people and injured dozens of others as they shopped for Eid, while at least 45 died in strikes in Aleppo.
The areas were targeted hours after the announcement of a ceasefire which was due to begin at sunset on Monday .
By Rozina Sini, BBC'S UGC and Social News Team | What is it like celebrating Eid in a warzone? |
37802222 | Senate Republicans are scrambling to defend their narrow majority in a series of neck-and-neck races across the country. Democrats would need to add five seats to win back the Senate majority and only four if Hillary Clinton is elected. Tim Kaine, as vice president, would break any 50-50 tie.
Republicans welcomed the bombshell announcement on Friday that the FBI is investigating emails possibly linked to Mrs Clinton, revitalising a controversy that has long dogged the former secretary of state on the campaign trail.
But the unpopularity of Republican nominee Donald Trump has thrown some local races into turmoil, prompting dozens of Republican lawmakers to distance themselves from the candidate while also revealing deep divisions within the party.
Senate control may come down to the outcome in just a handful of states, where majority of races are locked within about three percentage points, according to an average of polls by Real Clear Politics.
Republican incumbent Senator Richard Burr is in the midst of a dogfight with Democratic challenger Deborah Ross in the key battleground state of North Carolina. The hotly contested race is considered critical to both parties. Mr Burr is holding a razor-thin lead over Ms Ross, a former state lawmaker, by an average of one point. Ms Ross has shored up support in part thanks to high-profile campaign visits from President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Mrs Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, as well as a strong Democratic push for voter turnout. Meanwhile, Mr Burr has been hamstrung by sharing the Republican ticket with both Mr Trump and Governor Pat McCrory, who sparked a backlash earlier this year after signing a controversial bill criticised as anti-gay. However, the Republican has maintained his support for both candidates, although a joke about gun owners shooting Mrs Clinton forced him into an apology.
After a failed presidential bid, incumbent Marco Rubio is fighting Democratic opponent and Representative Patrick Murphy for his seat in the all-important swing state. Public polling suggests a tightening rice between the two candidates, but Mr Rubio has maintained a lead of nearly 6%, according to Real Clear Politics. Mr Rubio, who has been in the Senate since 2010, reversed his pledge to leave office when he announced he would seek re-election earlier this year. His reversal was largely seen as part of the Republican effort to maintain its grip on the Senate majority. But Mr Rubio has struggled to answer questions on his support for Mr Trump, whom he previously called a "con man" and a "lunatic".
All eyes are on the senate race between Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan. Ms Ayotte is locked in a dead heat with the governor 46% to 45%. Though the popular senator renounced her support for Mr Trump in the wake of a 2005 videotape in which Mr Trump bragged about groping women, she came under fire for saying he was "absolutely" a role model just days after the tape's release. She later walked back the comment, announced she would no longer vote for the Republican candidate and would instead write in a vote for his vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence. More than $95m (£78m) has already been spent on the hotly contested race in New Hampshire, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Republican three-term congressman Todd Young is in jeopardy of losing his seat to Evan Bayh, a two-term Democratic senator who retired six years ago and joined the race in July. Though Mr Young's support is bolstered by Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who is Mr Trump's running mate, the Republican incumbent is trailing Mr Bayh by nearly four points. Mr Young has channelled the populist, anti-Washington sentiment that has defined much of the 2016 election and sharply attacked Mr Bayh for his wealth and lucrative career in lobbying after leaving office.
Missouri's senate seat would be an unexpected victory for Democrats, where Republican Senator Roy Blunt is nearly tied with Jason Kander. Mr Kander, a Democratic army veteran who served in Afghanistan, has echoed Republican sentiment about changing Washington by voting for an outsider like himself. Mr Blunt, on the other hand, has touted his two-decade career as evidence that he can "get things done". Mr Blunt, a 66-year-old member of the Senate leadership, served six terms in the House before he was elected to the upper chamber.
Mrs Clinton is not the only candidate hoping to break barriers in this election. Catherine Cortez Masto would become the first Latina senator ever if she's able to eke out a victory over Republican Joe Heck to fill the vacancy left by five-term, US Senator Harry Reid, who is retiring. Ms Masto, a 52-year-old former state attorney general, is aiming to tie Mr Heck to Mr Trump while also appealing to the state's large Hispanic population in one of the country's most competitive senate races. Mr Heck, who has served three terms as a congressman, endorsed Mr Trump but later withdrew his support after the release of the 2005 sex boast video. The move drew ire from Trump supporters, but he has continued to downplay any connection to Republican nominee and has even refused to say for whom he will vote for on election day.
Republican incumbent Pat Toomey has also sidestepped questions about Mr Trump in a tight race to keep his seat from Democrat challenger Katie McGinty. Mr Toomey, a one-term senator, has been dogged by his ambiguous relationship with Mr Trump. He is one of the only senators running for re-election who has not said whether he plans to support his party's nominee. Ms McGinty, a former state environmental official, holds a two-point lead over Mr Toomey. The high-profile contest was declared the most expensive campaign ever for a Senate seat last week, with candidate committees and outside groups spending more than $113m (£92m) on the contest, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Who will win? Play our game to make your call | While the presidency has taken centre stage this election season, Democrats and Republicans are fighting another crucial battle at the state level. |
32022742 | It has been a constant theme of European politics over the last few years.
In several countries we are witnessing a gradual decline in support for traditional mainstream parties, as disillusioned voters strike out in unexpected directions.
This loosening of old loyalties has been most notable in Greece: hardly surprising, in a country that has just lived through the steepest recession a modern industrial democracy has ever seen.
The radical left coalition, Syriza, is now in government.
The extreme right party, Golden Dawn - dismissed by its critics as a Neo-Nazi organisation - has a substantial parliamentary presence.
But is Greece a one-off? Or is it the canary in the coal-mine?
At first sight, elections in Spain and France this week suggest that the break-up of the centre-right/centre-left duopoly may not be quite as sudden as some expect.
But look a little closer and some of the numbers are still fairly remarkable.
In southern Spain the Socialist party won a closely-watched regional election in Andalucia, where it has governed since the restoration of Spanish democracy in the 1980s.
But Podemos from the radical left - the Spanish Syriza - won an impressive 15% of the vote; little more than a year after the party was formed.
The big loser in Andalucia was the centre right People's Party, which runs the government in Madrid, even though it came second overall.
The PP will be particularly concerned because the threat to the status quo doesn't come only from the left.
An upstart centrist party, Ciudadanos, also won 9% of the vote, attracting support from people disillusioned by business as usual.
So where does this leave the two main parties in Spain?
As recently as 2008, the Socialists and the PP between them won nearly 84% of the vote in a general election.
They won't come anywhere near that when the country goes to the polls later this year.
Podemos is still some way behind them. But it is indisputably on the rise.
In the first round of local elections in France this week Marine Le Pen's Front National did not top the polls, as many people thought it might.
But the FN still came second with more than 25% of the vote, pushing the governing Socialists into third place.
That suggests that support for the FN's anti-immigration, anti-EU message is more than a simple protest vote.
Even if the mainstream parties conspire to keep the FN out wherever they can in the second round of voting, the French elections are another sign that many disgruntled citizens are now ready and willing to look for alternatives.
Elsewhere on the continent there are similar stories.
The rise of the Five Star Movement in Italy or UKIP in the UK, or even the AfD (Alternative for Germany) in Germany, suggest that some political fault lines are moving.
Why is this happening?
The obvious answer is that it is partly the result of years of economic crisis, particularly in southern Europe.
For many voters, mainstream parties have failed to step up to the challenge.
But there's also a more general malaise - a feeling that ordinary lives are being buffeted by forces and institutions beyond the control of voters.
The idea of a 'democratic deficit' has exercised many political minds, particularly among supporters of the European Union.
Parties like Syriza and Podemos want to redefine what the EU does.
But many protest parties want to destroy it.
Of course, the centre ground is not dead.
Well-funded party machines do not disappear overnight (even if supporters of the Greek Socialist party PASOK may beg to differ).
But traditional parties across Europe are under pressure as never before in recent memory.
And European politics has become fascinatingly unpredictable. | Fragmentation. |
32726171 | Greater Manchester - which will take on the powers when electing a mayor in two years - should become a blueprint for other large cities, he said.
A Cities Devolution Bill will be in the Queen's Speech later this month.
Labour claimed the government's "piecemeal approach" could mask big cuts to local councils' spending.
BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said the chancellor hoped the move would "reignite" areas such as Manchester, not just economically but also to renew a sense of civic pride.
But it is also designed to "wrong foot" Labour in their northern heartlands, and to "re-present" the Tories in the north where they have traditionally been "on the back foot", he added.
Speaking in Manchester, the chancellor said the "old model" of running everything from London was "broken" and had unbalanced the economy.
He said it has "made people feel remote from the decisions that affect their lives", and added: "It's not good for our prosperity or our democracy."
Mr Osborne stressed that the government would deliver the devolution to Scotland and Wales it promised.
But he said he wanted to go much further and "deliver radical devolution to the great cities of England" and give them the "levers to grow their local economy".
As part of the devolution plan, only cities that elected their own mayor would be given control of local transport, housing and skills.
"I will not impose this model on anyone," Mr Osborne said, "but nor will I settle for less."
"My door now is open to any other major city who wants to take this bold step into the future."
This is a "revolution in the way we govern England", said.
Last year, leaders of Greater Manchester's 10 councils agreed to the area's first mayoral election, described by Mr Osborne at the time as "a massive moment for the north of England".
The move came two years after the people in Manchester had voted against having a mayor for the city alone.
Under the devolution plans, the mayor would lead Greater Manchester Combined Authority, chair its meetings and allocate responsibilities to a cabinet made up of the leaders of each of the 10 councils.
Councils in Greater Manchester currently control about £5bn of public money each year.
This deal is expected to give them control over a further £2bn.
Other cities will be able to follow suit in future, if they choose.
Mr Osborne also announced that former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill would become the commercial secretary to the Treasury, tasked with helping the government to boost infrastructure and devolve more power to English cities.
Greg Clark, the new communities and local government secretary, told BBC Radio 5 Live that many cities could benefit.
"These decisions - about Hull, and about Manchester, and about Leeds, and about Newcastle, and about Birmingham - should be made by the people of those great cities, who know and love their area, rather than having to troop up to London and plead for crumbs from the table.
"That is absolutely the right approach and that's exactly what we're doing. So rather than it being a new layer of government, what it's doing is taking from central government and putting it in the hands of local people," he said.
However, local government expert Professor Tony Travers told the same programme that not all cities would welcome the move.
He said: "It's going to be a condition that they accept a directly elected mayor - and that of course is not popular with the leaderships of many of the cities concerned.
"Greater Manchester has agreed to do this. But other cities will now have to decide if they're prepared to accept a city-regional or city-area mayor, in exchange for getting these extra powers and resources."
The Labour leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese, has worked with Mr Osborne on the plans, but the government could meet resistance to the idea in Leeds, Newcastle and other cities.
Newcastle City Council's leader Nick Forbes has warned the chancellor that the city would not be a "pushover" if it was expected to accept an elected mayor as the price for the north-east England receiving more power.
"We are certainly not just going to take the first offer the government make to us, we have got to do what's right for our region," said the Labour politician.
In Liverpool, the city's elected mayor Joe Anderson - also Labour - has expressed frustration that Merseyside has not been to claim the sort of powers being devolved to Manchester because other local authority leaders in the area have not come on board.
Commenting on the plans, Labour shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said: "We know that particularly across the north of England they've been hit very very hard by this chancellor in the past. And a piecemeal approach to devolution that is actually masking a different agenda isn't something that I think they would be looking forward to".
Creating a so-called Northern Powerhouse, aimed at closing the economic gap between north and south, would bring more than £18bn to the region by 2030 Mr Osborne has predicted.
The chancellor's speech follows the Conservatives' surprise outright win in last week's general election.
Labour has previously argued for £30bn of spending responsibilities to be devolved to the English regions to boost economic growth, while leaders of councils in the Midlands have expressed concern about their regions missing out on funding.
Source: ONS | English cities will get powers over housing, transport, planning and policing under plans set out in George Osborne's first post-election speech. |
37974905 | Layla Ibrahim, from Carlisle, was convicted of perverting the course of justice in 2010 and served 18 months of her sentence, giving birth in prison.
But she told the Victoria Derbyshire programme she "finally" had enough new information to prove her innocence.
The Crown Prosecution Service said prosecutions for such cases were rare.
Ibrahim has now asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice, to review her case.
According to her legal team, her bloodstained ring was not tested for DNA during the original police investigation, and neither were her shoes and leggings.
Also, a witness told the police at the time they had seen "intimidating" men in the area, but that was not followed up, nor entered into evidence in the original trial.
She arrived at her sister's house in Carlisle in the early hours of 4 January 2009, claiming she had been attacked while returning from a night out with friends.
Her dress, bra and leggings were damaged.
She had received a blow to her head, had scratches and bruising to her knees, breasts and face, and was bleeding from the vagina.
She told police she had lost consciousness after being attacked by two men, but was unsure if she had been sexually assaulted.
"I want my name cleared," she says. "I've always fought for this - I've not just spent eight years sitting around, I've tried and always wanted to do it.
"At the very beginning the police believed me, but within three or four days it was becoming evident they didn't."
Ibrahim told officers she had defended herself against the men with a pair of scissors from her handbag, but that one of them had taken the scissors and cut her hair.
She was taken for a forensic examination, in which a blond pubic hair was discovered, but, her lawyers say, this evidence was destroyed in a laboratory during DNA testing.
"I'm talking because I've finally got enough evidence to take it to court," she says.
But prosecutors suggested Ibrahim may have faked the attack in order to gain sympathy and to get back at a friend who had refused to help her get a cab that night and her ex-boyfriend, with whom she had recently argued.
Police brought up inconsistencies in her evidence, and the prosecution said lumps of her hair had been found too far away from where she had claimed to have been attacked, suggesting she had cut her own hair and dress.
"Of course there are people who don't believe me, and it's something that I'm strong enough now to take," she says.
"I would like to see someone jailed for what they did to me, for the eight years they had of my life. The main priority, though, is to have my name cleared.
"I suffer with anxiety often and can't leave my house much, which is hard.
"I get night terrors, which are flashbacks - sometimes waking up feeling like I'm still there at the attack, and other times I wake up terrified."
When sentencing her in 2010, Judge Paul Batty QC said her behaviour throughout the proceedings had been "irresponsible in the extreme and many would say wicked".
He told her he was "entirely clear in this case that you craved attention".
"You wanted your friends to think they had left you in the position where they thought you were the subject of a serious sexual attack. You wanted to teach them a lesson," he said.
Ibrahim did not appeal while in prison, claiming her barrister told her not to because there was no new evidence. She became a mother for the first time soon after she was jailed, when her daughter was born in August 2010.
A spokesman for Cumbria police said: "The case was investigated at the time and Layla Ibrahim was convicted at crown court.
"Pending a potential review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
A CPS spokesman said: "Prosecutions for these offences are rare and by their very nature will be complex and require sensitive handling.
"Any case brought before the courts must have met the strict test that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
"For this offence, the evidence must show that a clear complaint was made and we can prove that complaint was false."
The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel. | A woman sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of faking her own rape says she is now fighting to clear her name. |
34672384 | The risk, of course, is that they lose control.
And Sir John Chilcot has used every bit of his independence to defy the body politic and take his time over a report that many wanted published earlier.
Commons Speaker John Bercow spoke for many at Westminster earlier, when he told MPs: "Sir John should be aware that there is a very real sense of anger and frustration across the whole House at what seems a substantial disservice that has been done."
But that raises questions about what this inquiry is for.
If it's to provide closure for the families of the fallen, then it has so far failed in that task.
If it is to learn lessons, well, they are likely to be learned too late to inform any decision about military action in, say, Syria.
But if the inquiry is designed to find out what happened and hold people to account, then there is an argument for taking the time to get it right.
After all, the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, a single incident, took 12 years compared to Chilcot's seven year study into the causes and consequences of an entire war.
Senior Tory MP Bernard Jenkin has some sympathy for Sir John.
"He has been heroic in the way he's resisted public pressure," he said.
"He's been resisting pressure from some of the witnesses.
"I thought the criticism levelled by Clare Short earlier this year was absolutely out of order, I think it's out of order for the former prime minister, Tony Blair, to be issuing his, sort of, "prebuttal" denials in advance of the publication of the report."
Yet public inquiries don't have to take this long.
The inquiry into the Hillsborough tragedy took less than three years, the Franks inquiry into the Falklands conflict took just six months.
And William Shakespeare managed to encompass the whole of life in a corpus of fewer words than the two million Sir John has ground out.
Yet those words will matter.
Many people have made up their minds about the Iraq war but others still want to know the reasons for what happened.
British servicemen and women spent six years fighting in those deserts. Sir John Chilcot is taking a little longer to explain why. | Usually, politicians like independent inquiries - they use them to outsource and delay difficult decisions. |
36911785 | Bookings in the three months to 30 June fell by 5% depressed by weak demand for Turkey.
Thomas Cook has increased sales in other areas, such as the western Mediterranean, while Bulgaria and Cuba have grown in popularity.
It now expects annual profit of £300m compared with between £310m-£335m.
Turkey was Thomas Cook's second biggest market in 2015, according to Hargreaves Lansdown. On Thursday, Turkey's Tourism Ministry said that the number of overseas visitors to the country dropped by a record 41% in June to 2.44 million people.
In June, 41 people were killed and 230 hurt in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul's Atatürk international airport while a recent attempted coup against Turkey's President Erdogan has increased tensions.
Thomas Cook also said its third quarter financial results were affected by an attack in Brussels during March, where explosions at the airport and a subway claimed 32 lives and injured many others.
Thomas Cook said third quarter revenue fell 8% to £1.8bn and underlying profit shrank from £30m last year to £2m. Pre-tax losses grew from £44m in the third quarter of last year to £64m.
However, shares in Thomas Cook jumped by 9% to 65.27p in early trading as winter bookings were ahead of expectations.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Thomas Cook is facing severe disruptions right now, with political upheaval, acts of terrorism, and the fall in the pound resulting from Brexit all serving to deter holiday makers from travelling.
"On a positive note bookings for this winter appear to be ahead of last year, though it's still very early days on this front. The company's falling revenues were greeted by a strong rise in the share price, which is testament to just how low expectations were."
Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser, said: "We are operating in a challenging geopolitical environment, with repeated disruption in some of our key source and destination markets.
"In addition, while Brexit has had no noticeable impact on our bookings so far, it has added to a general sense of uncertainty - for our business and our customers alike." | Thomas Cook will miss its full-year profit target after terror attacks in Turkey sent holidaymakers elsewhere. |
33629465 | Nowadays, robots work alongside humans in hotels and factories, while driverless cars are being test driven on the roads.
Behind the scenes, AI engines in the form of smart algorithms "work" on stock exchanges, offer up suggestions for books and films on Amazon and Netflix and even write the odd article.
But AI does not have the greatest public image - often due to sci-fi films that display dystopian visions of robots taking over the world.
Over the next week, the BBC will be looking into all aspects of artificial intelligence - from how to build a thinking machine, to the ethics of doing so, to questions about whether an AI can ever be creative. Read more in our Intelligent Machines special report.
For many, the only reference point they have for AI comes from films. So what is the reality of where we are with the technology, and is it anything like the fictional future we have created?
Hal is perhaps the most famous AI turned bad. Created by Arthur C Clarke for the book and film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Hal stands for Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer.
Designed to control the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft, on which much of the film is set, as well as interact with the crew, it quickly starts taking its own course - one that does not involve humans.
Perhaps the closest we currently have to Hal is Watson, IBM's supercomputer, which can understand natural language and read millions of documents in seconds.
In 2011, it beat the world's two best players of the Jeopardy quiz show.
Unlike Hal, it is currently working in harmony with humans, in diverse fields such as the research and development departments of big companies such as Proctor and Gamble and Coca-Cola - helping them find new products.
It is also being used in a dozen US hospitals, helping oncologists find treatments for cancer.
It has even been incorporated into a toy dinosaur, allowing children their first taste of communication with an AI. They can ask the dinosaur questions and Watson will help it answer them.
T-800, the Terminator robot from the films of the same name, has living tissue over a metal endoskeleton and is programmed to kill on behalf of Skynet, an artificially intelligent system that has taken over the world's computers in order to destroy the human race.
No AIs yet being developed have self-awareness and all are programmed to help humankind. The exception to this is military robots, which are increasingly being developed for deployment on battlefields, where their role could be more contentious.
The US military unit Darpa is developing lots of robotic kit, such as exoskeletons to give soldiers superhuman strength and access to visual displays that will help their decision making.
It is also using Atlas robots, developed by Boston Dynamics, intended for search and rescue.
Although there are currently no killer robots, there is a campaign to stop them ever being produced, and the UN has said that no weapon should be operated without human control.
C-3PO is a humanoid robot from the Star Wars films. He is designed to serve human beings and boasts of being fluent in over six million forms of communication.
His main job is to assist etiquette, customs and translation so that meetings of different cultures run smoothly.
In the real world, companion robots are really starting to take off.
Pepper is a humanoid robot, developed by technology firm SoftBank, that went on sale in Japan this summer and sold out almost immediately.
Its big selling point is that it can supposedly recognise human emotions. So if you look sad when you get home from work, it will suggest that you play some music.
It has learnt about human emotions by watching videos showing facial expressions.
Intelligent Machines - a BBC News series looking at AI and robotics
Wall-E is a little robot from the Disney film of the same name, left to tidy up after humanity leaves the planet in a mess.
Short for Waste Allocation Loader Lift Earth-Class, Wall-E is the ultimate in loveable machines.
Although not as cute as Wall-E, vacuums programmed to clean up are probably the first example of domestic learning robots.
The company iRobot makes the best-known brand, the Roomba, which, as of February 2014, had sold more than 10 million units. It automatically guides itself around home via onboard sensors which also detect obstacles. At the end of cleaning it takes itself back to its docking station to charge.
Anecdotal evidence suggests some people become as attached to them as pets and take them on holiday.
Ava - the lifelike android from 2015 science fiction film Ex-Machina, is the ultimate in AIs.
Able to conduct a conversation on any topic, show empathy with humans and look entirely human herself, she also has her own agenda, and it is one that does not involve humans.
This type of AI is the one that people fear the most, and while the cleverness of Ava is very far from being achieved, a few people have experimenting with creating robots that look entirely human.
Robotic engineer Hiroshi Ishiguro made a robotic copy of himself, dubbed Geminoid, to study human-robot interaction.
He used silicon rubber to represent skin - but cosmetic company L'Oreal recently teamed up with bio-engineering start-up Organovo to 3D print human skin, potentially making even more lifelike androids possible.
Prof Chetan Dube, chief executive of software firm IPsoft, has developed a virtual assistant called Amelia, and he firmly believes robotics and AI are about to come together.
He believes Amelia will be given human form indistinguishable from the real thing at some point this decade. | Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of making smart machines, and it has come a long way since the term was coined in the 1950s. |
36251642 | Jan Woerner has told reporters of his deep frustration that the project to put the robot on the surface of the Red Planet has been delayed yet again.
The venture could not have an open-ended schedule or budget, he said.
The ExoMars six-wheeled vehicle was originally destined to leave Earth in 2011, but will not now go until 2020.
Inability of teams to meet hardware delivery deadlines has been cited as the reason for the latest delay.
ExoMars is a two-step programme that is being developed jointly with the Russians.
The first part is a satellite to study the planet's atmosphere, and this was launched successfully in March.
But the second phase - a rover that can drill 2m into the surface of Mars - has had a roller-coaster of a ride since it was first approved as a concept back in 2005.
This has seen the launch slip from 2011 to 2013, to 2016, to 2018, and now to 2020.
"I was not only surprised but very frustrated when I got the information that there is again a problem of delay," Mr Woerner told BBC News.
"I didn't accept the delay for half a year, and fought like hell to have a solution, but at the end of the day Igor Komarov (Russian space agency's director general) and myself have to accept that it is not feasible to have a launch in 2018."
Mr Woerner said the rover and all its support equipment could probably have been prepared in time to be launched at the beginning of 2019, but by then it would have missed the optimum transit opportunity that occurs only once every 26 months when Earth and Mars align.
Some thought was even given to launching the rover and then just storing it in orbit above the Earth before boosting it onwards to Mars at the next alignment, but that risked damage from the harsh space environment.
Underpinning such an idea is the desire to reduce the additional costs that will come from another overrun in the schedule. Maintaining large teams is expensive and will push up further the price tag that now stands in excess of one billion euros.
Mr Woerner is about to meet with the European nations most heavily invested in the rover.
These countries are the UK and Italy. Along with the other Esa member states, they must now plot a sustainable course for the project.
The crunch meetings where the future of the rover will be determined come in June at a council of national delegations, followed by a gathering of space ministers at the end of the year.
Esa is currently in dispute with its industrial partners on how much the mission should cost. This impasse has to be resolved first.
But Mr Woerner could not hide his irritation at the constantly rising price Esa was being asked to pay.
"The one who is the source of the delays - we should be very carefully looking at whether they are also eligible to get some extra money, because they are the reason we are delayed," he said.
"From my point of view it's very strange if you say, 'OK, I do it later, and therefore I get more money'."
The director general said it would be difficult to take money from other areas of the agency's budget just to bail out ExoMars.
"We will have a discussion within the main member states who are involved in the programme and then we'll see how we can manage and whether we can manage. I'm not saying that we can manage it."
Mr Woerner was speaking here in Prague at the European Space Agency's Living Planet Symposium - a conference dedicated to Earth Observation.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | Europe's rover mission to Mars is "drinking in the last chance saloon", warns the European Space Agency's director general. |
35833013 | Scottish Borders Council is being asked to endorse the response to a consultation by Network Rail.
The Scotland Route Study will inform future infrastructure provision around the country between 2019 and 2029.
The council has drawn up a string of suggestions on how rail routes in the region could be improved.
They fall into a number of "key elements".
The proposed response to the consultation reiterates the council's support for extending the Borders Railway beyond its current terminus at Tweedbank.
It said that would build on the success the line has enjoyed since it opened.
The report added that such a development would provide "additional resilience" for East Coast and West Coast Main Lines in the event of problems.
It also stressed the move could give "further economic opportunities and social benefits for the south of Scotland".
Concerns about "service resilience" have also emerged over the first months of operation of the railway with reports of delays or cancellations.
The council is being advised to recommend the construction of "dynamic passing loops" to improve reliability.
This echoes a concern raised by the Campaign for Borders Railway about the constraints imposed by the amount of single-track on the route.
Parking provision at Tweedbank station and, to a lesser extent, Stow have also been raised as an issue.
An overflow car park has been provided at Tweedbank in an adjacent industrial estate but a longer term solution could "encourage further patronage".
Improvements to wi-fi provision have been flagged up as another area for investment.
The existing service has been described as "intermittent" and failing to "fully encourage" mobile working.
"The tourist market is very important to the Scottish Borders," the report stated.
"Every opportunity to enhance the tourist offering should be exploited," it added before listing a number of areas for improvement.
They include:
The final part of the proposals renews the council's backing for two new stations on the ECML at Reston and East Linton as "transformational for local communities".
It also recognises the success of the Borders Railway as encouraging hopes of reopening other lines.
It said some might not be suitable for redevelopment but cited the former route between Edinburgh and Peebles as one worth considering.
The full report will go before Scottish Borders Council on 22 March. | A list of proposals has been drawn up to enhance the long-term future of the Borders Railway - including extending the line to Carlisle. |
33150308 | Authorities in California confirmed that seven others remain in hospital.
The collapse happened during a 21st birthday party shortly before 01:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on Tuesday in the city of Berkeley.
The students are believed to have been living temporarily in the US as part of a work exchange programme.
Around 700 Irish students are currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, said Philip Grant, the Consul General of Ireland to the Western United States.
"We're still in an emergency response mode," he said. "It's a formative experience, and to have this happen ... has left us all frozen in shock and disbelief".
Berkeley City Mayor Tom Bates described the incident as a "shocking set of events".
"We're all sort of awestruck by the incredible tragedy," he said.
The victims
Police began receiving emergency calls about the incident around 00:41 local time. The police chief said it took patrolmen about two minutes to arrive on the scene.
The cause of the collapse is still under investigation, but the city's police chief said there was no indication of any criminal activity at this point.
Photos taken at the scene appear to show a 5ft x 10ft (1.5m x 3m) balcony on the fourth floor of the building fallen on to the balcony on the level below.
Two Irish students who were asleep in the building when the incident occurred described a loud sound when the balcony fell.
"I just heard a bang and a lot of shouting," said Dan Sullivan.
Outside the apartment where the balcony collapsed, flowers and photos and wreaths are stacked, and shocked Berkeley residents have been coming to pay their respects.
The building is cordoned off while forensic workers investigate and scrub the street below the collapsed balcony.
One woman who used to live in the building told the BBC she thought there should be a criminal investigation of the city's Planning Commission.
But the police chief says so far there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Another student, Mark Neville, said: "I walked out and I saw rubble on the street and a bunch of Irish students crying."
Enda Kenny, the Irish Prime Minister, said that police had told him there were 13 people on the balcony when it collapsed.
Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said that four of the victims died at the scene and another died in hospital.
The Alameda County coroner's office later told the BBC a sixth person had died in hospital.
The foreign minister has said that the families of all of those who died have been contacted.
University College Dublin President Andrew Deeks said late Tuesday that the accident involved students from the university and their friends.
"We cannot comprehend the desperate shock and grief they are feeling and we are heartbroken at their suffering and loss," he said. "We know the local Irish community has been offering assistance and solidarity and we thank them for this."
Berkeley Police spokesman Byron White said first responders described the scene as "quite disturbing".
Many of those hurt have life-threatening injuries, said Jennifer Coats, a Berkeley Police Department spokeswoman.
Police received a complaint about loud noise at the flat about an hour before the balcony collapsed, but did not go to the building to investigate.
The city's police chief said that the noise complaint was treated as a low priority, and noted that police officers were responding to several other emergency calls at the time - including one for shots fired in another part of town.
Irish President Michael Higgins said that he had "heard with the greatest sadness of the terrible loss of life of young Irish people and the critical injury of others in Berkeley, California today".
He said his heart goes out to the families and their loved ones.
The Irish consul general in San Francisco is helping those affected and there is an Irish helpline (+353 1 418 0200).
The apartment building was constructed in 2006, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A Berkeley city official said that building inspectors had visited the building on Tuesday. Three remaining balconies on the building have been closed.
In 2013, a similar accident killed 13 people and injured at least 50 others in Chicago, when a deck holding revellers collapsed.
In that incident, more than 60 people were on the building's porches, according to CBS Chicago. | Five Irish students and one other young woman have been killed after a fourth-floor balcony collapsed at a US apartment. |
31683974 | The coalition government has already announced plans for 100,000 cut-price homes for people aged under 40.
Mr Cameron said his party would double it if elected, giving more people the security of owning their own home.
Labour said the plan was inadequate and housing groups warned affordable rented schemes would lose out as a result.
First-time buyers under the age of 40 in England can now register to buy new homes at a discount of up to 20% off the normal price.
The offer is part of the government's new "starter homes" scheme to encourage home ownership and construction on previously used "brownfield" land.
The 20% discount will be paid for by waiving the fees homebuilders have to pay to local authorities under so-called Section 106 agreements, amounting to at least £45,000 per dwelling on brownfield sites.
The Conservatives say homes worth £250,000 outside London - or £450,000 in London - would be eligible for the scheme and that first-time buyers would have to repay the 20% price advantage if they sold within five years.
In a speech in Colchester, Mr Cameron said there was "a particular kind of security that comes with owning your own home" that "too many people have been denied", due to what he described as a "quiet crisis" in affordability.
"The young people in their 20s and 30s still living with their parents, desperately saving for their own place. The couple who want a child but can't afford to upsize - even though they have both got have full-on, full-time jobs. It shouldn't be this way.
"Our goal is a Britain where everyone who works hard can have a home of their own."
He said Britain's biggest builders, including Barratt and Taylor Wimpey, had signed up for the expanded scheme and it would be designed so that new properties could not be "snapped up by buy-to-let landlords".
He added: "We've shown what we expect starter homes to look like - not rabbit hutches or shoeboxes, but decent, well-built, homes with gardens - places to start and raise a family."
Mr Cameron said the UK had suffered from a "chronic" shortage of housebuilding for decades but that action taken during the past five years meant the UK was on course to deliver 200,000 new homes a year by 2017.
He said a future Conservative government would also extend the Help to Buy scheme in England - intended to help those trying to get on the housing ladder who could afford mortgage repayments but were struggling to raise a deposit - until 2020 and make it easier for council house tenants to buy their homes.
But Labour said the government had presided over the lowest levels of housebuilding since the 1920s and home ownership was at its lowest level for three decades.
Speaking at an event in Brighton, Labour leader Ed Miliband said there would be "no greater priority" for an incoming Labour government than housing.
"David Cameron's plan on housing has failed Britain and failed families," he said. "For far too many people, the dream of home ownership is disappearing into the distance."
Summary of other parties' housing policies:
The Conservatives are proposing to relax the financial obligations expected of developers in relation to affordable housing, believing this will give them more flexibility over the mix of new developments and make more brownfield sites viable.
But the National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations in England, said this would reduce financial support for cheaper rented housing.
"It is basically taking money away from people who are renting and giving it to first-time buyers," Henry Gregg told the BBC.
Housing charity Shelter said 250,000 new homes were required every year and the scheme was only a "small step" towards meeting that need.
But the Institute of Economic Affairs, a free market think tank, said politicians should refrain from micro-managing housing and enforcing "artificial boundaries such as green belt restrictions" forced the cost of housing up.
The number of houses being built in the UK fell during the final three months of 2014 - the first such decline for almost two years.
However, the government says 137,000 homes were started in 2014 - a rise of 10% on the previous year and up 36% on 2012. | Some 200,000 homes will be made available to first-time buyers in England by 2020 if the Tories win the election, David Cameron has promised. |
24485566 | Norway's public broadcaster said the prize, awarded in Oslo, is likely to go to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege are also tipped as favourites.
Predictions of the winners have often been wrong in the past.
This year's record list of 259 nominees remains a secret.
Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), the US soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks has also been listed as a potential winner.
Others include Maggie Gobran, an Egyptian computer scientist who abandoned her academic career to become a Coptic Christian nun and founded the charity Stephen's Children, and Russian former mathematics professor Svetlana Gannushinka who set up the rights group Civil Assistance.
The winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honours - which comprises of a gold medal and 8m Swedish kronor ($1.25m; £780,000) - will be revealed in Oslo at 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT).
An hour before the announcement, Norway's NRK broadcaster reported that the award was likely to go to the OPCW.
The Hague-based OPCW is a small organisation which was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons convention.
It has been in the headlines recently having sent inspectors to oversee the dismantling of Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons in the middle of a vicious conflict.
Bookmakers and pundits have also tipped Malala Yousafzai and gynaecologist Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo as favourites to take the award.
If 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai wins, she will be the youngest-ever Nobel laureate.
The young activist emerged as a contender after continuing her work to promote better rights for girls despite being shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan.
Malala rose to prominence in 2009 after writing a blog anonymously for the BBC Urdu service about her life under Taliban rule in Pakistan's Swat Valley.
On Thursday she was named as the winner of the EU's Sakharov prize, a 50,000-euro ($65,000) award considered Europe's top human rights accolade.
Denis Mukwege, who has been listed as a possible Nobel laureate in the past, set up a hospital and foundation to help tens of thousands of women raped by militants and soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Like Malala, Mr Mukwege was also targeted by assassins a year ago. He escaped injury but temporarily sought exile in Europe.
Previous Nobel peace prize laureates include anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, US President Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In 2012 the prize was awarded to the European Union in recognition of its contribution to peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. | The Nobel Peace Prize winner is due to be announced amid reports it will go to the group overseeing the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons. |
38211295 | Talks were held between the company and unions last week, where it is thought the issues of pensions, production and jobs were discussed.
It is thought a deal could emerge this week.
The future of Tata plants has been in doubt since the UK business was put up for sale in March.
The UK and Welsh governments offered financial support, but the company's pension scheme has been deterring potential buyers.
It is unclear what deal might be struck on the pensions issue, but it is understood unions have insisted on maintaining the two blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, said he was "desperately hoping and praying" for some positive news for steelworkers and their families who had "been through hell".
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales' Good Evening Wales programme, he said: "We have said from the start that we need a very clear commitment to both of the blast furnaces and to the investment that we need to build a long-term future of prosperity for Port Talbot, and for the steel industry across the county.
"Clearly there are also discussions ongoing around the pension scheme and other aspects of the terms and conditions for employees.
"I think all of this is being hammered out as we speak."
He added: "I really hope we get the short-term good news that we all hope for, but it has to be backed up by long-term strategic action from the UK government."
Tata Steel put plans to sell its UK business on hold in the summer as the company considered a European tie-up.
It employs almost 7,000 workers around Wales, including more than 4,000 at its plant in Port Talbot.
The other plants that would benefit from a deal being reached include Llanwern, Trostre, Shotton, Corby, Hartlepool and sites in the West Midlands. | Unions are close to agreeing a deal with Tata Steel which would keep the Port Talbot works open along with other UK plants, BBC Wales understands. |
12494821 | Where before, artists and groups either evolved their musical style and appearance or remained unchanging, David Bowie seemed to be in permanent revolution.
He defied any label. Music, fashion, sexuality: all were Bowie's playthings. He was truly an artistic chameleon.
Bowie was born David Jones in January 1947 but reinvented himself as David Bowie, in 1966, in order to avoid confusion with the Monkees' Davy Jones.
He went on to study Buddhism and mime, and released his first album, the World of David Bowie, in 1967.
Special report (exludes BBC app)
But it was the title track of his second album, Space Oddity, which aroused more than passing interest.
The atmospheric tale of an abandoned astronaut, Major Tom, orbiting the Earth, Space Oddity became a hit in 1969, the year of the first Moon landing.
Initially a hit throughout Europe, it took four years to "break" the United States.
Bowie followed up this initial success with The Man Who Sold the World, a complex album, whose title track has been covered by artists as diverse as Lulu and Nirvana.
His second album of 1971, Hunky Dory, was arguably Bowie's first great work. Its 11 songs, including the haunting Life on Mars? and Oh, You Pretty Things, redefined serious rock for the 1970s generation.
And a line from Hunky Dory's final track, The Bewlay Brothers, seemed to perfectly sum up David Bowie, "chameleon, comedian, Corinthian and caricature".
The following year saw the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, a superbly-executed concept album which included hits like Starman, Suffragette City and Rock 'n' Roll Suicide.
The album's huge popularity and the accompanying tour, featuring Bowie as the sexually ambiguous Ziggy, brought him worldwide stardom.
By now married to the former Angie Barnett (divorced in 1980) and with a young son, Zowie (now film director Duncan Jones), Bowie was a hedonist of breathtaking scale, living a rock and roll lifestyle fuelled by drink, drugs and vigorous bisexuality.
Having killed off Ziggy, 1973 brought Aladdin Sane, which cemented Bowie's reputation in the United States.
Songs like Cracked Actor explored the dark, seedy, side of fame, while Jean Genie was an old-fashioned rocker.
As well as writing and performing, Bowie now branched out, producing Lou Reed's Transformer album and writing and producing Mott the Hoople's hit single, All the Young Dudes.
While he was touring with his next album, the apocalyptic Diamond Dogs, David Bowie recorded the Young Americans album in Philadelphia.
This dalliance with "plastic soul" continued on the album Station to Station and brought Bowie hits including Golden Years, Knock on Wood and his first US number one single, Fame, co-written with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar.
But, once more, David Bowie changed direction, moving to Berlin and working on a triptych of albums, Low, Heroes and Lodger.
Produced in collaboration with Brian Eno, these dense works were perhaps the most experimental of Bowie's career, mixing electronic sounds and avant-garde lyrics to produce a radical, and influential, song cycle.
The late 1970s saw Bowie concentrating on acting, starring in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth and opposite Marlene Dietrich in the lamentable Just a Gigolo.
The critically acclaimed Lodger album was followed by Scary Monsters, notable for its groundbreaking video accompaniment and the single Ashes to Ashes, which updated the story of Major Tom.
But 1983 saw a new, driven, David Bowie return to form with the Let's Dance album.
Hits like China Girl and Modern Love, coupled with the spectacular Serious Moonlight world tour, introduced Bowie to a whole new generation.
And his 1985 duet with Mick Jagger, a cover version of Martha and the Vandellas' Dancin' in the Street, was a major factor in the success of the Band Aid project and its accompanying Live Aid concert.
Bowie returned to acting, playing the lead in The Elephant Man on Broadway as well as typically exotic characters in the films Cat People and The Hunger.
The late 1980s were dominated by Bowie's involvement with his new band, a postmodernist heavy metal outfit, Tin Machine.
This project, which was designed to allow Bowie to re-examine his rock 'n' roll roots, produced two albums of questionable quality and was panned by the listening public and critics alike.
As proof of his enduring popularity, in 2000 he was invited to headline the world-famous Glastonbury festival for the second time, nearly three decades after his debut there.
Bowie's 2002 album Heathen saw a long-awaited return to form for the indefinable master of rock style, and the man who, throughout his long and varied career, influenced everyone from Iggy Pop to Boy George.
In 2006, he made a surprise return to the big screen, playing a fictional version of real-life Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's illusionist drama The Prestige, for which he adopts a thick Eastern European accent.
After a decade without a studio album he released The Next Day in 2013, surprising fans who thought he had retired. It became his first UK number one for 20 years.
The same month, a retrospective of his career, "David Bowie Is..." opened at the V&A in 2013, becoming the museum's fastest-selling show, celebrating his legacy as a style icon as well as a musician and performer.
His latest album, the critically acclaimed Blackstar, was released on his 69th birthday, just days before his death.
He is survived by his second wife, Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid, and children Duncan Jones, the acclaimed sci-fi director, and Alexandria Zahra Jones. | David Bowie was one of the most influential musicians of his time, constantly re-inventing his persona and sound, from the 1960s hippy of Space Oddity, through Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke to his later incarnation as a soulful rocker. |
37986103 | Lauri Love, of Stradishall, Suffolk, said he would appeal against the order signed by Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
The 31-year-old, who has Asperger's syndrome, is accused of hacking into the FBI, the US central bank and Nasa.
He said he had not seen any of the evidence against him, which he said was an "aberration of justice".
For more on this story and other Suffolk news
Mr Love was first arrested at his Suffolk home in 2013.
He said Ms Rudd's "hands were tied" in signing the extradition order, but fears he will not be given a fair trial in America.
He said "like anyone else arrested in the UK", he wants a fair trial in this country.
He said: "If no evidence has to be shown and somebody can be taken away from their country, to a country where they have never lived, and potentially face 99 years or the rest of their life in prison, that's something that should trouble us.
"The government and the court should try to prevent this situation."
Mr Love, who has had depression and periods of acute depression, said it was "likely" he could "lose the capacity to avoid the temptation" to end his life if he were to be tried in the US.
"This is not paranoia, I've been paying attention to the US justice system for years and sadly people don't get a trial, sadly people are treated inhumanly and people die in prison," he said.
Mr Love has 14 days to appeal against the decision. If accepted, there would be a hearing next year. | An autistic man facing claims he hacked US government computer systems has criticised a ruling to extradite him. |
37235237 | Charles James Evans had six passengers in his BMW - three without seatbelts.
Evans admitted dangerous driving and was sentenced to six months at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday, suspended for a year.
He was also ordered to carry out 180 hours unpaid work and retake his driving test.
A police officer saw Evans' BMW Coupe drive at excessive speed towards the roundabout of the A483 near Welshpool cattle market, Powys, on 11 June and decided to follow it.
Judge Niclas Parry said Evans, 22, of Shropshire, reached "alarmingly high speeds" estimated at between 120mph and 140mph.
He drove on the wrong side of the road, and across a junction.
Simon Medland QC, defending, said that his client was a "hard working and highly thought of" agricultural contractor whose loss of driving licence would affect him greatly. | A farm worker who drove at speeds of up to 140mph to get away from police has been banned from driving for a year. |
37598413 | The Houthi-run government said the hall had been hit by an air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally-recognised government of Yemen.
The coalition has denied carrying out a strike, suggesting "other causes".
Thousands of civilians have been killed since the war began in 2014.
The attack targeted the funeral of the father of Houthi-appointed Interior Minister Galal al-Rawishan, an ally of the rebels and of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
One rescuer, Murad Tawfiq, described the scene as a "lake of blood", the Associated Press news agency reports.
Graphic photos circulating on social media show charred and mutilated bodies.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had prepared 300 body bags.
The ICRC's Rima Kamal told the BBC "several air strikes" had hit the venue where hundreds of civilians had been present.
The damage to the buildings was extensive.
A number of Houthi rebel military and security officials are believed to have been killed in the strike.
BBC correspondents say their presence could explain why the funeral was targeted, though it is likely many civilians were also there.
The government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi is fighting both the Houthis and forces loyal to Mr Saleh.
Thousand of civilians have been killed since the Saudi-led air campaign started last March, the UN's rights body says.
Nearly three million people have been displaced in Yemen, one of the region's poorest countries, since the war began in 2014.
The Houthis took the capital then, forcing Mr Hadi's government to flee. Some ministers have since returned to the city of Aden. | At least 82 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in a strike on a funeral gathering in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, rebel officials say. |
35082895 | Key negotiating blocs, including the G77, and nations such as China and India say they support the proposals.
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the final draft of the agreement aimed to limit warming to "well below 2C".
If endorsed, the global climate pact would represent "a historic turning point", said Mr Fabius.
Earlier, French President Francois Hollande called the proposal unprecedented.
COP 21 Live: Follow events in Paris
"The decisive agreement for the planet is here and now,'' Mr Hollande told countries. "France calls upon you to adopt the first universal agreement on climate.''
And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world diplomats to "finish the job".
"We must protect the planet that sustains us,'' he said. "We need all our hands on deck.''
The support of nations such as China, India and Saudi Arabia will come as a relief to the UN climate conference organisers, says BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath in Paris.
He says these nations, which are part of the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, have been seen as "foot-draggers" at previous UN climate talks.
The G77 (made up of more than 130 developing nations) and the EU have also signalled support for the proposals.
Nearly 200 countries have been attempting to strike the first climate deal to commit all countries to cut emissions, which would come into being in 2020.
The measures in the final draft included:
• To peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and achieve a balance between sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century
• To keep global temperature increase "well below" 2C (3.6F) and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C
• To review progress every five years
• $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020, with a commitment to further finance in the future.
Hopes are running high for a "historic" deal but countries could still raise objections.
The UN summit has gone over time as countries tried to overcome divisions over ambition, money and trust.
The spokesman of the UN climate body behind the meeting said positions had "narrowed enormously" ahead of the presentation of the final climate deal draft.
WWF-UK chief executive David Nussbaum said there were indications of a clear vision in the strong long-term goal.
"The Paris deal is not just about reducing emissions, but also about protecting vulnerable places and people," he said.
But Oxfam said the deal was set to short-change the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.
Executive Director Helen Szoke said: "Only the vague promise of a new future climate funding target has been made, while the deal does not force countries to cut emissions fast enough to forestall a climate change catastrophe."
Prof Corinne Le Quere of the University of East Anglia and director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said while the text recognised the imperatives of the science community to tackle climate change there was still a lot of work ahead to make it happen.
"The emissions cuts promised by countries now are still wholly insufficient, but the agreement as a whole sends a strong message to businesses, investors and citizens that new energy is clean and fossil fuels belong to the past."
The last hours of the talks culminate a four-year drive to produce the first international pact asking all countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.
COP 21 - the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties - will see more than 190 nations gather in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the threat of dangerous warming due to human activities.
Explained: What is climate change?
In video: Why does the Paris conference matter?
Analysis: Latest from BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath
In graphics: Climate change in six charts
More: BBC News special report (or follow the COP21 tag in the BBC News app) | Delegates at the Paris climate summit are waiting to hear whether a proposed deal to cut emissions will be adopted. |
29392810 | More than 10 remain unconscious, police said. Some were covered by the debris.
The eruption at the 3,067m (10,120ft) peak, situated between Nagano and Gifu prefectures, trapped hundreds of climbers who were forced to seek shelter in lodges near the summit.
Some 230 have managed to descend - some 40 have yet to be rescued.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe authorised army units to help those trapped.
Officials warned residents within a 4km radius of the risk of debris.
Mount Ontake last erupted in 2007.
"It was like thunder," a woman who runs a lodge near the summit told Japanese broadcaster NHK.
"I heard boom, boom, then everything went dark."
"There are 15cm [six inches] of ash on the ground," she said.
One of the climbers who managed to descend told NHK, "I escaped with my bare life."
"Immediately after I watched the eruption, I rushed away but I was soon covered with ash." | At least 30 people have been seriously injured in Japan after Mount Ontake volcano erupted, sending huge plumes of ash and stones into the sky. |
40997229 | It took firefighters several hours to bring the blaze on Mountsandel Road under control after it started at about 20:45 GMT on Sunday.
The roof of the building has been completely destroyed.
Group Commander Max Joyce said those responsible for starting the fire had endangered the lives of the fire-fighters involved.
"We have had several fires in this building in the past few weeks and months," he said.
"By their reckless actions, they could lead to the injury of firefighters and much worse."
DUP councillor Trevor Clarke said he was saddened at the damage of one of the town's historic buildings.
"What started out in the 1840s as the entrance block at the Union Workhouse building later became synonymous with Coleraine's Bannview hospital, and is now reduced to ruins," he said.
"Many people in the local community will have memories of significant events in their lives there."
The police have appealed for anyone with information about the fire to come forward. | A listed former hospital building in Coleraine has been extensively damaged in a suspected arson attack. |
29785322 | The object, believed to be a quadcopter, came within 25m (82ft) of the AT72 coming in to land at Southend airport on 30 May.
A recently-issued report by the UK Airprox Board said the risk of collision was assessed as "high".
Police were contacted but the drone's operator could not be found.
The report said the plane's co-pilot "formed the impression that the quadcopter had been flown deliberately close".
He had seen it flying at the same level on one side of the aircraft, before it "made a turn to fly in the opposite direction to his aircraft, around 25m away and at the same level."
Air traffic controllers at Southend airport told the pilot "a couple" of quadcopters had previously been reported in the area.
The four-rotor craft are commonly used as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones and are exempt from many flying regulations because of their small size.
But they are subject to certain rules, including Article 138 of the Air Navigation Order, which states "a person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property."
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also prohibits the flying of drones over or within 150m of built-up areas.
The UK Airprox Board deals with aviation reports concerning "near misses", also known as an air proximity hazards.
Members of its board were said to be "disappointed that someone would fly a quadcopter so high on the extended approach path to an airport".
They decided the quadcopter was flown close enough to the plane "to cause its pilot concern".
Unless CAA permission has been granted the pilot cannot:
Source: Civil Aviation Authority | A drone came close to colliding with a passenger plane when it was "deliberately" flown close to the aircraft, a report has said. |
36444039 | The 22-year-old son of former Wales international David came through Coventry's youth ranks and made 61 appearances for the Sky Blues.
Phillips becomes Rob Page's first signing since becoming manager of the 2015-16 League Two title winners.
"I remember watching Rob play for Coventry as a kid - I'm really looking forward to working for him," he said.
He continued to BBC Radio Northampton: "I've been at Coventry since the age of seven so it's a bit crazy (to leave), but that's life - the manager didn't want me.
"I'm just looking forward to showing Northampton fans what I've got and give it all I can."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Northampton Town have signed right-back Aaron Phillips on a three-year deal after he was released by Coventry City. |
39670780 | Bu farw'r Is-Gorpral Craig Roberts, 24, o Fae Penrhyn, Conwy, a'r Is-Gorpral Edward Maher, 31, ar 13 Gorffennaf, a hynny ar un o ddiwrnodiau poetha'r flwyddyn.
Fe fu farw'r Corpral James Dunsby, o Gaerfaddon, yn yr ysbyty yn ddiweddarach. Roedd y tri yn rhan o gwrs hyfforddi 16 milltir yr SAS.
Daeth yr adroddiad i'r casgliad nad oedd swyddogion wedi paratoi ar gyfer tywydd poeth a bod canllawiau iechyd a diogelwch yn annigonol ar y pryd.
Dywed y Weinyddiaeth Amddiffyn fod argymhellion yr adroddiad yn cael eu gweithredu.
Dywedodd adroddiad yr Asiantaeth Diogelwch Amddiffyn fod methiannau ar sawl lefel wedi arwain at y marwolaethau a bod ansicrwydd cyffredinol yn bodoli am waith y milwyr rhan amser, oedd yn golygu nad oedd neb wedi gofyn a oedd yr ymarferion caled yn addas ar eu cyfer.
Daeth yr adroddiad i'r casgliad y gall y math yma o ddigwyddiad godi eto yn y dyfodol.
Dywedodd llefarydd ar ran y Weinyddiaeth Amddiffyn eu bod yn cynnig eu cydymdeimlad dwysaf i deuluoedd y tri fu farw, a'u bod wedi ymrwymo i weithredu canfyddiadau'r adroddiad er mwyn sicrhau na fydd digwyddiad o'r fath eto.
Mae'r adroddiad hefyd yn dod i'r casgliad fod newidiadau arfaethedig i'r unedau milwrol rhan amser wedi eu gwrthwynebu yn y gorffennol.
O ganlyniad roedd ansicrwydd am waith yr unedau hyn, oedd wedi arwain at ansicrwydd wrth greu cynllun hyfforddi i'r milwyr.
Roedd y milwyr wrth gefn felly yn cael eu gosod ar ymarferiadau hyfforddi ar gyfer milwyr llawn amser, a hynny heb gael eu paratoi'n raddol ar gyfer yr ymarferiadau.
Dywedodd yr adroddiad: "Fe fyddai'n hawdd dweud mai damwain yr oedd modd ei hosgoi oedd hon, ac mewn rhai ffyrdd dyna ddigwyddodd.
"Ond, gyda chymaint o ddamweiniau o'r math yma roedd 'na lusgo ar draws y gyfundrefn, oedd wedi dod yn gyffredin ac yn dderbyniol dros gyfnod o nifer o flynyddoedd.
"Roedd y teithiau cerdded yn cael eu gweld fel ffordd effeithiol iawn o agor y drws i'r broses o ddewis milwyr ond ni wnaeth unrhyw un ofyn y cwestiwn os oedd yn addas ar gyfer y milwyr wrth gefn, o ran eu dyletswyddau nag o ran rhoi digon o amser iddyn nhw baratoi.
"Gyda throthwy uchel am risg, diwylliant o beidio gofyn cwestiynau a dim herio annibynnol, does dim dwywaith fod y gyfundrefn wedi llithro tuag at fethiant yn yr ymarferiadau teithiau cerdded."
Ychwanegodd yr adroddiad ei bod yn debyg "na fydd y risg yma'n pylu nes bydd y canlynol yn cael sylw: fod y disgwyliadau sydd o'r unedau hyn yn cael eu diffinio'n eglur; bod llwybr hyfforddi eglur yn cael ei baratoi ar gyfer eu rôl amddiffynnol, ac fe ddylid ystyried datgysylltu hyfforddiant i unedau SMU o'r pencadlys." | Mae adroddiad swyddogol i farwolaethau tri milwr yn dilyn ymarferiad hyfforddi'r SAS ym Mannau Brycheiniog yn 2013 wedi rhybuddio y gallai ddigwydd eto. |
24229079 | At this ragged cluster of tents in the Bekaa Valley, they weren't waiting for a school bus in the early morning cold.
An open back truck arrives just after 06:00 to take them to the fields to help bring in the harvest.
Across this fertile land of eastern Lebanon, Syria's refugee children are increasingly doing the jobs of adult manual labourers.
"It's a worrying phenomenon we see increasing by the day." Unicef's regional director Maria Calivis told me. "The numbers of refugees are growing larger, and the people arriving are more destitute than ever."
On the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut, refugee children can be seen selling trinkets or shining shoes to bring in some money to support their families. But organised child labour is a new and troubling problem that underscores Syria's deepening humanitarian crisis.
"The invisible is becoming visible," affirmed Ms Calivis.
Dozens of children dressed in plastic sandals and thin shirts or dresses shiver in the dawn chill. They cling to metal bars as they're thrown back and forth in the truck normally used to transport livestock which ferries them to a nearby farm where courgettes are ripe for picking.
This pint-sized gang of workers swarms into the lush green fields as the Syrian middleman, who organises the labour on this Lebanese farm, shouts at them to get to work.
"My hands hurt," confesses 14-year-old Abdul Aziz as he holds up his grimy hands and points to the prickly stalks. Even in his pain, he manages a shy smile.
In other fields, where children have been harvesting crops such as grapes or potatoes, the work is even more difficult, and dangerous.
Aid officials told me of seeing children cut themselves with knives or run in fear from powerful combine harvesters that churn the soil.
"It's a bad situation," says Tarek Mazloum of the Lebanese charity Beyond as he watches little children struggle with big buckets of fat green courgettes.
"Each family consists of six, seven or eight children and all of them work, from three or four years old," he explains. His charity helps provide for Syrian refugee families.
He shakes his head, visibly upset. "But we can't stop it. If the children don't work, the family would be destroyed. They wouldn't eat."
"It is up to all of us to find a solution," says Unicef's Maria Calivis. "Children should be at school and not at work."
But when Lebanon's public schools opened this week, there simply wasn't enough space for all the young Syrians.
UN officials say there are now about 400,000 Syrians of school age but only 100,000 extra places.
The UN, working with other aid agencies, has launched a "Back to Learning" campaign which provides for informal education so children don't fall too far behind.
On our visit to the Bekaa Valley the children finished their work in the fields and then were taken back to their settlement where they helped pitch tents on rocky ground, and arranged brightly coloured plastic tables and chairs for a makeshift open air school.
Abdul Aziz, who hours earlier had showed me his hurting hands, was now enthusiastically clapping with other children in a loud rendition of "one, two buckle my shoe".
Classes like this are not just to forget the pain of the morning, but the even greater trauma families escaped in Syria.
"We try to help them forget the past," says the lively young teacher Azza who is also a refugee from the Syrian city of Homs. "We try to give them a time of happiness, of fun."
"I like going to school," says 10-year-old Rasha whose family fled the northern city of Aleppo several months ago. "Its better in Lebanon - there are no bombs here," she tells me with a fetching smile as she clasps her hands decorated with bright blue nail polish.
Home for these children is now tents fashioned from rough tarpaulin and thick sheets from advertising hoardings. The land is rented from local Lebanese landlords, often through Syrian labourers who've been living in these kind of informal settlements for years. Lebanon, unlike Jordan and Turkey, has not authorised the UN to establish formal refugee camps.
Rasha now lives with her five siblings and her widowed mother Fatima in a rectangular blue tent just behind the cluster of classrooms.
She and her brother Omar both work in the fields. "I feel like my heart is being ripped out," her mother Fatima laments, fighting back tears. "But what can I do? If my children don't work, we can't live."
In the back of their tent, two young cousins who just arrived from Syria the night before sit listening quietly. It's a visible reminder that the refugee population keeps growing by the day, and so does the problem of child labour.
"We are following up with NGOs to ensure the work is not exploitative or hazardous," says Unicef's Maria Calivis. "We have also started a campaign to ensure parents are aware this is not the best thing for kids."
Another answer, suggest aid officials, would be financial vouchers for families but at the moment that is a costly, and difficult, option that isn't in anyone's budget.
"This is a really big dilemma for us," says Soha Boustani, Unicef's communications chief in Lebanon. "We want to protect these children and at the same time we don't want to deprive the family from their only source of income."
For now, there are no easy answers to stop child labour, or to end Syria's punishing war. Both are destroying Syria's future. | The Syrian children stood at the side of the road just after first light, just as they were told. |
38597003 | Alun Davies told BBC's Cymru Fyw website ministers would not become a "permanent banker" for the 10 centres.
The Welsh Government has spent more than £2.4m on them since 2014.
Cardiff's centre had a difficult first year, following the closure of its crèche, uncertainty over the future of its bar and struggles to pay its rent.
"I want to move away from the negative discussions," Mr Davies said.
"Often it does not reflect what is actually happening.
"I'm confident we can work together in the future and ensure the success of each centre."
Mr Davies - who did not rule out stepping in if centres faced difficulties - added he would be open to establishing new centres if the demand was there.
"My door is wide open to see if we can develop ideas in the future," he said.
"But I don't want to see the government running these centres or being a permanent banker - I see the government's role as being in the background and not as a manager." | New government-funded centres to encourage people to learn and use Welsh will succeed, the Welsh language minister has said. |
40396772 | The tourists lost 30-15 in the opening Test at Eden Park on Saturday.
Woodward, whose Lions side suffered a 3-0 whitewash by the All Blacks in 2005, says Warren Gatland's team need to dominate possession rather than trying to play a box-kicking game.
"The All Blacks are totally beatable," said Woodward, 61.
"But you have got to dominate possession and if you don't they are so talented, so good, so physical, you are going to get beat."
England's World Cup-winning coach told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek: "We didn't lose the game based on selection.
"What happens in the UK, you box kick, the opposition get it, play a couple of phases and normally kick the ball back.
"You box kick down here, the All Blacks catch it and you don't get the ball back."
The Lions face the Hurricanes on Tuesday, before Saturday's second Test against the All Blacks in Wellington (both 08:35 BST kick-offs).
Referees will be asked by Gatland to clamp down on what he considers the All Blacks' harassment of Conor Murray's kicking game.
He said New Zealand dived "blindly" at Murray's standing leg whenever he launched a box kick in Saturday's defeat.
France's Jerome Garces will referee this Saturday's second Test, and Gatland said he will raise the issue in meetings with the officials later this week.
"There were a couple of times from Conor Murray where there was a charge down where someone dived at his legs," said Gatland.
"I thought that was a little bit dangerous, and after he's kicked he's been pushed a few times, and pushed to the ground."
Munster claimed Glasgow targeted Murray's standing leg during the Irish province's 14-12 Champions Cup win at Scotstoun on 14 January.
Woodward, who toured New Zealand as a Lions player in 1983, was impressed with Gatland's attacking line-up and said defeat by "one of the best sporting teams in the world" should be put in perspective.
He highlighted the performance of full-back Liam Williams and wingers Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson, adding that scrum-half Conor Murray's use of the ball - making a game-high 11 kicks from hand - was down to the "team plan".
"When we ran from deep and had the confidence to keep the ball in hand, we played really well," added Woodward.
"I just don't want to see us kick the ball away."
Woodward called New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick's performance on Saturday "one of the best I've ever seen", adding that the Lions need to match the All Blacks like for like in the remaining Tests.
"They are physical, they are direct and they are tough to beat," he added. "You know what's coming.
"My own personal view is you have to try and pick a team that plays similar to them, try and match them at what they do really well.
"If you can match them you have got half a chance." | The British and Irish Lions can beat New Zealand but must change tactics rather than personnel, says former coach Sir Clive Woodward. |
39054774 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Hamilton, 32, and his Mercedes team will be joined by the other nine outfits as they begin preparations with new cars designed to radically different rules.
The promise is for cars up to five seconds a lap faster, more dramatic and more demanding of the drivers.
And the hope is that at least one team can compete with Mercedes for the title after three years of domination.
However, expectations of a serious threat to the constructors' champions were dampened last week with the launch of Mercedes' new car, which drew admiring glances from both observers and rival teams.
McLaren aerodynamics chief Peter Prodromou said: "The car that has impressed me so far is Mercedes - clearly they have put a huge amount of man hours into the car."
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Ferrari, like Mercedes and a handful of other teams, have already put a few miles on their new car in a so-called 'shake-down' test.
The Italian team have hopes of challenging after a winless and sometimes fractious 2016 but, for a challenge to Mercedes, most are looking at Red Bull, whose new car was unveiled to great anticipation on Sunday.
It is notoriously difficult to glean an accurate picture of form from headline lap times at pre-season testing, but we should get indications of various teams' positions.
The first task for all teams will be to run through systems checks to validate the reliability and operations of their cars. Any team who can run consistently at that stage - as Mercedes did this time last season - has a head-start on their rivals.
The large part of Red Bull's deficit to Mercedes last year was in their Renault engine. The French company has hopes of bridging the gap this year, but the engine hit reliability troubles in a 'shake-down' test with Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso on Thursday.
Mercedes, meanwhile, are said to have made their own significant step forward with their engine; a worrying sign for the rest, if true.
As the test develops, detailed analysis of lap times as the teams complete longer runs can provide a reasonably accurate picture of form.
The BBC Sport website will be providing comprehensive coverage of all eight days of pre-season testing over the next fortnight - live text commentaries, reports and analysis.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Along with wider, faster cars, another major change in F1 this year is the tyres.
Supplier Pirelli has been tasked with providing tyres that are not just wider than last year, but also behave differently.
It has been asked for tyres that allow drivers to push closer to the limit for much longer periods, something that has not been possible for the past six years as tyres overheated and lost grip if a driver was flat out for more than a lap or two.
Pirelli has said it is confident it can deliver, but insiders have expressed reservations after a mixed period of development testing in the past few months.
It will only be when the cars start to run seriously at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya that it will be possible to judge whether Pirelli has succeeded.
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The new rules focus on making the cars wider and producing more downforce.
The overall width between the outer wheel rims has gone up from 1.8m to 2m, and the bodywork has been widened from 1.4m to 1.6m.
In addition, the front wing has been widened and its two sides now sweep back from a forward central section, and the rear wing is lower and wider.
Most crucially, the floor area under the car has been made much bigger and there is more area to the diffuser.
In combination with more freedom on bodywork design around the front of the floor beside the cockpit, this is expected to lead to an increase in downforce of at least 30%. | Lewis Hamilton begins his quest for a fourth world title as pre-season testing begins in Barcelona on Monday. |
21713524 | The move is perhaps less shocking than the introduction of Timeline or Graph Search because many of the website's headline changes are already familiar to its app users.
Even so, marketers have been puzzling over what having bigger pictures means for the effectiveness of adverts, while the public has expressed mixed feelings about the promotion of news feeds and other changes.
Many have also noted Facebook's home page now looks more similar to that of its rival Google+, although in fairness it was less than a year ago that critics were highlighting that Google had "borrowed" some of Facebook's features for its social network.
This is a selection of the material published online in the hours after the California press conference announcing the revamp:
Financial Times:
The changes will appeal to advertisers who have been looking for more ways to capture the emotional impact of visual advertising on the social network, particularly on mobile devices.
The Register:
Having specific feeds is a good idea, but it remains to be seen how much people will use them. We can expect to see a lot more companies asking you to "like" them so that they can get on your feeds.
Venturebeat:
History has already shown that Facebook users don't take kindly to having more than one feed to look at, even if that feed is technically making their lives easier and removing some of the less important updates from the main feed.
Techcrunch:
Ads weren't discussed at all [at the press conference] which is where most of the clutter is. It will be interesting to see how advertisements evolve with this new design, and if we'll see more of them.
Search Engine Watch:
More screen real estate and more dynamic ads could spell immediate benefits for advertisers... A developer of social games may now have the ability to just advertise on the Games feed as opposed to the general News Feed. And multiple news feeds means the potential to serve more ads.
Cnet:
The biggest change Facebook announced today, from the perspective of publishers and the people who want to read them on Facebook, is the "following" tab [which] will show "every single post" from the people and publishers you subscribe to. If true, that will go a long way toward building trust in Facebook as a home for breaking news.
All Voices:
Feeling a sense of deja vu on seeing the redesigned News Feed on Facebook? Well, you're not alone - there are many who think Facebook's revamped News Feed looks a lot like a Google+ homepage.
The Next Web:
To say Facebook ripped off Google+ would be incorrect. Facebook is clearly taking influences from a number of different sources, including the playfulness of Tumblr and countless mobile design trends.
Wall Street Journal:
Third-party applications are going to get a crack at showing richer content. This opens the door for existing applications that were hampered by the News Feed to show off better content, as well as leaving the door open to newer applications to be built to take advantage of the new, more visual News Feed.
MIT Technology Review:
In the past, users have protested sudden sweeping changes to site features. By bringing the new News Feed to users bit by bit, Facebook may be able to drum up more excitement.
Hope I will get used to this design soon though still prefer the old one. - Yousef Barahmeh
Be great if we could actually have a say over the TOTAL privacy of our profiles - Lisa Exeter
Don't care what it looks like i just hate these "suggested posts" on my wall. Spam ads sanctioned by FB! - Barrie Mason
Looks cleaner - Ouzair Hafeez
It's not like anything can always be perfect, but change and constant innovation will one day lead to greater improvement. - Philip Gold
I think it makes the web interface look more touch friendly than needed. I want a different fb experience on the web to the mobile. - @omracer
Dare I say it... It kinda looks better - @LizzieBettySL
I have a group page and it stretches the header picture and completely ruins the look of the page. IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT - @watchnut
Hate to admit it ... the new #Facebook News Feed looks promising. Better designed, visually rich. @bszymeczko
I think that I'm glad I've had these same features for a year on Google+. Shameless copying on Facebook's part - @DJNattyD
I'd like to congratulate the Google Plus UI/UX team on their successful launch of the new Facebook news feed! - @0ll13 3xl3y | Most Facebook users have yet to experience its new look - the switchover will take months to complete - but details of the changes are starting to sink in. |
39067728 | Italy had led 10-5 at half-time, a combination of an extraordinary tactic at the breakdown and the hosts' ineptitude threatening a huge upset.
But two quick tries after the break from Danny Care and Elliot Daly calmed nerves, and although Michele Campagnaro's bullocking try made it 17-15 with 20 minutes remaining, another from Ben Te'o and two from replacement Jack Nowell saved England's blushes.
Those tries meant Eddie Jones' men also picked up their bonus point, which may prove critical in the final championship standings.
But this 10th successive Six Nations win felt anything but a celebration, Owen Farrell off form on the occasion of his 50th cap and Jones' replacements once again required to come to their coach's rescue.
Italy left points aplenty out on the field through missed kicks, and while a second consecutive Grand Slam remains a possibility for England, the visit of in-form Scotland in a fortnight's time now represents a serious threat.
England had been completely thrown by Italy's novel tactic of not committing any men to the breakdown beyond the initial tackler, meaning no ruck was formed and so the offside became irrelevant.
It meant Italian defenders could stand between England's half-backs, creating initial confusion both in white-shirted ranks and in the stands.
Captain Dylan Hartley and James Haskell were both left asking referee Romain Poite to explain the laws of the game to them, the Frenchman testily telling them to ask their own coach.
And only when England began to solve that problem by putting runners up the middle did they begin to get any sort of grip on a contest they had been expected to run away with.
By the end, Jones's men were also utilising the same ploy, a strange sight on the strangest of afternoons at Twickenham.
England were not so much slow out of the blocks as asleep, repeatedly giving away penalties at the scrum and breakdown, while Farrell, Care and Ford all kicked poorly from hand.
Had Italy kicked all their penalties - Allan missed two, and the others were sent into the corner - they could have led 12-0 after the opening quarter.
Cole's try from a rolling maul came as a relief to a somnolent crowd, but Italy continued to dominate possession and territory, even as they spurned further shots at the posts and failed to capitalise from their attacking line-outs.
But when Allan's penalty from bang in front on the stroke of half-time came back off the upright, wing Giovanbattista Venditti grabbed the loose ball and dived over, Allan's conversion making it 10-5.
Jones had every reason to tear into his men at the interval, and within moments Care's quick tap penalty sent him slicing through the blue wall and into the corner.
Daly then ran on to Te'o's well-timed pass to go over in the left-hand corner, and the danger seemed over.
Yet with England spluttering again, Campagnaro ran through Ford and Mike Brown down the right to bring it back to 17-15.
A brilliant clearing kick by Carlo Canna denied Daly another, but from the subsequent line-out a driving maul sucked in the Italian defence and Nowell exploited vast open spaces on the right to dive into the corner.
Nowell then added another, punching through a weary defence, and relief mixed with the roars from the packed stands.
More to follow. | England were given a huge scare by Italy before five second-half tries saw them extend their winning run to 17 matches. |
24719830 | Spokesman Jay Carney said an ongoing White House intelligence policy review would account for "privacy concerns".
Spain is the latest of several countries reported to have been the target of US collection of phone data.
A top Democrat in the Senate has said its intelligence panel will undertake a "major review" of US spying programmes.
Senator Dianne Feinstein said she was "totally opposed" to the National Security Agency's (NSA) intelligence gathering on leaders of US allies.
An EU delegate in Washington described the row as "a breakdown of trust".
On Monday Mr Carney, US President Barack Obama's spokesman, told reporters the administration "recognise[s] there needs to be additional constraints on how we gather and use intelligence".
He said the US did not use its intelligence gathering capabilities for the purpose of promoting its economic interests, and that Mr Obama was committed to ensuring "that we are collecting information not just because we can, but because we should, because we need it for our security".
"We also need to ensure that our intelligence resources are most effectively supporting our foreign policy and national security objectives, that we are more effectively weighing the risks and rewards of our activities," he said.
An across-the-board review of US intelligence resources, currently under way, is also expected to assist the administration in "properly accounting for both the security of our citizens and our allies and the privacy concerns shared by Americans and citizens around the world", Mr Carney added.
Mr Carney and Mr Obama have not commented on specific allegations that the US eavesdropped on international allies, including tapping the phones of foreign officials.
Earlier on Monday, representatives from the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs spoke to members of the US Congress about the alleged US spying on European leaders and citizens.
"We wanted to transmit to them first that this mass surveillance of EU citizens is a genuine concern," British Labour MEP Claude Moraes, a member of the delegation, told the BBC after the meetings.
But Mr Moraes said he and his fellow delegates were unsatisfied with the "stock" responses from US officials on the issue.
"They're giving us answers, but not the answers we want," he said. "We're getting a bit tired of this, 'Well, spying has always existed.'"
Spain has also urged the US to give details of any eavesdropping, amid reports the US National Security Agency (NSA) monitored 60 million Spanish telephone calls in a month.
The latest allegation, published by Spain's El Mundo newspaper, is that the NSA tracked tens of millions of phone calls, texts and emails of Spanish citizens, in December 2012 and January 2013. The monitoring allegedly peaked on 11 December.
Minister for European Affairs of Spain Inigo Mendez de Vigo called the allegations, if true, "inappropriate and unacceptable".
The allegations of US surveillance on international allies stemmed from documents leaked by fugitive ex-US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, now living in Russia.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also sending intelligence officials to Washington to demand answers to claims that her phones were tapped.
Spying scandal: For 'five eyes' only?
German media reported that the US had bugged Ms Merkel's phone for more than a decade - and that the surveillance only ended a few months ago.
The German government hoped that trust between the two countries could be restored, a spokesman told a news conference in Berlin.
"It would be disturbing if these suspicions turned out to be true. But Germany and the United States can solve this problem together," Steffen Seibert said.
Senator Feinstein, the chair of the Senate intelligence panel, has previously expressed support for US intelligence programmes, but said in light of the Merkel revelations, her committee needed to know more.
"It is abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programmes is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community," she said in a statement.
"It is my understanding that President Obama was not aware Chancellor Merkel's communications were being collected since 2002. That is a big problem," she said.
Meanwhile, a Japanese news agency reported the NSA asked the Japanese government in 2011 to help it monitor fibre-optic cables carrying personal data through Japan, to the Asia-Pacific region.
The reports, carried by Kyodo, say that this was intended to allow the US to spy on China, but that Japanese officials refused, citing legal restrictions and a shortage of personnel. | The White House has acknowledged the need for additional "constraints" on US intelligence gathering, amid claims of eavesdropping on allies. |
37953546 | Ho Chio-meng is accused of setting up a criminal syndicate, abuse of power, and money laundering.
Relatives and colleagues of the prosecutor - who was once tipped to become Macau's leader - have also been charged.
Macau, a one-time Portuguese colony, is the world's largest gambling centre and has a reputation for crime.
Mr Ho, who was prosecutor general from 1999-2014, was arrested in February while trying to board a ferry to Hong Kong.
The 1,970 charges against him include accusations that he and his associates took kickbacks worth 44 million patacas (£4.3m; $5.5m) from construction projects.
The former official is currently in prison after Macau's top court ruled he might flee the city if granted bail. His trial is set to begin on 5 December. | The former chief prosecutor in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau has been charged with nearly 2,000 crimes. |
39118094 | Michele Rizzo bundled over for Tigers, before Kai Horstmann charged down Owen Williams' kick and crossed unopposed.
A penalty try, which saw Tom Youngs sin-binned, and score from Stu Townsend gave Chiefs a 27-8 half-time lead.
France centre Maxime Mermoz glided through a gap to give Leicester hope, but Mitch Lees crashed over a fourth try to secure a fine victory.
Fifth-placed Leicester had won three straight league games before the visit of last season's Premiership finalists.
However, a terrible first half littered with individual errors and indiscipline meant they were left with too much to do after the break.
The home side camped themselves in front of the Exeter try-line after Mermoz had reduced the deficit to 12 points, but the visitors' defence was superb despite being down to 14 men with Geoff Parling in the sin bin.
Having resisted the hosts' best attacking spell and with conditions worsening at Welford Road, Australian forward Lees sealed Chiefs' 13th bonus point of the season.
Exeter are now unbeaten in 10 Premiership matches - their last defeat coming against Bath on 30 October.
They also have a favourable run-in, facing none of their closest play-off rivals in their remaining five fixtures, as they bid to win a first Premiership title.
Ten-time champions Leicester on the other hand face a tricky derby game at Northampton before travelling to Bath in their next two matches.
Tigers head coach Aaron Mauger told BBC Radio Leicester:
"Upfront we weren't good enough - they played to their strengths really well and they're a quality side, so credit to them.
"They're a better side than the last three teams we've played - upfront they were too good, they put us under a lot of pressure.
"I think their collisions were just better - I thought their forwards probably won the battle and gave them a better platform to play rugby."
Exeter head coach Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:
"They're winning not through luck, they're winning because they're deserving to win, and that's more satisfying than anything else.
"We're not getting diverted, we're not getting blown off course - it actually looks like it's going to take a lot to make us get fretful in a game.
"We've got some players who are standing up and showing real character, real drive and real intensity and they're reaping the rewards - I'm really pleased for them."
Leicester: Veainu; Thompstone, Smith, Mermoz, Pietersen; O Williams, Kitto; Rizzo, T Youngs (capt), Bateman, Fitzgerald, Barrow, Croft, O'Connor, Hamilton.
Replacements: McGuigan, Genge, Cilliers, M Williams, McCaffrey, Harrison, Burns, Betham.
Exeter: Dollman; Woodburn, Whitten, Devoto, Short; Slade, Townsend; Rimmer, Cowan-Dickie, Williams, Lees, Parling, Armand (capt), Horstmann, Waldrom.
Replacements: Yeandle, Moon, Francis, Hill, S Simmonds, Maunder, J Simmons, Hill.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter. | Exeter Chiefs moved one point behind Premiership leaders Wasps with a bonus-point win at Leicester Tigers. |
37321030 | Richard Ratcliffe said charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in April, had called him from prison and said: "I can't bear to be in this place any longer."
She also said she missed her two-year-old daughter Gabriella "all the time".
Gabriella's passport was taken after her mother's arrest. The child is staying with her grandparents in Iran.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran airport after visiting her family on holiday.
The UK Foreign Office said it was "deeply concerned" about the reports of her sentence and ministers would continue to raise the case with Iranian officials.
Mr Ratcliffe, from north London, said his wife had phoned just before 09:00 BST on Friday to tell him she had been given a five-year sentence.
She told him: "It has been horrendous. I do not want to wake up each morning and remember where I am. I want to stay in my dreams."
She added: "I have been here so long. Do you understand what it is like to be a mother kept away from her child this long?
"I have missed over a fifth of her life. What does that do to her?"
The family say there has never been clear information about what Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is accused of, but Iranian officials have previously accused her of leading a "foreign-linked hostile network".
Mr Ratcliffe said he had asked his wife during the phone call what the charges against her were.
He said she had asked a guard who was standing next to her by the phone and the guard had said: "National security charges."
By Richard Galpin, BBC world affairs correspondent
For weeks following Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's arrest, her husband said nothing in public, hoping pressure from the Foreign Office might persuade Iranian authorities to release her quickly.
When nothing came of that, he started campaigning publicly for his wife and two-year-old daughter to be allowed to return to Britain.
The story was reported in the media in many countries, with more than 800,000 people signing a petition calling for her release.
But now that too seems to have failed, and may even have backfired.
The judge who convicted her made it clear he was unhappy about the media campaign, and even claimed it was evidence she was guilty.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have reportedly claimed her work in helping to provide training for journalists and human rights activists, was part of a plot to undermine Iran's government.
But it may be more about splits between the hardliners and moderates within the regime.
Alternatively, some analysts believe hardliners may want Western prisoners available to use as bargaining chips or for prisoner swaps.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her lawyer were in court to hear the sentence passed down, but Mr Ratcliffe said it was not clear whether she had been told what she was charged with.
He told the BBC it was possible that she knew but had been forbidden from telling her family.
"It remains extraordinary that Nazanin's interrogators clarify the sentence but not the crime - because there is none," he said.
The case was "shrouded in shadows and internal politics", he added.
He also noted the timing, saying the court's decision - on 6 September - came a day after the UK had appointed an ambassador to Iran for the first time since 2011.
"Nazanin's detention and charges have always felt like she and Gabriella are being held as a political bargaining chip for internal and international politics," Mr Ratcliffe said.
"The fact that she was sentenced with unrecognisable charges the day after the UK embassy was upgraded makes this all the clearer."
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is expected to serve her sentence in Evin Prison, where she is currently being held in a high-security wing controlled by the Revolutionary Guard.
Maziar Bahari, a journalist and former detainee at Evin Prison told the BBC it was an infamous jail with a history of executions and torture.
"Thousands of innocent lives perished in that prison and for someone like her who has not had any prison experience, being there will be a real torture," he said.
Mr Ratcliffe said he had told his wife she was "much loved".
"I have thousands of messages for her to read one day. They keep me going now," he said.
"They will be so important for her journey back once this cruelty is over.
"I told her we so look forward to having her home."
Mr Ratcliffe visited Downing Street in May as part of the campaign to free his wife, and last month Theresa May "raised concerns" over the case with Iran's president.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Mrs May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would continue to raise the case "with their counterparts in Iran".
She said the government would also "continue to press the Iranians for consular access and for due process to be followed".
Labour's Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary, said it was "no longer good enough for Downing Street and the Foreign Office to 'raise concerns' about this case".
She said it was time to "demand answers".
Monique Villa, chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said: "I want to reiterate my total support to Nazanin and her family in these terrible circumstances and I ask the Iranian authorities to release her as soon as possible.
"I am convinced of her innocence and reiterate that she had no dealings with Iran whatsoever in her professional capacity at the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"The foundation does not operate in Iran directly or indirectly."
The Iranian embassy has not yet responded to a BBC request for a comment. | A British-Iranian mother has been jailed for five years in Iran on "secret charges", her husband says. |
39236618 | Ben Patey, 33, was on a train when he saw the real-life seven sisters waiting on the platform.
He took the photo on his way home, telling the Express: "I had to do a double-take. It was one of those strange but amusing moments."
The Tube and overground station, near Tottenham, is thought to be named after a circle of Elm trees.
People have been sharing the photo on social media, with one person saying it had made them "irrationally happy".
But others have expressed doubts that the photograph shows seven nuns - suggesting that eight or even nine sisters are shown in the photo but are obscured. | Seven nuns have been pictured at Seven Sisters station in London by a passing commuter. |
34876456 | India's foreign ministry confirmed to BBC Hindi that Geeta's DNA samples did not match that of the Mahato family.
After arriving in Delhi, Geeta said the Mahatos, whom she had identified in photos, were not her family.
Geeta, who has speech and hearing impairments, was about 11 when she was believed to have strayed into Pakistan.
Her plight emerged following a Bollywood film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which told the story of a Pakistani girl who cannot speak and is trapped in India.
Apart from the Mahato family from the eastern state of Bihar, at least two other families have claimed her as their own.
Geeta has been lodged at a shelter home where she will remain until her family is traced, officials say.
On Geeta's arrival in Delhi, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said: "Whether or not her parents are found, Geeta is our daughter. I thank Pakistan from the core of my heart for looking after her for so long." | The DNA of an Indian woman, who was stranded in Pakistan for a decade before returning home last month, does not match a family claiming to be hers. |
37908649 | It is the politest uprising, but it is giving ministers some very difficult homework over how schools in England are run and funded.
It is also unusual how heads are applying pressure - not through unions or strike threats, but by well coordinated and relentlessly reasonable demands.
These bastions of respectability are difficult opponents for the government to paint as the "usual suspects".
And the chancellor will be under pressure to find emergency money for schools in the Autumn Statement.
This week, almost every secondary state school head teacher in true-blue Surrey signed a ferocious letter to Prime Minister Theresa May expressing their "vehement" opposition to her grammar school plans.
In an unprecedented show of unity, heads said they were not going to put up with the unnecessary confusion and disruption being caused.
They also warned that the political acrobatics over increasing selection were missing the point over what schools really needed.
And if you talk to head teachers, you will hear a deafening chorus of what they are most worried about - a shortage of funding and teachers.
In another Tory heartland, West Sussex, head teachers have been mobilising.
Head teachers have marched on Downing Street, delivering a letter warning the prime minister that the lack of funds would mean cutting school hours or laying off teachers.
This was signed by every single state school head in the county.
Even more disconcerting for ministers, the head teachers wrote to 100,000 parents, warning that such cuts would be the consequence of inadequate funding.
This is a collision that the government will really want to avoid. Apart from not wanting such arguments in their own political backyard, head teachers are people with a lot of public credibility. Parents trust them, they are community leaders.
Ministers will have to decide whether they can risk calling their bluff.
It is a huge gamble for ministers, because the sight of pupils being sent home from cash-strapped schools would be a disaster.
But they will have to balance this with fears that if they agree to give extra funding to West Sussex schools, there will be a queue around the block from head teachers in other local authorities.
But there could be a way around this - such as a pot of emergency funding to allocate support depending on need.
Head teachers have already pointed to the £500m that appeared to be available for the rapidly ditched plan to require all schools to become academies.
In the longer term, the much-postponed overhaul of school funding, the national funding formula, should relieve some funding gaps and local anomalies.
But there will be losers as well as winners in that change in funding.
And there will be other local groups of head teachers looking to flex their muscles and test the strength of their position.
Ministers can announce all kinds of initiatives, but they depend on head teachers and their staff to put them into practice.
Heads have been complaining for years about politicians overloading them with strategies and initiatives.
But in these strange political times, heads seem to be stirring into action and wanting to set their own rules.
If head teachers, reasonable, respectable and reassuring, decide they want things done differently, they will be a tough group to dismiss. | There is something of a "head teachers' spring" going on at the moment. |
35103282 | Three-time European champions Leinster held a 16-5 lead thanks to a penalty try and four Johnny Sexton kicks.
But Toulon earned their own penalty try, adding to Juan Smith's score, to cut the deficit to four points.
Anthony Etrillard went over and Tom Taylor kicked a penalty to win it for the French side.
The results means Toulon move up to second in Pool Five, level on points with third-placed Bath and trailing leaders Wasps by six points.
Leinster, meanwhile, remain bottom with two losing bonus points on the board and miss out on the knockout stages in Europe for only the second time in 12 years.
The Dubliners had lost 24-9 in the reverse fixture last week but were in control at half-time at the Aviva Stadium, with Sexton rediscovering his form with the boot to kick his team into an early lead.
Toulon lost Duane Vermeulen to the sin-bin after 12 minutes for an offside infringement, and soon Leinster were awarded a penalty try after the scrum was hauled down.
Smith crashed over for the visitors to make it 10-5 but fly-half Sexton kicked two penalties to give Leinster a healthy lead.
Toulon responded brilliantly in the second half and the Leinster defence finally gave way.
Referee Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty try to Toulon, which Taylor converted, and, with 15 minutes to go, a powerful drive ended with Etrillard touching down.
Taylor added a conversion and penalty, before Leinster lost Jordi Murphy to the sin-bin, and a knock-on denied Mamuka Gorgodze a late bonus point try at the death.
Leinster: R Kearney; D Kearney, Te'o, Fitzgerald, Nacewa (capt); Sexton, Reddan; McGrath, Strauss, Ross; Toner, McCarthy; Ruddock, Van der Flier, Heaslip.
Replacements: Moore for Ross (24), Madigan for Te'o (37), Cronin for Strauss (46), Healey for McGrath (46), Denton for M McCarthy (56), Kirchner for Sexton (66), Murphy for Heaslip (69), N McCarthy for Reddan (76).
Sin Bin: Murphy (76).
Toulon: D Armitage; Habana, Bastareaud, Nonu, Mitchell; Giteau, Escande; Fresia, Guirado, Stevens; Suta, Taofifenua; Smith, S Armitage, Vermeulen.
Replacements: Taylor for D. Armitage (46), Tillous-Borde for Escande (46), Chiocci for Fresia (46), Etrillard for Guirado (49), Chilachava for Stevens (46), Gorgodze for Suta (66), Mikautadze for Taofifenua (50), Fernandez Lobbe for J. Smith (56).
Sin Bin: Vermeulen (12). | Holders Toulon came from behind to inflict a fourth straight Champions Cup defeat on Leinster, whose slim hopes of reaching the quarter-finals were ended. |
40670225 | James Morton, 24, enjoyed dominating women, having watched the behaviour in pornographic films and experimented with at least one ex-girlfriend.
He started to strangle Hannah Pearson - his friend's girlfriend - without any warning or permission, the judge said.
Her naked body was found in his bedroom in Newark, Nottinghamshire, last July.
A jury cleared him of murder but convicted him of her manslaughter.
In mitigation, his defence barrister Shaun Smith said Morton had been "pursuing his sexual thrill without having regard for the consequences of it".
Hannah's mother, Dawn Pearson, stood up at Nottingham Crown Court to read a statement describing the impact of the "horrifying act" on her family.
"A parent should not have to bury their own child, a child who has not even had a chance to live a life on her own," she said.
Mrs Pearson explained how Hannah had been given a "second chance at life", after recovering from anorexia.
"Hannah made many friends and lived her life to the full after being in hospital for so many years," she said.
"She had been given a whole new lease of life, a second chance at life, and she was making the most of it."
Hannah, from Marston in Lincolnshire, met Morton for the first time on 23 July 2016, the day of her death.
The trial heard that she went back to his parents' home in Pierson Street in Newark without her boyfriend, Jed Hope, because Mr Hope did not have enough money for the train.
Morton gave Hannah wine, port and beer, then put her in his bed at the end of the evening, the court heard.
Morton claimed that Hannah started kissing him, and Mrs Justice Carr said she could not be sure on the evidence that Hannah "did not instigate some sexual activity".
However, the judge said Hannah did not consent to being strangled.
"You enjoyed the domination, something which you had seen on a porn DVD previously, and also tried with at least one previous girlfriend," the judge said.
"I am sure, as the jury was, that Hannah did not give valid and informed consent to this escalated activity in the knowledge that it carried the risk of some bodily injury.
"She had never been involved in such activity before, was very intoxicated and, if not totally unconscious, then certainly confused and not thinking straight.
"She was in no position to object, trapped underneath you whilst you strangled her."
Morton phoned 999 after realising Hannah was not breathing, but it took him 20 minutes to do so.
The judge said he was "preoccupied" with his own "wellbeing and position" for at least some of this time, which was "a chilling aspect of the case".
However, she said he had "shown remorse which I accept is genuine". | A man who accidentally strangled a 16-year-old girl to death while pursuing a "sexual thrill" has been jailed for 12 years for her manslaughter. |
35657878 | The company, which also owns Legoland and the London Eye, said group pre-tax profits rose 0.3% to £250m from 2014.
Merlin said Alton Towers saw a "significant" fall in visitor numbers after the accident, which resulted in the park shutting for four days.
Chief executive Nick Varney said it had been "a challenging year".
Like-for-like sales at the group's resort theme parks division, which includes Alton Towers, fell 12.4%.
However, visitor numbers across the group rose 0.3% to 62.9 million, while revenues rose 2.3% to £1.27bn.
Mr Varney said in a statement that the figures showed Merlin had "delivered a robust performance in 2015. However, 2015 was a difficult year for Merlin following the accident at Alton Towers early in the summer season.
"The safety of our guests and employees must always come first and we have sought to learn every possible lesson to help ensure there is no repeat of what happened on 2 June."
Separately, Merlin announced that it was investing about $34.4m (£24.6m) in the Big Bus Tours company, giving it a stake of about 15% in the business. Big Bus provides hop-on city tours around the world. | Profits at theme parks operator Merlin Entertainments have edged up despite last summer's Alton Towers accident which left five people injured. |
39997581 | More than 97% of the infections seen by Kaspersky Lab and 66% of those seen by BitSight used the older software.
WannaCry started spreading in mid-May and, so far, has infected more than 200,000 computers around the world.
In the UK, some hospitals had to turn away patients as the worm shut down computer systems.
Many suggested that the reason UK hospitals suffered was because many of them still relied on programs that required Windows XP - a version of Microsoft's OS that debuted in 2001.
But infections of XP by WannaCry were "insignificant" said Costin Raiu from Kaspersky Lab.
Windows 7 was first released in 2009 and the most widely infected version was the x64 edition, which is widely used in large organisations, showed figures from Kasperksy.
Many organisations seem to have been caught out because they failed to apply a patch, issued by Microsoft in March. that blocked the vulnerability which WannaCry exploited.
Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica, French carmaker Renault, German rail firm Deutsche Bahn, logistics firm Fedex, Russia's interior ministry and 61 NHS organisations were all caught out by WannaCry.
After encrypting files, the WannaCry worm demanded a payment of £230 ($300) in bitcoins before they were unfrozen. So far, a reported 296 payments totalling $99,448 (£76,555) have been made to the bitcoin wallets tied to the ransomware.
There have been no reports that anyone who paid has had their data restored by the gang behind the attack.
Security experts also found that the worm spread largely by seeking out vulnerable machines on the net by itself. Before now, many thought it had got started via an email-based phishing campaign.
Adam McNeil, a senior malware analyst at Malwarebytes, said the worm was primed to look for machines vulnerable to a bug in a Microsoft technology known as the Server Message Block (SMB).
"The attackers initiated an operation to hunt down vulnerable public facing SMB ports and, once located, used the newly available SMB exploits to deploy malware and propagate to other vulnerable machines within connected networks," he wrote.
Mr McNeil said he suspected that whoever was behind the worm first identifed a "few thousand" vulnerable machines which were used as the launch platform for the much larger waves of infection. | The majority of machines hit by the WannaCry ransomware worm in the cyber-attack earlier this month were running Windows 7, security firms suggest. |
30095364 | The attacks came hours after police raided two mosques they accuse of having links with militant Islamists in neighbouring Somalia.
One person was killed in the police raids and more than 200 were arrested.
Witnesses said masked youths armed with machetes then went on the rampage in the Kisauni area of the city, attacking people waiting at bus stops.
Several others were injured in the attacks, which were carried out in apparent revenge for the police action.
"We are investigating the incident and have arrested some of the suspects," local police chief Richard Ngatia said.
Some of the youths were reported to be carrying black flags similar to one recovered in the raids on the Musa and Sakinah mosques.
Police said they had also seized a pistol and a cache of ammunition, including grenades, in the raids.
They say the mosques have links with the Somali militant Islamist group, al-Shabab, and have been used to recruit and train militants and store weapons.
Muslim clerics and human rights groups have condemned the raids, which they say will only reinforce feelings that police are targeting the entire Muslim community in Mombasa, a coastal city which is a popular tourist destination.
Mombasa County commissioner Nelson Marwa said three people had been killed by the rampaging youth. Relatives and hospital staff reported four deaths.
In February, a similar raid at the Musa mosque led to violent protests. The mosque was once controlled by the radical cleric Sheikh Abud Rogo, who was killed in 2012.
There have been a number of bombings and shootings in Mombasa since 2011 when Kenyan troops entered Somalia to attack al-Shabab. | At least three people have been stabbed to death by rampaging youths in the Kenyan city of Mombasa, officials say. |
37855864 | The group says people suspected of having ties to IS have been publicly humiliated, tortured and beaten.
Iraq's special forces paused in their advance on eastern districts of Mosul on Wednesday to comb the streets for any remaining IS fighters.
IS overran the city in June 2014.
Meanwhile IS released audio purportedly from its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, calling on its fighters to hold their ground and fight against the "enemies of God".
Wednesday was the 17th day of an operation to re-take the city. The Iraqi army is working alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Shia militias and Sunni Arab tribesmen, with air and ground support from the multinational coalition against IS.
It is the Sunni tribesmen - specifically the Sabawi Tribal Mobilisation - who are alleged to have been involved in revenge attacks over the past couple of weeks, as they move through liberated villages.
According to reports from witnesses interviewed by Amnesty, some suspected IS sympathisers were put on display inside poultry cages in the middle of a roundabout.
A fighter made each of them leave the cage in turn, saying: "what are you? Say you're an animal, say you're a donkey."
Other fighters, who witnesses said had no visible commanders, arrested dozens of people, beat one man's face with cables, tied suspects to car bonnets and drove them through villages, held people in abandoned homes and handed a group of detainees bearing marks of torture to the Iraqi armed forces.
Lynn Maalouf from Amnesty said there was a "dangerous culture of impunity in which perpetrators of such attacks feel they have free rein to commit crimes and go unpunished".
She said: "Only those legally sanctioned to detain and interrogate suspects must be allowed to do so. The authorities must rein in the tribal militia fighters responsible and bring them to justice in order to prevent such crimes being repeated in the ongoing Mosul offensive."
The Iraqi army has been trying to consolidate its most recent gains in the offensive by combing the streets of the recaptured Kukjali district for any remaining IS fighters.
A BBC journalist says they are moving with caution, amid fears of ambushes, secret tunnels and booby traps.
The military says that six IS fighters were killed inside a tunnel during the operation.
Elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) troops retook the eastern Kukjali area and reached the more built-up Karama district, on Tuesday.
The BBC's Ian Pannell, who was travelling with them, says those militants who chose to stand and fight were killed while others fled deeper into the city.
About 1.2 million civilians live in the city. The Norwegian Refugee Council aid agency has warned that their lives are "in grave danger" due to the fighting.
Some have fled to a camp for internally displaced people, east of Mosul.
On Wednesday a senior CTS officer told the Associated Press that troops were moving from house to house to ensure the safety of civilians, while waiting for reinforcements before attempting to push closer to the city centre.
There are thousands of IS fighters in Mosul. | Militias involved in driving so-called Islamic State (IS) out of Mosul have been carrying out revenge attacks on men and boys in nearby villages, Amnesty International says. |
38703741 | The 25-year-old Englishman recovered from a bogey on the fourth hole and hit five birdies as he moved to 13 under.
American Dustin Johnson is a shot behind after carding an impressive eight-under-par round of 64.
England's Tommy Fleetwood is also at 12 under, along with Martin Kaymer, Pablo Larrazabal and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Find out how to get into golf with our special guide.
Kaymer was the overnight leader but the German hit three bogeys to card a level-par 72 on Saturday.
In a closely grouped field, English pair Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood are three shots off the lead, along with Henrik Stenson of Sweden.
"I'm very happy with that," said world number 23 Hatton, who has one European Tour title to his name - the 2016 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
"I got off to a bit of a slow start but holed a couple of putts on the back nine."
Johnson equalled the lowest score of the week with his third round, which included an eagle and six birdies.
"The biggest difference was I drove it better," he said.
"I'm still yet to birdie a par five, but I did make an eagle on eight, chipped one in. It was a really solid round." | Tyrrell Hatton will go into the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship with a one-shot lead after a four-under-par 68 on Saturday. |
33808947 | Youth Beatz is being staged in the town's Dock Park.
Some 12,000 young people from across Dumfries and Galloway have been allocated tickets for the event.
The council-sponsored festival - organised by the Oasis Events Team - features headline acts Scouting for Girls and Union J.
Mark Molloy, the principal officer for youth work in Nithsdale, said the whole event was organised by the young people themselves and was a testament to the many volunteers.
"Logistically it is very complex to deliver an event of this scale in a park such as Dock Park where it is a huge part of the community and a community asset," he said.
"Because of that, we have to do a great deal of work to make sure the park is protected and gets handed back at the end of the event in the same state we received it."
He added that the safety of everyone attending was also a key element of the preparations.
Mr Molloy said: "The security element is hugely important when you bring that number of young people together. Parents need to feel reassured that their children can come along to an event that is safe.
"Also the young people need to feel safe when they come along.
"That's why we work with our partners from a number of agencies including Police Scotland to have a very robust security and policing plan in place which makes the event safe." | Thousands of fans are expected in Dumfries this weekend for what is billed as Scotland's largest free youth music festival. |
39692030 | The Balquhidder community broadband project will connect about 200 households and businesses.
The project will cost about £300,000 with the funding being provided by private and public investors, including Stirling Council.
Work is expected to begin in the summer with the project due to be completed next year.
Richard Harris, one of the project leaders, told BBC Scotland that the efforts of local volunteers will be essential.
He said: "Most of the work is not particularly specialised, it's basically a plumbing job.
"A project like this is only viable, given the small size of the community, if you have a large amount of volunteer labour.
"The way we're doing it is to split it into about a dozen sectors.
"We're going to do some at a time, so that we can get the revenue coming in from subscriptions from the properties in each sector to help cash flow the next one."
Miles of plastic piping will be laid in the trench, which is about 450mm deep and 100mm wide, with boxes at intervals to run smaller pipes into each property.
The fibre optic cable will then be blown through the ducting pipes with compressed air.
Local residents currently experience sporadic mobile phone reception and very low or non-existent internet connections.
Mr Harris said: "The houses at the very end of the glen near the main road get maybe 2 to 4mb on a good day, it's very unreliable.
"The rest of us get not very much at all. The further up the glen we go, the worse it gets.
"Many of us are on expensive, under-performing, unreliable satellite dishes at the moment."
Mr Harris said the lack of broadband was having a detrimental effect on local businesses and households.
He said: "The farmers can't put in their Defra returns, they can't put in their stock movement sheets.
"Hotels can't get bookings as people physically can't book with them, or people won't book with them because they don't have broadband.
"Young people are forced to leave and don't come back because there's nothing for them here, because of the lack of connectivity."
Residents have been campaigning for greater internet access in the area for more than 10 years.
Mr Harris said: "We are three years into the actual project, almost all of which has been taken up with bureaucracy around the funding.
"We've just decided to do it ourselves with the funding we have.
"Up to now, we've been running on a volunteer basis, with some sponsorship from local businesses and individuals.
"Assuming we get all the funding discussions resolved in the next two weeks, we are getting started almost immediately."
Mr Harris said the first rolls of ducting pipe have arrived, with the villagers set to get to work on the project soon.
He said: "We hope to get the main backbone, running east to west, rolled out this summer.
"It depends on volunteer labour and when farmers aren't lambing or haymaking.
"We are hoping to get a large part of it online this year and the rest finished in the early to mid part of next year." | Residents of an internet-starved Stirlingshire village are to install their own 22-mile broadband network. |
35073539 | The price being paid has not been revealed. According to Thomson Reuters, SCMP has a market value of HK$3bn ($392m; £258.5m).
Alibaba will remove the paywall from the paper's website to make its content freely available.
Alibaba said the title was unique because it covered news from China in the English language.
Such coverage is in demand by readers globally who want to understand the world's second-largest economy, said Joe Tsai, Alibaba Group's executive vice chairman.
In a letter to readers, Mr Tsai said: "We see the perfect opportunity to marry our technology with the deep heritage of the SCMP to create a vision of news for the digital age."
He added: "Only through additional resources will the SCMP be able to stay true to its core values of quality, integrity and trust."
Robin Hu, chief executive of SCMP, said it welcomed Alibaba's commitment to invest in the title.
"With proven expertise especially in mobile internet, Alibaba is in an excellent position to leverage technology to create content more efficiently and reach a global audience."
The paper was founded in 1903 but profits and sales have in recent years been hit by the same declines as newspapers in many countries.
The deal also includes licences for the Hong Kong editions of magazines including Elle, Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar.
Alibaba's New York-listed shares ended down 5.4% after the deal was announced. | Chinese internet giant Alibaba is to buy Hong Kong-based newspaper the South China Morning Post (SCMP). |
39330693 | The papers also reveal some of the £1m of West German funds - intended for concentration camp survivors - was paid to families of other dead servicemen.
But survivors of the Nazi PoW camp escape were not initially compensated.
Seventy-three of the 76 men who fled the Stalag Luft III camp in 1944 were recaptured. Fifty were later shot.
Their exploits were subsequently dramatised in the 1963 film the Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.
Although the Federal Republic - then West Germany - had agreed to compensate victims of the concentration camps, the initial scheme only applied to people who had been living permanently in Germany, or had emigrated from there.
So Britain, along with 10 other countries, pushed for agreements to ensure their own nationals would be compensated too.
The terms of the 1964 agreement between Britain and Germany were clear.
Persecution by the Nazis meant detention for reason of nationality, race, religion, or political view "in Germany or in any territory occupied by Germany in a concentration camp or in an institution where the conditions were comparable with those in a concentration camp".
It specifically excluded service personnel held in other camps - even if they'd been tortured or murdered.
"Hardships suffered in a normal civil prison civilian internment camp or prisoner of war camp do not constitute Nazi persecution nor does treatment contrary to the Geneva Convention and the rules of war, even though resulting in permanent injury or death," it said.
The files show the Foreign Office initially held to this line, fearing it could open the door to many more claims, from prisoners of war and others - and that was not what the Germans had agreed.
However, according to research by Professor Susanna Schrafstetter of the University of Vermont, the Ministry of Defence lobbied hard for the families of the 50 murdered "great escapers" to be included.
And so eventually payouts were offered by the Foreign Office to the families. These included sums of £2,293 to relatives of Flight Lieutenants Edgar Spottiswoode Humphreys, Gilbert William Walenn, John Francis Williams, and Cyril Douglas Swain.
But this family aid was not publicised, and survivors of the Stalag Luft III escape were told they were not eligible for compensation, even though several had spent time in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
It led to a huge outcry at the time, a parliamentary inquiry, and an eventual settlement.
Foreign Office officials quietly added other cases it deemed exceptional including payments to relatives of Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Operations Executive personnel killed by the Nazis.
Captain Anthony "Andy" Whately-Smith of the SAS parachuted into occupied France in September 1944.
The 29-year-old was part of Operation Loyton, tasked with harrying the retreating Germans. At the end of October, Captain Whately-Smith was captured by German soldiers, along with fellow SAS officer Major Denis Reynolds.
They were taken to a camp in Alsace, brutally interrogated, then moved to Gaggenau in Germany where, on 25 November, with 12 other prisoners, they were shot.
According to the newly-released records, the Foreign Office wrote to his family in 1966 - 22 years later - inviting them to apply for compensation for his death as a victim of Nazi persecution.
Captain Whately-Smith had no children and had separated from his wife. His father had founded a successful prep school, Hordle House in the New Forest and the family were not in need.
The records show they eventually received just over £1,000 in compensation for their relative's death.
Captain Whately-Smith's nephew Christopher said: "The family, especially my grandfather, was greatly moved by his loss.
"The compensation meant a degree of closure - which is why they accepted it when offered."
His uncle gave the money to his own children, in premium bonds, while his father bought a small boat.
About 4,000 people applied to the Foreign Office between 1964 and 1965 for help from the £1m fund, paid for by West Germany, with a quarter of claims successful.
The latest release of National Archives files on the fund also show compensation was paid to a group of Irish-born merchant seamen, who were sent to concentration camps because they refused to work for the Germans.
They were held at the Marlag-Milag Nord camp in Germany and asked to work on railways at Bremen and at the shipyards in Hamburg.
But, being from a politically neutral country at the time, they refused to support the Nazis and were sent to the Bremen-Farge camp until their release at the end of the war.
Unusually, the compensation applications were initiated by the British government itself.
The men were initially awarded £1,000 in compensation, but were subsequently given a further £1,385.
But the papers show a British serviceman who spent two years in solitary confinement at a prisoner-of-war camp was denied compensation because of a technicality about where he had been detained.
Jack Thorez Finken-McKay, who transferred from the Royal Fusiliers to the War Office to perform special duties, said he became "a living skeleton" at the hands of the Gestapo in his letter to the Foreign Office. | The Foreign Office paid compensation to families of British airmen shot dead after the "great escape" in World War Two, National Archives files show. |
38816480 | 31 January 2017 Last updated at 17:20 GMT
Here Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Finance Minister, argues that it’s time for a “New Deal” – including a universal basic income.
Viewsnight will cover a broad range of views across a host of subjects. More throughout the week. To watch them all, head over to BBC Newsnight on Facebook and on YouTube | Viewsnight is BBC Newsnight's new place for ideas and opinion. |
31146528 | Some are traditionally dressed, with long gowns, sandals and daggers; others are in military uniform.
For a non-Yemeni it is hard to differentiate these militiamen from regular soldiers.
They belong to the Houthis, a group of Shia rebels from northern Yemen, who overran the capital last September.
Last month the rebels took over key government buildings, including the presidential palace and the parliament, and put the president under house arrest.
The Houthis have long complained of being persecuted and marginalised, but now they are in full control of the city, and have set up checkpoints everywhere.
The group, which formed in 1992, was named after its founder Hussein al-Houthi, though it recently started calling itself Ansar Allah, or God's Supporters. They no longer like being called Houthis.
"We are the people, we are the revolution," a militant tells me at a demonstration in support of the Houthis.
The Houthis do not only brag about their military strength but also their huge number of followers.
When they called on various factions to meet to discuss the current political crisis last week, thousands came together for what was more like a popular conference, held in a huge stadium.
There was excitement and joy among the audience, they cheered and chanted slogans.
They called for Yemeni unity but many other political forces do not trust them.
They say the Houthis want to put facts on the ground and impose their own solution to the power vacuum which has existed since the president, prime minister and cabinet resigned last month.
"It feels more stable under the Houthis, the outgoing government was very weak. But we are worried about the future," said Ahmed, a merchant of copper handicrafts in the old city of Sanaa, once a sightseeing area.
"We can't live in this stagnation and uncertainty forever," he added, looking out for customers.
The priority for many Yemenis is more about their everyday life, rather than who comes to power.
More than half the population of 24 million live in poverty. They have no access to basic needs.
In Sanaa, residents have only two or three hours of electricity a day. Many cannot afford to buy generators. Women wash dishes and clothes in the street.
With no water at home, housewives bring their children everyday to some of the public basins, which abound in poor neighbourhoods, to do the laundry and clean their kitchenware.
"I wish I can have my bike back. My dad sold it for $50 (45 euros). He needed the money," nine-year-old Ali told me, as he waited for his mother to finish washing dishes in a yard, at the back of an old mosque.
The constant refrain I got from many people, regardless of their level of education or social status, was how life was hard and getting worse.
While political negotiations continue behind closed doors, in the streets armed men and concerned civilians both anxiously wait. | Wherever you go in Sanaa these days, you do not get far without being stopped and searched by groups of armed men. |
39798927 | Now in what is understood to be the first case of its kind, Jason is taking legal action against the government for its role in his father's death.
More than 2,000 people - mostly haemophiliacs - have died after being infected with HIV and hepatitis C through blood treatments.
The victims were infected over 25 years ago, in what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. But even now new cases are still being diagnosed.
BBC Panorama has spoken to Jason and some of the other families affected.
"My first memory of my dad is the last time I ever saw him," says Jason Evans. "It was my birthday, I was four years old."
Six weeks later, his father Jonathan died. He was 31 years old.
Jonathan Evans was one of many people to have been given a treatment known as Factor VIII.
Made in huge vats from the blood plasma of thousands of people it meant if just one donation was infected with a virus, it could contaminate the whole batch.
In England and Wales, the NHS relied on blood products from the US, but as the Aids crisis unfolded, in 1983 newspapers had begun asking questions about the safety of American blood products.
Jason recently discovered that in late 1984 - his father had raised concerns with his doctors about Factor VIII but he says he was told "there was nothing to worry about, this is sensationalism and not to pay attention to it. And he trusted his doctor".
"I think the moment there was a suspicion the Aids virus may be in these products, patients should have been given the choice of whether they wanted to take that gamble and play Russian roulette with their life," Jason says.
Jason is now suing the government for negligence and a breach of statutory duty for "their role in this scandal that ultimately led to infecting my father with HIV for a product they knew to be dangerous".
Des Collins of Collins Solicitors, acting for Jason, says: "This will be the first direct challenge of its type and throughout, our aim will be to support and represent families affected by this scandal."
Two inquiries have been carried out and, in 2015, the then Prime Minster David Cameron apologised to thousands of victims.
The current government has resisted calls for a fresh inquiry but last year it announced more money would be available to those affected by the scandal.
It has been 27 years since Janet and Colin Smith's son Colin died aged seven.
Colin was born with haemophilia - but it was the treatment he was given that killed him.
In June 1983, eight weeks before he was first treated, a letter was sent out to haemophilia centres recommending children should be treated with NHS concentrates, not US Factor VIII.
But the guidelines were not followed and Colin was given his first dose of American concentrate shortly before his first birthday. His parents still do not know why.
The couple were eventually told in a hospital corridor their son had tested positive for HIV.
"They said: 'Oh, Colin's tested positive for HIV'. We didn't even know what it was really," Mr Smith says.
The couple say they became known as "the Aids family" and were forced to move. "It was written on the side of the house... just 'AIDS' in big capital letters."
"Towards the end, we were picking up our son in sheepskin because we'd hurt him - he'd lost so much weight," Mrs Smith says.
They want the government to be held to account.
"Who's to blame? Are they stupid or just incompetent? It's one or the other isn't it? It's somebody's fault," she says.
The couple visit their son's grave twice a week.
"I miss him so much some days... He could have lived a normal life. Such a lovely little boy. Just so unnecessary."
In 2015, Michelle Tolley was told she had hepatitis C.
In 1987, she had been given a blood transfusion after haemorrhaging when she gave birth to her first child, and again after giving birth to twins in 1991.
"I was like 'no, no, no... you're telling me I've had hepatitis C for 28 years?' Growing silently - because they call it the silent killer," she told Panorama.
The NHS had run a campaign to encourage people who might have been given contaminated blood to get tested.
"I went along to my GP at the time to inquire, just to be told 'don't be silly, you won't have that'. It made me feel like a silly little child, that was just wasting somebody's time," she says.
Hepatitis C gave Michelle cirrhosis of the liver - which can cause cancer.
"I get angry days - really, really angry where I feel like I'm being deprived of my life," she says. "And I'm frightened I'm going to die."
Watch Panorama - Contaminated Blood: The Search for Truth on Wednesday 10 May at 21:00 BST on BBC One and afterwards on BBC iPlayer. | Jason Evans was just four years old when his father Jonathan died after being infected with HIV through treatment with contaminated blood. |
39279333 | It was hoped i9 would become a national or regional headquarters for a major business and be completed by the end of next year, Wolverhampton council said.
The development, which will provide 4,645 sq m (50,000 sq ft) of office space, is part of the city's £132m Interchange project.
It is aiming to improve transport links and create jobs in the heart of the city centre.
Read more news for Birmingham and the Black Country
The Interchange project includes redeveloping the railway station, the Midland Metro extension, the completed i10 office and shops complex, redeveloping the former Steam Mill site and developing the old Sack Works factory.
The initiative includes the council, Network Rail, Canal & River Trust and Ion Development.
The council said work on i9 could start around the end of the year and the scheme would cost about £12m.
Plans have been revealed at international property show MIPIM in Cannes, France.
CGI images of i9 were revealed as the council announced Glenn Howells Architects as the winners of the city's Interchange design competition. | Plans for a £12m office building in Wolverhampton have been unveiled. |
22713290 | It said the increase provided further support for "the view that the housing market is gradually gaining momentum".
The annual rate of price growth rose to 1.1%, the fastest pace since November 2011.
The increases mean that the average house now costs ??167,912, the Nationwide said.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said a number of factors were likely to have contributed to the recent pick-up in activity.
"There has been an improvement in the availability and a reduction in the cost of credit, partly as a result of policy measures, such as the Funding for Lending Scheme," he said.
"With the UK returning to growth in the first quarter of 2013, the improvement in wider economic conditions may also be playing a role in boosting sentiment."
The Funding for Lending Scheme allows banks to borrow money at a discount from the Bank of England, providing they can show they have passed it on to customers in the form of loans.
Mr Gardner said that this had increased the availability of mortgages and pushed down rates.
As a result, prices in the last three months compared with the previous three months were up by 0.4%, and have been growing according to this measure since October 2012.
Mr Gardner said that property sales were also up, running at about 5% higher each month this year than the average monthly level in 2012.
The number of mortgages approved, which can be expected to feed through to sales, also picked up at the start of the year, he said.
He expected the market to continue to gain momentum, partly owing to government support for more credit.
However, the government's Help to Buy scheme has come in for criticism, with claims that this would simply create another housing market bubble.
Under the Help to Buy Scheme, borrowers are able to take out an equity loan from the government, which will enable them to put down a deposit of just 5% on a property. That scheme began on 1 April.
Under the second scheme, starting in January 2014 and due to run until 2017, the government will guarantee up to 15% of a mortgage on homes worth up to ??600,000. The scheme will be used to support ??130bn of mortgages.
Critics have included the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, who warned that the scheme must not become permanent.
Source: Land Registry. Annual change to end of April
"I'm sure that there is no place in the long run for a scheme of this kind," he told Sky News in a recent interview.
On Wednesday, the OECD said that while new housing measures were likely to encourage residential investment and supply, there could be "upward pressure on house prices" if builders did not build more homes.
The Nationwide figures are based on its own lending data. Its rival, the Halifax - which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group - recorded a 2% average annual rise in prices a month ago. The two lenders calculate their year-on-year figures slightly differently.
Karelia Scott-Daniels, managing director of buying agents, Manse & Garret Property Search, said: "Much of the momentum is coming from London and South East England, and there is a danger that this is masking the stagnation in some other regions.
"But for properties that are priced correctly, there is no shortage of buyers."
Other commentators were more sceptical about Nationwide's conclusions.
"The rise in house prices recorded by the Nationwide in May could further boost the growing sense of optimism regarding the housing market. But the fundamentals are still weak, and we think much of that optimism is misplaced," said a spokesman for Capital Economics.
Data from the Land Registry has shown that price changes have varied widely across the UK.
Figures published on Thursday, covering England and Wales, showed that house prices rose by 6.2% in the 12 months to the end of April in London, and by 1.4% in the South East of England.
However, the North East of England saw average price falls of 5.7% and there was a drop of 3.7% in the North West of England over the same period.
The annual increase across England and Wales was 0.7%, the Land Registry said.
These rises were dwarfed by the increases seen recently in the US.
US house prices in March were up 10.9% from a year earlier, the biggest rise in nearly seven years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index which was published on Tuesday. | UK house prices recorded a "modest" rise in May, increasing by 0.4%, according to the latest survey from the Nationwide building society. |
35343099 | Ian Paterson, 58, who worked at hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Trust and Spire Healthcare, faces 21 counts dating back to 1997.
The surgeon, who treated about 700 women from 1993 to 2012, was suspended by the General Medical Council in 2012.
He did not enter a plea at Birmingham Magistrates' Court and will appear at the city's crown court on 15 February.
Mr Paterson, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, Altrincham, faces one charge of causing grievous bodily harm and 20 of wounding with intent. The alleged offences took place between 1997 and 2011.
The GMC is investigating allegations that Mr Paterson, who worked mainly for the NHS at Solihull Hospital and two private hospitals run by Spire, carried out unnecessary, inappropriate or unregulated operations.
Mr Paterson stands accused of carrying out invasive breast surgery on women with suspected breast cancer when a simple biopsy might have been sufficient.
He is also accused of using a banned procedure, known as a cleavage sparing mastectomy, that involves leaving behind some potentially cancerous tissue for cosmetic reasons. Concerns about his work first surfaced in 2007, but it was not until 2011 that he was excluded from the trust where he worked.
More than 550 patients were recalled to hospital to have their cases reviewed. | A breast surgeon has been charged with 21 counts of unlawfully and maliciously wounding 11 patients. |
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