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34571493 | The woman was on Beeston Road, Leeds on 6 March when Zdenko Turtak dragged her into a garden and clubbed her 18 times with a rock, leaving her for dead.
The 22-year-old fled the UK to his native Slovakia, but was tracked down and extradited back to the UK.
He admitted rape and grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 14 years plus six on licence at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard Turtak may have been high on a glue-like substance when he snatched his victim from the bus stop and brutally raped her.
The 22-year-old left his 18-year-old victim with serious head injuries during the "appalling attack" which has had a "catastrophic effect" on the woman's life, police said.
Turtak's attack on the woman, who had only recently left school, sparked a huge police inquiry.
The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, said the attack would affect the victim, who is from a strict Muslim background, for the rest of her life.
He said: "She believes it will affect her whole life, including her prospects of marriage.
"In those short eight minutes you destroyed her young life", he said.
The attack was caught by a CCTV camera and footage was also found of Turtak following other women in Leeds in the hours leading up to this offence.
Turtak, from Velka Ida, Kosice, Slovakia, fled to his native country as a huge search was launched by West Yorkshire Police.
He was traced after a DNA match and extradited back to the UK.
Earlier this month, the Crown Prosecution Service accepted his admission of rape and GBH and decided not to put him on trial for attempted murder.
Judge Collier said Turtak was a "dangerous" offender. He said: "It is therefore necessary to impose a sentence for the protection of the public."
Turtak will have to serve at least two-thirds of the custodial sentence before being considered for release.
As Turtak was led from the dock, members of the victim's family shouted at him. | A man who raped and badly beat an 18-year-old woman who was waiting at a bus stop has been sentenced to 20 years. |
33607071 | Alan Drennan, a mechanic and doorman from Newtownabbey in County Antrim, had left with friends for a holiday to the Spanish island on Saturday.
The 21-year-old is understood to have died less than 24 hours later.
His father, also named Alan, said he has not yet been contacted by Spanish authorities.
He added that his son "hadn't even his case opened" when his body was found in the room.
Spanish police told BBC News NI there were no signs of violence and the death appeared to be of natural causes.
However, they are waiting for an autopsy to be carried out and could not say when that would take place.
Mr Drennan Sr said he was told of his son's death by the fathers of two of the friends on holiday with him.
They visited his house on Sunday evening to inform him.
Mr Drennan Sr said: "[One of the men] turned round and said: 'Listen, I have bad news about your son.'
"He said: 'Your son was found dead this morning.'
"I couldn't take it in, I couldn't get my head around, and I went to bits.
"I had left Alan to the airport at five o'clock on Saturday evening and kissed him goodbye."
Mr Drennan Jr had been staying at a different hotel to his friends and had returned there on Sunday morning after a night out.
"I was talking to one of his friends, and they're just so sad - they're trying to piece it all together," Mr Drennan Sr said.
"They had left him on Sunday morning, they had partied until seven o'clock in the morning.
"Then at five o'clock on the Sunday evening they didn't hear from young Alan.
"They went round to his hotel. [The receptionist] started crying and said: 'You need to get in touch with the police - [he] was found dead this morning.'"
He added that his son and his girlfriend had made arrangements to move to Australia to "start a new life" on his return from Ibiza.
A repatriation trust set up in the name of Kevin Bell, a Newry man who died in a suspected hit-and-run in New York in 2013, is covering the cost of bringing Mr Drennan Jr's body back to Northern Ireland, his father said.
He said his son "had a heart so big" and and "just loved what he was doing".
"Everybody that knew Alan has a loving word, he was such an honest person. He was so helpful, he was a super young lad.
"I lost my mother when I was five and my father when I was 13, and I never thought that I would be losing my son." | The father of a young man from Northern Ireland whose body was found in a hotel room in Ibiza has said he is still trying to find out how his son died. |
35634452 | Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said Ms Villiers should resign.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also said Ms Villiers should step down if Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU.
But speaking on Monday, David Cameron said she was doing an excellent job and she had made a personal decision over the EU referendum.
"She is exercising her ability to reach a personal decision and to campaign for Britain to leave the EU and that's absolutely right she is able to do that," he said.
"I think the key thing is everybody in Northern Ireland should make up their own mind based on the evidence and I look forward to coming to try to help persuade them to remain in a reformed EU."
The secretary of state has said Northern Ireland will remain in a strong position financially if the UK decides to leave the European Union.
Her stance has been supported by the Democratic Union Party, but criticised by Sinn Féin and the SDLP.
The referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU is due to be held on Thursday 23 June.
Ms Villiers said: "Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK could flourish outside the European Union and indeed that's something that the prime minister also acknowledges.
"We give, at the moment - £19bn a year to the EU and so we could actually, if we left, we could still afford to fund every single one of those programmes and still have significant sums left over for other priorities in Northern Ireland."
She has argued that it is time for the UK to "take back control and restore the ability to make our own laws and control our own borders in this country".
However, a previous NI secretary, Peter Hain, said Northern Ireland could be "dragged back" if the UK left the EU.
Mr Hain, who was secretary of state from May 2005 until June 2007, said he was concerned about the impact on Irish border controls.
"We have a unique situation on the island of Ireland with a border that now exists constitutionally but, in practice, is invisible to the great benefit of people on the island of Ireland, north and south," he said.
"I do not think that the existing border arrangements would be sustainable if we left the EU and that would have all sorts of very serious consequences for the peace process." | The prime minister has defended Secretary of State Theresa Villiers who has said she will be campaigning for the UK to leave the European Union. |
13707921 | The hackers replaced content on the sites with abuse and national symbols.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his country's claims to territory in the South China Sea were incontestable.
Chinese officials later warned other Asian nations to halt exploration for minerals in the area.
Both sides claim ownership of islands in the South China Sea.
The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have rival claims in the area.
On the weekend, hundreds of Vietnamese protested against Chinese naval operations in disputed waters.
Relations between Vietnam and China have long been awkward, but public protests are extremely rare.
The demonstrations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City followed a confrontation between a Vietnamese ship and Chinese patrol boats last month.
Hanoi accused a Chinese patrol of cutting the cables of a Vietnamese ship conducting seismic research about 120km (80 miles) off Vietnam's coast.
At the time of the incident, China said that Vietnamese vessels had been operating "illegally", adding that the country should "refrain from creating trouble".
On Thursday, Prime Minister Dung made his first comments on the row, saying Vietnam's sovereignty was incontestable in areas of the Paracel and Spratly island groups.
"We continue to affirm strongly and to manifest the strongest determination of all the party, of all the people and of all the army in protecting Vietnamese sovereignty in maritime zones and islands of the country," Mr Dung said in comments reported by the Thanh Nien newspaper.
Later, Vietnamese officials accused a Chinese fishing boat of once again intentionally ramming cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone.
And separately, China's ambassador to the Philippines, Liu Jianchao, warned other countries to stop prospecting for oil in the area.
The disputed islands are largely uninhabited, but the area includes important shipping routes and may contain oil and gas deposits. | Computer hackers from Vietnam and China have attacked websites including portals run by each other's governments, amid a sea-border row. |
35373349 | The sharp-talking American founded the hedge-fund firm Skybridge Capital, which manages $14.5bn in assets ("it was $15bn, but we got hit in the market", he jokes), and is a staple on the World Economic Forum circuit.
Back home, he is courted by Republican presidential candidates in pursuit of financial contributions, as well as his ability to persuade other wealthy donors to support a particular candidate.
But as the funding of political campaigns by a select group of billionaires comes under fire in the US - from Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders on the left and Donald Trump on the right - Mr Scaramucci unapologetically makes the case for the wealthy intervening in the political process.
"I've always viewed myself as a business person," he says.
"I never got involved in the political process until 2008-09, when it dawned on me that I have now become a minority partner in my own life.
"Whatever money I'm making the government is taking more than 50%, so I should be involved, in my opinion, with the hiring decisions on the people that are the majority partners in my life".
Although avowedly a Republican, his gripes with the Obama administration revolve around deficit spending, financial regulation and security - rather than around immigration or reproductive rights, for example.
It's hardly surprising, therefore, that he's no fan of some of the current candidates, who have, he claims, "hijacked reality TV ideas".
That's a direct jab at Mr Trump, who fronted the US version of The Apprentice.
But the frustration with Mr Trump, who has accused hedge fund managers of "getting away with murder" for not paying enough in taxes, is that being a billionaire he can afford to finance his own campaign, cutting big donors out of the process.
For now, Mr Scaramucci is backing Florida's Jeb Bush, and is confident that someone other than Mr Trump will become the next US president.
But, what if his worst nightmares come true?
"If Donald Trump becomes the next president, I'm looking forward to the BBC helping me find a flat somewhere in London," he jokes. | Nowhere do the worlds of business and politics merge as seamlessly as in Davos, and perhaps no one personifies that blend better than Anthony Scaramucci. |
35551726 | Ajax, concerned with internal travel arrangements in Angola, honoured the fixture after South Africa's Football Association (Safa) said they would face severe sanctions if they did not go.
Ruzaigh Gamildien and Riyaad Norodien grabbed vital away goals for Ajax, with Antonio Oliviera scoring for the hosts.
In other first round first leg ties, Tripoli-based Al Ittihad began their Confederation Cup campaign with a resounding 4-1 win over visiting Sonidep from Niger on Friday.
The Libyan club played their match in Tunisia at the home of Stade Gabesien, about 400km along the coast from Tripoli because of the war in Libya.
Al Ittihad are looking to go one step further than 2010 when they reached the semi-finals of the Confederation Cup.
Stade Gabesian were also in action themselves on Friday as they travelled to Bakaridjan in Mali where it finished 1-1.
Two-time African champions Esperance from Tunisia and Morocco's FUS Rabat have a bye and so will see action from the first round in March.
The second-tier Confederation Cup has been hit by the withdrawal of Gaborone United of Botswana and Wallidan from The Gambia, giving JKU of Zanzibar and Mouloudia d'Oran byes.
The return leg matches will be played on the weekend of 26-28 February with the overall winners advancing to the round of 32 to be played from 11-13 March. | Ajax Cape Town of South Africa won the first leg of their African Confederation Cup first round match in Angola, beating Sagrada Esperanca 2-1 after reversing a decision to withdraw from the tournament. |
38490973 | As an ITN reporter in 1961, Widlake secretly met Mandela, who was on the run from the police at the time.
Widlake went on to become a regular presenter of BBC Radio 4's The World At One and PM in the 1970s and '80s, and co-presented BBC Two's Money Programme.
He died after a short illness at home in Wiltshire, surrounded by his family.
BBC director general Tony Hall paid tribute, saying: "Brian was a fine journalist and presenter who was key to establishing The World at One as a pioneering programme. He was a wonderful colleague and will be sadly missed."
His editor on The World at One, Dame Jenny Abramsky, remembered him as a "gifted broadcaster" with "genuine warmth".
She said: "He was a tough interviewer, but he was a polite interviewer and he really, really knew his facts and so he got an enormous amount out of those interviews.
"You just hear that interview with Nelson Mandela and you can hear somebody - when one thinks that that took place in the early '60s - he was really finding out about who Nelson Mandela was, and that was Brian." | Radio and television presenter Brian Widlake, who conducted the first TV interview with Nelson Mandela, has died at the age of 85. |
35671658 | 26 February 2016 Last updated at 16:20 GMT
The man entered a convenience store on Burton Road in Derby on 9 January and struggled with the shopkeeper before fleeing empty-handed.
The robber, who was accompanied by another man, was described as in his 20s wearing a dark scarf and a beanie hat.
The shopkeeper was not seriously injured in the attack. | A knife attack on a shopkeeper has been caught on CCTV and released by police looking for the robber. |
17988453 | Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's strategically important location has given it major influence in the region - and control over the entrance to the Black Sea.
Progress towards democracy and a market economy was halting after Ataturk's death in 1938, and the army - seeing itself as guarantor of the constitution - repeatedly ousted governments seen as challenging secular values.
Joining the European Union has been a longstanding ambition. Membership talks were launched in 2005, but progress has been slow, as several EU states have serious misgivings about Turkish EU membership.
Kurds make up about a fifth of the population. Kurdish separatists who accuse the Turkish state of seeking to destroy their cultural identity have been waging a guerrilla war since the 1980s.
Population 74.5 million
Area 779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles)
Major languages Turkish (official), Kurdish
Major religion Islam
Currency Turkish lira
President: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2003 in the wake of a sweeping electoral victory by the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), of which he was a founding member.
He spent 11 years as Turkey's prime minister before becoming the country's first directly-elected president in August 2014 - a supposedly ceremonial role.
To his supporters Mr Erdogan has brought Turkey years of economic growth, but to his critics he is an autocratic leader intolerant of dissent who harshly silences anyone who opposes him.
In July 2016, the AKP government survived an attempted coup which saw clashes on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara that left 256 people dead. The authorities subsequently detained thousands of soldiers and judges on suspicion of involvement in the attempt that President Erdogan said was inspired by his exiled opponent Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey's parliament approved a new draft constitution paving the way for a presidential system of government in January 2017, in a move which would significantly increase Mr Erdogan's powers.
The bill will be put to a referendum, probably in April, and will become law if more than 50% of voters back it. Critics say the move could usher in authoritarian rule, and amounts to a power grab.
Mr Erdogan says the changed system will resemble those in France and the United States.
Turkey's airwaves are lively, with hundreds of private TV and radio stations competing with the state broadcaster, TRT.
Television is by far the most influential news medium; both press and broadcasting outlets are operating by powerful business operators.
For journalists, the military, Kurds and political Islam are highly-sensitive topics, coverage of which can lead to arrest and prosecution.
Some of the most repressive restrictions have been lifted on the path to EU entry, but it remains a crime to insult the Turkish nation and president, and a wave of prosecutions of journalists under Recep Tayyip Erdogan has prompted new concern for press freedom.
Some key dates in Turkey's history:
1453 - Sultan Mehmed II the Magnificent captures Constantinople, ending Byzantine Empire and consolidating Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor and Balkans.
15th-16th centuries - Expansion into Asia and Africa.
1683 - Ottoman advance into Europe halted at Battle of Vienna. Long decline begins.
1908 - Young Turk Revolution establishes constitutional rule, but degenerates into military dictatorship during First World War, where Ottoman Empire fights in alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1918-22 - Partition of defeated Ottoman Empire leads to eventual triumph of Turkish National Movement in war of independence against foreign occupation and rule of Sultan.
1923 - Turkey declared a republic with Kemal Ataturk as president. Soon afterwards it becomes secular.
1952 - Turkey abandons Ataturk's neutralist policy and joins Nato.
1960 - Army coup against ruling Democratic Party.
1974 - Turkish troops occupy northern Cyprus, partitioning the island.
1984 - Kurdish PKK group launches separatists guerrilla campaign which develops into a major civil war that simmers on for decades.
2011 - Syrian civil war breaks out, resulting in tension along the countries' border and a huge influx of refugees into Turkey.
2016 - Attempted coup fails. | Once the centre of the Ottoman Empire, the modern secular republic was established in the 1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk. |
30792592 | The falling snow has made driving conditions difficult in some areas, although roads are being gritted.
There is a Met Office warning for snow and ice across the west and north of Northern Ireland.
Translink have said express buses are operating as usual but some city services & rural areas may be disrupted.
Harold Henry from Transport NI told BBC Radio Foyle that roads are passable but with care.
Earlier, he said snow was coming in thick and fast and it could continue, "particularly on the higher ground".
"Engineers will continue to monitor the situation and if further action is required it will be taken. Some temperatures have fallen before zero so there is a risk of ice as well."
Weather conditions continued to cause disruption on Tuesday night, with BBC Northern Ireland cameraman Phil Hilditch saying it had taken him more than two hours to travel from the BBC Foyle complex in Londonderry to Altnagelvin Hospital.
Police advised drivers to avoid the Scraghey Road in Castlederg, County Tyrone because of snow.
City of Derry airport have tweeted an apology to passengers for some "minor" flight delays, while Translink are issuing updates on disruptions to their rural and city services.
A number of local schools also closed including Cumber Claudy Primary School and Evish Primary School in Strabane. | A number of roads and local bus services in the north west have been affected by adverse weather conditions. |
34868114 | IS achieved a major boost in March this year when it won the loyalty of the main jihadi group in West Africa - Boko Haram, which is based in Nigeria, Africa's most populous state.
But East Africa - which has a longer history of militant Islamist activity - has so far remained out of its grasp, mainly because of the al-Shabab leadership's loyalty to al-Qaeda.
However, some cracks may be starting to appear in that unified position.
Last month Sheikh Abdulqadir Mumi, a prominent former "spiritual leader" and recruiter for al-Shabab, declared allegiance to IS from his base in the remote Galgala Mountains, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, located in north-eastern Somalia.
The move may turn out to be largely symbolic, given that reports indicate only 20 of Mumi's estimated 300 followers opted to switch sides, but it has at least given IS its first official outpost in East Africa.
For al-Qaeda, East Africa has always been a key frontier of jihad. Its most notorious attack, before it brought down the New York Twin Towers in 2001, was the simultaneous bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which left more than 200 people dead.
With al-Qaeda significantly weakened since the death of Osama Bin Laden, it has relied on al-Shabab to salvage its credibility in global jihadi circles.
Its attack on Kenya's Garissa University College in April, which killed about 150 people, provided a grim sequel to the Westgate shopping centre attack in September 2013, when at least 67 were killed in a daytime assault in the heart of the Kenyan capital.
These large-scale attacks made al-Shabab a prime target for recruitment by IS, a group which prefers its new members to have proven murderous credentials.
IS has embarked on a sleek propaganda campaign, where high definition videos not only show gruesome beheadings and public executions, but also depict a utopian view of life under the IS "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria: of people harvesting grapes in Raqqa or taking a dip in Mosul's public swimming pool.
This is a tactic - one that al-Shabab has itself copied - to attract jihadists from around the world.
IS has even co-opted Boko Haram, its new affiliate in Africa, to urge Somali militants to join its ranks as part of the Nigerian group's own propaganda machine.
For the most part so far, al-Shabab's leaders have not been swayed by IS attempts to woo them.
They have banned any discussion relating to the group and have detained perceived IS sympathisers in southern and central Somalia, including two senior commanders and some foreign fighters, according to pro al-Shabab media.
The group has also said it would treat defectors as enemies.
Internal tensions have already started to spill over in some cases, with local media reporting at least nine militants killed in fighting earlier this month between two rival al-Shabab factions in southern Somalia.
The repeated warnings from the jihadist group's leaders against defections suggest they see IS as a genuine threat to their own standing and ability to recruit.
Although al-Shabab has carried out big attacks outside its borders - especially on Kenya which has troops on the ground as part of an African Union mission backing the Somali government - the group's priorities are still mainly domestic.
IS advocates global expansion and domination, an ideology that does not sit well with al-Shabab leaders, who would rather focus on matters closer to home.
While the group is happy to take on foreign fighters who serve their own purpose, the idea of taking orders from leaders outside Somalia is not something the al-Shabab hierarchy is keen on.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has held up reports of factionalism within al-Shabab as a sign of the group's weakness, but it still holds large swathes of territory in the central and southern regions of the country, and continues to launch deadly attacks in the capital Mogadishu.
There is no doubt that al-Shabab, whatever internal wrangling is currently going on, remains a deadly force within Somalia and in neighbouring Kenya.
If the IS propaganda campaign leads to more defections, it could declare a branch in East Africa, prompting a potentially devastating three-way war between IS, al-Shabab and the Somali government.
It would also herald the arrival of a more potent enemy for other East African governments. | Somalia's militant Islamist movement al-Shabab is battling to keep the loyalty of its fighters, as the Islamic State (IS) group tries to gain a foothold in East Africa. |
40604732 | The US singer also confirmed they are called Sir Carter and Rumi - which had been rumoured after she and husband Jay-Z filed a trademark for the names.
The picture showed the 35-year-old mother-of-three and the twins draped in a purple floral sheet, while she wore a blue veil.
It clocked up more than two million likes on Instagram in an hour.
Beyonce wrote: "Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today", with a string of emojis of prayer hands and a woman, man, little girl and two babies.
As well as the twins, Beyonce and rapper Jay-Z are also parents to five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
The style of the image, in which Beyonce stands in a garden barefoot in front of a floral archway, echoes the photoshoot she used to announce her pregnancy on the network. That post, in February, became the most-liked in the history of Instagram.
Jay-Z's real name is of course Shawn Carter. Beyonce wrote that their babies' names are "Sir Carter and Rumi". So is Sir Carter actually Sir Carter Carter? Or does Rumi just have one name?
Beyonce's mum Tina cleared things up a little, posting a message saying: "hello Sir Carter and Rumi Carter" and also confirmed their genders: "Boy and girl what a blessing."
Beyonce and Jay-Z aren't the first couple to choose some sort of grandiose honorific as a forename - Kim and Kanye have little Saint, Michael Jackson's eldest son is Prince, and Jackson's brother Jermaine named a son, er, Jermajesty.
Rumi, meanwhile, is a popular Japanese girl's name but some people have suggested Rumi may be named after the 13th Century Persian poet.
The world had been eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of the babies ever since American media reported the Lemonade singer had given birth last month.
But neither she nor Jay-Z had confirmed any details of the twins until now.
Her father Mathew Knowles had tweeted on 18 June, saying: "They're here!" and "Happy birthday to the twins" - but the timing of Beyonce's post suggest they were actually born on 13 June.
It's no surprise that fans were quick to share their thoughts on the picture.
BBC Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo wrote on Twitter: "Soooo extra and I LOVE it."
But dad Lee Simpson reacted to the picture by tweeting: "Our 1st photo was in Jessops with me in the background eating a packet of quavers."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Beyonce has shared the first picture of herself with her twins to celebrate them turning one month old. |
39139630 | The independent centrist's campaign has been boosted by the setbacks of centre-right rival Francois Fillon, who faces formal investigation over fake job allegations involving his wife.
Mr Macron seems likely to face the far-right National Front's Marine le Pen in a second round of voting, and he is seen as a key defender of liberal European values from populist forces on the continent.
Amid accusations that he was all image and short on substance, he launched his election campaign on 2 March.
Mr Macron has maintained that the left and right in politics are irrelevant and out of fashion.
He was economy minister in President Francois Hollande's centre-left Socialist administration until last year, but has played down his links to Mr Hollande.
His current movement was a new project and definitely not a continuation of Mr Hollande's, he said at the campaign launch.
Instead he has urged France to rediscover its "spirit of conquest", and called for a "transformation" rather than just reform, in which every French citizen would play a part.
As Mr Fillon faces questions over his wife's employment, his rival has proposed eradicating "nepotism" and "conflicts of interest".
"All elected representatives must respect the law and public morality," he said at the launch.
The measures he is proposing include banning MPs from doing any consulting work and banning all officials from employing family or friends.
He is also seeking to cut the size of both chambers of parliament - the National Assembly and the Senate - by a third.
Mr Macron has not said whether he would lift France's state of emergency, launched following the Paris attacks in November 2015, but he has promised to "evaluate" it.
He said no new measures would be taken on terrorism, and ruled out what he described as symbolic policies such as removing French nationality from dual citizens, which would only divide the country.
He would not accept stigmatising people for their religion, or religious-based bigotry, he added.
The key was to make existing security measures work more effectively, he said.
He has, however, promised 10,000 more police officers - similar to a pledge made by Marine Le Pen - and the rebuilding of regional intelligence networks.
Mr Macron has also emphasised a revival in community policing, and in particular rebuilding relations between police and young people.
While Ms Le Pen seeks to take France out of the eurozone and hold a referendum on France's relationship with the European Union, Mr Macron is an ardent supporter of the EU.
He has called for efforts to reinvigorate the eurozone and a new impulse for the single market, which he said should be vigorously defended in Brexit talks with the UK.
Mr Macron caused some consternation among conservative circles a few weeks ago by describing France's colonialism as a "crime against humanity". He has since apologised for "hurting some people's feelings" but has not withdrawn the statement.
On defence, he has proposed increasing spending to 2% of GDP - a key demand of the US and other Nato allies.
He is also calling for an "international roadmap" to combat militant Islamism, and described Africa as a region that had "all the risks and all the opportunities" for France.
Mr Macron has urged French workers to embrace a transformation of the workplace.
"Work is going to change and we will be part of that change. We will go with it and we will transform the balance of forces," he said.
He has proposed aligning the public sector pension scheme with the private sector. Such measures have been tried in the past and have provoked huge opposition from the left, but he describes the move as an end to inequality between schemes.
He has also pledged no change to the retirement age for five years, and to retain the 35-hour working week, both moves seen as directed at left-wing voters.
In a budget programme unveiled days before his campaign launch, Mr Macron proposed savings of €60bn ($63bn; £51bn) over five years, including cuts to the civil service.
He also pledged to keep the deficit to below 3% of economic output.
Mr Macron has made education one of his main priorities.
He has pledged to put the three "Rs" at the heart of education policy and reduce class sizes.
He describes the education system as being "too uniform" and says more control over policy should be given to local authorities. | Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has emerged as a major force in French politics despite never being elected to office. |
34901765 | Owners of large air-vented dryers and condensing dryers under the Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda brands may need to have them fixed.
Indesit said that excess fluff could catch the heating element in the machine and cause a fire.
It is recalling many dryers bought between April 2004 and October 2015.
The company said that the tumble dryers could still be used but should not if they were left unattended.
It is asking owners to check whether their machine is one of those affected and, if so, to contact the company through its dedicated website.
If action is needed, an engineer will visit to mend the machine - a process that the company said could take an hour.
The safety review began following Whirlpool Corporation's purchase of the Indesit business in October 2014.
There are an estimated 30 million Whirlpool, Indesit and Hotpoint machines in UK households, but the company said it would not speculate about exactly how many had been affected.
In June, consumer group Which? said that nearly 12,000 fires in the past three years in Britain had been the fault of defective white goods and kitchen equipment. | A "significant" number of tumble dryers sold in the last 11 years in the UK may need a repair owing to fears about fires. |
35406463 | The company said it would close all operations this year as there was "no reasonable path to profitability" in the two countries.
The move comes after rival US car firm General Motors last year said it would pull out of Indonesia.
In 2015, Ford sales accounted for just 0.1% of the Japanese market and only 0.6% in Indonesia.
In a statement, Ford spokesman Neal McCarthy said: "Japan is the most closed, developed auto economy in the world, with all imported brands accounting for less than 6% of Japan's annual new car market."
The 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement in its current form would not improve Ford's ability to compete there, he added.
"It's another step in the global defeat of the US car industry," analyst Simon Littlewood of Asia Now told the BBC.
"It never really made sense for them to be in either Japan or Indonesia, selling only around 5 to 6,000 vehicles in each of those markets - that's a tiny proportion of what you need to sell to have any kind of scale."
"With Indonesia you could argue that it is a substantial market with 300 million people but the problem is that the Indonesian government has a policy of insisting on local assembly," said Mr Littlewood.
"So Ford either had to get in in a big way and actually start manufacturing or to get out altogether - which is what they've done."
Neither market is large for the carmaker. Last year, Ford sold just 6,100 cars and trucks in Indonesia and 5,000 in Japan, partly blaming the government for protective policies that favour domestic brands over imported cars.
Ford employs 292 workers in Japan and has 44 dealerships there, and it employs 35 people in Indonesia. | US carmaker Ford has said it will exit Japan and Indonesia blaming poor sales and market conditions. |
36892071 | Allen Green lived aboard the Sonskit in Netherwich Basin, near Droitwich, friends told the BBC.
They said after helping the woman and dog to safety, he got back inside the boat to salvage items but could not get out as it filled with water.
Mr Green's 19-year-old daughter, Naomi, told BBC News her father was her "hero" and she loved him very much.
The boat has now been removed from the Droitwich Junction Canal.
Canal death eyewitness accounts on BBC Local Live
Paramedics battled for 40 minutes to resuscitate Mr Green but he died at the scene, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.
An elderly woman managed to get off the boat unharmed before it sank, a spokesman added.
Volunteer lock keeper James Cowlishaw said he had spoken to Mr Green on the day of the tragedy and later fought to rescue him.
"He went past on his boat, we passed the time of day and he went off into the distance and we caught him up in those terrible circumstances.
"There was an air gap at the top but we had no response when we were knocking the top of the boat which was worrying.
"I tried to get in the front but it was rammed with bedding and furniture which was floating about in there.
"The emergency services took over and eventually found him.
"We can't understand how he got in the trouble he did."
A witness at the scene said he saw the boat "right at the bottom of the lock" and called an ambulance.
"[There were] two people on it - one at the front and one at the back. They were trying to fight their way through the debris which was floating around in the boat," he said.
The Canal and River Trust, which looks after the canal, said it was trying to find out what happened.
West Mercia Police said there were no suspicious circumstances so it was not investigating.
A spokeswoman for the trust said: "We're deeply saddened to hear that someone has lost their life on the canal, and our thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time.
"Incidents like this are rare, and while there's no indication there's a problem with the canal, we'll be looking at whether there's anything we can do to prevent this kind of thing happening again in future."
The trust, formerly British Waterways, said Droitwich Canals reopened in 2011. | A man saved his mother and dog before dying when his narrowboat sank in a canal lock, eyewitnesses said. |
36301894 | Passengers will be able to reach either Stratford or Tottenham Hale in five minutes, with northbound services continuing to Bishops Stortford.
The Abellio Greater Anglia services will run approximately every half-hour.
"Lea Bridge station will really help open Leyton up for growth," said Chris Robbins, the leader of Waltham Forest council.
He added the station would "establish our little corner of London as a real contender as a place to do business, as well as somewhere to buy a home and raise a young family".
"Great first trip from Lea Bridge station this morning!" tweeted Russell Whiting. "15 mins off the commute."
The BBC's London transport correspondent Tom Edwards said local people had fought a "long battle" to have Lea Bridge reopened.
The station first opened in 1840, and in the first half of the 20th Century it was possible to travel to travel on a direct train as far as North Woolwich, Chingford and Hertford.
But it fell into disrepair in the 1970s and 1980s when services were cut and British Rail closed it in July 1985.
Fourteen years ago the council commissioned a feasibility study, but the decision to reopen it was only taken in 2013.
By 2031 the station is expected to serve more than 350,000 passengers a year.
The work was funded by Waltham Forest Council, an Olympic redevelopment grant and the Department of Transport's New Stations Fund. | Lea Bridge station in east London, which was closed to passengers in 1985, has reopened. |
35744594 | The Cessna Citation fuselage was bought by Milton Hall Primary School at Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex.
Once renovated with benches and solar panels, it will be able to house classes of up to 15 children.
The school bought it for an undisclosed sum but said it was "a lot cheaper than building a classroom".
The unused fuselage was spotted by the school's media manager Jon Baker who was having a flying lesson at Southend Airport. He "thought it would make a good classroom", Claire Reynolds, the school's business manager said.
Read more on this and other stories winging their way to you from Essex
The Cessna was delivered by truck on Saturday and lifted onto the playing field by crane.
"It will receive a full make-over to turn it into a brand new exciting learning space for the children to engross themselves in," Ms Reynolds said.
The borough council's health and safety team has examined the jet and will be monitoring the renovation.
The school estimates it will take up to four months to transform the space with seating, lighting, solar panels and wind turbines.
"We have a lot of expertise on site, including Mr Baker, who's a real plane enthusiast. It's his baby," she said.
"Our school has limited space for expansion and we were keen to find an exciting and unusual way to further engage our children and expand on their learning."
The jet will eventually become a hub for ICT and media studies.
Teachers also hope the experience of learning inside such a unique space will elevate the children's creative writing lessons. | A primary school which was running out of teaching space has arrived at a novel solution - by turning a disused private jet into a new classroom. |
39049048 | The ordnance was discovered by a dredger in the water at about 03:00 GMT, the Royal Navy said.
Specialist divers at the scene said the bomb posed a "very serious threat". It was towed out to sea and detonated.
All ferries were stopped and trains between Portsmouth and Southsea station and Portsmouth Harbour were suspended, but have since started running again.
There were also extensive road closures in the area, affecting access to Gunwharf Quays.
Latest updates on the bomb discovery and other stories from Hampshire and Dorset
How dangerous are unexploded bombs?
The Royal Navy said the device, believed to be a German SC250 that weighs 500lb (227kg), was removed from the harbour before being "safely" blown up in the sea off the Isle of Wight.
Lt Mike St Pierre, the officer leading the bomb disposal team, had said: "Despite being old, these devices can pose a very serious threat."
Hampshire Constabulary said it had "activated a pre-arranged multi-agency plan" with Ministry of Defence Police, the Royal Navy, Portsmouth City Council and other organisations.
"Our priority is to ensure public safety and minimise community disruption while the ordnance is detonated by the Royal Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal," the force said.
It advised residents to stay in their homes, open the windows and move away from the outer walls.
Dredging is being carried out to deepen and widen a four-mile (7km) channel to allow the the navy's new 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers to dock.
Several devices have been found in the harbour since work started in September.
The most recent discovery was a British-made Armstrong Whitworth device found in the early hours of Friday morning, the Royal Navy has said. | A World War Two bomb containing 290lb (131kg) of "high explosives" has been found in Portsmouth harbour. |
40398509 | The outgoing Lib Dem leader said firefighters, police and medical staff "deserve so much better".
The pay cap, which has been in place since 2012, limits pay rises for public sector workers to 1% a year until 2020.
Ministers have said that wage restraint in the public sector helps protect jobs and repairs the public finances.
But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said earlier this month he had "a great deal of sympathy" for the case made by nurses for an end to the pay cap because of the "enormous amount of goodwill and time given free of charge" by staff.
Labour and the Lib Dems both pledged to scrap the 1% pay cap in their 2017 manifestos.
In the past few months there have been terror attacks in London and Manchester, and the Grenfell Tower fire disaster.
Mr Farron said the pay cap should be replaced by pay rises in line with inflation.
His party says the cap means that emergency service staff are seeing their wages cut in real terms, with the average firefighter set to be an estimated £1,423 a year worse off, in real terms, by 2020-21.
Mr Farron said: "Terror attacks in London and Manchester and the Grenfell Tower tragedy have reminded us how our emergency services deal with the most terrible of events with professionalism and courage. They deserve a pay rise, not a pay cut.
"This is about choices. During the election campaign, Theresa May reacted with indifference when asked why nurses were having to resort to using food banks.
"But in recent months we have seen time and again that our emergency services run towards danger when others run away. They deserve so much better.
"The Liberal Democrats call on the government to stand up for our firefighters, police, doctors and nurses and give them the pay rise they deserve."
Home Secretary Amber Rudd admitted last week that terror attacks in the past three months had left police resources "pulled very tight".
A Treasury spokesperson said: "The whole country truly values the extraordinary professionalism and courage that the police and the emergency services have shown in recent weeks and it is crucial that the public sector continues to recruit, retain and motivate the highest quality staff.
"Pay restraint is one of the many difficult choices the government has had to make to protect jobs while helping to put the UK's public finances back on track.
"The independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that our current pay policy will protect 200,000 public sector jobs." | The public sector pay cap should be scrapped in recognition of the work of the emergency services following recent disasters, says Tim Farron. |
34514935 | Jason Morgan, 33, from Bristol, was killed at Great Brynn Barton Farm near Roche, Cornwall in June 2011.
Roger Matthews, 48, and his employee Norman Treseder, 55, were found to be "grossly negligent" when they appeared at Truro Crown Court in August.
They were jailed for four years each and Matthews told to pay £10,000 costs.
Mr Morgan was installing safety netting on a barn extension on a work site described as "a death trap" during the trial.
Judge Graham Cottle told Matthews: "You knew the only safe way was to bury the overhead power line. Western Power Distribution told you what was necessary, but you ignored it.
"You didn't want the inconvenience of putting the work back. Your stance was to hope that everything would be alright.
"The site was a potential death trap and remained so despite repeated warnings."
The court heard the cost of burying the 11,000 volt power line would have been more than £15,000.
Judge Cottle said: "You failed in your duty of care to anyone who worked on the project. A life was needlessly lost that day."
The court heard a victim statement from Mr Morgan's partner, Sarah Gane, who said "my heart was torn apart" when I was told about his death.
She said telling their daughter Emily, who was five years old at the time, that "daddy will never be coming home" was the worst thing she ever had to do.
Mr Morgan's father, Patrick Morgan, said in his victim statement that "life is far too quiet without him", which he said had also been written on Mr Morgan's gravestone.
Matthews Plant Hire Ltd and Philip Tucker, 57, a roofer from St Wenn, Bodmin, were also found guilty of health and safety at work breaches.
Tucker was sentenced to nine months, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £10,000 costs.
Matthews, who is the managing director of Matthews Plant Hire Ltd, from St Ervan, Wadebridge, and Treseder, from Wendron, Helston, were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence. | A farmer and his employee have been jailed over the death of a contractor who was electrocuted when his ladder touched an overhead power cable. |
30665359 | Patrick Lyttle suffered serious head injuries and is in a critical but stable condition.
New South Wales police were called to the Bayswater Road shortly after 03:00 local time on Saturday.
They were told a 33-year-old man had punched a 31-year-old man in the head, causing him to fall onto the footpath.
Barry Lyttle, 33, was later remanded in custody at Parramatta Court on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm. He is expected to appear in court again on Monday.
NSW Police Insp Michael Fitzgerald said the brothers were from Northern Ireland and were with their father on holiday.
"This is a tragedy. I've spoken to their father at hospital this morning," Insp Fitzgerald said.
"The pain the father is suffering now cannot be explained in words as a result of a one-punch attack from one brother to another.
"This was caused by one punch and we now have a father who is facing the reality of one son facing serious criminal charges and another son fighting for his life." | A man from Ballycastle, County Antrim, is in a critical condition in hospital in Sydney, Australia, after allegedly being punched by his brother. |
36356241 | The 35-year-old ended the season as caretaker boss, stepping up from his assistant coach role following the sacking of James Fowler.
The Dumfries side finished seventh in the Championship, 20 points off the play-off places.
"As a club we will strive to compete for a place in the play-offs in a very strong league," said the former Gretna and Kilmarnock midfielder.
"The club have re-signed a number of players in the last few weeks and I will be looking to add a few new faces to the squad.
"Having been at the club last year I know there is a good mix of experienced players alongside some exciting young players who I expect to play a big part this season.
"I will be working extremely hard to ensure I produce a committed, passionate and talented team that all Queen of the South supporters will enjoy watching and most importantly be proud to support."
Skelton has managerial experience with Workington, steering the club to a second place finish in the Northern Premier League in his one season in charge, having been a player-coach there in the previous campaign.
He moved to Palmerston Park last summer to assist Fowler and oversaw the final two matches of the season.
Queen of the South also announced that Jim Thomson is taking on a new position as football development manager. | Queen of the South have chosen Gavin Skelton as their new manager. |
34284614 | Ali Raza Shah, 36, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Christopher John Leslie, 32, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was jailed for six years in January.
Police said the Birmingham men had arranged to take delivery of the carpets - flown from Pakistan - in Telford, Shropshire.
The packaged carpets arrived at Heathrow Airport on 2 August, 2013.
UK Border Force officers discovered heroin in hollow straws had been woven into some of the rolls.
They were found to contain 7.3kg of heroin at a purity of 45-50%, giving a potential street value of about £730,000.
The consignment was originally destined for an address in Leegomery, but the address was changed to a storage facility in Birmingham.
Shah, from Malmesbury Road, Small Heath, was convicted on Monday and sentenced at Hereford Crown Court on Thursday.
Leslie, from Kitchener Road, Selly Park, also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply 9kg of cannabis, at Worcester Crown Court on 4 November 2014 and was jailed for one year on 21 January - to be served consecutively to the heroin supply sentence. | Two men have been jailed after heroin with a street value of £730,000 was woven into carpets and flown to the UK. |
39646070 | The 24-year-old and Glasgow Warriors team-mate Tommy Seymour, 28 are the only two Scots in Warren Gatland's 41-man squad for the tour of New Zealand.
Hogg toured Australia with the Lions in 2013 but did not feature against the Wallabies.
"The focus for me now is very much on getting that starting jersey," he said.
"I'm very much focussed on the job in hand. There's a couple of games left with Glasgow. I'll hopefully get a starting place there and perform to the best of my ability.
"As soon as the time comes to switch to Lions mode then I'll be doing exactly that.
"I believe I'm in a good position to do it but I'm not going to rest on my laurels, I'm going to work incredibly hard and every opportunity I get I'm going to make the most of it and here's hoping I can get a starting jersey. It's not going to come easy.
"I was chuffed to bits to be there the last time. Looking back, I was sitting behind Leigh Halfpenny so I couldn't really grumble at that, could I?
"These are the reasons why you play rugby, this is the highest level you can possibly go. To get one over on New Zealand in their home patch would be absolutely tremendous.
"I wish it [the tour] was now, if I'm honest."
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Hogg impressed during the Six Nations and was voted player of the tournament for the second year running.
"I'm very much excited for the challenges that are coming our way and to be going alongside my good friend Tommy, I'm chuffed for him as well," Hogg told the BBC Sport Scotland Facebook page.
"Tommy's a world-class player and he's fully deserving of his call-up. A hugely exciting few weeks coming up.
"I'm sure Tommy will agree, we've played in very good sides over the last few years - Glasgow competing for trophies, fortunate enough to win [the Pro12] a couple of years ago, and also here at Scotland, we're ever improving.
"It's down to the team-mates for getting us in good positions. We're just hugely honoured to be going to New Zealand."
And Seymour added: "It hasn't sunk in yet. I'm a bit speechless. Amazing feeling. A really proud moment for my family. It's special." | Stuart Hogg is targeting a Test starting place after being called up for his second British and Irish Lions tour. |
29115002 | Alan Hamilton, 65, originally from Northamptonshire, was at the KG5 sports ground on 9 July when he collapsed.
Phone records show he had dialled 999 and telecoms records suggest the call was put through, but no ambulance was sent. His body was found the next day.
St John Ambulance and Rescue, the island's only ambulance service, has launched an internal investigation.
It is understood Sure, the telecom company that currently handles calls to emergency services, put the call through to St John.
The ambulance service said it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage in the process.
Mr Hamilton was brought to the island by the Guernsey Cricket Association to work as a groundsman. He was heavily involved with cricket in the island.
Guernsey Police said no further investigations - or an inquest - had been carried out.
The internal investigation at St John is expected to conclude later this month. | A man died of a suspected heart attack in Guernsey after a call to emergency services went unanswered. |
36304593 | William Tolcher, 51, is accused of attacking Alex Cusworth, 37, with the knife which he had been issued with to prepare vegetables in the kitchens in November.
Plymouth Crown Court heard he later admitted the attack to a fellow inmate.
He denied the murder charge at the start of his two-week trial.
More on this story and other news from Devon and Cornwall
Simon Laws, prosecuting, said the knife was "capable of being a formidable weapon".
He told the court: "Quite suddenly and without warning he used it on another inmate.
"He was not defending himself. It was not an accident. He was seen to do it.
"He admitted what he had done to a fellow inmate in the immediate aftermath. It's as simple as that.
"After his arrest however he would say nothing to the police."
Mr Laws said that on the day of the attack there were a large number of inmates working with a small number of staff in the kitchen.
Prisoners and staff work together in the kitchens at the category C jail with meals for 650 people cooked three times a day.
The jury was told there had been no conversation between Tolcher and Cusworth before the attack and it was believed the victim had said something earlier which Tolcher had taken offence to.
Liverpudlian Tolcher was convicted of murdering a woman in Newquay, Cornwall, in 1996 and was serving a life sentence, the jury heard.
Tolcher also admitted causing actual bodily harm in an attack on a prisoner in 2003, the court was told.
The trial continues. | A convicted killer stabbed a fellow inmate to death at Dartmoor Prison using a 10-inch (25cm) kitchen knife, a court has heard. |
34473456 | The married father-of-two, 34, was struck and killed by a pick-up truck while on duty in Wallasey on Monday.
Clayton Williams, 18, of Wallasey, has been charged with murder; and Phillip Stuart, 30, of Oxton, was charged with aggravated unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle and burglary.
The Birkenhead football club made the tribute before its National League game against Eastleigh.
Tranmere's vice-chairman Nicola Palios tweeted to announce the plans, which also included a collection.
The club had initially proposed a minute's silence, but bosses changed their minds after supporters expressed a preference for applause.
PC Phillips was an avid football fan and a supporter of neighbouring Merseyside club Everton.
His family told in a press conference how he had wished to one day take his daughters to their first match.
Mr Williams, of Wheatland Lane, Wallasey, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Friday when he was remanded in custody until 22 October, when he is due in court again.
His solicitor issued a statement that said the 18-year-old accepted his driving caused the death of PC Phillips but said he did not intend to kill him.
Mr Stuart, of Mayfair Court, Oxton, was also remanded in custody until 22 October.
Three women, aged between 19 and 59, and a 39-year old man, who were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender in connection with PC Phillips' death, have been released on bail. | Tranmere Rovers held a minute's applause in memory of PC Dave Phillips. |
27389189 | He told the Commons liaison committee he could not give a "cast iron guarantee" the target would be met.
But he rejected calls from MPs for it to be dropped.
Net migration - the number coming to the UK for at least a year, minus the numbers leaving - rose 58,000 to 212,000 in the year to September 2013.
Mr Cameron conceded he had no control over some of the key factors feeding into the net migration figure, such as the number of people emigrating from the UK, but he said: "My commitment is to do everything I can to make progress towards that target and that's what we should do."
He said the difference between people leaving to work in other EU countries and coming to the UK had been "in broad balance" over time "so the way you get net migration down is by reducing migration from outside the EU" which he said was down by a third since the coalition came to power.
The first official figures on the number of migrants to have arrived from Bulgaria and Romania since restrictions were lifted on 1 January are due to be released on Wednesday.
Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz told Mr Cameron said the figures would show that 30,000 people had arrived in the UK from those countries.
Mr Cameron said he did not want to comment ahead of the figures, but said it was "remarkable" how many EU migrants had come from countries like Spain and Italy, rather than new EU states in Eastern Europe.
Quizzed by Mr Vaz about the difference between his stance on EU migration and that of UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who wants to end free movement into the UK and reintroduce a work permit system, he said: "I'm not entirely sure what his view is.
"It's sort of just 'put the barricades up and pretend that these organisations don't work'."
In March, Conservative MP Mark Field called for the Conservative Party to drop its net migration target, saying it was "impractical", harmed Britain's global competitiveness and was clearly not going to be met.
Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable has also disowned the target, stressing that it was a Conservative and not a coalition government policy.
Mr Cameron also agreed to look at a proposal by Bernard Jenkin, Tory chairman of the public administration committee, to improve the system for estimating net migration.
At the moment it is based on a survey of passengers carried out at airports and ports. Plans to count all migrants in and out through an e-borders scheme have been "downgraded".
Mr Cameron conceded that the existing system has got "inadequacies because it is a survey" but experts, including the Office for National Statistics, had said it was the best way of measuring migration.
He said people were increasingly being counted out as they went through passport control and full exit checks would be in place by next year - but he would examine Mr Jenkins' call for an extra £15m to improve the collection of migration figures.
Labour's Shadow Immigration Minister David Hanson said Mr Cameron's comments showed the Conservatives were "failing" on immigration.
"No amount of bluster from David Cameron will change the fact that he promised categorically to get net migration down to the tens of thousands but it is actually rising, not falling." | David Cameron has insisted his aim of getting net migration to the UK down to below 100,000 before May 2015 remains "perfectly achievable". |
33313347 | The "leap second" means the last minute of June will have 61 seconds in it.
Leap seconds - and leap years - are added as basic ways to keep the clock in sync with the Earth and its seasons.
However, there are concerns the extra second could cause problems for some computer systems because it has to be added manually.
Timekeepers are divided over whether to keep the additional unit of time - and the issue is set to be debated at a meeting later this year.
The addition will mean that the last minute of June will have 61 seconds; while 23:59:59 usually becomes 00:00:00, the leap second will ensure the time becomes 23:59:60.
Peter Whibberley, senior research scientist at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL), said: "Because they depend on measurements of the Earth's rotation, which varies unpredictably, leap seconds occur at irregular intervals."
News coverage has focused on the potential for software problems that could affect financial trading and other operations around the world. Mr Whibberley, who works in the time and frequency group at NPL, stressed the need for planning.
"Leap seconds are announced only six months in advance. This means computers and software cannot be supplied with leap seconds programmed in, and they must be inserted manually," he explained.
"Getting leap seconds wrong can cause loss of synchronisation in communication networks, financial systems and many other applications which rely on precise timing.
"Whenever a leap second occurs, some computer systems encounter problems due to glitches in the code written to handle them. The consequences are particularly severe in the Asia-Pacific region, where leap seconds occur during normal working hours."
Because the irregularity of adding leap seconds causes problems for computer networks, several proposals have been put forward to abolish them.
The issue is still being considered by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and is set to be discussed at the World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva in November this year.
Delegates will aim to reach a decision to either end leap seconds or adopt a technical solution to reduce the problems they cause. | Midnight will come later tonight as for the first time in three years an extra second is added to the official time set by atomic clocks. |
39708503 | Ben Murdoch-Masila and Greg Johnson both crossed to give the Red Devils a deserved 12-0 half-time lead.
Tom Gilmore replied immediately after the break for Widnes, but Niall Evalds soon restored Salford's two-score lead.
Patrick Ah Van cut Salford's lead once again, but the hosts eased clear in the last 20 minutes with Murdoch-Masila's second try and Jake Bibby's late score.
Salford, who were without winger Justin Carney as he awaits the verdict after being charged for allegedly racially abusing a Toronto Wolfpack player, climbed two places in the table and above Leeds on points difference.
The Red Devils have won the previous five meetings and were well on the way to their sixth successive victory over the Vikings by half-time.
Murdoch-Masila crashed over from close range to put them in front before Johnson touched down Kris Welham's grubber kick to extend the lead.
Widnes began the second half brightly and were in the game at 18-10 after Gilmore and Ah Van touched down either side of Evalds taking Robert Lui's clever kick to score.
But Michael Dobson's penalty, one of five goals by him, eased Salford nerves before Murdoch-Masila's second bulldozing effort and Bibby's close-range score put the result beyond doubt.
Salford head coach Ian Watson told BBC Radio Manchester:
"It was a test of our squad today, we had a few young guys have to step in for a few senior players and they've come out and shown what they're all about and what the squad's all about.
"The first half we controlled the game reasonably well against the breeze, because Widnes were on the front foot for a lot of it.
"In the second half we looked a little bit loose in our defence, but once we got control of that, our freshness and our fitness levels helped us get through and show some classy stuff."
Salford: Evalds, Johnson, Welham, Jones, Bibby, Lui, Dobson, Tasi, Tomkins, Walne, Murdoch-Masila, Flanagan, Krasniqi.
Replacements: Kopczak, Lannon, Brinning, Murray.
Widnes: Marsh, Ince, Dean, Runciman, Ah Van, Mellor, Gilmore, Buchanan, Johnstone, Dudson, Houston, Whitley, Gerrard.
Replacements: O'Carroll, Cahill, Burke, Olbison.
Referee: Ben Thaler (RFL) | Salford climbed back to third in Super League with victory over bottom-of-the-table Widnes Vikings. |
30980418 | Sammie Welch, 23, from Plymouth, was travelling with her son Rylan, three, when a man handed her a note as he got off at Bristol.
The passenger wrote "Have a drink on me" and left her a £5 note after being impressed with her son's manners.
Ms Welch said: "I want to thank him personally."
The note, in capital letters, read: "Have a drink on me. You are a credit to your generation, polite and teaching the little boy good manners.
"PS I have a daughter your age, someone did the same for her once. Hope when she has children she is as good a mother as you.
"Have a lovely evening."
Ms Welch said she "wanted to cry" at the anonymous benefactor's generosity.
She said: "I never had the chance to thank him as he got off and I couldn't move due to my son being asleep on me and a man sat next to me."
She has appealed on Facebook for people to get in touch with the man.
She said: "He shows there are still good people out there and I want him to know I am truly grateful." | A young mother is hoping to find a stranger on a train who left her a handwritten note calling her a "credit to her generation". |
40596212 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 37-year-old American 10th seed played superbly to win 6-4 6-2 on Centre Court and set up a final against Spain's Garbine Muguruza.
Sixth seed Konta, 26, had hoped to become the first British woman in a Wimbledon singles final since 1977.
"It was very difficult for me to get a good foothold in the match," she said.
"The few opportunities that I did get, she did incredibly well to take them away from me.
"I don't think I did too much wrong out there. I think it was all credit to her."
Konta will at least break into the world's top five for the first time in the next rankings.
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Virginia Wade, the last British woman to win the title 40 years ago, said: "Maybe 41 years will be her number.
"It was sad she couldn't come through in an anniversary year, and it's so long since we had a winner, but I think next year she could make it, or make it to the final and progress that little bit more."
Williams is the oldest Grand Slam singles finalist since Martina Navratilova finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1994.
The American, through to her ninth final, won her first Wimbledon title in 2000 and the most recent of her seven major victories came on Centre Court in 2008.
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"I've played a lot of finals here," Williams told BBC Sport. "One more win will be amazing. It won't be a given but I'll give it my all."
She will next face Muguruza, the 14th seed, who thrashed unseeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1 6-1 in just 64 minutes to advance to her second Wimbledon final.
The Spaniard finished runner-up to Serena Williams in 2015, before beating the American to win the French Open in 2016.
In a tight contest between two of the best servers in the game, Williams worked her way to victory with smarter serving and more effective returns.
The American, playing her 20th Wimbledon, showed all her experience to edge out Konta and end British hopes in this year's singles events.
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It was Konta under the greater early pressure at 30-30 or deuce in her opening four service games, with Williams standing inside the baseline to attack the second serve, but the Briton calmly played her way out of trouble.
Konta then earned the first two break points of the match at 4-4 but it brought the best out of Williams, who produced a backhand winner, a 106mph second serve and a forehand winner.
The former world number one would carry that momentum through the rest of the match, finding big second serves and aiming at the body to restrict Konta to just 13 points on the return as her forehand in particular leaked errors.
Konta fell 0-40 down to offer up three set points in game 10, firing a backhand long on the second, and Williams got the decisive break at 3-1 in the second.
There was no chink of light on the Williams serve for the home crowd on Centre Court to get excited about, and Konta could only watch as the American arrowed a forehand past her down the line on her third match point.
"The crowd were very nice to me," added Williams. "The crowd were so fair, I know they love Jo. I think Jo handled the pressure.
"No point was easy. I tried to climb on top and get another point."
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Martina Navratilova, nine-time Wimbledon champion: "Venus served well. The second serve on big points really handcuffed Konta - she didn't know what was coming her way. And Konta only won 33% of points on her second serve, so Venus was really attacking the second serve. I thought the difference would be return of serve and that's what did it."
Tracy Austin, former world number one: "It was the 106mph second serve that saved a break point that really turned the first set around. Johanna really started to miscue on that forehand return early in the first set and Venus picked up on that, started to target that forehand in some of the longer rallies."
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Muguruza strode on to Centre Court with heavy strapping on her left thigh, but appeared anything but restricted as she reeled off the first five games in 25 minutes.
Rybarikova, ranked 87th, went into the match with an 18-1 record on grass this season but the 28-year-old appeared nervous in her first Grand Slam semi-final.
A sympathetic round of applause greeted her first game at 5-1 down.
Rybarikova won just 10 points on serve in the entire set as Muguruza attacked off the return and was confident enough to dominate from the net.
When Muguruza crushed a backhand winner off a 79mph second serve to lead 3-0 with a double break in the second set, Rybarikova was reeling.
There was more appreciation from the crowd when Rybarikova held on in a long service game to get on the scoreboard for just a second time, but Muruguza was in ruthless mood and confidently served out the match.
"I think I played very well, for sure," said the Spaniard.
"It was a tricky match, she is a very talented player. She was playing very good during the tournament and I think today I stepped up on the court super-confident, and everything went well."
Tracy Austin, former world number one: "Muguruza was in the zone. That was one of the matches you train all your life for, and for it to happen in the semi-final of Wimbledon - she was in a dream. Rybarikova was just rushed the whole time. But complete focus and a great game plan from Muguruza."
Media playback is not supported on this device | Briton Johanna Konta's hopes of a first Wimbledon final ended with a straight-set semi-final defeat by five-time champion Venus Williams. |
37243293 | The incident happened at West Mains Farm in Ancrum between 20:00 and 22:50 on Tuesday.
The blaze was spotted by a passer-by who reported it to a farm worker and it was tackled before it damaged a nearby combine harvester.
Police are keen to speak to the man who saw the fire and have asked him to contact them.
They have also asked anyone who saw any suspicious behaviour in the area to get in touch. | Police have appealed for information after a hay field in a Scottish Borders village was set on fire. |
39681804 | The 22-year-old's time of 21.32 seconds - his previous best was 21.54 - also secured him a place at this summer's World Championships in Budapest.
Find out how to get into swimming with our special guide.
Elsewhere, Holly Hibbot, 17, won the 400m freestyle as she held off Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin, 26, for her first senior British title.
And Max Litchfield won his second gold in the 200m individual medley.
The 22-year-old was adding to the 400m individual medley gold he won at Sheffield's Ponds Forge on Thursday.
Hannah Miley, 27, won the women's 200m individual medley, while Commonwealth champion Georgia Davies, 26, won the women's 50m backstroke. | Ben Proud beat his own British record as he took 50m freestyle victory at the British Swimming Championships. |
30862528 | Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak and two of his guards were seized early on Saturday in the centre of the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis said they abducted him to prevent a UN-brokered deal between them and the presidency being broken.
The country has been plagued by instability since mass protests forced former President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down in 2012.
Scores of people have been killed in clashes between the Houthis and Sunni militants.
A statement from the Houthis warned President Hadi of "a series of special measures" they were prepared to take to prevent the breaking of the deal.
The two sides agreed a truce in September last year after mounting clashes in Sanaa.
Negotiations are under way to secure Mr Bin Mubarak's release.
Houthi rebels blocked his appointment as prime minister last year.
The group was formed in 2004 to win greater autonomy for their home region of Saada, and to protect followers of Zaidism, the branch of Islam they adhere to.
Their critics say they are a proxy for Iran, a charge the rebels deny.
A video purportedly from al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQAP) said it planned and financed the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in France that killed 12, but did not provide evidence to support its claims.
There have been separate protests in Sanaa about the rising violence in the country and against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's decision to publish an image of the Prophet Muhammad. | Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen have abducted the chief of staff of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. |
40505252 | The 24-year-old from Cambridge was involved in an 11-car pile-up in June.
He was in a coma after breaking his left tibia, pelvis, collarbone and part of his pubic bone as well as puncturing both lungs and bending his ribs.
"I'm not trying to sound like a hero or anything but it was a very rare accident," he said.
"It was very odd conditions with rain and oil on the circuit. There's never been a situation before where so many cars have hit one point - a driver's door."
The incident on 10 June at the Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire occurred after Davenport aquaplaned off the track and ripped off part of the car's splitter, leaving cooling fluid across the track.
He was unable to restart the car as it had no water left in it, and with slippery fluid on the track, other drivers were unable to control their cars properly and ended up colliding with Davenport's driver's side door.
"I remember radioing into the team that I was off the track but the car feels really good," he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
"I thought we could get it back in, clear the grass out of the radiator and go again.
"Then I remember feeling the biggest hit, it sends a shockwave through the body and that we think is [Andrew] Jordan hitting me, then it all goes blank."
The pile-up also left drivers Jeff Smith, who had multiple chest injuries, and Aron Taylor-Smith, who fractured his leg, in hospital.
But Davenport said he was grateful to have had a modern seat put in, which was designed to move with impact and shifted closer to the centre of the car, away from the collision point, with every fresh hit.
He is now back in Cambridge at Addenbrooke's Hospital after spending 12 days in an induced coma and said he was grateful for all the support he received.
"The support has been amazing and the family have been brilliant, collecting all the support, writing it in books so that every time I was slowly coming round there was a positive message and then I'd drift back out of consciousness," he added.
"I caught pneumonia as well, but I had such a positive attitude because of all the messages from everyone. Just seeing these face and hearing the voices was so good." | British Touring Car driver Luke Davenport has "unfinished business" in a racing car after a horrific collision which left him in an induced coma. |
39959130 | Countess of Chester Hospital reported "a greater number of baby deaths and collapses than normally expected" between June 2015 and July 2016.
The police probe will focus on eight deaths, but a further seven during the same period will also be reviewed.
The hospital trust contacted police after a clinical review found no "definitive explanation" for the rise.
Six non-fatal collapses - where a baby's breathing or heart rate drop to dangerous levels - will also be reviewed, Cheshire Constabulary said.
A review by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health found "no single cause" to explain the increase in neonatal deaths on the unit, while it highlighted "inadequate" staffing levels.
A hospital spokeswoman said: "The trust and its doctors have continuing concerns about the unexplained deaths.
"As a hospital, we have taken the clinical review as far as we can.
"We have now asked for the input of Cheshire Police to seek assurances that enable us to rule out unnatural causes of death."
The Countess of Chester, which looks after about 400 babies in its neonatal unit each year, stopped providing care for babies born earlier than 32 weeks in July last year.
Any women expected to deliver earlier are transferred elsewhere.
Since the change to admission arrangements there had been no deaths on the unit, the hospital spokeswoman added.
Det Ch Supt Nigel Wenham said: "We recognise that this investigation will have a significant impact on all of the families involved, staff and patients at the hospital and the public."
Parents of the babies are being updated on the investigation and will be supported throughout, he added.
A solicitor for one family said: "Clearly the death of any child is a tragedy, but this is exacerbated in circumstances where questions remain unanswered.
"However, we are reassured that all steps are now being taken to investigate these deaths in their entirety, and we are hopeful that the investigation can provide some answers for the families of these children." | Baby deaths at a neonatal unit with a "higher than usual" mortality rate are to be investigated by police. |
34651992 | Police said Liverpool Football Club had cleared the stadium at 15:00 GMT as a "precautionary measure".
A search of the ground has been completed and officers are satisfied the stadium is secure, police said.
The club later confirmed the matter had been "resolved" and Wednesday night's Capital One Cup clash with Bournemouth would not be affected.
Merseyside Police said: "Officers and the club are satisfied that there are no people unaccounted for inside the ground."
Staff and visitors had been evacuated from the stadium, with club spokesman saying: "Our priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone at the ground."
Later, Liverpool said in a statement: "The stadium was temporarily closed as a precautionary measure on Tuesday due to an incident, which has since been resolved.
"Therefore, the fixture with Bournemouth will be contested as scheduled, with Anfield unaffected by the incident that led to the temporary closure." | Anfield stadium was evacuated following security concerns when a man went missing on a tour of the ground. |
34979869 | Everyone said the right things. The prospects of a deal, haven't been harmed, even if they weren't hugely advanced.
On Tuesday the more regular routines of COP life kicked in.
The day started with a plenary session of the parties, where every nation's negotiating team is represented.
This involved formal opening statements, summing up the key points from each country's perspective.
Right now there are three layers of negotiation going on.
At the very bottom, dozens of informal meetings are taking place in all corners of this massive complex
Groups of countries, often just a handful, are working through a paragraph of text at a time.
Channelling Donald Rumsfeld, these meetings have been dubbed "informal informals".
The next layer up is what are termed facilitated sessions.
Facilitators have been appointed by the co-chairs of the ADP (Adhoc working group on the Durban Platform for enhanced action, if you want to be formal about it), the part of this overall meeting that's delivering the new deal.
There are between ten and 20 of these strands, looking at elements in the text and trying to streamline it and find compromises.
They've already been working very late, indicating some progress is being made.
On top of this, according to those familiar with the process, is a new, "open ended contact group" of negotiators that will try to bring together all the links between all the different elements in the proposed agreement.
The hope is that by Saturday, the current text that runs to more than 50 pages will have been slimmed down somewhat or at least knocked into a fashion where it can be handed over to the French president of this meeting, Laurent Fabius.
He has promised to take it to the environment ministers who will arrive next week to make the difficult political decisions.
Minister Fabius has promised openness and transparency.
"No hidden agenda, no secret plan, no text in our pocket," he told the meeting.
He then hopes to guide the negotiations to a successful conclusion and to utter the four words that climate delegates have been waiting years to hear.
"Our mission is accomplished."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc. | Many negotiators will have breathed a big sigh of relief - the bosses have come and gone. |
36101786 | A clinical study by British scientists has shown that the improvement is long-lasting and so the therapy is suitable to be offered as a treatment.
The researchers will apply for approval to begin trials to treat more common forms of blindness next year.
The therapy involve injecting working copy of the gene into the back of the eyes to help cells regenerate.
The results of the therapy, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, have been tried out on 14 patients in the UK and 18 in the US, Canada and Germany over the past four and a half years.
A team at Oxford University is treating a rare disorder called choroideremia. The disorder affects young men whose light-detecting cells in the backs of their eyes are dying because they have inherited a faulty gene.
Until now, there has been no treatment and they gradually become blind.
The researchers found that not only does the treatment halt the disease, it revives some of the dying cells and improves the patient's vision, in some cases markedly.
A 24-year-old history teacher Joe Pepper, who works at St John's school in Leatherhead in Surrey, is the latest patient to have been treated.
Joe played for Hayes Cricket Club in Kent as a boy, but was forced to give it up at 16 when his vision deteriorated.
But he could see well enough to continue his love of the game as a coach at his school.
Without the gene therapy, he would have had to give that up too within a few years, as he gradually became blind. The prospect terrified him.
"When I was 18, my vision was in a very bad place," he said. "[My sight] was degenerating at quite a speed."
He told me: "I was scared of what would have happened; I was scared of not being able to see or live the life I had.
"And now to have the belief that that's not going to happen is a weight off your shoulders."
Joe is popular with the pupils. He is jovial and laughs a lot. He teaches sport and history with a passion and enthusiasm that are infectious.
But his positive personality belies the fact that the past few years have been challenging for him as his sight worsened.
"It was really quite upsetting, not only for me, but for my family.
"I was never blind but every year there would be something new to compensate for, so my life was never steady and it was the constant changes that affected me the most, particularly when I was 18. Not being able to do what my peers were doing I found quite hard for a while."
Joe had his operation in October and began to notice an improvement soon after.
"After the operation I was looking into our garden and I could see more but I wasn't sure.
"I didn't tell my mum and dad. I didn't want to let anyone get excited until we had done a simple vision test in a week's time."
The test involved reading a sight chart of letters. Each line on the chart had progressively smaller letters.
He read line after line, going four lines beyond where he had ever read before. The medical staff were astounded.
"Everyone in the room just looked at me and I looked at them," he said reliving the moment.
"Anna, the research nurse, was taking me back out of the waiting room and she just looked at me and said it was 'fantastic' - both of us just had tears in our eyes."
Joe met his father in the waiting area. He was alarmed at the sight of his son in tears.
"He thought that it was [bad news] and he just looked at me and we both sat there in each others' arms just realising that actually it had..." [Joe could not finish his sentence].
It was only when he was giving me his account of the joy and relief he felt with his father that the full emotional impact of the moment hit him for the first time.
After a brief pause he continued: "I cannot explain how terrifying and upsetting it was when I was younger," he continued.
"And now to know that there is so much opportunity, there is so much that I can actually do and do the things that I have actually wanted to and continue to do the things I really enjoy."
There are others with similar stories to Joe's.
Wayne Thompson, a 46-year-old IT worker from Staffordshire was delighted to be able to see stars in the night sky for the first time following his operation. Jonathan Wyatt, a 68-year-old former lawyer, says "it has opened a new chapter of my life for me when I thought that the book was about to close".
As the researchers have gained confidence in their treatment, they have tried it out on progressively younger patients who still have reasonably good vision.
Joe is the youngest and the most successful so far. This suggests that the gene therapy may be most effective on younger patients before the disease becomes irreversible.
The study also indicates that the treatment is long-lasting. The first patient received the therapy four and a half years ago and his treated eye has shown no drop-off in vision. Indeed, there are still slight improvements in his vision in that eye.
This is the first indication that the treatment is viable and could be widely used on patients, according to the eye surgeon leading the trial, Prof Robert MacLaren of Oxford University.
"The concept of gene therapy is that it corrects gene defects. Ideally, we should only have to do that once, because once the DNA is corrected and inserted into the correct cell, that cell should be able to continue its function as normal," he told BBC News.
"We seem to have achieved this concept of one single treatment that does not need to be repeated which is unlike traditional medicines."
Prof MacLaren says that if the next phase of larger trials goes as he anticipates, a gene therapy for choroideremia will be licensed in three years.
He has also begun to develop gene therapy trials to treat more common forms of blindness, such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. These could begin as early as next year.
Treating these disorders will be more challenging. Choroideremia is caused by a defect in a single gene, whereas the more common forms of blindness involve several.
But Prof MacLaren believes that the choroideremia trials have laid the ground for the next phase of studies and, crucially, shown that gene therapy for blindness is safe and works.
"When I started my career as an eye surgeon when we had these patients that had inherited diseases, not only did we tell them nothing could be done but we would actually discharge them from the clinics.
"We are now calling them back in to test them, to look at them in great detail because potential treatments are available. To treat a disease at the genetic level is surely the most efficient way of treating a disease, to prevent it from happening in the first place.
"We would like to develop treatments for more common forms of blindness and this may be available in the next five to 10 years," he told BBC News.
The Research is funded by the Health Innovation Challenge Fund which is a partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health.
Follow Pallab on Twitter | A genetic therapy has improved the vision of patients who would otherwise have gone blind. |
31143949 | Reports said Anil Goswami had tried to halt the arrest of a former minister in connection with a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme that went bust in 2013.
He retired from his post as home secretary, but Indian media reported he was forced out by the government.
Last week, the government also removed top foreign official Sujatha Singh.
Her term of office as foreign secretary was due to expire next August, but the government cut it short because it was reportedly unhappy with her performance.
Mr Goswami reportedly phoned India's Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to stall the arrest of Matang Sinh, a former minister under the previous Congress government.
The home department later said Mr Goswami, who has not commented on the case, opted for early retirement.
Mr Sinh has since been detained as part of the inquiry into a Ponzi scheme run by the Saradha Group, a consortium of about 200 companies that raised more than $3bn (£2bn) from mostly poor investors.
Federal investigators have already arrested top regional politicians for links to Saradha. | A senior Indian civil servant has resigned after reports that he interfered in a police investigation into a major financial scandal. |
37744374 | 23 October 2016 Last updated at 13:10 BST
The cute little baby panda was actually born a month ago and it was all caught on CCTV.
The keepers have been monitoring the pair closely and say the cub is growing well but doesn't have a name yet.
It was announced last month that giant pandas had been removed from the list of "endangered" species.
Take a look at our video to see giant panda, Yaya, holding her little cub. | A zoo in China has released footage of a newly born panda cub getting a cuddle from its mum. |
40231851 | Henry VII - born Henry Tudor - was born at Pembroke Castle in 1457, the son of Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor.
He went on to become the first Welshman to sit on the English throne.
The 8ft-high (2.4m) £45,000 bronze statue was unveiled on the town's Mill Bridge during a ceremony on Saturday.
Unveiling the statue, Sara Edwards, Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed, said: "It seems only fitting that the birthplace of one of our great kings should be recognised here and will be here as a permanent home in the shadow of Pembroke Castle."
The people of Pembroke have been trying for many years for the town to gain recognition as the birthplace of the founder of the Tudor dynasty and the site of the statue was chosen to have his birthplace as a backdrop.
The statue was modelled in clay by sculptor Harriet Addyman before being cast in bronze.
The unveiling of the sculpture, paid for by local people, a donation from oil refinery firm Valero and the council, was marked with a community party.
A feasibility study will now look into the possibility of creating a Henry VII visitor centre, which could tell the story of his past and how he went on to defeat Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field to become king. | A statue to commemorate the birthplace of a Pembrokeshire town's most famous son has been installed after years of campaigning and fundraising. |
34899575 | Some users in the US reported that Yahoo Mail was displaying a message asking them to disable their ad-blocker before they could access their inbox.
Yahoo said it was testing a "new product experience" in the US.
Members of one ad-blocking forum said they had already managed to circumvent the restriction.
Ad-blocking has proved to be controversial and technology companies have responded in different ways.
In September, Apple updated its mobile operating system iOS to allow third-party ad-blockers to be installed - although they do not remove Apple's own ads which it serves up in apps.
Google meanwhile has introduced a paid subscription version of YouTube, that lets viewers remove ads on the video streaming site for a monthly fee.
Ad-blocking advocates say disabling advertisements can improve smartphone battery life and reduce mobile data usage.
It can also prevent people being tracked by advertisers online and protect devices from malware that could be served up if an advertising network is compromised.
In 2014, Yahoo admitted adverts on its homepage had been infected with malware for four days.
But the company currently relies on advertising to earn money from its Yahoo Mail service which is available to use for free. | Yahoo has confirmed that it is preventing some people from accessing their email if they are using ad-blocking software in their browser. |
33766017 | Jordanna Goodwin and Megan Storey, both 16, were killed in a two-car collision near Conisbrough on 15 November.
Fellow passengers Blake Cairns, 16, and Arpad Kore and Bartosz Bortniczak, both 18, also died.
Speaking for the first time since charges against one of the drivers were dropped, Megan's mother, Tracey Storey said "nothing can replace them."
She added: "For both of them to be gone just like that is such a massive, massive loss in our lives.
"Nothing can replace them. The electricity that came from both of them was just amazing."
Jordanna's mother, Vicki McCarthy, added: "They didn't live their lives, it was one life led by the two of them."
The five teenagers, all pupils at Danum Academy, Doncaster, died when the car they were travelling in collided with a grey Seat Leon. The 45-year-old driver of the Seat suffered a broken leg.
Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against a 21-year-old man driving a third car, who was arrested on suspicion of causing the deaths by dangerous driving.
Mark Marriott, senior crown prosecutor for Yorkshire and Humberside, said: "After an extensive police investigation, we have not been able to identify any evidence that would prove to the very high standard required in a criminal case that the driver of the car being followed contributed to the collision."
The girls were buried in pink coffins following a joint funeral service in November attended by hundreds of family, friends and pupils from their school.
Ms Storey said she had to carry on with her life for the sake of her other two children.
"I think a part of me has died with her," she said.
"I'll just remember her as being the fun-loving, beautiful person that she always has been." | The mothers of two girls who died in a crash in South Yorkshire have described their daughters as "inseparable." |
35026592 | The A81 is closed at Gartmore, near Aberfoyle, after the River Forth broke its banks.
And the Crow Road over the Campsie Fells, from Fintry to Lennoxtown, has been closed by a landslip caused by the heavy rain.
The Met Office has issued more rain warnings for Monday into Tuesday in Tayside and other areas of Scotland.
Further road closures in Stirling include the B829 at Aberfoyle Primary School, cutting off the community of Kinlochard, but Stirling Council said the school remained open.
The B823 Cornton Road is closed at the level crossing, with access available from Causeway head only. And the B822 between Thornhill and Kipped station is also closed by flooding.
Communities badly hit by flooding over the weekend include Bridge of Allan and Aberfoyle.
There are renewed rain warnings in place for parts of Scotland already affected by flooding due to Storm Desmond.
The latest yellow "be aware" rain warnings are not expected to be as heavy or as prolonged as recent downpours.
However, due to the saturated nature of the ground and high river levels, the Met Office said further localised flooding and disruption to transport was possible.
The first warning runs from 17:00 on Monday to 05:00 on Tuesday with the second valid from 06:00 on Wednesday to 18:00 on Thursday.
The alerts cover Tayside, Fife, Strathclyde, the Borders and south west Scotland. | Several roads are still closed across central Scotland because of flooding, Stirling Council has warned. |
37371430 | Mrs Cox was killed in her Batley and Spen constituency in June.
Voters in Witney will also elect a new MP to replace Mr Cameron, who stepped down from Parliament on Monday weeks afters resigning as PM in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the EU.
The writs for both by-elections were moved in the Commons on Thursday.
Mrs Cox, 41, who was the first sitting MP to be killed since 1990, won the seat with a comfortable majority of 6,057 at the 2015 general election ahead of the Conservatives in second, and UKIP in third.
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and UKIP have said they will not take part in the Batley and Spen contest out of respect for Ms Cox's memory.
The English Democrats and Liberty GB have said they will.
Witney has been one of the Conservatives' safest seats, with Mr Cameron securing a 25,155 majority at the last general election. | By-elections after the death of Labour MP Jo Cox and the resignation of former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron will be held on 20 October. |
29993670 | Emergency services were called to the College of West Anglia in King's Lynn on Friday.
An adult student was taken to hospital as a precaution but was later discharged.
Principal David Pomfret said he would be leaving "no stone unturned" to find out what happened.
Emergency services including a Magpas helicopter treated people at the site for breathing difficulties and watery eyes.
A number of classes at the Tennyson Avenue campus had to be cancelled but the full college has since reopened.
A college spokeswoman said emergency services believed the likely cause was "the introduction of a substance to the third floor area by a person or persons as yet unknown".
"Discussions with the emergency services suggest that this is likely to have been a CS-type substance, mace or pepper spray, but this has not been confirmed," she said.
"It is being treated as a criminal act and the college will be working closely with the police to identify the culprits," she added.
Mr Pomfret said: "I would like to reassure students and staff that we have already started an internal investigation to support the police and will be leaving no stone unturned to ensure this matter is brought to a speedy conclusion."
Norfolk Police confirmed it was investigating the incident but has yet to comment further. | A pepper spray was the likely irritant that led to 30 people at a Norfolk college needing medical treatment, the college said. |
36986291 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Both Wenger and Klopp have been outspoken about the reported £100m valuation of United target Paul Pogba.
"They are things that when I do are not ethical, when others do it, everything is normal," said Mourinho.
The United manager added that he would sign a "very good midfielder" within days - potentially Juventus' Pogba, 23.
"We have 22 players now," he said. "We will have 23.
"He is a Juve player until officially he isn't. The market closes on 31 August. We are trying to everything to close market as quickly as possible, before 14 August."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said the reported valuation of Pogba was "completely crazy", while Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp said he would not spend that much on a single player even if his funds were unlimited.
But Mourinho said he "did not like" his colleagues' "unethical" criticism, while also defending his treatment of Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Former Germany captain Schweinsteiger, 32, has been training alone, prompting a players' union member to say Mourinho should be jailed for "bullying".
"I had to make my decisions. Simple. It happens at every club in the world," said the former Chelsea boss.
United, who won last season's FA Cup, take on Premier League champions Leicester City at Wembley in the Community Shield on Sunday in a match between the winners of English football's top honours.
Mourinho, who has managed in Portugal, Italy and Spain, believes Leicester's title victory is part of what makes the Premier League so special.
"It's the only country where the football structure allows this to happen," he said. "In other countries they don't want to share the money, the television rights.
"In the other countries they want to be comfortable and know they are always the top clubs in the Champions League. They want it to be a competition of two, three, four and, in some cases, they want it to be a competition of one."
He added: "In this country everyone wants a league and this allows an amazing story to happen. That's why the Premier League is the Premier League."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho says criticisms from his Arsenal and Liverpool counterparts Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp are "not ethical". |
37581449 | Unicef said the difference in time spent working amounted to 160 million extra hours a day worldwide.
Two out of three girls cook and clean in the home, and almost half collect water or firewood.
They also perform more "less visible" domestic work like childcare or looking after the elderly, the report says.
It also found that the extra workload increased with time: between ages five and nine, girls spend 30% more time on chores - by 14, it rises to 50%.
Tasks such as gathering water or firewood can also put young girls at increased risk of sexual violence, the report says.
In Somalia, girls between 10 and 14 years old spend 26 hours a week on household chores - the most of any country. Burkina Faso and Yemen also have some of the largest labour gaps between boys and girls.
"Girls sacrifice important opportunities to learn, grow and just enjoy their childhood," Unicef's Anju Malhotra said.
"This unequal distribution of labour among children also perpetuates gender stereotypes and the double burden on women and girls across generations."
The report, which also includes data on violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation and education, is being released to coincide with the UN's international day of the girl child on 11 October. | Girls spend 40% more time performing unpaid household chores than boys, according to a new report from the UN children's agency. |
19246342 | It has significant tourism potential, but poor infrastructure and the absence of a large airport have impeded the industry's growth. The country is also vulnerable to hurricanes.
With few natural resources, Dominica is attempting to reduce its reliance on bananas, traditionally its main export earner.
The banana market has faced stiffer competition since the European Union was forced by the World Trade Organisation to phase out preferential treatment for producers from former colonies.
Population 71,000
Area 751 sq km (290 sq miles)
Major languages English (official), French patois
Major religion Christianity
Life expectancy 74 (men), 78 (women)
Currency East Caribbean dollar
President: Charles Savarin
President Savarin, a former Labour Party cabinet minister, was appointed in September 2013.
Dominica's parliament, the House of Assembly, appoints the president - the ceremonial head of state. The prime minister and cabinet exercise executive power.
Prime minister: Roosevelt Skerrit
Roosevelt Skerrit's governing Dominica Labour Party won general elections in May 2005.
Campaigning on pledges to improve infrastructure and attract foreign investment, his government won a third term in December 2014, albeit with a majority reduced from its previous landslide win in 2009.
A former education minister, Mr Skerrit took office as Dominica's youngest prime minister two days after the sudden death of his predecessor, Pierre Charles, in January 2004. He was chosen by his party to succeed the late leader.
Dominica has no daily newspapers; its press consists of weeklies.
There is no national TV, but cable TV covers part of the island.
The radio scene comprises public and private stations.
All media are free from government interference and carry a range of sometimes critical views.
Some key dates in Dominica's history:
1763 - Britain gains possession of Dominica in accordance with the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' War. It establishes a legislative assembly, representing only the white population.
1831 - Britain confers political and social rights on free non-whites.
1834 - Slavery abolished.
1838 - Dominica becomes the first and only British colony in the Caribbean to have a black-controlled legislature.
1865 - Britain replaces the elected assembly with one consisting of one-half elected members and one-half appointed.
1896 - Britain re-establishes crown colony government over Dominica.
1951 - Britain declares universal adult suffrage established in Dominica.
1958-62 - Dominica a member of the British-sponsored West Indies Federation.
1960 - Britain grants Dominica self-government, with a legislative council and a chief minister.
1978 - Dominica becomes independent. | Dominica is a mountainous, forested Caribbean island nation with a year-round tropical climate, national parks, rare indigenous birds and the second-largest boiling lake in the world. |
28514338 | The England captain seemed set to end his 27-innings wait for a century when he edged a Ravindra Jadeja long-hop down the leg side to wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni to depart for 95.
That ended a stand of 158 with Gary Ballance, who moved to his third ton in five Tests to lead England to 247-2.
While Ballance was the centurion, the day revolved around Cook, whose barren run had mirrored the poor form of his side and led to ex-England captains such as Michael Vaughan, Mike Atherton, Kevin Pietersen and former batsman Geoffrey Boycott to call for him to resign.
Cook, whose previous 27 innings had yielded only 638 runs at an average of 23.62, has repeatedly claimed he will not quit, despite presiding over a 10-match winless run.
And this knock will go some way to ending any doubt over his immediate future, with two more matches against India coming before England have an eight-month break from Test cricket.
"I was desperate to score runs," said Cook. "I was as fresh as I have ever been and now I have feel I have contributed to the team."
For so long, the Essex left-hander was on course for three figures, capitalising on being dropped on 15 to look more assured at the crease than at any point this summer.
"Mixed feelings sums it up quite well," added Cook. "If you'd offered me 95 before the game, I would have snapped your hand off, but I'm still frustrated not to get a hundred.
"I wanted to go down fighting and sometimes you do need a bit of luck. I haven't always had that."
Even though both the pitch and overhead conditions suggested the morning would be good for pace bowling, Cook opted to bat on winning the toss and was helped by the tourists' inaccuracy with the new ball.
Though he was leaving well, Cook, who edged the very first ball of the match short of the slips, was tempted into a familiar poke at debutant Pankaj Singh, in for the injured Ishant Sharma.
But, where those chances had previously been taken during his lean spell, Cook may have felt his fortunes had changed when Jadeja dropped a straightforward chance at third slip, a feeling that perhaps grew when the same man took a similar chance off the bowling of Mohammed Shami to dismiss Sam Robson for 26.
Despite losing his opening partner, Cook was growing in stature, cutting and pulling when India dropped short.
A hook off Shami took him to a first half-century in 10 innings, while the Essex opener also went past Pietersen and David Gower to third on the all-time list of England run-scorers in Test cricket.
Not looking to score on the front foot through the off side, Cook moved into the 90s with another pull off Shami.
When Jadeja delivered an awful ball that pitched halfway down the pitch, Cook was primed to move closer to three figures. However, he under-edged a pull through to Dhoni and was sent on his way.
That left Ballance, strong on the cut but also driving on both sides of the wicket, the challenge of completing his third Test hundred while at the same time seeing off the second new ball.
He reached three figures by guiding Shami to the third man boundary, ending the day on 104 in the company of Ian Bell, who should have been given out lbw to Pankaj when on nought.
Though Pankaj impressed, both Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were below the standards they set in the first two Tests, in which India earned a 1-0 series lead.
With all-rounder Stuart Binny left out in favour of batsman Rohit Sharma, Dhoni had to turn to the part-time spin of Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan as the pitch became ideal for batting after the threat of the new ball was negotiated.
Cook, who has Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes in his attack in place of Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett, has the challenge of finding the right tactics to take India wickets to come.
For now, though, the pressure on the captain's batting has been eased. | Alastair Cook fell agonisingly short of a first Test hundred in 14 months as England controlled the first day of the third Test against India at Southampton. |
36188268 | The shooting happened outside a house on Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin, just before 21:00 local time. It is believed two men arrived in a car and fired several shots at the victim.
Gardaà (Irish police) said that the man's injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
The shooting is not believed to be related to an ongoing feud between two rival criminal gangs in the city. | A 27-year-old man has been shot in the arms and legs in an attack in Dublin. |
39254635 | They are part of a cross-party group of councils with low levels of funding.
They had hoped to benefit from changes to the funding formula but now say the funding gap will remain unresolved.
The Department for Education (DfE), which is carrying out a consultation on the changes, says schools are already receiving record levels of funding.
But the joint letter - from representatives of councils including Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Devon, Hampshire, Leicestershire, West Sussex and Wiltshire - says: "We are struggling to understand where more cuts can be made in the lowest funded authorities."
The councils are part of the F40 group, which has campaigned for years against what it saw as unfairly low levels of funding compared with other parts of England.
But Monday's letter says: "We are extremely concerned that the government is in danger of replacing one injustice with another."
The councils question whether the funding formula should allocate so much towards additional needs, such as for schools with high levels of deprivation or pupils with English as a second language.
And they say all schools need a guaranteed basic level of funding to cover essential costs such as staffing.
Last week, the ASCL head teachers' conference warned that schools could have to cut hours because of deepening funding problems.
The National Audit Office says schools face cuts of £3bn, and heads have warned of having to cut subjects, increase class sizes and reduce staff.
The Department for Education says a consultation is still taking place on how the funding formula is calculated - which will end next week.
"We have protected the core schools budget in real terms since 2010, with school funding at its highest level on record at more than £40bn in 2016-17 - and that is set to rise, as pupil numbers rise over the next two years, to £42 billion by 2019-20." | More than a dozen Conservative councils have written to Prime Minister Theresa May to warn of their "alarm" at inadequate school funding in England. |
34183283 | Richard Cushworth and his Salvadoran wife Mercedes Casanella said they had been victims of child traffickers.
A Salvadorean judge ordered the switch following a DNA test, four months after the baby was born. The other child has been returned to his family.
The doctor, who denies any wrongdoing, is being prosecuted by the authorities.
At a hearing on Monday, a court ruled the case against Dr Alejandro Guidos should proceed and he could not leave the country. It also ordered that a new DNA test should be carried out following a request from Dr Guidos' lawyers.
Mr Cushworth and Ms Casanella, who attended the hearing, had originally travelled to El Salvador from the US in May to have their baby in his mother's homeland.
But Ms Casanella says she became suspicious because the skin colour of the baby she was handed to take home was darker than that of the boy she saw after giving birth and their features were different.
When the couple returned to the US they eventually decided to have a DNA test which they say confirmed the baby was not theirs.
Mr Cushworth, who is originally from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said: "It's a horrible situation for me, for her (his wife) for my family, her family. A child is an experience you have for a lifetime... this is a life-long injury that's very, very deep, and it's horrible."
Francisco Meneses, the couple's lawyer, said: "We don't have anything against the people who were involved during the baby's birth, but we want all these people to put their hands on their hearts because from the doctor who performed the surgery, the paediatrician, anaesthesiologist, and the two nurses who were in the delivery room, it's very important for them to tell us what happened." | A British father and his wife have been reunited with their newborn son after accusing a doctor at a hospital in El Salvador of swapping him. |
35128651 | The education minister asked for an action plan earlier this year to tackle the weakest of the core subjects taught in schools in Wales.
Huw Lewis said performance has improved but there is "more still to do".
The group has made 14 recommendations, including addressing problems in recruiting maths teachers.
The independent task force was set up in January, as maths teachers from across the country were brought together for a summit. Mr Lewis said Wales needed to "raise its game".
For those who took maths GCSE in June, just 47.5% of pupils managed a grade of A*-C, - another drop compared with 50.6% last year and 52.8% in 2013.
But when the results of students who took the exam early are taken into account, they show an overall improvement of 2.7% on 2014.
Mr Lewis said this figure of 64.4% getting A*-C in maths was the best performance to date and he was "keen to build on our success".
"I can absolutely see the value of a centre of excellence for maths, particularly in supporting school-to-school working and peer support," he added.
The minister said he was happy to accept all the 14 recommendations.
Task force chairman Michael Griffiths said the hubs would be based at schools "which have a record of developing excellence in mathematics teaching".
They will be set up as part of the work at pioneer schools, which are developing the new curriculum in Wales over the next few years.
Mr Griffiths, former head of Cardiff High School and now an education consultant, said: "We have come to the conclusion that the often heard quote 'I'm just no good at maths' is a myth.
"This belief is often a feature of western culture, whereas in countries that perform best in international tests, for example some countries in the Far East, inborn talent is considered less important than hard work, persistence, resilience, good teaching and self confidence." | A centre of excellence for maths and hubs in schools to promote the best ways of teaching the subject have been recommended by a task force. |
35744043 | The poor relationship with fans, bad signings, dreadful performances and even worse results will all come flooding back.
We asked Sportsday readers for their #worstpremboss and this is what they said:
lloyd davies @_lloyddavies #worstpremboss has to be Terry Connor? 10+ games in charge of Wolves without a win...
Andy @SAFCsource No, not Roy Keane. He's not even OUR #worstpremboss
Oliver Chandler @benchandler93 No worst Prem boss debate could be complete without a mention of Charlton's old Les 'Miserables' Reed. Truly abysmal record.
Damian Tabbinor @charmingman83 Without a shadow of a doubt Steve Kean.
Charlie Large @CharlieLarge Stuart Pearce at #MCFC. Record low with 10 home goals in a season, and a beanie baby as some weird good luck charm!
Affy @AffyAffyAffy Louis van Gaal; Spent more than most in the worst PL year ever, with the best fans in England & he still can't finish in top four.
Adrian Reynolds @adereynolds Harry Redknapp at @SouthamptonFC Near three decades in the top fight, kept up everyone and he signs Nigel Quashie.
Ben Jacobs @JacobsBen Peter Taylor. Signed Adi Akinbadbuy & Junior Lewis & took Leicester from Europe to the Championship. Oh & DON'T even mention Wycombe.
Jamie Rowland @rowloefc Mike Walker - he was so bad at Everton it was embarrassing!
Sam @MaudzleySam Sorry but Paul Jewell. Even though he saved Wigan he still has to be one of the worst?
Paul Jewell's Derby returned what is still the lowest points total in Premier League history (11) - but he spent barely any money and took over a Billy Davies team lacking any confidence - a team many thought had overachieved in winning promotion to the top flight anyway. He had also kept Bradford City up in the 1999-2000 season, the Bantams' first in the top flight for more than 70 years.
Is it really fair to look at the results of managers of promoted or traditional 'smaller' clubs? Chris Hutchings (Bradford and Wigan, 13% win percentage), for example. Or Brian Laws (17%), who had the job no-one really wanted when he replaced Owen Coyle at Championship-bound Burnley. Terry Connor was dealt the same hand at Wolves.
Some others who struggled didn't help themselves by suggesting they were the best coach in the Premier League or using cheese to help injured players.
But John Carver's 20% win ratio isn't the worst and he inherited a side which has continued to struggle without him, while Felix Magath might not even be Fulham's worst manager - they were already bottom when he took over.
What about those who are largely spared this ignominy of making the 'worst manager' lists - usually because they are good with the fans, or chalk up the odd League Cup semi-final appearance.
Those who spend money and fail - or spend money and don't do as well as expected. Like this lot:
The Chosen One, right? An excellent reputation all-but destroyed inside nine months. That was done with the help of £27.5m Marouane Fellaini and the others he spent £70m on as he took the Premier League champions and led them out of the top four. Still, a win ratio of 50% would be considered success at some clubs.
Ramos spent one year in charge of Tottenham. He also spent in the region of £70m, with some of those signings questioned by supporters, although £15m for Luka Modric seems a steal now. He was sacked with Spurs rooted to the foot of the table with no wins after eight games. A 29% win ratio.
Mark Hughes? Seriously? Hear us out. Hughes arrived in June 2008, three months before the huge Middle East investment that has since brought titles to the blue half of Manchester. He went on to spend some £270m over the next 12 months. But for every Vincent Kompany, there was a Tal Ben Haim. For every Carlos Tevez, a Jo. He got his marching orders after two wins in 11 games left City sixth in December 2009. Win ratio: 40%.
The England boss did not have a great time at Anfield. Despite a modest £20m outlay on a team who had reached the Europa League semi-finals the previous season (though Hodgson's Fulham reached the final), Liverpool were knocked out of the League Cup by Northampton Town and lost seven of Hodgson's 20 league games. A 2-1 home defeat to Blackpool meant they dropped into the bottom three of the top flight for the first time since September 1964. His 35% win ratio is the same as that achieved by Christian Gross at Spurs.
Won promotion from the Championship - then spent the best part of £75m on players who delivered him a 28% win ratio before he was sacked. He made Craig Gordon the most expensive goalkeeper in British football history.
Kean was in the role a full year after the local paper's front page declared it was "Time To Go" in November 2011. By the time he went, the club had slipped into the Championship. Kean's 22% win rate wasn't great, but it was the frequent declarations that seemed at odds with reality which did him no favours.
Like Kean and Sherwood, it's been argued McClaren is suffering from being at a dysfunctional club. But spending £83m and heading for the trap door to the Championship with a 21% win ratio - or to put it another way, being 1% better than John Carver after spending a small fortune on England internationals - is never going to bode well. The fans have had enough.
Have you added the new Top Story alerts in the BBC Sport app? Simply head to the menu in the app - and don't forget you can also add score alerts for the Six Nations, your football team and more. | Ask any football fan and they'll tell you who their club's worst manager is in a heartbeat. |
38553912 | The 51-year-old suffered fatal injuries when he fell in the area of the Chasms in Port St Mary in the south of the island on Saturday.
Police said they are carrying out inquiries with family members and will not be releasing any further details at this time.
His body was found after a joint search involving the Isle of Man's Police, Coastguard and RNLI. | A man has died after falling from cliffs in the Isle of Man. |
40542997 | Only a few metres remain to be taken, a correspondent said.
Some Iraqi security forces have been seen dancing in the streets even though commanders have not confirmed the news.
Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have tried to retake the key city since 17 October last year.
Thousands of Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, supported by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers, have been involved in the battle to retake Mosul.
The government announced the full "liberation" of eastern Mosul in January, but the west of the city has presented a more difficult challenge, with its narrow, winding streets.
The UN has warned that IS may be holding more than 100,000 people in the city as human shields.
Last October, the Iraqi army said there were 6,000 militants in the city. Fewer than 300 were thought to be holding out.
Some 900,000 people have been displaced from the city since 2014 - about half the the pre-war population- aid organisations say.
Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the destruction of the ancient mosque in the city of Mosul was "an official declaration of defeat" by IS.
Iraqi forces say IS blew up the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its famous leaning minaret as jihadists battled to stop advancing pro-government troops. | So-called Islamic State (IS) defences in the Iraqi city of Mosul are collapsing fast and troops expect to take full control in the next few hours, state television has announced. |
39784816 | Brynhawn Mawrth cafodd Karen Robson ei chadarnhau fel ymgeisydd y Torïaid ym Mhen-y-bont yn yr etholiad cyffredinol.
Mae Alex Williams, aelod o fwrdd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig, yn dweud fod aelodau lleol "yn teimlo'n ddig" a bod y mater yn chwarae i ddwylo'r blaid Lafur.
Pen-y-bont, ble mae gan Madeline Moon o Lafur fwyafrif o lai na 2,000, yw un o brif seddi targed y Ceidwadwyr yng Nghymru.
Rhys Watkins yw ymgeisydd Plaid Cymru, ac mae disgwyl i'r Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol ac UKIP gyhoeddi eu hymgeiswyr yn hwyrach yn yr wythnos.
Mae BBC Cymru ar ddeall fod pencadlys y blaid wedi rhoi Karen Robson a Dan Boucher ar y rhestr fer, gan arwain at gangen Pen-y-bont yn gofyn am ymgeisydd "lleol" i gael eu hychwanegu.
Ond fe benderfynodd pencadlys y blaid ddewis Karen Robson heb bleidlais leol.
"Rydw i'n siomedig iawn yn bersonol. Mae'n annemocrataidd tu hwnt ac mae wedi achosi problemau mawr," meddai Alex Williams.
"Mae llawer o aelodau yn teimlo'n ddig ac mae llawer yn ystyried gadael y blaid o'r herwydd.
"Mae'n debyg mai'r nod yw sicrhau mwy o ASau Ceidwadol benywaidd yng Nghymru. Ond ddylen ni ddim sicrhau cydbwysedd rhyw yn y blaid seneddol wrth orfodi ymgeiswyr benywaidd ar ganghennau lleol.
"Mae hyn wedi chwarae i ddwylo Llafur sydd nawr yn dweud nad oes gan y Ceidwadwyr ymgeisydd lleol. Gallai'r penderfyniad gostio'r sedd i ni."
Ychwanegodd Ken Watts, yr unig Geidwadwr ar Gyngor Sir Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr, ei fod yn "flin" na chafodd aelodau lleol gyfle i ddewis Mr Williams.
"Byddai'n ei chael hi'n anodd ymgyrchu drosti hi [Karen Robson]. Mater o egwyddor yw e, dim byd personol," meddai.
"Mae wedi bod yn frwydr ers pedair blynedd i gael Pen-y-bont yn sedd darged ac rydyn ni wedi cyflawni hynny o'r diwedd. Fe wnaeth Alex frwydro i sicrhau hynny."
'Rhestr fer o un'
Mae BBC Cymru hefyd yn deall fod ymgeisydd wedi cael ei osod gan y Ceidwadwyr yng Ngorllewin Casnewydd.
Yn ôl ffynonellau yn y ddinas, cafodd Angela Jones-Evans ei dewis o restr fer o un, er bod aelodau lleol eisiau gallu dewis.
Cafodd Mrs Jones-Evans ei dewis mewn cyfarfod o'r gangen, ond dywedodd un ffynhonnell ei fod yn "rhwystredig na chawson ni ddewis".
Mae'n debyg fod Nick Webb, ymgyrchydd lleol ac ymgeisydd y blaid yn yr etholaeth yn 2015, yn un o'r rheiny oedd eisiau sefyll ond chafodd ddim mo'r cyfle.
Yng Ngorllewin Casnewydd mae'r AS Llafur, Paul Flynn yn amddiffyn mwyafrif o 3,500 dros y Ceidwadwyr, ac mae Plaid Cymru wedi dewis Lewis Greenaway fel eu hymgeisydd.
Dywedodd y Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol ac UKIP y byddan nhw'n cyhoeddi eu hymgeiswyr yn nes ymlaen yn yr wythnos. Bydd rhestr lawn o'r ymgeiswyr ar gael o 11 Mai ymlaen. | Mae cadeirydd Ceidwadwyr Gorllewin De Cymru wedi dweud y gallai sedd sydd yn un o brif dargedau'r blaid fod yn y fantol oherwydd bod yr ymgeisydd wedi cael ei "gosod arnyn nhw". |
38133597 | Gladman Developments had denied the use of household appliances in Goostrey would affect the observatory's ability to receive radio signals from space.
But Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid ruled against the proposed development.
It would "impair the efficiency" of this "world-class facility", he said.
The proposed site, off Main Road in Goostrey, is 1.95 miles (3.14km) from the observatory, home to the world famous Lovell Telescope.
Cheshire East councillors rejected the plans last year.
But the developer appealed the decision claiming there was "no evidence" their plan for 119 extra homes would cause a significant increase in radio interference.
A public inquiry disagreed, saying the observatory, "as an established world class facility, should be afforded reasonable protection".
"This proposal could damage the world-class work being carried out by the observatory," the government ruling said.
"The harm to the efficiency of the Radio Telescope carries substantial weight against the proposal."
It also concluded the proposal would "be at odds" with the council's strategy for development in the countryside.
Cheshire East Councillor Ainsley Arnold said he was "delighted" and glad "the long-term protection of vital scientific work has prevailed over the short-term high demand in housing supply."
"Jodrell Bank observatory is a vital asset to this borough, the nation and the international scientific community".
The council is "doing everything possible to meet the housing needs of our area" but "this was simply the wrong development in the wrong place," he said. | Plans to build 120 new homes in Cheshire have been blocked on the grounds they would interfere with the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. |
36401412 | The 26-year-old made 38 appearances for the Silkmen last season after joining from Southport in September 2015.
He told the club website: "The gaffer had a huge influence on me signing on for next season.
"He kept faith in me all last season and I think from the work that was done last year my defending has improved a lot." | Macclesfield Town defender David Fitzpatrick has signed a new one-year contract with the National League side. |
30742265 | Two men, aged 21 and 22, have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
A silver Toyota Avensis ended up on its roof on Usk Way just after 07:00 GMT.
Following the crash, a 15-year-old girl from the Newport area was taken to the city's Royal Gwent Hospital with arm injuries.
Ms Doyle, from Newport, was pronounced dead at the scene. | The 19-year-old woman who died in a car crash in Newport on Friday has been named as Xana Doyle. |
32705456 | But dramaturgs are all the rage backstage in theatres, and even more traditional venues like the Royal Opera House.
For my vlog this week, I tracked down Uzma Hameed - a member of this rare but flourishing species - to find out what on earth a dramaturg is and does. | It is a word you might never have heard of, and a job you might never have known existed. |
37900702 | The comic came under fire after joking she was dressed like a "bag lady" at February's ceremony.
Following the criticism, he tweeted that she was a "dear friend" who had got the joke.
The Baftas take place on 12 February 2017 at a new venue for the event, the Royal Albert Hall.
It will be the twelfth time Fry has hosted the UK's biggest film ceremony, which has previously been held at London's Royal Opera House.
Fry said he has not "slammed the door" on Twitter after last year's incident, but said the site had become a "stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous".
Beavan, who won the Bafta for best costume design for Mad Max: Fury Road, came on to the stage in February wearing a black leather jacket, white t-shirt and dark trousers.
Following her acceptance speech and once she had left the stage, Fry said: "Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to the awards dressed like a bag lady."
But he posted a picture of the pair at a party later that night to show his comment had not been taken badly.
Next year's ceremony will feature Cirque de Soleil, which will be in residence at the Royal Albert Hall at the time of the awards.
Bafta chief executive Amanda Berry said: "I am thrilled we have the opportunity to work with Cirque du Soleil during its season at the Royal Albert Hall, and have no doubt that next year's ceremony will be all the more magical for this creative collaboration."
Nominations for the Baftas will be announced on 10 January.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Stephen Fry is to host the Baftas again, despite quitting Twitter after his quip at this year's event about costume design winner Jenny Beavan. |
36000602 | Married Tony and Julie Wadsworth have presented on BBC Radio Leicester and BBC WM in Birmingham.
The couple from Leicestershire are due to appear at Warwickshire Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 11 May.
A BBC spokesman said: "We understand the charges do not relate to their conduct or position at the BBC." He said both presenters remain off air.
Mr and Mrs Wadsworth are accused of offences against boys aged 11 to 15 that are alleged to have taken place in Atherstone, Warwickshire, between 1996 and 1999.
Mr Wadsworth, 68, of Old Mill Road, Broughton Astley, has been charged with five counts of inciting a boy under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency.
His wife, 58, whose on-air name was Julie Mayer, has been charged with seven counts of inciting a boy under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency.
They both also face one count of committing an act outraging public decency. | Two BBC Radio presenters have been charged with sex offences against four children in the 1990s. |
36390266 | Sinn Féin, the SDLP, Ulster Unionists, Alliance and Green Party all spoke at the launch of the local campaign for the UK to remain in the EU.
The Stronger In campaign said Northern Ireland is a net beneficiary of EU funds.
It warned there are no guarantees the UK government would replace that money in the event of a Brexit.
The Leave campaign point out that the UK as a whole is a net contributor and claim that leaving would free up extra resources.
The referendum to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union is being held on Thursday, 23 June. | A cross-party groups of MLAs has warned that leaving the EU would damage the Northern Ireland economy. |
28134124 | Stokes missed the early part of the season after surgery on the wrist he fractured punching a locker during England's tour of West Indies in March.
The 23-year-old is added to the 12 players on duty for the dramatic defeat by Sri Lanka at Headingley last month.
Stokes made 120 against Australia in only his second Test last winter.
That innings at Perth was one of the few highlights of England's 5-0 Ashes defeat by Australia and was their only century of the tour.
Stokes, who also took 15 wickets in his four matches during that series, returned to domestic action in May and captured career-best match figures of 10-121 against Sussex last month.
National selector James Whitaker said of his return to the international fold: "It's really good news for Ben and us. We know what he is capable of.
"We always felt he needed a quantity of cricket behind him and he has had that now. It's another seamer we can add to our pool. We are going to need a depth of seamers."
England were unable to claim the final wicket in an enthralling first Test with Sri Lanka at Lord's, and then lost the two-match series after last man James Anderson was dismissed with the penultimate ball at Headingley.
It was their first defeat in a series of more than one match against Sri Lanka, and extended their run of matches without a Test victory to eight.
"It has been frustrating lately," Whitaker added. "We have got ourselves into some good winning positions and what we need now is to seal it and get over the line.
"When we are building a new team we have to build new habits. When we get the first one I think it will spark off a lot of victories and let's hope that starts next week."
Asked about the increasing pressure on skipper Alastair Cook, Whitaker said: "As selectors we back him 100% and we trust he will get England over the line very shortly. He is very resilient, full of resolve and is determined to turn it round.
"He is building an environment that he believes can be strong and positive for English cricket and we trust him to do that."
England squad for first Test against India: Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Matt Prior (Sussex, wk), Sam Robson (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) | England have included Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes in a 13-man squad for the first Test against India at Trent Bridge on 9 July. |
36195167 | Two specimens unearthed in China reveal details of the animal's skull and how it fed.
Named Atopodentatus, scientists say its hammer-shaped skull helped it to feed on underwater plants.
Only a handful of marine reptiles, living or extinct, are known to be herbivores.
Dr Nick Fraser of National Museums Scotland, who worked on the fossil, said it belongs in the pages of a children's storybook by Dr Seuss, which depicts animals with a strange jumble of features.
The reptile was "a bizarre, bizarre animal", he explained.
"We envisage it scraping algae and the like off rocks underwater.
"Herbivorous marine reptiles are very rare - this is the oldest record that we know of."
The first fossils of the creature were discovered a few years ago.
It was named Atopodentatus unicus, which is Latin for "unique strangely toothed".
New fossils unearthed in China's Yunnan Province by Chun Li of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing give a detailed picture of the animal's skull.
The discoveries, unveiled in the journal, Science Advances, show that rather than having a zipper-like snout as previously thought, the animal had a wide hammer-headed jaw filled with peg-like front teeth.
Scientists used clay to make a model of the jaw to work out how the animal fed.
"To figure out how the jaw fit together and how the animal actually fed, we bought some children's clay, kind of like Play-Doh, and rebuilt it with toothpicks to represent the teeth," said co-researcher Olivier Rieppel of the Field Museum in Chicago.
"We looked at how the upper and lower jaw locked together, and that's how we proceeded and described it."
He said Atopodentatus also helps tell a bigger story about the world's largest mass extinction 252 million years ago.
It lived at a time when the Earth was recovering from the loss of 90% of all marine animals.
"The existence of specialised animals like Atopodentatus unicus shows us that life recovered and diversified more quickly than previously thought," he said.
"And it's definitely a reptile that no one would have thought to exist - look at it, it's crazy!"
Follow Helen on Twitter | A crocodile-sized creature that lived 242 million years ago was the first known vegetarian marine reptile, according to new fossil evidence. |
37876829 | The Canadian star broke the news on his Facebook page. He did not give any details about the type of cancer.
He said he and Lopilato, a model and actress, were giving up work commitments to concentrate on "helping Noah get well".
Buble has appeared on TV and radio in recent days to promote his new album.
His statement said: "We are devastated about the recent cancer diagnosis of our oldest son Noah who is currently undergoing treatment in the US.
"We have always been very vocal about the importance of family and the love we have for our children. Luisana and I have put our careers on hold in order to devote all our time and attention to helping Noah get well.
"At this difficult time, we ask only for your prayers and respect for our privacy.
"We have a long journey in front of us and hope that with the support of family, friends and fans around the world, we will win this battle, God willing."
Buble and Lopilato have another son, nine-month-old Elias.
During a recent appearance on ITV's Loose Women, the 41-year-old crooner said: "I had no idea how much I would love being a dad.
"That's it, that's all I care about... I love them too much probably, if there was such a thing.
"It's made everything else so insignificant, moments that I was afraid of and moments that would overwhelm me have now become a joy because I've realised how not serious they are compared to what is really important, which is Noah and Eli and that's it."
Buble's scheduled appearances in the coming months include a slot at the BBC Music Awards on 12 December.
He is also due to host the Brit Awards in London on 22 February and the Canadian equivalent, the Juno Awards, in Ottawa on 2 April.
His spokesman said he did not know "anything more at this stage" about whether these and other engagements would be called off.
Buble's new album Nobody But Me went into the UK chart at number two last week.
An average of 3.2 million people watched a TV special, titled Buble at the BBC, on BBC One on Thursday, according to overnight ratings.
On Monday, Lopilato, from Argentina, announced that she was working on a new film titled Los Que Aman, Odian (Those Who Love, Hate), adapted from the novel by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo.
To mark Noah's third birthday in August, she posted five of her son's "best moments" on her website, including a shot of him just after birth and a video of him on stage singing with his father on New Year's Eve 2015.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Singer Michael Buble and his wife Luisana Lopilato have said they are "devastated" after their three-year-old son Noah was diagnosed with cancer. |
28268430 | Such figures showed that it was a race against time to control the epidemic in Sierra Leone, medical charity MSF said.
In total there have been 539 deaths in West Africa since the outbreak began in neighbouring Guinea in February.
Regional leaders have now agreed to set up a fund to combat its spread.
At a summit of the regional body Ecowas in Ghana on Thursday, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan agreed to contribute $3m (£1.8m) to the fund.
Ebola spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids and there is no vaccine or cure.
It kills up to 90% of those infected but if patients receive early treatment, they have a better chance of survival.
The WHO statement said that Sierra Leone had accounted for 32 new cases and 15 deaths, while Liberia reported 11 new cases and four deaths.
There had been two deaths and one new infection recorded between 6-8 July in Guinea, where it said the community transmission rate was low.
"The epidemic trend in Liberia and Sierra Leone remains precarious with high numbers of new cases and deaths being reported," it said.
The cases in Sierra Leone are centred in Kailahun and Kenema districts, and in Liberia's Lofa and Montserrado counties, the WHO said.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said its teams in eastern Sierra Leone were "racing against time to stop the spread of the disease".
"We're under massive time pressure: the longer it takes to find and follow up with people who have come in contact with sick people, the more difficult it will be to control the outbreak," MSF emergency co-ordinator Anja Wolz said in a statement.
"We still have no idea how many villages are affected. I'm afraid we've only seen the tip of the iceberg."
The disease creates fear within communities and sick people are often stigmatised so experts believe the key to stopping the spread of the virus is to make sure affected communities understand it better.
"Families can be driven out of their villages, and sick people can be cast out to die on their own," said Ms Wolz.
The WHO gathers data on confirmed, probable and suspected cases and deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
So far in the West African outbreak there have been 888 cases.
In pictures: Battling Ebola in West Africa
Why Ebola is so dangerous | High numbers of new cases of the Ebola virus are being reported in Sierra Leone and Liberia, with 19 deaths over three days this week, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) says. |
36085869 | Zamalek, coached by former Birmingham City and Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish, grabbed a late equaliser against Mouloudia Bejaia to progress 3-1 on aggregate.
The success eases some of the pressure on McLeish, who's side are trailing their great rivals Al Ahly in the Egyptian league by 11 points.
Setif, African champions in 2014, were held to a goalless draw at home by Sudan's Al Merreikh.
Coupled with a 2-2 draw from the first leg, that takes the Algerians through on away goals.
Earlier Zesco beat Mali's Stade Malien 2-1 on Tuesday to complete a 5-2 victory on aggregate and become the first team to reach the Champions League group stage.
Zesco's Jesse Were scored the opener for the hosts after five minutes.
Samake Issaka equalised after the break for visitors Mali, but an 80th-minute close-range effort from Maybin Mwaba made certain of their progress.
Malien's misery was complete when Issaka was sent off on 89 minutes.
The losers get a second chance as they enter the draw for the play-offs in the second-tier Confederation Cup.
There are five more matches on Wednesday, while the draw for the group phase takes place on 24 May. | Egypt's Zamalek and former champions Entente Setif of Algeria have joined Zambia's Zesco United in the group stages of the African Champions League. |
15890095 | Monsignor Charles J Brown is an unusual appointment in that he does not come from the Vatican's diplomatic corps.
Instead, he has worked at the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
This means he will be deeply familiar with the Catholic Church's response to child sexual abuse which was central to the CDF's work.
The decision to make him papal nuncio is being viewed as an indication of the thought that Rome has invested in the appointment.
In November, the Irish government decided to close its embassy to the Vatican in what was described as a cost-cutting measure.
The decision was greeted with dismay by Cardinal Sean Brady, Ireland's most senior Catholic cleric.
He said he was "profoundly disappointed" by it.
Damning report
Earlier this year, the Vatican recalled its special envoy in Ireland after a damning report on the Irish Catholic Church's handling of child abuse by priests.
Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza was called back to Rome to discuss the impact of the Cloyne Report which showed how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up.
The report led to angry condemnation of the Vatican by Prime Minister Enda Kenny in the Irish Parliament.
In a blistering attack, Mr Kenny accused the Church of putting its reputation ahead of child rape victims.
Monsignor Brown's nomination has been approved by the Irish government. However, it is standard practice for the Vatican not to confirm or deny the nomination until it is officially published by the government. | An Irish-American priest is to be the new papal nuncio to Ireland. |
34389320 | She told the party's conference that some people were "worried" about her appointment because she was a vegan.
But she said much of the food she ate was produced by British farmers and she wanted the public to consume "more British lamb and British apples".
She also pledged to fight any attempt to repeal the hunting ban.
Ms McCarthy was a surprise appointment as shadow environment secretary earlier this month, given her previous criticism of environmental and welfare standards in farming.
She said she was honoured to be given the position, in which she said she would be a champion for the natural environment and rural communities as well as the British food industry.
She joked that although she was a vegan - meaning she consumes no meat, eggs nor dairy - she did "actually eat food".
"Let me make this clear, I support British farming and want it to be economically viable, environmentally sustainable and to have the very best animal welfare standards," she said.
Instead of being the "force for good" that it could be, she suggested the Department for Environment was letting down farmers and other rural industries.
"I know farmers are finding it tough, not being paid enough for what they produce, too much paperwork, late payments, being hit by the exchange rate, and a system of subsidies - the Common Agricultural Policy - that needs fundamental review.
"I would much rather see people buy British lamb and British apples than imports from half way around the world. We need better food labelling so we know where our food is from and what is in it...we can all get behind that whatever we eat."
She accused the government of trying to bring back the hunting of foxes with hounds in England by the "back door" and promised to fight any attempt to legalise what she described as a "cruel sport".
While recognising the damage done to farmers by bovine TB, she said she was opposed to the policy of badger culling which she said "inhumane and unscientific", describing the pilot culls in parts England in recent years as an "epic failure". | Labour's environment spokeswoman Kerry McCarthy has said she wholeheartedly backs British farmers, acknowledging they are facing "tough" times. |
37328440 | The Frenchman, 20, started the 5-1 Old Firm derby win because of an injury to Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said he was "outstanding", but added: "I have to make the team work and sometimes he will play with Leigh Griffiths.
"Sometimes he won't, but I think you've seen today the spirit in the team."
Northern Irishman Rodgers pointed out that four of Celtic's goals were scored by players who have not been regular starters since he succeeded Ronny Deila as boss - midfielder Stuart Armstrong and Dembele.
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The striker, a signing from Fulham this summer, is likely to start against Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday (19:45 BST kick-off) in Griffiths' continued absence.
"He was up against Philippe Senderos, who's an experienced player - but you see his physicality in the game, his heading ability, his running ability and a wonderful touch and finish," Rodgers added.
Rodgers thought that bringing Armstrong on for Australia midfielder Tom Rogic early in the second half had thwarted a Rangers' comeback after Joe Garner had reduced the arrears to 2-1.
"I was disappointed that we conceded a goal before half-time," the manager told BBC Scotland.
"You expect them to come out and try to force the game in the first 10 minutes of the second half and there was too much area opening up, especially in the central areas - so we made the change.
"Tom's had a lot of travel in the international break. We said to Stu that this was a game he could come into and look to press and work and he's done that very well and got his goal. He contributed to a great team performance."
It was Rodgers' first taste of an Old Firm derby as manager and he described it as "incredible" and ideal preparation for the Champions League trip to Spain to face La Liga giants Barca.
"That is a game that we can go and enjoy now," he said. "It was important to win today and keep the momentum going.
"We have got to be relentless in our quest to win the title again and that was a good marker for us.
"The atmosphere today was truly special. When the noise is like that, it really is a team that has a 12th man."
Rangers, who were then a Championship side, had beaten Celtic on penalties in last season's Scottish Cup semi-finals.
"They had a real disappointment at Hampden only a few months back, so hopefully they have shown the improvements they have made," said Rodgers.
"It is great for the supporters. It is always about bragging rights for the supporters and I think they will be proud of their team today."
Striker Dembele said his treble is a moment he will remember "for my whole life".
"It feels great," he said. "To score a hat-trick, my first in professional football, is something unbelievable.
"Everyone has welcomed me since I came to the club and the fans were unbelievable today.
"The atmosphere is something I have never seen. I don't think I will see something like this in my career."
The match had been preceded by verbals between Scott Brown and Rangers midfielder Joey Barton, who had said the Celtic captain was "nowhere near the level of player I am".
Asked by Sky Sports about the much-anticipated midfield battle, Brown said it was "easy".
"There was no battling whatsoever," he added. "It was pretty much men versus boys at the end of the day." | Celtic striker Moussa Dembele's hat-trick against Rangers - his first as a professional - might not be enough to ensure a regular starting place. |
35357497 | The Office for National Statistics said 21,000 more Scots were in work, compared with the previous quarter, bringing the total to 2,631,000.
Scotland now has the highest employment rate out of the four UK nations, and is outperforming the UK as a whole.
For the first time, employment in Scotland is now higher than it was before the recession.
The rate north of the border reached 74.9% over the quarter - above the level of 74.6% recorded prior to the economic crisis.
Meanwhile, Scottish unemployment fell by 11,000 and now stands at 152,000.
The unemployment rate was down by 0.7% to 5.4% - the largest quarterly fall since the summer of 2014.
The UK jobless rate fell to 5.1% in the three months to November - its lowest rate since the three-month period to October 2005,
The number of people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance also fell by 2,300 from November to 64,300 in December. The figure is 20,400 lower than the same month last year.
Scotland's Fair Work Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: "I am very pleased to note this month's figures, which reinforce the positive longer-term trends in Scotland's labour market, notwithstanding recent and ongoing volatility with Labour Market Statistics."
The SNP minister said: "Employment has continued to rise and unemployment to fall - with more Scots in work than ever before. Youth employment figures continue to be strong, outperforming the UK statistics.
"However, we are not complacent and we recognise that a number of significant challenges remain beneath these encouraging headline figures."
The UK government's Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: "These positive figures mean more people in Scotland are in work, better able to support their families and contributing to our economic growth and security.
"The UK government is delivering the foundations for a stronger and more resilient economy and Scotland is benefiting from that.
"But we know that there is more to do, especially with the serious challenge posed by the fall in the oil price and the effect that will have on the north east of Scotland and the wider Scottish economy."
Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Grahame Smith said: "There is no doubt that today's figures are very positive with a significant increase in employment and a similar fall in unemployment.
"It is noteworthy that the employment rate has now achieved its pre-recession peak.
"However, once again, men account for all the growth in jobs and most of the fall in unemployment.
"Given that there's no plausible explanation for the rapidly deteriorating relative position of women in the Scottish labour market, the STUC is concerned at the quality of the gender disaggregated statistics and would encourage ONS to reassess its processes in this respect."
Conor D'Arcy, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: "Scotland has reached an important milestone this morning, finally returning to the employment rate it experienced before the recession.
"However, with this landmark event coming some 15 months after England closed its 'jobs gap', there is still work to be done.
"The challenge now is to convert today's encouraging signs on employment into a sustained long-term trend. This will be essential if Scotland is to maintain its newly-acquired pay lead over England in the coming years." | Employment in Scotland reached a record level between September and November, according to official figures. |
32289755 | West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) has announced two trials to see how services could be protected with fewer staff.
WMFS said the public would see "no change to the service they receive" throughout the trials.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU), warned it would mean fewer firefighters working more hours.
Steve Price-Hunt, acting brigade secretary of the FBU in the West Midlands, said the changes were ultimately expected to lead to 150 frontline cuts, taking the overall number of posts closed to some 400 over five years.
John Edwards, chair of the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority, said the trials would "produce the evidence we need to consider any permanent changes in staffing to deal with another deficit in our budget of £3.5 million that we face in 2016-17".
He said any long-term job cuts would be made through retirement and there would be no compulsory redundancies.
The two trials approved by the fire service mean watches will be merged at some stations, while others will see the number of staff reduced on each watch.
In the first trial, firefighters are expected to "self-rota", rather than being confined to specific shifts.
The FBU said the shift changes could force the service to call in firefighters at late notice to ensure engines were staffed.
Chief Fire Officer Phil Loach said WMFS faced "extremely challenging cuts".
A report to the fire authority said £21m in grants had been lost since 2011.
WMFS currently employs 1,322 full-time firefighters, who work from 38 fire stations serving a population of 2.7 million people.
Community fire stations in trials | The number of firefighters could be cut in the West Midlands in a bid to save up to £3.8m. |
33493812 | The 23-year-old made only one appearance for City since joining them in 2008 and had been a free agent after his contract expired last month.
The Swede previously had loan spells at Burnley, Feyenoord, Stoke and Celtic, where he won the Scottish Premiership and League Cup double last season.
He helped Sweden win the European Under-21 Championship in June.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Former Manchester City striker John Guidetti has joined Spanish side Celta Vigo on a five-year deal. |
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The working group will comprise key bodies associated with preparing a bid.
The Irish government and the Northern Ireland Executive hope the move will lay the groundwork for a potential combined pitch to stage the tournament.
Ministers from Belfast and Dublin met in Armagh on Wednesday to discuss hosting the sport's showpiece event.
Stormont sports minister Caral Ni Chuilin and tourism minister Arlene Foster held talks with counterparts in the Republic's tourism and sports departments Leo Varadkar and Michael Ring.
The agreed working group will report back to both governments in a few months and Ministers will then consider how to move forward to submit a formal application to host the competition.
"The island of Ireland has a lot to offer the global rugby family and there would be a lot of benefits to be gained by hosting such a prestigious event," said Minister Ni Chilin.
"The (Stormont) Executive is investing £110m in upgrading stadiums in Belfast which includes the redevelopment of Ravenhill (the home of Ulster Rugby).
"While we would have world class venues to host the Rugby World Cup, there is a lot of work required to get us into a position to make a successful bid."
Mr Ring said the Rugby World Cup was potentially the biggest sporting event Ireland could stage.
"An event of this scale would not only have a great benefit for rugby but would also raise the profile of what sport can do for the country," he said.
"We all witnessed the massive boost to the national mood that was provided by the London Olympics.
"The Rugby World Cup is probably the largest event we could ever host on our own on the island and I would hope it would have a similar impact here.
"Sport is a great unifier, it brings people together and large events like this can also bring about a great sense of pride."
The ambitious bid would see matches played on both sides of the Irish border, taking in both rugby union and gaelic games venues.
Ireland has been mulling over the idea for over a year, with the backing of the Irish Rugby Football Union, in the hope of replicating the successful 2011 New Zealand event. | The prospect of a bid by Ireland to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup has moved a step closer with the setting up of a cross-border working group. |
36893328 | One victim was a four-year-old Bosnian migrant, snatched in October from a refugee registration centre in Berlin. The other boy disappeared last July.
The judge said the guard, identified only as 33-year-old Silvio S, kidnapped and sexually abused the boys, then killed them to cover up the abuse.
Silvio S was arrested after his mother recognised him in CCTV footage.
In the court in Potsdam he admitted both murders and expressed remorse.
The life term means he will have to serve at least 15 years before seeking early release.
Elias, aged six, was abducted from a Potsdam playground, near Berlin, last July. Later the boy was murdered and buried in a rented garden plot. His body was found after the defendant led police to it.
Mohamed Januzi, aged four, came to Germany with his family from Bosnia-Hercegovina. He was murdered in October.
As the murder was being described in court, Mohamed's mother stood up and screamed at the defendant: "What have you done with my child?"
The German news website RBB said court officials restrained her and led her away at that point. | A German court has sentenced a former security guard to life imprisonment for molesting and murdering two young boys. |
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Manager O'Neill's selection included dropping star striker Kyle Lafferty but Northern Ireland won 2-0 to revive their hopes of reaching the last 16.
"It was a massive decision, and it paid off," said 25-year-old Magennis.
"If it had been Jose Mourinho or Roy Hodgson, he would be hailed as a magician."
Following a deserved day off, O'Neill and his Northern Ireland team returned to training on Saturday to prepare for the final Group C game against Germany.
After his team selection for Thursday's historic victory, few would put money on what O'Neill's line-up will be for Tuesday's crucial match at Parc des Princes.
Magennis said all the changes made by O'Neill after the opening 1-0 defeat by Poland had been entirely justified.
"There were not many who could say they deserved to stay in the team," he added.
"We went back to the format which worked for us in qualifying and the boys who stepped in were magnificent.
"We nullified their wide men who were their big threat."
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Magennis said Northern Ireland would not be going out to try to hold the Germans to a draw.
"They are a dominant force who can hurt you from all angles - we know it is going to be tough," said Magennis.
"But as a group, from the manager to the kitman, everybody who wears the badge on their chest believes we can progress in this tournament.
"Our attitude is we are going to try to win this game. Every team has weaknesses and it is just a matter of us finding Germany's.
"There is no team we fear in this tournament." | Northern Ireland striker Josh Magennis says Michael O'Neill's decision to make five changes for Thursday's Euro 2016 win over Ukraine was a masterstroke. |
31439686 | Michael Salmon, 80, was convicted of nine indecent assaults carried out against girls at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire and two counts of rape.
Reading Crown Court heard the attacks took place between 1973 and 1988.
Judge Joanna Cutts described him as a "cold and manipulative" man.
Jailing him for a minimum of nine years, she said his conduct was a gross breach of trust, all the more horrific because they were carried out against "vulnerable children".
This was a "rare case of cold-blooded sexual exploitation against children", the judge said.
The judge also told the court what he did was with "conceited arrogance" for his own "sexual gratification".
The convictions relate to six victims, but police said more women had contacted them with allegations against Salmon since the start of the trial.
Salmon, of Salisbury, in Wiltshire, was struck off the medical register in 1991.
The consultant paediatrician thought he was "bomb-proof" because no-one would believe a child over him, the court was told.
He abused children behind a screen while their parents waited believing he was carrying out a medical examination.
On some occasions he groped the girls' breasts under the pretence of listening to their heart, the court was told.
The court also heard that in one case, Salmon took a 16-year-old girl to his home and raped her.
He then dropped her off at a bus stop to make her own way home.
Allegations about Salmon were first made to the Metropolitan Police in 2012 during investigations of historical abuse carried out by Savile and others.
Thames Valley Police, which took over the investigation into Salmon, said he claimed the allegations were "sexual fantasies".
Adrian Foster, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "His crimes were extremely traumatic for his victims who should have expected his support rather than this gross betrayal of their trust.
"Michael Salmon used his status to molest these vulnerable young girls and women who felt unable to complain as he was a doctor, and many of whom only bravely came forward after seeing other cases in the media."
After Salmon was found guilty, Det Sgt Malcolm Wheeler said the former doctor was a "prolific sexual offender" who "preyed on young girls".
Salmon worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospital at the same time as Savile was abusing vulnerable girls but their crimes were not said to be linked.
Savile, a volunteer porter, was said to have committed 22 offences at the hospital.
An independent inquiry was set up to look into Savile's activities and this led other women to come forward to accuse Salmon. | An ex-doctor has been jailed for 18 years for indecently assaulting girls at a hospital where Jimmy Savile abused patients, as well as two rapes. |
33411887 | Christopher Hampton, of Staple Hill, Bristol, appeared before magistrates in Bath earlier to face the murder charge.
Student Melanie Road was 17 when she was attacked after a night out in June 1984. Her body was found in front of garages near St Stephens Road.
The 63 year-old was remanded to appear at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday. | A man has appeared in court charged with murdering a girl who was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in Bath more than 30 years ago. |
36794722 | Waldouck, 28, left London Irish in April to move to the Pro League having made just five appearances for the Exiles after a move from Northampton.
He spent six years at Wasps, playing 77 top flight games before the move to Saints, where he played 30 matches.
The three-quarter will arrive at Falcons in late July.
Director of rugby Dean Richards said: "He has now played two or three seasons without significant injury and seems to be back into the groove." | Ex-England Saxons centre Dom Waldouck is to spend a month on trial at Premiership side Newcastle Falcons following a US rugby stint with Ohio. |
35708136 | European football's governing body said in January that the Turkish champions had broken regulations on the level of financial losses allowed.
A ban has now been imposed after Galatasaray failed to comply with financial fair play settlement terms.
The Istanbul club is currently fifth in Turkey's Super League.
Finishing in that position would leave Galatasaray outside the qualifying places for next season's Champions League and Europa League.
The 2000 Uefa Cup winners have played in the Champions League for the past four seasons, going out at the group stage of this season's competition.
They dropped into the Europa League but lost to Lazio at the last-32 stage.
Galatasaray official Iskender Baydar said that club directors are "examining the text of the decision" and will issue a statement later. | Galatasaray have been suspended from European competition for two years for breaching financial fair play rules, Uefa has confirmed. |
33589747 | After winning the first Test by 169 runs, England were bowled out for 103 on Sunday to lose within four days.
"It was pants down and backsides smacked," Australian Bayliss said. "We were outplayed in this game.
"It's never a great start when they're 300-1 and we were always chasing the game from there."
England lost a critical toss at Lord's on Thursday morning and Australia amassed 566-8 declared in their first innings before dismissing England for 312.
On day four the tourists extended their second innings to 254-2 before declaring again to set England 509, and then routed the home side in just 37 overs as fast bowler Mitchell Johnson returned to form with 3-27.
"I think results around the world, not just in England and Australia Test matches, there aren't too many close ones any more - one team wins pretty well," said Bayliss, who replaced the sacked Peter Moores in May to become England's first Australian coach.
"I was very happy in our first batting innings - 4-30 is not a great start, but I thought we played well to finish up with over 300. I don't think we used the new ball terribly well on the first morning and we just let them get away.
"We knew the Australians would come back hard in this match, and they will be full of confidence now they've got their A-game back. What we've got to do is go into the third game and worry about what we're doing, not what they're doing.
"If you look at the two matches, our bowling down in Cardiff was very consistent. I don't think in this game we were quite as consistent with our lines and lengths, and that just allowed the Australian batters to get on top."
The next Test in the five-match series starts at Edgbaston on 29 July and Bayliss would not be drawn on possible changes, despite his number three and four batsmen - Gary Ballance and Ian Bell - averaging 16 and 14 respectively in Tests this summer.
"We've got a meeting on Tuesday, and I'm sure there's some things to be spoken about. I'm not going to say anything just yet. I'll wait until I get together with the other selectors on Tuesday to discuss that."
Bayliss defended all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was run out by a direct hit in farcical fashion when evading a throw from the outfield and failing to ground any part of his equipment.
"Ben Stokes is a good player now, and as time goes by I think he's going to have a great career for England. He's a guy that's got plenty of energy and he brings a lot to this team, not just with bat and ball but in the field as well." | Coach Trevor Bayliss said his England team had their "backsides smacked" as Australia levelled the Ashes with a crushing 405-run win at Lord's. |
37936590 | Liverpool City Council says government funding cuts mean it will not be able to fund adult social care or children's services without raising more money.
The authority can not raise council tax by more than 3.99% without holding a local referendum.
The city's Mayor Joe Anderson said "the only solution" is to "cut services or ask for more money".
Mayor Anderson told a full council meeting on Wednesday night that it was not a question he wanted to ask.
He said: "We can ask for more money from the government, but they are not listening, or I can ask for more money from the people from the city which will help protect those services.
"We'd be saying for instance, would they support an additional 5% - so making it just under 9% council tax increase. Then we'd also be asking them would they go even further - 10%."
Between 2010 and 2017, central government funding will have been cut by £340m and a further £90m saving is required by 2020, meaning the council will have slashed its budget by about 67%, a spokesperson said.
Mayor Anderson added that any referendum would take place in May alongside the Metro Mayor election and would cost around £300,000.
In 2016, council tax in Liverpool rose by 3.99%, half of which was ring-fenced for social services, while the two previous years saw a 1.99% rise.
And this is not the largest increase the council has ever proposed - in 1994 it raised council tax by 19.5%.
A budget consultation will be launched on 17 November asking people if they would accept the proposed increase. | A city's council tax could rise by up to 10% in 2018 but residents would need to agree. |
39147996 | Damien McLaughlin appeared at the High Court in Dublin, and has been remanded in custody until 20 March.
He was arrested and charged following the shooting dead of David Black in November 2012.
Mr McLaughlin was granted bail in May 2014 but had not been seen by police since last November.
Wearing a grey jumper and blue jeans, Mr McLaughlin, of Glenties Road in Belfast, said nothing during his Dublin High Court appearance.
He was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant by gardai as part of a joint intelligence-led operation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
A Detective Sergeant from the Garda Special Branch told the court Mr McLaughlin was a "terrorist on the run" who was a flight risk and possibly armed, which justified the use of force as he was detained by police.
Another man, aged 59, and a woman, 47, were also arrested during the operation.
Det Ch Supt Raymond Murray, from PSNI's Serious Crime Branch, said: "The PSNI has been liaising closely with An Garda Siochana and today's arrests demonstrate the benefits of joint working between police forces and other national partner agencies.
"As part of the operation a 59-year old man was also arrested in Donegal and a 47-year-old woman was arrested in Belfast."
The PSNI said senior detectives had contacted the Black family today to update them on developments. | A man charged in connection with the 2012 murder of a Northern Ireland prison officer has appeared in court after his arrest on Thursday. |
38483579 | All of the managerial movements for January will appear below, followed by the full list of each club, league-by-league.
To read the list for December, visit the ins and outs page. | BBC Sport tracks all the manager ins and outs as well as listing all the current bosses in the Premier League, Scottish Premiership, English Football League and National League. |
34873469 | Bristol were relegated to WSL 2 last season and have asked for the Football Association's permission to be renamed.
The Vixens will still play at Stoke Gifford Stadium but will be independent from Championship side Bristol City.
"This is a very positive development for the club which will secure top-flight women's football in Bristol," said Academy chairman Simon Arnold.
"The women's game in England has developed significantly over the last five years and to compete we have to become professional on and off the pitch.
"It was becoming increasingly difficult to do this as a club without the help of a professional club's marketing, commercial and supporter base.
"We have been working with our partners at Bristol City FC and Bristol Sport Limited for a number of years and it was the right time for them to embrace the women's game and put their resources behind the club."
Bristol City's executive director Doug Harman added: "It is a significant milestone in the history of both clubs.
"We have seen many Premier League teams welcome the women's development of the game and embrace the top-flight women's team in their respective cities - Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea to name but a few." | Women's Super League side Bristol Academy are to be rebranded as Bristol City Women's FC for next season. |
32429394 | Of the top 30 constituencies - areas where 90% or more of premises have speeds of 30Mbps (megabits per second) or higher - 16 are Labour-controlled.
But 17 of the bottom 30 constituencies - those with only half or fewer premises having superfast broadband - are run by Conservative councils.
The map was drawn up by broadband news website ThinkBroadband.
Liberal Democrat- controlled constituencies had a similar number at both the top and bottom of the league - five in the top 30 and eight in the bottom 30.
"It is interesting that so many Labour seats are towards the top end of the chart," said founder of ThinkBroadband Andrew Ferguson.
"A lot of this is because Labour seats tend to be in urban areas while Conservative ones tend to control more rural seats."
The map looks at coverage across the UK's 650 constituencies - which, on average, have about 50,000 premises - homes and businesses.
The map throws up huge contrasts between areas that are close to each other.
For example, in Wales the constituency of Carmarthen West has 33% of premises with super-fast broadband, compared with just 9.5% in neighbouring Carmarthen East.
Many of the constituencies in Hull show fairly low levels of superfast broadband, even though much of the broadband rollout is controlled by Kingston Communications which is offering homes extremely fast fibre-to-the-home technology.
"Kingston Communications has done a lot of fibre-to-the-home broadband but that technology is slower to roll out and so the total coverage is less," said Mr Ferguson.
It is important to note that the data does not allow anyone to draw conclusions about whether one political party is better than another when it comes to broadband policies, he said.
"The UK telecoms market is amazingly diverse and it is impossible to credit any one single political party for the success or otherwise with respect to what services are available as the current situation is the result of some 30 years of regulation," he told the BBC.
But local MPs can exert influence, he added.
"What individual politicians can do and should ensure is that those in their constituency are not placed at a significant disadvantage, this could be through ensuring a local authority project covers an area through to ensuring that alternate operators have minimal hurdles to overcome to provide a much-needed service."
All the main parties have included broadband pledges in their manifestos.
Labour have promised affordable, high-speed broadband across the country by 2020 while the Conservatives pledged to continue with their plans to provide 95% of the UK with superfast broadband by 2017.
The Liberal Democrat approach reflects the broadband delivery programme currently in motion and which it helped to create.
It can be difficult to extrapolate what will happen based on election pledges, said Mr Ferguson.
"They all make promises but there is little detail on how they will do it.
"Whoever gets into power, nothing much will change in the plans up to 2017. And after that, broadly they all want the same thing - to get to almost universal access eventually," he said. | Labour-controlled constituencies are more likely to have faster broadband, new data suggests. |
35051392 | Brian Reader, 76, was jailed over the £26m Brinks Mat armed robbery in 1983.
Terry Perkins, 67, was jailed for 22 years for robbing the vaults of Securicor, also known as Security Express, in the same year.
Reader and Perkins have already admitted conspiracy to burgle the Hatton Garden safe deposit.
Reader, of Dartford Road, Dartford, was jailed for eight years for conspiracy to handle stolen goods after the gold bullion robbery in Hounslow, west London, in 1983.
Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were told he was also sentenced to a further year in prison for dishonestly handling £66,000 in cash.
Perkins, of Heene Road, was part of a gang which broke into the Security Express depot in Shoreditch, east London, and escaped with £6m on Easter Monday, 1983.
The jury also heard details of the previous convictions of the other men who have already admitted their role in the Hatton Garden raid.
John "Kenny" Collins, 75, of Bletsoe Walk, Islington, has convictions for offences including breaking in, theft and handling stolen goods.
Daniel Jones, 60, of Park Avenue, Enfield, has been sentenced for offences of robbery, burglary and handling stolen goods.
Four other men are on trial accused of being involved in the Hatton Garden raid:
Collins, Jones, Perkins and Reader are due to be sentenced at a later date.
The trial continues. | Two of the men involved in the Hatton Gardon raid were previously jailed for their roles in two of the UK's biggest-ever robberies, a court has heard. |
12403119 | But this is not the only court case the 77-year-old has been embroiled in.
Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman, is still fighting several other criminal convictions arising from trials held since he left office in November 2011.
He has rejected all charges and is awaiting decisions on his appeals.
Berlusconi was found guilty in October 2012 of tax fraud in connection with the purchase of TV rights by his firm, Mediaset, in the 1990s.
The court heard that he and other executives had bought TV rights at inflated prices via two offshore companies, to avoid paying taxes in Italy.
Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison last year, automatically reduced to one under a 2006 pardon act.
He is doing community service instead of prison because the Italian legal system is lenient to the over-70s.
He was also banned from holding public office for five years. That ban is now under review.
In June 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute and abusing his power. He was sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from ever again holding public office.
However, he was allowed to remain free pending the outcome of the appeals process.
Journalists dubbed the trial "Rubygate" after the nickname of the Moroccan dancer at the centre of the trial, Karima El-Mahroug, also known as Ruby Rubacuori (Ruby The Heartstealer).
Judges found Berlusconi guilty of paying for sex with Ms Mahroug in 2010, when she was 17. The court heard that he had slept with her on 13 occasions at a time when he was still Italy's prime minister.
He was also found to have abused the powers of his office by arranging to have her released from police custody when she was detained in a petty theft case.
Both she and the former prime minister denied having sex, and Ms Mahroug denied having ever been a prostitute.
In January 2014, Milan judicial authorities announced that Berlusconi, two senior lawyers and Ms Mahroug would be among more than 40 people investigated on new allegations of witness tampering in the case.
Berlusconi was convicted of breaching confidentiality in March 2013 and sentenced to one year in jail.
He was found to have arranged for a police wiretap concerning a political rival to be leaked and published in a newspaper.
Prosecutors brought the case after a transcript of a phone conversation intercepted by the authorities was published in the newspaper Il Giornale, owned by Mr Berlusconi's brother Paolo.
The conversation took place between the head of insurer Unipol and Piero Fassino, who was the leader of the biggest centre-left party and Berlusconi's biggest political rival at the time.
Unipol was trying to take over BNL bank in 2005. Magistrates had ordered the wiretap as they suspected inappropriate interference in the takeover.
Berlusconi remains free pending an appeal, as does Paolo, 64, who was convicted of the same charge and jailed for two years and three months.
In February 2014, a new trial opened against Berlusconi in Naples, in which he is accused of paying a bribe of 3m euros (£2.5m; $4m) to a senator in 2006 to switch to his party, thereby undermining the government of the time.
Two other corruption cases involving tax evasion and the bribing of a British lawyer expired under the statute of limitations.
The first case, Mediatrade, also concerned alleged fraud over inflated prices for TV rights. One of the defendants was Mr Berlusconi's son, Pier Silvio Berlusconi, Mediaset's deputy chairman. The case was dropped in 2012.
In February 2012, a case involving British tax lawyer David Mills was dropped. Berlusconi was alleged to have paid him 434,000 euros to lie under oath in two corruption trials in the 1990s.
All the defendants rejected the accusations.
He says he is being targeted by left-wing Milan prosecutors pursuing a vendetta against him.
He has complained of being "the most persecuted man in the entire history of the world".
After the original Mediaset sentence, he condemned the decision as a "political verdict" and complained of "judicial harassment".
In January 2011, Italy's Constitutional Court swept away part of a law passed in 2010 granting 18 months of immunity to Berlusconi and some of his senior ministers.
The ruling meant that it would be up to individual trial judges to decide whether he should be allowed to argue that his job was a "legitimate impediment" to a court case.
A legitimate impediment could include a state visit, an EU summit or perhaps a cabinet meeting while he was still prime minister.
Berlusconi is not short of money: Forbes magazine reckons his fortune to be about $9bn. However, he estimated back in 2009 that he had spent more than $200m in legal fees over two decades, with more than 2,500 court appearances in 106 trials. | Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has started a year of community service at a care home near Milan following a tax fraud conviction. |
35860851 | Tennis player Maria Sharapova failed a doping test after the World Anti-Doping Agency banned the drug on 1 January.
Four Russian athletes, who have not been named, tested positive for the substance this week.
"Twenty-seven have tested positive for meldonium and there are some 127 cases in the world," said Vitaly Mutko.
Russia's athletics federation is suspended from international competition for its alleged involvement in widespread doping, with a decision on potential reinstatement due in May.
Dmitry Shlyakhtin, head of the All-Russia Athletic Federation, said the latest positive tests will not "aggravate" that "complex" decision.
Russia's international ban - which includes this summer's Rio Olympic Games - applies only to its athletics federation and followed an independent World Anti-Doping Agency report last year that alleged "state-sponsored doping".
Last week, Russia's four-time breaststroke world champion Yuliya Efimova failed an out-of-competition test.
World number seven Sharapova, meanwhile, failed a drugs test at the Australian Open.
The 28-year-old said she had been taking meldonium since 2006 for health reasons.
According to Wada, a substance may be "considered" for the prohibited list if it meets two of the following three criteria:
A substance can be added to the prohibited list without first featuring on the watch list.
Grindeks, the Latvian company that produces the drug, says meldonium can take "several months" to leave the body.
It said the "terminal elimination" of the drug depends on a variety of factors such as dose, duration of treatment and sensitivity of testing methods. | Twenty-seven Russian sportspeople have tested positive for meldonium this year, according to the Russian sports minister. |
32314849 | Five candidates from Crawley, Horsham and Reigate clashed over the future of aviation during a BBC Surrey debate.
They argued over whether to expand Heathrow, Gatwick or neither airport.
The Airports Commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies, has said a new runway is needed by 2030 and will make recommendations after the election.
It is considering three options - a second Gatwick runway, a third Heathrow runway, or an extension to an existing Heathrow runway.
Crawley Labour candidate, Chris Oxlade, said planned investment in infrastructure currently did not benefit the town and negotiations were needed to get the best deal - which would include a Crawley bypass.
Reigate Conservative candidate, Crispin Blunt, said the economic value of expanding Heathrow was £100bn more than Gatwick.
He added: "It is absolutely plain the transport infrastructure that goes into Gatwick is completely incapable of supporting the expansion of Gatwick on the scale they're proposing."
Horsham UKIP candidate, Roger Arthur, preferred Heathrow expansion. He claimed infrastructure costs of several billion would be covered by neither Gatwick nor the government and lives would be "blighted by noise, overcrowding and pollution".
Horsham Liberal Democrat, Morwen Millson, said infrastructure had to be dealt with, or expansion could not happen. But she added local jobs were needed, not just low-paid luggage-handlers and caterers but also jobs in science and technology.
And Reigate Green candidate Jonathan Essex opposed any expansion. He said: "Around Gatwick, we've got congestion, noise, air pollution. We'll have building on the green belt and countryside because of the housing required to support the increase in the economy locally. But Heathrow has exactly the same issues."
A Gatwick spokesman said the Airports Commission, Network Rail and the Highways Agency had all agreed road and rail improvements would be more than adequate, with rail capacity doubling in five years and nearly trebling by 2035.
The airport had pledged £46.5m to deliver essential community infrastructure such as housing and schools and development would be over a wide area, not just near the airport, he added.
Other measures would include a local road improvement fund, better traffic management and better journey times.
He said the airport would fund a new runway and necessary infrastructure improvements.
Gatwick's plans were the most environmentally-friendly solution, he added. | Infrastructure would have to be a top priority if Gatwick Airport expanded, according to candidates standing in the forthcoming election. |
22918857 | An announcement is expected in the next few weeks following a two-year Scotland Yard review of the stalled Portuguese inquiry, says the Daily Mail.
Madeleine was almost four when she went missing on holiday in Praia da Luz in 2007.
The Met says her parents are being kept fully updated on its work.
Home Secretary Theresa May has agreed to provide funding for a full investigation by UK detectives, according to the Mail.
The Home Office has not confirmed the report, but said in a statement: "The Home Office remains committed to supporting the search for Madeleine McCann and we have always said we would provide the Metropolitan Police with the resources they need to investigate her disappearance."
In an earlier statement a spokesman had said: "We have agreed to provide the Metropolitan Police with the resources they need to investigate her disappearance."
A review into the case by police in the UK discovered new potential leads but the police in Portugal have not reopened the case.
The BBC understands any investigation by Scotland Yard would need the co-operation of the Portuguese authorities.
Scotland Yard would not comment on the latest development but released a statement saying they are encouraged by the progress they are making.
It said: "Detectives remain in regular contact with Kate and Gerry McCann and are working closely with the Portuguese police in an attempt to make further progress."
The UK review into Madeleine's case began in May 2011, after Prime Minister David Cameron responded to a plea from her parents.
Its objective was for a team of officers to work with the Portuguese authorities with a view to reopening the case, which has been closed since 2008.
As part of the review, a computer-generated image of how Madeleine might look at the age of nine was created with the help of her family. They marked her 10th birthday on May 12th.
The team has been compiling and reviewing material from three separate strands - the Portuguese investigation, inquiries by the UK law enforcement agencies and the work of private investigators or agencies.
There are believed to be around 40,000 pieces of information equating to about 100,000 pages.
In May, detectives from Scotland Yard said they had identified "a number of persons of interest" but they denied asking Portuguese police to make any arrests in connection with the inquiry. | The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to be taken on by the Metropolitan Police, according to reports. |
22483083 | Dr Fuentes, accused of running one of the world's largest sport doping rings, received a one-year suspended sentence.
On 29 April a Madrid court ruled the blood bags would not be released to the UCI and anti-doping organisations.
They want the bags tested to see whether they implicate other athletes.
Anti-doping authorities and international sports bodies have condemned Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria's decision to deny them access to the bags.
The World Anti-Doping Agency said the decision was "disappointing".
Fuentes was revealed by the Operation Puerto investigation to have been providing blood-doping services to cyclists.
When police raided his offices in 2006, they found 211 bags of frozen blood and plasma.
Fuentes has previously worked with tennis players, runners, footballers and boxers, although he has not said whether he helped them dope. | The International Cycling Union (UCI) is to appeal against a Spanish court's decision to destroy 200 blood bags presented as evidence in the trial of Eufemiano Fuentes. |
38956439 | The education select committee has cast doubt on claims that they can help social mobility.
There is also scepticism about whether an entrance test for grammars can be made "tutor proof".
Neil Carmichael, the committee's chair, says the focus on expanding grammars has become an "unnecessary distraction" from improving the school system.
The Department for Education has argued that removing the ban on opening new grammars will be a way of making "more good school places available, to more parents, in more parts of the country".
The cross-party committee of MPs, responding to the evidence gathered about plans to increase selective education, said ministers still needed to demonstrate how this would improve social mobility and close the gap between rich and poor pupils.
MPs said there had been no convincing evidence that a test could be devised which would not favour those who could afford private coaching.
As such they argued that such tests should not be the only criteria for entry.
The MPs also raised concerns about how an expansion of grammars would affect other non-selective schools, in terms of funding and the supply of teachers.
The committee called on the government to carry out an assessment of the potential impact on the wider school system.
Head teachers wrote to MPs last week to express their "incredulity" that grammar schools were being offered extra funds to expand places, while they were facing job cuts because of deepening pressures on their budgets.
The cross-party committee also highlighted the vagueness of the plans so far - with no clear outline of how many grammar schools would be created or how local demand for such grammars would be measured.
There were also questions about whether this push for academic selection should be a priority when there had been so many concerns about vocational skills shortages.
"The focus on opening new grammar schools is, in my view, an unnecessary distraction from the need to ensure all our young people are equipped with the skills to compete in the modern workplace," said Mr Carmichael.
Since the prime minister last year announced the ambition to create new grammars, there have been few details of how this might be put into practice.
But last week the Grammar School Heads' Association published details of a private meeting with education ministers, where they discussed options for expanding selection.
This suggested that new grammar schools could open from 2020 - but in the meantime there would be £150m funding to expand existing grammars or to introduce grammar streams through academy trusts.
There was also a suggestion that these new grammars would be much more selective than traditional grammars, with places for the top 10% of the ability range.
Another idea was that there would be a single national entry test for grammars, rather than a range of local tests, with the aim of designing an exam that would be more resistant to coaching by private tutors.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said that grammar schools have a "track record of closing the attainment gap to almost zero between children on free school meals and their better off classmates".
The spokeswoman said that "99% of grammar schools are rated good or outstanding; and even when you take higher ability intakes into account pupils still perform better in selective schools than in non-selective schools".
Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said: "When even the Conservative-dominated education select committee calls Theresa May's new grammar schools an 'unnecessary distraction', it's time that ministers finally sat up and took notice.
"There is a crisis in teacher recruitment, schools budgets are being cut for the first time in decades and hundreds of thousands of pupils are in super-sized classes. The Tories should be keeping their pledge to protect school funding rather than pressing ahead with this policy," she said.
John Pugh, the Liberal Democrats' education spokesman, said: "Instead of ploughing ahead with these divisive plans, Theresa May should address the £3bn funding black hole facing our schools over the next five years."
Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, backed the calls for the government to show evidence that new grammars could close the attainment gap - when less than 3% of grammar school entrants are eligible for free school meals.
"Until existing grammar schools demonstrate they can be vehicles for social mobility, the number of grammar schools should not be increased," said Sir Peter. | The government has failed to make a convincing case for opening a new wave of grammar schools in England, say MPs. |
38894030 | The influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was promised in 2014 an annual report on the impact of these policies on energy bills.
But it has not seen once since.
The PAC also repeated previous concerns about over-optimistic forecasting in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The government's Levy Control Framework is supposed to control the cost of three low-carbon generation schemes, funded by levies on energy companies, which consumers pay for through their energy bills.
The PAC concluded that the framework had "suffered from a lack of transparency, rigour and accountability" and the forecasting of its costs had been poor.
The three schemes are:
The PAC said the department "significantly underestimated" the costs of the three framework schemes
It also said the BEIS "continues to expect to overspend the Framework budget".
Because of this, the cost of the three schemes will be £110 per household per year from 2020, £17 more than planned, according to the committee.
Committee chairman Meg Hillier said: "Bill-payers deserve to know whether or not the energy schemes they fund represent good value for money."
"The government has failed to meet its commitment to report annually on the impact these policies are having on bills. Current arrangements just aren't good enough.
"Government must take action to address this and also ensure customers can see clearly what they are paying towards existing and future schemes through their bills," she added.
The BEIS said the government would respond to the PAC's recommendations "in due course".
However, it said it took action last year to "revise renewable energy subsidies to ensure customers are protected from higher energy bills".
"The strong, decisive action we took reduced projected costs by over £500m to protect people's household budgets and ensure value for money while delivering more environmentally friendly energy," added a BEIS spokesperson. | MPs have said the government must do more to demonstrate the value for money of green energy schemes which are ultimately paid for by bill payers. |
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