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39366954 | Sandie Bowen, 53, was murdered by Michael Bowen in 1997 - he never revealed where he hid her body.
Her remains were discovered at Wentwood Reservoir, near Newport, on 2 February.
After talks with the Crown Prosecution Service, Gwent Police said no further action would be taken against Bowen, who was jailed for life in 1998 but was recently released on licence.
Mrs Bowen, originally from Folkestone, Kent, was living in Llandogo, Monmouthshire, when she was killed. | No further action will be taken against a man who murdered his wife after her body was found 20 years after she died. |
38169431 | The 61-year-old will have only 43 days to prepare the team before the country hosts the Africa Cup of Nations, which starts on 14 January.
Camacho, who has been out of football since he was sacked as China coach in 2013, has signed a two-year deal to fill the vacancy left by Jorge Costa's dismissal last month.
His former coaching jobs include Real Madrid, Sevilla, Espanyol and Benfica.
Camacho enjoyed a highly successful playing career, the former left-back was capped 81 times by his country and made over 440 appearances for Real Madrid.
His first competitive match as Gabon coach will be the Nations Cup opener against Guinea Bissau.
Camacho will also be tasked with trying to qualify Gabon for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia when, qualifiers resume in August. | Former Spain manager Jose Antonio Camacho has been appointed Gabon coach. |
32348876 | Twelve historic sites have been listed as possible candidates to be sold off under council plans to save millions of pounds a year.
Council leader Martin Hill said he had "an open mind" and a final decision has not been made.
Labour councillor Rob Parker described the idea as "controversial" and "unnecessary".
The Conservative-led authority has already voted to hand over most of its libraries in a bid to save about £2m. A campaign group has opposed the move and launched two court challenges to stop it.
Council spokesman Tony McGinty, said: "We are looking for someone to run the libraries but we wanted to take the opportunity in the future to talk to the successful provider about other services that the council runs."
But Mr Parker said the castle was not a service that should be outsourced as its "a huge success".
"And, £22m of public funds, including money from National Lottery, has been spent on upgrading it - and now we decide to hand over the running of it to the private sector," he said.
"I worry whether sites that are historic - rather than a money-making machine - will be viable."
However, Mr Hill said: "We will have to make some difficult choices in the future because we have a huge amount of savings to find.
"We have to keep our options open.
"If somebody is successful in winning the library contract they will have the opportunity - if they wish and the council wishes - to look at these various sites and see if they can do something differently or even better." | Top heritage sites like Lincoln Castle could be outsourced to the private sector, Lincolnshire council has said. |
38671326 | The 30-year-old joined the Wildcats from Warrington on a two-year contract in 2015 after spells at Featherstone, Dewsbury, Gateshead and Castleford.
"I've loved it here from day one. It's just a great group of lads and everyone has been really good to me," he said.
England's new deal also includes an option to extend it for a further year if both he and the club consent. | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats prop Anthony England has signed a new deal with the Super League side to run until 2019. |
35151959 | Have a go at the first of our 2015 quizzes and see how much you remember about the past 12 months.
An arts-themed brain-teaser will be published on 28 December, with others on film and TV to be published on 29 and 30 December. | Do you think you know what happened this year in the world of music? |
32156888 | Harry Gleeson was executed for the murder of Moll McCarthy, who was shot dead in County Tipperary in November 1940.
A government review of the case was carried out following pressure from justice campaigners.
It found police and prosecutors withheld crucial evidence from the farm labourer's trial.
The review found that Mr Gleeson was convicted and executed "as a result of a case based on unconvincing circumstantial evidence".
Mr Gleeson will become the first recipient of a posthumous pardon from the Irish state.
In a statement, the Irish government said it "deeply regrets that a man was convicted and executed in circumstances now found to be unsafe".
"All that can be done now by way of remedy is to clear his name of the conviction, which this pardon will do, in the hope that this will be a proper tribute to his memory," it said.
"Equally the government regrets that this decision leaves unresolved the brutal murder of Ms Mary McCarthy, whose children were deprived of their mother in terrible circumstances." | The Irish government is to give a pardon to a man who was hanged almost 75 years ago after being wrongly convicted of murder. |
37240318 | The 28-year-old, capped 21 times by Scotland, has signed a three-year contract with Nigel Pearson's side.
Anya played 138 times for the Hornets after joining, initially on loan, from Granada in 2012.
Derby have also signed ex-Leicester and Shrewsbury goalkeeper Chris Weale, 34, following his summer release by Yeovil.
Weale comes in following the departure of Lee Grant to Premier League side Stoke City on loan on Wednesday.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Championship side Derby County have signed Watford winger Ikechi Anya for an undisclosed fee, reported by BBC Radio Derby to be about £4m. |
40611077 | After an opening two-over-par 74, the world number four looked on course to survive after three birdies in an unblemished front nine.
But a double bogey at the 13th after he needed two attempts to get out of a greenside bunker halted his momentum.
His 71 left him on one over and proved two shots too many at Dundonald Links.
McIlroy, 28, also endured an early exit at last week's Irish Open at Portstewart where he was tournament host but he tried to remain positive after his latest disappointment.
"I'm frustrated but I thought I saw some good signs this week. My putting was definitely improved although my wedges were not quite there," said McIlroy, who did agree to do media interviews following Friday's round unlike on Thursday.
"I feel like it's close. I'm shooting in and around par. It's not like I'm shooting 76s or 77s."
Ireland's Padraig Harrington is sharing the lead after firing a 68 on Friday.
That left the three-time major winner on nine under along with England's Callum Shinkwin and Germany's Alexander Knappe.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell survived into the weekend after a birdie on the 18th help reach the cut mark.
The 2010 US Open champion battled valiantly to recover from his opening 75 after carding four birdies and no dropped shots in his opening 15 holes.
A bogey at the 16th dropped him back to level par before his crucial fifth birdie of the day at the last saw his carding a 68.
McDowell has not qualified for next week's Open and his final remaining hope of securing a place at Royal Birkdale is clinching one of the three spots available at Dundonald Links.
For those who have not already won a place in the major, three spots are up for grabs with a top-10 finish in Ayrshire.
Paul Dunne is also looking to secure an Open spot and a second-round 73 left him six behind the leaders. | Rory McIlroy's struggles continued in advance of next week's Open Championship as he missed a second straight cut at the Scottish Open. |
36454894 | Officers found the body of Peter Stuart in Weybread, near Diss, on Friday night, after he and his wife Sylvia were reported missing.
Suffolk Police said a 61-year-old man from Leicester was arrested by officers at 08:30 BST.
Police are still searching for 69-year-old Mrs Stuart.
Officers said the arrested man was taken from Leicester to Suffolk to be interviewed by detectives.
Search teams will continue their work in the vicinity of the couple's home at Mill Lane, and police said officers were also continuing their inquiries to determine exactly what occurred.
A post-mortem examination of the body, believed to be that of Mr Stuart, was due to be held on Sunday.
Det Ch Supt Simon Parkes said: "While we have made an arrest, our investigation continues.
"We are absolutely committed to finding Sylvia and this remains a priority for us. We would ask anyone who may have information that may help to come forward."
The Reverend Susan Loxton, rector of St Andrew in Weybread, held a special service at the church on Sunday morning.
"Prayers were said in the church for the family of the couple, for friends and neighbours, and for the police," she said.
"In these rural villages there is little crime so when something like this happens there is shock. We did not think something like this happens here."
Det Ch Supt Parkes said: "We are still exploring the possibilities. We hope to find Mrs Stuart alive, but we can't dismiss the possibility we will find her dead. The post mortem [of Mr Stuart's body] is ongoing." | Police investigating the death of a 75-year-old man whose body was found in woodland near his home, have arrested a man on suspicion of murder. |
35340025 | Hundreds of fans packed out Islington's Grade I-listed Union Chapel to pay homage to the 69-year-old musician who died of cancer on 10 January.
The service saw an eclectic mix of artists, including the Magic Numbers and ex-Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, perform the star's music.
Bowie's death was confirmed two days after he released his album Blackstar.
Since then, tribute concerts have taken place around the globe and scores of his hits have re-entered the UK charts.
Fans filled the small north London chapel as Bowie's best-known tunes, played by an organ, echoed around the hall.
A huge screen showed images of the star in his many guises, before the part gig, part remembrance service kicked off with a rousing mass sing-along of Starman.
Maggi Ronson, sister of late Bowie guitarist and collaborator Mick Ronson, was joined by The Featherz to sing Ziggy Stardust, paying tribute to Bowie's "massive influence".
Guy Pratt, a former bass player for Pink Floyd and Roxy Music, told the audience that Bowie was the "greatest artist I've known in my lifetime", before performing Life on Mars with members of The Feeling.
The gig, streamed live on YouTube, saw a marathon five hours of Bowie's hits performed, interspersed with clips of the star's interviews and music videos, and readings and tributes by journalists, authors and those who worked with him.
There were Bowie-esque quirky moments too, as Where Are We Now? was performed on a saw and Wild Is the Wind was strummed on the harp.
Flowers and candles adorned the dimly-lit, smoky hall, which is a working church and music and comedy venue.
At the back, a wall of remembrance saw fans, many sporting Bowie's trademark Aladdin Sane lightning bolt, post personal tributes and messages.
One said: "Thank you for giving my son the freedom to be himself." Another: "RIP David, the soundtrack to my life."
One read: "You left amazing music with us forever and you will always be remembered."
Comedian David Baddiel told the audience: "I assumed Bowie was immortal. I thought he was a space god who had come to live amongst us. And I couldn't process that he had died...
"He is, was, the greatest tunesmith we have."
Organisers said the event was a chance for those who were "inspired, influenced or touched" by Bowie's work to pay tribute.
One, Neil Lindsay, said it was "for fans by fans".
"He's been around all our lives but he's still as relevant and interesting now. You can't say that about all artists who become legends," said Mr Lindsay.
"He was still innovating even in the way he said goodbye."
Tickets had been priced at £4 to cover the show's costs, organisers said, while a collection for MacMillan Cancer Support raised more than £2,000. | The life of David Bowie has been celebrated with a tribute concert at a London chapel. |
27472477 | One woman is in tears as she is about to be forcibly relocated from this slum due to redevelopment. She says that her new home is two hours away and would be too far for her to go to work. She is worried that the government won't provide help to re-establish her family's lives.
People like her encapsulate the uneven progress of the Philippines' economy.
The Philippines is projected to be the fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia and the second fastest in Asia after China.
GDP growth last year reached 7.2%. Together with 2012 growth at 6.8%, it was the fastest two-year growth period since the 1950s.
It may be surprising to hear this six months after one of the worst typhoons to hit the country, but greater government spending and capital investment to rebuild can have that impact.
The regions hit by Typhoon Haiyan account for less than one-fifth of GDP or national output, and are primarily agricultural.
So the initial impact is negative for GDP in the first half of the year, but its reconstruction will boost growth such that the second half growth should pick up to an estimated 6.5%.
For instance, the government plans to spend 3.5% of GDP on rebuilding, with the aim of offsetting the impact of the typhoon which is estimated to cut 2014 growth by one percentage point.
The recovery is also due to the progress that the country had made in terms of developing industrial capacity and infrastructure.
Last year, the Philippines joined the ranks of investment-grade countries for the first time as all three major credit rating companies raised its sovereign debt out of junk category.
The potential to transform from the "sick man of Asia" into one of the New Tiger economies has been there for some time. Manila post-independence was viewed as one of the most promising cities in the region.
It is a reference to the next generation, following the rapid rise of the original Tiger economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore whose transformative growth rates from the mid 1960s to the 1990s spawned the term the "East Asian Miracle."
But the Philippines lagged those neighbours that practised export-led growth.
It's one of the reasons why the Philippines is still just at the cusp of being a middle-income country. Also, key sectors are closed to competition and plagued by corruption.
The Philippines ranks among the worst countries by the World Bank in terms of starting a business.
Allegedly tired of the country's label as the "sick man," President Aquino has focused on economic reforms since he took office in 2010.
But, there are worrying signs that the strong growth in the past few years is also due to the cheap money that has been injected by Western central banks since the global financial crisis. The stock market has not only hit record highs, but has tripled in value since 2009.
Also, consumption and construction - both of which are affected by cheap credit are notable growth drivers. For instance, the Philippines has nine of the world's 38 largest shopping malls, more than even the US or China, according to the business publication Forbes.
When the era of cheap money ends, there are risks that I have written about, particularly for emerging economies.
The country is also very dependent on remittances, which account for a staggering 10% of GDP. The high level is due to one out of 10 Filipinos working abroad, though recently there are some signs that is changing with more returnees.
Worryingly, economic growth hasn't yet translated into enough jobs for those whose homes are still in make-shift shantytowns. I am told that they want jobs -not hand-outs.
These slum dwellers make their living through scavenging - collecting rubbish that is sold to recycling plants. I am told that the Filipino term for this type of garbage is commodity, so they call themselves "commodity traders". It's not quite the typical image of a commodity trader.
The Philippines' economy has significant potential and has begun to realise some of it; but there is still much more to be done not just for the economy but for its people.
Catch Talking Business with Linda Yueh from Manila from 25 May and the rest of the Philippines Direct season from today until May 30: bbc.com/philippinesdirect. | In a shantytown on the outskirts of Manila, I met a group of women who had moved from typhoon-devastated Tacloban in search of better lives. |
37603668 | Buttler fell lbw to Taskin Ahmed for 57 to leave England 123-7, chasing 239.
"You don't have to run up to a guy. I'm disappointed to get out, but emotions were running high," said Buttler.
"I was a little bit disappointed in the fashion they celebrated. Mainly the way they celebrated by running towards me and giving me a bit of a send-off."
The umpires intervened in the confrontation which followed the dismissal as several fielders approached Buttler.
He added: "They were obviously delighted to get the wicket. Maybe I should have just walked away."
That animosity then appeared to spill over after the match, with vice-captain Ben Stokes seeming to confront Tigers opener Tamim Iqbal as other players shook hands.
Stokes later tweeted: "Congrats to Bangladesh on the win tonight, outplayed us, What I won't stand for is someone putting a shoulder to my team-mate at handshakes."
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who earned the man-of-the-match award for taking 4-29, said both sets of players needed to show self-restraint.
"Sometimes, a lot of things happen in the heat of the moment. But players from both sides should control themselves," he said.
The two sides meet in a third and series-deciding match in Chittagong on Wednesday. | Skipper Jos Buttler was "disappointed" by Bangladesh's pointed celebrations of his dismissal in England's 34-run defeat in Dhaka on Sunday. |
30942350 | The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association says snooker should be accepted because of its worldwide appeal.
Chairman Jason Ferguson said: "It has been our belief for some time that we should be given our chance on the ultimate global platform for sport."
Tokyo can accept at least one new sport to its Olympic programme.
The International Olympic Committee recently changed its rules to allow new sports to enter the Games more easily to freshen up the programme.
The approved list of sports has already been agreed and any late inclusion would have to be preceded by a request from the organisers.
Ferguson added: "Snooker alone is watched by nearly half a billion people worldwide and played competitively in over 90 countries."
Baseball and softball are seen as favourites to be named for inclusion due to the sports' popularity in Japan.
The last sports to be admitted to the Olympics were golf and rugby sevens, which will be part of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. | The world governing body of snooker has submitted a bid to have the sport included at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. |
35244217 | Five other routes, which have yet to be announced, will follow in October.
Belfast International Airport has described the announcement as "significant and far reaching".
Ryanair said the move represents a multi-million pounds commitment and will support hundreds of jobs in the local community.
Belfast International Airport has been eyeing up Ryanair ever since the airline quit George Best Belfast City Airport in 2010 over delays in a proposal to extend the runway.
But what has paved the way for the new base is Ryanair obtaining landing slots for Belfast flights at Gatwick, currently run by Aer Lingus, another Irish airline.
Aer Lingus is giving them up in March as part of a condition of its takeover by International Airlines Group last year.
The four-times daily Gatwick service will maintain the slots given up by Aer Lingus as part of the IAG takeover of that airline.
Graham Keddie, Belfast International Airport's managing director, said the four flights to Gatwick each day would "have a dramatic effect on our business".
But he criticised the Northern Ireland Executive, saying that bringing Ryanair to the airport had been achieved "against the drag of the regressive air passenger duty (APD)", a tax on short-haul flights.
"Just think what we could do if our Stormont administration bought into our vision for in-bound tourism growth, new routes and thousands of jobs," he added.
Ryanair currently operates a limited timetable from City of Derry Airport.
The airline has confirmed it has axed its summer service from that airport to Alicante.
It said the route "did not meet load factors" but that it would be increasing its flights from City of Derry airport to Faro.
The only route Ryanair unveiled on Thursday was Belfast to Gatwick, but others are understood to be close to finalisation.
Obtaining routes to Germany in particular are seen as high priorities for tourism and the wider economy.
Ryanair's chief commercial officer David O'Brien said the airline would make its decisions on destinations on a commercial basis.
"We are hopeful that we can introduce some new European routes of a business nature and some sunshine routes at much-needed lower fares," he said.
"But it will largely depend on the cost base available and it is fair to say the APD, that tax disadvantage, limits those opportunities."
Belfast International Airport handled 4.4 million passengers in 2015.
Both it and Belfast City Airport have been losing to Dublin Airport, which is breaking passenger records, helped by the Republic of Ireland's abolition of APD.
A move to reduce or abolish APD has previously been ruled out by Stormont because the tax revenue lost to the Treasury, which would amount to tens of millions of pounds, would have to be cut from the block grant provided by Westminster.
In a statement, Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell made no reference to APD but said he was taking a "keen interest in how we can maximise" the investment by Ryanair and Belfast International Airport.
However, Mr Bell added that he was close to making a final decision on whether to finance a new air route development fund.
Previously, grants of public money have assisted the start-up of services to the likes of New York. | Irish airline Ryanair is to begin operating a new base at Belfast International Airport from March with flights to London's Gatwick Airport. |
37305190 | NUS Wales is running the scheme so students can report incidents.
Alcohol education charity, Drinkaware, says more than half of all of 18-24 year-old female students had experienced this kind of abuse.
It tops the list of risks for female students on a night out, coming ahead of having an accident, or passing out.
Ellen Jones, women's officer at NUS Wales, said she aims to hold "bystander workshops" in every student union in Wales.
She added: "It is a massive issue. People are leaving home for the first [time], and they get very excited and drunk.
"It's quite normalised. Girls expect to go out and receive this kind of behaviour from men. People get into this pack culture.
"Stand up to your friends and say 'that's not just banter, that's wrong'.
All three of the capital's universities - Cardiff University, University of South Wales, and Cardiff Metropolitan University - now have a Safe Taxi Scheme.
If a student is vulnerable and alone with no money at the end of the night, there's an agreement with Dragon Taxis that the student union pays for their ride home.
Last year, NUS Wales ran "I love consent" workshops, raising awareness of sexual consent, while Cardiff University ran a campaign to combat "lad culture".
Ben Butler from Drinkaware said: "Young people shouldn't have to put up with sexual harassment as part of a night out.
"Touching another person in a sexual way without their consent is legally defined as sexual assault." | Volunteers are to patrol Cardiff nightclubs over fresher's week to help female students who experience sexual harassment. |
37332376 | Three fire engines were sent to Spring Street, in Connah's Quay, to tackle the blaze in the early hours.
The cause of the fire, which spread to the nearby caravans, is not yet known, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said.
No-one was injured. | A number of caravans have been damaged by a large tyre fire in Flintshire. |
19391468 | They are trying to prevent the country's only coal mine from being shut down, leaving them without jobs.
The miners occupied the Carbosulcis mine on Monday and are now holed up some 400m underground.
They plan to stay there until meeting with the government to discuss the mine's future is held.
"I think anyone would protest like us, anyone who is losing their job is prepared to do anything," one miner told reporters.
"It's really serious, everything is closing in this country - it feels like the end of the world."
According to reports, the miners want the pit to be diversified into a combined mining and carbon capture site.
State funding is potentially available for carbon capture - a process of storing polluting emissions underground to help prevent global warming.
The miners have mounted similar protests during labour disputes in the past. In 1995 they occupied the pit for 100 days. | About 100 protesting miners on the Italian island of Sardinia have barricaded themselves in a pit, with hundreds of kilograms of explosives. |
29753347 | Zale Thompson, 32, was shot dead after wounding the two officers, one critically, in Queens on Thursday.
Commissioner William Bratton said Thompson was not on any watch lists but had browsed al-Qaeda web sites and watched beheadings.
A bystander shot in the incident is critical but stable in hospital.
Witnesses said the man deliberately targeted the foot-patrol officers, charging them and then swinging the axe two-handed,
One officer, Kenneth Healy, 25, was hit on the head and was listed as critical but stable in hospital. The other officer was hit on the arm.
The officers fired several rounds, killing the attacker and wounding a female bystander, police said.
Commissioner Bratton said the whole incident took just seven seconds and praised the "extraordinary bravery and skill" of the officers involved.
He said of the attacker: "We believe that he acted alone, that we would describe him as self-radicalised."
Mr Bratton said Thompson's father had said his son had "spent extensive amounts of time by himself in his bedroom and by all accounts, was a true proverbial loner".
Thompson had served in the US Navy.
In recent social media postings, he spoke of injustices in US society and abroad, but did not indicate any affiliation with a terrorist group. | Police in New York say an axe attack on two officers was a terrorist act carried out by a radicalised Muslim convert. |
40522123 | Davies, 29, will start his sixth successive Lions Test in the series decider against the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday.
The centre also played in three Test matches against Australia four years ago when the tourist won 2-1.
"He has been a rock in that backline," said Roberts, a 2009 and 2013 Lion.
Roberts and Davies featured together in the decisive third Test victory over Australia in 2013, and have started 47 matches together for Wales.
"He has been the outstanding outside centre in Britain over the last four years and has come of age," said 30-year-old Roberts.
"He has shown in the Test matches how good a player he is. He has a great hand-off and has been superb defensively."
The Lions changed their midfield after the first Test defeat in Auckland, with Owen Farrell's creativity preferred to the more direct approach of Ben Te'o at inside centre.
The back three selection has also been discussed widely before the Lions settled on Liam Williams at full-back, with Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson on each wing.
But Roberts believes Davies has been the one constant, just as he was in Australia four years ago when he started the first two Tests with Brian O'Driscoll before linking up with Roberts for the final game.
"There has been a lot of debate around the 10/12 position and the back three," said Roberts.
"But Jon has set his stall out at 13 after getting concussed in the first game. Since then he has been outstanding."
Davies is not the only Welsh player to achieve a notable milestone on this Lions tour.
Second-row Alun-Wyn Jones will also become the first player to feature in every Test on three consecutive Lions tours since the game turned professional in 1995.
"They are both very special," said Roberts, who has three Lions Test appearances and 93 caps for Wales.
"For us as players the Lions is an amazing achievement in our careers.
"I am sure those guys won't be celebrating those achievements too hard ahead of Saturday or before the end of their careers when they look back and reflect.
"They are two very humble guys who work very hard at their jobs.
"Alun-Wyn is a magnificent player and a real leader. Nobody is more deserving of a start on Saturday."
Roberts believes a Lions Test series victory over New Zealand would be an "incredible" achievement.
Warren Gatland's side took the series to a deciding Test by beating the All Blacks in Wellington last Saturday, and another victory will make them the first Lions side to win a series in New Zealand since 1971.
But the All Blacks have not lost twice in a row at home since 1998 and have not been beaten at Eden Park since France won in 23 years ago.
"If they do win it will be one of the greatest Lions achievements ever, but there won't be too much talk of that in camp," added Roberts.
"It's a similar position to four years ago although the sequence on Test wins has changed.
"Everyone knows how big the game is, it's all about staying focused.
"You have to try and eliminate the occasion and the crowd and focus on 80 minutes of a brutal Test match. And it will be brutal.
"They are playing the All Blacks at Eden Park and they know how big a challenge that is with no team winning there in a long time."
Roberts says the Lions have shown they have the character to triumph.
"It's going to be a huge test of resilience and that's what I have admired about this Lions side," said Roberts.
"In that second Test when the penalty count was coming against them hard, they played some shots in attack, showed some courage and scored some good tries. It was magnificent.
"Knowing when to pull the trigger and choosing to attack has been the cornerstone of their success.
"In the pressure games they have been magnificent. Their defence has been great.
"If they can maintain this and take some risks in attack hopefully we can see another win on Saturday." | Jamie Roberts has praised the British and Irish Lions centre "rock" Jonathan Davies as the tourists aim for a Test series victory in New Zealand. |
37112831 | The Irishman, 71, was taken to hospital following his arrest, after requesting medical attention.
Brazilian police claim he was involved in a scheme to resell Olympic tickets at higher than their face value.
They said the scheme could have had profits of 10m reals (£2.4m; $3.1m).
Mr Hickey will be replaced as president of the European Olympic Committees - the body which brings together the 50 national committees across the continent - by his deputy Janez Kocijancic.
The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said in a statement that Mr Hickey was stepping aside "until this matter is fully resolved" and would continue to co-operate and assist with all inquiries.
Acting OCI President William O'Brien said the council would "defend ourselves to the hilt" after the arrest of Mr Hickey.
However, a member of the DaÃl (Irish parliament) said Mr Hickey's decision to step down temporarily was not enough and called on the OCI president to resign.
Noel Rock from the ruling Fine Gael party told the BBC that, before his arrest, Mr Hickey had "stonewalled" questions asked of him by the Irish sports minister.
"He refused to answer straightforward, basic questions which were perfectly reasonable for the minister, who after all is responsible for the funding of the Olympic Council [of Ireland] to be asking of him," Mr Rock said.
"He also refused to have any kind of independent presence into any inquiry that may have taken place into the Olympic Council, into its corporate governance and into its commercial dealings, and that simply isn't good enough," he added.
Mr Hickey, a former judoka, has been a member of the 15-strong executive board of the International Olympic Committee since 2012, making him a prime mover in the world of international sports.
Who is Pat Hickey?
Brazilian police said that when officers went to Mr Hickey's hotel room on Wednesday morning, they found his wife there with his Olympic credentials.
Mrs Hickey told them her husband had left Rio de Janeiro for Ireland at the weekend, they said.
"We noticed that there was another room in the hotel under his son's name, so we went to that room and we found Hickey by himself," Detective Ronaldo Oliveira told a press conference.
"There wasn't much in that room, not even any of his clothes. He was in his bathrobe."
Speaking later on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, Mr O'Brien said: "His medical condition has been checked. He is stable at the moment and it will be monitored over the next 24 hours."
Police said the arrest was related to that of fellow Irishman Kevin James Mallon on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony.
More than 700 tickets organised in envelopes clearly marked for sale were found in a safe with Mr Mallon, Detective Ricardo Barbosa told the BBC.
Police had evidence of a plan to sell tickets "illegally masked as hospitality packages," Mr Barbosa said.
Irish broadcaster RTE reports that Mr Hickey faces three potential charges: facilitating ticket touting, forming a cartel, and "ambush" or illicit marketing.
In an interview with RTE last week, Mr Hickey denied any wrongdoing in relation to ticket sales.
Ireland's sports minister is returning to Dublin from Rio for crisis talks.
Mr Mallon, who has been in custody since his arrest on 5 August, is a director of THG Sports, a British corporate and sports hospitality company owned by Ipswich Town Football Club owner Marcus Evans.
THG Sports rejects the allegations, saying Mr Mallon had not sold or sought to sell tickets but had been holding them for collection by clients of the authorised Irish ticket reseller, Pro 10 Management.
Pro 10 Management also denies any wrongdoing, saying in a statement released on 12 August that it had always acted properly and fully in line with the guidelines.
THG Sports was an authorised ticket reseller for Ireland, Greece and Malta at the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Olympic Games.
Mr Hickey's son Stephen worked for the company in 2012.
Detective Barbosa told the BBC that investigators believed "Pro 10 was created as a means for acquiring tickets to be resold by THG" as the Irish Olympic Committee had wanted THG to sell tickets for Rio 2016, he alleged.
On Monday Brazilian authorities issued arrest warrants for four people connected to THG, including Marcus Evans, the British multi-millionaire who owns THG Sports' parent company and Ipswich Town Football Club.
A further three arrest warrants were issued on Wednesday for directors of Pro 10 Management, Brazilian police said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would co-operate with any police investigation and stressed that Mr Hickey should be presumed innocent until proved otherwise. | Pat Hickey, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee, has temporarily stood down from all his roles after his arrest in Rio over allegations of illegal ticket sales. |
18727131 | Radio listeners rely on a range of commercial outlets, most of them networked nationwide. Privately-owned TV stations are on the air and cable TV is available in the towns.
The constitution guarantees media freedom, but provides exceptions in the interest of national security, public order and morality.
There were 74,700 internet users by June 2012 (Internetworldstats). There are no official curbs, but internet use is low because of a lack of infrastructure and high costs, says US-based Freedom House. Facebook is the main social media platform. | Belize has no daily newspapers; some weeklies are subsidised by political parties. |
40866953 | Abdul Wahab Hafidah, 18, was kicked, stabbed and hit with a hammer after a rush-hour chase through Manchester on 12 May 2016.
A post-mortem examination found he died from two stab wounds to the neck and also had head injuries.
Seven were found guilty of murder in two trials, three of manslaughter and one admitted manslaughter.
The 10 men and one boy will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on 14 and 15 September.
Remekell Samuels, 19, of Caythorpe Street, Manchester, admitted manslaughter.
Greater Manchester Police said Mr Hafidah was chased from Princess Parkway and onto Moss Lane East in Moss Side at about 17:15 BST.
Exhausted after a "considerable" chase he was knocked down by Williams who was driving a Vauxhall Corsa before the pack carried out an assault on him.
His family said their "loving son, brother and uncle" was "hunted down, attacked and ripped away from our lives".
Alan Richardson, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "This was a vicious and sustained attack on an 18-year-old man on a busy street in the middle of the rush hour.
"Abdul Wahab Hafidah was completely outnumbered by the defendants and had no possibility of defending himself. | Gang members who chased, beat and killed a man after he strayed into their "territory" have been convicted. |
40610383 | That's 19% - nearly one in five. But when you look at the figures for UK sports coaches, provided by UK Coaching, the percentage who are disabled drops to 6%. And the number who have gained a qualification in sports coaching since 2009 is only 2%.
So how can these discrepancies be addressed? BBC Get Inspired asked three advocates of disability sports coaching what progress has been made and what still needs to be done.
Based at Basildon Sporting Village in Essex, Jack Edgar is the head coach of Sport for Confidence, an organisation that offers sports coaching to people with mental illness, and physical and learning disabilities. It also integrates the work of healthcare professionals into the sport and leisure industry, as Jack explains...
"When I was 18, I was working as a multi-sports coach and was given the chance to work with occupational therapist Lyndsey Barrett.
"That was the beginning of Sport for Confidence and now I run the sessions as a coach, supported by health professionals and working to help our clients develop a range of skills, both physical and social.
"We're making huge strides, bringing together professionals from health, sport and leisure. One participant is a young lady called Donna Robinson, who has cerebral palsy.
"Two years ago, Donna was attending our sessions as a participant and showed interest in becoming a coach or volunteer. In response to her enthusiasm, we created a sports programme called Pathway to Coaching, helping people with disability, like Donna, to achieve their coaching goals.
"We run several boccia sessions a week. Donna completed her Pathway to Coaching course and a boccia leader's course. Now she is on board as a member of the coaching staff.
"We're working hard to attract more leisure operator partners so we can take this model to new parts of the community. We also work with leisure centres to train staff and help them become more disability friendly.
"When some of our participants first attend, they're too anxious even to come into the hall. But we're seeing a huge difference in people. It's a big team effort but it really works."
For more details on the Pathway to Coaching programme, email [email protected] or follow @sportforconf on Twitter.
Most people want to relax after a hard day at work, but not Bisi Imafidon. Bisi, 50, is a school manager in Newham, but also coaches running, basketball, goalball, boccia, swimming and more...
"When I was growing up I had no interest in sport or PE and only got into keeping fit after I had children. I joined my local running club, which was all volunteers. At the time I was working in a bank but was made redundant and it was a 'now or never' moment.
"In 2009 I took my level one coaching qualification in running and it just built from there. I was putting on sessions and got lots of encouragement and good feedback from the members.
"I knew how welcome the coaches had made me feel, never having done any running before. So it was really giving back.
"My specialism in disability coaching has always been mental health and I have quite a lot of people who have had issues with mental health and the effects of medication.
"I know what impact being active has made on my life and those of the people I've met. And you don't have to be sporty.
"One thing I do a lot is hula-hooping because it's active but it's a really good way to bridge the gap between sport and non-sport, disability and non-disability.
"That sends a really powerful message that you have those different groups working and playing together side by side."
Discover more about Bisi's running club - East End Road Runners - here, and follow Bisi on Twitter here.
Anna Jackson played 70 times for the GB wheelchair basketball team before retiring from elite competition in 2008. She has since dedicated herself to coaching the next generation of players - and up-and-coming coaches - from her base at Cheshire Phoenix Basketball Club in Ellesmere Port. This is her coaching story...
"I was a hockey player and tennis player and always enjoyed helping other people learn to play. Then I started having problems with my knees and had to give up sport on foot but discovered wheelchair basketball.
"Almost right away I put the coaching skills I had learned from other sports into wheelchair basketball. So for me it was always a natural progression.
"Wheelchair basketball changed my life and I probably wouldn't be here if I hadn't discovered that sport. If I can give a taste of that to other people, that would be amazing.
"Perceptions of disability sport are changing. I first noticed that in Sydney in 2000 at the Paralympics. For them it was just about sport. It's starting to happen over here, but I think that Australian attitude was the catalyst.
"Now it's about finding the sports coaches out there who have disabilities and telling people about them. I'm a tutor for British Wheelchair Basketball and giving all my players aged over 14 the chance to do a leadership course - right from youngsters with quite severe physical disabilities to a older players who have additional needs because of autism and ADHD.
"I want them to succeed and get that qualification and I'm in a place to help them do just that."
Find out more about Anna's club Cheshire Phoenix here, or find a club near you here.
Use our inclusive Get Inspired guides to find out more about disability sport,coaching and volunteering. And discover more about the work UK Coaching does here. | You may be surprised to learn that as many as 6.9 million people of working age in the UK have a disability. |
39441117 | Amanda Clark, 42, who has served with the Royal Logistics Corps for 22 years, is the newest Yeoman of the Guard.
The Burnley-born soldier said: "It didn't really hit me until the first time I wore the uniform and realised I am now part of the Tower's history."
The first female Beefeater was Moira Cameron, from Argyll, in 2007.
Warrant Officer Clark said: "Waking up at the Tower of London is magical. Every morning I wake up and the Tower looks so peaceful."
She added: "I can't stop smiling."
The Yeoman Warders are descended from the ancient band of warders who guarded the gates and royal prisoners early in the Tower's history.
Their modern duties mix a traditional ceremonial role with leading tours for visitors.
They are still extraordinary members of the Queen's bodyguard and, to qualify, applicants must have served at least 22 years in the armed forces, hold the long service and good conduct medal and reached the level of Warrant Officer. | A Lancashire soldier has become the first woman in 10 years - and only the second in history - to be made a Beefeater at the Tower of London. |
40092961 | The 6ft 8in forward was a four-time BBL title-winner, helping Leicester Riders to the BBL championship, play-offs and Trophy treble this season.
Sullivan also played for Newcastle Eagles, Mersey Tigers and London Lions and led Team GB at London 2012.
"It is bittersweet. I enjoy playing for this club but it has to happen at some stage," he told the Riders' website.
Twice named the BBL's Most Valuable Player, Sullivan also won 100 caps for Great Britain before bowing out of international duty in July 2016.
"The time is right and I look forward to starting the next chapter of my life," said Sullivan, who operates a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club.
"I have been playing basketball for over two decades. I have had an amazing time representing my county, some amazing clubs and playing here [Leicester] for five seasons.
"Representing Great Britain at the Olympics and playing in London, a stone's throw from where I grew up with family and friends able to watch me play, and winning the first league title here in Leicester, those are the kind of moments I am going to take away."
Sullivan moved to the United States in 1996, where he played college and university basketball, before joining BBL side Newcastle Eagles in 2004.
He capped a highly successful two-year spell by helping Eagles win a clean sweep of the four domestic trophies in 2005-06, when he was also named BBL player of the year.
After that, Sullivan played for Spanish club Joventut Badalona, Dexia Mons-Hainaut in Belgium, Russian side CSK VVS Samara and Apollon in Cyprus.
He then returned to England for brief stints with Newcastle and Mersey Tigers, before joining Leicester in 2011.
Sullivan was part of the Riders roster that completed the treble in 2012-13, a feat repeated earlier this month in his second spell at the club, after a year with London Lions.
Internationally, Sullivan represented Britain at three EuroBasket competitions and was part of the England team that won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
He then captained the British team at the London Olympics, but they were eliminated at the group stage and failed to qualify for Rio 2016. | Former Great Britain captain Drew Sullivan has announced his retirement from basketball at the age of 37. |
36664622 | "Isolationism cannot bring prosperity to a society," said Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Nieto's remarks came at the end of the Three Amigos Summit with US President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.
The three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together.
And they pledged to produce 50% of their countries' electricity from clean energy by 2025.
The show of unity comes at a time when questions are being asked of trade agreements.
British voters have opted to leave the European Union and US presidential candidate Donald Trump has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
Mr Obama said at the summit in Ottawa that he will keep working for a trans-Pacific trade deal.
That agreement is currently stuck in the US Congress and is opposed by both Republican Mr Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
The US president said countries must not shut themselves off from the world and should instead strive towards an integrated economy and ways to raise standards for workers and the environment.
Mr Trudeau opened the conference by poking fun at President Barack Obama's impending retirement, to which Obama smiled and gave a thumbs up.
The three nations, which belong to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said a more integrated, united North America was vital to the both countries' and the global economies.
"We will build upon this strong trilateral economic relationship, and further facilitate trade among our three countries, and improve the networks that allow us to produce products and services together," the leaders said in a statement.
As the rest of the world shrugs its shoulders at the unravelling of the EU-UK partnership, North American leaders are gathering to promote the strength of theirs. The summit is dubbed the "Three Amigos", but the friendship between the three hasn't always been as tight as that name suggests.
Canada's former Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn't see eye to eye with President Obama on a range of issues including climate change and the Keystone Pipeline, and both the US and Canada have had tensions with Mexico over immigration.
After a day of meetings with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday, Justin Trudeau pledged to lift visa restrictions for Mexicans - in turn Mexico promised to lift a ban on beef exports - as a way to strength ties.
But as President Obama prepares to exit the White House, the balance of this trinity of leaders is sure to change, whether it's Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the White House.
"Better partnerships are a path to prosperity," Mr Trudeau said, ahead of the talks.
"And that's a compelling example that we want to showcase at a time where unfortunately people are prone to turning inwards, which will be at the cost of economic growth and their own success."
Tensions are mounting over the benefits of globalisation following the referendum in the UK, where many who voted to leave the EU expressed concern over border control and jobs.
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has echoed similar sentiment, saying free trade has cost thousands of American jobs.
Mr Obama and Mr Trudeau are also expected to discuss international peacekeeping efforts in their bilateral talks behind closed doors, according to Canadian media.
Mr Obama will also address Parliament after the meeting.
It was announced this week that Mr Trudeau will appear as a cartoon character on the cover of an issue of Marvel in August. | Canada, the US and Mexico vowed to strengthen economic ties in the wake of the UK's decision to leave the EU and growing anti-globalisation sentiment. |
38712109 | The body of Ms Downey, 51, was discovered in a house in the Toberhewney Hall area at about 02:50 GMT on Friday.
The man who has been charged is due to appear at Lisburn Magistrates' Court on Monday.
All charges are reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.
PSNI Inspector David McGrory said enquiries into the murder were continuing and asked the public for their assistance in locating a mobile phone which he believes "has been missing somewhere in the Lurgan area since around 9pm on the evening of Thursday 19th January".
He asked anyone finding a phone in the Lurgan area to contact detectives at the incident room in Mahon Road station. | A 51-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Anita Downey in Lurgan, County Armagh. |
35753351 | 8 March 2016 Last updated at 17:50 GMT
"I love the fact I can interact with people from different fields, like physics and computer science," Ms Itunuoluwa Akinwande says about her placement studying graph theory.
"What is in your brain" is what counts when competing with male scientists, she adds.
The Nigerian mathematician spoke to the BBC ahead of the Next Einstein Forum, which is under way in Senegal and brings together key figures in science, policy, industry and society in Africa. | Grace Itunuoluwa Akinwande, from Nigeria, is doing a master's degree in mathematics at the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Senegal - one of 12 female scientists in a group of 54. |
11440701 | Orbital Technologies says its "comfortable" four-room guest house could be in orbit by 2016, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reports.
Guests would be ferried to the hotel on a Soyuz shuttle of the type used to transport cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Moscow-based firm did not reveal how the hotel would be built or funded.
Up until now space tourists, such as American businessman Dennis Tito, have squeezed into the cramped ISS, alongside astronauts and their experiments.
The new hotel would offer greater comforts, according to Sergei Kostenko, chief executive of Orbital Technologies.
"Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes," he told RIA Novosti.
The hotel would be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space, Mr Kostenko said.
It would follow the same orbit as the International Space Station.
The first module would have four cabins, designed for up to seven passengers, who would be packed into a space of 20 cubic metres (706 cubic feet).
Mr Kostenko did not reveal the price of staying in the hotel.
However he did say that food would be suited to individual preferences, and that organisers were thinking of employing celebrity chefs to cook the meals before they were sent into space.
It is not clear how the "cosmic hotel" would be built, but the company's website names Energia, Russia's state-controlled spacecraft manufacturer, as the project's general contractor.
Energia builds the Soyuz capsules and Progress cargo ships which deliver crew and supplies to the ISS.
Mr Kostenko said that "a number of agreements on partnership have already been signed" with Energia and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).
The project has Russian and American investors willing to inject hundreds of millions of dollars, he added.
Alexey Krasnov, head of manned space missions at Roscosmos, told the Associated Press news agency the proposed hotel could provide a temporary haven for the crew of the ISS, in case of an emergency.
However, doubts about the project were raised by Jim Oberg, a Houston-based space consultant and expert on the Russian space program.
"Why Russia would spend the required funds is a compelling question that has significant implications for its future commitment to the ISS," he told AP.
This latest plan is not the first time a space hotel has been mooted.
In 2009 the Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort said their orbiting hotel was on target to accept its first paying guests by 2012.
In 2007, Genesis II, an experimental spacecraft designed to test the viability of a space hotel, was successfully sent into orbit by Bigelow Aerospace, a private company founded by an American hotel tycoon. | A Russian company has unveiled an ambitious plan to launch a "cosmic hotel" for wealthy space tourists. |
21275432 | It says it will create a new public body that will hold in trust the nation's forests for future generations.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was responding to a report that called the estate a "national asset" that should not be sold off.
He also announced that the policy of selling off 15% of the estate to cover costs would be rescinded.
Mr Paterson gave few details of the new, independent body that would own, maintain and safeguard the public forest estate except that it would be set up in the longer term.
"The new body will have greater independence from Government and greater freedom to manage its resources and maximise its income but with the right safeguards in place to operate for the long-term benefit of people, nature and the economy," he said.
The Independent Panel on Forestry (IPF) was established in March 2011 after a ministerial U-turn on plans to dispose of a chunk of its woodlands.
The Rt Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool and who chaired the Panel, welcomed the government's response saying it was an "unequivocal endorsement" of the IPF's recommendations.
"I welcome the rescinding of the policy for disposal of 15% of the estate. This is a recognition that the public benefits that flow from forests and woodlands have a legitimate claim on the public purse," he said.
Hen Anderson, co-founder of campaign group Save Our Woods also welcomed the government's response, recognising that it was a vindication of the 500,000 who signed an online petition against the proposal to sell the estate.
"Very positive - an exciting result for us. Two years ago they were flogging off the lot, but a half a million people kicked them in the pants, amazing result."
The IPF also recommended that woodland cover should increase from 10% to 15% by 2060. But the government says it will only increase this to 12%.
However the government is increasing the amount of money that will be spent on forests, boosting the Forestry Commission's budget by £3.5m next year to make up for lost income from sales of woodland. They are also allocating £2m to recognise the additional pressures arising from the outbreak of Ash dieback disease.
This increased emphasis on protection was a concern for the Woodland Trust. A spokesperson said they were "broadly happy" with the government's approach but they were concerned that ministers were not putting enough emphasis on improvement and expansions in forestry.
"We need urgent clarification on the government's plans on the future of forest services," said the spokesperson.
Among the other recommendations in last year's IPF report:
There are in excess of 1,000 publicly owned forests in England, covering an estimated 258,000 hectares.
The Public Forest Estate (PFE) accounts for 18% of English woodlands, and covers about 9% of the nation - one of the lowest percentages in Europe.
The estate has been valued at about £700m and costs about £15m per year to manage, equivalent to about 30p per year per person in England. | The government has announced that it will not sell off publicly owned forests in England. |
36480251 | David Crozier, 68, was ordered not to contact the SNP Ochil and South Perthshire politician for five years.
He previously admitted sending messages containing offensive and abusive comments aggravated by religious prejudice.
Crozier, of Mossbank, was sentenced at Lerwick Sheriff Court.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told the court the only reason Crozier corresponded with the MP, a practising Muslim, in May last year was her faith.
The anonymous letters were passed onto police, who contacted the office of local MP Alistair Carmichael to see if they had received any correspondence from the man.
'Let off steam'
The Liberal Democrat's team recognised the handwriting, which led police to "serial corresponder" Crozier.
Crozier initially told police that he was "expressing an opinion and exercising his right to freedom of speech" in the letters.
The fiscal added that the MP was left fearful for her safety while attending public events after receiving the letters.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Crozier took to letter-writing to "let off steam" as he could not send emails or speak to friends in the pub.
Sheriff John Rafferty said that while Crozier had a right to express his opinions to politicians, his letters to Ahmed-Sheikh were "vile and gratuitously offensive" and had caused "considerable upset". | A Shetland pensioner who sent "vile and gratuitously offensive" letters to MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh about her faith has been fined £500. |
37043936 | The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said anecdotal reports suggested the EU Referendum result was a factor.
July's figures saw the sharpest fall in demand since August 2014.
As a result, the balance for newly agreed sales dropped to its lowest level in eight months.
Haverfordwest estate agent Paul Lucas said there was much uncertainty in the market and buyers had become very cautious, while property salesman David James, of Brecon, said sales had stood up after Brexit but that now the number of sales were down slightly.
RICS's chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: "The housing market is currently balancing a raft of somewhat mixed economic news alongside the latest policy measures announced by the Bank of England, which have already begun to lower cost of mortgage finance.
"Against this backdrop, it is not altogether surprising that near term activity measures remain relatively flat.
"However, the rebound in the key 12 month indicators in the July survey suggest that confidence remains more resilient than might have been anticipated."
Where can I afford to live? | Demand from homebuyers in Wales has fallen for the fourth month in a row but property prices are continuing to rise, latest figures have shown. |
35552721 | The Mid Norfolk MP and government minister George Freeman has taken the highly unusual, some are saying dramatic, step of writing to business leaders in Cambridgeshire appealing to them to lobby the county council there to join the Norfolk/Suffolk bid.
In his letter, he talks about the "massive potential" of the East of England: "I am concerned that if we don't capitalise on this potential and link Cambridge properly to its surrounding counties, this potential could be lost."
And just to pile on the pressure, he adds that the plans for a Cambridgeshire/Norfolk/Suffolk combined authority has the support of the chancellor, the local government secretary Greg Clark, local MPs and the man overseeing the government's devolution project, Lord Heseltine.
Suffolk and Norfolk county councils have been talking about taking more powers from Whitehall for the last year.
They want more control over things like transport, planning, health services and flood defences but ministers considered their bid too small.
They were advised to cast their net wider and invite Cambridgeshire to join them.
Last month, though, Cambridgeshire politely said no.
It would be interested in more closer working, it said, but didn't want to be part of a combined authority.
This has clearly frustrated MPs like George Freeman, who are great advocates of an "Eastern Powerhouse".
"We have in Cambridge a global growth city and yet within 40 minutes we've got pockets of real deprivation and that's because our infrastructure has not been planned strategically," he said.
"We've got to think much more strategically about our area. If we were more ambitious and worked together we could raise a lot of investment internationally for East Anglia."
We understand that Mr Freeman has been one of several MPs quietly lobbying behind the scenes for a joint Cambridgeshire/Norfolk/Suffolk bid.
Other key players, we are told, have been the Conservative West Suffolk MP Matthew Hancock and the Cambridge MP, Labour's Daniel Zeichner.
The rebuff from the Cambridgeshire side, including views from the County Council, the Greater Cambridgeshire and Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership and other public bodies, has clearly spurred them to take further action.
As well as Mr Freeman appealing to the local business community, we understand Lord Heseltine is to visit Cambridge for talks, possibly accompanied by Greg Clark.
And the group that represents businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, is also believed to be doing its own quiet lobbying.
"The pressure is building, you are going to see things happen soon," one senior minister has told us.
But the initial response from Cambridgeshire has been lukewarm.
"We are keen to listen and question them about what benefits we can achieve for the people of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough who we serve." said a spokesman for the county council.
"However, any devolution deal would require support from our partners and authorities."
A couple of business leaders in Cambridge have told us that they believe Norfolk and Suffolk are just trying to get a share of the city's economic magic, while Cambridgeshire is still trying to spread its money as far around the county as it can.
Devolution should be local decision-making, but Westminster seems to be behind this latest banging of heads. | The campaign for devolution for East Anglia has suddenly stepped up a gear. |
38897708 | With Newcastle leading 24-23 six minutes from time, Will Addison kicked his third penalty to secure victory.
Early tries from Falcons' Juan Pablo Socino and Goneva were cancelled out by Denny Solomona and Byron McGuigan scores as Sale led 18-12 at the break.
Fiji wing Goneva touched down twice again before Addison's winning kick.
Sale, who lost 10 straight games in all competitions from mid-November to mid-January, are now 11 points clear of bottom side Bristol - who they beat in their last league win on 30 October.
Goneva gave Sale a scare after Bryn Evans' try put the hosts 23-12 in front, as he showed all of his outstanding pace to race in from 60 metres before intercepting once again moments later to score in the left corner for his hat-trick.
The Fijian's third and Newcastle's fourth of the night, earned them a bonus point which moved them above Gloucester into eighth in the table.
But the Falcons could not hold on for their seventh Premiership win of the campaign.
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond:
"We stuck to our guns, we were always trying to play rugby, we went down the shortside and they got two interceptions, but we're not going to say anything bad about that.
"That's how we want to be playing. The scrum was good all night, it became dominant in the last 15 minutes and we got the penalty to win it.
"We've played well since Christmas if I'm honest. We lost to Bristol in a game we should never have lost and we were hard done by down in Harlequins."
Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards:
"We struggled to get into their half in the first half, even though we scored a couple of nice tries. In the second half we had a little bit more territory but we probably didn't play as well as we should have done.
"It wasn't just the discipline of giving penalties away at silly times, it's the discipline to get into your own shape, accurately execute things and with that we lacked that discipline to execute."
Sale: Haley; Solomona, James, Jennings, Addison (capt); MacGinty, Phillips; Harrison, Webber, Aulika, Evans, Mills, Neild, Lund, Ioane.
Replacements: B Curry, Flynn, Longbottom, Nott, Seymour, Stringer, Leota, McGuigan.
Newcastle: Tait; Agulla, Harris, Socino, Goneva; Hodgson, Takulua; Vickers, Lawson, Welsh, Green, Robinson, Wilson, Welch (capt), Fonua
Replacements: Cooper, Harris, Wilson, Olmstead, Latu, Egerton, Delany, Waldouck
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter. | Sale fought off a second-half fightback from Newcastle, led by Vereniki Goneva's hat-trick, to earn their first Premiership win since October. |
37963965 | James Comey's announcement of a new inquiry into her use of email while secretary of state shortly before election day had stopped her campaign's momentum, Mrs Clinton said.
The Democratic candidate was speaking to top party donors in a phone call, which was leaked to the media.
Protests are continuing against the victory of her rival, Donald Trump.
In New York, about 2,000 marchers headed for the skyscraper where the president-elect lives, shouting "not my president".
Anti-Trump activists have held daily protests in US cities since his election victory was confirmed on Wednesday.
Mr Trump seems to be rowing back on some of his campaign pledges. Having promised to scrap President Barack Obama's healthcare law dubbed "Obamacare", he now says he is open to leaving intact key parts of the act.
Asked by the Wall Street Journal whether he would implement a promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Mrs Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state, he listed healthcare, jobs, border control and tax reform as greater priorities.
The Republican is due to be sworn in on 20 January, taking over from Mr Obama, who will have completed two terms in office.
Mrs Clinton, who served as Mr Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, has been keeping a low profile since conceding victory.
On 28 October, Mr Comey informed Congress that the FBI was examining newly discovered emails sent or received by Mrs Clinton, thus reviving an investigation which had been completed in July.
Then, on 6 November, two days before the election, Mr Comey announced in a second letter that he was standing by his original assessment - that Mrs Clinton should not face criminal charges.
"There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful," Mrs Clinton told the donors on a farewell conference call on Saturday.
"But our analysis is that Comey's letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum. We dropped, and we had to keep really pushing ahead to regain our advantage."
According to US media, she added that Mr Comey's later recommendation that she should face no charges had energised Mr Trump's supporters.
Her campaign team said that despite Mrs Clinton being cleared of criminal behaviour, the move only revived Mr Trump's claim that the Democratic candidate was being protected by a rigged system.
Clinton FBI probe: What we know
Comey - both hero and villain (again)
The New York marchers rallied in Union Square Park for the march to Trump Tower, from which the next president has been planning the transition to his inauguration.
One organiser of the New York protest, Kenneth Shelton, told the BBC that it was not an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of Tuesday's election. "We lost," he admitted.
Placards at the demonstration express despair and anger, the BBC's Paul Adams says.
One read "Trump: An American Tragedy" while the message on another read "Now We're Your Nightmare".
"We must unite despite our differences to stop HATE from ruling the land," organisers of the New York protest wrote on Facebook. Demonstrations in the city earlier this week drew thousands of people.
Similar demonstrations were also held in Los Angeles and Chicago on Saturday.
On Friday demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, turned violent and one person was shot but most rallies have passed off peacefully. | Hillary Clinton has blamed her defeat in the US presidential election on interventions by the FBI director. |
31703971 | Lawro's opponent for the four FA Cup quarter-final ties is dub poet, musician and actor Benjamin Zephaniah.
The Birmingham-born dreadlocked bard chose to support Aston Villa over West Brom as a boy, and is backing Tim Sherwood's side to continue their cup run at the Baggies' expense on Saturday and reach Wembley.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Zephaniah told BBC Sport: "It's obvious it's going to be Villa to win, but West Brom are going to try really hard, so I say 2-1 to Villa."
There is also one Premier League game on Saturday - the match between QPR and Tottenham that was postponed last weekend because Spurs were playing in the Capital One Cup final.
England rugby star George Ford made the predictions last weekend and stands to improve on his current total of five points if he gets this result correct.
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth ONE point. Getting the exact score correct earns THREE points.
In the midweek Premier League games, Lawro got seven correct results from 10 Premier League games, including one perfect score.
His score of nine points was eclipsed by Circa Waves singer Kieran Shudall, who picked nine correct results with four perfect scores to earn 17 points and go five points clear at the top of the guest leaderboard.
We are keeping a record of the totals for Lawro and his guests (below), and showing a table of how the Premier League would look if all of Lawro's predictions were correct (at the bottom of the page).
After 28 games, Lawro has eight of the 20 teams matching their actual position, including the entire top six. However, he is 10 places out with Swansea, who are 19th in his table and ninth in reality.
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Benjamin's prediction: 1-0
Match report
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
George Ford's prediction: 1-3
Match report
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Benjamin's prediction: 2-1
Match report
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Benjamin's prediction: 3-1
Match report
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Benjamin's prediction: 2-3
Match report
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
* Does not include scores for postponed game - Leicester v Chelsea
Lawro's best score: 17 points (week seven v Ossie Ardiles)
Lawro's worst score: 2 points (week 20 v Steve Wilson) | BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson is pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season. |
25398021 | She led the contest from the start and never faced much of a challenge from her bickering centre-right opponents.
The hard part will start in March when she takes office.
Ms Bachelet will inherit a country with an economy that grew by 5.6% last year. Unemployment is low and inflation is under control.
But things are likely to get worse. The growth rate is expected to ease to 4.2% this year and the central bank warns it might drop below 4% in 2014.
The price of copper, Chile's main export commodity, is seen extending its recent decline and the bank expects the country's trade surplus to shrink to $600m (£368m) in 2014 from $2.5bn in 2013.
None of this is good news for an incoming president who is promising sweeping and expensive social reforms.
Ms Bachelet has placed education at the top of her priorities.
At the moment, Chile's schools and universities rely heavily on household funding to supplement the meagre contributions they get from the state.
She wants to change that, turning the entire apparatus into a state-funded system within six years.
By the end of her four-year term she has promised that the state will pay the tuition fees of the poorest 70% of Chile's higher education students.
"Her proposals reset the clock for the education system, and she'll probably have the support in parliament she needs to get them passed," says Kirsten Sehnbruch, professor of public policy at the University of Chile.
"But the big problem with this strategy, aside from it being a significant investment, is that is doesn't address the issue of quality."
Even Ms Bachelet's closest aides acknowledge her education reforms will be costly, eating up an extra 1.5% to 2% of gross domestic product each year.
She says that money will come from taxes, particularly on big business.
Ms Bachelet plans to raise Chile's basic corporate tax rate from 20% to 25% over four years and to abolish a mechanism that allows companies to defer indefinitely the payment of tax on their re-invested profits.
"I expect the tax reform to be approved within the first year because it only requires a simple majority in parliament," says Claudio Fuentes, a political scientist at the Diego Portales University in Santiago.
"That will pave the way for education reform between 2015 and 2018. Some of the changes she wants to make in education require a fourth-sevenths majority in parliament while others require a three-fifths majority. So, on certain issues she's going to have to negotiate with the right."
The other big pledge of Ms Bachelet's campaign is constitutional change.
She says Chile needs a new constitution to replace the one drawn up under Gen Augusto Pinochet in 1980, as well as a new electoral system.
The current one ensures that the two big coalitions get almost all the seats in Congress, split fairly evenly between them. Small parties and independent candidates do not get much of a look-in.
"There's a consensus on the fact that the electoral system needs to go," Ms Sehnbruch says.
"The question is: what do you replace it with? Constitutional reform is more complex and will need more negotiation."
Many Chileans want Ms Bachelet to address the country's deep economic inequalities.
Of the 34 countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Chile has the biggest gap between rich and poor.
She will also come under pressure from some quarters on ethical issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
At present, Chile has some of the strictest abortion laws in the world. The practice is illegal in all circumstances, even in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger.
Ms Bachelet, a paediatrician by training, wants to change that and has also come out in favour of gay marriage, although the majority of Chileans oppose it.
"I imagine that therapeutic abortion will be legalised but gay marriage at this stage is unlikely to be passed," Ms Sehnbruch says.
Ms Bachelet will have to work hard to keep her broad centre-left coalition united.
The last time she was in power, she governed at the head of a four-party bloc, the Concertacion, but his time around she has seven parties in her rebranded New Majority coalition.
"There are sure to be some problems," Mr Fuentes warns. "Managing seven parties is always going to be trickier than managing two or three."
That said, Ms Bachelet will at least enjoy a healthy parliamentary majority, something she lacked during her first term from 2006 to 2010.
Her coalition will have 68 seats in the 120-seat lower house and 21 of the 38 seats in the Senate.
This should allow her to push through basic legislation quickly and easily.
On foreign policy, Ms Bachelet will seek to improve ties with Chile's northern neighbours Peru and Bolivia, both of which have taken Chile to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over border disputes.
The ICJ is due to rule on Peru's claim in January, before Ms Bachelet takes office. The Bolivian verdict is not expected for some years.
But perhaps the biggest challenge facing Ms Bachelet is the weight of expectation.
After four years of centre-right rule, marked by huge street protests organised by students, workers and environmentalists, Chileans are clamouring for change.
"Expectations are very high, and not just among ordinary people but among the centre-left political elite," Ms Sehnbruch explains.
"The opportunity to make significant changes has now come and yet the presidential term is only four years long.
"To reconcile those two things - the massive agenda of what people want with the reality of what you can do in four years - is going to be very challenging." | Winning Chile's presidential election was pretty easy for Michelle Bachelet. |
35113801 | But what does the CfE mean for pupils, teachers and parents? BBC Scotland's education correspondent Jamie McIvor tackles the big questions.
Q1 Just what is Curriculum for Excellence?
Curriculum for Excellence is a term which is widely heard but often misunderstood or misused. For a start, it is not actually a curriculum - teachers in Scotland are not told what they have to teach, how they have to teach it or how long they have to spend on each subject. The changes it brought about can be split into two: the impact on primary schools and the first three years of secondary education, and the effect on the last three years of secondary school.
Curriculum for Excellence started to be introduced into primary schools and the early years of secondary schools in 2010. The aim, in a nutshell, was to give teachers more freedom and flexibility over just what to teach and how - then judge by the long-term results. In primary schools, the changes were largely evolutionary. Many teachers chose to use their own skill and judgement to fit numeracy, literacy and other basics into wider projects - for instance, a class project on the Romans may include language, science, maths, music and other topics. This "project-based learning" had once been popular but then went out of fashion. In secondary schools, the main changes began in 2013 when new qualifications started to be introduced, principally to replace Standard Grades. This was a more radical and difficult change.
Q2 Is Curriculum for Excellence itself controversial?
It depends what you mean by controversial. The foundations were laid by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, teachers were heavily involved in shaping the changes and they were implemented under the SNP. The Conservatives also support Curriculum for Excellence. Political rows have tended to be about how well-implemented the changes have actually been and whether they were working rather than their underlying aims. Parental concerns have usually been about decisions made by individual schools or local authorities. However, the changes to the exam system and secondary qualifications have led to more widespread problems and rows. Read the later questions for more information.
Q3 But the headlines are full of rows over education. What about teacher numbers, class sizes, school buildings, opening hours and education budgets?
These are important, but distinct, issues from the Curriculum for Excellence. It is important to separate Curriculum for Excellence itself from other aspects of education policy - it refers to a specific programme of change in Scottish education, not wider education policy.
Q4 So is it getting results? Is attainment improving in primaries and early secondaries?
The best way to get a sense of the performance of younger children across Scotland is from the national surveys on numeracy and literacy. They both suggest limited progress is being made and that performance is even declining in some areas. However, experts argue there still is not enough data from these tests to draw long-term trends.
The Scottish government commissioned a report from the OECD to examine how Curriculum for Excellence was going. The report was overwhelmingly positive but drew attention to some problems and challenges - some of which actually predate Curriculum for Excellence. For example, it highlighted the falling levels of achievement in mathematics and noted the declining number of children with the best reading ability. It also highlighted challenges facing secondary schools - for instance, how many teenagers say they do not like school.
The Scottish government would also highlight improving Higher results and the falling number of teenagers who aren't in education, work or training as policy successes. However, it is hard to say just how much of a part Curriculum for Excellence has played in this.
Q5 I've heard that Curriculum for Excellence is being renamed and relaunched. Is it?
No. The OECD did suggest the name could be better but there are no plans just now to change it. Nor are there any plans for a relaunch or radical changes. The Scottish government's main policy aim just now is to try to raise attainment for all children and close the gap between how well children from relatively rich and poor backgrounds do at school. More details of its National Improvement Framework are due in the new year. However, this will work within the existing system rather than replace or change it.
An important part of the framework will be new assessments in P1, P4, P7 and S3. They will be consistent across Scotland and replace the different tests done by many local authorities. The aim is to help improve the data on what schemes to raise attainment work.
There are, however, genuine concerns within the profession about this. The fear is the data from the tests could be used to judge schools and produce unofficial "league tables". This in turn could lead to pressure on teachers to "teach to the test" - undermining the freedom of Curriculum for Excellence offers. However, the largest teachers' union the EIS is confident its concerns are being listened to by the government and that a workable scheme can be put into practice.
Q6 Should teachers have quite so much freedom and flexibility over what they should teach and how?
That is an interesting philosophical point. There has never been a prescriptive curriculum in Scotland - indeed in the 1980s the National Curriculum, a flagship policy of Margaret Thatcher's government, was not introduced in Scotland. It is commonly accepted in Scotland that it would be inappropriate for government ministers or civil servants to try to play a proactive part in shaping lessons and courses. Teaching, it is said, operates by trust, consent and agreement. (Of course, there are school inspections and if a school's performance was unsatisfactory it should be highlighted by Education Scotland. The General Teaching Council would deal with any concerns about the competency or performance of individual teachers.)
Q7 So what about the new qualifications and exams in secondary schools?
Standard Grades and Intermediates have been scrapped. They have been replaced by National 4s and 5s. Meanwhile, Highers and Advanced Highers have been revamped. The changes were designed to fit the qualifications system and "senior phase" of secondary school in with the changes to the rest of the school system. Broadly speaking, the profession backed the changes themselves and the rows were over their implementation - there were concerns over workload, bureaucracy, stress and over-assessment.
Q8 But what about the rows at some schools over the number of qualifications students sit?
It used to be normal practice for an academically-able child to sit 7 or 8 O Grades or Standard Grades in S4, then study for 4 or 5 Highers in S5. They might then spend S6 studying for more Highers or Advanced Highers or re-sitting any Highers they failed or got a disappointing mark in. The system is now designed to be more flexible - the emphasis is on what a student leaves school with rather than what they have achieved by a particular stage.
There have been local rows over just how many National 5s students can study in S4 at some schools - there is no nationally-set number. Some parents argued that if their children did not have the chance to sit seven or eight, they were effectively pre-selecting their Highers a year early or feared they might not have the same breadth of qualifications as they had.
A growing number of schools are also keen to encourage academically able children to bypass National 5s and spend S4 and S5 working towards their Highers.
Occasionally though, serious local rows erupt over the decisions made by individual schools - especially if they appear to reduce flexibility. At Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh, many parents protested because no S4 students had the chance to obtain qualifications. Ultimately, rows like these are about decisions made by schools and councils - not national policies. Whether schools should have these freedoms to begin with though is a separate argument. | How Scottish schools are performing has come under the spotlight as part of a review of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). |
11989594 | The young Afghan national was one of the few members of his family to escape death at the hands of the Taleban.
But three years after fleeing Kabul, the 24-year-old Muslim was killed by a suicide bomber on a Piccadilly Line train at Russell Square.
A resident of Hounslow in west London, Mr Sharifi had been studying English at West Thames College since September 2002, where he drew praise from staff.
He worked in a pizza take-away in his spare time to send money back to his younger sister still in Afghanistan. Both of their parents had perished in the Kabul war.
His college tutor, Harminder Ubhie, described Mr Sharifi as a highly-motivated student who could make the others laugh.
"He was a delight to have in the group," she said. "From the first month I knew I could push this student. I knew he would be one of our high achievers.
"I admired him for his dedication to come to my classes. He said it was because I was an excellent teacher and he was learning so much."
She said he had a "youthful and energetic nature" and helped new members of the group to settle in.
And his college principal, Thalia Marriott, pointed to the "deep irony" that Mr Sharifi had left his native Afghanistan to seek safety in the UK "only to find his fate at the hands of extremists here".
When Afghan President Hamid Karzai later visited the victims' memorial garden at King's Cross station, he paid tribute to Mr Sharifi, laying a floral tribute of white roses and standing in silence.
But it was Mr Sharifi's sole surviving close relative, his sister Farishta, who described most clearly the impact of his loss.
She said in a statement to the 7 July victims' inquests: "He was not just a brother, he was also my friend and I still miss his telephone calls.
"He was also protective of me, not just sending money home, but also making sure that he shouldered life's difficult responsibilities because he did not want me to worry about any concerns that he had or problems that he faced.
"I feel that Atique's greatest achievement in life is the respect that he earned from all those who knew him during his lifetime and the good name he left for himself after his death." | London was meant to be a place of refuge where Atique Sharifi could put behind him the atrocities of his homeland. |
40641846 | The 1,600-year-old coffin found near Borough Market is thought to contain the remains of a member of nobility.
Archaeologists have been unable to identify the body as the stone coffin has been left filled with soil after being robbed, experts believe.
The sarcophagus will now be taken to the Museum of London's archive for analysis.
The coffin was found several metres underground with its lid slid open, which indicates it was plundered by 18th century thieves.
Gillian King, senior planner for archaeology at Southwark Council, said she hoped the grave robbers "have left the things that were of small value to them but great value to us as archaeologists".
The grave owner must have been "very wealthy and have had a lot of social status to be honoured with not just a sarcophagus, but one that was built into the walls of a mausoleum" Ms King said.
She added: "We always knew this site had the potential for a Roman cemetery, but we never knew there would be a sarcophagus."
The coffin was found on Swan Street last month after the council told developers building new flats on the site to fund an archaeological dig.
Researchers discovered the coffin six months into the dig as they were due to finish their search.
Experts at the Museum of London will now test and date the bones and soil inside. | An ancient Roman sarcophagus has been excavated from a building site in central London. |
35439493 | About 40 dancers had used the Trinity Centre in Llandudno, Conwy county, for eight years but they have now had their contract terminated.
The centre said they had failed to comply with a request to stop using accelerants, like wax, on the floor.
Ted Harding, 77, and his wife Doris, 76, said they were "extremely upset".
Accelerants are sometimes used on surfaces to help dancers glide.
But dancer Mr Harding, from Colwyn Bay, denied treating the floor.
He told told BBC Radio Wales' Jason Mohammad programme: "The problem appears to be a case of misunderstanding.
"We don't use any accelerators. They've just issued me with a carte blanche termination of my contract.
"It is deeply upsetting."
Mrs Harding said she was "bearing up under the strain".
She added: "It's affected both of us very badly."
In a written statement, the centre's committee chairman, Linda Groom, said: "We have very elderly and vulnerable people using the centre.
"Despite requests not to use accelerants on the floor this is not being complied with."
Mr Harding has been offered the use of Ty Hapus Community Centre in the town but said it was "unsuitable".
He said: "It is far too large. It's the size of a football pitch."
The couple are now looking for a new venue. | A group of ballroom dancers have been told they can no longer use a community hall over claims they had made the floor too slippery. |
35479780 | It is alleged that companies were set up as fronts in order for the striker to pay a lower rate of tax.
Officials in Brazil say the allegations against the Barcelona striker cover a seven-year period from 2006.
The allegations are separate from a case heard in Spain on Tuesday.
Neymar appeared in court in Madrid in connection with fraud allegations surrounding his transfer. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The case in Brazil relates to the time when Neymar was still in Brazil and his income came from Brazilian sources.
Government prosecutors - who are recommending his prosecution on four charges of fraud - claim that companies were set up as fronts, and money that should have been taxed at the rate of a private individual was channelled into these companies and subject to a lower rate.
It is very early stages. The prosecutors claims will go to a judge who will decide if there is a case to answer or not. At the moment Neymar is not formally a defendant.
At the time of his transfer he was a rising star at Brazilian club Santos.
Brazilian prosecutors are reported by the AFP news agency to have also framed fraud charges against Neymar's father Neymar da Silva Santos, Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell.
Barcelona said it paid €57m (£43m) for Neymar in 2013 but investigators say the fee was closer to €83m and the club concealed part of the deal.
Neymar spent an hour and a half before a Spanish judge on Tuesday.
Mr Santos, who arrived at court with his son on Tuesday evening, acts as his agent.
The Spanish case was brought by Brazilian third-party investment fund DIS, which owned 40% of the Brazilian player's sports rights.
DIS alleges it was financially harmed by the transfer when it received €6.8m of Mr Santos's €17m fee and argues it was deprived of its full share.
Neymar: Better than Messi & Ronaldo? | Prosecutors in Brazil are recommending that football star Neymar be charged over four counts of fraud in relation to a tax case prior to his transfer to Barcelona in 2013. |
39229204 | Paula Vasco-Knight admitted paying her husband Stephen, 46, for work on a publication which never existed.
She was CEO at South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and national lead for equalities for NHS England at the time.
The 53-year old was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 250 hours unpaid work by Exeter Crown Court.
More on the sentencing and other stories from the South West >
Mr Vasco-Knight admitted submitting an invoice to the NHS in 2013 knowing he had not produced any work.
He was sentenced to 10 months, suspended for two years, for his involvement and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work.
The pair initially pleaded not guilty to fraud but later changed their plea to guilty.
When questioned by police the pair provided a document which they claimed Mr Vasco-Knight had produced.
But it emerged material in it was copied from a document from the King's Fund which had not been publicly available at the time the couple claimed it had been created.
Mrs Vasco-Knight was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter in 2013 and received a CBE in 2014 for her work as an ambassador for equality and diversity within NHS England.
In one set of ratings the hospital was ranked as the 10th best performing in the country in 2012 and she was named as the best in her field at the NHS Leadership Recognition Awards in that year.
Sue Frith, managing director of NHS Protect, which conducted the investigation, said afterwards: "Between them, Paula and Stephen Vasco-Knight defrauded over £11,000 of NHS money that was sorely needed for its intended purposes." | A former health boss has been given a suspended prison sentence for paying her husband £11,000 of NHS cash. |
35741715 | The BCC said Mr Longworth had accepted his support for leaving the EU was "likely to create confusion".
He revealed his support for "Brexit" at the BCC annual conference on Thursday.
The BCC said Mr Longworth had breached the group's official position of neutrality on the referendum.
At the conference, Mr Longworth said the EU referendum was a choice between the "devil and the deep blue sea".
He added that voters faced "undoubtedly a tough choice".
One option was staying in an "essentially unreformed EU", with the other being the uncertainty of leaving.
He later said his comments had been made in a personal capacity.
His remarks and his subsequent suspension prompted a political outcry, with London mayor Boris Johnson and former defence secretary Liam Fox, both prominent campaigners for the UK to leave the EU, weighing in on his behalf.
Mr Johnson called Mr Longworth's treatment "scandalous", while Mr Fox said ministers should clarify "if they were involved in any way in putting pressure on" the BCC to suspend Mr Longworth.
Downing Street denied any pressure was put on the BBC to suspend its director general. | The head of the British Chambers of Commerce, John Longworth, has resigned after being suspended for saying the UK's long-term prospects could be "brighter" outside the EU. |
23332592 | Discussions with private investors are now under way to secure the additional funding, says project leader Alan Bond.
Sabre is a jet-cum-rocket that could, say its supporters, propel a fully re-usable space plane into orbit.
Chancellor George Osborne has witnessed a display of its enabling technology, and is excited by the innovation.
He intends to release £35m in 2014-15 and a further £25m in 2015-16 to help Mr Bond conclude the power unit's development phase.
This would see the construction of a demonstration engine and a blueprint for manufacture.
Mr Bond, the chief engineer at Reaction Engines Ltd (REL), said the next nine months should see the extra financing come together.
"The value of the next phase of development is of the order of £200m-plus, and the government's investment represents about 25% of the total.
"I cannot go into detail at this time because it's commercially confidential, but I have every belief that the other investment will come along to support the programme," he told BBC News.
The Sabre (Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine) concept is for a power unit that can operate like a jet turbine at low speed and then transition to a rocket mode at high speed.
It would burn hydrogen and oxygen to provide thrust, but at low altitudes this oxygen would be taken straight from the atmosphere.
The approach should save weight and allow Sabre to impel a space vehicle straight to orbit without the need for the multiple propellant stages seen in today's throw-away rockets.
Crucial to the engine's performance, however, is a compact pre-cooler heat-exchanger that can take an incoming airstream from over 1,000C to -150C in less than 1/100th of a second.
This pre-cooler module contains arrays of extremely fine piping that dump energy very efficiently but also avoid the frost build-up that might otherwise compromise their operation.
A series of "proof of principle" experiments has passed an independent audit from European Space Agency (Esa) experts, and Mr Osborne himself has inspected the test rig on the Culham science park in Oxfordshire.
The UK government's science minister, David Willetts, said he and Mr Osborne had been very impressed.
"It is because of the clear evidence that Reaction Engines has passed crucial technical tests - that the principles have been established; that the technology has been proven - that the British government has taken this very significant decision to invest £60m in REL.
"The technologies that particularly interest us are disruptive technologies that can have a wide effect.
"The experts have convinced me that this heat exchanger is not simply for use in the space industry - it has many other applications as well. I've been told, for example, that for desalination plants it could be of great significance."
It is conceivable this technology might also be used within the atmosphere to shorten journey times from one side of the globe to the other. Brussels to Sydney could be done in four and a half hours by a Sabre-equipped airliner.
This final phase of engine development should get under way in earnest at the start of next year, and, once again, it will be supported by Esa.
The agency's propulsion experts will offer their insights on many technical aspects of the programme, but they plan also to provide due diligence to ensure REL delivers against milestones.
The desire is to have a full set of engineering drawings completed by the end of 2017 that would enable a real flight model of Sabre to be manufactured.
Before then, REL hopes also to have produced a ground demonstrator.
"I always liken the demonstrator to a dissected rabbit, with all its organs spread out," explained Mr Bond.
"It would not resemble a flight engine, but it will have all the correct features of a real engine, and it will show that it's controllable, that it's self-sustaining and indeed that it can simulate operation from take-off conditions."
The head of Esa's mechanical engineering department, Constantinos Stavrinidis, said the agency took the view that Sabre was a realisable technology, but that it might be some years yet before the engine got into the skies.
"It took a while before steamships took over from clippers; it took a while before jet engines took over from propellers. But I'm convinced this is the last frontier: utilising oxygen from the atmosphere. This technology - the heat exchanger - has demonstrated that it can work," he told BBC News.
Sabre engine: How the recent "proof of principle" experiments were conducted | The UK government is putting £60m into the revolutionary Sabre engine, but its inventors will need about four times this sum to produce the final design. |
36183636 | Except, right now, Hamilton does have a problem with that. Both in the micro sense, in that he keeps hitting snags that prevent him challenging Rosberg in races. And in the macro, in that Hamilton now faces a gargantuan task in overhauling the deficit he faces in the championship.
Rosberg's fourth win in four races this season - and seventh in a row going back to Mexico last year, the race after Hamilton clinched his third world title - has put him 43 points ahead in the championship.
What that means in mathematical terms is that it would take a win and a second place for Hamilton, and Rosberg not scoring for two races, for the Englishman to draw level.
That is difficult enough in itself, but it is going to be impossible if Mercedes cannot get on top of the mysterious ailments afflicting Hamilton's car.
Hamilton's hopes of victory were dashed for the second race in a row by a failure in the MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo in these highly complex, revolutionary engines.
In China two weeks ago, it consigned him to the back of the grid, from where he was hit by a back marker at the first corner and could only recover his damaged car to seventh place.
In Russia, the problem hit a little later, just before the start of the final part of qualifying, so Hamilton could at least start in 10th place.
From there, he was fourth on lap one, after navigating carefully through the first-corner melee in front of him, and a de facto second by lap 19. He was closing on Rosberg, and entertaining thoughts of victory, when another engine problem - this time a loss of water pressure - forced him to back off and defend to the finish.
Hamilton, who cut a forlorn figure on the rostrum after the race, handing his bottle of champagne to the Mercedes engineer there to collect the trophy for winning constructor, is really being put through the mill at the moment.
He has, as he said on Saturday, "had way darker days than this" in his career. But there is no doubting that he cannot catch a break right now.
Let us just take a moment to look at his season so far:
Australia: a relatively slow start from pole - although within the "scatter" engineers expect of a normal start after the restrictions on driver aids this year - left him battling with Rosberg into the first corner. They touched, pushing Hamilton wide, and he dropped to fifth. He recovered to finish second.
Bahrain: after another bad start - this time caused because the wait revs would not settle, delaying his reaction to the lights - he was clouted by Williams' Valtteri Bottas at the first corner, dropping him to seventh. With a damaged car, he fought back to third.
China and Russia we know about.
Mercedes are mystified as to what is going on with engine reliability, after the car ran 800km a day trouble-free in pre-season testing.
Inevitably there have been accusations on social media that the team are favouring Rosberg to give him a chance to win the title after two years of being beaten by Hamilton, but Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff gave them short shrift.
"It is very difficult to take people seriously who are lying in bed with their laptop on their chest and just sending out those abusive messages," he said.
"You wonder what goes through people's minds. Of course we don't do it deliberately.
"I want to ignore this bunch of lunatics who think we would harm our driver who is a double world champion for us. He hasn't let us down and we wouldn't let him down.
"This is a mechanical sport and these things happen, we had a problem on the MGU-K drive on Nico's car and it looked as if he might not finish the race.
"We are pushing the limits a lot on the chassis and the engine in order to have a competitive car and this is why we are winning races, but if you push the limits at a certain stage you find them."
Hamilton's problems mean that he is on the back foot in terms of engine parts for the rest of the season.
Drivers are only allowed to use five of each of the six elements that make up an F1 engine. And while Rosberg is on his first of everything, Hamilton is on a mix of second and third, even if in some cases (such as the internal combustion engine itself), the parts can be reused.
This means he has a higher probability than his team-mate of getting a grid penalty later in the season for using more than the permitted number of parts.
There is also a concern about whether the engine he used in Russia will have been terminally damaged.
He has another worry, too. In qualifying in Russia, Hamilton earned his second reprimand of the year, a decision he described as "just ridiculous", for going the wrong side of a bollard when rejoining the track.
Some would argue that his first reprimand was also harsh - for reversing in the pit lane in Bahrain when he had not been given clear indication where to park.
Whatever your view, this could have serious consequences. A third reprimand - surely almost inevitable in the remaining 17 races - would mean an automatic 10-place grid penalty.
Media playback is not supported on this device
If Hamilton wants some succour, though, he might want to cast his mind back to 2010, and his old rival Fernando Alonso.
That year, the Spaniard left the British Grand Prix in July 47 points off the championship lead, held then by Hamilton. Seven races later, Alonso was leading it.
Hamilton can also find solace in the fact that, on average over the last two years, he has beaten Rosberg about twice for every once it has been the other way around.
But even that might not be enough. There are 17 races left in this longest of all F1 seasons. If Mercedes were to finish them all one-two, with the drivers winning on a ratio of 11-6, Hamilton would make up only 35 points over the season.
Of course, it will not work out that way.
Rosberg will inevitably hit his own problems at some point, and Mercedes will surely be beaten a handful of times, just as they were in 2014 and 2015.
There is also no guarantee Mercedes' advantage will remain as sizeable as it was in Russia, when it was bigger than at any point this season.
Ferrari will not be as poor as they were in Russia, a track that makes the car's gentleness on tyres a weakness, every weekend. They may even deliver on some of the promise they have shown this year.
And if the Renault engine upgrade promised for three races' time gives Red Bull as big a boost as is expected, they will also be in the mix.
But that rough maths is enough to illustrate just how big a job Hamilton has on his hands.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Hamilton's problems have inevitably garnered the lion's share of the publicity, which has meant Rosberg's winning streak has been overlooked, at least to an extent.
Seven consecutive wins, though, is an admirable achievement that merits marking. Only three other drivers - Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel - have achieved it before.
He has driven very well throughout, but it is wrong to say, as some did, that Rosberg "dominated the whole weekend" in Russia.
Hamilton was faster in second and third practice, and in the first part of qualifying. And he was closing in dramatically in the few laps before he was forced to back off, although Rosberg said that was due to traffic and the fact he was saving his tyres so he could push at the end.
Hamilton has a point, though, when he says: "He has been starting at the front with no-one to really bother him. So it has been a nice Sunday drive for him. But there are still 17 races to go, and still 17 races where I can give him hell."
There is every reason to believe the two men will be as closely matched as ever.
But on the evidence of their three years as team-mates, it would take a brave person to bet that, all things being equal, Hamilton will not beat Rosberg more often than not over the remainder of the year.
Whether that will be enough is another matter. | "My concern is not about beating Nico; I don't have a problem with that," Lewis Hamilton said on Sunday evening, at once revealing the innate sense of superiority he feels about his team-mate Rosberg, and diminishing - inadvertently or otherwise - the merit of the German's victory in the Russian Grand Prix. |
21356033 | Following a month-long online poll, toy maker Hasbro said the feline design had beaten competition from a robot, helicopter, diamond ring and a guitar.
"I think there were a lot of cat lovers in the world that reached out," said Hasbro's Jonathan Berkowitz.
It is the first time fans have had a say on which of the eight tokens to keep and which to lose.
"Tokens are always a key part of the Monopoly game... and our fans are very passionate about their tokens, about which token they use while they play," Mr Berkowitz added.
The Scottie dog was the clear favourite with fans from more than 120 countries who took part in the contest to decide which token should be saved, eventually securing 29% of the vote.
While the shoe, wheelbarrow and iron were neck and neck in the final hours of voting, the iron ended up with just 8% of the vote and will now be retired from the game.
"While we're a bit sad to see the iron go, the cat token is a fantastic choice by the fans and we have no doubt it will become just as iconic as the original tokens," said Eric Nyman from Hasbro.
The iron was one of the original game tokens introduced by the Parker Brothers in 1935, when the appliance was an important part of domestic life. The Scottie dog and wheelbarrow were added in the early 1950s.
Previous tokens retired in the 1950s included a lantern, a purse and a rocking horse.
The new cat design received 31% of the total vote and will be added to the existing tokens which include a race car, thimble, top hat, and battleship.
Versions of Monopoly with the new token will come out later this year. | Fans of Monopoly have voted to replace the iron with a cat-shaped playing piece in the popular board game. |
39434366 | Upset City fans have staged a series of organised shows of anger at the club's owners Sisu this season.
But the 42,500 army of City fans who have bought tickets are being urged to help sell the club to potential buyers.
"We deliberately decided that Wembley should not be about protesting," said Sky Blues supporters David Johnson.
"Demonstrating, yes - demonstrating what huge potential the club has got," added Johnson, who is a spokesperson for one fans group, the Jimmy Hill Way Campaign.
"It is a great occasion to advertise to maybe potential owners that could come in and rescue us."
When the teams run onto the pitch, another City fans group Preservation Sky Blues are calling on supporters to hold up signs with the simple message: 'potential'.
Coventry's first trip to the rebuilt Wembley is seen more as a way of commemorating 30 years since the Sky Blues won the FA Cup under John Sillett and George Curtis - and also the 50th anniversary of Jimmy Hill leading the club into the top flight of English football in 1967.
The fact that reaching Wembley comes at a time when City are bottom of League One and looking highly likely to drop to the fourth tier for the first time since 1959 gives Sunday's final an added twist.
"It's almost like a little fairytale in a bubble," said Johnson. "It is something we didn't imagine we would be doing, particularly in a season that has been as bad as this.
"It's going to be bittersweet. We will have a whale of time win or lose but, when it is all over and done with, we will come away still facing relegation to League Two and the very real prospect that we won't have a club much longer because of what Sisu have done to it.
"We still recognise that it has been devalued as a trophy. On the other hand, it is a day out at Wembley and when is that going to come around again? Probably never, is the answer in our case."
A joint statement released by the EFL and Wembley Stadium on Tuesday outlined to fans of both Coventry and Oxford that flags and banners should not "contain advertising and commercial messages, or contain abusive or defamatory language" and that any infringement of those rules could lead to them being confiscated.
Flags should not exceed 100cm in size at the widest or longest point, except by prior permission (up until 17:00 BST on Thursday 30 March), in which case they could go up to 250cm.
Jan Mokrzycki, from the Sky Blue Trust, said the flag checks "could be potentially creating an unnecessarily confrontational atmosphere" and "on what should be a fun and happy occasion, stewards will be tasked with confiscating 'oversized' flags, leading to arguments and ill-feeling."
But he has urged all City fans to "behave peaceably" and obey the rules, adding: "If you want to take a flag larger than 100cm, follow the guidelines set out by Wembley.
"To date, the Trust has not heard of any flags being turned down." | Coventry City supporters attending Sunday's EFL Trophy final against Oxford United have been asked to temper their protests at Wembley. |
35422093 | Sexton, 30, was taken off in Leinster's European Champions Cup loss to Wasps last Saturday, but has passed the required tests to return to training.
"Johnny trained really well yesterday, he is ready to go," said Schmidt.
Ireland and Leinster confirmed that Sexton did not suffer a concussion against Wasps.
The Irish start their attempt to win a third successive championship with a home match against Wales on 7 February.
Sexton missed Ireland's Six Nations opener against Italy last year after being stood down from all rugby for 12 weeks after a series of concussions in a short space of time.
Coach Schmidt has responded to suggestions influential playmaker Sexton should consider quitting the sport to preserve his long-term health.
Schmidt branded those calls "a disappointment", frustrated that observers outside the Ireland camp had questioned expert medical opinion.
"It was this time last year that the problem really arose and he had the break," added Schmidt. "Since that time he hasn't really had too many problems.
"As we're concerned and as far as Johnny's concerned, he is very keen to be ready to go in 11 days' time.
"All we can do is go on the medical opinion, and he had two of the best guys that are around, who made some decisions for him last year and have followed up since then," said Schmidt.
"When they give him the all-clear we've got a lot of trust in them."
Praising Leinster for withdrawing Sexton as a precaution in the weekend's heavy defeat at Wasps, Schmidt said Ireland took head injuries extremely seriously. | Jonathan Sexton is fully fit to start Ireland's Six Nations campaign after another head injury scare, coach Joe Schmidt said on Wednesday. |
29562582 | UKIP has made a historic breakthrough in Westminster just a few months after winning a national election - for the European Parliament.
It has shown it can win under the first-past-the-post voting system as well as under a proportional system.
When Douglas Carswell takes his seat in the Commons next week he will serve not just as a permanent reminder of the prime minister's miscalculation but as a temptation to his old allies on the Tory benches to follow suit.
That is why the Conservatives are so desperate for victory in the next by-election in Rochester triggered by another Tory MP who defected to UKIP.
Ed Miliband cannot relish these Tory troubles. Although Labour held on to Heywood and Middleton, it did so with a vote share scarcely bigger than at the last election. That will do nothing to calm party nerves after a conference season that saw it go backwards.
The question now - how far UKIP will go? No-one knows but what is beyond doubt is that it has already gone much much further than those who dismissed and insulted it ever thought possible. | Those David Cameron once called loonies, fruitcakes and closet racists will be savouring their revenge today. |
37264015 | The Sandgrounders sacked Andy Bishop after a miserable run of four defeats in their last five games although there appeared to be more defensive resilience under Burr as they repelled their opponents in a dour first half.
Eastleigh continued to put the pressure on after the interval and their persistence paid off when a low cross was half cleared, and Mikael Mandron curled into the top corner in the 51st minute.
The hosts continued to dominate but their failure to score a second came back to haunt them as James Gray equalised almost immediately after coming off the bench by converting James Caton's cross in the 71st minute.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Eastleigh 1, Southport 1.
Second Half ends, Eastleigh 1, Southport 1.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Ryan Bird replaces James Constable.
Substitution, Southport. Ross White replaces Neil Ashton.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Luke Coulson replaces Adam Dawson.
Goal! Eastleigh 1, Southport 1. James Gray (Southport).
Substitution, Southport. James Gray replaces John Cofie.
Mikael Mandron (Eastleigh) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Southport. James Caton replaces Andrai Jones.
Goal! Eastleigh 1, Southport 0. Mikael Mandron (Eastleigh).
Second Half begins Eastleigh 0, Southport 0.
First Half ends, Eastleigh 0, Southport 0.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Lowly Southport marked their first game under new boss Steve Burr by battling back from a goal down to claim a draw at Eastleigh. |
37978338 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Vern Cotter's men led until the last four minutes of their opening autumn Test before Tevita Kuridrani's try snatched victory for Australia.
The Scots play Argentina on Saturday and then Georgia a week later before a Six Nations opener against Ireland.
"We will take a lot of positives from the weekend," said Russell, 23.
"It was a good game against a very good team and we were ahead for a lot of the game.
"But there is a lot to learn about how to close out games with 10 minutes to go. The play-makers and decision-makers will learn from that.
"If we get into the same situation against Argentina, we will do things differently, and hopefully with a different outcome.
"We have still got another two games before the Six Nations. But having such a tight game against Australia that we potentially should have won, we will definitely learn from that and we will be a better team come the Six Nations."
While Saturday's denouement at Murrayfield brought back painful memories of another one-point loss to the Wallabies at last year's World Cup, Russell does not believe there is any psychological barrier impeding the Scots
"Even when they scored the try I was still confident we could go down the other end and get a penalty or drop-goal or something," he said.
"Everyone is still gutted about it but the boys are generally pretty good at moving on. You have got a game next weekend so you can't dwell on it too much. That is the good thing about sport. You can make it right the next week.
"The boys are all smart enough rugby players to learn from it. We all know what we needed to do. We will look back over it, chat as a group and learn from it as a team. But I don't think we need the psychologists in."
Forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys was happy to highlight the many positive aspects of Scotland's display, including the "phenomenal" performances of second-row siblings Richie and Jonny Gray, and the first Test starts for props Allan Dell and Zander Ferguson.
"It is the best I have seen Richie play for a considerable period of time. And it isn't a one-off performance from Jonny - it is every single week, it is incredible," said the former Wales hooker.
"I thought the props stood out really well, and some of the stuff they did outside the set-piece was excellent. They really made a contribution."
But Humphreys acknowledged that most of Scotland's post-match debrief will focus on their failure to close out victory.
"It is not about learning to close a 20-point gap, but trying to close a one-point gap," he noted. "You are up against a very good team who have been together for a long period.
"We need to close out one of these tough games. Once we do that, the cloud lifts and everything becomes a little easier. But the players are working very hard on that.
"Every time we come together we seem to be growing and becoming more confident in what we are trying to do.
"It is about trying to keep on that journey and hopefully by the time the Six Nations comes around, we are making significant steps to mounting a really good campaign."
Media playback is not supported on this device | Scotland will be a better team come next year's Six Nations if they learn to close out tight games, says fly-half Finn Russell. |
35426462 | The man from Stockton, is charged with criminal damage, possession of a bladed article and driving without insurance.
Cleveland Police said it followed "an incident in which 56 vehicles were damaged in Errol Street and surrounding roads in Middlesbrough" on 20 October.
A force spokeswoman said the man is due before Teesside magistrates on 8 February. | A 62-year-old man has been charged over damage caused to more than 50 cars on Teesside. |
29125244 | As in the poem the games are named after, these men and women are "bloody but unbowed".
The games, championed by Prince Harry, have given them an additional focus to their lives, many say.
Some hope they will act as a stepping stone - perhaps taking them as far as Rio 2016.
Here are some of their stories:
Darren Kamara, from Cambridge, competed in last summer's US Warrior Games in Colorado, which provided the inspiration for the Invictus Games.
The former Lance Corporal in the RAF Regiment, who was medically discharged after suffering an injury to his neck while serving in Afghanistan, spoke of the mental - as well as physical - benefits he discovered.
The 36-year-old archer said: "At the time, I didn't know if I was in or out of the forces and was suffering from a bit of depression as well because I wasn't at work and didn't have my friends around me.
"I scored the top British score - and that's led to me doing the Invictus Games. When I did lose my job, my lifestyle and everything changed, so I couldn't have been given a bigger injection of confidence."
Mr Kamara, who is engaged to former Olympic swimmer Lisa Chapman, is now working towards setting up his own photography business - but he hasn't ruled out competing further.
"They're looking for male archers for the GB squad for the Rio Games," he said. "My plan is to work towards that."
Derek Derenalagi, a Lance Corporal with Second Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was initially pronounced dead when his vehicle hit an IED in Afghanistan in 2007, but medics found a pulse while a body bag was being prepared.
The father-of-two from Hertfordshire, who will be competing in the 100m, 200m, shot put and discus, watched the Beijing Paralympics while undergoing rehabilitation and took up athletics - initially teaching himself through YouTube videos. He went on to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games.
He said of the Invictus Games: "To be part of the British armed forces team and to compete in athletics again, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm a bit nervous as well but I'm really, really looking forward to the games.
"Seeing some of the guys I was in hospital with when I got injured and to see them here competing in different kinds of events, it's so encouraging to see."
He added that while there was still "room for improvement", the London Paralympics - and now Invictus Games - had hugely changed people's awareness of those with disabilities.
Corporal Carolyne Dufley, a 32-year-old member of the Royal Logistic Corps, survived tours of Iraq and Afghanistan but suffered a spinal injury during a Judo competition in 2011.
It left her with pain, loss of movement and muscle spasms - but she says taking part in powerlifting and wheelchair rugby gives her the opportunity to show how far she has come.
She said: "It's time to give back to all the people who have helped us, for their dedication, their time, their effort - for families to be able to see the outcome of the rehabilitation, because they're there from the moment you've been injured."
The mother-of-two from Didcot, Oxfordshire, said the Invictus Games could change perceptions of those who had been injured.
"We've got a chance to prove to people that it doesn't matter what you look like, if you're missing a limb, two limbs, three limbs and half your face, it doesn't matter," she said.
Cyclist Josh Boggi, 28, lost both legs in an IED explosion on New Year's Eve 2010 in Afghanistan and later had his right arm amputated as a result of the injuries he sustained.
He says of the Invictus Games: "I see it as a stepping stone, or rung on the ladder, to where I want to be in the future."
At the top of that ladder is the Paralympic Games, and Mr Boggi hopes he can turn handcycling into his career.
He says his son Jenson is his inspiration, adding: "Everything I do is trying to better myself and improve my son's life in the future."
One of the things he is most looking forward to is competing against servicemen and women from other countries.
"Winding up the Americans will be fun," he joked.
Trinidad-born Maurillia Simpson moved to the UK to pursue her dream of serving in the British Army but was injured in a road accident in Germany in 2010 while preparing for a tour to Afghanistan and was later medically discharged.
The former Lance Corporal for the Royal Logistic Corps said she felt she had "nothing else to live for" at the time but has now been chosen to represent the British Armed Forces team in seated shot put, javelin and discus.
While she says she still misses being in the Army, she now has opportunities she never thought possible through the world of sport.
"You make every day you live after your injury worthwhile and make it count," she said. "The Invictus Games has brought life, hope and identity for all wounded, injured and sick soldiers again." | The Invictus Games competitors come from all walks of life but are bound by their armed forces experience - and their determination not to let illness or injury defeat them. |
29125809 | The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that, on average, consumers will save just £26 a year.
MPs also warned that the technology could be out of date by the time the roll-out is complete.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said smart meters will lower bills and make switching easier.
Installing the meters - which begins in earnest next year - will cost £215 per household, or £10.6bn.
Customers will be charged an annual amount on their bills to cover the cost, peaking at £11 a year in 2017.
The £26 annual figure would be the net saving, after the installation costs have been taken into account.
"Despite consumers footing the bill, they can on average make a saving of only 2% on the average annual bill of £1,328 by the time the roll out is complete," said Margaret Hodge, the chair of the PAC.
"Even this is conditional on consumers changing their behaviour and cutting their energy use," she added.
The Committee also said that some of the technology is likely to be out of date by the time it is installed.
At the moment the meters carry an in-house display, which tells consumers how much energy they are using at any given time, and how much it is costing.
The idea is that will encourage consumers to use less electricity and gas.
But the MPs said customers could receive similar information on smart phones.
That could make the in-home displays "redundant," said the committee.
DECC said there would be no up front charge to consumers for having a smart meter installed.
Energy minister Baroness Verma said: "Smart meters put power into the hands of consumers, bringing an end to estimated billing and helping people understand their energy use.
"The nationwide rollout is part of the Government's complete overhaul of the UK's energy infrastructure which will revolutionise the market and support the development of smarter electricity grids.
"It will help reduce consumer bills, enable faster, easier switching and give households control at the touch of a button," she said.
The project has already run into delays, and has been criticised elsewhere as a waste of money. | Installing smart meters in every house in the UK will save consumers "only 2%" on their annual bills, a committee of MPs has warned. |
35005292 | The Times Educational Supplement asked councils how much maintained schools had asked to borrow since 2013-14.
Borrowing in the 137 of 174 local authorities that responded rose £20m to £56.7m, the TES said, over three years.
The government says school budgets have been protected, but heads say they continue to face rising cost pressures.
The Department for Education added it was up to head teachers to prevent their schools from going into debt.
"We have always been clear that local authorities need to work with schools to prevent any deficits and surpluses becoming significant," it said.
The figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws looked at the financial years 2013-14, 2014-15, and up to the end of November 2015.
They do not cover academies which are not maintained by local authorities.
The data also revealed the average permitted deficit per school, for indebted schools, has almost doubled to £122,828 since 2013-14.
Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said cost pressures were really biting in schools.
"The simple fact is that there has been no real-terms increase in schools' budgets, and schools have had to deal with extra costs and inflationary pressures," he said.
Although the chancellor's Spending Review confirmed per pupil funding will be stable as numbers increase, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned there will be significant cost pressures of up to 8% on schools over the next five years.
Schools will have to find extra resources to cover rises in pension, National Insurance and pay costs over the course of this Parliament.
Mr Trobe predicted the situation was likely to get worse, saying: "If you can't balance the budget this year, you're going to struggle to balance the budget next year and to pay off the deficit."
The DfE is to look at what needs to be done to rebalance school funding from area to area and is launching a consultation on the issue.
Presently schools are funded at quite different levels, as local authorities receive varying grants based on estimates of their historic needs. Schools are then allocated per pupil funding based on rates set by their local authority.
They then receive extra funds based on how many disadvantaged pupils they have and the characteristics of the school. | State school debt in England and Wales has increased sharply in the past three years, as budgets tighten and cost pressures hit schools, a report says. |
28317509 | Placed on the chest, it wirelessly transmits data on heart rate, breathing and body-temperature while the patient is free to move around.
Independent experts say the system, developed in Britain, could ease pressure on wards and has the potential to monitor patients in their own home.
But the Royal College of Nursing says there is no substitute for having enough staff.
Routine checks for vital signs - including temperature, blood pressure and heart rate - are a key part of care and safety in hospitals.
Typically they may be carried out every four hours, depending on the patient's condition.
But patients can deteriorate between checks, putting them at risk.
A hospital in Brighton run by the private healthcare firm Spire has been testing the battery-powered patch, which updates information on some of the vital signs every couple of minutes.
The wireless device, developed by the Oxford-based firm Sensium Healthcare, then issues an alert if the readings fall outside pre-set levels, indicating a potential problem.
The patch is placed on the chest just above the heart when the patient is admitted. There are no cables to any monitors. Instead, readings are recorded and transmitted to a box in each room that works like a wi-fi router, passing on data to the hospital IT system.
It does not replace the routine checks, but staff say it does ease some of the pressures.
Victoria Howard, a staff nurse at the hospital said the system was working well.
"It gives us a bit more time with some patients when we know some patients do need that bit more time," she said.
"Without this monitor, you're constantly thinking what's happening in the next room, and I should go in there and check them.
"Knowing this is on and it works well, we're able to spend that bit more time."
Most of the patients at this hospital are in for routine surgery. Some are being treated for cancer.
The matron, Lynette Awdrey, said the patches helped staff focus their efforts on the patients who needed the most support.
"It prioritises you," she said.
"Nothing will ever replace compete with clinical observation and the assessment of the patients. What this does is alert you sooner, so you can fulfil those observations and assessments of the patient and activate the appropriate care and treatment for them."
So far, she said, the patches had provided early detection of deterioration in about 12% of patients who had worn them. That is in line with findings from a small trial with the patches at a hospital in Los Angeles.
This could have important safety implications. A study in the British Medical Journal in 2012 concluded that nearly 12,000 deaths in hospitals in England had been preventable. It said clinical monitoring had been a problem in nearly a third of these deaths.
Another advantage of the device is that patients can move around freely. This reduces the risk of complications such as infections, helping patients to recover more quickly, so they can go home sooner, saving on the costs of healthcare.
David Hardman, 71, is happy to wear the patch.
"It gives me reassurance that there's something, or some equipment looking at it all the time," he said.
"And I think when the nurse is with you her mind is perhaps a bit more with you rather than thinking about what's going on in the other rooms."
Each patch costs £35 and lasts for five days - long enough for most hospital stays.
Independent experts say we are witnessing the start of a revolution in wearable technology, with great potential benefits in healthcare.
Prof Timothy Coats, a consultant in emergency medicine at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said the patch could be useful in a variety of different settings.
"This certainly could have a use in the emergency department from the emergency care phase right through to the first couple of days in hospital when the patient is more liable to deteriorate.
"It also has potentially an application for looking after patients in their own home, because we could observe them remotely rather than in hospital."
However he points out there are limitations with the current model, which measures heart rate, breathing and body temperature. It is being developed to provide more information, on blood pressure and oxygen levels.
The company says the patch is about to be tested at one NHS trust and 20 more are in talks.
The Royal College of Nursing's chief executive, Dr Peter Carter, said new technology could be very helpful in alerting nurses and doctors to a patient who was starting to deteriorate - but he also expressed a note of caution.
"Anything which helps that process has to be a good thing," he said.
"However, we also know that there is no substitute for having enough staff with the right level of skill on every ward, able to give each and every patient the care and attention that critically ill people need." | The NHS is starting to test a sticking-plaster-sized patient-monitoring patch. |
38856339 | Cameroon are in the final despite West Brom's Nyom and Liverpool's Matip being among eight players to refuse call-ups.
"I don't understand people turning down their country," former Senegal striker Diouf told BBC World Service.
"And like the legend Bob Marley always said 'if you don't know where you come from, you don't know where to go'."
Cameroon beat Ghana 2-0 in Thursday's semi-final in Gabon to book a final meeting with Egypt on Sunday.
Diouf, who played for seven British clubs including Liverpool, Bolton and Blackburn, featured in the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations final for Senegal, as well as the World Cup later that year.
He added: "Definitely they'll regret not playing in the Cup of Nations. After your career, what are you going to do? Stay living in Europe? To do what?
"It's always tough to be African, because you can be the best African coach but they'll never give you PSG, Barcelona, Liverpool or Manchester United.
"That's why I say to all the boys: don't turn down your country because the future of this world is in Africa."
As well as defenders Matip and Nyom, other Cameroon players refusing call-ups were Andre Onana (Ajax), Guy N'dy Assembe (Nancy), Maxime Poundje (Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Marseille), Ibrahim Amadou (Lille), and Eric Maxim Choupo Moting (Schalke) who pulled out after the initial seven. | Cameroon pair Joel Matip and Allan Nyom will regret missing the Africa Cup of Nations and should have listened to Bob Marley, according to El Hadji Diouf. |
38636192 | Pro-independence group Inform Scotland set up a crowd-funding initiative last year in order to pay for the campaign.
A van with a mobile advert which read: "BBC is mis-reporting Scotland" parked outside BBC Scotland's headquarters in Glasgow on Monday morning.
A spokesman for the corporation said: "We reject the suggestion that our coverage is partial."
Inform Scotland said the billboard adverts would run for two weeks. They are on display at locations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Kilmarnock and Wishaw.
The van ads will tour the country over the next seven days.
Inform Scotland has accused the BBC of having an "anti-independence agenda".
In a statement, the group said: "We are ordinary people, tired of the distortions of 'news' reporting on BBC Scotland where 'spin' and opinion have long replaced accurate, impartial reporting.
"Unlike all other broadcasters, which are regulated by Ofcom, the BBC regulates itself for impartiality and accuracy. BBC Scotland's news output bears testimony to this.
"Our campaign at Inform Scotland is about shedding light on the importance of journalistic integrity and impartiality from one of the world's biggest broadcasters who claims to operate by these standards but whose actions show otherwise."
A spokesman for BBC Scotland added: "Reassuringly, audiences continue to tell us that the BBC is still the news provider they trust most, while we take heart from the fact that Reporting Scotland is by far the most watched news programme in Scotland with around half a million viewers tuning in every night." | Billboards and van adverts accusing the BBC of bias have been unveiled at locations across Scotland. |
39190476 | Leigh Mutch and Marc Allen's son, Oliver, was stillborn 13 weeks early at Wakefield's Pinderfields General Hospital on 22 September 2015.
The couple said he would have been born alive if staff had performed a caesarean section sooner.
Managers said they "recognised there were significant failings on our part".
Ms Mutch, from Normanton, west Yorkshire, said: "Marc and I were left completely traumatised by Oliver's death. We are still struggling to come to terms with losing him. It is so heart-breaking."
The mother-of-five, 31, said she visited her GP and hospital "on four previous occasions" with concerns about the baby's reduced movements.
Ms Mutch was admitted to the antenatal day unit shortly before 16:00 GMT on 22 September.
She said medics overlooked the severity of her situation and her medical notes and details of Oliver's heart rate were not passed on to the labour ward.
Later that day, a consultant decided Ms Mutch needed the operation but did not categorise it as urgent and it was not performed until 19:30.
"I knew something was not right. I feel completely let down by the maternity services and the treatment I received at Pinderfields Hospital," Ms Mutch said.
"It is so upsetting to know that if Oliver had been delivered earlier, he would be here now."
David Melia, director of nursing and quality at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We offer our deepest condolences and sympathy to the family and we understand that this has been a very traumatic situation for all involved.
"We have since implemented a number of changes to improve the quality of care provided."
The couple received an undisclosed out-of-court settlement and now want to raise awareness of their experience and "of the poor treatment we received". | The parents of a stillborn baby boy said they were "completely let down" by a hospital after bosses admitted it failed to save him. |
37942260 | "He's a good man," said Mr Trump, the soon-to-be 45th president, of his predecessor.
But that compliment belied years of clashes between the two men. Mr Trump has referred to Mr Obama as the "worst president" in the country's history and led a challenge to the legitimacy of his presidency by questioning where he was born.
Mr Obama has returned stinging criticisms by calling Mr Trump "unfit" to be commander-in-chief.
Though their meeting appeared to be cordial, history has shown that the peaceful transition of power between leaders can be outright awkward.
Here is a look at some other rather uncomfortable presidential handovers.
The transition between President John Adams and Vice-President Thomas Jefferson in the tumultuous election of 1800 was famously difficult, according to John Vile, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University and author of Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession.
The acrimonious campaign was considered one of the most significant transitions of power in history after a bitterly fought election that ended with Mr Jefferson, a Democrat-Republican, defeating Mr Adams, a Federalist.
But the presidential electors failed to make clear whether they were voting for Mr Jefferson or his running mate, Aaron Burr, resulting in a tie between the two men. The House of Representatives decided the outcome, electing Mr Jefferson.
The Founding Fathers ended their friendship over the political turmoil and Mr Adams fled Washington before Mr Jefferson's inauguration ceremony.
Mr Hoover once described the man who beat him, Mr Roosevelt, as a "chameleon in plaid", while FDR called his predecessor a "fat, timid capon".
The 1932 election came amid a financial crisis that left the American economy in shambles, ultimately tarnishing President Hoover's legacy, depicting him as a failed leader.
The two men did not like or trust each other. Mr Roosevelt dismissed President Hoover's repeated appeals for joint actions before the transition such as issuing an emergency proclamation to limit bank withdrawals.
Instead, Mr Roosevelt wanted to demonstrate his administration starkly contrasted his predecessor's presidency.
FDR believed Mr Hoover had not done enough to help Americans who suffered in the Great Depression, said Jeffery Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.
The mutual disdain was apparent on inauguration day in March 1933, when the two sat in silence in President Roosevelt's open-top car while en route to the ceremony.
Though the Democratic president had worked with Mr Eisenhower in World War II and in the creation of Nato, the two shared bad blood after Mr Truman invited him to the White House in 1948, according to Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at University of Virginia's Miller Center.
President Truman had entertained the idea of working to nominate Mr Eisenhower as a Democratic candidate for president, but the decorated military general ultimately cast his lot with the Republican Party.
Mr Eisenhower reportedly viewed that offer as a terrible mark of leadership, according to Mr Engel.
The political clash heated up when Mr Eisenhower undermined Mr Truman's military policy on the campaign trail, pledging to personally go to Korea to end the war on American terms.
President Truman also became irate when the general remained silent about comments made by Senator Joe McCarthy.
"He has betrayed almost everything I thought he stood for," Mr Truman said.
The president fuelled the fire by mercilessly attacking Mr Eisenhower personally and professionally as unfit to be president, Ms Perry said.
President-elect Eisenhower ignored a pre-Christmas White House lunch invite, and on inauguration day, refused to greet Mr Truman before they left together for the ceremony.
In the aftermath, President Truman lamented that General Eisenhower was used to people doing what he said and would soon find out that the presidency did not work that way, Mr Engel noted.
"You don't order people as the president, you have to persuade them as the president," Mr Engel said.
"I think that's perhaps analogous to Trump, who as a business person, could just fire someone he didn't like. He has no idea how to work with people he can't fire."
After President Carter lost his re-election bid in 1980 in a hard-fought contest, he reportedly felt Mr Reagan was not paying attention when the two met at the White House.
Republican adviser Richard Darman recalled in a New York Times article in 2000 that during their first meeting, Mr Carter attempted to explain to Mr Reagan that a CIA officer began briefings at 7am each day.
Mr Reagan interrupted him and responded: ''Well, he's sure going to have to wait a long while for me.''
Mr Engel pointed out that Mr Carter had spent the remaining days of his presidency tirelessly working to free the American hostages in Iran, which ultimately came after Mr Reagan was sworn in.
"It really does speak to the fact that the most precious commodity that a president has is time and not every president chooses to maximise time in the same way," he told the BBC.
President Clinton invited George W Bush for coffee before the inauguration day ceremony in 2001 and kept the obsessively punctual president-elect waiting for 10 minutes.
"He was noted for locking the door once cabinet meetings started and if you're a cabinet member and you ran late, woe unto you, you didn't get in," Ms Perry recalled of the future 43rd president. "I can see where that would have really gotten under Bush 43's skin."
To add to the tense confab, Mr Clinton invited Vice-President Al Gore.
Mr Gore had just lost the bitter election to Mr Bush following a dramatic legal battle involving a recount in Florida that ultimately came down to a mere 537 votes.
It is also important to note the long, complicated record of the Clintons and the Bushes at each other's throats on the political battle field, Ms Perry added. Mr Clinton defeated Mr Bush's father, incumbent President George HW Bush, in 1992.
"There was a lot of underlying tension over the fact that Bush had said he was going to restore honour and integrity to the Oval Office, which was a direct swipe at Bill Clinton and what he had done in that office," Mr Engel said, referring to Mr Clinton's indiscretions. | President Barack Obama took the first step in passing the presidential baton to his successor Donald Trump after the two spoke for more than an hour in what was meant to be a brief meeting. |
29685510 | But Taylor Swift has hit back at claims she only writes songs about her ex-boyfriends.
"No-one says that about Ed Sheeran. No-one says that about Bruno Mars," she said in an interview with Australian radio station 2DayFM.
"Frankly, that is a very sexist angle to take."
The 24-year-old added: "I have a really strict personal policy that I never name names. So anybody saying that a song is about a specific person is purely speculating."
But despite never naming names, many people think much of Swift's back catalogue is linked to past relationships.
"My first album came out when I was 16," she said.
"Then what happens is, as you get more successful, you have more and more people paying attention to what you're doing. All of a sudden the perspective has changed.
"They use you writing songs about your life as a way to play detective.
"You're going to have people who are going to say, 'Oh, she just writes songs about her exes'.
"No-one says that about Ed Sheeran. No-one says that about Bruno Mars. They're all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life and no-one raises a red flag there."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Out Of The Woods is rumoured to be about Harry Styles, Dear John about John Mayer, and I Knew You Were Trouble about Jake Gyllenhaal. |
25412344 | Two other men appeared at Belfast Magistrate's Court along with him.
In court were Mr Duffy, 46, of Forest Lane, Lurgan, Henry Fitzsimons, 45, of no fixed abode, and 52-year-old Alex McCrory of Sliabh Dubh View, Belfast.
The latter two are charged with trying to murder members of the PSNI on Belfast's Crumlin Road on 5 December.
All three are also charged with conspiracy to possess firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life, conspiring to murder and belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army.
Mr McCrory and Mr Fitzsimons were both charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life on 5 December in Belfast.
None of the defendants applied for bail. All three were remanded in custody until 14 January.
In the attack on police on 5 December, two police vehicles were hit by gunfire from assault rifles.
Mr Duffy gave a thumbs up sign to supporters who cheered from the public gallery as the three men were led away. | Prominent County Armagh republican Colin Duffy has appeared in court charged with IRA membership and conspiracy to murder. |
16144444 | The new feature works on Apple's iPhones and iPads.
The Android version of the app remains restricted to wi-fi connections for the time being, but the BBC said a web version of the software would support 3G streams soon.
The BBC said it had worked closely with network operators, but analysts fear it could put their systems under strain.
"One potential danger is that people are going to run up unexpectedly high data bills, and the other is the strain that this is going to put on the system if a lot of people start streaming in this way," said Neil McCartney, a telecoms analyst at McCartney Media.
"The system would default to prioritise voice calls, so it wouldn't affect voice calls, but it would mean that people would be unable to use their data services."
A blog from the BBC's executive project manager for iPlayer on mobile, David Madden, said: "We have worked closely with the network operators to introduce 3G streaming so you can watch your favourite TV programme wherever you are or listen to the radio when you are out and about."
BBC spokeswoman, Francesca Sostero, added: "BBC iPlayer is a free service, but mobile network operators may charge for data used over their networks.
"Data charging and mobile network tariffs are the responsibility of the mobile network operators. However, we have included a cost warning message in the BBC iPlayer app to ensure people are aware of their tariffs."
Network operator Vodafone said that it did not envisage any problems, noting that it had already allowed iPlayer to stream over 3G to a number of Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Blackberry devices.
"The Vodafone 3G network covers the vast majority of the UK population and handles over 90 million calls, 80 million texts and 45 terabytes of data on an average day," spokesman Ben Taylor told the BBC.
"Our network has been built with smartphones in mind and we're continually investing in it to ensure that it meets the needs of smartphone customers across the country."
A spokeswoman for Orange added: "We are confident that our customers will enjoy using the updated access to BBC content that it offers."
However the BBC's iPlayer and other TV network's streams have previously caused friction between broadcasters and internet service providers.
In 2008 ISP Tiscali said the BBC should contribute to the cost of broadband network upgrades necessary to deal with extra demand.
Although the regulator Ofcom said that was a bad idea,BT introduced a serviceearlier this year under which ISPs can charge content providers a fee in return for guaranteeing them high-speed delivery of their streams.
PCPro reported that TalkTalk - the firm which took over Tiscali - has also said it would be"perfectly normal business practice to discriminate"between content providers based on their willingness to pay a charge.
Users of other 3G video services have previously complained of stuttering pictures and poor sound quality. The BBC said it had implemented HTTP live streaming with adaptive bitrate technologies to get around this problem.
"This enables us to detect the strength of your wi-fi or 3G connection and serve the appropriate video quality," wrote Mr Madden.
"If you have low internet signal strength then the video stream will adapt down to suit your connection speed; if you move onto a stronger signal then the video stream will automatically improve in quality. The idea is to give you the best possible experience wherever you are."
Mr Madden also confirmed the app was now compatible with Apple's Airplay technology, allowing users to stream content to their televisions via the US firm's Apple TV box - a feature long demanded by users. | An update to the BBC's iPlayer app allows it to stream video over all of the UK's 3G mobile networks. |
35152382 | The girl remains in a critical condition after a suspected hit-and-run incident in Grange Lane, Stourbridge, West Midlands on Thursday.
Adnan Ajram, 24, from Careless Green, Lye, will appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 14 March.
He is charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop.
He is also charged with being unfit to drive through drink or drugs and other driving offences. | A man has appeared in court after a 15-year-old girl was left with serious injuries after being hit by a car. |
36323914 | Forwards Ashley Chambers and Ashley Hemmings and defender Josh Passley, who all made over 30 appearances this season, are among those leaving.
Goalkeeper Liam O'Brien and defenders Jack Connors, Clevid Dikamona, Justin Hoyte and Ian Gayle will also depart.
Midfielders Matt Richards and Zavon Hines and striker Ade Yusuff round off the exits from Victoria Road.
Teenage winger Jodi Jones joined Coventry City for an undisclosed fee last week.
Dagenham finished 23rd in League Two, nine points from safety, as their nine-season stay in the Football League came to an end. | Dagenham & Redbridge manager John Still has released 11 players following their relegation from League Two. |
34588558 | In its latest report on the subject, the CBI accepts there are problems with EU membership but that these are greatly outweighed by the benefits.
It says most of its members want to stay within the 28-country bloc.
Those on the other side of the hotly contested issue say the UK would be better served through a more distant relationship with the EU.
The CBI's report says the plan for a referendum on membership by 2017 means it is that essential business becomes involved in the debate.
"Just as 'more Europe' isn't the answer to every question, neither is 'no Europe'," the report says. "Being a member of the European Union helps British businesses to grow and create more jobs across the UK."
It says membership gives UK businesses access to more than 500 million customers within the single market, and the EU's size allows its trade negotiators go 'toe-to-toe' with global giants like the US and China to open up their markets.
The CBI also says membership is good for households. It says that if membership is worth about 4-5% of national income, this would mean £3,000 for each household on average.
However, the lobby group points to areas where renegotiation would be helpful, in particular on issues such as regulation of smaller firms.
Will Straw, the executive director of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, commented: "The CBI report blows a huge hole in the out campaign's argument. Being part of Europe boosts the UK economy by increasing our trade and investment in turn supporting millions of jobs here at home.
"We already have the best of both worlds, trading within the EU and other countries. Why would we put that at risk?"
Who are the groups campaigning to leave the EU?
Vote Leave comprises a cross-party group of MPs and peers from the Conservatives and Labour, and UKIP's only MP Douglas Carswell.
It is being run by Taxpayers' Alliance campaign group founder Matthew Elliot, who organised the successful 'No2AV' campaign in the referendum on Westminster's voting system, and Dominic Cummings, a former special adviser to Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove.
It has the backing of three existing Eurosceptic groups: Conservatives for Britain; Labour Leave and Business for Britain, and is being funded by party donors.
Leave.EU was formerly called The Know and rebranded when an amended referendum question was proposed. Founded by UKIP donor Arron Banks, it has been described by UKIP leader Nigel Farage as an "umbrella group" of anti-EU campaigners.
It describes itself as "Britain's fastest-growing grassroots organisation" and claims to have gained 175,000 members since The Know was launched in August. | Leaving the European Union would have "serious downsides" for Britain, business lobby group the CBI says. |
26815061 | The atmosphere was a little flat, with the warm-up speakers struggling to provoke much return volume from a crowd that contained more than a few dozing heads.
It was in stark contrast to an open-air rally in Delhi a few days earlier for Mr Gandhi's main challenger, Narendra Modi, where supporters chanted his name with frenzied devotion for hours before his arrival.
But as the first thwack, thwack of the rotors sliced through the warm afternoon over Ghaziabad, there was a surge of excitement.
Congress party supporters leapt onto chairs for a better view. Nearby rooftops filled with local people straining to see the helicopter descend.
They were all empty again though by the time Mr Gandhi started speaking.
In his defence, he was on opposition turf in this mixed urban constituency - the incumbent is a senior figure in Mr Modi's BJP.
But it was a discouraging start for the latest scion of the Gandhi dynasty to front the Congress party, already weighed down by the perception that it is on the ropes after a decade in power.
The party is gambling on making him the sole face of its campaign, in effect airbrushing out the people who have actually been running the country and are most associated with the corruption scandals and wheezing economy that have brought the Congress low.
Neither his mother and party leader, Sonia Gandhi, nor the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, feature on its core election posters, leaving Mr Gandhi's youthful features, often trendily unshaven, beaming out alone.
But although he looks cheerful on the posters, he hasn't seemed so happy in person about being the frontman.
In his only television interview so far (his only interview in the 10 years since he became an MP) Mr Gandhi gave the impression he was doing the job because his birth gave him no choice, rather than because of any ambition. And his performance was widely slated.
Even now, he is not officially Congress' prime ministerial candidate - reportedly at his mother's insistence, which Mr Modi seized on as proof of the party's "imminent defeat".
Speaking in public Mr Gandhi comes across well and as a likeable and caring man.
There was real affection for him among many in the audience.
"We need him because he is young, not like the old men in the cabinet," said one enthusiastic supporter in the separate women's enclosure at the front. "He is the only male politician who understands the issue of women's safety," said another.
They clapped when he pointed to the enclosure and reeled off one of his regular lines, that "India will not be a superpower until it empowers its women".
He promised to improve India's creaking education system and that "everything made in China today would be made in India tomorrow".
But the applause was polite rather than adoring.
His problem is that the Congress has had 10 years to do all this - even if he wasn't in charge.
And if it is defeated in May, many predict the end of the Gandhi family's grip on the party too. | "We've come to see the helicopter," said two friends matter-of-factly as they waited for Rahul Gandhi to arrive at a political rally in Ghaziabad, near Delhi, this weekend. |
36101907 | Teachers marched from Llandrindod High School to county hall holding banners and chanting.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said the strike was on behalf of children "whose right to a good education is being undermined."
Powys council's cabinet member for schools, Arwel Jones said he was disappointed by the union's action.
The authority is consulting on plans to reorganise secondary schools in the mid and south of the county.
Councillor Jones said schools are facing "major challenges" and that strike action would "not deflect their programme but could disrupt the work of school pupils at a crucial time."
Nineteen Powys schools have been affected by the strike - six are fully closed and 13 partially.
NUT organiser Cai Jones said the turnout for the march was "wonderful," with parents and children joining the teachers.
"We walked through the centre of town and the community really got behind us," he said.
"People came out of their shops to show their support and cars beeped as they passed."
The teachers handed a list of their demands to Powys council at county hall and met in Llandrindod Pavilion afterwards to discuss the changes they want to see. | About 200 people have taken part in strike action in Powys in protest over "excessive workload and cuts". |
31011564 | Mohammed Ashrafi is accused of conning 18 people in Leicester who had personal problems, illnesses or financial difficulties.
Leicester Crown Court heard he told his victims they would win a lottery draw last March.
Mr Ashrafi, who worked from a house in Babingley Drive, Leicester, denies 15 counts of fraud and one of blackmail.
James House, prosecuting, said Mr Ashrafi used "elaborate confidence tricks" and was "a vulture who preyed on people at their most vulnerable".
"They wanted to believe in him and he used that to get their money. It devastated their lives," he said.
Mr House said Mr Ashrafi advertised his services in the local media, describing himself as a devotee of Sai Baba.
He "hooked in" his victims by convincing them he could communicate directly with the Indian spiritual master, prompting them to hand over thousands of pounds, the court heard.
One victim gave him £100,000, the prosecution said.
Mr Ashrafi worked from the Leicester house between 2013 and early 2014 and told his victims they would win the lottery on 28 March last year.
But, by the time they realised they had been conned he had left the city.
The trial is expected to last a month. | An astrologer and faith healer was a conman who made £650,000 preying on the vulnerable, a court heard. |
35098302 | The combined business is expected to generate $16bn in annual revenue.
Newell Rubbermaid chief executive Michael Polk said the purchase created "incredible potential to grow and create value".
The deal should create savings of $500m in the first four years.
Shares of Newell Rubbermaid, which owns dozens of consumer brands including Parker and Sharpie pens and Rubbermaid cleaning products, fell 7%.
Jarden shares closed up 2.7% following the announcement on Monday.
Mr Polk said the deal would be financed by issuing about $5bn in new debt and 221m new shares.
Concerns over the levels of debt that the combined company, to be called Newell Brands, will take on is one reason why the shares fell.
Analysts also pointed to disappointment that Martin Franklin, founder and executive chairman of Jarden, will not have an executive role in the new company.
Neil Saunders, chief executive of research firm Conlumino, said the deal would make it easier to fend off retailers' demands for price cuts.
Wal-Mart, which provides nearly 13% of Newell Rubbermaid's revenue. has asked some suppliers to reduce prices this year.
In recent years Newell Rubbermaid has grown by making a series of acquisitions.
In October it bought adhesives maker Elmer's and last December acquired Baby Jogger, a maker of sporty prams.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016 if it wins the approval of shareholders in both companies . | Consumer products company Newell Rubbermaid said it would buy competitor Jarden, the owner of brands including Breville and Sunbeam, for $15.4bn (£10bn). |
35276042 | Mr Obama would be "out there" campaigning after the primaries are over, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told NBC's Meet the Press.
Polls appear to favour Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is also in the running.
The other remaining contender for the Democratic Party nomination is former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley.
Mr McDonough said Mr Obama's decision was no different from "what has been done in the past".
Meet the possible candidates
Is Donald Trump destroying the Republican Party?
Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton fought each other for the Democratic Party nomination in 2008, when he won his first term. She became his secretary of state.
The process of nomination for Democrats and Republicans begins in February with the Iowa caucus.
The Republicans go on to choose their candidate for the presidency at the nominating convention between 18 and 21 July in Cleveland.
The Democratic National Convention takes place from 25 July in Philadelphia. | President Barack Obama will not publicly back any presidential candidate before the Democratic Party has chosen who is to lead its battle to retain the White House in November. |
26445897 | Councillors at the Green-led authority voted to extend the scheme, which was introduced in the city centre in April, at a meeting on Tuesday.
The council said the limit had brought a fall in traffic speed on 74% of roads.
The new areas include parts of East Brighton and West Hove, and outside the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
Duncan Blinkhorn, from the cycling group Bike Train, welcomed the new limit.
"I think anything that makes the roads safer and feel more civilised and calmer is a great thing for the city, for cyclists but also for everyone else," he said.
Brighton council said 15,000 people took part in the consultation.
Some respondents said the lower limits were unnecessary, and that the city centre limits were being ignored. | A 20mph speed limit is to be extended to nine more areas in Brighton and Hove. |
29231936 | The files show that all too often Agent Fifi, as she was known, was able to get them to "spill the beans".
The agent, real name Marie Chilver, was employed to test out trainee agents in Britain before they were sent to occupied Europe in World War Two.
Her file is one of thousands released by the National Archives in London.
Chilver, the daughter of an English father and Latvian mother, first came to the attention of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1941 when she helped an airman - Flt Lt Simpson, shot down over France - get back to England.
Suspicious that she was a German agent - she apparently looked too healthy for someone who had been in a prison camp, from which she had escaped - he called her "one of the most expert liars in the world".
However, once confident of her identity, the SOE put her to work in the UK masquerading as a French freelance journalist.
Chilver would start chatting to trainee agents in hotels and bars to see if they had learned how to keep secrets.
Most of them had not - one young promising Belgian agent was a case in point.
"Fifi" reported that by the end of the evening she had found out just about all there was to know about him, and his employment was terminated shortly after.
She insisted there was "absolute fairness" about her methods, saying it would help those trainees who did get through to "outwit all the Fifis they are likely to meet in their future career".
"Compared to what is most likely to happen in the field, it is very mild and innocent. It would be a pity to have to give up this method, because it does give the students a good chance of using their brains (or just their low cunning)," she wrote.
According to the National Archives blog, Chilver "was known to be stubborn, even stroppy - but with a strong moral sense".
She won compensation from the Soviet Union for property taken from her Latvian family, and used some of the money to set up an animal charity in the country.
She lived in the Wye Valley on the English-Welsh border with her lifelong friend - and fellow former intelligence officer - Jean Felgate.
Chilver died on 5 November 2007. Her file is among 3,300 intelligence and security documents from World War Two being made available for the first time online by the National Archives.
They have previously been available only in the reading rooms of the National Archives at Kew. | Wartime records have revealed the existence of a female secret agent whose job was to see if other agents could keep their mouths shut. |
19853903 | One of two aircraft carrying the suspects arrived in the state of Connecticut in the early hours of Saturday. The other is bound for New York state.
Abu Hamza is thought to be on the second plane.
The men were deported after UK High Court judges dismissed a final appeal.
They said the five men, Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz, did not show "new and compelling" reasons to stay in the UK.
Abu Hamza faces 11 charges in the US relating to hostage taking, conspiracy to establish a militant training camp and calling for holy war in Afghanistan.
Once he lands he is set to appear in front of a judge within 24 hours in an open hearing.
Mr al-Fawwaz and Mr Bary are accused of being aides to Osama Bin Laden in London. Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan face charges in connection with the alleged running of a pro-jihad website.
Officers from the UK police's extradition unit handed the men to US marshals at the Mildenhall Royal Air Force base in Suffolk.
A police convoy brought the suspects from Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire to Suffolk at 19:15 BST.
In a statement, Home Secretary Theresa May said she was pleased that the court decision meant "these men, who used every available opportunity to frustrate and delay the extradition process over many years, could finally be removed".
She said: "This government has co-operated fully with the courts and pressed at every stage to ensure this happened.
"It is right that these men, who are all accused of very serious offences, will finally face justice."
Abu Hamza is expected to be held at the Metropolitan Correction Centre in New York in an area reserved for high-profile prisoners.
A pre-trial hearing is likely to take place within about three weeks. The actual trial, which should take place in a public courtroom, could take between one and three years.
A US District Court hearing has been scheduled for Mr Ahmad and Mr Ahsan in Connecticut later, according to officials.
The two men are thought to be aboard the plane bound for the state, where an internet service provider was allegedly used to host one of the websites.
The High Court ruling on Friday afternoon brought to an end a long-running legal battle. The men's extradition requests were submitted between 1998 and 2006, between eight and 14 years ago.
The suspects final appeal came after the European Court of Human Rights agreed with successive UK courts, that they should face extradition.
Judges Sir John Thomas and Mr Justice Ousley said in their ruling that there was an "overwhelming public interest in the functioning of the extradition system" and that there was "no appeal from our decision".
Sir John added that there was little doubt each man had, over the years, "either taken or had the opportunity to take every conceivable point to prevent his extradition to the United States".
Their written ruling, read out in court, concluded that "each of the claimants' applications for permission to apply for judicial review or for a reopening of the statutory appeals be dismissed". | Five terror suspects, including the radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, are on their way to face charges in the US after extradition from the UK. |
23265632 | It comes as Washington is continuing to evaluate last week's overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the army.
US massive military aid to Cairo would have to be cut by law if the removal of the Islamist leader is determined by Washington to have been a coup.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Mr Morsi, is demanding his reinstatement.
Its supporters have been staging mass protests near Cairo's barracks, where he is believed to be being held. On Monday, more than 50 Brotherhood loyalists were killed in clashes with the army.
The new authorities have not said where Mr Morsi is, but a foreign ministry spokesman said he was in a "safe place" and being treated in a "very dignified manner".
The US officials say Washington will deliver four F-16 fighter jets in the next few weeks.
They are part of an already agreed bigger order of 20 planes - eight of which were sent to Egypt in January. The final eight are expected to be shipped later this year.
Egypt authorities accused of cover-up
Egypt clashes: Divided views
Is Egypt heading for holy war?
Lessons of the Arab Spring protests
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday reiterated that it would not be "in the best interests of the United States to make immediate changes to our assistance programmes".
He added that the administration would take its time to consider the implications of removing Mr Morsi from power.
US military aid to Egypt is estimated to be $1.3bn (£860m) each year.
President Barack Obama has been careful not to use the word "coup" in relation to events in Egypt, the BBC's Katy Watson in Washington reports, as doing so would trigger the legal requirement to cut off aid.
On Wednesday, arrest warrants were issued for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and nine other senior figures in the movement.
They are charged with inciting Monday's deadly violence in the capital, in which more than 50 Brotherhood supporters, a soldier and two policemen died.
The Brotherhood says the army fired on peaceful demonstrators and it is accusing the interim authorities of a cover up. The military, however, say soldiers acted in self-defence after being attacked by armed assailants.
Many Brotherhood members are already in detention and warrants are said to have been issued for hundreds more.
Correspondents say the new warrants could scupper any attempts to persuade the Brotherhood - banned for decades under former President Hosni Mubarak - to participate in the transitional political process.
The timetable for new elections was announced in a constitutional declaration by interim President Adly Mansour on Monday evening. It laid out plans to set up a panel to amend the suspended constitution within 15 days.
The changes would then be put to a referendum - to be organised within four months - which would pave the way for parliamentary elections, possibly in early 2014.
Once the new parliament convenes, elections would be called to appoint a new president.
Key players in the Egyptian crisis
Profile: Hazem el-Beblawi
Q&A: Egypt in turmoil
The Brotherhood has rejected the transition plan and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), has said it will turn down a post in the cabinet being formed by the interim Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi.
Mr Beblawi said on Thursday that he had not ruled out offering posts to the FJP.
"I don't look at political association," he told the AFP news agency.
"I'm taking two criteria for the next government. Efficiency and credibility."
The main liberal opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (NSF), and the grassroots Tamarod protest movement, which co-ordinated the anti-Morsi protests, said they were not consulted on the decree and have concerns about it. | The US is going ahead with plans to deliver four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt despite the political unrest in the country, senior American officials say. |
30924896 | The education review also wants to establish at least one Welsh medium secondary school in the county.
It is understood that the report compiled by Price Waterhouse Cooper would put 97 jobs at risk.
The review will be considered by the council's cabinet on 27 January.
"The review provides us with clear evidence that we need to reduce the number of secondary schools, sixth-forms and change the way we deliver Welsh medium education to make the most of our resources and deliver a service fit for the 21st century," insisted Arwel Jones, who is responsible for education in Powys council's cabinet.
"The findings are not the end of the process but the start of an intensive period of work that aims to provide a secondary school structure that can deliver the very best for learners of Powys." | Three Powys secondary schools should be shut and the number of sixth-forms in the county cut to just six, according to a report being considered by the authority. |
21172259 | Net profit came in at $13.1bn (£8.7bn), unchanged from a year earlier due in part to higher costs associated with new product launches.
Revenue was up 18% at $54.5bn, thanks to record sales of iPhones and iPads, the company said.
But Apple shares fell in after-hours trading, as sales of the iPhone in particular disappointed.
By Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent
After seeing Apple's shares plunge nearly 30% - a move based almost entirely on sentiment rather than hard information - investors finally have some data to assess. Apple's Tim Cook said he was thrilled by results showing his firm's best ever revenue. The superlatives kept pouring out during the analysts' conference call - best ever iPhone and iPad sales, record music and app sales, growth in iPhone sales in China in the triple digits - and a cash pile of $137bn.
But, strange as it might seem, all of that evidence that Apple continues to be a phenomenal money-making machine may not be enough for Wall Street, which had expected even more. The big worry will be about iPhone sales which analysts had expected to be about 2 million higher.
Tim Cook was pressed on whether the firm had got the right sized screens, and on rumours that orders for new component supplies had been cut. He insisted Apple had got the best screens in the ideal size and that a complex supply chain made the rumours about cuts meaningless.
But the real problem for Apple is not the numbers but the fear amongst investors that its best days may be over, that it will never find another innovation to match the iPhone or iPad. Tim Cook insisted his firm was working on some "incredible stuff" but Wall Street will want to see it before it starts buying the shares again.
Shares in the firm have fallen almost 30% since September over concerns the company may be losing its edge over increasingly confident competitors.
The company's products are facing a growing challenge from Samsung and other makers of Android-based devices.
Some analysts have said Apple is not competitive on price in key emerging markets where many cannot afford their products and other firms sell smartphones at much lower prices.
However, as well as a rival, Samsung is also a supplier to Apple. Its shares fell 1.7% on the news of the disappointing iPhone sales.
LG, which provides displays for Apple products, fell 3.1%, and Hon Hai, which assembles iPhones and iPads, dropped 3.2%.
Apple said it sold 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, up from 37 million a year earlier, and 22.9 million iPads, compared with 15.4 million in the same period in 2011.
Many analysts had expected iPhone sales, following the release of the iPhone 5 in September, to break the 50 million mark.
"We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54bn and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive.
"We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world."
Analysts took rather a different view.
"The revenue number is dismal as far as what the expectations were," said Jeff Sica at Sica Wealth Management. However, he added that Apple was suffering from a "curse of high expectations". | Computing giant Apple has reported flat profits and record revenues that still fell short of market expectations. |
39977068 | The 25-year-old former Plymouth forward plays in the fifth tier for Camborne but has been an integral part of Cornwall's County Championship success.
"He's the full package," Dawe told BBC Radio Cornwall. "He's extremely skilful, knowledgeable and fit but most of all he puts his head where it hurts.
"If I was given the vote I'd give him world player of the year," he joked.
Matavesi's brothers Josh and Joel will both play in the top tier next season, having signed for Newcastle.
He is expected to feature as Cornwall host Hertfordshire in Camborne on Saturday in a game which will see them reach the Twickenham final for a fifth year running if they avoid defeat.
"I've got a massive amount of respect for him," added Dawe. "He could be a Premiership player, couldn't he?
"What the selectors and coaches have done is nothing short of a miracle really, to get these bunch of players together and produce a really homed unit." | Cornwall head coach Graham Dawe says Fiji back row Sam Matavesi has the attributes to be a Premiership player. |
36782924 | The Italian, 25, spent last season on loan at AC Milan but has now returned to Liverpool for pre-season training.
The former Manchester City striker has scored four goals for the Reds since joining the club in 2014.
"He's not at the stage of his career where he should be battling with four or five players for one or two positions," said Klopp.
"So it's clear we need a solution. There will be a club who would be happy to have the new Mario Balotelli."
Balotelli scored just three goals in a 23-game loan spell at the San Siro last season, and was not named in Italy's Euro 2016 squad.
Meanwhile, Klopp says the Reds are eager to resolve the future of Wales midfielder Joe Allen, who has a year left on his deal.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has told striker Mario Balotelli to find a new club. |
33857616 | Families spent the night in a school hall after the 500lb bomb was found in the basement of a building site in Bethnal Green on Monday afternoon.
An exclusion zone was extended to 200m (650ft), resulting in more people being evacuated, Tower Hamlets Council said.
Bomb disposal experts are still at the scene, the Ministry of Defence said.
The bomb, which was found by contractors, was thought to have been dropped over the capital during German bombing raids in the early 1940s but did not detonate, said the London Fire Brigade (LFB).
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets Council said: "After discussions with the Army, the London Fire Brigade, and the Metropolitan Police, we have agreed to extend the exclusion zone to 200 metres.
"We understand this will cause inconvenience for a lot of residents. We urge residents to look at alternative places to stay for the night."
Beds, food, drinks, and wash bags were provided at the Bethnal Green Academy, which is being used as a rest centre, following the discovery on Temple Street.
An MoD spokesman said a bomb disposal team from the Royal Logistic Corps was on site and assisting police.
Last night residents took to Twitter to share their experiences.
Rachel Walker wrote: "WWII bomb in #BethnalGreen has resurrected Blitz Spirit."
LFB station manager Matt Burrows said its search and rescue crews were helping the military.
He said a "great deal of work" was being carried out to defuse the bomb.
"This however, will be a protracted incident and we thank the local residents for their patience," he added.
Several roads remained closed and police have warned of "significant traffic disruption" into the morning rush hour.
Motorists were advised to avoid several roads including: Old Bethnal Green Road, Warner Place, Squirries Street, Bethnal Green Road, Cambridge Heath Road and Hackney Road.
Two other unexploded bombs were discovered and safely removed from sites in London earlier this year - one in Bermondsey in March and another in Wembley in May. | Experts are continuing their work to try to defuse an unexploded World War Two bomb which prompted the evacuation of 150 people in east London. |
37603934 | Shane Long's early strike for the Republic was cancelled out by an Igor Bugaev equaliser, but two James McClean goals secured a second successive win.
"We played excellently in the first half. We should have maybe been two or three in front," said O'Neill.
"The goal knocked us back for a while but we came around in the second half."
The Republic's win leaves them level on seven points with Group D leaders Serbia, who edged out Austria 3-2 in Belgrade. Wales are two points back after drawing 1-1 with Georgia in Cardiff.
O'Neill acknowledged his side had made a "nice start" to the campaign, but added there was a "long way to go".
"We've come through three difficult games," he said. "We've got seven points on the board but it's too early to call."
O'Neill said he was very disappointed by Moldova's equaliser on the stroke of half-time, with central defender Shane Duffy exposed as Alexandru Gatcan's long ball released Bugaev to shoot past Darren Randolph.
"It was a very poor goal from our point of view," he said. "Losing the ball three or four yards from their touchline and for them to score just before half-time was ludicrous."
The Republic were criticised after a laboured 1-0 win over Georgia on Thursday - and McClean urged the Irish media to be more "realistic".
"The Irish press need a realisation... we're not going to blow things away, said the Derryman.
"We've always been a team that works hard and when has a win never been enough?"
The West Brom winger, 27, said he was "fortunate enough to be in the right position twice" for his second-half goals in Chisinau.
"I'm delighted - more so for the team than myself," he added. | Republic of Ireland played with "a bit of panache" during Sunday's 3-1 World Cup qualifying victory in Moldova, said manager Martin O'Neill. |
35160192 | David Sell, from East Kilbride, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court, charged with abduction, assault to severe injury and danger of life.
He made no plea or declaration and was remanded in custody.
The victim, 45, was attacked at his home in Barnsley, shot in the legs and abandoned in East Kilbride on 13 March.
Emergency services found him on a grass verge in the South Lanarkshire town, near the junction of Stewartfield Way and Stewartfield Crescent.
He was taken to Hairmyres Hospital for extensive treatment and has since been released.
Police in Scotland and England launched a large-scale investigation named Operation Draken to trace those responsible. | A man has appeared in court charged with the abduction and assault of a man who was dumped in Scotland, more than 250 miles from his home in Yorkshire. |
32570835 | They had travelled for three days from the vast Sambisa forest where they were rescued, according to the army.
The group arrived in trucks and jeeps at a school converted into the camp in the city of Yola.
Earlier, the military said another 234 women and children had been rescued.
It said that operation took place on Thursday in the forest, a militant hideout.
Reports suggest nearly 700 women have been rescued from Boko Haram over the past week as the army continues its operation against militant strongholds.
But it is still not clear if any of the more than 200 girls abducted from a school in Chibok in April 2014 were among those freed.
The case caused international outrage and triggered a major campaign to get the Nigerian government to work for their release.
The military said the freed hostages were being screened to establish their identities.
Some analysts are sceptical of the army's claims - querying the the use of the term "rescue", says BBC Africa Editor Richard Hamilton.
They say the women were probably picked up by the military after the militants had fled.
While the army says the latest group freed were Boko Haram captives, a local senator says the women and children previously released may have been residents of the area.
The military earlier said it had destroyed 13 camps belonging to the Islamist insurgents in the Sambisa forest, which surrounds a reserve in Borno.
Thousands have been killed in northern Nigeria since Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
In February, Nigeria's military, backed by troops from neighbouring countries, launched a major offensive against the Islamist fighters, recapturing Boko Haram territory taken in the previous year. | A group of nearly 300 women and girls, who the Nigerian army says were freed from Boko Haram militants earlier this week, have been taken to a refugee camp in north-eastern Nigeria. |
34289582 | The annual report of Dundee Parish Church for 1915, written by the Reverend Mr Ferguson, says: "Of all the black days that 1915 brought us, the blackest was that day in September when the news came that practically all the officers and a great number of the men of the 4th Black Watch, Dundee's own, were either killed, wounded or prisoners.
"A service like that memorial service held in our parish church on 6 October is one no member of the crowded congregation will ever forget.
"It was the city on its knees before God seeking the consecration of our common sorrow, our common sympathy, our common grateful pride, our common united purpose to bring to victory that righteous cause to which our honoured dead had given the last full measure of devotion."
An estimated 30,000 Scots from 45 battalions fought at the Battle of Loos in World War One, and about 7,000 were killed.
The British offensive, which began on 25 September, was part of an attempt by the French to break through German defences in northern France.
After partial success on the first day, the Germans reinforced and the Allied infantry were mowed down as they advanced on enemy positions.
The carnage had a devastating effect across Scotland, but Dundee was hit particularly hard.
A decade after the battle, an impressive war memorial, constructed of Cornish granite, was unveiled on Dundee Law, overlooking the town and the Tay.
The losses the city suffered are memorialised by the lighting of the flame on the war memorial every 25 September.
Dr Derek Patrick, of Dundee University, says: "If you look at the opening day of the battle it is hugely significant to Dundee and it is hugely significant to Scotland.
"Something like 30,000 or more Scots participated, representatives from all over the Scottish infantry regiments are there, so it is very much a Scottish battle.
"But Dundee is represented by its local territorial battalion - the 4th Black Watch. The officers tend to be the great and the good from Dundee."
Dr Patrick added: "Harry Walker, the commanding officer, is a partner in the Caldrum jute works, the sergeants tend to be the men who are foremen in the shipyards and the jute mills, and the other ranks are the men who work there.
"So they are really close-knit. This is quite a close-knit battalion - a city at war basically - who suffer fairly appalling casualties that day.
"In fact after the Battle of Loos they effectively cease to be a battalion in its own right. They go into action with 400-plus men and lose over 200."
Another memorial to the battle is in St Mary's church in Dundee.
Historian Dr Ann Petrie says among the carvings on the memorial are acorns, representing hope and new life, not something modern generations would associate with war.
Dr Petrie says we tend to approach these memorials with pathos and a narrative about the futility of war but the generation that built them were actually proud.
She says: "They wanted to indicate the pride of sacrifice, they even experience joy that their fathers, their sons, had stepped up to the plate in the time of need."
The historian says the war memorials are a "colossal generational effort to end war for humanity" and celebrate the gift that those who fell gave to future generations.
On the church memorial there is an inscription 'living or dead we are comrades all'.
Dr Petrie says: "It is just so sad because it is something you would only associate with the First World War where battalions were comprised of neighbours and friends and work colleagues - and the 4th battalion were literally Dundee.
"They moved the culture of Dundee with them to the Front and they would have all known each other.
"They lived and died together in the Battle of Loos. They worked in the mills together and they fell in the trenches together."
A century on from the Battle of Loos and the solemn grandeur of the Dundee Law memorial remains a fitting tribute to the men who died in what Lord Provost Bob Duncan calls "Dundee's darkest hour".
However, the city's universities have combined to create a more 21st century way of remembering the battle and its effects on the city.
They have trawled contemporary accounts from newspapers and other records and mapped the stories to locations around the city.
The information about the people who took part in the battle has been compiled to create a "digital visualisation" of the effect of the war which can be accessed on a tablet computer touchscreen.
Derek Patrick of Dundee University says: "We are quite well served in the area with DC Thomson and the newspapers of the time are filled with wonderful stories, real gems of information on these men.
"We have turned up some fantastic stories and it is really from there that we have been able to plot where these men lived, their addresses where they worked and so on."
His research has been used by Dr Iain Donald of Abertay University and his students to tell the story of the 4th Black Watch and the scale of losses of men from the city.
Dr Donald says: "We are using a 1915 map of Dundee and we are mapping locations of those that were killed in action or those missing or injured.
"There are a lot of people who sacrificed themselves on that day and it is their very first action and they leave behind families, and they are not small families."
Dr Donald says it was not uncommon for a soldier to leave behind a wife and seven children. That had a massive impact on the city.
For Dr Donald the individual stories of each soldier "show how the heart of the community is being ripped out by something that happens 600 or 700 miles away". | The tragic losses of Loos, the largest British battle of 1915, were felt throughout every village and town in Scotland but for Dundee it was its "darkest hour". |
35110841 | David Lander, of Montrose, was caught on CCTV at Wagley's bar in Exchange Street and Sizzlers in Guild Street at the end of November.
Lander admitted the crimes at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. He was estimated to have taken about £160 in total.
The court heard he had lost his bus ticket home.
Sheriff Donald Ferguson told Lander: "This has crossed the custodial threshold by a large margin.
"This was a mean and despicable offence and it's important that you are jailed immediately."
The tin at Wagley's was in aid of Children's Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) and the bar is raising funds to replace the money. | A man who was filmed stealing two charity tins from a pub and a takeaway in Aberdeen has been jailed for five months. |
20656680 | Eden Gardens in Kolkata was the ground where India pulled off the mother of all comebacks to defeat Steve Waugh's Australia in 2001 after following on. Until Sunday, they were unbeaten at the ground since 1999 and had won their last two Tests at the venue by an innings.
And yet here they were, being taken apart in their own backyard by England, losing heavily after winning the toss for the second Test in a row to fall 2-1 behind in the series with one to play.
India can still salvage a draw by winning the final Test in Nagpur, which starts on Thursday, but for many observers in this most cricket-obsessed of nations, the time has come for an overhaul of an overpaid, unfit and underachieving squad.
On Sunday the Times of India ran an editorial headlined 'It's Time for a Clean-up' in which it argued that "drastic steps" were needed for a side that "fields terribly, bowls pathetically and capitulates cravenly while batting".
Much of its criticism was aimed at players who have long enjoyed demi-god status in India, with the Times calling for legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar and World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Dhoni to be dropped, along with opener Gautum Gambhir and veteran bowler Zaheer Khan.
Television channels got in on the act too, with one rolling news station running a live debate entitled 'Sack stars, save India' with the strap-lines 'Why these non-performers must go' and 'They've shamed India'.
It's all a far cry from 16 months ago when India arrived in England as the number one Test side in the world after an unbeaten run of 11 series under Dhoni's captaincy. Since then they have suffered 4-0 whitewashes in England and Australia and are now in danger of losing a home series for the first time since Australia beat them in 2004.
Rahul Dravid, who scored 13,288 runs at an average of 52.31 in 164 Tests for India, says the Indian public are right to be angry.
"A lot of people are upset not just by losing but the manner of the defeats," Dravid, who retired from international cricket in March, told BBC Test Match Special.
"India won three tosses and had the wicket in their favour in Mumbai and the best of the batting conditions here in Kolkata but they just haven't been able to capitalise or put up a fight."
As the dust settled on India's latest humiliation, India's selectors went some way to meeting demands for change by dropping Yuvraj and Zaheer from the squad for the final Test and replacing them with seamer Parvinder Awana and batsman Ravindra Jadeja, both of whom are uncapped.
"After Ahmedabad, a few basic things were rammed home to the England team. Deep down, they knew they had a better bowling attack than India, but that was never going to do them any good unless they had runs to play with. The tourists worked out what they had to do - bat long, sell your wicket dearly."
Read the rest of Jonathan Agnew's column
Although both have impressive records - with Jadeja one of only eight players to have struck three first-class triple hundreds - Dravid said he doubted whether Indian domestic cricket was really preparing players for the demands of the Test arena and suggested they could learn lessons from the English system.
"England have put a mirror up to the Indian cricket team and shown them the challenges that they face," he said.
"Successful teams have a group of players who come through together and peak at the same time. One of the challenges India face is that our domestic cricket is not of the quality to allow players to seamlessly move into international cricket.
"I think having A tours and the academy system is becoming more and more important and I think England have been pretty good with that in the way that the academy travels every winter to different parts of the world. I think that is something India can learn from England.
"It is about recognising that the Indian team is in a bit of transition and working out how to bring through young players who have the skill, technique, temperament and desire to play Test cricket."
Dravid's biggest worry is the spin bowling department where the great Indian production line seems to have seized up.
While India appear to have found a batting replacement for Dravid in Cheteshwar Pujara, and have promise in the likes of Jadeja and Manoj Tiwary, they are struggling to unearth successors for leg-spinner Anil Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, bowlers with 1,027 Test wickets between them.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ohja have been outshone by their English counterparts Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, whose series averages of 23.43 and 24.64 are better than any other bowler on either team.
"India have been outbowled in the spin department and that's a worrying sign because spin has been our strength," said Dravid.
"People talk about attitude and say [the players] don't care because there is too much money in the Indian Premier League. That's one side of things but the main thing is their lack of skill and ability, which is more worrying for me.
"It raises questions as to the talent and quality of players coming through."
One of the most striking differences between India and England has been the desire of players to score and save runs.
Over the course of the Kolkata Test, England's batsmen ran three on nine occasions, India not once. Indeed, on one occasion when India should have taken three, Virender Sehwag was sent back by his opening partner Gambhir and run out after a brilliant piece of fielding teamwork on the boundary by Samit Patel and Steven Finn.
"India have been poor in the field and their physical fitness is disappointing me," added Dravid.
"That's not an excuse. You can't demand runs, but you can at least demand accountability in terms of intensity and effort."
Despite the possibility of drawing the series in the final Test, Dravid believes now is the time for India to start planning for the long term.
He concluded: "Irrespective of what happens in Nagpur, the lessons need to be learned from the series if India wants to be a consistently successful team and challenge again for the number one ranking."
With reporting by BBC Sport's Oliver Doward in Kolkata
Listen to Dravid's thoughts on the Test Match Special podcast. | At the scene of one of India's greatest triumphs came one of their most damaging defeats. |
38503364 | Phelan, 54, took over as caretaker manager following Steve Bruce's departure in the summer, becoming a permanent appointment in October.
But with City in the relegation zone, picking up three points from their last nine games, the club announced they had "parted company" with Phelan.
Hull said they were already searching for a replacement, with an announcement to be made "in due course".
Phelan made a promising start to his Hull City career, winning the manager of the month award for August, but the Tigers' last league win was on 6 November, a 2-1 victory over Southampton.
Swansea's victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night sent Hull to the bottom of the table, three points from safety.
Former Manchester United assistant Phelan was in charge of the club for just 85 days as a manager, plus 81 days as caretaker boss.
Assistant Neil McDonald, goalkeeping coach Bobby Mimms and chief scout Stan Ternent have also left the club.
On Twitter, the club said: "We would like to thank Mike for his efforts both as assistant manager and head coach over the last two years."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Phelan's last game in charge was a 3-1 defeat by West Brom on New Year's Eve. City were leading 1-0 at half-time but collapsed in the second half, falling to a fifth defeat in seven games.
Hull will next play fellow strugglers Swansea in the FA Cup third round before taking on Manchester United in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals on 10 January.
It has been a tumultuous season for the club, which is up for sale. In July, Bruce left as manager after gaining promotion to the Premier League with a breakdown in his relationship with vice-chairman Ehab Allam contributing to his departure.
At the beginning of the season injuries had left the Tigers with only 13 fit senior players although Phelan, while in temporary charge, did begin the campaign with successive league wins.
Victories have been harder to come by since September, however, and with fellow strugglers Swansea and Crystal Palace sacking their managers over Christmas, Phelan paid the price as newly promoted Hull attempt to maintain their Premier League status.
Stoke manager Mark Hughes, whose team beat Watford 2-0 on Tuesday, said: "Mike got the job under difficult circumstances and I thought recent performances had markedly improved, so it showed he was having an impact.
"He's a great football guy, but that's the Premier League for you - it's ruthless and sometimes, at this time of year, owners get panicky."
BBC Sport chief football writer Phil McNulty
The dash to avoid the drop from the Premier League has claimed another victim with Hull City's sacking of Mike Phelan.
Phelan has gone the same way as Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace and Bob Bradley at Swansea City as further evidence that patience simply does not - indeed some clubs feel it cannot - exist when the threat of relegation looms.
And yet here is a manager who took his time to accept the Hull job when contenders were hardly queuing outside the door of the KC Stadium and after being named Premier League manager of the month in August.
Phelan has also guided Hull to the EFL Cup semi-final against his former club Manchester United but this has simply not figured in the club's calculations when weighed against the fact they are bottom of the table with only 13 points from 20 games.
Phelan has hardly had massive backing in the transfer market and in many games Hull actually played well without getting points on the board. This has ultimately cost him his job.
The Tigers now need to choose carefully and see if they can find a way to back a new manager in the January market - with former Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett the name being mentioned after Phelan's departure.
Premier League management is a brutal business but there must still be a large measure of sympathy for Phelan after taking on a task which plenty thought was a thankless one. | Premier League strugglers Hull City have sacked head coach Mike Phelan. |
37375077 | Despite huge growth in UK venison sales, supply of wild and farmed meat has not kept up with consumer demand.
That has led to imports from as far afield as New Zealand to fill the gap.
Ministers said they were supportive of the industry and that farmers were entitled to apply for payments via the Common Agricultural Policy.
In recent years venison has become a staple on most supermarkets shelves, with all reporting a massive increase in sales.
Ali Loder, a red deer farmer at Glenkindie in Aberdeenshire, said the growth in the sector had been driven by its perceived health benefits.
He said: "A lot of the chefs on TV are using it now and that's attracted a lot of people to the meat and its demand has just growth exponentially and we simply can't meet the demand in the UK."
Dick Playfair, secretary of the Scottish Venison Partnership, which is trying to stimulate both growth in demand and supply, said the meat's popularity had grown dramatically in the past ten years.
He said: "Some estimates have been as high as the market growing by 400%. We're slightly more modest in our outlook and really are looking at a 10% growth, which is I think is realistic."
Despite the growth in the market, the number of wild deer being shot in Scotland has remained static, with conservationists saying it is at a sustainable level that cannot grow any further.
That has led to calls for an increase in the number of deer farms to cope with demand.
Until then that demand is being met with imports.
Mr Loder, who has been a deer farmer for 12 years, added: "The problem is that you cannot just turn on a tap and increase numbers. It is not like a factory where you can buy more widgets, you can't just make more venison.
"It takes a while to build up stock and farms."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "We are very supportive of efforts by the deer farming industry to seize market opportunities to grow the rural economy.
"Since 2015, deer farming has been eligible for direct payments through Common Agricultural Policy schemes.
"Venison operations can also apply to the Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation EU grant scheme for support to expand their processing facilities."
He added: "For example, a grant of £142,581 was recently awarded to Downfield Ltd to enhance their venison processing operations. This will enable the company to supply venison from both farmed and wild deer all year." | Scotland could lose out on a multi-million pound business if more is not done to encourage deer farming, according to the industry. |
32028567 | Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Wardak, said the attackers targeted three passing vehicles, including a bus.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack south-west of the capital Kabul, which happened after midnight.
Taliban militants are believed to be active in many parts of the province.
Foreign troops ended their combat role in Afghanistan in December but some have remained in the country to support the Afghan military who are battling a bloody Taliban insurgency.
There are also fears that the influence of Islamic State could be growing in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is currently visiting the US, where he is expected to urge for more funding for Afghan forces.
Mr Ghani is due to meet US President Barack Obama later on Tuesday. | Gunmen have opened fire on a major road in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 13 people, local officials say. |
37835177 | Trees for Life began the project in March when it released 33 red squirrels from Forres and Strathspey around Shieldaig in Wester Ross.
The Findhorn-based charity is now preparing to introduce 70 reds near Kinlochewe and Plockton.
The sites currently have no squirrels, Trees for Life said.
The charity, which is doing the work under a licence from Scottish Natural Heritage and with landowners' consent, hopes to establish 10 new populations.
The areas involved are too isolated for the squirrels to reach themselves.
But the locations do have habitat, and food, favoured by reds and may have supported populations of the animals in the past.
The areas are also free of non-native grey squirrels, which compete with the smaller reds for food and carry diseases fatal to the native species.
Becky Priestley, Trees for Life's wildlife officer, said: "We are giving red squirrels a helping hand to return to some of their long-lost forest homes.
"Many Highland woodlands offer the species excellent habitat far from disease-carrying grey squirrels - but because reds travel between trees and avoid crossing large areas of open ground, they can't return to isolated woodlands without our help."
Furry flit: How do you get a squirrel to move house?
The squirrels are transported in nest boxes lined with hay and with food and water available, Trees for Life said.
Small numbers of the animals are moved from where they are trapped so as to avoid harming the survival of "donor populations".
The captured squirrels are also checked for diseases before being transported.
At the new sites, the nest boxes are fitted to trees and the exit holes are opened and filled with grass, which the squirrels can push their way through to get outside.
Food is provided for several months while the animals become accustomed to their new habitat.
There are an estimated 138,000 red squirrels in the UK, Trees for Life said.
Trees for Life said red squirrels introduced to woods around Shieldaig in March have bred and raised young.
The new phase of the project will involve animals trapped on land owned by Forestry Enterprise Scotland and others in Moray and near Inverness.
They will be relocated to the privately-owned Coulin Estate next to Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, near Kinlochewe in Wester Ross, and to Plockton in Lochalsh.
Landowners involved include conservation charity the National Trust for Scotland.
Red squirrels are not the only native species to be moved from one area to another in the interests of wildlife conservation.
In June it emerged that Scottish pine martens were raising young in Wales for the first time in a six year-long project.
Twenty pine martens were captured and released into the Welsh countryside last year.
The animals, one of Britain's rarest carnivores, were caught by the Inverness, Ross and Skye team at Forestry Enterprise Scotland.
At least three of the 10 females captured were thought to have given birth to kits.
The capture and release of the Scottish martens forms part of the Welsh Pine Marten Recovery Project.
The animals were introduced to woodland owned by Natural Resources Wales and their behaviour is radio tracked.
Water voles have also been trapped in Scotland and relocated to England.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland staff and conservationists have used empty cardboard snack tubes for catching and handling feisty voles.
"Sometimes they can be a bit nippy," said Roisin Campbell-Palmer, of RZSS, referring to the mammals' bite.
RZSS is involved in vole conservation projects in England and previously worked on one in the Trossachs. | Seventy red squirrels are to be trapped and then relocated to woodland in the north west Highlands as part of a scheme to boost numbers of the animals. |
30342957 | Thousands of venues had failed to adapt their premises, with a fifth of shops excluding wheelchair users, a survey found.
There are 12 million people in Britain with disabilities, with an estimated spending power of £200bn.
Businesses are "missing a trick" and must do better, ministers said.
Accessibility information providers DisabledGo visited all of the 30,000 venues in person to assess them, in the largest-ever audit of its kind in the UK.
They found a fifth of shops had no wheelchair access, only 15% of restaurants and shops had hearing loops and three quarters of restaurants did not cater for those with visual impairments.
When they asked leading chains directly for more information, only 4% of 105 national retailers responded.
"They say 'Just ask and we will bring whatever you want'. How do I know what stock they have until I have seen it?" - John, Derby
'Going shopping is a nightmare for me'
"Everyone deserves to be able to go Christmas shopping or enjoy a festive meal or drink with their friends or colleagues," said Minister for Disabled People Mark Harper, who commissioned the survey.
"This isn't just about doing what's right. Businesses are missing a trick by not doing more to tap into this market.
"A fifth of the British population has a disability and they and their households have a spending power of over £200bn. Improving accessibility is a no-brainer."
Shadow minister for disabled people Kate Green said the report made for "depressing" reading.
"While businesses work hard to ensure their premises are accessible, some high street names are failing to make the reasonable adjustments they're required to do by law," she said.
"While it's welcome the Department for Work and Pensions have commissioned this report, this Tory-led government has weakened the Equality and Human Rights Commission that helps enforce disability discrimination law.
"Ministers must say what they are going to do to ensure business meets its obligations to disabled people, especially what help they will give small local businesses."
Barry Stevenson, chairman of DisabledGo and a former director of Marks and Spencer, said: "We are pleased that many retailers have invested significantly in improved accessibility in the last 10 years, but the majority are still not doing enough."
"It's entirely unacceptable for disabled people, their family, friends and carers, not to be able to access all high street shops and facilities."
"Disabled people are not asking the earth; just that management do what's reasonable and think more about how they can help disabled customers better.
"And that includes better communication about their accessibility online.
"It doesn't need to cost a fortune to do the right thing and it could be the deciding factor for disabled customers between you and a competitor."
The Equality Act of 2010 obliges organisations to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.
Ministers previously put a value of £80bn on the spending power of people with disabilities. But this was re-calculated earlier this year to include friends and family of disabled people, not just disabled people themselves, resulting in the larger figure. | Access for disabled people on the High Street in Britain is "shocking", according to a government audit of more than 30,000 shops and restaurants. |
27813826 | It wants doctors to identify people living in homes that are too cold, and and local authorities to provide insulation and heating services.
NICE says many deaths each winter in England and Wales are preventable.
Age UK called the recommendations very positive.
A consultation process on the NICE guidance runs until 25 July.
The draft NICE guidance covers people who are vulnerable to the cold, including those over 65, people with respiratory conditions such as children with asthma, and people with cardiovascular conditions.
Prof Mike Kelly, director of the Centre for Public Health at NICE, said their recommendations were relevant to normal winter temperatures below 6C - not just extreme cold weather.
He said: "Although most causes of death and illness vary throughout the seasons, there is a clear increase during the winter months.
"Around 24,000 additional people die during this time each year in England and Wales."
He said services already existed in some parts of the country to ensure people were warm enough at home, but they were "patchy".
"This lack of consistency makes it very difficult for professionals to know what support is available locally and how to get help for those who need it."
NICE's recommendations include:
Mervyn Kohler from Age UK said the NICE draft guidance was "hugely positive".
"We have struggled to get health professionals to recognise the risks of cold in the past. Now we need them to go the extra mile, and for health authorities to act on these recommendations."
But he said it would require a financial commitment too.
"We have a backlog of old houses to fix in this country and it's essential that more money from government is forthcoming."
A report on fuel poverty, published by Age UK, calls on the government to make people's homes as energy efficient as possible so they can keep warm at an affordable cost.
According to government figures, more than 2.28 million households in England were living in fuel poverty in 2012.
Last year, Public Health England produced a Cold Weather Plan in which it advised people to keep their homes well heated to avoid potentially fatal health problems.
Dr Angie Bone, head of the extreme events team at Public Health England, said: "The NICE draft guidance is very welcome as it is offering practical ways in which we can build on existing work to better protect people from the effects of cold.
"We'll thoroughly review this and see how we can incorporate the key findings into the Cold Weather Plan." | Guidance on how to reduce deaths and illnesses among elderly people during the winter has been drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). |
33013218 | The questions are pointed. Indeed, those from Labour's Kezia Dugdale once more resemble a test paper in that she asks the FM, successively, what has happened to the uptake of....
a) modern languages
b) Chinese
c) and Gaelic.
Hint: the figures, according to Ms Dugdale, are not good. Ms Sturgeon stresses the importance attached by her team to the acquisition of language skills.
In her turn, Ruth Davidson for the Conservatives claims that NHS staff are themselves succumbing more and more to illness, driven by work-related stress. Liam Macarthur for the Liberal Democrats detects a comparable problem among teachers.
To each, Ms Sturgeon offers reassurance, taking care to praise the efforts of teachers and health professionals.
So far, so familiar. Legitimate questions, substantive answers. But, at the same time down in Westminster, there are other exchanges which affect the dialogue at Holyrood.
The Chancellor announces further departmental spending cuts of £4.5bn (including the sale of Royal Mail) not for the future but for the current financial year. Scotland's share of those cuts is to be £177m. It is possible for the Scottish government to defer the reductions for one year - although the economies still have to be found eventually.
John Swinney, the Scottish Finance Secretary, is less than pleased - and plans to express the same when he meets George Osborne on Monday for pre-Budget talks. (Today was just a trail: the Budget comes later.)
Mr Swinney deploys the competing mandate argument which I have rehearsed previously on this site. He argues that the people of Scotland demonstrably voted against austerity in the recent election. Yet further austerity, in his view, is being applied in an unwarranted fashion.
He says that the announcement today demonstrates a complete lack of respect for Scotland and the Scottish government, in contrast to the promise delivered by the Prime Minister.
To which the UK government makes three points....
Why now? Why cut now rather than wait for the coming Budget in a few weeks time? A range of motivations suggest themselves with, perhaps, two to the fore.
Getting out the bad news about spending now allows Mr Osborne, perhaps, to offer a few goodies to those who voted for the UK government and its policy programme.
Secondly, it is possible that the Chancellor anticipates that it might be even more difficult than previously thought to find the promised £12bn of savings in the welfare budget - particularly as the PM keeps denoting areas which he regards as sacrosanct, such as child benefit.
However, the Treasury insists that today's announcement is not designed to offset decisions on welfare. | In the Holyrood chamber, Nicola Sturgeon is facing questions about the impact of her government's spending on health, education and the rest. |
37436404 | Vaughan, a BBC Test Match Special summariser, said he will "not accept any attack on my honesty or integrity".
In his autobiography, Trott questioned if Vaughan "had an agenda" when criticising his return from the tour, in order to improve the England chances of players represented by sports management company ISM.
Trott went home from England's tour of Australia in November 2013 after the first Test in Brisbane, citing "a long-standing stress-related condition", later explaining he was "emotionally and mentally spent".
Vaughan questioned that decision, and its original explanation, in a newspaper column in March 2014, saying: "He was in a bad state mentally but also technically."
In an extract from his autobiography serialised by the Times on Thursday, Trott claimed Vaughan had a management role at ISM, which represented several players including batsman Joe Root, all-rounders Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick, and wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow, who has since left ISM.
Vaughan, however, denied he had managed any of the players and that he was only a client of ISM at the time he made the comments.
"It is wholly wrong and entirely false to suggest that any comments I have made concerning professional cricketers are anything other than my genuinely held, honest opinions," he said.
Vaughan added that his solicitors have written to the Times concerning the article. | Former England captain Michael Vaughan has disputed claims made by batsman Jonathan Trott that he had a "conflict of interest" when criticising Trott's decision to leave the 2013 Ashes tour. |
39229625 | Past outbreaks have devastated great ape populations, particularly gorillas, where the virus is estimated to have wiped out a third of the primates.
A scientific team now says that wild gorillas could be vaccinated to protect the critically endangered animals from further losses.
However some conservationists warn that this would be difficult and has risks.
The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Dr Peter Walsh, from the University of Cambridge, who led the research, told BBC News: "Now that we have shown this is a safe vaccine, it's really a moral imperative that we use it.
"The disease is a huge threat to gorillas right now. We vaccinate our children, we vaccinate livestock, we vaccinate our pets, we vaccinate wildlife - why aren't we vaccinating our closest relatives?"
Gorilla losses
The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa that started in 2013 highlighted the devastating toll that the disease can have in humans: more than 11,000 people are estimated to have died.
But now there is a vaccine that has been shown to be 100% effective against the disease, and the hope is that it will prevent anything on this scale from happening again.
Some scientists say gorillas could benefit from immunization, too.
And Ebola in humans and great apes is closely linked. Many human outbreaks have started after people came into contact with infected gorilla or chimp carcasses or bushmeat (the 2014 outbreak is not thought to have started this way but instead through contact with Ebola-carrying bats).
The disease is extremely deadly for our primate cousins: if chimps or gorillas are infected, there is a 90-98% chance that they will die.
Many thousands of gorillas, which are also facing threats from poaching and habitat loss, are thought to have died from the disease.
"There are whole areas, hundreds of kilometres in every direction, that have just been wiped out of gorillas," said Dr Walsh.
To see if immunization could help, a vaccine was tested on 10 captive chimpanzees at a research centre at the University of Louisiana Lafayette in the US.
Because chimps and gorillas are so closely related, the researchers assumed that if the vaccine worked in chimps it would work for gorillas also.
Six animals were given the drug by mouth and four were injected with it.
"We found the vaccine gave a very robust immune response and didn't cause any health complications," said Dr Walsh.
Dr Walsh acknowledged the trial was small, but said it was stopped early when a ban on the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research came into force in the US in 2015.
He added that most other parts of the world either have moratoriums or bans on great ape research, and said that sanctuaries and zoos were either unwilling or unequipped to carry out trials.
"Effectively, we just have to start doing it in the wild now," he explained.
He wants to see if lacing sweet treats with the vaccine or using remotely operated sprays or darts could help to immunize wild animals.
He is also looking at how to ensure the vaccine remains effective and stable in the heat of the forest and wants to further examine the dosage.
Liz Macfie, vice chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's section on great apes, said that the results of the trial were encouraging and promising.
But she told the BBC that rolling out a wider vaccination programme would be difficult.
She said: "Some wild apes are habituated to tourists or researchers' presence, so some you can approach. But the majority of the populations are completely unhabituated and it would be very difficult to provide a vaccine into a group of unhabituated apes."
She also said there were some concerns about safety.
"There's always the risk when you use a vaccine on wild animals that there is an associated pathology or infections that might spread… It's a small sample size that [this vaccine] has been tested in and we don't really know about all of the other effects."
But she added that conservationists now needed to come together to look at studies like this and assess the best way forward.
These thoughts were echoed by Sarah Olson, associate director of wildlife epidemiology for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
"An oral vaccine formulation would need to be stable and edible, as gorillas are really picky eaters, safe for target and non-target species impacts, and effective and affordable," she said.
"There are other vaccine approaches under consideration but they will all require more research."
However, Dr Walsh told the BBC that the situation was urgent.
"The Ebola situation is quiet right now in Africa, and there is a danger that people are going to think: 'Oh, that's not a problem anymore, we don't have to worry about it'.
"But believe me, it's been quiet before and then it's come roaring back.
"And that's why, instead of waiting for the crisis, we need to start to develop the tools to protect these animals in the future."
Follow Rebecca on Twitter. | A small trial suggests that a vaccine against Ebola could protect gorillas and chimps from the deadly disease. |
38623731 | Mr Jedrzejewski, who lived in the city, was found on Keene Street, Lliswerry, at around 23:00 GMT on Thursday.
He was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital, where he later died.
Two men aged 18 and a 17-year-old boy were arrested on Friday and a 43-year-old man was arrested on Saturday.
All four were arrested on suspicion of murder and are currently in police custody.
Gwent Police said it was not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident but is appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time to come forward.
Officers are particularly interested in speaking to a girl in her late teens or early 20s who was seen walking into Keene Street and a boy who was riding his bike along Cromwell Road.
They also want to speak to the driver of a silver hatchback car seen turning into Keene Street just after the incident.
Supt Glyn Fernquest said: "If this is you then please get in touch, as you may hold vital evidence that can help us with our investigation - please be reassured that you are not in any trouble." | A 41-year-old man who died after being found unconscious on a street in Newport has been named by police as Jan Jedrzejewski. |
32904796 | Former care workers Colwyn Baker, 71, David Hennessy, 74, and Nigel Putman, 62, abused youngsters at the now-closed Swaylands School in Penshurst, Kent, between 1963 and 1979.
Baker was sentenced to 20 years in prison for 20 offences.
Hennessy was jailed for 12 years for six offences and Putman sentenced to three years for two offences.
Sentencing the three men at Maidstone Crown Court at the end of a 12-week trial, Judge Philip Statman said: "This is one of the worst possible breaches of trust a court can deal with."
He said to Baker: "You must have thought as you entered your seventh decade you'd got away with it."
Baker, of Craighouse Avenue, Morningside, Edinburgh, had denied 24 indecent assault and three serious sexual assault charges.
Hennessy, of Westfields in Narborough, King's Lynn, Norfolk, had denied 17 indecent assault charges, one of gross indecency with a child and one serious sexual assault.
Putman, 62, of Kings Road, Slough, Berkshire, had denied three indecent assaults.
The three were found not guilty of 15 charges, and the jury was unable to decide on five counts.
One victim said in a statement issued after sentencing: "At the time I didn't realise it was wrong because the abuse was done in a way that made it seem OK.
"I was sent to the school because I needed looking after. I was a little boy and I wasn't looked after. I was made to do things that I shouldn't. This will always affect me."
During the trial, the jury heard that Baker had been convicted in 1994 of four counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 16 and one count of gross indecency.
It was also disclosed that Hennessy was convicted in December 1993 of four counts of indecent assault on a boy and two sex offences against a pupil.
The judge praised the victims for their "courage, dignity and restraint".
Speaking to the three men he had just jailed, he said: "What those pupils, as they then were, suffered at your hands is seared in their memory banks, in my judgment, for the rest of their lives.
"They remained scarred by what happened to them and it's clear from their victim impact statements of their shame and embarrassment."
Swaylands School, which was run by Barnet council in north London, was a residential facility for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
It was closed at the end of the summer term in 1994, 18 months after the council and Kent Police became aware of allegations of sexual abuse of students at the school by two staff members.
Following the verdicts, the council said it was "truly sorry" that young boys had suffered at the school. | Three men have been jailed for 28 indecent assaults against boys at a school for vulnerable children. |
21491574 | Last August, the Mission Impossible actor ordered lobster and chicken tikka masala when he and eight companions visited the Veer Dhara in St Albans.
A friend settled the bill after the restaurant told Cruise it did not accept American Express.
A video about his curry night has been entered into the inaugural St Albans Film Festival's short-film competition.
Festival director Leoni Kibbey said: "Everyone in the film is wearing a Tom Cruise mask. It's very funny."
Miss Kibbey said the festival - which runs from 8 March until 10 March - showcases the county's historic links with the film industry.
Director Stanley Kubrick lived in the St Albans area, film pioneer Arthur Melbourne-Cooper was born in St Albans and the Pinewood and Elstree studios are nearby.
Cruise was in Hertfordshire last August for the filming of All You Need Is Kill, which was shot at the county's Leavesden Studios. | Hollywood star Tom Cruise's visit to a Hertfordshire curry house has been turned into a film. |
24159352 | Yet, considering Brazil's need to strengthen its flagging economy and trade relationship with the US, this diplomatic setback will soon pass, as these conditions will motivate President Rousseff to restore their diplomatic ties.
The situation is also an opportunity for Ms Rousseff to revive her domestic political popularity while bolstering her geopolitical influence.
Although the decision to cancel her US trip scheduled for 23 October was taken by Ms Rousseff and US President Barack Obama together, it was still perceived as an affront and a threat to their long-standing relationship.
It was fuelled by President Rousseff's dissatisfaction with President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry's explanations for why the NSA may have been spying on her activities, as well as the lack of resolve to investigate and end the NSA's alleged spying tactics.
But will these problems ruin the US and Brazil's relationship? This is not likely, and for two key reasons: economics and politics.
Economically, Brazil is not doing too well.
In recent years, annual economic growth rates have averaged between 2.7% in 2003, declining to 0.9% in 2012.
This pales in comparison to the high annual growth rates of approximately 4% since 2002.
What is more, there is a burgeoning public sector deficit - heightened spending in preparation for the 2014 World Cup certainly will not help - and increased price inflation.
To rejuvenate the economy, President Rousseff will need to deepen her trade relations with the US. Next to China, the US is Brazil's biggest trade partner.
Brazil benefits from exporting a host of agricultural and mineral products to the US, estimated to be worth $76bn in 2012.
With a growing international trade deficit, which was estimated at $4.98bn earlier this year, as well as an ongoing need for revenue, the Brazilian president will need to ensure that economic - and thus political - relations between both nations remain strong.
The US is also relying on strengthening its economic ties with Brazil.
In recent years, US technological and manufacturing firms have invested heavily in Brazil, approximating a total of $71bn in 2011, up by 11% from 2010.
Brazil's need to strengthen its economy and to dispel recent allegations that it is no longer a rising economic power - indeed, prompting some scholars to question if the letter "B" belongs in the famous Brics acronym - therefore creates strong incentives for Ms Rousseff to forgive, forget, and press forward with stronger economic ties with the US.
But politics also matters.
On the eve of next year's presidential elections, the Rousseff administration has viewed recent tensions with the US as an opportunity to increase her popularity.
The consequence of mass social unrest and demonstrations resulting from inefficient social services, high taxes and excessive spending, President Rousseff's popularity rating substantially declined earlier this year, from 52% of the population believing that her government was doing "great/good" before these demonstrations, to 32% afterwards.
These daunting statistics prompted members of Ms Rousseff's Worker's Party to recommend that she take a firm stance against the US and its alleged spying activities.
But there are also geopolitical benefits to be had.
Recently Ms Rousseff has worked with her minister of foreign affairs, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, to establish an international consensus on the need to safeguard nations from internet spying and other types of cyber-attacks. To these ends, Mr Figueiredo will be exploring the creation of "joint partnerships" with other nations.
This kind of geopolitical endeavour is nothing new.
For years, Brazil has taken the lead in forming international coalitions committed to protecting other developing nations, mainly from the onslaught of disease, environmental degradation and poverty, all in the name of protecting state sovereignty and human rights.
President Rousseff therefore appears to be using this precarious situation with the US as an opportunity to strengthen Brazil's geopolitical muscle, displaying her ability to lead other nations, create new policies, while helping to protect her allies.
A diplomatic rift with the US therefore seems to have led to a surge in Brazilian "soft power".
Indeed, for Brazil, this setback with the US may eventually entail several economic and political benefits, in turn placing Brazil on a path of ongoing economic prosperity and influence.
Eduardo J Gomez is a senior lecturer in international development and emerging economies in the newly formed King's International Development Institute, King's College London. | Amidst recent allegations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on Brazil, many view the decision by Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday to postpone her visit to the US as a setback to US-Brazilian diplomatic relations. |
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