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23871617 | Maj Nidal Hasan, 42, was convicted last week of the November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
The defendant had tried to admit his guilt but military law bans guilty pleas in death penalty cases.
The Virginia-born Muslim said he opened fire to protect Taliban insurgents from troops about to deploy to Afghanistan.
By Alastair LeitheadBBC News, Los Angeles
Maj Nidal Hasan sat in his wheelchair and gave no reaction to the death sentence.
The Army psychiatrist had listened to the prosecutor go through the personal stories of each of the 13 people he killed.
He had seen their photographs as the jury heard about the impact his actions had on the parents, widows and children left behind.
The prosecutor described the way each family member of each soldier killed was visited by "two soldiers in Class A uniforms" knocking on the front door with death notifications.
Hasan shut his eyes occasionally, rubbed his unkempt and greying beard, and held his head in the one hand he is still able to use after being paralysed by the shots which stopped his shooting rampage.
And he again declined his final opportunity to offer an explanation for what he did.
The jury handed down its sentence after two hours of deliberations on Wednesday.
But it could be years, possibly decades, before Maj Hasan is executed because of the long appeals process in the military justice system.
His execution must eventually be authorised by the president.
On Wednesday before the sentence was handed down, prosecutor Col Mike Mulligan urged jurors to opt for a rare military death penalty.
"He will not now and he will never be a martyr," Col Mulligan said of Maj Hasan. "He is a criminal. He is a cold-blooded murderer."
"This is not his gift to God. This is his debt to society. This is the cost of his murderous rampage."
"He will never be a martyr because he has nothing to give," Col Mulligan added. "He will not be giving his life, we will be taking it."
Maj Hasan, who represented himself, declined to speak on his own behalf, saying only: "I have no closing statement."
The 13-member jury had to reach unanimous agreement in order to sentence Maj Hasan to death, otherwise he would have faced life in prison.
The US military has not executed a service member since 1961. There are five inmates on the US military's death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, all at various stages of the appeals process.
Maj Hasan opened fire at a medical facility on the Fort Hood base where soldiers were being evaluated before deploying overseas.
The jury heard he had prepared carefully for the attack, during which he fired 146 bullets.
The shooting spree ended when he was shot by a civilian police officer.
He was paralysed from the waist down and now uses a wheelchair. | A military jury has sentenced a former US Army psychiatrist to die by lethal injection for killing 13 soldiers and wounding 32 at a Texas Army base. |
36972005 | The owners said the casino had long been unprofitable.
The closure after Labour Day will come after a lengthy strike over benefits.
Closing the Trump Taj Mahal will cost 3,000 jobs, adding to 8,000 workers who were laid off in 2014 when four of the other casinos in the city were closed.
The closure of the Trump Taj Mahal will leave only seven casinos in Atlantic City.
The casino was opened 26 years ago by current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
It was taken over by billionaire Carl Icahn in 2009 when Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy - a move which forced Mr Trump to give up all of his investment in his Atlantic City casinos.
Mr Icahn told the AP news agency that he has lost nearly $100 million on the Taj Mahal.
Atlantic City's main casino workers union has been on strike against the Taj Mahal since 1 July.
On Thursday, the strike will become the longest in the city's 38-year casino era.
The strike is over the restoration of health insurance and pension benefits. Unions have rejected an offer to restore health insurance at a level less than that of employees at the city's other casinos.
Atlantic City used to be the only gambling centre on the US east coast, but is now struggling with competition from casinos in neighbouring states. | Trump Taj Mahal, the Atlantic City casino, founded by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump but no longer under his ownership, will shut down after years of losses. |
24126819 | The US author told the BBC he expects 95% of the reviews for Doctor Sleep to be a comparison between the two books.
"You are faced with that comparison and that has got to make you nervous", he said, "because there is a lot of water under the bridge. I'm a different man".
He admitted visiting literary websites to see what fans were saying about the book ahead of its publication.
Now aged 65, the veteran author said he thinks the quality of his writing has improved since he wrote The Shining at the age of 28.
"What a lot of people are saying is, 'Well okay, I will probably read this book but it cannot be as good as The Shining'. But I am obviously an optimist and I want them to say when they get done with it, that it was as good.
"But what I really want them to say is that it is better than The Shining".
Speaking to the BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz, King voiced his concerns that people who read the original story of the Torrance family's terrifying experiences at the Overlook Hotel when they were younger will have the same expectations of Doctor Sleep.
"The fear is that people will come back expecting that kind of scare as grown-ups and that just never happens. I wanted to try and write a more adult book."
King added that people are more difficult to scare today as they "have gotten a lot more savvy about the tricks that novel writers and film-makers use to scare them with".
But he does believe it is still possible to scare people "in a really honourable way, if they care about the characters".
"What I want the audience to do is to fall in love with these people, and really to care about them and that creates the suspense that you need. Love creates horror."
King, who has published more than 50 novels, admitted critics are kinder to him now than when he started his career.
"Little by little the wind changed a little bit. I think a lot of what happened was, that a lot of the old timers, the critics who really greeted my work with disdain died off and the people who are critics now, I know I scared the hell out of them when they were kids and they kind of respect that," he said.
Doctor Sleep follows the young boy who survived the horrific events of The Shining.
King said he decided to write the book because "people kept asking" him "whatever happened to that kid from The Shining?"
In the book, Danny Torrance has become a care worker in a hospice, who uses his psychic 'Shining' ability to help people who are dying move from this world into the next.
He meets a little girl who also has the Shining and is pursued by psychic vampires who live on the essence of children like her.
Doctor Sleep will be released on 24 September 2013. | Stephen King has admitted he is nervous about the reaction to his forthcoming sequel to his novel The Shining. |
27110882 | The pictures show that 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko appears to be not one but two objects joined together. It is what scientists call a "contact binary".
How the comet came to take this form is unknown.
It is possible that 67P suffered a major fracture at some point in its past; it is also possible the two parts have totally different origins.
What is clear is that the European Space Agency (Esa) mission team now has additional and unexpected considerations as it plans how to land on the comet later this year - not least, which part of the comet should be chosen for a touchdown?
The images in the sequence of nine were acquired last Friday.
They are an interpolation. That is, the "real" pictures are much more pixelated because of the thousands of km that still separate the probe and the comet. The outlines that you see have therefore been "smoothed" to make the scene easier to understand.
Rosetta's Osiris Narrow Angle Camera has a whole series of images that can be run together as a movie. This is expected to be released later this week.
With hindsight, there were indications in last week's official image release that something unusual might be about to unfold. But the idea that 67P could be a contact binary is a major surprise.
Rosetta is still refining its rendezvous with the comet, firing its thrusters weekly to bring itself into orbit on 6 August.
By that stage, the Esa probe should be no more than 70km from the surface of the 4.5km-wide ball of ice.
Once scientists understand better the gravitational field of 67P, the orbit will be lowered to about 30km.
It is that point that mapping can begin to select a touchdown zone for Philae - the small landing robot currently riding piggyback on Rosetta.
This historic touchdown is currently scheduled for 11 November.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | Europe's Rosetta probe has acquired some sensational new images of the comet it is chasing through space. |
36952299 | The Sunday Mirror reported on 26 June that traces of banned substance nandrolone were found in a urine sample taken from Fury in February 2015.
He denied the claim and his legal team says the result of tests from March and May 2015 were contradictory.
The 27-year-old beat Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA and WBO heavyweight titles in November.
The newspaper said Fury's cousin and fellow boxer Hughie had also been charged.
The legal team for the pair said "Team Fury" had issued proceedings in the High Court.
A statement from lawyer Lewis Power read: "The two boxers strenuously deny taking any performance-enhancing drugs.
"However, during the last five weeks, leaks about these charges have appeared in the press and both boxers have been the targets of continual abusive language on Twitter."
Fury's legal team said an interim judgment was expected before Fury's rematch with Ukrainian Klitschko in October.
The bout had been scheduled to take place in Manchester on 9 July but Fury pulled out with an ankle injury.
UK Anti-Doping declined to comment. | British boxer Tyson Fury is suing UK Anti-Doping over allegations he used a performance-enhancing drug. |
31878305 | Along with New York and Dublin, it is one of the biggest events of its kind in the world and centres around the "Irish Quarter" in Digbeth.
Anne Tighe, chairman of the St Patrick's Festival Committee, said although numbers were down from last year the event was going well.
"There's a lovely atmosphere," she said.
She said last year was "massive" with about 90,000 attending the event but early estimates suggested the numbers this year were down.
"It's going really well. People seem to be enjoying the event, even though it is freezing cold, but it is dry," she said.
Ms Tighe said the cold weather and people doing other activities for Mother's Day may have led to fewer people attending.
The theme of this year's event is the Irish contribution to Birmingham's development.
The parade, featuring hundreds of floats, carnival costumes and marching bands, took place for two hours until 14:00 GMT.
It started at Camp Hill and was led by the Birmingham Irish Pipes and Drums band.
Live music, street fairs, a market and children's events are also taking place.
Other celebrations are planned into the night, including performances from local bands and musicians, as well as artists visiting from Ireland.
The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Shafique Shah, said: "Just as our Irish community here are proud to be Brummies, they now invite all Brummies to be Irish for the day and join in the wonderful celebrations".
The 19th annual event is the last one to benefit from £20,000 council funding, but organisers say it will retain its quality despite cuts. | An estimated 60,000 people are attending Birmingham's annual St Patrick's Day parade, say organisers. |
36330992 | Just a few weeks ago, arguing that the primacy of the Commons was being undermined by the House of Lords, ministers were considering curbing the power of peers.
A new law would stop the Lords from blocking what is called secondary legislation. When the Queen's Speech was published on Wednesday, however, there was no bill.
During the parliamentary session just ended, the Lords inflicted 60 defeats. Of those, the most humiliating was over tax credits.
Here the government had argued the Lords was breaking a convention - an unwritten rule - that secondary legislation isn't rejected, because Parliament has already scrutinised and approved the principle behind it by passing the primary legislation.
Peers denied there was such a convention, pointing out they had thrown out secondary legislation on five previous occasions.
Lord Strathclyde, a former Leader of the Lords, was asked by the prime minister what should be done, and he recommended legislation to stop it.
Government to review Lords powers after tax credits defeat
Limiting Lords powers 'calls its future into question'
It isn't just Conservatives who are unhappy with the Lords.
"We're defeating the government more often than is good for us," a Labour peer told me recently - but isn't that the job of the opposition?
807
Peers
247 Conservative
211 Labour
175 Crossbench
109 Liberal Democrat
Yet it is not so simple as that if you expect your party to be in power again one day. Then, you worry about the House of Lords doing the same to your legislation.
My Labour source blames the Liberal Democrats, as well as David Cameron for allowing his coalition partner to nominate so many new peers in the last Parliament.
It is the Lib Dems, he says, who insist on inflicting so many defeats. Labour peers don't like it, but fear if they don't go along with it, Lib Dems will say they have become the only real opposition to the Tories.
So what are the Lib Dems up to? Lord Newby, the chief whip, cheerfully admits he is up for a fight.
650
Members of Parliament
330 Conservative
229 Labour
54 SNP
8 Liberal Democrat
"There's no point in us existing," he told me, "if we don't vote for the things we believe in."
That's another thing, says my Labour contact: they hardly exist at all in the Commons, most of their MPs were rejected by the voters, yet in the Lords it is as if the general election never happened.
In the Commons, just eight of 650 MPs are Lib Dems; in the Lords, they have 109 peers out of 807, about half of the number of Labour, with the Conservatives on 247.
Lord Newby denies it is undemocratic for his party to wield so much influence when the party was almost wiped out at the general election.
"The only suggestion I can make is get used to it or reform the House of Lords," he says.
Labour peers believe this is the real strategy, provoking a constitutional crisis; after all, the Lib Dems have no love for the Lords, and want a wholly elected second chamber in its place.
"It's true we don't have a vested interest in the mechanism as it is," says Lord Newby, though he denies wanting to precipitate reform by creating a crisis.
He thinks the real vested interest is that of the two biggest parties. He accuses Labour of backing a "spurious" Conservative claim that governments get their way in the Lords 70% of the time.
He even accuses them of deliberately engineering some unnecessary votes when there aren't enough opposition peers around, so the government wins, helping keep up that average of government successes.
I suspect the real reason David Cameron backed off from a confrontation from the Lords actually lies elsewhere: in the House of Commons.
Earlier this month, MPs on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said removing the Lords power to veto secondary legislation would be a mistake.
The committee, chaired by Bernard Jenkin, one of Mr Cameron's most trenchant Conservative critics, was clear.
"We think the issue of the excessive size and unbalanced composition of the Lords is a much more pressing issue, and it is wrong to consider the powers and functions of the House of Lords in isolation, on the basis of one wholly exceptional and highly political event," he said.
David Cameron's real problem isn't peers, Lib Dem or otherwise.
It is the increasing difficulty he has with Conservative MPs. On tax credits and making all secondary schools become academies, to give just two examples, it was Tory MPs who rebelled.
Loyalty, it used to be said, was the party's secret weapon. Today, a significant number of MPs no longer see it as a virtue.
As the measures announced in the Queen's Speech work their way through the parliamentary machine in the coming months, don't be misled by the number of defeats MPs inflict on the government.
It is the number of measures withdrawn before any vote is taken, or never proposed at all, which is the real measure of the government's problem. | It was part-way through the Queen's Speech, just after she mentioned the EU referendum, so you might have missed it - but when she promised that "my ministers will uphold the sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the House of Commons", she was signalling a retreat. |
38324586 | Gundogan, who joined City from Borussia Dortmund for £20m in June, limped off in tears in his side's 2-0 win over Watford on Wednesday.
"I'm so sad as it looks like we'll be without him for a long time," said the City boss.
He added they would not know the player's prognosis until Thursday.
Germany international Gundogan, Guardiola's first signing for his new club, arrived at City injured having dislocated his kneecap in training at the start of May.
It ruled him out of Euro 2016 and the start of the Premier League season, but he eventually made his debut at Etihad Stadium in the 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in September.
He has made 16 appearances for the club, scoring five goals. | Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan is set to be out for "several months" with knee ligament damage, boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed. |
37363090 | Bovington in Dorset became the home of the Heavy Section Machine Gun Corps in 1916, shortly after tanks first appeared at the Battle of the Somme.
An event on Saturday will include the first public appearance of the Army's latest armoured fighting vehicle, Ajax.
The Tank Museum will also drop 250,000 poppies over a battle re-enactment.
The event is one of several commemorations marking the first use of tanks on 15 September 1916 in World War One.
Tanks first arrived at Bovington in October, moving from a smaller training camp in Suffolk.
Author and broadcaster Kate Adie said they arrived in secrecy, with local people being ordered to "pull down their blinds and sit in the back room" while the vehicles went by.
Writing in 'Fighting On the Home Front', she said: "One local shepherd, name of Patience, was reported to have refused to abandon his sheep, grazing in an adjacent field.
"Soldiers therefore built a fence of hurdles so that the secret weapon might pass unseen."
But historian Chris Copson said the secret was apparently short-lived.
"The story is that the tank did what tanks do best and broke down in the middle of Bovington High Street," he said.
As part of Saturday's commemorations, the Army will publicly unveil its Ajax armoured reconnaissance vehicle for the first time.
The head of the Army, General Sir Nick Carter, has said the 589 Ajax vehicles will be at the core of the Land Joint Strike concept, a tactic for use in difficult terrain and in densely-populated urban areas. | A museum built on the site of a secret World War One training base is marking the centenary of the first use of tanks in warfare. |
38757538 | Four 24-hour stoppages are planned by Unite union members working for Cape Industrial Services at Fellside combined heat and power (CHP) plant at Sellafield, Cumbria.
The union said the company had failed to address concerns over the terms and conditions for scaffolders, thermal insulation engineers and labourers.
Cape declined to comment.
Unite regional officer Ryan Armstrong said the firm had been "dragging its feet" for more than eight months.
"All our workers want is for Cape management to align workers' terms and conditions to those recommended by NAECI (National Joint Council for the Engineering Construction Industry) and other workers at the plant," he said.
"Vital" preparation work for a major shutdown of Fellside CHP could be affected by continued industrial action, he said.
This could have a knock-on effect on the main Sellafield reprocessing and decommissioning site, to which the plant provides power, he said.
A separate strike over pension changes by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) staff has been put on hold after an agreement to hold further talks.
On Wednesday union leaders had a "constructive" meeting with energy minister Jesse Norman over plans to reform the pensions of NDA employees to save £660m. | Workers at a nuclear site have gone on strike over their employment contracts. |
35659363 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Conor Murray's try had given the visitors a narrow lead early in the second half after England had dominated territory and possession but failed to convert it into points.
But two tries in five minutes from Anthony Watson and Mike Brown snatched back control of what had been a tight, error-strewn match.
And ferocious, often last-ditch defence then kept waves of Irish attacks at bay and left Jones's men top of the championship table.
Ireland have now failed to win any of their opening three matches and, with Wales next to visit Twickenham in a fortnight, talk will turn to a possible Grand Slam for the men in white.
It is premature - England must also visit France on the last weekend - but the ebullient Jones will be delighted with the way they came through the sternest test of his young regime.
An open first quarter saw Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell exchange penalties, both sides ceding promising positions with sloppy errors from cold fingers on a freezing late afternoon.
Ireland were running it from deep, England looking to use the power and bulk of Maro Itoje and the impressive Billy Vunipola to smash holes in the green-shirted wall.
The hosts camped out in the opposition 22 as the half wore on and several times spurned space and numbers out wide, the imprecision that of a team new to each other rather than as familiar as this one should be.
Ireland were giving them a regular helping hand, their half-backs repeatedly failing to clear their lines, and Farrell put his team in front with his second penalty after Murray's pass put Devin Toner in trouble.
Murray was to have his revenge. After James Haskell was sin-binned for a late and high tackle on him, the scrum-half burrowed over from a close-range ruck, Sexton stroking over the conversion from the touchline for a 10-6 lead.
Farrell narrowed it to a one-point match after Toner was penalised for blocking him off, and the 14 men in white held firm until Haskell returned and the momentum swung again.
England went wide right through Nowell, the forwards battered towards the line and, with Irish defenders sucked in, Chris Robshaw's long pass found Watson all alone on the left for the simplest try of the winger's international career.
Five minutes later they struck again. Once again it was Vunipola who crashed through the initial tackles, Watson taking it on and huge gaps appearing on the right for Farrell to send the lurking Brown into the corner.
Only a desperate last-gasp tackle from Jack Nowell denied Robbie Henshaw a try in the corner, and replacement Danny Care then became England's second man to be yellow-carded for not rolling away as Ireland pressed again.
It left the hosts without a recognised scrum-half for the last nine minutes, and as debutant Josh van der Flier drove for the right-hand corner with the defence stretched to breaking it took another new cap, replacement centre Elliot Daly, to somehow hold him up.
England coach Eddie Jones: "I think our performances have stepped up. We were facing a better team today.
"We probably left 10 to 15 points out there, as we couldn't always convert our attacking pressure. We weren't quite sharp enough and we were letting them get a hand in at crucial times.
"Vunipola was great. He just loves playing rugby. He loves the team environment and loves playing for England."
Media playback is not supported on this device
England: Mike Brown, Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell, Jack Nowell, George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, James Haskell, Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Paul Hill, Courtney Lawes, Jack Clifford, Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Alex Goode.
Ireland: Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, Keith Earls, Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack McGrath, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, CJ Stander, Josh van der Flier, Jamie Heaslip (captain).
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Nathan White, Ultan Dillane, Rhys Ruddock, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Simon Zebo.
Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (WRU) & Alexandre Ruiz (FFR)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (SARU) | Eddie Jones's perfect start as England coach continues as his new side made it three Six Nations wins from three with a battling victory over Ireland. |
40890956 | Jack Etienne, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Cloud9, has bought the rights to field a London team in the sci-fi video game competition.
The BBC understands he paid roughly $20m (£15.4m) for the privilege.
The league represents game producer Activision Blizzard's most ambitious venture into e-sports yet.
The company believes the "family-friendly" shooter should have wider appeal to both audiences and advertisers than existing e-sports events.
It has suggested the contest could eventually become more lucrative than England's Premier League or the US's National Football League for those involved.
The company will split revenues generated by the competition with each of its team owners.
"We view this as a major milestone marking the league as truly global - it now has representation in Europe, Asia and North America," Pete Vlastelica, an executive in Activision Blizzard's e-sports division, told the BBC.
Several of the previously announced investors had ties to traditional sports teams, including the New England Patriots American football team, the New York Mets baseball team and the Sacremento Kings basketball team.
Mr Vlastelica said that there had been discussions with unnamed European equivalents to buy the London rights, but that Cloud9 - which already fields an Overwatch team in other competitions - had won out.
"Cloud9 may be a new name for some in the traditional sports world, but I can assure you they are not a niche or fringe player in e-sports," he said.
"As we build this league, it was really important to us to combine the capabilities of owners from both traditional sports and the world of e-sports."
The league will get under way later this year, with its initial matches held at a studio in Southern California.
But the intention is for later games to be played locally to help teams attract supporters.
It is not yet clear where Cloud9 will host its home matches.
"Buying into the Overwatch League for a franchise remains relatively high risk because of the costs involved and Overwatch's immaturity as an e-sports title," said Piers Harding-Rolls, from the IHS Technology consultancy.
"Traditional sports team owners have to be prepared to commit fully to an e-sports strategy to make this work, and it is clear that US-based teams are more willing to make the transition at this early stage.
"For European buyers, I think the risk increases somewhat due to the fragmented nature of the market in the region, the more diversified gaming tastes and the impact that can have on sponsorship rates, advertising and consumer interest."
Activision Blizzard also announced that it had licensed the rights to a second Los Angeles team.
Stan and Josh Kroenke - who have investments in the UK's Arsenal football club and the Los Angeles Rams American football team - bought the franchise.
Noah Winston, the chief executive of the Immortals e-sports organisation, owns the city's other Overwatch League team.
The first-person shooter features about two dozen characters who engage in team-based battles set across a near-future Earth.
Each character has a distinct personality - including a genetically engineered scientist ape, a cowboy-styled bounty hunter and a nerdy-looking climatologist - and unique abilities.
The heroes divide into four broad categories:
Squads of six characters are pitched against each other in a range of challenges, including protecting/capturing a location; defending/destroying a vehicle as it is driven across a zone; and being first to wipe out the enemy team. | The American founder of a leading e-sports business has become the first owner of a European squad in the forthcoming Overwatch League. |
39253422 | Intel will pay $63.54 a share in cash for the Israeli company, which develops "autonomous driving" systems.
Mobileye and Intel are already working together, along with German carmaker BMW, to put 40 test vehicles on the road in the second half of this year.
Intel expects the driverless market to be worth as much as $70bn by 2030.
Jerusalem-based Mobileye has contracts with 27 car makers. It also controls about two thirds of the market for software that runs automatic emergency braking and semi-autonomous cruise control systems already fitted to cars and trucks.
Technology companies are racing to launch driverless cars.
Earlier this month, Nissan test drove a converted Leaf vehicle and said it hoped to make the cars available by 2020.
Google has also done extensive development of driverless cars.
Announcing the deal, Intel said that as cars "progress from assisted driving to fully autonomous, they are increasingly becoming data centres on wheels".
The chipmaker reckons that by 2020 driverless cars will generate 4,000 GB, or 4 terabytes, of data a day that can be mined for information.
Betsy Van Hees, analyst at Loop Capital Markets, said Intel had very little presence in the automotive market, "so this is a tremendous opportunity for them to get into a market that has significant growth opportunities".
Timothy Carone, a Notre Dame University academic, said: "Major players are finding ways finding ways to position themselves for a change as seminal as the personal computer revolution."
Shares in Intel fell 2.2% to $35.10 in New York.
Mobileye was founded in 1999 to develop "vision-based systems to improve on-road safety and reduce collisions".
The company, along with Intel's automated driving group, will be based in Israel and led by Amnon Shashua, Mobileye's co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer.
In its results for last year, Mobileye said revenue more than tripled to $358m, while pre-tax profit jumped from $79.7m to $125.4m. | US chipmaker Intel is taking a big bet on driverless cars with a $15.3bn (£12.5bn) takeover of specialist Mobileye. |
35230418 | The company also said trading at its Next Directory online and catalogue operation had been difficult, due in part to poor stock availability.
Between 26 October and 24 December, sales at its High Street shops fell 0.5%, but rose 2% at the Directory arm.
Next, whose shares closed down 4.6%, lowered its full-year profit estimate.
The company, which has more than 500 stores, says it now expects annual pre-tax profits to be about £817m. This is at the lower end of its previous guidance issued in October, when it predicted profits of between £810m and £845m.
The retailer, which did not take part in some of the heavy discounting sales events at the end of last year, said in a statement: "We believe that the disappointing performance in the fourth quarter was mainly down to the unusually warm weather in November and December."
The statement also pointed to "mistakes and challenges" faced by the business. "Specifically, we believe that Next Directory's disappointing sales were compounded by poor stock availability from October onwards."
In addition, Next said that online retailing was becoming tougher as competition intensified.
Nevertheless, the company said full-price sales for the year-to-date were 3.7% ahead of last year, just below the bottom end of Next's previous guidance of a 4%-6% rise.
Analysts said the figures, the first winter trading update from one of the big retailers, suggested other High Street firms may have struggled.
Neil Saunders, from retail analysts Conlumino, tweeted: "Next's lacklustre results do not bode well for the rest of the High Street; warm weather was the main source of its woes."
Maureen Hinton from retail consultancy Verdict told the BBC that the results indicated a "very tough" market.
However, Phil Dorrell, a director at Retail Remedy, told the BBC that the figures were "pretty positive" for Next.
He told BBC 5 live that after other retailers have released their Christmas sales figures, the view could be: "Wow, Next did really well."
He expects Marks and Spencer to report a decline in sales for the Christmas period when it releases figures on Thursday.
Department store chain John Lewis will reveal how it fared over the festive period on Wednesday. | Retailer Next has blamed the warm weather in the final few weeks of last year for a "disappointing" trading performance in the run-up to Christmas. |
30318220 | Barry Dodson, 67, of Cranworth Road, Rotherham, has been released on bail and is due before magistrates in Sheffield, on 18 December.
He allegedly carried out the attack in 1987, South Yorkshire Police said.
Mr Dodson stood down as mayor in June and also resigned from the Labour Party. He remains an independent councillor on Rotherham Council. | The former Mayor of Rotherham has been charged with indecent assault against a 13-year-old girl. |
34910869 | The 23-year-old missed the series against Pakistan in the UAE after dislocating his thumb on the day he received his first Test call-up.
"I knew immediately the England stuff was a write-off," he said.
"The thumb is obviously going to be a slow process but it is nice to have got it moving. Hopefully England opportunities will come again."
Surrey have not put a precise time frame on Ansari's recovery from his operation, and he currently has a splint on his thumb for support.
The left-arm spinner was included in England's Performance Programme (EPP) and Lions squad for the winter despite his injury, but his participation remains in the balance.
Ansari had a fine 2015 season for Surrey, scoring 771 first-class runs and taking 44 wickets as they won the Division Two title.
He is keen not to rush his comeback, telling BBC Radio London: "After I did it I overreacted and said something like 'that is the worst injury I have ever seen'.
"At the time it was frustrating but I was thinking more about the health of the thumb and the long-term.
"My priority was to make sure I did what was best for my thumb, and let the cricket take care of itself."
Meanwhile, Surrey wicketkeeper-batsman Gary Wilson has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until the end of 2017. | Surrey all-rounder Zafar Ansari hopes he can gain England recognition once he recovers from surgery on his thumb. |
34870730 | It currently pays for drugs the NHS has decided are unaffordable, but the health service says the fund is "no longer sustainable".
A consultation document proposes giving patients drugs "with genuine promise" while they are being assessed.
The NHS would then decide whether they should be funded.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: "Over the next five years we're likely to see many new cancer drugs coming on to the worldwide market, some of which will be major therapeutic breakthroughs and some of which will turn out to offer little extra patient benefit but at enormous cost.
"The new Cancer Drugs Fund offers a route for sorting out the wheat from the chaff, so that patients in England get faster access to the genuinely most promising new treatments."
At present, the Cancer Drugs Fund can choose to pay for innovative drugs which the health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), has rejected for widespread use on the NHS.
But under the plans NICE would make all the decisions.
When a drug comes on to the market, NICE will give it the go-ahead for the whole NHS, reject it entirely or put it on the CDF while more data is collected.
A drug can be on the fund for up to two years before NICE must make a final decision to accept or reject the therapy.
The fund, which was established in 2011 and covers England, has seen its costs rise to £340m in 2015-16 from an initial budget of £200m a year.
Prof Paul Workman, chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, said it made sense for the Cancer Drugs Fund to pay for new drugs only after a provisional green light from NICE.
This would avoid duplicating the process for deciding whether drugs should be made available on the NHS, he said.
He added: "There are also promising signs of a desire to address the bottleneck we have in cancer drugs being approved for use on the NHS.
"The proposals could speed up the drug evaluation system - which is good news for everyone - and would increase the number of drugs which would be available for consideration under end-of-life criteria."
He also said he welcomed the move to allow new patients access to promising treatments while further evidence on them was collected.
In the past decade only one new drug has been approved by NICE for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Annwen Jones, chief executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said: "Any new appraisal system must maintain access to those drugs already available and find ways to improve access to the few new drugs that are being developed for ovarian cancer."
She said it was important that the new CDF represented and addressed patient needs. | Patients could get innovative cancer drugs more quickly under plans to overhaul England's controversial Cancer Drugs Fund. |
38767874 | Two million people need emergency food aid to survive and child malnutrition has risen 63% in a year, Stephen O'Brien told the UN Security Council.
A child under five dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes, he said.
Severe poverty, war damage, and a naval embargo by the Saudi-led coalition have all damaged food security.
About 14 million people are currently food insecure in Yemen, including 2.2m children who are acutely malnourished and nearly 500,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Mr O'Brien urged the Saudi-led coalition - which is backed by Western countries including the US and UK - to remove its no-fly zone and reopen Sanaa airport.
The blockade is having a "disproportionate impact" on civilians, he said, by stopping life-saving medication being flown in, and preventing 20,000 Yemenis accessing specialist medical treatment abroad.
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, told the BBC that people were desperate and wheat supplies would last only an estimated three more months.
"Everywhere you go, you see people begging in the streets in bigger numbers, you see people rummaging through rubbish to survive," he said.
"You hear catastrophic stories of children dying because they can't get to health centres. People dying of malnutrition, people dying of preventable diseases.
"It will get worse because the problem is that the economy is in really bad shape and banking sector doesn't function."
Widows, orphans, the disabled and elderly are no longer receiving a monthly allowance from the government and 1.25 million civil servants were not receiving regular salaries, Mr O'Brien said.
"Humanitarians now fill in for collapsing public institutions, which at this scale is both beyond our capacity and our remit," he said.
Yemen has been devastated by nearly two years of war between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia, and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.
Previously dependent on imports for 90% of its staple food, the country has been hit hard by a naval embargo imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, fighting around the government-controlled port of Aden and air strikes on the rebel-held port of Hudaydah.
Half of the country's medical facilities are no longer functioning. Some have been bombed by the Saudi-led coalition, others are short of funding.
The situation in Yemen is desperate but overlooked by donors and the international community because it attracts less attention than Syria and Iraq, Mr McGoldrick said.
"The fact you don't have Yemenis washing up on the shores of Greece and Italy means they are not in the same mix as Syrian refugees" in public perceptions, he said.
He added that media attention has been low, given that only UN flights can land at the airport in the capital Sanaa and Saudi Arabia does not allow journalists on those flights. | The conflict-driven food crisis in Yemen could become a full-blown famine this year, the UN's humanitarian chief has warned. |
17045697 | Ilham Aliyev took over as president from his father, Heydar, in 2003.
Heydar Aliyev described his son as his "political successor". When his father died, Ilham was already prime minister, vice chairman of the state oil company and deputy leader of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP).
He won the 2003 presidential elections by a landslide. Western observers were highly critical of the campaign which they said had been marred by voter intimidation, violence and media bias. Opposition demonstrations were met with police violence. There were many arrests.
Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet Communist leader, reinvented himself as a post-independence political strongman and had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993 following a period of great instability. His record on human rights and media freedom was often criticised at home and abroad.
Human rights groups have also expressed profound reservations over Ilham Aliyev's commitment to democracy. But like his father before him, Ilham has been courted by the West which sees access to Azeri oil and gas supplies as a way of reducing dependency on Russia as an energy supplier.
Concerns over Mr Aliyev's democratic credentials were reinforced when police used force to break up opposition demonstrations in Baku before the November 2005 parliamentary elections in which the ruling NAP won well over half of the seats. EU and OSCE observers said the process fell far short of international standards.
Mr Aliyev won a second term of office in 2008, scoring an overwhelming victory in an election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties. He cemented his grip on power even further when a law banning the president from serving more than two terms of office was scrapped after a referendum the following year. He won again in 2013, amid now customary allegations of fraud from the opposition and election monitors.
In November 2010, the ruling NAP increased its already healthy majority in parliamentary elections, with the main opposition party failing to win a single seat. Main opposition parties boycotted the 2015 polls altogether, and reputable international observers declined to monitor them. | President: Ilham Aliyev |
36339898 | 20 May 2016 Last updated at 09:27 BST
Back in 2014, a team of Swedish adventurers were racing in the Amazon when they took pity on a stray and gave him a meatball to eat.
The dog was so grateful, he followed them - swimming through rivers and wading through mud.
He stuck with them right to the finish line. The team named him Arthur, and took him home to Sweden. | Meet the dog who crossed the Amazon rainforest to find himself a new home. |
37268719 | The Trotters are currently top of League One, having been relegated from the Championship last season.
"We've had two or three serious people, all from overseas - China and Malaysia in general - that have talked to us," Anderson told BBC Radio Manchester.
"We've said that we are happy to meet them when they're next in the UK."
Anderson's Inner Circle group and former striker Dean Holdsworth's Sports Shield consortium completed a £7.5m takeover in March, after the club had amassed debts of over £170m.
"Our aspirations are hopefully to get up this season, and then if we can get up we know that to compete with the Derbys, the Aston Villas, the Newcastles, and even when you look at what Forest and Bristol City are selling players for, we're going to need more money if we really ever think we're going to get back into the Premier League," added Anderson.
A host of English clubs have been taken over or heavily invested in by business people from Asia in recent years, but Anderson says if he does allow foreign investors to come in, he will not give up his stake in Bolton.
"I have no intention to sell my shares, the club's not for sale," he added.
"If people want to come in we'll issue new shares, I'm not looking for them to invest money that goes into my pocket, it's to go into the club."
Bolton are still under a transfer embargo that was placed upon the club in December last year for failing to comply with Financial Fair Play obligations.
It means the club are unable to pay any fees for players and the Football League keep a close eye on Bolton's dealings.
"We've now got over one of the hurdles on the embargo, which is that we are no longer in breach of the salary cap," said Anderson.
"We've brought 12 players in over the window and to have managed to do that and still be complying with the salary cap embargo, we've done very well.
"I would have liked to have had it gone by now, but there's been factors that we didn't know about when we came in that we're still working with.
"But over the last two months we've got a working relationship with the EFL and we've managed to bring the players in despite having an embargo." | Bolton Wanderers chairman Ken Anderson says he is to meet with businesspeople from the Far East who are interested in investing in the club. |
38539506 | The hosts dominated early on but Ayr went in front when Gary Harkins evaded Falkirk keeper Danny Rogers to smash home from a tight angle.
Myles Hippolyte went close and John Baird missed a penalty before Peter Grant's powerful header levelled it.
Falkirk pressed hard for a winner but Tony Gallacher's header hit the bar.
They remain six points clear in fourth place, but are now three points behind Morton in third.
Falkirk had two early chances to take the lead, Hippolyte blasting over from six yards after good build-up play involving Mark Kerr and Bob McHugh, before Baird's left-foot strike was parried by Greg Fleming and Tom Taiwo's follow-up effort was blocked.
Harkins had a half-chance at the back post for the visitors from a Brian Gilmour free-kick from the right, but his effort from a tight angle was well saved by Danny Rogers.
But after 24 minutes Harkins found a way past the Bairns keeper to give the Honest Men the breakthrough.
Kevin Nisbet's head-flick caused hesitation in the home defence and Harkins pounced to round Rogers and blast home from the angle of the six-yard box.
Baird and McHugh both went close for Falkirk before an equaliser eventually arrived in dramatic circumstances in first-half stoppage time.
Falkirk were awarded a penalty after Scott McKenna bundled McHugh to the ground, but Baird's spot-kick was superbly saved by Greg Fleming, who turned it round his right-hand post.
But from the resultant corner kick, Kerr's delivery found Grant, who rose highest to send a powerful header into the net.
Nisbet twice came close to nudging Ayr back in front after the interval. He was thwarted by Rogers after a powerful run and shot before curling an effort inches wide of the target.
Bairns boss Peter Houston changed his main strikers, bringing on Lee Miller and Scott Shepherd for McHugh and Baird as he searched for a winner.
A late flurry almost produced it as Kerr had a shot cleared off the line before fellow full-back Gallacher watched his header come back off the crossbar.
Falkirk boss Peter Houston: "The frustrating thing for me is we are giving cheap goals away. We should win the first header and then Gary Harkins runs off of Peter Grant and that can't happen. It was the same last week we tippy-tappied about our box and we had to come from behind then.
"We keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We get back into it before half time and then probably upped the tempo and dominated the second half, although Ayr are always dangerous on the counter attack. But it just wouldn't go in for us today. Fleming made a few good saves but that's a game we should be looking to win at home."
Ayr United manager Ian McCall: "Falkirk have aspirations to finish in the top two or three, but I think we fully merited the draw.
"We're a bit disappointed with the goal we conceded. It was a penalty and the goalie made a great save from the penalty but then we switch off. To save a penalty and lose a goal like that we're gutted!
"I think the draw was probably fair and it was a good point for us."
Match ends, Falkirk 1, Ayr United 1.
Second Half ends, Falkirk 1, Ayr United 1.
Foul by David McCracken (Falkirk).
Gary Harkins (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt saved. Lee Miller (Falkirk) header from very close range is saved in the top right corner.
Attempt blocked. Mark Kerr (Falkirk) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Ayr United. Alan Forrest replaces Kevin Nisbet.
Attempt missed. Michael Rose (Ayr United) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
Corner, Ayr United. Conceded by Tony Gallacher.
Corner, Falkirk. Conceded by Scott McKenna.
Attempt saved. Gary Harkins (Ayr United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt saved. James Craigen (Falkirk) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Attempt blocked. Myles Hippolyte (Falkirk) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Aaron Muirhead (Falkirk) is shown the yellow card.
Aaron Muirhead (Falkirk) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Nicky Devlin (Ayr United).
Attempt blocked. Michael Rose (Ayr United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Corner, Falkirk. Conceded by Patrick Boyle.
Substitution, Ayr United. Michael Rose replaces Brian Gilmour.
Attempt missed. Craig Sibbald (Falkirk) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top left corner.
Attempt missed. Kevin Nisbet (Ayr United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
Attempt saved. Kevin Nisbet (Ayr United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Substitution, Falkirk. Scott Shepherd replaces John Baird.
Ross Docherty (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by James Craigen (Falkirk).
Foul by Mark Kerr (Falkirk).
Robbie Crawford (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Falkirk. Lee Miller replaces Robert McHugh.
Myles Hippolyte (Falkirk) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Nicky Devlin (Ayr United).
Attempt missed. John Baird (Falkirk) header from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right.
Attempt missed. Myles Hippolyte (Falkirk) left footed shot from the centre of the box is too high.
Myles Hippolyte (Falkirk) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Kevin Nisbet (Ayr United).
Hand ball by David McCracken (Falkirk).
Substitution, Falkirk. James Craigen replaces Tom Taiwo because of an injury.
Foul by Robert McHugh (Falkirk).
Patrick Boyle (Ayr United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Conrad Balatoni (Ayr United) header from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right.
Corner, Ayr United. Conceded by Tony Gallacher. | Falkirk were left frustrated as Ayr held on a for a draw to remain seven points clear of bottom side St Mirren in the Championship. |
34385880 | Some members of the party have wanted to hear a speech like this for years.
And although he never really expected to be doing one of the most high profile, hardest jobs in politics, if Jeremy Corbyn was nervous, he didn't show it.
And goodness me, the audience was pleased to see him, applauding for two minutes on their feet before he even said a word.
Inside the hall his clarion calls, as he even highlighted, "strong message here", were eagerly received, even though I caught the eyes of a fair number of stony-faced MPs.
Promises to end austerity, to defend human rights, to oppose cuts to tax credits, to end "Tory gerrymandering" played well to the home crowd, and will have delighted the many, many thousands of supporters who signed up over the summer with the express reason of giving him their backing.
And by mentioning, repeatedly, his mandate and firm intention to reform the party, it is clear that he wants to change how Labour works fundamentally, abandoning control and command that came to dominate the party from the mid-nineties.
Instead he wants to spread power across the party, including to his new supporters. Inside the movement, this excites and alarms, perhaps in equal measure.
But having found himself unexpectedly their leader, was Jeremy Corbyn ready to take advantage of the chance to tell the rest of the country what he would do with power?
Conference speeches like this are one of the very few opportunities that opposition leaders have not just to display their agenda, but to connect to the wider public, whose votes they ultimately need.
Team Corbyn created the expectation that he would play to this, extol his love of British values, his belief that the majority agrees with him. He did, up to a point.
But here, there was a conflict in his speech.
It was the speech of an activist, a protestor, Jeremy Corbyn the campaigner, a list of the causes he passionately believes in, not a programme for government.
He hardly mentioned how to balance the books, there was little appeal to those outside the party.
This speech was a long way from Ed Miliband's "squeezed middle", and a million miles from the New Labour call to Middle England.
And aside from a few passages about encouraging entrepreneurs, this was a speech that could have been delivered at one of the packed-out rallies during the leadership contest itself.
With the Labour party so demoralised after its election defeat perhaps a zealous campaigner in its comfort zone is precisely what it needs.
Mr Corbyn has recruited an army of new supporters.
And he has broken the rule that politics is the art of the possible, by achieving a victory that his party's establishment thought impossible.
But after today, the anxiety of many MP s in the party who want to understand how that translates to the rest of the country remains. | The thirst in the hall for him to do well was tangible. |
37535887 | It follows an announcement by Theresa May that she intends to formally begin the Brexit process next year.
The prime minister said she would trigger Article 50 before the end of March.
She unveiled her plans at the Conservative Party conference.
The event, which is being held in Birmingham, is Mrs May's first as prime minister.
The DUP who campaigned to Leave have welcomed the move to trigger Article 50, which will see the UK leaving the European Union in 2019, but the plan has been criticised by Sinn Féin.
The DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson told the BBC: "I do think we need to get on with it now. Further uncertainty and a further period where people don't know what's going to happen where there isn't a negotiating process that people can focus on doesn't help anyone.
"I think it's good that we've got now a clear timescale to move this forward."
However, Sinn Féin remain unconvinced and says Brexit ignores local opinion and claim there is still much uncertainty around.
The North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly says the prime minister has been pushed into the decision.
"I think it's to do with pressure, they were clearly stalling on the issue and I think they stalling because when she is asked what the strategy is she doesn't have the answers and in fairness to her I'm not sure anyone else has the answers either," he told the BBC.
Theresa May made the announcement during an interview with Andrew Marr on his programme on BBC One on Sunday.
Her decision has been backed by former NI Secretary Theresa Villiers who was a prominent member of the Leave Campaign.
She said: "I think it is very welcome news because that sets us on the path becoming an independent country again.
"Where the people that make our laws are the ones we elect."
This conference, the first since the EU referendum, is likely to be overshadowed by Brexit but the Conservative leadership is hopeful they can draw attention onto domestic matters like education, the economy and law and order.
Northern Ireland will be on the agenda on Tuesday when James Brokenshire addresses his first conference as Northern Ireland Secretary.
The Old Bexley and Sidcup MP will update activists on his work since taking office in July 2016.
Earlier on Tuesday, local politicians will gather for the traditional Ulster Fry Champ breakfast .
One of the key speakers will be the First Minister Arlene Foster who will take part in a question and answer session.
The Sinn Féin MP Francie Molloy is also expected to attend.
At lunchtime on Tuesday, the DUP are holding a champagne reception about Brexit which is a new addition to the conference timetable.
Entitled "Making Brexit work, making this parliament work, making the majority work", the event will be attended by Conservative activists, MPs and peers.
The 75-minute reception will take place in an art gallery within the conference centre and is being hosted by Mrs Foster.
Her MP colleagues Nigel Dodds, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Gavin Robinson are all expected to attend.
The UUP's economy spokesperson, Steve Aiken, said following Mrs May's announcement, the executive had "nowhere left to hide and the clock has started counting down".
"Perhaps first minister Foster will be able to offer some clarity while she is sipping champagne at the Conservative Party Conference," he added. | Northern Ireland's parties have been responding to the news that the formal process for the UK to leave the European Union will begin by the end of March next year. |
39217912 | Dywedodd y cyn-chwaraewr rhyngwladol ei fod yn "ddigalon iawn" am yr hyn sydd wedi digwydd i'r academi, sydd wedi cau ers mis Medi'r llynedd o achos trafferthion arianol.
Mae Craig Bellamy wedi penodi tîm cyfreithiol i edrych ar yr hyn ddigwyddodd, ac mae'n cydweithredu'n llawn gyda'r awdurdodau.
Cafodd Sefydliad Craig Bellamy ei sefydlu yn 2008 ar ôl iddo ymweld â'r wlad yng ngorllewin Affrica.
Roedd yn cynnig ysgoloriaethau i blant rhwng 11 a 13 oed, a sefydlodd gynghrair ieuenctid ar gyfer tua 2,400 o blant a phobl ifanc.
Llwyddodd yr academi aros yn agored er i'r wlad gael ei heffeithio gan firws Ebola yn 2014, ond bu'n rhaid iddi gau yn 2016.
Yn ôl papur newydd The Times, y rheswm am hynny oedd am fod yr academi wedi cael trafferthion ariannol, er bod Bellamy ei hun wedi buddsoddi cannoedd o filoedd o bunnau yn y cynllun.
Mae'r cyn-ymosodwr nawr wedi apwyntio tîm cyfreithiol i gymryd golwg ar unrhyw afreoleidd-dra allai fod yn y rheolaeth o'i faterion ariannol.
Dywedodd ei gynrychiolwyr cyfreithiol mewn datganiad y byddan nhw'n "helpu cyrff y llywodraeth yn eu hymchwiliadau ac, os oes angen, yn gweithredu yn erbyn y rheiny sy'n gyfrifol am unrhyw ddrygioni".
Mae'r Comisiwn Elusennau yn dweud eu bod yn asesu'r sefyllfa, ond nad ydyn nhw wedi dechrau ymchwiliad llawn.
Mae gwefan yr elusen yn dangos nad oes unrhyw gyfrifon wedi cael eu cyflwyno ers 31 Mawrth 2015, a bod y cyfrifon ar gyfer y flwyddyn ariannol hyd at 31 Mai 2015 bron i flwyddyn yn hwyr. | Mae'r Comisiwn Elusennau wedi cadarnhau eu bod yn edrych ar bryderon am academi bêl-droed Craig Bellamy yn Sierra Leone. |
38787802 | There was controversy at last year's event, when some competitors said they thought the course was shorter than the stipulated 13.1 miles.
Four cyclists set off from the city's George Square at 04:30, and finished in two stages at Glasgow Green at about 07:00.
They were accompanied by a police escort whose job was to stop traffic.
The riders' bikes were equipped with specialist measuring equipment.
The course should be 13.1 miles, but after last year's event, some runners said they thought it was up to 200 metres shorter.
That difference could be crucial for professional runners - including last year's winner Callum Hawkins, who also set a new course record.
If the course is found to be a different length, it mean's the winner's record, and that of all the other runners, could be in doubt.
The riders cycled the full half-marathon course, including going through a darkened Pollock Country Park.
The time and date were kept secret in advance, chosen in order to allow the officials an unimpeded ride.
The results of the measuring exercise will be announced on Monday by the run organisers, The Great Run Company. | The organisers of the Great Scottish Run half-marathon have been out measuring the distance of the course. |
39181902 | The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had carried out the sex attack on a 13-year-old in December 2015.
While on bail for that offence, he raped the 15-year-old in September 2016.
The boy had denied carrying out the offences which happened in Cumbernauld.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Kinclaven told him he had been found guilty of serious charges and that there was no alternative but to lock him up.
The judge also ordered the teenager to be monitored for two years after his release and said he would be added to the sex offenders register.
A trial in Edinburgh had heard how he had messaged one of his victims after the attack to admit: "I have raped you and I can't live with that."
Frances Connor, defending, said the boy was "not stupid" and "can do much better".
She added: "He is intelligent enough to turn things around." | A 15-year-old boy who raped a teenage girl while on bail for another sex attack has been detained for five years. |
33699118 | Ahead of any votes, two prominent government MPs have engaged in a live debate on the issue.
Here are some of the key quotes from their debate at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
On human rights
Ms Wong: "We are your brothers and your sisters, your sons and your daughters, your friends and your fellow Australians, and this is a debate about us. A debate about rights, a debate about intimate and personal relationships, a debate about the people we love."
Mr Bernardi: "Ironically, in this new culture of rights, we're often taken into the realm of a contest in deciding whose rights should prevail and the homosexual marriage debate is a clear example of this contest."
Ms Wong: "In Australia today, two citizens who love each other and who wish to make a public declaration of their mutual and exclusive commitment through the ceremony of marriage are prohibited from doing so, solely on the basis of their gender ... If the disqualifying attribute were race, age or religion, such a proposition would be rightly seen as bizarre.
"It is precisely because heterosexuals have changed marriage from an economic arrangement to a relationship of love and support that gay and lesbian people are seeking to join it."
Bernardi: "Marriage is not a right. It was not invented. Marriage simply is. Marriage has been reserved as a sacred bond between a man and a woman across times, across cultures and across very different religious beliefs."
Ms Wong: "Leave aside for a moment the truth that the quality of parenting is altogether more complex than simple assertions about gender. The reality is this: same-sex couples already have children. Marriage equality will not alter that."
Mr Bernardi: "I will not deny that some same-sex couples make much, much better parents than some married heterosexual couples. However, it doesn't change the general principle that the ideal is still a child being raised by their married mother and father."
Ms Wong: "If we achieve marriage equality, most things won't change. The sun will rise, heterosexual marriages won't crumble, three-year-olds will still want more ice-cream than is good for them, but together we will have made a profound change: a statement to lesbian and gay Australians that we belong, that we are accepted, that our relationships matter."
Mr Bernardi: "I believe there is no need to redefine marriage on the basis of equality. To do so is to live in a dictatorship of relativism where nothing is real and truths are denied if they're considered inconvenient by the politically correct system. [Redefining marriage would] lead to calls for further redefinitions using exactly the same arguments of equality made by the same-sex marriage advocates today." | Several bills will come before the Australian parliament when it resumes next month proposing same-sex marriage be legalised. |
37354832 | The Giants need to beat Hull KR at the KC Lightstream Stadium in the final round of The Qualifiers to avoid the Million Pound Game play-off.
The losers of that match will be at home to Salford or London Broncos in the play-off match on 1 October.
Danny Brough scored 14 points for the Giants as they survived a second-half Leeds revival to win at home.
Leeds, who lost acting captain Rob Burrow and prop Keith Galloway with leg injuries in the second half, host Leigh on Thursday in a match to decide top spot in the Qualifiers.
Huddersfield coach Rick Stone: "Obviously we know the equation now. It's like a sudden-death semi-final, although the winners won't go on.
"It will be interesting and a good challenge. We've got to win one of our next two games and I'd like to see us get it done next week so we can move on to next year.
"The boys have been put through the ringer this year but it's good to get some confidence out of playing a team like Leeds today."
Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott: "We had some adversity before the game and we've got some busted bodies.
"It looks like Keith Galloway has snapped his Achilles and Rob Burrow and Jordan Lilley have knee knocks. I'm not sure what sort of team we'll be able to put out next week.
"I don't think at any stage our fellows have said 'it doesn't matter, we're in Super League next year'. We want to finish as strong as we can.
"We had too much defending to do in the first half. We got hammered by the penalty count and we dropped the ball as well. We also played a very committed and strong Huddersfield team who had a lot to play for."
Huddersfield Giants: Grix; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Connor, Murphy; Brough, Brierley; Huby, Hinchcliffe, Ta'ai, Symonds, J Wardle, Lawrence.
Replacements: K Wood, Rapira, Roberts, Ikahihifo.
Leeds Rhinos: Sutcliffe; T Briscoe, Watkins, Keinhorst, Handley, Burrow, Lilley, Jones-Buchanan, Segeyaro, Singleton, Ferres, Ablett, Ward.
Replacements: Moon, Golding, Cuthbertson, Galloway.
Referee: Ben Thaler.
Attendance: 6,666. | Huddersfield ended Leeds Rhinos' eight-match winning run to boost their hopes of automatic Super League survival. |
40381896 | More than anything, though, a third win will be uppermost in Gregor Townsend's mind as Scotland's tour comes to an end against the potentially dangerous Fijians, who will be roared on by a crowd as passionate as any - and more passionate than most - in world rugby.
To a man, the Scots have pointed out the futility of winning against Australia last weekend only to lose to Fiji a week later. They've spoken of wanting to avoid ending the tour on a downer.
As Josh Strauss said on Monday, this three-match series would almost feel like a failure if they were to drop their guard and suffer a defeat on Saturday.
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Townsend also sounded a note of caution in the preamble. Nobody has given Fiji more respect and attention this week than Townsend, nobody has analysed the off-loading, game-breaking brilliance of what they do quite like the coach.
The memory of his 1998 defeat to Fiji in Suva is still clear. He recalls the excellence of the home team that day in scoring eight tries against the Scots, he remembers the raucousness of the home crowd and the way the home team fed off their passion. He says it won't be any different this time if Scotland don't get it right.
What Townsend dearly wants to avoid are uncomfortable flashbacks of Fero Lasagavibau, the hat-trick scoring wing from 19 years ago.
Lasagavibau has, of course, left the stage, but the production line of world class Fiji wingers remains busy. On Saturday, they will have Josua Tuisova of Toulon on one wing and Patrick Osborne of the Highlanders on the other. Quality players, both. Tuisova just scored for his club in the French championship final - a loss to Clermont, who also had a try-scoring Fijian wing in their team in Alivereti Raka - and Osborne, who just over a week ago, was part of the Highlanders squad that beat the Lions.
No other country on the planet produces as many bewilderingly good wingers as Fiji. This season, Waisea Nayacalevu of Stade Francais was the leading try-scorer in the Top 14 in France and his countryman, Watisoni Votu of Pau was just behind in second place. Nemani Nadolo and Timoci Nagusa are both prominent wings with Montpellier who finished third in the regular season in France. Vereniki Goneva, who stands down this week, scored against Australia and Italy in the past fortnight.
They're the pick of the Fijian wings who play for Fiji, but there's a whole different category of Fijian-born wings who currently play for, or have very recent played for, other countries and again we're talking class players. In some cases, undoubted world class.
Waisake Naholo, the All Black; Virimi Vakatawa, the adopted Frenchman and his Les Bleus team-mate Noa Nakaitaci. Henry Speight, Eto Nabuli, Sefa Naivalu and Taqele Naiyaravoro - all Fijians, all Australian internationals. Semesa Rokoduguni, another Fijian who has won two caps for England, the last of them in the summer of 2016.
There are others. In France? Many, many others. To be in Fiji this past week is to understand what the game means to the people here and what the visiting Scots mean to them into the bargain. There is a massive appreciation, a tangible excitement, a hope of a classic.
Townsend has love-bombed Fijian rugby all week, but he knows what's coming. If conditions allow - it rained heavily in Suva on Friday - then it's going to be a game played at a ferocious pace.
Fiji can - and almost certainly will - score tries. They got three tries in victory against Italy last weekend, they got two in defeat (and could have had at least two more) against Australia the week before, they got five in their win over Japan and even in the autumn, when England put 58 points on them at Twickenham, they still managed to score three times.
In everything they have been saying, Scotland come across as being aware of Fiji's threat and focused on finishing this tour off with another momentum-building victory. It should happen, but expect Fijian fireworks before that final whistle sounds. | There will be personal milestones for three Scotland players in the team to play Fiji on Saturday in Suva - Ross Ford's record-breaking 110th cap, Nick Grigg's breakthrough first cap and Alex Allan's first start after three appearances from the bench. |
34759343 | An alliance of regional parties took 178 seats out of 243. The BJP won 58.
Mr Modi won a convincing victory in last year's national elections, but this poll was seen as a referendum on his economic programme.
Defeat is a major setback for the prime minister, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder, in Delhi.
However, a spokesman for the Hindu-led nationalist BJP rejected suggestions the result was a personal blow for Mr Modi, saying the party "managed a creditable performance".
The prime minister had been hoping a victory in Bihar would boost his party's strength in India's upper house of parliament, which is made up of representatives of state legislatures and where he lacks a majority.
With a population of 100 million, Bihar is one of India's largest states and one of the poorest.
The BJP's defeat in Bihar is the second consecutive setback for Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party since it swept to power in Delhi last year.
Earlier this year the BJP suffered a drubbing at the hands of an upstart anti-corruption party in Delhi. Now a "grand alliance" of powerful regional parties has handed out a defeat in what is one of India's most politically crucial states.
Despite what his defenders say, Sunday's defeat is another blow to the charismatic Mr Modi, who is arguably the party's biggest vote-getter and who attended 26 campaign rallies in Bihar ahead of the vote. The results make it clear that Mr Modi's vote-catching abilities are on the wane and voters are already holding him to the promises he made to them last year.
For India's bedraggled opposition, the Bihar victory is a major shot in the arm. They will now be emboldened to challenge Mr Modi by forging alliances and change the narrative of Indian politics.
Bihar results challenge Modi's BJP | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has admitted defeat for his governing BJP in a key regional election in the eastern state of Bihar. |
22296926 | There are now an additional six miles of streets that have been deemed officially polluted in the capital.
Tourist areas Princes Street, George Street, most of the Royal Mile and the Grassmarket are all now included.
Edinburgh City Council said it was looking at ways to cut pollution in the busiest parts of the city.
Gorgie Road, London Road and some of Easter Road also make up the additional six miles of polluted streets.
The city council is extending its existing three air pollution problem zones: central, St Johns Road and Great Junction Street and adding two new ones at Inverleith Row and Glasgow Road.
The Cowgate, the Grassmarket, most of Gorgie Road, London Road and the top of Easter Road will be added to the central zone.
The Great Junction Street zone has had Bernard Street, Commercial Street and North Junction Street added.
Dr Richard Dixon, Friends of the Earth Scotland's director, said: "Having to include even more streets in the pollution zones is a sure sign that a decade's worth of action plans have failed.
"Pollution from cars, vans, buses and lorries are still making the capital's air bad for our health and the council needs to take urgent action on transport to bring Edinburgh's air up to scratch.
"We need fewer and cleaner vehicles, as well as more action on public transport, walking and cycling."
Councils are obliged to declare air pollution problem zones for locations where European, UK or Scottish air quality targets are not going to be met.
Lesley Hinds, the city's transport and environment convener, said: "Despite 98% of our city meeting strict air quality standards, this is still an important issue for the council and local communities in Edinburgh.
"There are a number of proposals currently being considered that will look at reducing pollution in our busiest parts of the city.
"These include the council's city centre vision which aims to encourage walking and cycling in the city, as well as our current consultation on low emission zones." | Environmentalists are calling for "urgent action" after an increase in the number of Edinburgh streets affected by transport pollution. |
30416519 | The Home Office said in recent weeks 156 counterfeit dolls and 400 pencil cases were flown over from Malaysia.
A further 500 Frozen products were seized in August, taking the total value of goods to more than £15,000.
Authorities have warned people to be aware of fake goods this Christmas and to only buy from reputable retailers.
Other recent seizures at the airport include 381 pairs of fake Nike trainers, 2,300 imitation construction brick kits and 2,960 counterfeit Crest teeth whitening strips. | Thousands of pounds worth of fake goods from the hit Disney movie Frozen have been seized by officials at Stansted Airport. |
36971832 | Researchers speaking at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas demonstrated how small modifications to equipment would allow attackers to intercept the systems used to authorise payments.
The team was able to make a mostly unmodified ATM dispense hundreds of dollars in cash.
While chip and pin is widely used across Europe, the US is only now beginning to use the technology - making it a renewed target for hackers, the researchers said.
“In the US we are finally catching up to the rest of the world and using chip and pin,” said Tod Beardsley, security research manager for Rapid7 who oversaw the hack.
"The state of chip and pin security is that it’s a little oversold."
The security and specifications of chip and pin are looked after by EMVCo, a consortium of six major payment providers - American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, UnionPay, and Visa.
EMVCo could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Money man
While Rapid7 went into some detail about the hack, specifics were not shared to prevent the technique being copied.
Rapid7 has disclosed the vulnerability to major ATM makers and banks, though it would not specify which. The team said it had not seen any effort to rectify the problem, but that it hoped the firms were looking into the vulnerability.
The hack is essentially performed in two halves. Unlike the older magnetic stripe system, in which criminals can skim the card info and use it at will until the card is cancelled, chip and pin provides only a limited window for transactions to take place - adding, in theory, a far better layer of security.
Criminals begin by modifying a point-of-sale (POS) machine, adding a small device known as a shimmer which sits between the victim’s chip and the receptor in the machine into which the card is inserted.
The shimmer reads the data on the chip, including the pin being entered, and transmits that to the criminals. In the second half of the hack, criminals use an internet-connected smartphone to download the data from the stolen card, and then essentially recreate that same card in any ATM.
“The modifications on the ATM are on the outside,” Mr Beardsley explained to the BBC.
"I don’t have to open it up. It’s really just a card that is capable of impersonating a chip. It’s not cloning."
The ATM can then be instructed to constantly draw out cash.
While each card could only be spoofed for a limited amount of time - a few minutes, perhaps - Mr Beardsley suggested criminals could have a vast network of modified POS points with a steady rate of unsuspecting victims providing constantly “active” cards.
“You could shim 20 or 30 POS systems and have a constant stream. You’ll have plenty of time to spit money out of ATMs."
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook | A vulnerability in the widely-used “chip and pin” system has been exploited to make a cash machine spit out money. |
16558160 | In his annual address to Congress, Mr Chavez said the opposition should also accept the result if he wins.
The left-wing leader - who has governed Venezuela for 13 years - is seeking another six-year term in office.
The opposition coalition will hold a primary election next month to choose a unity candidate to stand against him.
Some of Mr Chavez's strongest critics have suggested he might cling on to power at all costs if he were defeated at the polls.
But he told the National Assembly in Caracas that he would accept the election result whatever it was.
"If any of you win the elections I will be the first to recognise it, and I ask the same of you," he told opposition leaders.
"We are going to show our democratic maturity."
Mr Chavez, 57, said he expected 2012 to be a "year of tests" for Venezuela, but he was confident that peace and respect for national institutions would be maintained.
The Venezuelan leader reiterated that he had recovered his health after having surgery and chemotherapy for cancer last year.
Recent opinion polls suggest he still has the support of just over 50% of the population, making him the favourite to win the election.
Heavy spending on housing and welfare - funded by Venezuela's oil wealth - has helped sustain his traditional support base among the poor.
The opposition Democratic Unity coalition is hoping that dissatisfaction with rising violent crime and inflation will help it to unseat him.
Six candidates are standing for a primary election due on 12 February that will chose a unity candidate to challenge Mr Chavez.
In his speech, Mr Chavez also announced that he intended to close Venezuela's consulate in Miami after the US expelled a diplomat.
Venezuela's consul in Miami, Livia Acosta Noguera, was ordered to leave the US last week following allegations that she discussed a possible cyber attack on the US while based in Mexico.
Mr Chavez called the accusations against her "unjust" but indicated he would not be expelling a US diplomat in response. | Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has told opposition leaders that he will relinquish power if he loses elections due in October. |
20947605 | Standing up for three hours extra a day would burn off 8lb (3.6kg) of fat each year, says John Buckley, from the University of Chester.
Leading by example, Dr Buckley is using a standing desk which is believed to date from the 1940s.
"There is no need to sit down so much," says Dr Buckley.
Anyone feeling Christmas-pudding shaped after the holidays should consider standing rather than sitting at work, says Dr Buckley.
There are custom-made computer desks for anyone wanting to stand as they answer their emails - or else old desks can be set at a height for standing.
This upright stance was championed by Ernest Hemingway, whose vigorous prose was matched by this more physical approach to writing.
"Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up," wrote Hemingway in a letter in 1950.
Vladimir Nabokov was another writer who preferred to stand.
Dr Buckley, from the department of clinical sciences and nutrition, says that switching from chairs to working standing up will reduce obesity and improve circulation.
Standing up for three hours will consume 144 calories, he says.
"People are sitting down at work, then sitting in the car and then sitting down in front of the television," says Dr Buckley.
"Your metabolic rate crashes to an absolute minimum.
"It isn't natural. Humans are designed to stand up and keep moving."
Dr Buckley is part of an advisory group, working with England's chief medical officer on responses to obesity.
There have been several recent reports warning about the sedentary nature of work and recreation.
A study in the autumn made a strong connection between too much sitting down and an increased risk of diabetes.
A previous study warned that a sedentary lifestyle could be causing as many deaths as smoking.
Dr Buckley says that regular changes in the workplace can make a long-term improvements.
"It's little changes in behaviour... such as standing at your desk that can add up to make quite a big difference to your health," he says. | Office workers trapped behind their desks all day should push away their chairs and work standing up, recommends an exercise scientist. |
35862689 | Ball team manager Weldon Davies' first game was the test against Australia in 1966 - outside half legend Barry John's debut.
His last was Saturday's 67-14 victory over Italy at the Principality Stadium.
Mr Davies, 75, of Bedwas, Caerphilly, organised ball girls and boys for matches and only missed one home game during his career because of a wedding.
He was the first person appointed to the role when he gathered a group of Cardiff Youth players to help out at the 1966 Australia match.
Mr Weldon said he has "unforgettable memories" as he met Mr John on the pitch before Saturday's game.
While the outside half went on to win 25 international caps, Mr Davies has been involved in more matches than anyone else in Welsh rugby history.
This includes 94 games at the old Cardiff Arms Park, 109 at the Millennium Stadium and three at the re-named Principality Stadium.
Mr John called him the "ultimate rugby volunteer".
He said: "If they created a club for the unsung and largely unseen heroes and heroines that have kept our game going down the decades then Weldon would have to be the president." | After 206 international matches spanning 50 years, one of Welsh rugby's longest-serving volunteers has retired. |
36062253 | Police said they believed it happened in a house in Vere Foster Walk at about 04:00 BST on Saturday.
It is understood the victim, who is 51, was stabbed in the abdomen but was able to make his way to Springfield Close on foot before emergency services were contacted.
Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them. | A man is in a critical condition in hospital after a stabbing in west Belfast. |
36199267 | Two firms are known to have put forward takeover proposals for Tata's sites, which include the Port Talbot plant where more than 4,000 people work.
A management buyout team under the name of Excalibur Steel UK Limited and Liberty House, which runs a steelworks in Newport, are interested.
Tata is hoping for a quick sale.
It has reached out to 190 potential bidders for the Port Talbot site, which is the biggest in the UK.
Tata has not publicly set a deadline for any deal, but has made it clear it cannot sustain its £1m-a-day losses indefinitely and does not want to prolong the uncertainty for workers and customers.
The UK government has said it would consider taking a stake in any rescue plan for Tata's Steel's UK assets, which also include sites at Llanwern, Shotton and Trostre.
Stuart Wilkie, chief executive of Excalibur and previously the hub director of Tata Steel's Strip Products, UK, said: "We believe we have a large number of the pieces in place required to make this a success, including a management team with vast experience of steel-making and processing.
"We are confident we can turn the business around and sustain profitable steel-making in the United Kingdom, including both the down-stream and up-stream operations."
A Liberty House statement said: "The bid is based on Liberty's Greensteel business model and would involve a transition from steelmaking in blast furnaces to recycling steel in electric arc furnaces over time while ensuring the company continues to meet key customers' quality requirements.
"Steelmaking would be ultimately powered by renewable energy sources." | Tata Steel will begin looking at what prospective buyers of its loss-making UK business are prepared to offer after receiving letters of intent. |
32771355 | A spokesman for the company said a letter of apology had been sent from chief executive Peter Frankhauser to Neil Shepherd and Sharon Wood.
However, Mr Shepherd and Mrs Wood said they had only been shown the letter by reporters.
Christi and Bobby Shepherd died while on holiday with their father in 2006.
In a statement, Mr Shepherd and Mrs Wood said: "We haven't had this so called letter of apology.
"Its not an apology for their wrong doing but a general offer of sympathy. It does not address the central issue that their Safety Management System failed and it does not apologise for that."
The children's parents were responding to a Mail on Sunday report that suggested Thomas Cook received £3.5m in compensation for loss of profits and other expenses.
They said they had only received around a tenth of that figure. | The parents of two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Corfu have criticised Thomas Cook for not apologising to them directly. |
36129555 | Some 130 secondary school students were in the lorry when it crashed on Sunday night as it travelled from Gitega city southwards to Rutana province.
A local mayor told AFP news agency 13 students had died on the spot, along with adults accompanying them.
The final death toll could be as high as 27, she added.
Injured survivors were evacuated to hospitals nearby.
The mayor of Musongati district told the BBC Great Lakes service that 15 members of a school choir had died on the way back from a visit to another school.
She said the students would be buried together because they died while they were on a "gospel mission".
The cause of the accident is not yet known. | More than 20 people were killed when a packed lorry being used for a school trip in the east African state of Burundi overturned, officials say. |
39646667 | £13m will go to the university, with the potential for another £17m in the next five years.
Up to 60 scientific researchers will be employed in Cardiff by 2022.
Prof Julie Williams, the centre's lead, said dementia could follow in the footsteps of cancer research and "reap the benefits" of therapies brought about by significant investment.
This UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI) Centre is set to be the biggest investment Wales has ever received for scientific study into the disease.
It is part of a £250m initiative, funded by the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK.
Prof Bart De Strooper, director of the UK DRI, said centres were chosen on the basis of "innovative, excellent science".
Prof Williams said: "We've identified 30 genes in the last seven years that increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
"What's exciting about this centre is that we can now take that information forward, find out the disease mechanisms and produce treatments and preventative therapies for the future."
The university's Hadyn Ellis building will house the centre and the research aims to identify and treat the disease at an earlier stage.
Prof Valentina Escott-Price, a data analyst at Cardiff University, said: "I think for those people with dementia, we can give hope.
"I think our research will help to design drugs. To cure, or to fix the problem, there's a long way to go, but just to modify, to slow down the progression, that we could help with."
Karen Kitch, 54, from Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taff, was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2014.
"There's nothing he [the doctor] could tell me. He couldn't tell me how long before I was into the final part of my journey, how it was going to be through the process because he told me it was an individual disease.
"I had to stop work. I was on quite a good wage, so that disappeared overnight.
"Financially we nearly lost the house because we couldn't keep up with all of the payments because all of the money had gone and it took about six months for the benefits to be sorted out.
"I've done a degree in literature, I don't read any more because I start reading and I read so far and I put it down and I come back the next day and I've forgotten what I've read.
"Research is fantastic, it's really needed. I don't think it will be for my time but it will be for my children, or for my grandchildren... and if by that time they can find a cure, that would make me happy." | Cardiff University will be home to one of six UK centres aimed at finding new ways to diagnose and treat dementia. |
25410582 | But how secure is Afghanistan, and what shape is the country in? BBC World Service reporter Dawood Azami takes a look at the challenges Afghanistan faces today.
Security remains the country's biggest test.
It is true that al-Qaeda has been driven out of Afghanistan and it doesn't have any sanctuaries inside the country. But the Taliban are still a potent force - they are active in many parts of Afghanistan and even control a few districts in the south and east, including Helmand province where British forces have been based.
The international community has helped raise and train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) that now number almost 350,000.
But since the handover of security responsibilities from Nato to Afghan forces in June 2013, the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) have seen a dramatic rise in casualties - raising questions about the sustainability of the Afghan forces.
While Afghan officials are largely confident about the capabilities of their troops, they have complained about the lack of proper equipment, especially heavy weapons, as well as about not having "a proper air forces with enough trained pilots and aeroplanes".
Civilian casualties from the armed conflicts remain high, with the United Nations reporting that more than 2,700 civilians have been killed and nearly 5,000 injured - the majority by armed groups - in the past year alone. And there have been reports of abuse by the Afghan Local Police (ALP).
Many people, especially in the south and east, also complain about Nato's night raids and house searches.
The high cost of maintaining the Afghan security forces is another major challenge - one estimated to reach about $5bn (£3.3bn) a year.
Without continued international financial assistance, the Afghan government would not be able to afford such a force on its own.
A number of western countries, including the US, UK and Germany have signed strategic partnership agreements with Afghanistan, committing themselves to training Afghan forces after 2014.
But the US and Afghanistan are still discussing a separate security accord which would allow a number of US combat forces to remain in the country. The outcome of that deal is expected to determine whether other countries decide to keep any soldiers or trainers in Afghanistan.
Drug production has increased in many areas of Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.
Afghanistan now produces some 90% of the world's opium.
Despite years of international efforts to curb drug production in the country, a 2013 UN report found that opium growing has reached a record level, with more than 200,000 hectares under cultivation for the first time.
The drug economy is funding the insurgency and the Taliban reportedly receive an estimated $100m (£66m) annually from taxing poppy farmers and drug traders.
The drug trade also fuels official corruption and has intensified a domestic addiction crisis in the country which now has more than a million addicts.
Afghanistan has received tens of billions of dollars in aid over the past 12 years. The country has seen a great deal of development and life has improved for millions of Afghans.
Thousands of kilometres of new roads have been built and the health sector has progressed with clinics built in even remote districts.
Thousands of new schools have also been built where millions of boys and girls are receiving education.
A number of towns and cities have seen so much development that in the words of an Afghan, "even their maps have changed".
Afghans are now connected to each other and the rest of the world via telephone and the internet.
Some 20 million mobile phone subscriptions have been set up in a country of 30 million people. The mobile telecommunications sector is a major driver of the economy and is the largest taxpayer and the biggest non-governmental employer, aside from subsistence agriculture.
But Afghanistan is still one of the poorest countries in the world. There are still places in the country which have not felt the benefits of international aid.
Many children are still deprived of education and do not have access to basic facilities such as clinics and clean water.
Afghans in general say that a lot of aid money has been wasted and that the international community should have invested in major infrastructure projects such as building dams, housing schemes and industrial zones.
Overall, the Afghan economy is largely dependent on foreign aid and drug income.
Afghanistan's institutions were destroyed in the two decades of war that preceded the US-led invasion.
The process of institution building has had tangible success and the country has functioning institutions in the capital, Kabul, as well as in provinces and most districts.
Afghanistan is back on the international stage, with diplomatic missions in some 70 countries and representation in most international organisations.
But there are problems with a lack of governance or bad governance in many parts of the country.
The Berlin-based institute, Transparency International, put Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia in the last place in its 2013 corruption index.
Afghan officials say they are committed to tackling corruption, which they say exists largely in the services sector. They also point to "the big corruption" that they say takes place in awarding international contracts.
Realising that the war in Afghanistan has reached a "stalemate", the Afghan government and its international backers started a peace process in 2010.
The main parties in the Afghan peace process are the Afghan government and its High Peace Council, the US and the Taliban - but none of them agree on the terms and conditions of talking to each other.
There have been meetings and contacts between different parties over the past two years. But efforts to launch a formal peace process have not been successful so far.
In June this year, the Taliban opened an office in the Qatari capital, Doha.
It was the first time that the Taliban had a known address and authorised representatives who could openly talk.
But the office was closed soon after, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacting angrily to the Taliban opening their post with their flag and plaque bearing an inscription of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the name the Taliban government used when they came to power in the 1990s.
Contact is being made with individual Taliban members and leaders, but the process exists only in name and no major breakthrough has been made so far.
The Taliban say they will keep fighting as long as foreign forces are present in Afghanistan.
Afghans in general are anxious about the achievements of the past decade as the 2014 deadline for withdrawing international combat forces looms.
The country has an active civil society and a vibrant media with dozens of national and provincial television stations.
But freedom of expression and access to information are two of the many challenges journalists still face.
Women have the right to work and are members of the National Assembly and provincial councils.
Rule of law and access to justice is one of the biggest challenges despite some government efforts to improve the situation.
And violence and discrimination against women has been a big issue.
The ongoing conflict has prompted more families to flee their homes, with an estimated half a million people still displaced within the country living in informal settlements with inadequate shelter.
Around three million refugees remain outside the country, mainly in Pakistan and Iran. | UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said that British troops will return from Afghanistan having accomplished the main aim of their mission - to achieve a basic level of security. |
38604884 | Sixteen championship events across 12 Commonwealth Games sports will take place in 2017, including athletics, gymnastics and swimming.
And some events will act as qualifying opportunities for the Gold Coast 2018 Games.
A selection of the Team Scotland events will be live streamed by BBC Scotland later this year.
"Almost every athlete who competes for Team Scotland at the next Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and onwards to 2022 and beyond, will have competed in their sport's Scottish Championships on their path to international success," said chair of Commonwealth Games Scotland Paul Bush.
"So when we are watching these events we are watching Team Scotland's future stars in action.
"I am particularly delighted that BBC Scotland has recognised the important role that the Team Scotland Series will play in showcasing the best of Scottish sport and the build-up to Gold Coast 2018 and would like to thank them for their support."
Glasgow 2014 gold medallist Kimberley Renicks will be among those competing in Saturday's judo event at Meadowbank Sports Arena.
And retired judoka Euan Burton, who was Scotland's flag bearer at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, said: "The Scottish Open has always played a part in the development of Scottish judo athletes. All our medallists from Team Scotland in Glasgow 2014 had utilised the event at some stage along their performance pathway.
"In all sports, that goal of competing in the Commonwealth Games is a progressive journey, which includes the key milestone of a Scottish Championships. The Team Scotland Series is a great way to highlight the importance of these events. I'm really proud that judo is the sport to kick it all off on Saturday."
14 January: Scottish Open Judo Championships
28 January: Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships
4 March: Scottish Table Tennis Championships
4 March: Scottish Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1 April: Boxing Scotland Elite Championship Finals
29 April: Hockey Scottish Cup
1 June: Scottish Open Table Tennis Championships
3 June: Scottish Netball Finals
30 June: Scottish Open Swimming Championships
14 July: Scottish 50m Shooting Championships
24-29 July: National Bowls Championships
26 August: Scottish Beach Volleyball Championships
26 August: Scottish Athletics Championships
September: Scottish National Bowls Championships
November: Scottish National Track Cycling Championships
9 December: Scottish Short Course Swimming Championships | Saturday's Scottish Open Judo Championships in Edinburgh launches the new Team Scotland Series. |
36893414 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Former Aston Villa manager Little, 62, returned to the director of football role at the Jersey Football Association after leading the team to victory over Guernsey in May's Muratti Vase.
Cassidy took charge for a friendly against Clyde after Little left.
He was also Jersey's assistant manager when the island side represented England at the Uefa Regions' Cup.
Cassidy, whose first matches as manager will be on a two-match trip to France, has kept on the same coaching staff but will appoint a new assistant manager soon.
He told BBC Radio Jersey: "I'm really proud. I'm looking forward to getting the squad together for France and getting the two matches under our belts and then it's about planning for the Island Games which I've wanted to be involved in after we won gold in 2009.
"I want to try to emulate that and get that feel good factor into Jersey football and continue the great work we've done this year already."
As well as the senior team, Cassidy will also take charge of the Jersey Under-21 side. | Jersey have appointed Martin Cassidy as their new manager, following Brian Little's decision to step down as boss. |
40018684 | Matthew Cox was one of too many children who did not get adequate help soon enough, Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe has said.
She wants the education system and agencies working closer on adverse childhood experiences (ACE).
Mr Cox, now 22, works in a call centre and dreams of starting his own landscape gardening company.
It is an amazing turnaround for a man who said bullying throughout his childhood affected his behaviour and ended with him sleeping rough while still in school.
"While living on the streets in Pontypridd park I was trying to get a bit of cash myself, trying to find a job," he said.
"With me having dirty clothes, going back and fore to work and school, I tried to go to the launderettes and tried to get my clothes washed or even washing them in the river just to try and look clean."
It was a teacher who realised what was happening and found him a place in a bed and breakfast until homelessness charity Llamau stepped in.
According to Public Health Wales (PHW) almost half of adults in Wales have suffered at least one ACE - anything from parental separation to abuse.
And 14% of adults is have suffered four or more ACEs, increasing risks to their health.
The study showed the more ACEs people experience, the greater their risk of a wide range of health-harming behaviours and diseases as an adult.
A child could have witnessed a domestic abuse incident taking place in their home last night, mum or dad being beaten up
In January, the Welsh Government announced £400,000 to set up a hub to tackle the negative impact of ACEs and £50,000 to support more research by PHW.
Ms Howe wants more early intervention and said much good practice in schools could be key in tackling the issue if there was a more joined-up approach.
"A child could have witnessed a domestic abuse incident taking place in their home last night, mum or dad being beaten up, the police being called, a hugely traumatic time and yet the school teacher when they go into school this morning would not necessarily be aware that that's what happened last night.
"We know that there is much more we could do in having this integrated approach between all of our public services, which is after all what the Well Being of Future Generations Act requires."
Glan Usk Primary School in Newport has designed its whole approach to learning around well-being.
Inclusion leader Annette James said tackling difficult issues in children's lives had to come first if they were to achieve.
"We target self-esteem, building self confidence so that they have those positive experiences, so that those children who might be reluctant to come to school who might not have those positive experiences in the class have the opportunity to achieve and reach their full potential."
Rhian Tilley, a family and pupil support worker, believes this generation has it tougher than their parents and identifying ACEs is vital for a child's life chances.
"They may not have had breakfast, there may have been an argument at home, they may have very difficult home lives or family circumstances and then they are coming into school and are expected to learn and do the best they can, but while they are sat there they are thinking 'I'm hungry'."
Head teacher Jeff Beecher said schools were ready to share information but this was not always forthcoming from other agencies.
"At the end of the day it's about funding, unfortunately, and resources.
"In Newport we have had what is called 'team around the cluster' where we've tried to marry all those agencies together in discussing pupils needs.
"But at times it's sporadic, sometimes there hasn't been enough funding to support that strategy and for those people to get together so its been difficult, but it is the way forward and I think we need a full commitment financially to support these needs." | As a teenager he was sleeping in a park and trying to wash his clothes in a river so he would be clean for school. |
34485634 | The Bank of Scotland found the amount of new business fell "at a marginal pace", while backlogs of work also declined.
New export orders also fell for the eighth month in a row.
However, the bank's latest PMI report suggested workforce numbers expanded "at an accelerated rate".
Bank of Scotland chief economist Donald MacRae said a slowdown in the Scottish economy, which had been identified in the summer, had "taken further hold".
Its PMI - which measures changes in manufacturing and services activity - fell from 50.8 in August to 49.
Any figure below 50 suggests economic contraction.
Last month manufacturing firms in Scotland reported a fall in new orders, from both the domestic and foreign markets.
The report also suggested the rate at which new business contracted was "sharp and led to a deterioration in production in the sector".
Data collected from Scottish service sector companies also highlighted a contraction in activity during the month.
This was despite a rise in incoming new business, which increased at the least marked rate in seven months.
However, the latest survey data indicated a modest expansion in headcount numbers at Scottish private sector firms.
Growth was led by the service sector, while manufacturing companies registered a more modest rise in employment.
While service sector companies reported higher input costs, manufacturing firms faced sharp reductions in prices - softening the overall rise in input prices.
Meanwhile, output prices fell again during the month.
Bank of Scotland chief economist Donald MacRae said: "September's PMI showed a broad-based decline in economic activity across both service and manufacturing sectors.
"The slowdown in the Scottish economy identified in summer has taken further hold in the month of September but employment intentions suggest a return to moderate growth in coming months."
Last week, national statistics released by the Scottish government found economic growth slowed in the second quarter of this year despite a strong performance by the construction sector.
Total output in the economy grew by 0.1% between April and June, compared with 0.4% in the previous quarter.
The UK economy as a whole expanded by 0.7% in the second quarter. | Output from Scotland's manufacturing and service sectors fell for the first time in six months during September, according to a new report. |
38404414 | The Scottish government said this second phase of pilots - stretching from Dumfries to Shetland - was due to begin by the summer of 2017.
In November, it was announced that Aberdeen, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders would be the first test areas.
Ministers said they were working to improve how parents accessed free childcare, which is due to rise from 600 to 1,140 hours a year by 2020.
Some parents have said they struggle to access the existing free entitlement, given to all three and four year olds and vulnerable two year olds, because of a lack of flexibility.
The pilots will try out models including;
These will commence by summer 2017
These will commence in January 2017
The first phase beginning in January will see the Borders introduce extended days and cover for school holidays.
There will also be a "stay and play" scheme for two year olds in Aberdeen and a woodland play area scheme in Edinburgh will be extended.
The cost of the 14 trials will be £950,000.
Minister for Childcare and Early Years Mark McDonald said that providing better access to "high-quality early learning and childcare (ELC)" was key to improving attainment.
He added: "By giving Scotland's young people the best possible start in life we can ensure they develop the skills and confidence they need to reach their full potential.
"This government is committed to almost doubling the free entitlement to 1,140 hours per year by 2020, while delivering the flexibility that families need.
"By trialling different delivery models in partnership with local authorities we will be better able to understand what parents and children need and want." | Eleven new areas in Scotland are to test out different models of childcare. |
30813601 | How so? Well, the non-binding judgement said that such purchases would be legitimate, to bring down cripplingly high interest rates being paid by a member state in crisis, so long as the purchases take place on the market and not directly from the stricken government.
The judgement also said that the ECB must be allowed broad discretion in the setting and execution of monetary policy - because "courts lack the expertise and experience which the ECB has in this area".
Broadly, therefore, the ECJ underwrote Mr Draghi's own understanding of his mandate - and to a great extent slapped down the German politicians and legal experts who were challenging the ECB's right to make such bond purchases.
The ruling matters for two important reasons.
First, it is not inconceivable that the eurozone could find itself, once again, in a full-throttled meltdown, if the Greek general election is seen by investors as a shortcut to Greece leaving the euro in a disorderly way.
Second, and much less hypothetically, the ruling should embolden the ECB to be more ambitious next week when embarking for the first time on the kind of quantitative easing - or purchases of government bonds - that since the 2008 financial debacle has been used as an important stimulus by the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.
It is important to stress that QE and OMT (so so sorry for the ghastly shorthand) have different objectives: OMT is about stabilising money markets and bringing down borrowing costs when a country is imploding in a financial sense; QE is about trying to generate some inflation and economic oomph, when the pressures are deflationary and interest rates have already been cut to zero.
However the reasonable presumption would be that if the ECJ thinks purchases of public sector debt are acceptable for OMT, then QE is also permissible.
The big question, investors tell me, is whether the two Germans on the ECB's governing council, Jens Weidmann and Sabine Lautenschlager, will now be persuaded to vote for QE, having hitherto opposed it.
Their assent is not necessary for QE to take place. But what investors want is a big and bold commitment to QE, rather than a timid, constrained trial - and it is thought that German assent is essential for an ambitious, substantial programme of bond purchases.
All that said, the importance of QE should not be overstated. It is a palliative for a eurozone economy in which growth-crushing deflation is a clear and present danger. But unless eurozone governments seize the moment to fix their finances and improve the competitiveness of their private sectors, the region will remain economically anaemic.
Just how anaemic was highlighted overnight in new figures from the World Bank, which estimates that the eurozone grew just 0.8% in 2014, less than a third of the UK's 2.6% estimated growth, and which forecasts that GDP will grow just 1.1% this year, compared with 2.9% in Britain.
To state the obvious (as ever), QE would be more effective if it persuades investors to buy eurozone government and other bonds in scale, such that the cost of finance for all sectors were to fall.
That is much more likely not only if the ECB commits to purchase half a trillion euros or more, but also if the scheme adheres to the basic monetary union principle that all members are on the hook and in it together when it comes to monetary policy.
If, as seems highly likely, much of the bond buying will be by national central banks, rather than by the European Central Bank, that will be seen as kowtowing to German reluctance to take any financial risks in relation to the more overstretched eurozone members.
And that might well be seen not as evidence of the ECB becoming more powerful and confident but as proof that nationalist politics could yet fracture monetary union. | The preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice on bond purchases in a crisis by the European Central Bank - so-called Outright Monetary Transactions - probably went as well for the ECB's president, Mario Draghi, as he could have hoped. |
22895162 | The agency projected that in the US, whites would become a minority in the under-five age group this year or next.
The 2012 data also found that for the first time in more than a century, there were more deaths than births among white Americans.
The "natural decrease" occurred several years earlier than forecast, it said.
The government figures also project that in five years, minorities will make up more than half of children under 18.
The Census Bureau expects further decline among the white population as aging baby-boomers die.
The latest findings come a year after the census reported that whites had fallen to a minority among babies in the US.
Minority populations are growing faster than the white community due to high birth rates, especially in the Hispanic community, as well as immigration.
But the white American population is still seeing small increases because of immigration from Europe, the data shows.
The Census Bureau said 63% of Americans were white and non-Hispanic.
The fastest-growing minority groups were Asians, whose population expanded by 2.9% in 2012, and Hispanics, by 2.2%. | For the first time, half (49.9%) of American children under the age of five are of a racial or ethnic minority, according to the US Census Bureau. |
39135278 | The flotation values the business at $24bn, although Snap has never made a profit.
It will turn the company's founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy into multi-billionaires.
Snapchat, a messaging app popular with teenagers, allows users to send images and messages that then vanish.
The shares, which were more than ten times oversubscribed, will list on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Shareholders who buy shares at the flotation will not have voting rights.
Whenever a company prepares for its IPO, its executives head off on a roadshow - a tour of potential investors. It's a chance to convince them of the worth of the new stock, deflecting any concerns they may have about how successful the company may be.
For Snap, its roadshow was all about telling investors that it wasn't going to become the next Twitter, and that while it too has slowing growth, the firm retains the "cool" factor and is working on exciting new ideas to keep its audience interested, engaged and - crucially - looking at advertising.
This is a better-than-expected price, no doubt about it - but the moment of truth will be tomorrow when it begins trading in New York. And then the hard work begins - how will Snap survive against Facebook, a company which seems intent on Snap's users by emulating its best ideas?
The company's losses widened last year, and user growth is slowing down in the face of intense competition from larger rivals such as Facebook.
Despite the challenges in converting "cool" into cash, Snap's valuation is the richest for a US tech flotation since Facebook in 2012.
At the beginning of February Snap's formal announcement to regulators of its plans revealed that the company made sales of $404m last year, but a loss of $515m. | Snap, owner of the Snapchat, has priced its shares for listing on the US stock market at $17 per share. |
33079512 | During Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Labour's acting leader said the PM was "sneering".
Mr Cameron said he was sorry if she though he was gloating and quoted her saying Labour supporters were relieved the party did not win the election.
He also defended his EU referendum plans.
Mr Cameron said he did not believe 16 and 17-year-olds should not be allowed to take part in the vote, promised by 2017, but said a Commons vote would be held to decide.
He also defended plans to scrap the usual purdah restrictions preventing the publication of promotional material by Whitehall before the referendum.
Otherwise, he said, there was "very real danger" ministers would be barred from commenting on matters like the EU budget and European court judgements.
He added: "When the negotiations are complete and the government has a clear view I do not want us to be neutral on this issue. I want us to speak clearly and frankly on this issue."
But the answers got an angry response from Ms Harman, who said he was gloating after the Conservatives' election win.
"Frankly he should just show a bit more class," she said, adding: "Perhaps we can have an answer rather than a gloating session for the next answer... go right ahead and gloat".
Mr Cameron replied: "It must be the first time someone has ever been accused of gloating whilst quoting the leader of the opposition."
The acting Labour leader also asked how the PM could guarantee people will benefit from the expansion of free and tax free childcare, and not be hit by fees elsewhere.
Mr Cameron said families would have "far greater choice on childcare". | Harriet Harman has accused David Cameron of "gloating" after his election win and told him to "show a bit more class". |
34013264 | The government said the woman was flown from the Pacific island to Australia on Thursday, local media said.
Refugees who try to get to Australia by boat are detained in off-shore centres like the one on Nauru.
The family of the Iranian woman, 23, said she had harmed herself in the wake of the alleged attack.
"Given advice from our medical providers ... we've agreed that she should be transferred to Australia for medical care," Immigration Department secretary Michael Pezzullo told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC)
"The individual has been receiving appropriate medical and mental health support on Nauru," Mr Pezzullo said.
Australia' s border protection agency, the Australian Border Force, confirmed earlier this month it was aware of the incident and was taking the allegations seriously.
The ABC had earlier reported that in May the woman had left the Nauru centre to visit friends on the island and was raped as she returned to the camp.
Australia asylum: Why is it controversial?
In 2001, Nauru signed an agreement with Australia to accommodate asylum seekers on the island, in return for millions of dollars in aid.
Australia ended its controversial "Pacific Solution" of detaining asylum seekers on islands in 2008, but reversed that decision and resumed the practice in September 2012, sparking fresh criticism from rights groups. | A young asylum seeker allegedly raped at a Nauru detention centre has been sent to Australia for treatment three months after the assault. |
37467152 | Striker Rooney, 30, was left out of Jose Mourinho's starting line-up for the 4-1 win over Leicester on Saturday.
Asked if Rooney appeared down when he was told, Smalling replied: "No."
The England centre-back added: "He was the same before the game when we were all getting ready. He is often one of the most vocal and he was the same."
Saturday was the first time Mourinho had dropped Rooney since he took charge of the Red Devils in the summer.
Smalling, 26, said the England captain acted in the same manner whether he was in the team or on the bench.
"Whatever the situation is, whatever game, whether he is on the bench or playing or whatever, he is always that same type of character and that's why he is England's main man and our main man," he said.
Rooney is just four goals short of his 250th for the club, which would overtake the 249 hit by record goalscorer Sir Bobby Charlton - and Smalling does not think it will be long before he returns.
The former Fulham player said: "He's a very experienced guy and he's played that many games that I think it'll only be a matter of time before he's back in there and firing again because he's quality."
Smalling headed home the opening goal in United's victory over Leicester, with Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba also scoring.
Asked about Rooney after the game, Mourinho said: "He's my man, I trust him completely. He's as happy as I am at this moment.
"He's a big player for me, for United, a big player for this country."
Media playback is not supported on this device
BBC Sport's Simon Stone
"There is no great disconnect between Wayne Rooney and club or manager, as there was in 2013, when Rooney sat in an executive box and watched Sir Alex Ferguson's final Old Trafford game as Manchester United manager behind glass.
"Rooney politely applauded back when he was sent out to warm up for the first time, and the home fans' reception was enthusiastic when he ran on to the field after replacing Rashford near the end.
"It won't stop the chatter around Rooney though. His United future is on the line.
"What we don't know yet is whether England's captain is surplus to requirements permanently."
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The impossible job? Probably. Use our shortlist and pick who you think would make the greatest combined post-war Liverpool-Manchester United XI. | Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has not been affected by being dropped and is still the "main man" at Old Trafford, says defender Chris Smalling. |
34923389 | The Welsh government blamed "technical issues" but Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant said it would restart.
The move follows calls by Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Marine Conservation Society and ClientEarth to pull it.
They said it was unfairly weighted towards dredging, which destroys almost everything". | A consultation over plans for a protected marine area in Cardigan Bay for scallop dredging has been halted. |
36506090 | Robert Borba told local media he reacted when he heard a woman scream that someone was trying to steal her bicycle from a bike rack outside a Walmart store in Eagle Point.
Mr Borba said he got his horse out of its trailer and cornered the suspect before lassoing him around the legs.
He added that he used a rope every day to make a living.
"I hear a lady screaming: 'Stop him! He stole my bike!" he told KOBI-TV NBC 5 channel.
He said he got on his horse and rode over to the man who was apparently struggling with the bike gears and then decided to flee on foot.
"I just roped him and the rope went down around his feet and I just rode off like I would if I'd roped a cow or something by myself".
The rancher said the would-be thief then tried to grab a tree and escape, but he managed to keep the rope tight until police arrived and arrested the suspect.
He also told the Medford Mail Tribune that if a rope "catches cattle pretty good, it catches a bandit pretty good". | A rancher in the US state of Oregon has used his lassoing skills to nab a would-be thief, police say. |
37222883 | It happened in 1666 and burned for four days, destroying offices, churches and thousands of homes in the City of London.
The design on the coin shows the fire engulfing the London skyline from the view point of a boat sailing on the River Thames.
It has been produced by The Royal Mint, who make all British coins, and will be made available to the public shortly.
The picture was designed by Aaron West and has a portrait of Her Majesty The Queen on the opposite side.
A copy of the coin will also be presented to firefighters at Dowgate Fire Station in London, to celebrate the London Fire Brigade's 150th anniversary. | A new two pound coin is being released to mark the 350 year anniversary of the Great Fire of London. |
36645562 | The agreement would have meant an Orange parade, prevented from returning to Ligoniel on July 12, 2013, would have been completed on Friday morning.
A loyalist protest camp at Twaddell Avenue would then have been dismantled.
The deal was to be announced on Monday, but a press conference was cancelled.
The Crumlin and Ardoyne Residents Association (CARA), the residents group involved in the talks, held a public meeting on Monday night to outline details of the proposed agreement.
Afterwards, some of those who attended said they were opposed to the deal, but believe it will go ahead.
Members of CARA then held a private meeting to discuss the feedback and agree the next step. A statement is expected to be issued later.
It is understood discussions involving loyalists and Orange Order members are also taking place.
Sources told the BBC that opinion about the proposal among those at the meeting was divided.
Two nationalist MLAs for north Belfast who attended the meeting said they hoped a resolution to the dispute could be found.
"The mood of tonight's meeting is that this could be an extraordinary moment, but people are very, very worried, they want to come to a conclusion," said Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly.
"CARA outlined proposals that were brought forward by two facilitators, they have given an update about where it is at the moment and they have taken soundings, listened to people. There were many different opinions in there."
Mr Kelly said CARA now faces a difficult decision and that he will support whatever they decide.
SDLP MLA Nicola Mallon said the meeting had been told that one of the three Orange lodges involved in the dispute has said it would not support the proposed agreement.
"Tonight was the first time that many people have had a chance to look at those details and to consider them," she said.
"Certainly a lot of people had a lot of questions to ask and have asked that CARA goes away and reflects on their views and comes back."
The deal between CARA and the Orange Order also included a moratorium on future parades that pass a contested section of the route past the Ardoyne shop fronts on the Crumlin Road.
Under the terms of the deal, CARA would not object to five morning parades by the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys.
In return, the Loyal Orders had agreed not to apply for permission for return evening parades, including on the Twelfth, until agreement could be reached.
The agreement would be hugely significant, but it does not have universal support.
Another nationalist residents group, the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective (GARC), has made it clear that it is opposed to the deal.
In recent days, members of one of three Orange lodges involved in the parades dispute have not backed the agreement.
Ballysillan LOL 1891 has said it would not take part in the parade back to Ligoniel on Friday morning.
That caused concern on the nationalist side that any agreement would not stick and that some members of the Orange Order might continue the protest.
The loyalist protest at Twaddell Avenue began in July 2013 after a Parades Commission determination not to allow a return leg of an Orange parade to pass a section of the Crumlin road.
Campaigners had vowed to keep protesting until the original parade was allowed to return past the Ardoyne shops. | A proposed deal to end a long-running dispute between the Orange Order and a nationalist residents group in the Ardoyne area of Belfast has stalled. |
34786434 | Denton has joined Bath from Edinburgh after the English Premiership club paid a transfer fee for the 25-year-old.
"That's what happens at a World Cup," said Nicol, the former scrum-half who captained Bath. "You perform well and the big cheque books may open for you.
"That's what happens to the Georgians and the Japanese."
Nicol says Scotland's run to the World Cup quarter-finals will have alerted clubs to Scottish players.
"You could get somebody here much cheaper than somebody who is established," he said.
"It's inevitable that we lose a few players and Dave Denton is the first."
Edinburgh are now preparing for the start of their European Challenge Cup campaign this week without Denton, who played 78 times over six years for the capital club.
Glasgow Warriors also kick off their tilt at European glory in the top-tier Champions competition and Nicol believes that, after winning the Pro12 league title last season, Gregor Townsend's side have what it takes to do well this term.
"They've got to kick on," he said. "Racing in Paris I think is a good start for them.
"They won last week with a bonus point without playing well. That is the sign of a champion side.
"Edinburgh went far in the competition last season and have now got a taste for it. I expect both clubs to do well this year." | Former captain Andy Nicol believes it is "inevitable" that some of Scotland's World Cup squad will join Dave Denton in moving from the country. |
39498664 | "We're going to do a very major haircut on Dodd-Frank," he said, referring to the Wall Street and consumer protection rules Barack Obama enacted in 2010.
Dodd-Frank aimed to prevent banks taking on too much risk and to separate their investment and commercial arms.
But Mr Trump said he wants "some very strong" change to help the bank sector.
"We want strong restrictions, we want strong regulation. But not regulation that makes it impossible for the banks to loan to people that are going to create jobs," the president told a group of about 50 business leaders at a White House meeting.
"We're going to be doing things that are going to be very good for the banking industry so that the banks can loan money to people who need it."
Mr Trump had promised during his election campaign to relax rules on big banks, and subsequently ordered a review of the industry's regulations.
Michelle Fleury, the BBC's New York business correspondent, says Republican policymakers are trying to see how they can pay for tax cuts.
"They are trying to see if there is anything in Dodd-Frank that would save the government money and be used for tax reform," our correspondent says.
But she added that any change would require a major piece of legislation passing through Congress. And Mr Trump's failure to push through healthcare reforms had shown how tough this might be.
The president's remarks have the backing of Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of one of the world's biggest banks, JP Morgan Chase.
In his annual letter to shareholders, released on Tuesday, he said the regulatory burden "is unnecessarily complex, costly and sometimes confusing".
Dodd-Frank was designed to resolve the too-big-to-fail problem that meant banks facing collapse had to be bailed out rather than wound down.
But Mr Dimon said banks had essentially solved this issue by boosting the capital they held in reserve and introducing tougher risk controls. | President Donald Trump has promised sweeping reforms to "horrendous" US banking regulations that were introduced after the financial crisis. |
38180082 | The Ulster University economists expect business investment will be delayed or cancelled as a result of policy uncertainty around the Brexit process.
However, they predict that consumer spending will remain solid, allowing the economy to avoid recession.
They caution the effects of Brexit and a Trump presidency mean "significant uncertainty" for forecasts.
The economists believe that as greater certainty emerges, growth rates will increase towards the end of this decade.
They expect the growth rate for 2016 to be just under 2%, which by recent standards is a reasonable performance.
The forecasts also predict that UK inflation will increase sharply to more than 3% in 2017 and will reach 4% in 2019.
In response, they expect interest rates to rise from their historic lows and reach 3% by 2019. | The Northern Ireland economy will grow by just 1% in both 2017 and 2018, economists forecast. |
20314024 | It led to them finding one member of staff at Rosie Hospital, in Cambridge, who may have unwittingly carried and spread the infection.
They say it is the first time rapid genetic testing has been used to track and then stop an outbreak.
One expert said this would soon become "standard practice" in hospitals.
Doctors were concerned after MRSA was detected in 12 babies during routine screening.
MRSA - or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus - is a bacterial infection that is resistant to a number of widely-used antibiotics.
People can carry the bug without health problems and it is spread by skin-to-skin contact or through contaminated objects such as bedding.
It can cause life-threatening infections if the bug breaches the skin, such as through a surgical wound.
BBC Health: MRSA
However, current tests could not tell if it was one single outbreak being spread around the unit or if they were separate cases being brought into the hospital. About one in 100 people carry MRSA on their skin without any health problems.
To find out, researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Sanger Institute embarked on more sophisticated version of a paternity test.
They compared the entire genetic code of MRSA bugs from each baby to build a family tree. It showed they were all closely related and part of the same outbreak.
After two months without a case and deep cleaning the ward, another case appeared. Analysing the DNA showed that it was again part of the outbreak and attention turned to a carrier.
Tests on 154 members of staff showed that one was also carrying MRSA, which may have been spread to babies in the unit. They were treated to remove the infection.
"We believe this brought the outbreak to a close," said Dr Julian Parkhill, from the Sanger Institute.
"This is really exciting for us because it gave the hospital the opportunity to intervene.
"We think this is the first case where whole genome sequencing has actually led to a clinical intervention and brought the outbreak to a close."
The study was published in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The cost of working out the entire genetic code of a bacterium has plummeted from millions of pounds to about £50.
The time it takes has also fallen dramatically from months to hours.
Dr Parkhill said it could get even cheaper: "People are talking about the thousand dollar human genome.
"If you can do the human genome for a thousand dollars you can do a bacterial genome for one dollar."
Commenting on the research Prof Ross Fitzgerald, from the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC: "The study clearly highlights the power of whole genome sequencing for resolving the source and the spread of an epidemic of hospital acquired infection such as MRSA.
"It will ultimately, within a small number of years, be standard practice for any hospital outbreak.
"I fully expect this to be rolled out as a standard approach in UK hospitals in the very near future."
Prof Sharon Peacock, from the University of Cambridge, said she wanted to develop a simple system that could be used easily by hospitals.
She said she envisioned a "black box" where the genetic sequence goes in and a simple report that can be used by hospital staff comes out.
"It could, for example, determine the species of the bacterium; it could determine antibiotic susceptibility, and it could provide information about what genes are present that are often associated with poor outcomes in patients."
Sir Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "This is a dramatic demonstration that medical genomics is no longer a technology of the future - it is a technology of the here and now." | An outbreak of the hospital superbug MRSA has been brought to an end by UK doctors cracking the bacterium's genetic code. |
31020569 | Nigel Barwell, 50, and Thomas O'Reilly, 50, both of Coventry, are charged with killing the mother of one between 13 and 16 December 1991.
Mr Barwell, of Copperas Street, and Mr O'Reilly, of Ribble Road, spoke only to confirm their details at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.
Both were remanded in custody and will next appear at crown court on Friday.
They were first arrested on suspicion of Ms Payne's murder in late 2013 and formally charged on Monday.
Ms Payne's parents, John and Marilyn, were present at the hearing.
Speaking outside court afterwards, her aunt, Melanie Eales, said although the charges were a significant step the family's ultimate aim remained finding Ms Payne's body.
Det Insp Martin Slevin, of West Midlands Police, said the focus of the force's efforts would now turn to locating her remains.
The investigation into her death was re-opened in 2012 after detectives were alerted to new information related to the case.
Despite searches of several areas of Coventry, Ms Payne's body has never been found. | Two men have appeared in court accused of murdering 18-year-old Nicola Payne, who disappeared 23 years ago. |
39559323 | It plans to open a cafe and bake shop in Argyle Street in early May before rolling out nationwide over the next 12 months.
Tim Hortons offers hot and cold beverages as well as baked goods, breakfast and lunch items.
It is part of Restaurant Brands International, which operates more than 23,000 restaurants around the world.
According to the company, eight out of 10 cups of coffee sold across Canada are served at Tim Hortons outlets.
Gurprit Dhaliwal, chief operating officer of Tim Hortons UK and Ireland, said: "We've witnessed Tim Hortons' phenomenal success in Canada, and wanted to replicate this in Great Britain.
"It's hard to explain just how important Tim Hortons is to Canadians - it's not just a restaurant, it's a way of life and a place of 'home', and we're positive Great Britain will fall in love with the brand." | Canadian fast food restaurant chain Tim Hortons has chosen Glasgow as its first base in the UK. |
33755170 | Jake's Coffee Box is located in a phone box in Eden Place, near Colmore Row.
A charitable trust called Thinking Outside The Box was granted planning permission to turn the phone boxes into kiosks and they have now been put up for rent.
Jake's Coffee Box, which is run by Jake Holier, is the first person to rent one of the Birmingham phone boxes.
He said: "I wanted to bring something different to the city. The red boxes are iconic to our image as Brits.
"I've got a coffee machine and some sausage rolls. There is nowhere to sit in the telephone box. All my customers are going to be commuters."
Thinking Outside The Box has already overseen a similar scheme at Brighton's Pavilion Gardens, where two phone boxes have become units selling coffee and ice cream. | A coffee shop which is said to be the smallest in Birmingham has opened in a red telephone box. |
37399440 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Unbeaten City just needed to avoid defeat to guarantee top spot.
Chelsea captain Katie Chapman, under pressure from Jill Scott, diverted Toni Duggan's corner into her own net 12 minutes before half-time.
Duggan added the second from the penalty spot after full-back Lucy Bronze was fouled by Gilly Flaherty.
City's victory - in front of a crowd of more than 4,000 - took them 10 points clear of second-placed Chelsea, who will secure Champions League qualification if they take two points from their final two WSL games.
Nick Cushing's City can win a second trophy of 2016 on 2 October, when they face Birmingham City in the Continental Cup final.
"I'm really pleased that we've won the title - it's what we set out to do," City boss Cushing told BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.
"But I'm more pleased with the performance today. In the second half especially we were dominant defensively and offensively.
"We've got some big games coming up and we want to be successful in the Champions League now that we've won the league. For now it's hard work because we've got big games."
England international Duggan added: "It's amazing to be WSL champions. It's something I've always wanted and a dream has come true.
"We've won the league - job done. We've got a cup final next week and we want to do the double. We set out to achieve big things and I'm sure the champagne can wait on ice for a couple of weeks."
City's clean sheet was their 16th of the season in all competitions and they have conceded just three league goals in 15 WSL games.
Their first title also comes less than three seasons after they were controversially introduced to the top flight, having only finished fourth in the Women's Premier League in 2013.
Cushing has now led the club to two major trophies, following victory in the 2014 Women's Continental Cup.
Match ends, Manchester City Women 2, Chelsea Ladies 0.
Second Half ends, Manchester City Women 2, Chelsea Ladies 0.
Attempt missed. Jade Bailey (Chelsea Ladies) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Corner, Manchester City Women. Conceded by Millie Bright.
Substitution, Manchester City Women. Daphne Corboz replaces Keira Walsh.
Offside, Manchester City Women. Kosovare Asllani tries a through ball, but Isobel Christiansen is caught offside.
Offside, Manchester City Women. Isobel Christiansen tries a through ball, but Stephanie Houghton is caught offside.
Foul by Jade Bailey (Chelsea Ladies).
Kosovare Asllani (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner, Manchester City Women. Conceded by Bethany England.
Attempt blocked. Stephanie Houghton (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Millie Bright (Chelsea Ladies).
Kosovare Asllani (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Offside, Manchester City Women. Jane Ross tries a through ball, but Isobel Christiansen is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Kosovare Asllani (Manchester City Women) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Jill Scott.
Substitution, Manchester City Women. Tessel Middag replaces Toni Duggan.
Katie Chapman (Chelsea Ladies) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Keira Walsh (Manchester City Women).
Attempt saved. Bethany England (Chelsea Ladies) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Millie Bright.
Substitution, Chelsea Ladies. Drew Spence replaces Ji So-Yun.
Attempt missed. Ana Borges (Chelsea Ladies) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Foul by Jade Bailey (Chelsea Ladies).
Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Bethany England (Chelsea Ladies) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Karen Carney.
Substitution, Manchester City Women. Kosovare Asllani replaces Nikita Parris.
Attempt missed. Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Nikita Parris.
Substitution, Chelsea Ladies. Bethany England replaces Eniola Aluko.
Foul by Katie Chapman (Chelsea Ladies).
Nikita Parris (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Jill Scott (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Toni Duggan.
Attempt saved. Eniola Aluko (Chelsea Ladies) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Karen Carney.
Attempt missed. Jill Scott (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from the right side of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Toni Duggan.
Ana Borges (Chelsea Ladies) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Ana Borges (Chelsea Ladies).
Nikita Parris (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ana Borges (Chelsea Ladies).
Nikita Parris (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Chelsea Ladies. Conceded by Demi Stokes.
Corner, Chelsea Ladies. Conceded by Jennifer Beattie.
Offside, Chelsea Ladies. Rebecca Spencer tries a through ball, but Gemma Davison is caught offside. | Manchester City won the Women's Super League title for the first time, with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea Ladies confirming them as champions. |
27759204 | Given the violence it seems clear that any pretence at a peace process is now over. Few seriously thought that recent talks between the government and militants were getting anywhere anyway.
The attack is also a reminder, if it were needed, that despite their divisions the Taliban retain the capability to mount spectacular strikes across Pakistan.
The Karachi raid comes at a time when significant re-alignments are in the offing within militant ranks ahead of the Nato drawdown of combat troops in Afghanistan later this year.
The split within the TTP is the clearest symptom of these changes.
The TTP was founded, and invariably headed by, a Mehsud tribesman from the South Waziristan tribal region. But last November, after its former leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike, its leadership passed into the hands of Mullah Fazlullah, a non-Mehsud from Swat region.
This, combined with an offer of peace talks by the Pakistani government, led to an internal struggle between the powerful Mehsud faction and the non-Mehsud elements.
Former BBC correspondent Rahimullah Yousufzai, who is an expert on Taliban affairs, says one reason the Mehsuds fell out with the TTP leadership was because of their keenness to hold peace talks.
"The Mehsud tribe has suffered the most in Pakistan's war against militancy," he says.
"The 2009 military operation in their area scattered them into far-off cities such as Lahore and Karachi where people view them with suspicion. They don't live normal lives. This has created pressures on their leaders to mend fences with the government and pave the way for their rehabilitation."
The Mehsud faction, led by Khalid Mehsud (alias Khan Said Sajna), not only wiped out their TTP rivals from their native South Waziristan, they also captured most TTP strongholds in Karachi.
But Sunday night's attack shows the groups allied with Mullah Fazlullah's TTP still have secure hideouts in the country's largest city and the capability to launch attacks on high-value targets there.
The situation is further complicated by a warning issued to local people by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who heads a powerful Taliban faction in North Waziristan, at the end of May, asking them to move to safer locations "before hostilities break out with the government".
He was apparently incensed over some limited military action in a village near the town of Miranshah from where locals say foreign militants, predominantly Uzbeks, were "flushed out and encouraged to cross the border into Afghanistan".
Locals in Miranshah say most foreigners have left the area. Many have headed into Afghanistan, but many more have slipped into Pakistan. They say it is not clear if an alternative sanctuary is emerging in Afghanistan's Khost area, which has recently been vacated by the Americans.
Unlike the TTP, which has fought inside Pakistan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur has had a peace agreement with Islamabad since 2007, and has entirely focused his attention on foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan. He also has a close working relationship with the Mullah Nazir group which controls the western half of South Waziristan, has a similar peace agreement with Islamabad, and has been exclusively fighting inside Afghanistan.
Analysts believe that both these groups view the TTP split as the handiwork of Pakistani intelligence agents who play one faction against another to advance their own interests in Afghanistan, a suggestion denied by Islamabad but which few believe.
"There is a fear among the Bahadur and Nazir groups that if Pakistan succeeds in bringing the TTP to its knees, they will become redundant at best, and may suffer a similar fate at worst," says Khadim Hussain, an expert on militancy and author of the book Militant Discourse.
But these are not the only elements in the Waziristan matrix. For more than a decade, the area has been a sanctuary for Afghanistan's Haqqani Network, and thousands of "outsiders" - militants from Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, north-western China, and other parts of Asia and South Asia, including Punjab province in Pakistan.
Most of these "outsiders" have little interest in promoting peace with either Islamabad or Kabul, and are likely to align with those native factions that aim to create a permanent post-Nato sanctuary in areas comprising southern and eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan's tribal region and parts of its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Uzbek militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), who are believed to have taken part in the attack on the airport, are one such group. DNA tests will be conducted to try to verify if any of the militants killed were Uzbeks.
Either way, the authorities have warned a council of elders in North Waziristan to expel foreign militants from their area.
What happens now to Pakistan's fast-changing militant alliances remains unclear - but the backdrop to the Karachi attack is far more complex than it appears at first glance.
Who are the Pakistani Taliban?
•With its roots in the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Taliban movement came to the fore in 2007 by unleashing a wave of violence
•Its leaders have traditionally been based in Pakistan's tribal areas but it is really a loose affiliation of militant groups, some based in areas like Punjab and even Karachi
•The various Taliban groups have different attitudes to talks with the government - some analysts say this has led to divisions in the movement
•Collectively they are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Pakistanis and have also co-ordinated assaults on numerous security targets
•Two former TTP leaders, Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud, as well as many senior commanders have been killed in US drone strikes
•It is unclear if current leader Maulana Fazlullah, who comes from outside the tribal belt, is even in Pakistan, but he has a reputation for ruthlessness | The Karachi airport attack comes against the backdrop of a major split in the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) - and threats of retaliation following limited military operations against foreign militants in North Waziristan. |
14122455 | A file containing more than 90,000 e-mail addresses plus passwords, logins and other information was put on The Pirate Bay file-sharing site.
The group said it stole the information by targeting a poorly protected server on the defence firm's network.
Booz Allen Hamilton declined to comment on the incident.
In text accompanying the download package, Anonymous said it was "surprised" at how easy it was to infiltrate the server given the consulting firm's record of working on defence and homeland security.
The attack was carried out under the banner of the "Anti Sec" campaign that was originated by the short-lived LulzSec hacking group.
That hacker collective "disbanded" in late June following a spree of hack attacks on high profile targets. Many of its members are thought to have joined up with Anonymous.
As well as grabbing e-mails, passwords and a copy of a database, Anonymous said it had also got hold of lots of other material that it planned to use to attack other government agencies and federal contractors.
Booz Allen told Reuters it had no comment to make about the alleged attack, adding that company policy meant it could not discuss "specific threats or actions taken against our systems".
Commenting on the attack, Chester Wisniewski from security firm Sophos, said the attack's significance may lie in what happens to the addresses now they have been stolen.
"...there clearly is demand for information about individuals related to the US defence that can be used to compromise their accounts and computers," he wrote.
The Anonymous hacking group came to prominence thanks to the actions it took in defence of the Wikileaks whistle-blowing website. Among other things, Anonymous helped to co-ordinate attacks on companies, including Mastercard and Amazon, which it felt did not do enough to help Wikileaks.
The latest attack follows recent raids by police forces in Spain, Turkey and Italy that resulted in the arrest of suspected members of Anonymous. | Hacker group Anonymous has released a cache of data it claims to have stolen from US defence consultant Booz Allen Hamilton. |
40148992 | But Nicola Sturgeon said there was no intelligence of any specific threat to Scotland.
Seven people were killed and at least 48 injured in the attack on Saturday evening.
Three suspects were shot dead by police officers.
The attackers used a white van to hit pedestrians on London Bridge, before getting out and stabbing people in nearby Borough Market at about 22:00 on Saturday.
Police said the men, who were shot dead within eight minutes of the attack starting, were wearing fake bomb vests.
Twelve people have been arrested in connection with the attack following a raid on a flat in Barking, east London.
Ms Sturgeon said there was no information to suggest any victims of the attack were from Scotland, but warned it was not yet possible to be "definitive" about that.
The first minister has chaired a meeting of the Scottish government's resilience committee and has been briefed on what is currently known about the attackers.
She said: "It is important to stress that there is no intelligence of any specific threat to Scotland, However, the police will ensure appropriate protective security measures are implemented.
"As was the case after the Manchester attack, the public can expect to see a more visible police presence, particularly in busy areas.
"That will include armed police. The number of armed response vehicles on duty today has been substantially increased."
Ms Sturgeon also said the country had to "unite as a society" to defeat extremism.
She added: "We must not allow the terrorists to divide us and we must not allow any community to be scapegoated for the actions of a violent and mindless minority.
"Those who carry out these attacks in the name of Islam do not speak for that faith."
Police Scotland has also urged communities to "remain united against extremism and hate" after the attack.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson said Police Scotland stood with its colleagues and the communities of London.
"While we understand that the public will clearly be appalled by these events, I would urge each and every member of our communities to remain united against extremism and hate," he said.
"Police Scotland will not tolerate any attempts to target any community by any misguided individual or group and will work with all of our partners to resolve any issues and address any concerns.
"Should anyone become a victim of, or witness to, any hate crime, they should contact the police and report the incident."
Assistant Chief Constable Johnson added Police Scotland would be continually reviewing its safety and security plans.
The main Scottish political parties suspended national campaigning on Sunday ahead of the general election.
But in a statement outside Downing Street, Prime Minister Theresa May said full campaigning would resume on Monday.
She also confirmed that the general election would go ahead as planned on Thursday.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said her "thoughts and prayers" went out to the victims and their families.
"Once again our nation finds itself under attack from those who hate our way of life and seek to change us.
"But we will not allow that to happen, because the values that they hate - democracy, the rule of law and tolerance - are what make our country so special.
"It's why Britain is a beacon for other nations around the world. We will not let the terrorists win."
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson praised the response of the emergency services.
She said: "Our hearts all go out to the families of those affected today and to those who lost their lives last night.
"Just as in Manchester, the terrorists behind this appalling incident are trying to attack our freedoms and our values. Just as in Manchester, they will fail.
"Once again, the response of the emergency services - from the officers who rushed to the scene to the paramedics who treated people - was incredible. We all owe them so much."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "Another attack on innocent victims, more grieving families and friends. We will not become immune to such tragedies.
"We stand with all those affected in their grief, ever more determined to overcome."
Omar Afzal, from the Muslim Council of Scotland, condemned the attack.
He told BBC Scotland: "Real Muslims would have been on their way to night-time prayers because we're in the holy month of Ramadan right now.
"But these people have chosen to abandon their faith and decided to go out and commit a horrific attack on innocent people which just goes to show the difference between us and them." | Scotland will see a "substantial" increase in the number of armed police on duty in the immediate aftermath of the London attack, the first minister has said. |
34577461 | Davies scored five tries in the World Cup, including a crucial touchdown in their dramatic 28-25 Pool A win over England.
He also went over in the 23-19 quarter-final defeat by South Africa.
"I'd love to stay at the Scarlets another couple of years," the 25-year-old told BBC Wales.
"Hopefully I'll sign a contract in the next couple of weeks, months or whatever and I can look forward to my future at the Scarlets."
Davies signed a contract extension with Scarlets ahead of the 2014-15 campaign, the duration of which was not specified.
Davies says moving away from Wales is something he might consider in future.
"But at the moment I'm happy playing my rugby in Parc y Scarlets," said Davies, who has won nine Wales caps.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"It's a brilliant environment to be in, with a great bunch of boys.
"The coaching staff are all good so I'm happy here, so we'll see how it goes."
Davies was "gutted" that Wales did not reach the semi-finals.
"I just think we've got to be a bit more clinical in some areas of our game, maybe," added Davies.
"I think there were a few instances against Australia where we got held up over the line three times.
"On another day maybe someone could have done an extra movement and managed to get the ball down and we could have got a try and that could have changed the game.
"We're not a million miles away. It's fine margins."
However, Davies does not subscribe to the view that the four southern hemisphere teams contesting the semi-finals - New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina - equates to a considerable gap between them and their northern hemisphere counterparts.
"People always think that gap is bigger than it actually is," said Davies.
"I think it's maybe different for New Zealand because the way they're playing at the moment they seem to be on a different level.
"But with Australia and South Africa, I think we've shown... we could have beaten South Africa and we ran Australia close as well.
"I think the gap is getting smaller and smaller, but… New Zealand seem to be on a different level at the moment."
As for the 2016 Six Nations, Davies says Wales cannot consider themselves favourites.
"I'm sure England will have something to say about that," he said.
"Ireland are a world-class team as well and France - it's a really tough tournament.
"And Scotland as well - they came really close [to beating Australia]… all the teams are going to be looking forward to the Six Nations."
Davies may return to Scarlets duty when they host Munster in the Pro12 on Friday. | Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies hopes to sign a fresh Scarlets contract to keep him at the Welsh region for the foreseeable future. |
33974097 | Emergency services were called to the Hallheaths site in Lochmaben at about 10:25 on Monday.
They discovered the body of George Smith, from Lockerbie, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Insp Graham Kerr said a joint police and fire investigation had found no suspicious circumstances and the procurator fiscal had been informed. | A 73-year-old man has died in a car fire at a caravan park in the south of Scotland. |
39172719 | James Clapper also told NBC that he knew of no court order to allow monitoring of Trump Tower in New York.
Mr Trump had accused President Barack Obama of ordering the wire-tap, but offered no evidence.
Mr Trump says an inquiry into alleged Russian interference should also probe potential abuse of executive power.
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Russia: The scandal Trump can't shake
James Clapper, who left his post when Mr Trump took office on 20 January, told NBC's Meet the Press: "There was no such wire-tap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, as a candidate, or against his campaign."
He said that as intelligence director he would have known about any "court order on something like this. Absolutely, I can deny it".
But he added: "I can't speak for other authorised entities in the government or a state or local entity."
Some media reports had suggested the FBI had sought a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance court (Fisa) in order to monitor members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials.
Mr Clapper's comments appear to contradict the reports, which said that a warrant was at first turned down, but then approved in October.
Under Fisa, wire-tapping can only be approved if there is probable cause to believe that the target of the surveillance is an agent of a foreign power. Mr Obama could not lawfully have ordered such a warrant.
In his interview, Mr Clapper also said that no evidence had been found of collusion between the Trump team and the Russian government.
Mr Trump, who has faced intense scrutiny over alleged Russian interference in support of his presidential bid, made his wire-tapping allegation in tweets written from his weekend home in Florida early on Saturday.
He called the alleged tapping "Nixon/Watergate", referring to the notorious political scandal of 1972, which led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon.
His claims sparked Republican and Democrat politicians alike to demand details to back them up. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio was the latest, saying on Sunday that "the White House will have to answer as to exactly what he was referring to".
Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are currently looking into the possibility of Russian interference during the 2016 election, both launched in January.
They have promised wide-ranging investigations, carried out on a bipartisan basis, which will not shy away from looking into potential links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, as well as Russian "cyber activity".
Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee is going to look at how to protect the US from cyber-attacks in the wake of the election.
But in his series of tweets on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer did not provide any further evidence.
He said: "Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling.
"President Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016."
He added: "Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted."
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told ABC News that if Mr Trump's allegations were true, "this is the greatest overreach and the greatest abuse of power that I think we've ever seen and a huge attack on democracy itself".
There was a mixed reaction to Mr Trump's calls for the inquiry into alleged abuse of executive power.
Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton said: "I'm sure that this matter will be a part of that inquiry."
But Connecticut Democratic congressman Jim Himes, addressing Sean Spicer in a tweet, said: "As a member of the committee on to which you've dumped this mess, I look forward to seeing your evidence."
Mr Trump's tweets followed allegations made by conservative radio host Mark Levin, including that the Obama administration "sought, and eventually obtained, authorisation to eavesdrop" on the Trump campaign last year.
Mr Obama's spokesman, Kevin Lewis, said the accusation was "simply false".
A "cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice", he said.
Some Democrats have suggested Mr Trump's allegations were an attempt to focus attention away from the Russian affair.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said: "The Deflector-in-Chief is at it again." | The director of national intelligence at the time of the US election has denied there was any wire-tapping of Donald Trump or his campaign. |
38459918 | In the summer, birds have reached their breeding grounds about one day earlier, on average.
Reaching their summer breeding grounds at the wrong time, even by a few days, could mean birds miss out on food and nesting places.
As a result, this could also affect the timing of when they hatch their offspring and how likely they are to survive.
Birds who travel longer distances, are thought to respond less to rising temperatures. This means that they could suffer the most, as other birds could gain an advantage by arriving at the breeding grounds before them.
The study was carried out by the University of Edinburgh, who looked at hundreds of species of birds across five continents.
The researchers examined records of migrating bird species dating back almost 300 years.
It is hoped the findings of the research will help scientists predict how different species of birds could react to environmental changes in the future. | Birds travelling from one place to another are arriving at their destinations earlier, as temperatures around the world rise. |
33146537 | Gerard and Teresa Hughes said the gang demanded more than £3,000 from their son, Ronan, and then sent images of him to his friends on social media.
Speaking to the Irish News, they criticised police "inaction" after the 17-year-old revealed what was going on.
Police said they hoped to meet the family to discuss their concerns.
Det Ch Supt Brian Hanna said: "Our enquiries are continuing into what will be a complex and protracted investigation, and we will keep the family informed of any progress as appropriate.
"The office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is also best placed to deal with any complaints in relation to police actions."
Ronan's parents told the newspaper that his death, less than two weeks ago, could have been prevented.
At the time, it was believed the Coalisland teenager was tricked into posting pictures online, and police said they are investigating whether he was being blackmailed.
Speaking for the first time since their son's death on 5 June, the couple described their son's online blackmailers as "relentless".
They said he was being blackmailed over images he posted online after receiving photographs from a girl.
His mother said: "We want there to be changes so if a child out there is being bullied online they can go to the police or other authorities with their concerns.
"We don't want another family to go through what we've gone through."
Ronan's parents told the Irish News that their son, a pupil at St Joseph's Grammar in Donaghmore, had confided in them three days before his death about a fake Facebook account.
He said the blackmailers said they would send the images to his online friends unless he paid £3,300 within 48 hours.
Ronan died just hours after learning that his blackmailers had carried out their threat.
His parents believe he would still be alive if his case had been treated more urgently by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
"His biggest worry was that his friends would see these images, " Mr Hughes said.
But when he took his son to Dungannon police station, they were told there was only one officer on duty.
"A policeman said to us there was very little they could do as he was there on his own that night.
"He scribbled down a few notes and told us to ignore the blackmail. He told us to come back the next morning.
"I knew Ronan was looking for help and I told him that all my son wanted is for these images not to be posted. He told us that he couldn't guarantee that. For Ronan, it was totally dismissive."
He said if the police had given Ronan an assurance that they would close the site down, he "would still be here today".
They returned to the police station the next day where they spent several hours and Ronan's phone was taken.
However, they heard nothing more from the police.
The Nigerian site was closed within two days of the tragedy. | The parents of a County Tyrone teenager who took his own life have said a Nigerian gang was blackmailing him over intimate photographs. |
36485012 | Hillary Clinton has been declared the presumptive Democratic nominee after winning four out of six primaries on Tuesday.
Mr Sanders has virtually no path to the nomination but has vowed to fight on. He meets President Obama on Thursday.
Democrats have urged Mr Sanders to join Mrs Clinton as she tries to defeat Donald Trump.
The billionaire businessman, seen as an outsider early in the campaign, is the Republicans' presumptive nominee.
The White House meeting on Thursday came at Mr Sanders' request. He will hold a rally in Washington the same day ahead of the District of Columbia's primary on 14 June.
He has won 22 state primaries and caucuses but failed to make a significant dent in Mrs Clinton's delegate lead, despite mounting what has been seen as an impressive campaign, influencing the Democratic debate and engaging with thousands of young voters.
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"The struggle continues. We are going to fight for every vote in Tuesday's primary in Washington DC, and then we will bring our political revolution to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia," his campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.
As the votes were being counted in California, Mr Sanders said: "I am pretty good at arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get."
Bernie Sanders isn't giving up the fight for the nomination just yet - despite the near overwhelming odds stacked against him. But now, it seems, some of his most prominent supporters are edging away.
Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, who was a fixture alongside Mr Sanders in California, have essentially told the Vermont senator that it's time to rally behind Hillary Clinton.
But will he listen? In his late-night non-concession speech in Santa Monica, Mr Sanders said that he would continue to contest the nomination, despite it being "very, very steep fight". While the thousands in attendance went wild at the announcement, Mr Sanders may find his struggle an increasingly lonely one.
Vice-President Joe Biden, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and, most importantly, President Barack Obama have all begun quietly, respectfully making motions to usher Mr Sanders from the stage.
After Mr Obama meets Mr Sanders on Thursday, the next step is likely a presidential endorsement of Mrs Clinton. Trailing in the popular vote and delegates, both the pledged and super variety, Mr Sanders may then have no choice but to acknowledge political reality.
Going into the California primary, Mr Sanders said he hoped to flip superdelegates, who do not have to say who they are supporting until the party convention in July, to come to his side.
But many political commentators have cast doubt on that aspiration.
Vice President Joe Biden has said it is up to Mr Sanders to decide when to drop out.
"Oh, let him make that decision," he said. "Give him time."
Senator Bill Nelson from Florida said Mr Sanders should "stand down" and Senator Bob Casey said Democrats must come together and unify.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire said Mr Sanders should end his campaign soon.
The Sanders campaign is downsizing its staff by about half ahead of next week's DC primary. | Pressure is building on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to give up his fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. |
34112430 | Michael Carey and Charlotte Worrall were saved by a lifeboat from rocks west of St Ives, in Cornwall, on Monday evening.
They had gone to watch seals for Mr Carey's 30th birthday.
It took them two hours to get the attention of walkers who then called the coastguard, the charity said.
The RNLI said the pair were in a "life-threatening" situation after being cut off by the tide.
Derek Hall, the St Ives lifeboat operations manager, said: "They walked out to Seal Island and because of the spring tides, the sea came in very quickly and they got cut off.
"The lady had tried to swim to shore unsuccessfully, and ended up losing some of her clothes as well, so they were very cold and shaken."
The couple were with their border collie dog which managed to swim to shore, Mr Hall said.
Mr Carey and Ms Worrall, who were rescued by the St Ives lifeboat, were not injured. | A seal-watching couple had to be rescued when they were stranded on rocks for three hours and unsuccessfully tried to swim to shore. |
38403409 | Susan Smythe, 59, died after being hit by a VW Golf in Stretford, Greater Manchester on 9 September.
When her son Rob Smythe arrived and was informed the victim was his mother, he was immediately taken off the case.
Paul Tomlinson, 33, of Sale Moor, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced to six years.
He also pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to failing to provide a specimen for analysis and failing to stop and report an accident.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said Tomlinson had been seen almost colliding with a stationary vehicle at traffic lights on Wharfside Way, Trafford Park at 21:00 BST as well as mounting a kerb and narrowly avoiding other collisions.
Fifty minutes later, he swerved erratically into the outside lane of Chester Road as Ms Smythe crossed at the junction with Green Street and hit her.
Witnesses estimated his car to have been travelling at between 70mph and 100mph, the court heard.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A GMP spokesman said Tomlinson did not stop and drove to a car park near his home.
He wiped the steering wheel and doors with a pair of leggings before leaving the vehicle, the spokesman added.
Tomlinson was later arrested at his home and breathalysed in custody, where he was slurring his speech, unsteady on his feet and found to have 137 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The limit in England is 35 micrograms.
Tomlinson claimed to have had a single drink of vodka, although his girlfriend - a passenger in the car who had begged him to slow down - said she could smell alcohol on his breath, the court heard.
The police spokesman said Tomlinson was "an accident waiting to happen" and "in no fit state to be behind the wheel".
Tomlinson was also disqualified for driving for eight years. | A drink-driver has been jailed for killing a woman whose son was coincidentally sent to the crash in his role as a scene of crime investigator. |
12094855 | Anders Hoegstroem, a former neo-Nazi leader, admitted theft under a plea bargain last month and will be moved to Sweden to serve his sentence.
The infamous sign was stolen in December last year and recovered in three pieces three days later.
The judge in Krakow also jailed two Poles for up to two-and-a-half years.
One of the pair, named as Andrzej S, apologised in court for the offence, Polish media report.
The 5m (16ft) wrought-iron slogan which translates as "Work sets you free" is a potent symbol of many of the Nazi-era atrocities. During the Nazi Holocaust, 1.1 million people - most of them Jews - were murdered at Auschwitz.
The sign has since been repaired although it now hangs in the Auschwitz museum and has been replaced by a replica at the entrance to the former death camp.
Three other Poles were given prison terms earlier this year for the theft which was thought to have been ordered by another Swede still at large. So far, no evidence of other individuals has come to light.
Hoegstroem, 34, who was detained in Sweden in February had at first denied involvement in stealing the sign but later changed his plea.
On being told the verdict, he said he accepted the court's decision. He is now likely to be returned to Sweden in a week's time. | A Polish judge has jailed a Swedish man for two years and eight months for plotting the theft of the "Arbeit macht frei" Auschwitz entrance sign. |
37894042 | And yet, for women across France, it has huge importance: it is the moment they effectively stop being paid for 2016, thanks to the gender pay gap.
And this year, many were determined not to let it go unnoticed.
On Monday, French women were urged to quietly pack their bags and walk out of their offices at the appointed time to unite in their call for equal pay.
In France, the gap between men and women's average hourly wage was 15.1% in 2010, which, feminist group Les Glorieuses calculated, means a woman will work 38.2 days more than a man for the same salary. And that, they say, is not on.
Rebecca Amsellem, founder of Les Glorieuses, which launched the campaign, told the BBC: "To be really honest, I knew there was a huge difference between the pay - but I thought the difference would maybe be 10 working days, not a month-and-a-half."
Ms Amsellem had been inspired to do the maths after reading how Iceland, a country considered a world leader in gender equality, still has a pay gap of 14%.
For the last 11 years, women in Iceland have been walking out on 24 October at the time they should leave every day if they were to be paid the same hourly-rate as their male counterparts.
In that period in the Nordic country, the time has moved from 14:08 to 14:38.
If the pace continues, it will only take another 52 years for them to be able to leave at the same time as men - an unacceptable length of time, according to Gylfi Arnbjörnsson, president of the Icelandic Confederation of Labour.
He told Iceland's national broadcaster: "No-one puts up with waiting 50 years to reach a goal. It doesn't matter whether it's a gender pay gap or any other pay gap.
"It's just unacceptable to say we'll correct this in 50 years. That's a lifetime."
In France, it appears a parallel sense of injustice has inspired activists to adopt the symbolism of Iceland's precisely timed protests.
More than 10,000 women have indicated their interest in joining the movement on Facebook, and the hashtag "7novembre1634" has been trending in France, with hundreds sharing cartoons and memes highlighting the issue. Others write just one word: "Egalite."
The movement even has the backing of two government ministers, and has landed on the front page of a French national newspaper, Liberation.
"Support for the #7novembre16h34 movement: the struggle for equal pay must be by the whole of society," tweeted education minister Najat Belkacem. "Do not wait for 2186!"
But France is far from the worst offender in Europe when it comes to the gender pay gap.
In neighbouring Germany the gap was 22.3% in 2014, while in the UK it stood at 20.9%, according to Eurostat.
The average pay gap across Europe was 16.7%, with the largest in Estonia, where it was measured at 28.8%.
Whether Iceland and now France will inspire more movements remains to be seen. Ms Amsellem is just happy it has provoked a discussion in her home country.
"What I am happy about is that feminist issues are still burning issues in people's minds," she said.
"But it is crazy to think that in 2016, we still need to fight for these things." | It seems an insignificant time: 16:34 on Monday 7 November. |
32759136 | The CH47 Chinooks left the UK two weeks ago to help transport "life-saving aid supplies" and reach stranded victims "in desperate need" of help.
But the helicopters have been grounded in Delhi, in India, for the past week.
The Ministry of Defence said it was "disappointed", saying the decision had been made by the Nepalese government.
An MoD spokesman said the Nepalese government, while thanking the UK for the offer, had said the helicopters will not take part in the relief effort.
"We are disappointed that our Chinooks will not be supporting the World Food Programme's request for help in distributing aid but all decisions in relation to the relief effort are ultimately for the Government of Nepal to take," the spokesman said.
This seems to be a very strange decision. There is clearly a need for more helicopters in Nepal to deliver relief supplies.
The "disappointment" expressed by the British government hides stronger feelings and frustration.
They will be shared by the United Nations who need these helicopters now.
We don't yet know the reason why the Nepalese Government rejected the offer of help. There have been reports of concerns about the effect these twin rotor helicopters would have on the structurally weakened buildings.
But the RAF crews are highly experienced in delivering aid in disaster zones.
Others have suggested that China or India might be opposed to the use of British military helicopters flying near their airspace.
But why then are US military helicopters are already operating in Nepal? RAF crews who have been on the ground in Delhi waiting to help for more than a week are not the only ones who will feel perplexed.
The aircraft were flow to Nepal after the country was hit by the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake of 25 April, killing more than 8,000 people.
On Tuesday, a second 7.3-magnitude quake killed at least 110 people.
Last week, the UK government said 92 additional Gurkhas had been deployed to Nepal to provide aid.
The Gurkhas, from the 36 Engineer Regiment based in Kent, have boosted the total number of UK military personnel in the region to almost 300.
British Army Gurkha engineers were also sent to Nepal on board a C-17 aircraft, along with 18 tonnes of aid supplies, and helped to provide safe drinking water for those who lost their homes in Nepal's capital Kathmandu.
Aid from the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has reached more than 60 villages, towns and camps in the weeks following the earthquake, which has also left more than 14,500 injured. | Three RAF Chinook helicopters sent to Nepal to help the aid effort in the country are to return to the UK having not been used, the government has said. |
36289017 | Events in Devon, Cornwall and Cheshire have all banned bunnies following outbreaks of the mutation of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, known as RHD-2.
There is currently no licensed vaccine in the UK for the new strain.
"The fear factor is we don't know how it's spreading," said Neill Gardner, chairman of the British Rabbit Council (BRC).
Since March, the BRC has received reports of RHD-2 across Cheshire, Devon, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Leeds and Moray.
With the former strain "there was usually a visible sign, like bloody discharge from the nostrils", Mr Gardner said.
"Now they just drop dead".
A vaccine for the new strain is expected to be licensed in the UK in the next month, Mr Gardener added.
Source: BRC
But Judy Le Marchant, who had planned to enter her prize winning rare breeds in the Devon county show, said vaccination was "not the entire solution".
The RHD-1 vaccine was already "expensive", and its carrier could produce "bald patches, lumps and scabs which are not desirable in show rabbits", she said.
Harry Powell, aged 11, and his 8-year-old brother Nicholas, were also "very upset" when they could not enter their thrianta rabbits at the show.
"It's really annoying when you've pumped yourself up," he said.
Harry, who would have travelled from Middlesex for the show, said he loved his rabbits, who "only get stroppy if they don't like the food".
Show secretary Ollie Allen said although the disease posed "no threat to human health", the rabbit competition would have risked spreading the disease amongst rabbits.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the people did not have to report outbreaks to the government but the shows were "taking sensible precautionary measures". | A new strain of a deadly rabbit virus has forced the closure of county show competitions across England. |
11684777 | The 49ft creation, full of fireworks, will be the centrepiece at Edenbridge Bonfire Society's parade and display.
The effigy is clutching a five-year contract under one arm, with a holdall of cash in his other hand.
Rooney signed a new deal with his club last month having previously said he intended to leave.
Up to 15,000 people are expected to see the effigy, dressed in full football kit, go up with a bang on Saturday.
Charles Laver, of the bonfire society, said Rooney had been chosen as this year's guy after he made front-page news over allegations about his private life and his loyalty to Manchester United.
He said: "I hate football myself so I'm quite happy to burn a footballer."
Past celebrity guys have included Cherie Blair, Gordon Brown and Russell Brand, while last year an effigy of glamour model Katie Price was burnt at the stake. | An effigy of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, complete with green Shrek-style ears, will go up in flames at an annual bonfire event in Kent. |
36651230 | The public can apply for places to join the silent procession through the shrine at Edinburgh Castle on Thursday.
A whistle, which was sounded to lead men over the top, will be blown by a Scots soldier to mark, to the minute, 100 years since the battle began.
At 07:30 on 1 July, Alan Hamilton will blow a whistle used by his great uncle.
The Battle of the Somme was the largest Western Front battle of World War One, beginning on 1 July 1916 and ending 141 days later on 18 November.
Over one million men were wounded or killed, 420,000 of them from the British Army.
British casualties on the first day were the worst in the history of the British army, with 57,470 casualties of whom 19,240 died.
Major General Mark Strudwick, chairman of the Battle of the Somme Vigil, whose grandfather was wounded in the battle; Able Cadet Samantha Kaszuba from TS Valiant (Dunbar Sea Cadet Unit), one of the candle bearers at the vigil, and Major William Wright representing the Royal Regiment of Scotland were joined by descendant Mr Hamilton at a memorial on Tuesday ahead of the event.
Mr Hamilton, one of the sentinels at the vigil, said: "I am honoured and humbled to be a participant in the vigil to commemorate that 100 years ago, fathers, brothers and sons of thousands of families lost their lives or were wounded in mind and body in one of the greatest battles in our history.
"My great uncle Robert, then a young officer, blew this whistle and led his men into a fierce battle where many of them, his friends, were killed and wounded.
"He was with them until he, himself, was wounded. Throughout the vigil I will stand with others in silent reflection in an unspoken comradeship with those who went before us."
Major General Strudwick, chairman of the trustees of the Scottish National War Memorial, said: "The courage and sacrifice of the British soldiers who fought at The Battle of the Somme should never be forgotten. Few words conjure the tragic scale and staggering loss of life during the 141 days that battle raged.
"One hundred years on, we come together to honour them, to remember them and to ensure their memory and legacy lives on for generations to come." | An overnight vigil is to be held at Scotland's National War memorial as part of national commemorations of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. |
30279714 | He was speaking in a video as part of a campaign run by his Sentebale charity to help reduce the stigma associated with HIV.
The "Feel No Shame" films are being released to mark World Aids Day.
Singers Nicole Scherzinger and Paloma Faith, and actress Gemma Arterton have also made videos confessions.
In his message, Harry said: "My secret is, believe it or not, I get incredibly nervous before public speaking, no matter how big the crowd or the audience.
"And despite the fact that I laugh and joke all the time, I get incredibly nervous, if not anxious actually, before going into rooms full of people when I'm wearing a suit."
The prince co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in Lesotho after travelling around the southern African country. It has the third highest HIV/Aids prevalence in the world and many children and young adults have the disease themselves, or have lost parents to it.
The campaign aims to encourage people with HIV to seek medical support and education about their condition, and prevent the virus from spreading.
Dressed in a sweatshirt, Harry added: "Now I've confessed that, I'll probably be even more worried that people are looking at me, but thank you very much everyone who is taking part."
Prince Harry launched the campaign in another video and asked members of the public to share their own secrets via social media in exchange for his confession.
He said: "To show our support for the children of Lesotho, and help reduce the stigma for all those affected by HIV, we are turning this World Aids Day into a day in which no-one should feel any shame about their secrets.
"Together, we can tackle the stigma surrounding HIV and give the young people carrying it the childhood they deserve, the childhood so many of us take for granted." | Prince Harry has revealed that he feels "incredibly nervous" before making speeches and anxious when he enters a room full of people. |
39324940 | Gold Coast Titans were fined £93,500 (150,000 Australian dollars) for incidents involving three players, with St George Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights charged £62,300 (A$100,000) each for single cases.
The clubs have until Friday to respond.
"These are the heaviest fines proposed by the game for concussion breaches," said NRL chief Todd Greenberg.
"That it how seriously we take it - we are not going to allow player safety to be put at risk through breaches of the concussion rules."
All of the incidents occurred in third-round matches last week, with the Titans' fine relating to English former St Helens back-rower Joe Greenwood, Kane Elgey and Ryan Simpkins during their win over Parramatta Eels on Friday.
The Dragons were fined for an incident involving Josh Dugan in a win against Cronulla on Sunday, while the Knights were sanctioned after Brendan Elliot picked up a head injury during a defeat by South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday.
Elliot did not have a head injury assessment (HIA) and played on after suffering a blow, but was removed in the second half following a second knock to the head.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor said Dugan suffered a jaw injury and not a head injury, while Knights coach Nathan Brown said Elliot was cleared of concussion by the on-field trainer.
The Gold Coast Titans said in a statement: "The club will await the formal breach notice details, then assess the incidents and respond to the NRL with the specified timeframe."
The club added they would make no further comment until "the process has been completed".
Newcastle Knights are being sued by former player James McManus over the club's handling of his concussions that resulted in the 31-year-old's retirement last year.
Greenberg also warned that further sanctions such as points deductions and the loss of accreditation for officials could follow monetary fines for any club that breaks the rules.
NRL concussion protocols state a player must not return to the field if they exhibit symptoms of a loss of consciousness, seizure, memory impairment, balance disturbance (ataxia) or if they fall to the ground without taking protective action.
"In the majority of cases we see strong compliance with the league's concussion rules but it appears that this did not happen at the weekend in some matches and we cannot stand by and allow player safety to be put at risk," added Greenberg.
"Where we believe the rules have been breached we will take action - and we would hope that these breach notices will serve as a warning to all clubs."
In 2016, the US supreme court upheld a £700m settlement between the NFL and retired players who had suffered concussion-related injuries.
In January World Rugby criticised Northampton Saints for their treatment of a head injury sustained by Wales wing George North.
The sport has also made moves to reduce the risks of high tackles, following earlier changes to the way concussion is managed. | Three Australian National Rugby League sides have been given record fines for breaching concussion protocols. |
38225274 | The transmitters, which are easy to buy online, can be used to interrupt signals from keys fobs, meaning unwary motorists believe their cars to be secure when they're anything but.
This leaves the path clear for thieves to help themselves to your belongings, and even take the car itself.
Relatively low-powered jammers can have a range of about 75m, meaning fairly large areas, such as a whole car park, can be affected at the same time.
But jammer-wielding crooks can strike anywhere, not just public car parks.
Deputy Chief Constable Matt Jukes, from the National Police Chiefs' Council, said although he believes the problem is currently small, it is a "growing feature of vehicle crime".
"The Vehicle Crime Intelligence Unit is working closely and extensively with a number of partners including the Home Office and motor manufacturers on solutions to prevent this crime now and in the future."
Loran Dover got in touch with the BBC to say it happened to her on a residential street in Leeds.
"When I got up and ready for work, I went outside to find all my car doors just placed shut.
"I was mortified to think I'd left my car like this, when I knew I locked it - I was staying at my boyfriend's house and had to leave Christmas presents in the car. But then when we actually looked inside the car, the whole car had been rifled through and anything of value taken.
"Police at first said there was nothing they'd do. Not even send anybody to check for fingerprints because there was no clear sign of a break-in. But when I phoned my bank to cancel my card, the thieves had been using my contactless. That's when the police actually got involved and took it more seriously.
"They are currently looking at CCTV so hopefully they will catch them."
The only sure way to know your car is locked is to check manually. Most cars have another indication the lock has been deployed, such as the indicator lights flashing, wing mirrors drawing in, or the horn giving a short toot.
If you're close enough to the car you can also hear the central locking clunk into place.
Deputy Chief Constable Jukes adds: "It is essential that people remain vigilant against this kind of electronic breach.
"We urge people to keep a close watch on their cars and possessions so as not to offer any incentives to criminals, including manually checking that the vehicle is locked and taking any valuables with you when leaving the vehicle unattended."
A more hi-tech approach to securing your vehicle might be to invest in a car jamming detector, a device that sets off an alarm when a blocking signal is detected.
Ms Dover highlights one problem faced by victims - not only are they deprived of their belongings, but there is no proof they've not simply forgotten to lock their cars. And most insurance companies will not pay out if the car has been left unattended and unlocked.
According to the Financial Ombudsman, many insurers exclude cover for theft if the vehicle was left unlocked and unattended.
The only way to prove a car lock was jammed is if a thief is caught red-handed, although patterns of theft can be strong indications.
For example, Thames Valley Police is investigating 14 recent thefts from lorries, vans and cars with "no obvious sign of a break-in".
All of the thefts took place at service stations on the M4 in Berkshire in the last two weeks of November.
Not necessarily.
The Met police force warns an increasing number of electronically controlled vehicles are being taken by criminals exploiting their electronics.
Once inside the vehicle, the thieves plug a device into the on-board diagnostic port (OBD) which allows them to download the vehicle's electronic information on to a blank key. This key is then compatible with the car, allowing them to drive the vehicle away.
This process can take just seconds.
The Organised Vehicle Crime Unit recommends using a steering wheel lock or gearstick lock and to consider having an OBD lock and a tracker fitted.
Have you got a question about radio jamming theft or have you been affected by it?
Use the tool below and we could be in touch. | As reports circulate about tech-savvy thieves using electronic devices - "key jammers" - to prevent cars from locking, what do you need to know about this growing crime? |
32592869 | Militias are said to have recruited 6,000-10,000 children to work as soldiers, messengers or cooks.
The UN children's agency, Unicef, says it now needs to see the agreement put into practice.
Unicef says the CAR conflict "has created one of the world's worst - and least visible - humanitarian crises".
CAR has been wracked by violence since a mainly Muslim rebel group seized power in March 2013.
The Seleka group was then ousted, sparking a wave of violent reprisals against the Muslim population, thousands of whom fled their homes.
Government representatives, leaders of armed groups and UN agencies negotiated the deal during a week of talks in the CAR capital, Bangui.
Unicef chief in CAR Mohamed Malick Fall described it as "a major step forward for the protection of children".
But Unicef is cautious and wants immediate access to areas under the control of armed groups, and a strict timetable for the children's release, reports the BBC's Imogen Foulkes from Geneva, where Unicef is based.
Also the children will face a long rehabilitation, Unicef says.
A week-long national reconciliation forum began on Monday in Bangui bringing together politicians, armed groups, and religious leaders.
The talks are part of a process aimed at leading to new elections. | Armed groups in Central African Republic have agreed to release all the children that are working with them and end child recruitment, the UN says. |
35595986 | The last four home games at Taunton Town FC's ground have been cancelled and the club says this is having a severe impact on its operation.
Chairman and groundsman Kevin Sturmey said the club was "just keeping its head above the water".
He estimated some six to seven inches of rain had fallen since 30 December.
"We're lucky that football is one facet of our business and we've got other income streams," Mr Sturmey said.
Chief executive of Somerset FA, John Pike, said: "In January and February so far we've experienced probably at least 50% of the games cancelled most weeks and very often that's been up to 75-90% of games." | A non-league football club says it has lost more than £16,000 in takings because of the number of games called off due to the weather. |
30635234 | Rakhat Aliyev, a former ambassador to Austria, is accused of killing two bank managers in his home country in 2007.
Kazakhstan has attempted to have him extradited to face trial, but Austria has twice refused because of the former Soviet republic's human rights record.
Instead, Austrian prosecutors opened their own murder investigation in 2011.
Mr Aliyev has denounced the case against him as politically motivated.
However, in June he flew voluntarily to Vienna from his home in Malta and handed himself in to the Austrian authorities. Since then, he has been held in "investigative custody".
On Tuesday, a court in Vienna said Mr Aliyev had been charged.
A spokeswoman for the court told the Reuters news agency that the judge had not set any bail option and that Mr Aliyev's lawyers had two weeks to appeal against the charges.
He faces at least 10 years in prison if found guilty of murder. If extradited to Kazakhstan he could face a sentence of up to 40 years.
Mr Aliyev was once married to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga.
A businessman with extensive contacts among the Kazakh elite, he spoke out against Mr Nazarbayev after being sacked as ambassador to Austria. | A former son-in-law of Kazakhstan's president who later became a prominent opponent has been charged with murder by prosecutors in Austria. |
34119134 | Horowitz, who has written a new James Bond book, made his comments about Elba - best known for his roles in Luther and The Wire - to the Mail on Sunday.
He told the paper it was "not a colour issue" - but some fans accused him of making a veiled racial remark.
Horowitz has now said the word "street" was "a poor choice of word" and he was "mortified to have caused offence".
Elba has long been touted as a possible successor to Daniel Craig as the fictional secret service agent.
Horowitz is currently promoting Trigger Mortis, a novel featuring Bond, which has been authorised by the estate of original 007 author Ian Fleming.
In the original interview, the author said he thought Elba was not right for the part.
"Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better," he said, suggesting Hustle's Adrian Lester as a possible alternative.
"For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It's not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too 'street' for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah."
Despite his insistence that his opinion had nothing to do with skin colour, some Twitter users accused him of racism.
"I'm really sorry my comments about Idris Elba have caused offence," Horowitz responded in a statement.
"That wasn't my intention. I was asked in my interview if Idris Elba would make a good James Bond. In the article I expressed the opinion that to my mind Adrian Lester would be a better choice but I'm a writer not a casting director so what do I know?
"Clumsily, I chose the word 'street' as Elba's gritty portrayal of DCI John Luther was in my mind but I admit it was a poor choice of word. I am mortified to have caused offence." | Author Anthony Horowitz has apologised for saying he thought Idris Elba was "too street" to be the next James Bond. |
35628469 | Officials had given the Nadeem Centre until Monday to cease activities, saying it had breached regulations.
The group has filed an urgent appeal against the decision.
Rights groups have criticised Egypt for its crackdown on dissent, amid a surge of reported torture of detainees. Officials deny the allegations.
El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence has operated since 1993, providing support and counselling to victims of torture.
The organisation was due to be closed last Wednesday accused of violating unspecified health ministry regulations. But authorities agreed to delay the order to give it time to contest the decision.
Aida Seif al-Dawla, the group's director, said the move to close it was political.
Human rights groups have criticised the measure, saying it comes at a time when enforced disappearances are on the rise and amid growing concern about allegations of torture by the police and intelligence services.
Activists accuse security forces of torturing detainees and of detaining suspected activists or militant Islamists without reporting their arrests, allegations rejected by the government.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi led the military's overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, following mass protests.
Since then, as many as 40,000 people are estimated to have been detained. The US-based Human Rights Watch describes the crackdown as "ferocious".
More than 1,000 protesters, mostly Islamists, have been killed on the streets.
Egyptian officials deny that the Arab world's most populous nation has returned to the repression of the past. | An Egyptian centre that helps alleged torture victims and documents their cases has vowed to continue to work despite an order for it to shut down. |
39744151 | Lord Sugar invested £250,000 into Valente's plumbing business in 2015.
They've now announced that Valente will take full control of ImpraGas - but they're parting on friendly terms.
Lord Sugar said: "I'll still be on hand to offer any help and advice required. I wish Joseph and ImpraGas all the very best for the future and will follow their progress with much affection."
Lord Sugar will now divest himself of his interest in the company, with Valente acquiring his shareholding and taking full control of the business.
Valente added: "I am so grateful for everything Lord Sugar has done for me and I could not have asked for a better partner in the early stages of my business career.
"I owe him a great deal. I am confident that with the winning business model we created together, I can continue to grow the business successfully."
So how many Apprentice winners does that leave who are still working with Lord Sugar?
Glad you asked, let's take a look:
Of the 12 winners of the UK series of The Apprentice, five are still working with Lord Sugar.
They are Tom Pellereau, Ricky Martin, Leah Totton, Mark Wright and Alana Spencer.
Interestingly, all five won the show after a format change which saw Lord Sugar invest £250,000 in a business idea, rather than offering the winner a job in his own company.
After his time on the show, Pelleraeu used the investment to invent and bring to market a curved nail file, which is now stocked by major supermarkets.
Martin runs a science and technology recruitment company while Totton now has two cosmetic clinics offering botox and wrinkle reduction.
Wright is still working with Lord Sugar on his company which uses digital marketing to help small businesses grow.
And Spencer, who won the most recent series, is in the process of launching her own bakery firm.
Seven of the 12 winners have since parted company with Lord Sugar - many on perfectly good terms... others less so.
The very first winner, Tim Campbell, worked for Lord Sugar for a year before leaving (with his boss's blessing) to set up a male grooming business, and more recently a digital marketing agency.
Michelle Dewberry worked for Lord Sugar for 11 months but left to set up her own company and a media career, appearing regularly on news programmes such as Sky's weekly discussion show The Pledge.
Simon Ambrose worked for Lord Sugar for three years but left to pursue his own ventures, while Lee McQueen also left after two-and-a-half years to start his own sales recruitment and training agency.
Yasmina Siadatan stayed in her job with Lord Sugar for a year but became pregnant while she was there and didn't return after maternity leave. She later set up her own restaurant.
Stella English's departure from her job with Lord Sugar was far less friendly - she unsuccessfully sued him for constructive dismissal.
But she went on to work as a TV presenter and management consultant.
Lord Sugar has previously called on the BBC to commission a new TV series to catch up with former contestants and find out where they are now.
If such a show ever came to fruition, it certainly wouldn't be short of material.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Apprentice winner Joseph Valente has split from Lord Sugar two years after winning the show. |
39163463 | Eoin Doyle headed Pompey into a first-half lead before Kyle Bennett, Danny Rose and Michael Doyle added further goals in the second period.
Colchester goalkeeper Sam Walker denied Kai Naismith and Enda Stevens early on, before George Elokobi nodded U's team-mate Matt Briggs' attempted clearance away from near his own goal-line.
But Portsmouth took a 22nd-minute lead through Eoin Doyle, who dived to head home from close range following Naismith's delivery.
The goalscorer ballooned over just before half-time but Portsmouth did go 2-0 up with the second half just 37 seconds old when Bennett converted Naismith's pass from close range, after Colchester had failed to clear their lines.
Stevens' deflected left-foot effort whistled inches wide of the far post before Pompey went further ahead on the hour when Rose scored at the second attempt after Walker had saved his initial effort, following Eoin Doyle's through ball.
And it was 4-0 with 17 minutes remaining when Michael Doyle converted after Walker had saved Naismith's effort following a devastating counter-attack.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Colchester United 0, Portsmouth 4.
Second Half ends, Colchester United 0, Portsmouth 4.
Attempt missed. Gary Roberts (Portsmouth) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left.
Attempt saved. Conor Chaplin (Portsmouth) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Foul by Matthew Briggs (Colchester United).
Conor Chaplin (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Colchester United. Conceded by Enda Stevens.
Tarique Fosu-Henry (Colchester United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Enda Stevens (Portsmouth).
Attempt saved. Noel Hunt (Portsmouth) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Substitution, Portsmouth. Conor Chaplin replaces Eoin Doyle.
Foul by Chris Porter (Colchester United).
Michael Doyle (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Danny Rose (Portsmouth) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
Substitution, Portsmouth. Gary Roberts replaces Kyle Bennett.
Attempt missed. Tom Lapslie (Colchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Sean Murray (Colchester United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Noel Hunt (Portsmouth).
Substitution, Portsmouth. Noel Hunt replaces Kal Naismith.
Goal! Colchester United 0, Portsmouth 4. Michael Doyle (Portsmouth) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal following a fast break.
Attempt saved. Kal Naismith (Portsmouth) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner, Colchester United. Conceded by Gareth Evans.
Attempt missed. Macauley Bonne (Colchester United) left footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right.
Substitution, Colchester United. Macauley Bonne replaces Owen Garvan.
Substitution, Colchester United. Kane Vincent-Young replaces Drey Wright.
Attempt saved. Kal Naismith (Portsmouth) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner, Portsmouth. Conceded by Brennan Dickenson.
Attempt blocked. Carl Baker (Portsmouth) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Cameron James (Colchester United) is shown the yellow card for hand ball.
Hand ball by Cameron James (Colchester United).
Goal! Colchester United 0, Portsmouth 3. Danny Rose (Portsmouth) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.
Foul by Chris Porter (Colchester United).
Enda Stevens (Portsmouth) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Corner, Portsmouth. Conceded by Tom Lapslie.
Attempt blocked. Enda Stevens (Portsmouth) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Foul by Drey Wright (Colchester United).
Kyle Bennett (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Kyle Bennett (Portsmouth) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the right.
Attempt missed. Sean Murray (Colchester United) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Drey Wright (Colchester United) wins a free kick in the attacking half. | Portsmouth boosted their hopes of automatic promotion from League Two with a hugely impressive win at play-off chasers Colchester. |
30294783 | They also met with a number of MLAs from Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party.
They said they wanted to outline their "disappointment and anger caused by a series of divisive and insulting comments about the language".
DUP MLA Gregory Campbell caused controversy recently after the 'curry my yoghurt' incident.
Janet Muller, from the Irish language umbrella advocacy group, POBAL and Linda Ervine from the East Belfast Irish language learners' project, Turas, said the comments "should be unacceptable anywhere, but especially in a political assembly".
"We call for the introduction of a rights-based Irish language act to defend and promote Irish, as was promised in the St Andrews Agreement," they said.
The Sinn Féin delegation who met the groups included Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, and assembly member Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.
Chris Lyttle and Trevor Lunn from the Alliance Party also met the group.
Mr Lyttle said it was "frustrating that the DUP have mocked the Irish language in such an inappropriate way and have refused to apologise despite it being clear that many people have been offended".
"We should be respectful of our linguistic diversity and allow the promotion of all our languages in a shared society," he said. | Two Irish language groups have presented a joint letter to the Stormont parties calling for fair treatment and respect for the language. |
35431782 | Of those who had experienced violence, 77% said they had been pushed, and around half were kicked or had an object thrown at them.
Nine out of 10 staff had dealt with challenging behaviour, such as swearing or shouting, in the past year.
Staff have greater powers to deal with poor behaviour, the government said.
However, 45% of the 1,250-strong panel of teachers surveyed across England, Wales and Northern Ireland said they felt pupil behaviour had got worse in the past two years. Teachers in Scotland were not included in the survey.
One special needs worker at a Bedfordshire primary school said she had been stabbed in the head with a pencil, while a teacher at a Suffolk secondary academy said she had been "sprayed in the face with deodorant".
In a third case, a support worker at a secondary school in Cheshire said a chair had been thrown that hit her leg.
A teaching assistant at a Rochdale primary school claimed: "Staff are regularly verbally abused with very little consequences. Occasionally pupils physically attack members of staff, but this rarely leads to a day's exclusion."
Teachers in the survey put the cause of violence down to a number of things.
A lack of boundaries at home was singled out as the top reason for challenging, disruptive or violent behaviour.
Some 78% pointed to emotional and behavioural problems as the cause, while nearly half said it was down to pupils' mental health issues.
The survey responses paint a worrying picture of what is going on in our classrooms: teachers being pushed, shoved, hit, spat at and even having furniture thrown at them
It is important to remember the survey is in no way saying this is a daily occurrence in most schools.
Four out of 10 teachers surveyed had experienced at least one incident in the past year, while nearly all had witnessed violence some time their career.
ATL general secretary Mary Bousted says the vast majority of pupils are well-behaved and a pleasure to teach.
But what the survey does reveal is that poor behaviour is often the result of deep-seated issues such as unsupported mental health problems or poor parenting.
And the responsibility for dealing with these problems goes far beyond the school gates, let alone the classroom.
And nearly two-thirds of teachers felt pupils were under more stress than two years ago.
General secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Dr Mary Bousted, said having to cope with challenging or disruptive behaviour is unfortunately par for the course for education staff.
"It is shocking that more than four in 10 (43%) education professionals have had to deal with physical violence from a pupil in the last year," she said.
"No member of staff should be subjected to aggressive behaviour, in any form, while doing their job.
"A lack of funds for social services and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) means pupils are at risk and, all too often, school staff are being left to plug the gaps in social care as best they can.
"Many schools do excellent work day in, day out to help pupils stay on track and to keep schools a safe place for pupils and staff.
"But schools need support from social and health services and parents to deal with the complex issues many pupils face due to chaotic home lives or mental health issues."
There have been numerous warnings about the pressures on schools resulting from a lack of mental health services in some areas.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "Teachers and school staff have a right to feel safe while doing their jobs and violence towards them is completely unacceptable.
"We have taken decisive action to put teachers back in charge of the classroom by giving them the powers they need to tackle poor behaviour and discipline.
"We have scrapped 'no touch' rules that stopped teachers removing disruptive pupils from classrooms and ensured schools' decisions on exclusions can no longer be overruled."
Labour's shadow minister for schools Nic Dakin said: " There is a teacher shortage crisis in this country with the highest number of teachers quitting the profession since records began and the government is regularly missing their targets on teacher recruitment. Incidents like this will not get more people into teaching.
"Ministers need to get their act together and bear down on poor behaviour, which is affecting teacher recruitment and retention and threatening standards in the classroom." | Four out of 10 teachers have experienced violence from pupils in the past year, a survey for the ATL teachers union suggests. |
37419701 | In the 10 days leading up to their trip to Sixfields to face the League One side, Jose Mourinho's United have lost three matches, beaten by Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford.
"He'll be working hard to put things right," Page said of Mourinho.
"There's no crisis, it's three defeats. That will be the message."
Talking to BBC Radio Northampton, Page continued: "They're expected to win the game and if they don't they'll be criticised."
The Cobblers, who are 11th in English football's third tier, set up the tie against United when they beat West Bromwich Albion 4-3 on penalties.
"It's been a long time coming since the draw was made," Page said. "We've banned the players from talking about it just so we can focus on the league.
"When we scored the winning penalty I thought the atmosphere was terrific and that's why you're in the game, you want to create more moments like that."
Northampton Town have never won a competitive game against Manchester United, with their last match against the Red Devils - an FA Cup tie in 2004 - ending in a 3-0 defeat.
"We know we're going to be in for a tough game, so it's about us focussing on what we can do and recreating what we did against Premier League opposition in West Brom," Page said. | Manchester United are not a club in crisis, says Northampton Town boss Rob Page ahead of their EFL Cup third-round tie on Wednesday. |
38653546 | Just seven years later - at the start of this year - it was sold for scrap. The price: an estimated $5.5m (£4.4m today).
It's not the only vessel to suffer this fate. Last year container ships were sold at rock-bottom prices for scrap in record numbers.
The simple reason is that there are too many ships for too little cargo.
The most dramatic casualty was South Korean group Hanjin, which collapsed last August weighed down by debts.
The container shipping industry, and Hanjin in particular, has been spectacularly wrong about the financial crisis - twice.
There was not one but two waves of container ship ordering in 2010, and then again in 2013-14. Interest rates were low and money was cheap. The result - a massive oversupply of vessels.
"The attitude in the industry was when you were not making profits the best thing to do was to cut costs, and the best way to cut costs is to increase scale, buying bigger and more fuel-efficient ships," explains Rahul Kapoor, director at shipping consultancy Drewry Financial Research Services.
"Before 2008 and 2009 the world had been growing consistently, and after 10 years of growth no-one in the shipping industry expected demand to shrink so fast.
"To start with they thought it was just a blip. But in reality it was structural, and they totally missed the structural problems."
And there was another reason to buy - and to buy big: the Panama Canal.
Last year it got a serious upgrade. The old locks could take container ships up to only 5,000 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit, roughly one container). These are known as Panamaxes.
But the new locks, with gates weighing 700 tonnes or more, are designed to take so called Neo-Panamaxes. These are giants, equivalent to the width and length of three football pitches laid end to end, and can carry about 13,000 TEU.
So shippers looking to carry cargoes from Asia to the American east coast ports, can now take Neo-Panamaxes through the new canal - and sell off their smaller Panamaxes.
That's why Panamaxes like the Hammonia Grenada are going cheap - in fact, they're going nowhere. If you want to charter one, according to research group Clarksons, it will cost you less than half of what it did a year ago.
Andrew Scorer of S&P Platts says: "You have a steady trickle of ships going to the scrap yard under the blowtorch, but you have these bigger TEU ships with bigger capacity, and they're going to be ruling the waves for now."
Meanwhile, ports are modernising to take the bigger cargoes. Baltimore, Charleston, Miami, New York and Savannah are all updating facilities to accommodate the Neo-Panamaxes.
For instance, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to spend $2.7bn on enlarging its terminals and shipping lanes, and a further $1.3bn to raise a bridge by 20 metres to get the monsters through.
But the fundamental problem of oversupply has not gone away.
According to Clarksons, the global fleet of all types of commercial shipping is 50% larger than it was before the financial crisis.
In contrast, the World Trade Organization says growth in global trade has been much smaller, creeping up from $14.3 trillion in 2007 to $16.7tn in 2015, an increase of just 15%.
It's not necessarily all doom and gloom. In fact, Drewry's latest Shipping Outlook suggests the market could actually be at a turning point.
It believes the problem of too many ships for too little cargo is now set to improve, and forecasts global freight rates will increase by 12% this year after four years of decline.
But the reality is that the slowing in global trade may have more profound causes - not to do with shipping or economic growth, but to do with how and what we consume.
Last year, Mr Kapoor wrote a report for Drewry's using the example of his son's excitement at buying the Pokemon Go app and comparing his own habits 15 years earlier.
While his son was happy to buy something electronic, back in Mr Kapoor's youth he would have bought something physical that may well have been shipped in a container from Asia.
"In an increasingly knowledge based and services driven global economic expansion, the trade expansion is stagnating," he wrote.
"The global manufacturing engines, world trade, credit driven GDP growth model is being increasingly challenged and world trade seems to be stuck in a time warp, barely growing." | In January 2010, the container ship Hammonia Grenada was delivered from a Chinese yard to its new owners, reportedly priced at about $60m (about £37m at that time). |
32847896 | Mike O'Leary, of Beulah Print, Drogheda, said that a complaint has been made under the Equal Status Act.
He said it was alleging sexual discrimination.
In March, the company defended its decision not to print the invitations for Jonathon Brennan and John Kierans.
The company said: "We are not against homosexuals, however we do not support same sex marriage, which printing wedding invitations would do."
Drogheda men Mr Brennan and Mr Kierans plan to marry in August.
On Friday, Mr Brennan declined to confirm if the complaint had come from the couple, but said they wanted "to put the issue to bed".
The company's Mr O'Leary said: "We can confirm that a complaint has been received which is now in the hands of the Equality Tribunal.
"The tribunal normally invites both parties to mediation in an effort to resolve the complaint so we expect this to take place shortly." | A County Louth printing company that refused to print civil partnership invitations for a gay couple has said that a complaint has been made about the decision to the Equality Tribunal. |
39442210 | Police had been monitoring the group from Kosovo for months amid concerns they were planning to join Islamist militants in Syria, reports said.
But police moved in at dawn on Thursday amid fears of a potential attack in the wake of the last week's murder of four people in London, reports said.
Twelve addresses were raided including 10 in the city's historic centre.
One of the raids took place close to the famed La Fenice opera house at around 04:00 (02:00 GMT), Italian media said.
Police said all four of those held had Italian residence permits. They said Italy's specialist Digos crime squad had been investigating the three adults on suspicion of radicalisation.
Two of the three had been working as waiters, one report said.
Italian police apparently tapped communications referring to the 22 March attack at Westminster, when Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a police officer outside parliament.
Who was Khalid Masood?
'No evidence' Masood linked to IS
Police decided to move in amid concerns that the alleged cell was planning a similar attack in Venice, possibly targeting a high profile tourist site such as the Rialto bridge over the city's Grand Canal, Italian media reported.
Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti praised the authorities' handling of the operation and said it showed their commitment in the fight against terrorism. | Three adults and a girl have been detained in the centre of Venice as suspects in an alleged jihadist cell. |
36249368 | Chorley station will be "upgraded" as the route is electrified in a £1bn scheme to improve journeys in northern England, Network Rail said.
From 18 June to 2 October, the line between Preston and Bolton will be closed every weekend with bus replacement services in operation.
Some weekday rail services after 21:00 BST will also be cancelled.
Weekend rail journeys between Manchester and Preston will be diverted via Wigan.
Both of Chorley's platforms will be rebuilt to make room for "faster, more frequent trains from December 2017", a Network Rail spokeswoman said.
She also warned there could be "noisy" work during weekends and at night.
"Significant engineering is required to move and lower the track through Chorley and there is no other option but to close the line at weekends while this is carried out."
It is expected that the electrification of the route from Preston to Blackpool will be complete by May 2018, she added.
Plans to electrify the line have been delayed previously including when Balfour Beatty pulled out last August.
Currently, only diesel trains run on the Manchester to Blackpool route but, a Northern Rail spokesman said, the introduction of electric trains would contribute to a 37% rise in passenger capacity across northern England by 2020.
An information event will be held at Chorley Town Hall between 1600 and 1900 BST on Tuesday.
Passengers are urged to check details with National Rail Enquiries before travelling. | Rail journeys between Manchester and Preston will be disrupted when major works start at a Lancashire station. |
Subsets and Splits