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29196644 | Matthew Miller was arrested in April, shortly after arriving as a tourist.
The US accuses North Korea of using Mr Miller and two other detained Americans as pawns in a diplomatic game.
The North Korean authorities have not specified the charges against Mr Miller, but they claim he tore up his visa and demanded asylum.
During the trial, prosecutors said Mr Miller admitted having a "wild ambition" to spend time in a North Korean prison so he could find out about the country's human rights situation, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Notes produced in court also suggested he had become a fugitive because he was involved with Wikileaks, the organisation that has leaked US state secrets.
Our correspondent in Seoul, Steve Evans, says it is impossible to know how those notes were written - whether under duress or not - and it is not clear whether there is any truth to the allegations.
After a 90-minute trial, the sentence was handed down and Mr Miller was handcuffed and led from the room, AP reports.
The White House has described securing the release of Mr Miller and the two other American citizens detained in North Korea as a "top priority".
In the past the US has been able to negotiate the release of American detainees.
Notably two journalists who were held whilst filming a documentary in North Korea were granted a "special pardon" after former President Clinton travelled to the country.
The US has offered several times to send Robert King, its special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to Pyongyang to discuss the detainees, but these visits have been cancelled by North Korea.
Mr Miller, 24, of Bakersfield in California, had been in custody since 10 April.
Little information has been released about him, and the US State Department said this was partly because he had not signed a Privacy Act Waiver, which allows information about him to be released to the public.
According to KCNA, Mr Miller tore up his tourist visa on arrival in the country and shouted that "he came to the DPRK [North Korea] after choosing it as a shelter."
In a brief interview with CNN earlier this month, attended by North Korean officials, Mr Miller said: "I will say that I prepared to violate the law of the DPRK before coming here."
He also said he deliberately committed his "crime", although he did not specify what he had done wrong.
Accordingly, much mystery remains, our correspondent says.
In a recent interview with Associated Press, all three American detainees appealed to the US government to send a high-ranking representative to negotiate about their freedom.
State department official Daniel Russel told Reuters last week that the US found North Korean treatment of its citizens "objectionable and distressing".
"This is the way that they play," he said. "They use human beings, and in this case Americans citizens, as pawns."
Jeffrey Fowle came to North Korea as a tourist but was arrested in May for allegedly leaving a Bible in a public place. North Korea considers the distribution or spreading of Christian information as incendiary.
Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in November 2012, is serving 15 years in a labour camp after being convicted of trying to overthrow North Korea's government. | A North Korean court has sentenced an American man to six years of hard labour for "hostile acts", the state-run KCNA news agency has said. |
27953164 | The attackers drove a car into the station and set off explosives on Saturday morning, the local government said on its website.
Three police suffered minor injuries but no civilians were hurt, it added.
The Chinese authorities blame Muslim Uighurs from Xinjiang for an increasing number of attacks in the province.
"On the morning of 21 June, a group of thugs drove a car into a police building in Yecheng County, Kashgar province and detonated explosives," the local government website said.
"Police shot dead the 13 attackers," it reported. It provided no further details.
Verifying reports from the Xinjiang region is difficult because access for journalists is restricted and the flow of information is tightly controlled.
The authorities have tightened security in Xinjiang in recent months.
On Monday, China executed 13 people in Xinjiang for what it called "terrorist attacks".
The authorities also sentenced three men - believed to Uighurs - over a fatal car crash in Beijing last year.
Five people were killed when a car ploughed into a crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square last October. Dozens of others were injured.
Attacks blamed by Beijing on Uighur separatists include deadly bomb and knife attacks on railway stations in Urumqi in Xinjiang, and Kunming in south-west China.
Uighur leaders deny that they are co-ordinating a terrorist campaign.
Activists have accused Beijing of exaggerating the threat from Uighur separatists to justify a crackdown on the Uighurs' religious and cultural freedoms.
Who are the Uighurs? | Thirteen assailants have been killed in an attack on a police station in China's restive western province of Xinjiang, officials say. |
34985777 | Hinckley has been without one since the MGM Canon, in Trinity Lane, closed in May 1993.
Cineworld, which is in The Crescent development near Lancaster Road, is hosting invited guests for its gala nights before opening to the public.
Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council said the town had been calling for a movie theatre for years.
Council leader Mike Hall explained the town could expect to see "gradual openings" of new businesses from now until March.
"The one thing that people have consistently said, whenever we've looked at development of the town centre, is they want a cinema.
"Thanks to Cineworld and the council, that's finally here," he said.
The Crescent, which also includes a bus station, shops and restaurants, is expected to create about 500 jobs.
Plans for the scheme were approved in 2011, but work did not begin until last year.
Tim Arnold, owner of newly-opened micro pub Elbow Room, said: "We spent two years looking for premises and when this opportunity came up, we felt we couldn't miss it.
"It's a fantastic location."
However, experts believe more work must be done to regenerate the town.
Philip Garton, principal lecturer in retailing at De Montfort University, said: "A lot of Hinckley was originally reliant on industry which is no longer there and it needs to find a new place for itself.
"Not just this one, but other developments that will help Hinckley going forwards." | A town is set to open its first cinema for 22 years as part of a £60m regeneration project. |
32331729 | The concrete Northam Bridge, which carries the A3024 road as a dual carriageway, needed waterproof coating.
The £1.2m works started in January and were expected to be completed in May, but the bridge has now reopened.
Jacqui Rayment, from Southampton City Council, said delays caused by the works were "absolutely necessary".
She added: "I'm sure drivers will welcome the news that we have been able to fully reopen Northam Bridge ahead of schedule.
"The bridge is a critical element of Southampton's transport and road network, which is why it was so important that this work went ahead when it did to protect the structure and ensure its future.
"Southampton and the wider regional economy is dependent on these key routes and we have avoided extensive future problems through these timely interventions."
On the first morning of the roadworks, some motorists faced delays of up to an hour as lane closures were put in place.
It's reopening was greeted with a sigh of relief on Twitter, with Mads tweeting: "Northam Bridge being reopened is a dream." | Repairs on a bridge that serves as one of the busiest routes in Southampton have been completed ahead of schedule. |
11522802 | In an open letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 45 US lawmakers said Haiti needed a strong, representative government in the wake of January's disaster which made a million and a half homeless and, according to the Haitian government, left more than 200,000 dead.
The letter said the decision of the electoral authorities, the Provisional Electoral Council, to exclude some of the most popular candidates from the 28 November poll, so potentially conferring decisions to a government perceived as illegitimate, was a "recipe for disaster".
The US lawmakers say the exclusion of candidates, including those from Fanmi Lavalas, which they describe as "Haiti's largest political party", risks causing popular unrest.
And they go as far as quoting former US President John Kennedy: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
Fanmi Lavalas leaders, some of whom are loyal to the exiled former Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, have been barred on technical grounds following a dispute between candidates.
The popular Haitian hip hop singer Wyclef Jean was excluded from running in the presidential poll because he was said not to meet eligibility requirements.
The lawmakers' letter to Mrs Clinton, issued last Thursday, says excluding candidates will undermine both the right of Haitians to vote and the resulting government's ability to govern.
The current Haitian government led by President Rene Preval has rejected allegations that it is excluding popular candidates for political reasons.
It said Fanmi Lavalas was split and some of its leaders unrepresentative of the party. And it said Wyclef Jean had spent too much of his time resident in the United States to be eligible for election.
In Haiti's fluid political landscape some prominent members of the current government claim allegiance to Fanmi Lavalas.
But many ordinary Haitian voters spontaneously say they support populists like Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Wyclef Jean, and they express deep scepticism about the current administration because it is not seen to have responded well to their needs after the earthquake.
The letter to Mrs Clinton said allowing the elections to proceed with the exclusions in place would "come back to haunt the international community" because the government that is elected will have to make difficult decisions about post-earthquake reconstruction and spend large amounts of aid money.
"Running transparently unfair, exclusive elections with the support of the international community, will leave many Haitians to conclude that they have no choice but to protest the elections and the consequent government through social disruption," the letter says.
Finally, the letter concludes that the US government should not provide any funding to elections that do not meet "basic democratic requirements". | Members of the US Congress have warned that post-earthquake Haiti is heading for unfair presidential and legislative elections next month because more than a dozen political parties have been barred from taking part. |
38854276 | Tighter school budgets mean "you lose and lack in quality", said Andreas Schleicher, boss of the PISA global education rankings.
His comments came amid growing concern among educationalists about school funding shortages in England.
Ministers said it was "incorrect" to say they were making cuts.
"If you take the same system and you take money out of it you lose and lack in quality. I think there's no question around it," Mr Schleicher, told the Times Educational Supplement (TES).
In December, the National Audit Office warned that schools in England were facing real terms cuts.
And head teachers have been warning about having to cut school hours, governors have threatened to refuse to sign off budgets and grammar school leaders have said they might have to start charging parents.
Last week, heads were angered when it was revealed that £384m earmarked for converting schools into academies last year had been taken back by the Treasury.
And a government plan to overhaul how school funding is allocated, which is intended to resolve long-standing anomalies in levels of funding, will also risk cuts in most schools, according to teachers' unions.
Mr Schleicher, education director of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, which runs the PISA rankings, told the TES that in high performing education systems like China, parents and government prioritised spending on education children.
"They invest in the future," he said. "The UK has already spent the money on consumption today, that's where the debt crisis came from.
"It's a value choice of societies to make. Education really is an important choice; that is the future.
"The school system today is your economy tomorrow, and that is something I worry about when governments have an attitude of. 'Oh well, let's cut some corners here'."
The latest PISA ranking, published in December, showed the UK lagging behind, having made little progress since the previous set of results, published three years previously.
The rankings, based on tests taken by 15-year-olds in more than 70 countries, showed the UK not only behind top performers such as Singapore and Finland but also trailing Vietnam, Poland and Estonia.
England had the strongest results in the UK - but they were described at the time as "flat in a changing world".
At the time, Mr Schleicher raised concerns that teacher shortages were "a major bottleneck" to raising standards.
In response to his latest comments, a Department for Education spokesman said the government had protected core schools' funding "and it is now at a record level - more than £40bn this year".
The spokesman said these figures meant it was "incorrect to say that we are taking money out of the system".
"We recognise, however, that schools are facing cost pressures, which is why we will continue to provide advice and support to help them use their funding in cost effective ways, including improving the way they buy goods and services, so‎ they get the best possible value for their pupils." | Financial pressure on schools in England will harm standards, one of the most influential figures in world education has warned. |
34035045 | The 30-year-old took a one-shot lead into the final day at Himmerland after rounds of 63, 67 and 68.
He then shot a 73 to finish 13-under-par and beat Terry Pilkadaris, Kristoffer Broberg, Daniel Gaunt and Soren Kjeldsen into tied second place.
Scotland's Paul Lawrie and Wales' Bradley Dredge both finished one shot further back on 10 under.
Stockport-born Horsey led from wire-to-wire, with Thursday's round including a 28 that equalled the lowest nine holes on the Tour this season.
Horsey shot three bogeys and one birdie in his last round, but it proved enough to hold off the challenge of Broberg.
The Swede climbed 50 places on the leaderboard after firing nine birdies in his final round.
It meant he carded a 62 on Sunday, but that left him two short of Horsey's 271 overall. | England's David Horsey won the Danish Open by two shots on Sunday to claim his fourth European Tour title. |
39855233 | Alexander Blackman was freed 11 days ago after serving three years in prison for killing a Taliban insurgent.
He said: "It's hard to explain how really good it is, just the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want."
His wife Claire said having her husband back home was "wonderful".
Blackman, 42, received a life sentence in 2013, but his murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter after a high-profile campaign led by his wife.
He added: "You feel like going outside for five minutes, you can, you feel like going outside for the whole day, you can. It's a really good feeling."
Mrs Blackman's work won a huge amount of public support and funding to pay for the legal battle to appeal the original conviction for murder and subsequent life sentence.
She said: "It's really here, we really did it and I did often wonder if it would ever come but it took a long time to sink in, I didn't quite believe it but now he's home it's wonderful."
The shooting took place after a British patrol base came under fire in 2011.
Speaking of the moment he killed the Taliban fighter, Blackman said: "I still don't know exactly why I did it.
"A moment of madness is the best description I can give, it's not exactly the proudest moment of my life when I look back on it.
"I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and I haven't got a definitive answer."
When asked if he would do the same, he said the circumstances were "unique" and unlikely to be replicated again.
Mrs Blackman added: "It's not for me to judge, I have no concept of just how incredibly stressful it must have been out there.
"I feel personally, fairly certain, that if he had a time machine and could go back and do things differently, he absolutely would but we don't have access to such things.
"What he's done he's done and we've had the chance to move on and we're looking forward to doing that."
Blackman added: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing and given what's especially happened to us in our life, if you could go back you would change things and perhaps do things different."
Excerpts of the ex-marine's helmet camera were shown during his trial.
He explained: "The trouble we found with that is that it's a five minute section of an incident that took well over an hour, and to be fair you can put quite a few different spins on what's said and, unless you were actually there, you don't know the full story.
"Obviously, I told my version of events when I was at trial along with the other guys that were there. I'm content that what I [said] was my belief at the time, if other people have other views, they are entitled to do that." | A former Royal Marine sergeant jailed for killing a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan says his first days of freedom are "a really good feeling". |
39279028 | The consultant, who does not wish to be named, stepped down following the revelation that an entire chapter of the final report had been removed.
It follows the resignation of two patient representatives who claimed the report had been watered down.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said no evidence would be hidden.
Transvaginal mesh implants are medical devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence in women, conditions that can commonly occur after childbirth.
What's the issue with mesh implants?
Over the past 20 years, more than 20,000 women in Scotland have had mesh or tape implants but some have suffered painful and debilitating complications.
There are more than 400 women currently taking legal action against Scottish health boards and manufacturers as a result of mesh implant surgery.
In 2014 former health secretary Alex Neil called for the suspension of such procedures, and an independent review group was set up to look at safety issues.
An interim report published in October 2015 did not advocate a blanket ban on mesh implants but noted that some women do experience serious complications and it made suggestions for reducing the risks. The final report is expected shortly.
Earlier this month, the BBC revealed that an expert member of the review group had written to its chairwoman, raising concerns about the final draft.
The letter states that an entire chapter, which highlighted concerns about the use of mesh in some procedures and contained tables displaying the risks of treatment, had been taken out.
Patients representatives Olive McIlroy and Elaine Holmes, who have both suffered complications as a result of such surgery, resigned from the review earlier this month, claiming that the final report now lacked integrity and independence.
Responding to the latest resignation, Health Secretary Shona Robison said clinical experts sometimes disagreed on complex medical matters.
She said: "I want to reassure the Scottish Mesh Survivors Group their views have been heard, and I want them to remain at the centre of the crucial work.
"I have been clear that all evidence must be made publically available alongside the report once published. The chair of the Review Group has stressed to me the evidence has been fully considered by the review and none has been hidden.
"This is a complex, technical area and on occasions professionals will disagree. I am aware of the resignation of a clinical member from the group and, while this is unfortunate, their views and contribution to the review is much-appreciated and have proven valuable."
Ms Robision is due to meet Olive McIlroy and Elaine Holmes later this week to discuss their concerns.
In December, the BBC revealed that hundreds of mesh implant operations had been performed in Scotland despite ministers recommending their suspension.
Figures obtained by the BBC revealed that 404 women had received mesh and tape implants since the health secretary called for the suspension in June 2014. | An expert at the centre of the independent review group looking at the safety of mesh implants in Scotland has resigned. |
33080087 | Anthony Munkley, known as Charlie, 53, and Lee Michael Roberts, 33, deny the murder of Sion Davies, 25, in the Caia Park area of Wrexham in October 2014.
Mr Munkley's wife Gwenythe, 55, also appeared in Mold Crown Court and denied attempting to pervert the course of justice.
All three defendants also face charges related to the supply of drugs.
The court heard that Mr Davies was shot at several times and "stabbed and slashed repeatedly" in a dispute over drugs.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Andrew Thomas QC told the jury he was then chased onto a balcony and fell three floors but did not die immediately.
He said he was left undiscovered in the back yard of the flats for nearly three hours and eventually died from a combination of stab wounds and a head injury which he suffered as a result of the fall.
Mr Thomas told the court that Mr Munkley and Mr Roberts's accounts of what happened were inconsistent.
He said that Mr Munkley had claimed the deceased arrived at his flat with an unknown man with a Geordie accent.
The court was told that Mr Munkley claimed to have left the flat when the two men began fighting each other.
The prosecutor also said that Mr Munkley had claimed that his co-defendant Mr Roberts was not present.
Mr Thomas said by contrast Mr Roberts admitted he was at the flat with Mr Munkley at the time of the attack but that Mr Munkley acted alone.
"On his account, there was no Geordie male," said Mr Thomas.
In a police interview Mrs Munkley admitted that she drove her husband to Rochdale after the incident.
"She says that all she knew was what her husband told her, namely that two men had started fighting in their flat. As far as she was aware, her husband had nothing to do with it," Mr Thomas explained.
The case is continuing. | A man died after being shot with a crossbow, stabbed and falling from a third floor balcony, a court has heard. |
38814510 | Rossco Stern, Charlie Hill and Gary Thoms carried out the attack after turning up uninvited to the Halloween party in Dundee.
A sheriff said CCTV footage of the attack was "one of the worst outbursts of violence" he had ever seen.
The trio were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on 23 February.
A trial at Dundee Sheriff Court was told that the men had been thrown out of the party after sparking an argument.
The CCTV footage showed victims Liam Holt, Fraser Nicoll and Michael Craib being attacked as they tried to flee the attackers.
Mr Holt was seen being thrown to the ground before one of the gang repeatedly struck him on the head with a baseball bat while another, identified as Thoms, kicked his head.
Knives were seen being brandished and repeatedly used on the victims, who eventually escaped..
Pictures of Mr Craib's injuries showed a deep gash on his neck.
He told the court: "It was only just above my jugular.
"When I went back outside Liam was on the ground - I thought he was dead."
Jodie Feeney, who hosted the party, told the court: "Rossco Stern was shouting and screaming.
"He was saying 'I'm from Glasgow - I'll show you how it's done'."
Stern, 23, of Glasgow, and Hill, 33, of Dundee, admitted two charges each of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement on the third day of their trial.
Thoms, 33, of Dundee, had denied a charge of assaulting Liam Holt to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement, but was found guilty by a jury.
Sheriff George Way deferred sentence for social work background reports.
He told the men: "It is perhaps one of the worst outbursts of violence I have ever had to witness through CCTV.
"It was sustained and brutal.
"You should be in no doubt that a custodial sentence of some length is at the forefront of my mind." | Three men convicted of attacking three fancy dress partygoers with knives and baseball bats have been warned they face lengthy prison sentences. |
30602423 | The Olympic gymnastic silver medallist, who won Strictly in 2012, earned his latest success on the night that Sir Bruce Forsyth returned to the show.
Smith and professional partner Aliona Vilani earned a perfect score of 40 points from the judges for their quickstep to Jingle Bells.
They won after the judges' and studio audience's scores were combined.
Smith competed against other contestants from previous series - Rachel Stevens, Lisa Riley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Chris Hollins and Russell Grant.
The 25-year-old said of his win: "It's a nice present, I am not going to lie! We've had such a fun time although the first week of rehearsals was hard.
"But since then we have just been chilling out, laughing and giggling, messing around on the dance floor, it's been really good fun."
The contestants and judges adopted the roles of pantomime characters.
Sir Bruce, who stepped down as the regular weekly host of the programme this year, came back to present the show with Tess Daly and also sang a version of Winter Wonderland. | Louis Smith has won his second Strictly Come Dancing title after triumphing in the 2014 Christmas special. |
37888741 | Three crews from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue were called to the wooden castle playhouse in Wells Recreation Ground on Saturday night.
Fireworks residue was found on site and fire officers believe the blaze was started deliberately.
The £160,000 park opened last Sunday after four years of planning by the community and Mendip District Council.
Gavin Ellis, from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, said an investigation was under way.
He also said a witness saw some people using fireworks in Wells Recreation Ground before the blaze, which began shortly before 20:00 GMT.
Councillor John North, chair of the Bishops Barn and Recreation Ground Trust in Wells, said: "Initially I was incandescent with anger about this and in some ways I still am," he said.
"It took a group of people, Better Play Areas for Wells and the board of trustees four years to deliver a destination play area for Wells.
"Within six and a half days of it being opened... it's been burned down by someone.
"It was a great asset for the community, it brought families together."
Resident Matthew Hartnett, said: "It took nine months to build, and destroyed in five minutes.
"Everyone is absolutely devastated, there's a real sense of loss to everyone, a lot of people were due to take their children there today."
The Better Play Area for Wells group said much of the play area was open, but its wooden castle will need replacing.
"The trustees will be having an emergency meeting this week to review their options," it said.
A crowd funding page has since been set up to rebuild the park. | A children's play area has been destroyed in a suspected arson attack just days after it was opened. |
39380244 | With the Republic of Ireland and Wales playing out a goalless draw on Friday and England, Northern Ireland and Scotland preparing for Sunday's games, BBC Sport takes a look at some of the stories from elsewhere in the world...
This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser | World Cup qualifying for the 2018 finals in Russia continues over the next few days. |
40682346 | The "entire teaching staff" at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School "will leave at the end of the term", the Bristol Post has reported.
South Gloucestershire Council said it is aware of the concerns from the National Union of Teachers and "is willing to work with its representatives".
The school is yet to comment.
A spokeswoman for South Gloucestershire NUT said staff had complained that a "heavy-handed management style has caused so many teachers to be off with stress".
She added: "This rate of turnover is unacceptable. Children need consistency and stability. There should have been much stronger intervention once the situation was known."
Clifton Diocese would not comment but instead directed the BBC to South Gloucestershire Council.
A spokesman for the local authority said the newspaper figure of 16 staff leaving over the year is "misleading" as it includes temporary staff brought in to cover people leaving mid-year.
But he confirmed seven long-term teachers have resigned over the course of this year includes two moving to other schools, the acting head who is taking up promotion elsewhere, and one member of staff's fixed-term contract ending.
He added a new head has been appointed and will take up the post in January with leadership in the interim from the executive head. | A teachers' union at a school in Bristol has spoken of an "atmosphere of fear" where "results are placed above the welfare of children". |
29267748 | PM Tony Abbot said Australian Federal Police would assume responsibility for security at the site in Canberra.
The move came a day after major anti-terrorism raids took place in Sydney.
They were aimed at thwarting an alleged plan by Islamic State (IS) supporters to carry out killings in Australia, including an on-camera beheading.
In recent weeks, IS - a militant Islamist movement which has seized vast areas of Iraq and Syria - has released video footage showing the beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker seized.
Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Abbott said parliament had been identified as a potential target.
"There certainly has been chatter amongst the terrorist support networks of an attack on government and government people, and Parliament House has been specifically mentioned," he said.
As a result, an urgent security review had taken place.
"Subsequently we are placing the Australian Federal Police in charge of security, not just outside the building but inside the building as well," he said.
Security has until now been handled by an in-house security team.
Asked about Thursday's raids, Mr Abbott said that security officials had acted quickly to disrupt the alleged terror network "because we believed that a demonstration execution was likely quickly".
More than 800 officers took part in the operation, which resulted in 15 arrests.
Australia media reports say the operation was triggered by an intercepted telephone call between the most senior Australian member of IS and domestic sympathisers in which he told them to carry out a series of random beheadings.
Two men have since been charged. One of them, 22-year-old Omarjan Azari, has been charged with conspiracy to commit acts in preparation of a terrorist act and financing terrorism, the AFP said in a statement.
Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said Mr Azari had planned to commit "extremely serious" offences that involved "an unusual level of fanaticism" and were "clearly designed to shock, horrify and terrify" the public.
A 24-year-old man was charged with unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon and possessing ammunition without a licence.
Phil Mercer: Australia's home-grown terror threat
Who are Australia's radicalised Muslims?
Australia last week raised its terror threat level from medium to high - the second highest rank - amid mounting concern over the impact of Australians fighting with Islamic militant groups in the Middle East on domestic security.
Officials say dozens of Australians have gone to fight for IS, which has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria, and the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-affiliated rebel group in Syria.
Australia has recently committed troops to combat IS in Iraq. | Security is being upgraded at the Australian parliament following "chatter" suggesting extremists could target it for attack. |
38144908 | Speaking to Maclean's magazine, she said that having a female prime minister is "the best thing that's happened" to the UK for a long time.
"I actually really like her," the British singer-songwriter said.
"I will say it is great to have a woman in charge of the country. She's very sensible and I think that's a good thing at this point in time."
The singer was responding to a question from the interviewer about her 1985 song Waking the Witch, which she once said was about "the fear of women's power".
Bush said May was "a very intelligent woman but I don't see much to fear".
The singer performed a version of Waking The Witch on her newly released live album of tracks from her 2014 Hammersmith Apollo residency, which could be heading to the top of the UK album chart this weekend.
Bush previously wrote a song for a sketch on a 1990 episode of TV series The Comic Strip, about the former Labour Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.
The lyrics included: "Look to the left and to the right. We need help and there's nobody in sight. Where is the man that we all need? Well tell him he's to come and rescue me. Ken is the man that we all need. Ken is the leader of the GLC."
The track also describes Livingstone as "a sex machine".
In an 2010 interview with Kate Bush fanzine KateBushNews.com, Livingstone said: "Of course I was a fan of the song... If only Kate Bush had seen me as a real sex machine!"
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Kate Bush has described Theresa May as "wonderful" in a Canadian magazine interview. |
39201464 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos denied the hosts a penalty when 1-0 up before later awarding one for a Laurent Koscielny foul on Robert Lewandowski.
Koscielny was sent off as Arsenal lost 5-1 on Tuesday and 10-2 on aggregate.
"The penalty and red card are absolutely unexplainable and scandalous," Gunners boss Wenger said.
"It's irresponsible from the referee. It leaves me very angry and very frustrated."
Arsenal faced an uphill struggle going into Tuesday's second leg having suffered a 5-1 defeat in Germany three weeks ago.
Theo Walcott's first-half strike gave them a sliver of hope, but that vanished when Lewandowski scored from the spot shortly after the restart and Koscielny was sent off for the foul that led to the penalty.
Sidiropoulos initially showed Koscielny a yellow card but upgraded that to a red after consulting his assistant on the byeline, with the defender apparently deemed to have committed a deliberate foul.
Under laws introduced in April, the previous punishment of a red card and a penalty for a foul in the box that denies a goalscoring opportunity was changed.
Now, players committing accidental fouls that deny a goalscoring chance are shown a yellow instead - but deliberate fouls still incur a red card.
After Bayern's equaliser, Arsenal's momentum faded. They conceded four goals in 17 minutes but, despite suffering the biggest aggregate defeat of an English side in the Champions League, Wenger said the result did not "reflect the courage of the performance".
"Overall it's difficult to understand what's happened," he told BT Sport. "I still must say my team has produced a huge effort and played very well."
Wenger added he thought Xabi Alonso's challenge on Theo Walcott in the first half was "100% a penalty", and also claimed Bayern striker Lewandowski was offside in the build-up to the foul by Koscielny that resulted in the French defender's dismissal.
"It's just not serious," Wenger said.
"When you see the importance of the games and you see an attitude like that I am absolutely revolted and sorry for people who come and pay a lot of money to watch this kind of game."
The 67-year-old Frenchman was also the subject of protests from fans before the game at Emirates Stadium, asking for him to step down.
When asked about the demonstration, Wenger said: "I've nothing to add to that."
The Gunners have now been knocked out at this stage of the Champions League for seven successive seasons.
And it would be the "right decision for the club" if Wenger was to leave after 21 years in charge, says former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas.
"Changes seem inevitable," Jenas told BBC Radio 5 live. "This is a pivotal moment in Arsenal's history, a moment to look on. There needs to be a cleansing."
Neil Lennon echoed that sentiment, calling Arsenal "a team of spoiled brats, who throw in the towel too easily at times".
"What I don't want is for Arsene to tarnish his legacy," said the Hibernian manager.
"Since they reached the Champions League final in 2006, there's been a steady decline and there comes a point where people switch off to it and that point has come."
Arsenal's best chance of silverware this season is in the FA Cup and they host non-league Lincoln City in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
They are fifth in the Premier League, 16 points behind leaders Chelsea and two points adrift of fourth-place Liverpool, although they have a game in hand.
"It will be a tough ask to get into the top four," said Jenas. "You have seen over the last two games... the way they fell apart has not been great for Wenger."
Media playback is not supported on this device
There was also reaction from other former professionals, including ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright.
He told BT Sport: "The first game was more upsetting than this, but it's a sad day because we've gone out again at this stage. We're going through a period in our history that's the worst.
"It will take some sort of monumental effort to turn it around in terms of the drive and determination of the players. It feels like something is coming to an end."
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand added: "The last 10 years in terms of league trophies and the Champions League, it's been a disappointing time.
"It's disappointing to see Wenger go out on this note after all he's done. At this moment in time things are not going right and he can't seem to find the answer."
Ex-Arsenal Ladies captain Rachel Yankey
If you get rid of Arsene Wenger, what next? Who do you bring in? Where is the club going to go?
For me, the question over who should be manager obscures the wider issues of what is going wrong.
The team needs to be better, but all the focus is on Wenger when surely it's the players who need to be taking more responsibility on the pitch.
When things go wrong, you want to see character. We've not seen that from them in recent games.
We don't know the whole story about what happened with Alexis Sanchez, but players having bust-ups in training? I don't see that as a bad thing.
Football should be a passionate game, you want to see people pushing each other on.
James Holness: Wenger points the finger of blame elsewhere for Arsenal's failings, but ultimately he MUST take responsibility. He has to go.
Grumpy Expat: I love Arsene Wenger. Given me many happy memories. I loved my ex-girlfriend too. As difficult as it was, that had to end too.
Craig Smith: Sad day for Arsenal as Wenger's legacy is going down in flames. Hope he quits early so can be given a positive send off.
Tim: Wenger shouldn't be given the option of turning down new deal. No one is bigger than the club. Sack him. Now.
Johnny Magrinho: Wenger to blame? Ridiculous. The success he's brought to this club is astronomical. This? Not his fault. Blame the players.
RobroyMan: Arsenal need a serious rebuild from the board down. Mentality is marshmallow. Bellerin, Ozil and Sanchez gone. Manager is responsible for the character of his team, full stop. Bring In Allegri.
Rewstep: Well now go, Walk out the door, Just turn around now, you're not manager any more...
Selected from user comments and tweets sent to #bbcfootball | Arsene Wenger said he was "revolted" by the referee after his "brave" Arsenal side suffered a last-16 Champions League thrashing by Bayern Munich. |
39896388 | "We call it the 'yellow brick road'," said George Tunnicliffe, the theatre's head of IT operations, who could be considered the wizard at the heart of this venerable institution.
But Mr Tunnicliffe has little else in common with the man behind the curtains in Oz, who was all show and no substance. He leaves the showboating to the actors, producers, directors, stage hands and support staff who put on about 30 different productions a year.
"We want those guys to work without having to think about cyber-security and things like that, their job is to put on an awesome production," he said during a backstage tour of the theatre.
Mr Tunnicliffe organises its defences against not only the kind of cyber-attacks faced by other companies, but theatre-specific ones like touts trying to grab tickets to popular shows.
"We do see a lot of attacks and they are getting more sophisticated," he said.
At the heart of the security stance is a much greater knowledge of who is doing what on the theatre's network - no matter where they are.
"We've spent a lot of time understanding how everyone works," he said. "We have a monitoring board in the IT office so we can see minute-by-minute what's going on and where issues are happening."
That's key, he said, because it can expose ongoing attacks and the reconnaissance many hackers carry out before they strike.
"Every device has information on it that could be useful to an attacker," said Mr Tunnicliffe.
"With drive-by and phishing attacks that's what people are looking to do - build up a picture of an organisation," he said. "Especially with something like whaling and the social engineering element of that."
Whaling is a very tightly-focused form of phishing which plays on a close knowledge of an organisation's internal structure to forge emails from executives that make finance staff speed up the payment of a fictitious invoice or bill.
Millions of pounds has been lost by organisations that have fallen victim to that kind of scam.
The monitoring board helps spot when data is going astray or a machine is visiting a site with a reputation for being involved in a scam.
Complementing this is work to segment internal systems so staff working for different bits of the theatre only see a small part of the whole organisation.
That helps with some of the unique challenges faced by an organisation like the theatre which, although it has its headquarters in London, has a mandated role to bring art and drama to as wide an audience as possible.
It has units staging productions around the UK and the world - War Horse is currently on tour in China. It also runs workshops for schools and, via its Connections programme, lets drama groups for younger people enjoy a taste of professional theatre.
During an average year it stages 3,000 performances seen by a total audience of about 2.5 million people - 700,000 of whom see them live.
Productions work to a six-week rehearsal and staging schedule which means there is a constant flow of temporary staff through the building.
"Organisations that do have a high turnover of staff usually have a high risk of insider threat," said Neil Thacker from security firm Forcepoint, which helps the theatre secure its digital borders. "That can be because they are learning new systems and making mistakes and data is lost accidentally."
The strict divisions among staff who work together limits the information that could be leaked and helps investigate what caused data to go astray, said Mr Thacker. That can be critical to help understand the nature of a threat - whether it was malicious or a mistake.
"We know where data is and then, if it leaves, we know where it has gone," said Mr Tunnicliffe.
Alongside this goes an active programme of testing that tries to prepare staff for the bad day when disaster strikes. It is inevitable that it will, he said, because no defence is ever going to be 100% proof against the barrage of threats it, and every other organisation, is hit with every day.
"We have spent a lot of time creating disaster recovery scenarios," he said. "We've practiced viruses taking down the network, ransomware outbreaks and things like that."
Carrying out the drills means that staff should be able to react more quickly and effectively when they need to, said Mr Tunnicliffe.
"We repeat these scenarios and test them at different points in time," he said.
For many of the most likely security disasters, the NT has created tools that can quickly fix a problem, such as a till in a restaurant failing, or that can diagnose and repair a key part of the theatre's infrastructure.
"We've built push button stuff so the engineers do not have to think about what to do when they need to solve a problem," he said. "We have a good sense of where our kit is and what it is linked to, so if something happens we know what is going to be affected."
The ideal is when the directors, actors and support staff can get on with what they do without having to be an expert on the intricacies of cyber-security or changing practices distilled over decades.
It is a situation the National Theatre is steadily working towards, said Mr Tunnicliffe.
"They are here to do the art and I am here to make it safe," he said.
This week BBC News is taking a close look at all aspects of cyber-security. The coverage is timed to coincide with the two biggest shows in the security calendar - Black Hat and Def Con.
We will have further features and videos on Wednesday, and then coverage from the two Las Vegas-based events over the following days.
Follow all our coverage via this link | Step through the stage door of the National Theatre on London's South Bank and you will find yourself in a corridor with a bright yellow floor. |
19953445 | The 24-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur in March.
He returned to the Reebok Stadium earlier to promote the Hearts and Goals campaign.
The initiative aims to increase the number of defibrillators in public places and offer CPR training.
Muamba's heart stopped for 78 minutes after he collapsed on the pitch and medics used a defibrillator several times to restart his heart.
He said: "It happened to me and I had the right people at the right time to help me.
"I was grateful to be saved by people and I wanted to be part of this.
"Hopefully we can put this machine in every public place we can to help people save lives."
The campaign is run in association with Bolton Wanderers, the Arrhythmia Alliance based in Stratford-upon-Avon and the Heart Rhythm Charity.
Muamba said he had not ruled out a return to football, but has designs on some of the game's less stressful roles.
"To be a coach you need a bigger heart and my heart is very tiny," he added. "I had a cardiac arrest playing football and you see coaches having heart problems.
"That's why I'll walk away from football and do something different in my life.
"I would like to be upstairs, be a director of football. Wearing the suits, looking smart and talking about football - no strain on the heart at all." | Former Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba is supporting a year-long campaign that aims to prevent death from sudden cardiac arrests. |
35797572 | The man, aged in his 40s, was found dead at a house in Thornton Road, Morecambe, at about 22:00 GMT on Friday.
An investigation is under way after police were called by paramedics.
A woman had also apparently taken the substance but survived and is helping officers with their inquiries, Lancashire Police said.
Legal highs produce the same, or similar effects, to drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, but are not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
They cannot be sold for human consumption, but are often given labels such as "plant food" to get around the law.
Recent studies have shown deaths linked to the substances are increasing. | A man has died after taking a so-called legal high in Lancashire, police have said. |
34952813 | Caparo Tubular Solutions has been sold to the Gupta family, which manages metals group Liberty House, PwC said.
The sale, described as a "sliver of good news" by a union boss, secures hundreds of jobs in the West Midlands and Blaenau Gwent.
In October, Caparo announced 452 jobs were to go across the country, including 300 in the West Midlands, after it entered administration.
A total of 76 jobs in the West Midlands and south of England were saved last week when PwC confirmed Caparo Testing Technologies had been sold.
It brings the total number of jobs saved at the company to 409.
PwC said clarifying the number of posts secured in each location was difficult because some staff work across more than one site.
The latest sale includes the businesses of Caparo Precision Tubes, Caparo Tube Components and Caparo Accles and Pollock, all based in Oldbury, West Midlands.
Also saved are steel distributor Hub Le Bas in Bilston, West Midlands and the Caparo Tubes Tredegar Asset in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent.
Sanjeev Gupta, chief executive of Liberty House, described the Caparo tube businesses as "a major complement" to the company's own hot rolled coil production, based in Newport, south-east Wales.
He said: "I believe that, despite the current difficulties being encountered by the UK steel industry there is a future for the sector in Britain.
"Caparo Tubular Solutions was a fundamentally profitable business with substantial, sustainable value, and we were very attracted to its highly-skilled management and workforce, extensive distribution network and top-quality customer base."
Robert Moran, partner at PwC, said: "The sale of Caparo Tubular Solutions is a major boost for the midlands economy, the employees of Caparo and more widely for the UK steel industry.
"This deal preserves all 333 jobs at Caparo Tubular Solutions, which manufactures, distributes and supplies advanced tube components and parts for the automotive and aerospace industries in the West Midlands and south Wales."
Unions have blamed cheap imports from China for the UK steel industry's problems.
Russell Farrington, GMB regional organiser, said: "This is a sliver of good news for workers in the steel industry.
"GMB warmly welcome this for the Caparo workers we represent in the West Midlands. We have made progress on the energy prices front for the UK steel industry.
"We now need action on dumping." | A further 333 jobs have been saved at steel firm Caparo, administrators say. |
35429472 | George Osborne said that he would not give the go-ahead until the markets had calmed, saying that "now is not the right time".
He said he still supported encouraging wider share ownership in Britain.
The taxpayer still owns just under 10% of the bank.
The sale of the final part of the government's stake in Lloyds was a general election pledge made by Prime Minister David Cameron.
It was expected to raise £2bn, making it one of the largest privatisations since the 1980s when BT and British Gas were sold, raising £3.9bn and £5.6bn respectively.
Mr Osborne announced the details of the Lloyds sale to hundreds of thousands of small investors last October.
It was thought the sale would take place in the spring.
But since then Lloyds' share price has fallen and the trading environment for banks has become tougher.
Low interest rates also make profits harder to come by across the sector.
In October, Lloyds share price was 78p, above the 74p considered to be the "in price" the government paid to rescue the bank during the financial crisis - when it used billions of pounds of tax-payers money to shore up the financial system.
That share price is now down at 64p, so the government would be selling the shares to the public at a considerable loss.
Mr Osborne told BBC News that his "principal concern" in deciding to postpone the sale was turbulence in the financial markets, despite "hundreds of thousands" of private investors being "interested".
"I want to create a share owning democracy and I want to give the British people a chance to buy shares in Lloyds bank, a bank that they had to bail out. It is also my responsibility to make sure we have a secure and sound economy and with these turbulent financial markets it wouldn't be right to have the Lloyds share sale now," he said.
"There will be a sale of shares [in] Lloyds but only when the time is right for people.
"We need those markets to calm down, and then we can proceed with the sale. We've got hundreds of thousands of people interested in buying these shares, I want to sell them the shares, but it wouldn't be right to undertake that sale when frankly things are pretty turbulent out there on the stock markets and the global financial markets."
September 2008: Lloyds takes on collapsed bank HBOS
October 2008: Labour government reveals it has bailed out Lloyds, taking a stake of 43%
April 2010: Lloyds announces a profit for the first time since the crisis
September 2013: Coalition government starts return of the bank to the private sector, selling part of its stake to major institutional investors
October 2015: Conservative government says it will sell its final stake in Lloyds with shares offered to private investors
January 2016: Chancellor George Osborne says the sale is being delayed owing to turbulent markets
On Wednesday, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced billions of pounds of new provisions to pay for fines and legal actions connected to the financial crisis.
Its share price has also fallen.
The government owns 73% of RBS and just under 10% of Lloyds. It does not look like it will be selling either stake any time soon.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "This will be a big disappointment for the hundreds of thousands of investors who had queued up for a chunk of Lloyds, but taking a big loss on selling shares when markets are low was always going to be a bridge too far for the chancellor.
"The timetable for the share sale has always been vague being 'spring' of 2016. The government are looking to obtain a good price for the remaining 10% of the Lloyds Banking Group they own and timing to get the best value around issues such as the Budget, financial and tax year end and Lloyd's own financial calendar was always going to be tricky.
"Market volatility in recent months has seen UK stock market values fall by around 20% since the April 2015 high, so its understandable that the share sale is being delayed."
This decision comes after sales of publicly-owned assets, including Royal Mail and Eurostar, raised more money for the government in 2015 than any other year in history, according to new analysis by the Press Association.
A total of £26.4bn was made through privatisations, beating by almost £6m the previous record set in 1987. | The chancellor has postponed the sale of the government's final stake in Lloyds Banking Group, saying the global turmoil in the markets and slowing growth had sparked the delay. |
40638924 | Company leaders said the gains are a sign that investment in new shows and movies is paying off as online television becomes more popular.
The firm is behind shows such as 13 Reasons Why, about teen suicide, and the political drama House of Cards.
Boss Reed Hastings said it was "the rewards of doing great content".
Netflix shares rose more than 10% in after-hours trading following the announcement of its second quarter earnings.
Company leaders said new content creation was critical to competing against other online rivals such as Amazon and YouTube, as well as traditional television.
They said generating new content also meant streaming services were expanding the size of the overall market.
"The largely exclusive nature of each service's content means that we are not direct substitutes for each other, but rather complements," company leaders wrote in a letter to shareholders.
"The shift from linear TV to on-demand viewing is so big and there is so much leisure time, many internet TV services will be successful."
Netflix said it added about 5.2 million members during the quarter, most from overseas.
International members now account for about half of Netflix subscribers, the firm said.
The firm has cultivated those audiences with movies such as Okja, a film made by one of South Korea's top directors about a young girl's quest to recover a giant companion from a multi-national corporation.
The firm also said it expects international members to help boost profits for the year - a first for that part of the business.
The growth helped produce $2.8bn in quarterly revenue, up more than 32% from the same period in 2016.
Netflix said it expects revenue to reach nearly $3bn in the third quarter.
Profits for the three months that ended in June were $65.6m, up about 60% year-on-year.
Company leaders also told investors they plan to continue to invest more in content as the firm grows. | Netflix shares surged on Monday after the firm said it now has about 104 million subscribers, a larger-than-expected number that boosted revenues. |
36916720 | The Armada portrait, thought to have been painted in 1590, was being sold by descendants of Sir Francis Drake.
An Art Fund appeal generated £1.5m from 8,000 donations. The Heritage Lottery Fund gave £7.4m; the Art Fund and Royal Museums Greenwich were major donors.
The picture will go on show at the Queen's House in Greenwich, near the site of Elizabeth's birth, in October.
The painting, considered to be a masterpiece of the English Renaissance, commemorates one of the most famous moments of Elizabeth's reign, the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Sir Francis was the vice admiral of the English fleet at the time and it is believed he may even have commissioned the painting, which is unusual for its large size - 3ft 7ins by 4ft 1in (1.1m by 1.25m) - and horizontal format.
The Art Fund donated £1m to the cost of the painting, while Royal Museums Greenwich supplied £400,000.
The remaining funds came from the Linbury Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Headley Trust.
Stephen Deuchar, director of The Art Fund, said the campaign to save the painting had been "a triumph of popular will".
"Record numbers of donors, large and small, stepped forward with determination and generosity, creating an irresistible momentum that has brought this great work into public ownership at last," he said.
HLF chairman Sir Peter Luff said the painting was "a compelling historic icon, illustrating as it does a decisive conflict, inspiring female leadership, maritime power and the emergence of the Elizabethan 'Golden Age'".
"This image has shaped our understanding of the Virgin Queen for over 400 years and I am delighted that it will now have such an appropriate permanent home in Greenwich," he added.
The painting will be the centrepiece for the reopening of the Queen's House on 11 October.
It will then undergo a conservation process to "restore its fragile painted surfaces" before becoming part of an exhibition and outreach programme, an Art Fund spokeswoman said.
Among those who donated to the appeal were a seven-year-old Wakefield girl, who sold Elizabeth I cupcakes whilst dressed in a costume inspired by the painting, and pupils at St Paul's Girl School in London, who held a bake sale to raise funds.
St Paul's history teacher Blanche Girouard said the girls "study the portrait when we teach Elizabeth I and the Armada, so [they were] very keen to help save it for the nation".
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or email [email protected]. | A portrait of Elizabeth I has become public property, after an appeal helped raise £10.3m to buy it. |
17966355 | Citigroup got roasted by its investors. Aviva in the UK got the thumbs down on Thursday and companies like Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser and UBS have all been given nasty shocks.
The accepted explanation for this behaviour is that shareholders have been faced with declining returns and watched in increasing frustration as boardroom pay has gone ever upwards until, finally, they've lost their collective rags.
There is even some evidence to suppose this insubordination might be catching.
However the bigger question is why this didn't happen a long time ago.
While investors may well get upset in times of a crisis when they see their management walking away with big bonuses, they seem to have been remarkably insouciant when times were good, even though they were still seeing salaries outstrip their own returns. Why did they do nothing then?
The fact that they did so little suggests that when some kind of growth returns shareholders will return to their old negligent ways.
For illustration, you only have to look back at the first part of the last decade when shareholders could have expected to make handsome returns - if one regarded the rises in salaries of their chief executives as an indicator of their investments' growth and profitability.
According to the US-based Economic Policy Institute, pay for the average chief executive of a company making more than $1bn in revenue in the US rose 84% to $6.05m on an inflation-adjusted basis between 2000 and 2005.
The S&P 500 index in that time rose, er, minus 17%.
Comparing return on an investment with the growth in an annual salary is strictly speaking not a valid comparison - even so there is an obvious disparity here.
The greatest annoyance was over severance pay which displayed the most blatant mismatch of performance and reward.
For instance, Pfizer's former chief executive Henry A McKinnell was forced into early retirement after the company's stock price fell, but still managed to leave with an astonishing golden parachute worth more than $180m.
Mattel boss Jill Barad received $50m in severance pay after a disastrous internet investment at the peak of the tech bubble, which saw Mattel's stock price fall by 50%, wiping out $2.5bn in shareholder value.
Much of the rise in corporate remuneration comes in stock options, which are meant to reflect the performance of the chief executive - which they did, up to a point.
Often they can increase in value simply because the whole market is rising. That is becoming increasingly apparent as chief executives exercise options for huge numbers of shares granted them at the bottom of the market in 2008/9.
But there have been slow - some would say painfully slow - attempts at reform such as bringing in shareholder votes on executive pay in the UK.
In the US, shareholders won the right to vote on executive pay at most public companies under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.
These are non-binding but as they start to be exercised more forcefully may start to impose greater restraint on board room pay.
Indeed the Citgroup vote was followed up by a shareholder suing the bank accusing directors of breaching their fiduciary duties by awarding more than $54m of compensation in 2011 to the executives, though the bank's performance did not necessarily justify it.
They may well stiffened by increased legislation.
The UK's Business Secretary Vince Cable is suggesting that shareholder votes might become binding and also that boards may have to have 75% approval to get their pay packages approved.
And then there is the case of individual shareholder activism, which rather than being constrained to fund managers, could start working all the way down the ownership chain.
Louise Rouse, of the UK's FairPensions campaign group, explains: "What we have been seeing over the last decade instead of a redistribution of resources to shareholders in the form of dividends is money going to excessive executive pay.
"So we want to see ordinary individuals holding the pension funds and the institutional investors to account asking them directly how they vote on pay packages.
"That sort of scrutiny would lead to greater action on their part." | The revolt against excessive pay has been gathering pace over the past month, with shareholders delivering humiliating "no" votes to a number of chief executives. |
29668785 | The country's military ruler dropped objections to accepting help in the case after being pressed on the issue by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
The bodies of David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were discovered on a beach on 15 September.
Two Burmese men are under arrest but the Thai inquiry has been criticised.
The UK Foreign Office summoned the Thai charge d'affaires earlier this week to express concern about the police investigation.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both migrant workers from Myanmar, also known as Burma, are alleged to have confessed to the killings earlier this month.
Police have denied subsequent reports that the pair, both aged 21, then withdrew their confessions.
The two suspects were in court for a pre-trial witness hearing on the island of Koh Samui on Tuesday, but did not testify.
They are charged with conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to rape and robbery, and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha met Mr Cameron at a summit in Italy and agreed that a delegation of British officers could travel to Thailand, having previously rejected offers of assistance.
A diplomatic source said that Thai authorities were leading the investigation, but it was important that the victims' families could be reassured about the justice process.
He said: "There are two areas we are particularly concerned about. One is the verification of the DNA samples of the suspects, making sure there is further independent verification.
"And the second is the investigation into allegations of mistreatment of the suspects.
"What the PM secured was agreement from the Thai PM that we can send some British police investigators to Koh Tao to work with the Royal Thai Police on this."
The discussion between the leaders came at the Asia Europe Meeting in Milan.
Post-mortem examinations found Mr Miller, from Jersey, died from drowning and a blow to the head, while Miss Witheridge, from Great Yarmouth, died from head wounds.
Police have said DNA found on Ms Witheridge matched samples taken from the suspects.
Concerns about the murder investigation include the fact the crime scene was not sealed off after the killings, as well as the fact an early statement was released by police saying that no Thai person could have committed such a crime.
Mr Zaw's mother Phyu Shwe Nu has said her son was being made a "scapegoat" by police. | UK police officers are to travel to Thailand to help investigate the murders of two British tourists found dead on the island of Koh Tao. |
34666313 | The entire frontage of the home in Cheltenham collapsed and garden walls were flattened.
The attack on the home on Tewkesbury Road took place early on Wednesday evening.
A lorry, thought to be the one used, was later found burnt out in a field off nearby Withybridge Lane, Gloucestershire Police said.
According to the Land Registry, the house is owned by John Connors, who was jailed in 2012 with four other members of his family, after being found guilty of keeping a private workforce.
In 2014 he was ordered to pay just over £300,000 as part of a proceeds of crime hearing.
The house was put up for sale earlier this year, but the estate agent dealing with the sale was unable to tell the BBC whether it had yet been sold.
Gloucestershire Police said enquiries were ongoing.
BBC Radio Gloucestershire reporter David Smith said: "It's quite a sizeable house, a nice house, with gable windows built into the roof.
"Now the entire ground floor has gone. There is nothing left of it. There is brickwork all over the floor." | A lorry was used to deliberately destroy the front of a vacant detached house in Gloucestershire. |
35661658 | Stuart Howatson, 37, from Warwickshire, ordered expensive computer security systems, offered an engineer a job and duped hotel staff to get free rooms.
Sentencing him, Recorder Derek Sweeting QC told him the the real purpose of the fraud was to make him feel better and more powerful.
The court heard he has a variety of personality disorders.
He previously admitted 12 counts of fraud and theft. The court heard he had been jailed in 2010 for pretending to be a royal protection police officer.
More updates on this story and others in Coventry and Warwickshire
Howatson's lawyer, Nick Devine, told Coventry Crown Court: "The plain fact of the matter was that he was enjoying the fact that he was dealing with these big figures, and the fact he was pretending to be someone with the kind of authority to enter into such contracts.
"It was all about what he got out of the pretence of being somebody in a considerable position of authority in a glamorous line of business."
Prosecutor Sharon Bahia said one of four people Howatson lied to was was an engineer who flew to Cologne with his wife to meet him after being promised a job as an operations director with Mercedes.
Ms Bahia said the man described Howatson as being very knowledgeable about Mercedes-Benz, and offered him Bupa health care and software to learn German.
The court was also told that Howatson, of Fisher Road, Bishops Itchington, used false email accounts purporting to belong to his assistants at Mercedes to book hotel rooms in Bewdley and Kidderminster.
Passing sentence, Recorder Sweeting told Howatson: "You carried off the deception with a great deal of persuasive skill." | A man who admitted pretending to be a Formula 1 racing boss has been jailed for two years. |
30550215 | William Ward, 56, suffered "catastrophic" injuries when a section of the structure collapsed on top of him.
European Metal Recycling (EMR) had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to failing in its duty of care.
The firm was also ordered to pay £88,000 costs.
Mr Ward, from Handsworth, Sheffield, had been part of a team using blow torches to dismantle barges at the company's depot in Kingsbury, near Tamworth, in October 2011.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said Mr Ward had finished cutting through the outer skin of the barge's hull before moving inside the unsupported structure.
He was about to cut through some more supports when the side collapsed in on him, they said.
The watchdog said it had identified "serious flaws with the method of work being used to dismantle the barges".
EMR, of Westbrook, Warrington, Cheshire, "failed to do enough to protect the workers", it added.
Mr Ward's wife of 25 years, Jayne, said being unable to say "goodbye" to her husband was "one of the worst things" to deal with.
"Other people can go home to talk to their partners and parents. I have no partner now and the boys have no father.
"I think of all the things that Billy will never see - the boys getting married, having children, children which would have been our grandchildren"
HSE inspector Mark Austin said the firm had "neglected its responsibility" to Mr Ward and his "terrible and senseless" death was "completely preventable".
Two subcontractors, brothers Stuart and Dennis Cheesman, also admitted health and safety offences in relation to the case and are due to be sentenced next year. | One of the world's largest metal recycling companies has been fined £150,000 over the death of a worker crushed by part of a 33-tonne barge. |
39079614 | Clement began his coaching career with the Blues and won several trophies as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti.
He returns to face the runaway Premier League leaders as a manager for the first time having guided the Swans to three wins from their last four games.
"It depends how the game goes and how I feel about it after," said Clement.
Clement is expecting a reasonable reception at Stamford Bridge, although he believes he will not be the centre of attention.
That accolade, he insists, will go to one of his assistants at Swansea, Claude Makelele, a legend at the London club, making 217 appearances during his distinguished playing career and who Clement is determined to keep on his staff at the Liberty Stadium next season.
Clement said: "When I have been back, those few occasions, people have always been very nice. I will be interested to see what happens this time. I think Claude will get a fantastic reception as he is so well known. Me less so. He was a legend for the club and is excited about going back there."
Clement began his coaching career back in 1995 at the Chelsea Academy before returning as a coach in 2007 and became Ancelotti's number two in 2009.
In their first season together the pair guided the Blues to their first ever Premier League and FA Cup double and Clement unsurprisingly has fond memories of the time.
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"It was a brilliant learning experience," said Clement.
"The players were very respectful. I was working with a great coach in Carlo and (coach) Ray Wilkins had great experience.
"What I remember about that season is how mature and strong the team was. (Petr) Cech, (John) Terry, (Michael) Ballack, (Frank) Lampard, (Michael) Essien, (Didier) Drogba...strong characters. They were right at their peak at that point."
And it seemed even the bad times had their good moments too with Clement recalling Ancelotti's shock sacking in a corridor at Everton's Goodison Park in May 2011.
"I think Carlo was half expecting it with what had happened leading into that game. Maybe he didn't expect it right at that moment, but there you go," said Clement.
"I was there. I'd gone in to have a drink with David Moyes. He told me on the bus that he'd been told by the dressing room by (then-Chelsea chief executive) Ron (Gourlay).
"Then word gradually got around. When we got back, we went out into London and had a really good night. It was really good. It was a bar up in town. We went with some players."
Since leaving Ancelotti behind at Bayern Munich to take charge at Swansea, 45-year-old Clement has rejuvenated the Welsh club, pulling them clear of the relegation places with impressive wins over Liverpool, Southampton and Leicester.
Clement is enjoying life as a Premier League boss, having been named manager of the month for January.
"It was a great moment leading my team out at Anfield," said Clement.
"It was a great moment leading my team out against Manchester City to come up against (Pep) Guardiola, someone I had really admired and the work he did at Barcelona.
"So to come up against him, compete and come to close and afterwards have a drink with him, just me and him, and to talk about football. It is great. Brilliant." | Swansea City boss Paul Clement says he is looking forward to returning to his former club Chelsea, but that the result will decide his final mood. |
38888991 | The hosts were 2-0 up after just 17 minutes thanks to goals from Julien de Sart and Darren Bent.
Kadeem Harris scored either side of half-time to bring the visitors level, and Craig Noone put them ahead with a fine curling effort.
Bent's header made it 3-3 but Ralls' injury-time penalty won it for Cardiff.
Victory lifts Neil Warnock's side up to 12th in the Championship table, just one place and five points behind Derby, who fall to 11th and are now eight points adrift of the top six.
Steve McClaren's men had recovered from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at home to Bristol City on Saturday, but on this occasion it was the Rams who were on the receiving end of a dramatic turnaround.
Derby looked in total control when De Sart struck on the rebound and Bent converted from Tom Ince's pass to put the home side 2-0 up.
But four minutes before the interval, Harris gave Cardiff hope when his deflected strike looped over Scott Carson in the home goal.
Harris then scored less than two minutes after the restart as he pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area.
Cardiff led for the first time when Noone skilfully found the top corner from the edge of the box, but Bent appeared to have salvaged a point for Derby when he rose higher than Sean Morrison to head in.
However, there was a final twist in added time as Bluebirds substitute Rhys Healey was tripped by Alex Pearce, allowing Ralls to calmly stroke his penalty into the bottom corner.
Derby County manager Steve McClaren:
"You score three goals at home and you expect to win but we haven't done that in the last two games. Why? Because we conceded seven goals.
"We've gone from a team who were hard to beat and defended very, very well to conceding seven in two games and you don't collect points doing that.
"This is the first defeat at home since September so let's not panic and over-react and say the wheels have come off, but we have to work hard on the training field."
Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock:
"That's what you call old-fashioned football, end-to-end stuff and that's why I love the game. It was great to be involved in one like that, especially coming out on the right side.
"It gives me a lot of pride when I see us come to a place like this and stand up and be counted, and that's why I love the Championship more than any other league because you get genuine lads in this level.
"The goal before half-time helped us enormously. We talked about not thinking about drawing the game but trying to win it. I think we can go anywhere and give people a good game now. The biggest problem we've got is ourselves."
Match ends, Derby County 3, Cardiff City 4.
Second Half ends, Derby County 3, Cardiff City 4.
Corner, Cardiff City. Conceded by Alex Pearce.
Darren Bent (Derby County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Sean Morrison (Cardiff City).
Darren Bent (Derby County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jazz Richards (Cardiff City).
Substitution, Derby County. Nick Blackman replaces Jacob Butterfield.
Goal! Derby County 3, Cardiff City 4. Joe Ralls (Cardiff City) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Penalty conceded by Alex Pearce (Derby County) after a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty Cardiff City. Rhys Healey draws a foul in the penalty area.
Substitution, Cardiff City. Declan John replaces Kadeem Harris.
Attempt blocked. David Nugent (Derby County) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Richard Keogh with a headed pass.
Corner, Derby County. Conceded by Matthew Connolly.
David Nugent (Derby County) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff City).
Substitution, Cardiff City. Junior Hoilett replaces Craig Noone.
Attempt blocked. Julien de Sart (Derby County) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Johnny Russell (Derby County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Matthew Connolly (Cardiff City).
Alex Pearce (Derby County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sean Morrison (Cardiff City).
Foul by Tom Ince (Derby County).
Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Substitution, Cardiff City. Rhys Healey replaces Greg Halford.
Delay in match Jazz Richards (Cardiff City) because of an injury.
Goal! Derby County 3, Cardiff City 3. Darren Bent (Derby County) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Markus Olsson with a cross.
Attempt blocked. Julien de Sart (Derby County) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jacob Butterfield.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Greg Halford (Cardiff City) because of an injury.
Jacob Butterfield (Derby County) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Greg Halford (Cardiff City).
Attempt missed. Alex Pearce (Derby County) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Jacob Butterfield with a cross following a corner.
Corner, Derby County. Conceded by Craig Noone.
Attempt missed. Sean Morrison (Cardiff City) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Aron Gunnarsson.
Jacob Butterfield (Derby County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Joe Ralls (Cardiff City).
Substitution, Derby County. David Nugent replaces Will Hughes.
Substitution, Derby County. Johnny Russell replaces Chris Baird. | Cardiff City fought back from 2-0 down to claim a stunning win at Derby County, damaging the Rams' Championship play-off hopes. |
34505806 | The 44-year-old from Middlesbrough, who was a semi-finalist at the BDO World Championship in January, won four sets in a row to move 6-2 up in the final.
American thrower Butler, 58, pulled one set back but could not deny Durrant the biggest title of his career to date.
Aileen de Graaf of the Netherlands beat England's double world champion Lisa Ashton 5-4 to win the women's event.
Durrant lost a classic Lakeside semi-final to fellow Englishman Martin Adams at the start of the year, but he has recovered from his World Championship disappointment to win a host of events in 2015 and move to the top of the BDO world rankings.
Durrant will enter the 2016 World Championship as the number one seed and will take on Dean Reynolds of Wales in the first round.
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Defending champion and sixth seed Scott Mitchell will face a preliminary-round winner in his first-round match.
Adams, the man Mitchell beat in an all-English Lakeside final, will be paired with 2015 semi-finalist Jeff Smith if the Canadian comes through his preliminary-round tie.
Three-time winner Adams is one of five Lakeside champions in the field of 40 male players, along with Mitchell, Scott Waites, Ted Hankey and John Walton.
Hankey, the champion in 2000 and 2009, will make his first appearance at Frimley Green since losing at the semi-final stage in 2012 and then playing on the rival Professional Darts Corporation circuit for two years.
Click here to see the 2016 World Championship draw in full. | England's Glen Durrant beat Larry Butler 7-3 in Hull to win the BDO World Masters title for the first time. |
32814675 | More than 40,000 people fled their homes after Islamic State militants seized the city of Ramadi on Friday.
Many were stranded on open land until being allowed to cross a bridge over the River Euphrates on Wednesday.
The Shia-led government is concerned IS militants might hide among those fleeing the Sunni-dominated region.
But several people are reported to have died of dehydration or exhaustion while being kept away.
"The Iraqi government, they've established checkpoints at some of the main entry points into the city because they're very worried about the potential for hostile elements to enter Baghdad," Lise Grande, the UN Deputy Special Representative for Iraq, told the BBC.
"At one of the checkpoints on one of the entry bridges there are up to 6,000 people who have been forced to sleep outside," she added.
Athal al-Fahdawi, an Anbar provincial council member, later told the Associated Press that thousands of the displaced people were being allowed to cross a bridge in the Bzeibez area. | Iraq's government has allowed people displaced by the violence in the western province of Anbar to enter Baghdad, after waiving restrictions. |
39634728 | Two tries from Mahe Fonua helped Hull take an early 18-0 lead before Liam Watts was controversially sent off for a high tackle on Luke Gale.
Tigers went in 20-14 behind at the break through Greg Minikin, Ben Roberts and Michael Shenton scores.
Roberts crossed again, but Carlos Tuimavave's try in the corner gave Hull back-to-back victories.
Mike McMeeken scored on the hooter for Cas, who missed the chance to extend their lead at the top of the table over Leeds, with the Rhinos in Challenge Cup action on Friday.
Prop Scott Taylor had put Hull on the board after great work from Albert Kelly and Fonua scored twice in the corner to give the hosts a real chance of victory, but Watts' dismissal changed the complexion of the game.
Less than one minute after Hull went down to 12 men, the Tigers scored their first try when Minikin rode the tackle of Sneyd for his 11th of the season.
Roberts then went over from close range for the Tigers after a break from Greg Eden, and Roberts' dash of his own allowed Shenton to score, after which Paul McShane scored the first of just two successful conversion attempts by his team.
Sneyd scored penalty goals either side of the break as Hull held out until the 58th minute, when Roberts' second brought them to within four points.
But Hull's defence continued to graft, forcing Junior Moors and McShane into errors on the try line, before Steve Michaels won a kick in the air, got the ball away to Tuimavave and he scored in the corner to make it 26-18.
McMeeken crossed too late to make a real difference for Cas, who could look back in frustration at their missed conversions.
Hull FC coach Lee Radford: "We're not making a big deal out of this win. We've been good, not great, but the time to be great is at the end of the season, like Wigan showed last season.
"We're not far away at all and when the big fixtures come we need to be ready.
"Until Liam's sending off we were well on top. I saw that in a different performance after we went down to 12 men, which was an unbelievable effort.
"I could sense confidence at half-time and we came up with try savers - and that builds more confidence."
Castleford coach Daryl Powell: "It was still doable, but we panicked. Hull were superb and started like a house on fire and we were nowhere to be seen, which was disappointing.
"When they went down to 12 men, we spoke about being calm - but they kept us out. I'm not taking anything away from Hull as it was a tremendous effort.
"To lose Gale was a blow and we lost some clarity as we couldn't get our combinations together and we made too many errors."
Hull FC: Shaul; Fonua, Tuimavave, Connor, Michaels; Kelly, Sneyd; Taylor, Washbrook, Watts, Manu, Minichiello, Ellis.
Replacements: Fash, Green, Thompson, Turgut.
Castleford: Hardaker; Minikin, Webster, Shenton, Eden; Roberts, Gale; Lynch, McShane, Springer, Holmes, McMeeken, Milner.
Replacements: Millington, Sene-Lefao, Moors, Monaghan.
Referee: Robert Hicks | Hull FC stood strong to defeat Super League leaders Castleford, despite playing most of the match with 12 men. |
32754835 | It follows the reopening of the 500m stretch known as the Todmorden Curve, which has been delayed by a year. The route was initially axed in 1972.
Passengers no longer have to change at Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire on journeys between Burnley and Manchester.
Burnley Council said £10m had been invested in the link, which will halve travel times to about 50 minutes between the two stations.
The service's reinstallation had been the subject of a long campaign, which was supported by Burnley Council, local organisations and charities.
Council leader Mark Townsend said the restored link would benefit the local economy and employment, while making the nearby countryside "even easier to reach for visitors".
The redevelopment of the Todmorden Curve and Burnley's historic Weavers' Triangle received £8.8 million from the government's Regional Growth Fund in 2011.
Celebrations heralding the restored link will be held at Burnley's Manchester Road and Accrington stations on Monday. | Direct rail services between Manchester and Burnley have been reinstated. |
38677126 | The group chained themselves together across the M4 southbound spur road to the west London airport in August 2015.
A court heard the protest caused "utter chaos" leading to "a huge amount of stationary traffic" southbound.
The nine protesters each denied the charge. They were ordered to pay between £261 and £523 each.
Willesden Magistrates Court heard how four protesters held a large banner across the road and chanted "Black Lives Matter".
Six others formed a human chain on the ground by linking their arms inside hollowed fire extinguishers filled with wire mesh and concrete.
The defendants were:
Taylor Offoh, 20, from Penge, had already accepted a caution.
Speaking after the conviction Joshua Virasami said the protest had "worked" as it had reignited "a conversation around the violence of institutional racism".
The protest marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Mark Duggan who was shot dead by police in Tottenham, sparking riots across England.
The Black Lives Matter movement began in the US in 2012 after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida. | Nine Black Lives Matter protesters who blocked a road to Heathrow Airport have been found guilty of wilful obstruction of the highway. |
17218152 | Nato said a man in Afghan army uniform and another in civilian clothes opened fire in southern Kandahar province. The dead are believed to be US soldiers.
Some local officials say there was only one attacker, a teacher at the base.
Hours earlier Nato's top general in Afghanistan said the recent violence was a "setback" that would be overcome.
Nato says shots were fired indiscriminately, claiming two of its soldiers' lives. It has yet to give their nationalities, but US and Afghan officials say the dead were Americans.
Nato believes one of the killers was an Afghan soldier. If so, this would be the third time in a week that a member of the Afghan security forces has killed Nato troops.
What happened is still unclear.
An Afghan army spokesman in Kandahar said two gunmen initially opened fire on an Afghan sentry manning a security tower at the base in Zheray district, before climbing it and shooting at Nato troops. He said both attackers were killed.
But officials in Zheray district dispute this account and say the attack was carried out by only one man - who apparently lived on the base to teach Afghan soldiers literacy.
The local district governor said the man grabbed an Afghan soldier's gun and opened fire. In return, Nato killed both Afghans.
The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says it is unclear how a teacher was allowed to stay on the base and have access to a weapon.
The six Nato personnel are amongst more than 30 people killed since protests erupted last week over the burning of the Koran by US troops at another military base.
Troubled flared after US personnel apparently inadvertently put copies of the Koran, which reports say had been confiscated from terror suspects, into a rubbish incinerator at Bagram air base, near Kabul.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each copy with the utmost respect.
Responding to the attacks, Nato's commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Allen, said: "We have to understand the significance of the great faith of Islam to these people and we have to account for that.
"But it doesn't push the relationship back."
He emphasised that over the 10 years of Nato's presence in Afghanistan, "thousands and thousands" of troops had shown "reverence" for the Islamic faith.
He also said he would be willing to walk, unarmed, into the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul, where two senior Nato military advisers were shot dead on Saturday.
Afghan authorities are hunting a 25-year-old Afghan policeman over that shooting.
Last Thursday, two US soldiers were shot and killed by a man wearing Afghan army uniform during protests at a Nato base in eastern Nangarhar province.
A senior Afghan general told the BBC last week: "The virus of Taliban infiltration and rogue soldiers has spread like a cancer. Curing it has not helped. You need an operation."
More than 70 Nato troops have been killed by Afghan colleagues in recent years.
The BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul says that privately, some Nato officials wonder who they can trust.
Thursday's deaths in Kandahar came as Nato let a small number of its advisers return to their duties at Afghan ministries, the Associated Press reports. | Nato says two of its troops have been shot dead on a base in Afghanistan, the latest of several attacks after the burning of the Koran by US soldiers. |
10164276 | The man showed the two-week-old animals to a member of the public in an Asda car park in South Woodham Ferrers before making the threat.
The RSPCA said the member of the public reacted by taking the piglets away from the man. He kept them for a night before calling animal welfare officers.
The organisation said it was thought the piglets might have been stolen.
Inspector Steve Craddock appealed for anyone with piglets to check if any are missing.
Mr Craddock said: "My initial thought was that these piglets must have been stolen as they are too young to have escaped from a smallholding.
"However, I have contacted both the police and Defra and neither have any reports of stolen or missing pigs.
"Someone may have not noticed that a couple of piglets from a litter of about 13 have gone.
"The piglets can't have been away from their mother for long though - less than 72 hours I would say as, at that age, they would probably have died from dehydration if they had been away from their mother for any longer." | A pair of piglets have been rescued from a man threatening to slit their throats in Essex, the RSPCA said. |
37219373 | Mr Hickey was being held in relation to alleged mis-selling of tickets for the Olympic Games.
A judge in Rio recommended on Monday that Mr Hickey be released from prison and placed under house arrest.
The OCI said in a statement on Tuesday that it "welcomes the release of Mr Pat Hickey".
In his own statement Mr Hickey confirmed he had been released from prison but would stay in Rio.
He said: "My lawyers will proceed to have the charges laid against me set aside as there is no substantive proof of any wrong doing on my part."
"I would like to thank the prison authorities for their kindness they have shown to me," he added.
"Due to my medical condition, I will be making no further statements."
The judge said his release would not "put at risk the public order, or the application of penal law".
Precautionary imprisonment
He added that precautionary imprisonment can only be used when the maximum time servable for an offence exceeds four years, which is not the case here.
Earlier this month, Mr Hickey temporarily stood down from his roles as Olympic Council of Ireland president and European Olympic Committees' president.
Mr Hickey, 71, was detained by Brazilian police on Wednesday 17 August but was then taken to hospital for tests after he complained of health problems.
He was later transferred to the high-security prison.
Irish Sports Minister Shane Ross has ordered an inquiry into the ticketing claims.
Three other OCI officials are still in Rio after they had their passports seized by Brazilian police investigating the ticketing scandal.
In a statement from the OCI it said that the "three OCI officials are due to have their passports returned over the coming days and we look forward to welcoming Kevin Kilty, Stephen Martin and Dermot Henihan home shortly."
The executive committee of the European Olympic Committees has also welcomed the news of Mr Hickey's move to house arrest. | Former Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Pat Hickey has been released from Bangu Prison in Rio. |
19536060 | The Cardiff City and Wales player told the Sunday Mirror: "All I know is that my best mate has gone. I'm struggling."
Ex-Premier League star Speed was found hanged at his Cheshire home last year.
His parents and family members marked what would have been his 43rd birthday on Saturday with a walk up Moel Famau, Denbighshire, near his childhood home.
Roger and Carol Speed told Wales on Sunday the family are still coming to terms with his death in November 2011.
Bellamy, 33, whose former clubs include Liverpool and Manchester City, told the Sunday Mirror he has moved out of the marital home he shared with his wife Claire and their three children.
He said: "Losing my best mate has affected everything. I can't believe how hard it is.
"He was the best mate I've ever had. It's sad but unfortunately it got to my marriage. I'm here and she's there.
"I don't know if that's it for us. All I know is that my best mate has gone. I'm struggling. I can't lie."
Bellamy told the newspaper of his family situation: "I can't tell you how hard it is. It's the worst time in my life ever."
Bellamy was part of the Team GB squad at the Olympics, and last month joined Cardiff on a two-year deal from Liverpool.
Speed's clubs included Leeds, Newcastle, Everton, and Bolton, and he managed Sheffield United.
A coroner at the inquest in January said he could not be satisfied that Speed intended to kill himself. | Footballer Craig Bellamy says the death of the former Wales manager Gary Speed has led to the "worst time in my life" and the break-up of his marriage. |
35954982 | It comes amid reports of potential buyers for the plant where thousands of jobs are at risk after Tata Steel said it was selling its UK operations.
The government says it is ready to offer help to secure a purchase.
David Cameron and Carwyn Jones will meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
It will come a day after assembly members meet to discuss the crisis during a specially-reconvened debate on Monday.
Mr Jones has called on the UK government to give the British steel industry the same support given banks during the financial crisis.
Writing in The Independent this weekend, Mr Jones said there was "a moral, economic and strategic case" to do the same for steel.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the government's plan to save the plant - and industry - was to find a commercial buyer for all of Tata's UK businesses.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, he said the government's plan to save the plant - and industry - was to find a commercial buyer for all of Tata's UK businesses.
"We're going to also have to offer support to eventually clinch that buyer and to give this steel plant a long-term viable future," he said.
A source close to steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, founder of commodities firm Liberty House, confirmed he had been in contact with the government as a possible buyer for the Port Talbot steelworks, which employs 4,100 people and is said to be losing £1m a day.
The source told the BBC the discussions had not been substantive yet, but Mr Gupta is due to arrive in the UK from Dubai this week and would be seeking further talks on the issue.
Tata announced plans last week to sell its loss-making UK plants. Unless a buyer can be found, thousands of jobs are at risk.
The business directly employs 15,000 workers and supports thousands of others and includes plants in Port Talbot, Rotherham, Corby and Shotton.
It also has sites in in Llanwern and Newport, Shotton in Flintshire and Trostre in Llanelli.
German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp has also been touted as another potential buyer, according to the Observer.
Meanwhile, the UK government said all public sector bodies would be required to think about the impact of using foreign steel for construction projects, in a bid to encourage buying British steel.
Ministers have faced criticism for failing to take more action to prevent the "dumping" of cheap Chinese steel - selling it cheaply at a loss - seen as one of the key reasons for the problems in the UK steel industry.
The Welsh Government said a task force was already looking at supporting the steel industry through public sector contracts in devolved areas.
What's going wrong with Britain's steel industry?
Tata Steel UK: What are the options?
Is China to blame for steel woes?
The Welsh Liberal Democrats say there are still questions for the first minister to answer about the Welsh Government's handling of the situation.
They point out that two of the things the steel industry have called for - action on business rates and public sector procurement - are in the hands of Welsh ministers.
A Welsh Conservatives spokesman said: "We are pleased to see that the UK government is taking steps to reform procurement rules to give UK steel a fair chance and that is a step the Welsh Government should also consider, along with offering business rate relief."
Jonathan Edwards, Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, said: "Wales cannot go on with a government with such abject lack of ambition and which is willing to idly stand by rather than stand up for our vital steel industry."
Mark Reckless of UKIP Wales added: "The government has done next to nothing to save our steel or protect workers in Part Talbot and beyond." | The prime minister and first minister will meet to discuss UK government support for a buyer for Port Talbot steelworks. |
38207681 | Sophie Taylor, 22, died in the crash in Adamsdown on 22 August. A 21-year-old passenger is still in hospital.
Michael Wheeler, 22, of Tremorfa, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving on Monday.
Lewis Hall, 18, of Tremorfa, admitted perverting the course of justice at Cardiff Crown Court.
Another driver, Melissa Pesticcio, 23, of Llanrumney, is also accused of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving, but is yet to enter a plea.
Miss Taylor, of Llandaff, was killed when her black BMW lost control and crashed into the house.
The case was adjourned until a later date. | A man has admitted killing a woman who died after the car she was driving hit a house in Cardiff. |
37389895 | Liberty has bought an initial 18% of the F1 Group and will become the main shareholder with 35.3% when the deal is completed, due to be in early 2017.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: "It sounds very positive. I can't believe a serious group like Liberty would buy F1 without a long-term plan.
"Hopefully, they can address some of the weaknesses we have in some areas."
Horner singled out F1's struggles to penetrate the US market and exploit digital and social media platforms effectively.
His views were echoed by Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, who said: "Christian and I rarely agree, but on this we are 100% on the same page."
In remarks that could be interpreted as a swipe at the previous main shareholder CVC Capital Partners, Horner also welcomed the fact that a company with a desire to invest in and develop the sport had become the new owners.
"Rather than a venture capitalist buying it, it is far better for the sport that a company like Liberty does," Horner said.
And he said it was a good idea to ask Bernie Ecclestone to stay on as chief executive for the foreseeable future, in a deal believed to be for three years.
Ecclestone will work alongside F1's new chairman Chase Carey, who has worked closely with media mogul Rupert Murdoch in the past.
"We need to understand what's his plan, what's his vision, for how Liberty see F1 for the future," said Horner.
"He is going to have to get up to speed. It is great they have come to an agreement with Bernie for him to be involved for some time to come because that intervening period is going to be crucial but then he has to work out what he wants F1 to be in the future."
Team bosses also said they supported in theory Liberty's plan to offer the teams a shareholding in F1 in the future.
Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul said: "It is a great opportunity. The teams have created a lot of value in F1. It would be a great thing if some of the teams could capture some of the value, so if it makes sense, why not.
"It is good we have some long-term stability because its gives us some time to focus son the product, F1 is always a balance between entertainment and sport."
Wolff added: "The idea sounds good if you are able to align all major stakeholders with a long-term vision.
"If you make the teams shareholders, that would solve a lot of problems but it is a commercial and financial decision and it depends on the detail."
Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said she hoped Liberty would address what many see as the inequitable distribution of income in F1, about which the Swiss team and Force India have lodged an official complaint to the European Union.
"I hope they take steps to ensure a certain competitive parity," said Kaltenborn. "That is for us more equally important to how the sport is being promoted to the outside." | Formula 1 teams have welcomed the takeover of the sport's commercial arm by US group Liberty Media. |
35323646 | The 23-year-old has agreed a two-and-half-year deal with the Daggers.
"Ollie is a player we have watched for some time and everyone who saw him was impressed," boss John Still told the Dagenham website.
"I decided I would try and sign him in this transfer window and the fact that I changed clubs is Dagenham's gain."
Hawkins becomes the former Luton Town manager's fourth signing of the January transfer window.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge have signed striker Oliver Hawkins from National League South side Hemel Hempstead Town for an undisclosed fee. |
16543036 | Outside it was a gloriously sunny winter's day. The mountains that loom above the city silhouetted against a cloudless blue sky. But inside the house was dark and the curtains drawn, so that the neighbours could not see in.
This was the safe house in Kabul where Gulnaz and her child had found refuge. The women there asked not to be identified in case their house was burnt down.
Just 21, Gulnaz had been released that week from prison, where she had given birth to her daughter Moska. Gulnaz seemed younger than her years, but she held my gaze almost defiantly as she told her story.
She had been imprisoned in a Kabul women's jail after her cousin's husband raped her.
The crime came to light when the unmarried Gulnaz became pregnant.
The police came and arrested both Gulnaz and her attacker. Under Afghan law she too was found guilty of a crime known as "adultery by force", with her sentence increased on appeal to 12 years.
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When the case aroused condemnation abroad, President Hamid Karzai intervened and Gulnaz was pardoned.
Looking bewildered at her sudden freedom, she told me all she wanted was to go home to her family. In order to do that, she was prepared to marry the man who raped her - otherwise their families would be enemies.
The problem for Gulnaz is that if her attacker will not marry her - or cannot come up with a substantial dowry - the "stain" on her family's honour will remain, perhaps with lethal consequences for Gulnaz and her child. That may mean she can never go home.
For a single mother, unskilled and unqualified, there are few ways for a woman to survive in Afghanistan without family support.
An American lawyer in Kabul, Kim Motley, has taken up Gulnaz's case. She is trying to raise money for her to fund a new life, somehow, somewhere, if Gulnaz cannot go home.
Rescued from violence
I was still wondering what would happen to her when we went to meet 15-year-old Sahar Gul, as she lay in a hospital bed recovering from her injuries, too traumatised to talk.
Married off to a 30-year-old man for a dowry of about $4,500 (£3,000), Sahar had been kept locked in a cellar for several months, starved and tortured by her husband and his family. It is still not really clear why.
Sahar may not have been able to speak, but her injuries did.
Burns to her arm and her fragile body, a swollen black eye, clumps of hair torn out. One small hand was scarred, where her fingernail had been pulled out.
The abuse aroused public indignation in Afghanistan, as well as horror abroad.
But Sahar was perhaps, in a strange way, lucky.
She did not run away from a violent marriage, as some Afghan brides have, but was instead rescued from it by police. So she cannot be found guilty of what might otherwise be deemed a "moral crime", as other young Afghan women have been.
Both Sahar and Gulnaz's stories are extreme. But they made me wonder how many other women in Afghanistan still suffer in silence, 10 years after the fall of the Taliban.
There are laws banning violence against women, but enforcing them is hard. Tradition and family or community honour is often seen as more important than an individual's misery or misfortune.
Poverty and lack of education also mean under-age marriage remains common.
When Sahar did try to escape her torturers, it was apparently the neighbours who brought her back to them, before the police intervened.
In a quiet, book-lined office in Kabul - a world away from the controlled chaos of the hospital and the dimly-lit safe house - I asked the head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission what she thought.
A no-nonsense woman with steely grey hair, Dr Sima Samar has long risked her own life to speak out for the principles she believes in, equality and justice.
Her answer was clear: She and her colleagues in Afghanistan will carry on fighting to improve the lives of women like Gulnaz and Sahar.
But Dr Samar, like many others, fears the international community is no longer quite so interested in keeping up the pressure on women's rights, as the West seeks to wind down its military campaign.
When Western soldiers no longer patrol the streets of Afghanistan, it will be easier to ignore what goes on behind locked doors and closed curtains in a faraway place.
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Read more or explore the archive at the programme website. | Two high profile cases of violence have sparked domestic and international outcry over the treatment of Afghan women, but campaigners fear a winding down of the military campaign will mean the international community will no longer be interested. |
33585853 | Mick Fanning was competing in Jeffreys Bay, on the eastern Cape, when one of the sharks approached his surfboard.
The final of the J-Bay Open had only just started when Fanning was knocked off his surfboard and into the sea.
Fanning, the defending champion, escaped injury. The tournament was called off soon afterwards.
"I was just sitting there and I felt something just get stuck in my leg rope, and I was kicking trying to get it away," Fanning told Fox Sports.
"I just saw fins. I was waiting for the teeth."
Fanning, a three-time world champion, said he was able to "get a punch into its back" and startle it.
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The event was being broadcast live on television. Footage later cut to Fanning and co-competitor Julian Wilson, also of Australia, on a rescue boat reliving the incident.
The relieved-looking pair then received loud applause from a crowd on the beach.
"I was swimming in and I had this thought what if it comes for another go at me? So I turned around, so I could at least see it, and before I knew it the boat was there, the jet-skis were there, the jet-skis were there. I just can't believe it," he told journalists who were at the competition.
Fanning's mother said she was terrified when she saw the live footage.
Speaking from her home on Australia's Gold Coast, Liz Osborne told the Australian Broadcasting Corp it was "the worst thing I've ever seen happen to any of my family because it was just there in front of me".
Her son Sean was killed in the car accident in 1998 but the family were not with him at the time.
"I saw this just in front of me. It was just terrible," Ms Osborne said. "I was so scared. I just thought when that wave came through that he'd gone," she said.
The World Surf League (WSL), which organises the competition, said Fanning was approached by two sharks, and that he and Wilson were both rescued from the water by jet-skis.
A video of the incident can be seen on the WSL's website here and the aftermath of the attack can be viewed here.
Reuters says the waters are some of the most shark-infested in the world, and that a surfer was killed by a Great White shark close to Jeffreys Bay in 2013. | An Australian surfer has made an incredible escape after encountering two sharks during a major competition in South Africa. |
39058646 | The images of HMP Berwyn show the custom-built facility ahead of the first prisoners moving in on Tuesday.
The prison in Wrexham, north Wales, cost £250m to build and will hold 2,106 prisoners.
It boasts a health and well-being centre, an education block, workshops, a sports hall and a multi-faith area. | As the first inmates prepare to move in to Britain's new "super-prison" these pictures give a unique insight into what life will be like inside. |
37612317 | Finance Minister Michael Noonan said given the uncertainty, it was important to continue policies for economic growth, job creation and debt control.
The low VAT rate for the hospitality industry would continue, as would the 12.5% corporation tax, he said.
Ireland's economic growth forecast for next year has been cut to 3.5%.
However, Mr Noonan said that despite the downgrade, the Irish economy was in good shape, growing strongly and should continue to grow over the coming years.
The finance minister told the Dáil, the Irish parliament, that the only tax increase was 50 cents on cigarettes, taking the price of a packet of 20 to 11 euros (£10).
He said the government was introducing "economic shock absorbers" and announced plans to establish a "rainy day fund" of up to a billion euros per year when the Irish budget goes into surplus in 2018.
"Whatever the final settlement, what we know with certainty is that Brexit has increased risk to the Irish economy and, as well as introducing specific measures to assist particular sectors of the economy, we must also put in place safety nets to protect us against future economic shocks," he said.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe told the parliament he was proposing 4,500 new front-line service jobs including Gardaí (Irish police), nurses and teachers.
He also told the Dáil that from March 2017, those getting old age pensions and weekly social welfare would get five euros (£4.50) a week increase.
This was the first budget since the formation of the new Fine Gael-led government which includes independents as ministers and is reliant on the support of Fianna Fáil, the main opposition party, for its survival.
Fianna Fáil's finance spokesman Michael McGrath said his party did not get everything it wanted in the budget but that it was much fairer because of his party's input.
"While we didn't write this budget - from the outside - we influenced it as best we could in the direction of a fairer and more decent Ireland - and we make no apologies for that," he said.
He described government proposals to increase the budgets for government departments and state agencies to deal with Brexit as "pathetic". | The Irish government has announced a cautious budget after the Brexit vote, with 1.3bn euros (£1.2bn) allocated for tax cuts and public spending increases. |
38762846 | When the auctioneer at Kilrea Livestock Mart asked the farmers around the busy sales ring who would be voting in the 2017 assembly election - no hands went up.
That was not very surprising in a constituency which had one of the lowest turnouts in the last assembly election just eight months ago.
Only half the electorate voted in East Londonderry.
"I voted last time, but I won't be this time, enough is enough," said one farmer who didn't want to give his name because he has a biomass boiler at home.
He wasn't alone.
"I think we are all wasting our time to be honest, how far are we on from the last elections?" said another farmer in the makeshift shed which doubles as a cafe.
"Our politicians spend their time fighting with one another, what have they done for us? Nothing."
Sean McCauley, from Farmers for Action, said morale in the industry was very low.
"Everywhere we look we have problems," he said.
"Education, health, infrastructure and farming are all in a crisis.
"With Brexit and all the uncertainty it brings, the last thing we need now is to be without a government."
Turnout in assembly elections has been on the slide - it dropped by 15% in the past 19 years.
In the poll last May, 54% of the electorate turned out to vote. North Down had the lowest turnout at 49%.
"The question is, will the non-voters be galvanised? Or will the trend of a decreasing turnout continue?" asked commentator Gerry Murray.
"The people who have been voting are the hard core in each party, the centre ground has just faded away.
"The other big factor is the drop in seats from 108 down to 90. With one seat less in each constituency, a number of big names could fall and it's very much a question of fighting within parties, rather than between parties, for seats."
In Sion Mills, County Tyrone, pensioner Georgina McClintock has voted in every election in Northern Ireland for 50 years.
But she says many of her friends are disillusioned with politics and won't be voting.
"I think it's awful as there is nothing to say. When this election is over we will get things sorted out and we may have to go for another election. It's disgusting what is happening," she said.
"People are sick and fed up with our politicians fighting and squabbling, and it's no wonder people don't want to vote."
Watch BBC One Northern Ireland's The View, broadcast at 22:40 GMT on Thursday 26 January | As polls go it was not the most scientific, but it was very telling. |
39934676 | An award-winning reporter who had fearlessly chronicled Mexico's deadly drug trade, he remarked at his book launch last year that being a journalist "is like being on a blacklist".
The government's promises of protection are next to worthless if the cartels decide they want you dead.
As Valdez put it: "Even though you may have bullet-proofing and bodyguards, [the gangs] will decide what day they are going to kill you."
The 50-year-old was dragged from his car and shot dead on Monday, in Culiacan city, Sinaloa, where he lived and worked.
Over a three-decade career, Valdez founded the Ríodoce newspaper in Sinaloa, the north-western state blighted by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's powerful drug cartel.
He was also a correspondent for the national newspaper La Jornada, and the author of several books, including Los Morros del Narco [The Children of the Drug Trade], which followed young people through Mexico's bloody underworld.
In public, he often spoke of the risks facing reporters in Mexico, which has one of the world's least free presses.
His words illustrate both the cost of printing the truth, and the bravery of those who continue to do so.
Last month, Valdez told the freedom of expression organisation Index on Censorship that a hand grenade had been thrown into Ríodoce's offices in 2009 - but had "only caused material damages".
"I've had phone calls telling me to stop investigating certain murders or drug bosses. I've had to suppress important information because they could have my family killed if I mention it," he said.
"Sources of mine have been killed or disappeared… The government couldn't care less. They do nothing to protect you. There have been many cases and this keeps happening."
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 40 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 1992.
The journalist's brother Rafael Valdez told Agence France-Presse that he had tried not to expose loved ones to the hazards of his profession.
"He was very reserved when it came to his work," Rafael said. "He never talked about it so as not to drag people into it.
"I asked him several times whether he was afraid. He said yes, he was a human being. So I asked him why he risked his life, and he replied: 'It is something I like doing, and someone has to do it. You have to fight to change things.'"
Sometimes, reporters are forced to flee Mexico under threat of death - knowing they will be murdered if they ever return.
"Now they must be content seeing their homes through the internet. They have been banished from their families for the rest of their lives," Valdez told Revista Desocupado [in Spanish].
In March, Valdez's colleague Miroslava Breach - a crime correspondent for La Jornada - was killed by being shot eight times in front of one of her children.
The gunmen left a note saying: "For being a loudmouth."
Valdez raged against her death on Twitter, writing: "Let them kill us all, if that's the death sentence for reporting this hell. Not to silence."
Other Mexican journalists killed in 2017 include freelancers Maximino Rodríguez and Cecilio Pineda Birto, CPJ records show.
Mexico's violent cartels are well known for using informants. While researching his book Narcoperiodismo [Narco Journalism], Valdez realised that local newspapers were being regularly infiltrated by gang spies.
"Serious journalism with ethics is very important in times of conflict, but unfortunately there are journalists who are involved with narcos," he told Index on Censorship.
"This has made our work much more complicated, and now we have to protect ourselves from politicians, narcos and even other journalists."
In Narco Journalism, he describes how reporters are exiled, murdered, corrupted, terrorised by the cartels, or betrayed by police or politicians in the pay of the gangs.
He told Revista Desocupado: "It is not only about the criminal drugs trade, now they kidnap, extort; they have control of the sale of arms, beer, taxis; they control hospitals, police officers, the army, people in the government and those who finance them. The omnipresent narco is everywhere."
Valdez felt frustrated and alone in his fight to keep an independent newspaper running.
"I don't see a society that stands by its journalists or protects them," he said. "At Ríodoce we don't have any support from business owners to finance projects. If we went bankrupt and shut down nobody would do anything [to help]. We have no allies."
He feared his newspaper would not outlast this apathy.
"We need more publicity, subscriptions and moral support - but we're on our own. We're not going to survive much longer in these circumstances."
For Valdez, Mexico had become accustomed to death, evil and abuses - a nation resigned to serial murder, because acceptance is easier than fighting.
But as recently as two months ago he was determined to persevere, telling an interviewer:
"Inside me there is a pessimistic bastard, distressed and sometimes sullen, who feels like a somewhat bitter old man with watery eyes, who is bothered by having his solitude spoiled. But he dreams. I have an idea of another country, for my family and other Mexicans, that does not continue to fall into an abyss from which there may be no return."
Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto has condemned Valdez's killing as an "outrageous crime", and said his government remained committed to press freedom.
Last week, Mexico appointed a new prosecutor to investigate crimes against freedom of expression - including the murder of journalists.
Sinaloa state attorney general Juan Jose Rios said Valdez's shooting was under investigation.
He promised the authorities would protect Valdez's relatives and colleagues, telling reporters: "Above all else, we are interested in Javier's family." | Javier Valdez knew he was living on borrowed time. |
28981268 | The loan window for Football League clubs opened seven days later, while any club can sign unattached players if they left their old clubs before the deadline.
Biggest signing in the window by British club: Angel Di Maria - Real Madrid to Manchester United for £59.7m.
Busiest clubs during the summer: Blackpool, Shrewsbury and Crawley Town have signed 17 players.
Busiest Premier League club during the summer: West Brom have signed 11 players.
Ryan Brunt [Bristol Rovers - York] Loan
Yannick Sagbo [Hull - Wolves] Loan
Andre Blackman [Unattached - Blackpool]
Reiss Greenidge [West Brom - Port Vale] Loan
Stephen McLaughlin [Nottingham Forest - Notts County] Loan
Formose Mendy [Unattached - Blackpool]
Jonny Williams [Crystal Palace - Ipswich] Loan
Stephane Zubar [Bournemouth - Port Vale] Loan
Grant Holt [Wigan - Huddersfield] Loan
David Atkinson [Middlesbrough - Hartlepool] Loan
Carl Baker [Unattached - MK Dons]
Amari'i Bell [Birmingham - Swindon] Loan
Rory Fallon [Unattached - Scunthorpe]
Shaun Brisley [Peterborough - Scunthorpe] Loan
Raffaele De Vita [Unattached - Cheltenham]
Bobby Reid [Bristol City - Plymouth] Loan
Michael Drennan [Aston Villa - Portsmouth] Loan
Alan Tate [Swansea - Crewe] Loan
Aaron Chapman [Chesterfield - Accrington] Loan
Chris Herd [Aston Villa - Bolton] Loan
Ravel Morrison [West Ham - Cardiff] Loan
Artur Boruc [Southampton - Bournemouth] Loan
Ben Davies [Preston - Tranmere] Loan
Rhys Healey [Cardiff - Colchester] Loan
Paddy Kenny [Unattached - Bolton]
Sean Maguire [West Ham - Accrington] Loan
John O'Sullivan [Blackburn - Accrington] Loan
Max Clayton [Crewe - Bolton] £300,000
Marvin Elliott [Unattached - Crawley]
Tom Naylor [Derby - Cambridge] Loan
Hayden White [Bolton - Carlisle] Loan
Febian Brandy [Rotherham - Crewe] Loan
Reggie Lambe [Unattached - Mansfield]
Callum Robinson [Aston Villa - Preston] Loan
Freddie Woodman [Newcastle - Hartlepool] Loan
Brian Howard [Unattached - Oxford]
Jake Kean [Blackburn - Yeovil] Loan
Louis Laing [Nottingham Forest - Notts County] Loan
David Noble [Oldham - Exeter] Loan
Conor Wilkinson [Bolton - Oldham] Loan
Adeoye Yusuff [Chatham Town - Dagenham] Undisclosed
Darren Ambrose [Unattached - Ipswich] Free
Jerome Binnom-Williams [Crystal Palace - Southend] Loan
Andy Butler [Sheffield United - Walsall] Loan
Nathan Doyle [Unattached - Luton] Free
Matthias Fanimo [West Ham - Tranmere] Youth loan
Georg Margreitter [Wolves - Chesterfield] Loan
Michael Petrasso [QPR - Leyton Orient] Loan
Joe Pigott [Charlton - Newport] Loan
Mat Sadler [Rotherham - Crawley] Loan
Brek Shea [Stoke - Birmingham] Loan
Tyrone Barnett [Peterborough - Oxford] Loan
Owen Garvan [Crystal Palace - Bolton] Loan
Keith Keane [Preston - Crawley] Loan
George Swan [Unattached - Wolves]
Josh Wright [Millwall - Crawley] Loan
Matthew Gould [Unattached - Cheltenham]
Dominique Malonga [Cesena - Hibernian] Free
John Guidetti [Man City - Celtic] Loan
Owain Tudur Jones [Hibernian - Falkirk] Free
Andrew Johnson [Unattached - Crystal Palace]
Tom Cleverley [Man Utd - Aston Villa] Loan
David Henen [Olympiakos - Everton] Loan
Byron Lawrence [Ipswich - Colchester] Free
Angel Martinez [Blackpool - Millwall] Free
Drissa Traore [Le Havre - Notts County] Free
Transfer deadline day (all times BST)
01:31 - Radamel Falcao [Monaco - Man Utd] Loan
01:30 - Tom Lawrence [Man Utd - Leicester] Undisclosed
01:30 - Nick Powell [Man Utd - Leicester] Loan
01:10 - Michael Keane [Man Utd - Burnley] Loan
00:58 - Danny Welbeck [Man Utd - Arsenal] £16m
00:50 - Hatem Ben Arfa [Newcastle - Hull] Loan
23:50 - Sadio Mane [Red Bull Salzburg - Southampton] £10m
23:33 - Glenn Murray [Crystal Palace - Reading] Loan
23:31 - Frank Nouble [Ipswich - Coventry] Loan
23:30 - Kevin Doyle [Wolves - Crystal Palace] Loan
23:28 - Toby Alderweireld [Atletico Madrid - Southampton] Loan
23:26 - Krisztian Adorjan [Liverpool - Novara Calcio] Undisclosed
23:19 - Louis Thompson [Norwich - Swindon] Loan
23:19 - Louis Thompson [Swindon - Norwich] Undisclosed
23:17 - Seb Hines [Middlesbrough - Coventry] Loan
23:11 - Jos Hooiveld [Southampton - Norwich] Loan
23:09 - Niko Kranjcar [Dynamo Kiev - QPR] Loan
23:08 - Peter Brezovan [Portsmouth - Tranmere] Free
23:05 - Alvaro Negredo [Man City - Valencia] Loan
23:01 - Luciano Becchio [Norwich - Rotherham] Loan
23:00 - Ryan Tunnicliffe [Fulham - Blackburn] Loan
22:58 - Dominic Poleon [Leeds - Oldham] Undisclosed
22:55 - Jack Stephens [Southampton - Swindon] Loan
22:50 - Matt Smith [Leeds - Fulham] Undisclosed
22:49 - Morgan Amalfitano [Marseille - West Ham] Undisclosed
22:46 - Emyr Huws [Man City - Wigan] Undisclosed
22:46 - Jason Steele [Middlesbrough - Blackburn] Loan
22:45 - Michael Tidser [Rotherham - Oldham] Loan
22:44 - Jamal Blackman [Chelsea - Middlesbrough] Loan
22:31 - Oussama Assaidi [Liverpool - Stoke] Loan
22:31 - Jonson Clarke-Harris [Oldham - Rotherham] Undisclosed
22:30 - Gaston Ramirez [Southampton - Hull] Loan
22:26 - Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa [Newcastle - Roma] Loan
22:15 - Mark Hudson [Cardiff - Huddersfield] Undisclosed
22:15 - Sandro [Tottenham - QPR] £6m
22:11 - Stefan Scepovic [Sporting Gijon - Celtic] £2.3m
22:06 - Danny Gabbidon [unattached - Cardiff]
22:03 - Micah Richards [Man City - Fiorentina] Loan
21:47 - Luke James [Hartlepool - Peterborough] Undisclosed
21:41 - Rakish Bingham [Wigan - Mansfield] Free
21:36 - Souleymane Doukara [Catania - Leeds] Undisclosed
21:33 - James McArthur [Wigan - Crystal Palace] £7m
21:30 - Ryan Cresswell [Fleetwood - Northampton] Undisclosed
21:14 - Ryo Miyaichi [Arsenal - FC Twente] Loan
21:14 - Ignasi Miquel [Arsenal - Norwich] Undisclosed
21:02 - Alex Kacaniklic [Fulham - Copenhagen] Loan
21:02 - Ryan Bird [Portsmouth - Cambridge] Free
20:52 - Sam Clucas [Mansfield - Chesterfield] Undisclosed
20:43 - William Kvist [Stuttgart - Wigan] Free
20:35 - Zeki Fryers [Tottenham - Crystal Palace] Undisclosed
20:20 - Betinho [Sporting Lisbon - Brentford] Loan
20:00 - Kris Scott [Swansea - Leicester] Free
19:46 - Daley Blind [Ajax - Man Utd] £13.8m
19:29 - Bruno Ecuele Manga [Lorient - Cardiff] Fee in excess of £5m
19:27 - Saphir Taider [Inter Milan - Sassuolo] Loan
19:15 - Ricardo Alvarez [Inter Milan - Sunderland] Loan
18:51 - Mohamed Diame [West Ham - Hull] Undisclosed
18:36 - Andy Procter [Bury - Accrington] Free
18:30 - Sebastian Coates [Liverpool - Sunderland] Loan
18:30 - Jack O'Connell [Blackburn - Rochdale] Loan
17:45 - Andrew Surman [Norwich - Bournemouth] Undisclosed
17:37 - Brian Montenegro [Nacional - Leeds] Loan
17:34 - Lewis Holtby [Tottenham - Hamburg] Loan
17:30 - George Donnelly [Rochdale - Tranmere] Undisclosed
17:26 - Benjamin Stambouli [Montpellier - Tottenham] Undisclosed
17:08 - Royston Drenthe [Reading - Sheff Wed] Loan
17:00 - Ryan Watson [Leicester - Northampton] Loan
17:00 - Jose Canas [Swansea - Espanyol] Free
16:22 - Achille Campion [Norrby IF - Port Vale] Loan
15:58 - Abel Hernandez [Palermo - Hull] £10m
15:46 - Nathaniel Chalobah [Chelsea - Burnley] Loan
15:01 - Alex Nicholls [Northampton - Exeter] Loan
15:00 - Jonathan Obika [Tottenham - Swindon] Undisclosed
14:54 - Alex Bray [Swansea - Plymouth] Loan
14:45 - Andy Delort [FC Tours - Wigan] Undisclosed
14:21 - Holmbert Fridjonsson [Celtic - Brondy] Loan
14:16 - Adam Forshaw [Brentford - Wigan] Undisclosed
14:16 - Vitalijs Maksimenko [Brighton - VVV-Venlo] Loan
14:08 - Jelle Vossen [Genk - Middlesbrough] Loan
13:58 - Jordan Cranston [Nuneaton - Notts County] Free
13:56 - Michael Gardyne [Dundee United - Ross County] Loan
13:52 - Dylan McGeouch [Celtic - Hibernian] Loan
13:38 - Nathan Eccleston [Coventry - Partick Thistle] Free
13:20 - Javier Hernandez [Man Utd - Real Madrid] Loan
13:08 - Jack Price [Wolves - Yeovil] Loan
13:00 - Stuart Beavon [Preston - Burton] Undisclosed
12:58 - Marco van Ginkel [Chelsea - AC Milan] Loan
12:37 - Modu Barrow [Ostersunds - Swansea] Undisclosed
11:55 - Tom Koblenz [Hoffenheim - Derby] Free
11:30 - Shane Duffy [Everton - Blackburn] Undisclosed
11:24 - George Boyd [Hull - Burnley] £3m
10:59 - Yanic Wildschut [Heerenveen - Middlesbrough] Undisclosed
10:13 - Karim El Ahmadi [Aston Villa - Feyenoord] Undisclosed | The summer transfer window closed at 23:00 BST on 1 September. |
34687619 | They used a phone scam to make her believe she was talking first to a Visa fraud investigator and then detectives.
The 75-year-old from Lancing ended up drawing out the maximum amount of cash she could and handing it over.
Det Con Jennie Hutchinson said people needed to be aware of such scams and to be vigilant.
Such incidents are called courier fraud or telephone scams and Sussex Police have said they are becoming increasingly common, with the elderly and vulnerable often targeted.
Fraudsters call the intended victim claiming to be the police or a bank and tell them their card has been fraudulently used and they must act urgently to protect themselves.
They suggest the victim hangs up and a ring a fictional phone number - which they claim is for the bank or police - to ensure the call is genuine.
But the scammers stay on the line and hand their phone to an accomplice posing as a police officer or bank employee.
They then tell victims to key in or read out their PIN number and then send a courier or taxi to collect the card - giving them full access to the account.
Recent variations - as in the Lancing incident - have seen victims asked to withdraw large sums of money and take it home where it is collected.
Det Con Hutchinson said the woman believed she was handing her cash to a courier on Tuesday.
The first man she spoke to told her he was from the Visa Special Investigation Fraud Team, and he passed her to another person who said she was a police constable, and a third person who said they were a detective.
The man who collected the money was described as Asian in his late teens with a slim build and short hair, wearing a dark body warmer and jeans.
Anyone who has information is urged to contact the force. | A woman has been conned into handing over £7,400 after she was duped by a gang posing as police investigating card fraud. |
40825660 | As first reported in the Eastern Daily Press, volunteers at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk have been asked to wear rainbow-coloured badges and lanyards in support of an LGBTQ campaign.
But 10 of the 350 volunteers at Felbrigg have chosen not to wear them.
A new film said Felbrigg's last lord, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, was gay.
Annabel Smith, head of volunteering and participation development at the National Trust, said: "All of our staff and volunteers sign up to our founding principles when they join us - we are an organisation that is for ever, for everyone.
"We are committed to developing and promoting equality of opportunity and inclusion in all that we do."
As part of the National Trust's Prejudice and Pride campaign, and in conjunction with research done by the University of Leicester, a new film revealed Mr Wyndham Ketton-Cremer's sexuality, which was known by close friends.
The campaign is being run to mark 50 years since homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967, two years before Mr Wyndham Ketton-Cremer's death.
One long-term volunteer, who asked not to be named, said: "It's very upsetting. We are like a family and this feels like a break up. I don't think Felbrigg will be the same again."
She said she did not think the film should have been made because Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer was "a private man".
The volunteer said she had not seen the film but had heard "it was distasteful".
Some volunteers at the 17th Century country house have chosen to take a break from all duties during the Trust's summer programme, while others have taken up the option to move into backroom roles.
Ms Smith said: "Whilst volunteering for the National Trust we do request and expect individuals to uphold the values of the organisation.
"We encourage people with any concerns to chat to our teams." | A group of National Trust volunteers have been offered duties away from the public after "feeling uncomfortable" wearing sexual equality symbols. |
36340478 | It said the US company is withholding information from customers, and making them wait too long for repairs.
Which? said some owners were having to wait up to 12 weeks, just to obtain a customer ID.
The company said there were inconsistencies in the report, but it would investigate the issues raised.
The BBC has previously reported that customers are having to wait up to 11 months in total for repairs to be carried out.
The fires have been caused by excess fluff, which can catch on the heating element. Some five million affected machines have been sold in the UK, under the Creda, Indesit and Hotpoint brands.
Which? used a series of mystery shopper calls to test responses from Whirlpool.
It found that customers were repeatedly told to take up the problem with the retailer who had sold them the machine.
When they did so, consumers were re-directed back to Whirlpool.
Many owners were faced with the choice of lengthy delays for a repair, or else paying for a replacement at a reduced price.
Some were told by Whirlpool staff that it would take eight to twelve weeks just to be given a customer ID - something Which? said could have been done at the touch of a button.
"Whirlpool customers rightly feel dissatisfied with how they've been treated, being faced with delays, confusion and a lack of information," said Alex Neill, director of policy and campaigns at Which?
"Whirlpool must clean up their act and sort this mess out," she said.
Which? has also called on Whirlpool to list all 127 affected model numbers on its website, rather than the model checker which is currently available.
In response, the company said there were "a number of inconsistencies" in the Which? report.
However it promised to investigate any instances which were inconsistent with its "high standards."
In a statement it said, "Whirlpool's response to the tumble dryer issue is at an unprecedented level, and our staff are working round-the-clock to ensure we're able to resolve the matter as quickly as possible for our customers."
It was continually looking at ways of speeding up the repair process, it said.
However Which? is calling on the government to intervene, to close the "loopholes that allow companies to leave consumers without the basic information and advice they need." | Whirlpool, the firm behind the faulty tumble dryers involved in a series of fires, has been accused of "multiple failings" by the consumer group Which? |
39690602 | Chelsea's N'Golo Kante picked up the PFA Player Of The Year Award last night.
It's one of the highest awards in English football and is voted for by players, former players and coaches.
He only joined Chelsea this season after starring for Leicester City last year.
He beat Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard and Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimnovic to take the prize.
But we want to know - who is the the best player YOU'VE seen this season, and why?
Your comments
I think Philippe Coutinho the Liverpool left winger
Logan, Kent
Chris Wood - he scored 25 goals and he is the top goal scorer
Shaan, Sheffield
I think it should be Christian Eriksen from Tottenham Hotspur for his super assists! But I am an Arsenal fan!
Jed, Derbyshire
I think Alexis Sanchez because he really helps Arsenal with scoring and is a good team mate to have
Erika, Essex
I think Harry Kane should win it because he's my favourite football player
Kerry, East Grinstead
The best premier league football player is Sanchez from Arsenal
Wilf, Oxfordshire
We think that the best player in the Premiership this year is Eden Hazard from Chelsea.
Murrayburn Primary, Edinburgh
Thank you for your comments this chat is now closed. | This is the man who players and coaches think is the best player in the Premier League. |
32156529 | Many expats see it as a land of opportunity. Some come to make their fortune, others simply to get a job often unavailable at home. Meanwhile, more Emiratis are joining the workforce to shape the future of their country.
The BBC's Amandeep Bhangu meets five people living in Abu Dhabi to hear about their working lives.
Hamda al-Qubaisi represents a new wave of working Emiratis. Aged 26, she is a first officer for Etihad Airways and regularly piloting an Airbus A320 on short-haul flights around the region.
Like many of her compatriots who have shared in their country's vast oil wealth, she has no need to work, but she says: "I want to work. I want to give back to my country because they've given so much to me."
She spotted an advert in a newspaper for trainee pilots, applied and was accepted for Etihad's training scheme, which is fully paid for by the government.
"I couldn't have become a pilot without this funding," she says. "If it was based abroad I don't think my family would've allowed it.
"I just applied to tease my brothers. I told them that I wanted to be a pilot and they said you cannot do it. So from that point I thought I have to do it, I have to prove that they're wrong."
Aviation is a key part of the government's goals to diversify the economy beyond oil dependency.
The UAE is riding a boom in long-haul travel, particularly between Asia and the West, providing a prime stopover.
Dubai is now the busiest airport in the world but Abu Dhabi is home to the national carrier, Etihad one of the world's fastest-growing airlines.
The more challenging part for Ms al-Qubaisi has been making her way in a male-dominated working industry
"I always do double the effort of my male colleagues to show them I can do the job. Eventually I want to be a captain. I love flying. Everyday there's a different view."
Another Emirati woman on the move is Shaikha Mohammad al-Kaabi, a business developer by day who was driven by her passion for Emirati food to set up a food truck to entice visitors away from the city's five-star restaurants.
"I realised when people come on holiday to Abu Dhabi they don't try Emirati food, and even when you ask people who live here what their favourite Emirati food is, they often name Middle Eastern or Lebanese food," says the 33-year-old.
Last November she established Meylas, a food truck restaurant that serves Emirati snacks. Customers use social media to find out where it is and can tuck into dishes inspired by her mother's and grandmother's recipes.
She comes from a wealthy and influential Abu Dhabi family but insists her work is her life.
"I couldn't exist without working. It's important to me. I want to prove myself to my parents. And as Emiratis we want to prove ourselves to the outside world, which thinks we live off our family and country's wealth.
"But if you come here, you'll see we work and we are happy to share our home and culture with those that move here."
In fact, the name of her business captures this spirit. Meylas is a local expression that means "a place to gather, akin to a living room".
Dorian Paul Rogers moved from the United States to Abu Dhabi in 2011, as one of the millions of expats who come to the UAE for better work opportunities.
A teacher by profession, he says his real passion is organising cultural events. Three years ago he started Rooftop Rhythms, a poetry and music open-mic evening that tapped into the growing grassroots cultural scene. What began as a monthly event evidently hit a chord with expats and Emiratis, and is now one of the biggest poetry open-mic events in the Middle East.
"Now I'm running several events throughout the month, from Arabic poetry to soul-and-blues nights, and I just hosted an international poetry festival," Mr Rogers says, adding that he has decided to give up teaching and do this full-time.
"I couldn't have dreamed of the success I would see in the UAE." As someone who has toured the world, he says Rooftop Rhythms is one of the most diverse events he has seen as regards the nationalities of performers and those attending.
Mr Rogers, reflecting on his experiences of organising and performing at such events in the US, says there are differences.
His events have "a few rules to make sure we are aligned with the UAE's appropriateness" guidelines. Each performer is aware that offensive language, vulgarity, speech on politics involving the UAE, or promotion of any religion besides Islam will not be tolerated.
But he does not feel compromised as an organiser or as a spoken-word artist himself. "I moved to the UAE with the idea that I was a humble guest ready to adapt to a new society and culture. When you visit anyone's home, there are house rules that you must follow. There's still plenty of scope for artists without a need to be offensive."
With 80% of residents in the UAE coming from abroad, expats fall into many categories. There are plenty of bankers and others who go to work in a suit but there are also people such as Elsa Fortuna Callado, a taxi driver who came to the UAE from the Philippines five years ago.
"The money is much better here and there weren't enough jobs back home," she says.
"Here I earn tax-free and the tips are really good, so I can save up enough to send back home."
Her day usually starts around 7am because many of her regular customers are families with children to drop off to school. She sees her friends during her lunch break, before the afternoon school run starts.
"I like my job because I get to talk to lots of people every day and there is no boss," she says. "I am my own boss."
She also has a lot of single female passengers.
"They prefer a female driver, especially for long journeys," she adds.
Her company requires her to wear a shayla as part of her uniform, as she must cover her hair if there is a man in the taxi.
Away from work, Ms Fortuna Callado spends time with friends, visits her local Catholic church - next to a mosque - and spends time with her sister and cousin, who also work in Abu Dhabi. They share a small apartment together.
Relaxation sometimes takes her to her favourite Filipino restaurant in the backstreets of the Old City. This is the alternative side of Abu Dhabi, away from the glitzy five-star hotels, that most tourists do not see but which is popular with those in the know who want international cuisine at cheap prices.
"It's proper home cooking and reminds us of back home," she says.
Hamza Kazim is a senior figure in the Masdar Institute, an Abu Dhabi organisation whose ambition is to advance the clean energy industry not just in the capital of the UAE but "around the world".
He is certainly in the right place.
The car-free environment of Masdar, powered by the sun and cooled by wind, is working to become the world's most sustainable low-carbon city.
"I was here when it was just sand, and I've watched it grow in front of my eyes," says Mr Kazim, who is Masdar's head of finance and operations.
Masdar, designed by the London-based sustainable architecture practice Foster + Partners, combines 21st Century engineering with traditional desert architecture to deliver zero-carbon comfort.
"The compact design of these narrow streets, based on ancient Arab cities, provides shade to pedestrians and funnels breezes through them so it's much cooler here than within the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi," he says.
The town, due to be completed in 2025, will eventually be home to 50,000 people. It relies entirely on solar, wind and other renewable energy sources, and a desalinisation plant will provide water, 80% of which will be recycled. Biological waste will be turned into fertiliser.
"I'm really excited about the cutting-edge discoveries we're working on here that could revolutionise medicine and science, not just renewable energy technology," says Mr Kazim.
"People don't often see these types of ideas coming from the Arab world, so it's great that we can be a platform for this."
Working Lives is part of UAE Direct a season of features online and on BBC World News about the United Arab Emirates. | Abu Dhabi is often overshadowed by its better-known neighbour Dubai, but the capital of the United Arab Emirates is growing rapidly and attracting workers from around the world. |
39234888 | Edith Morley was appointed Professor of English Language at the University of Reading in 1908.
After a student-led campaign, the Humanities and Social Sciences Building has now been named the Edith Morley Building.
It was renamed after an annual lecture named in Prof Morley's honour.
The decision to rename the HumSS building - known as 'the maze' by students due to its complicated layout - was made thanks to a campaign by the Reading University Students' Union (RUSU) in 2015.
The University's Ethics Board "felt strongly that the change of name would serve as a fitting memorial to one of the university's most influential academics".
Prof Morley is believed to be the first woman appointed to a chair at a British university-level institution, after becoming English professor at University College Reading (now the University of Reading).
In her autobiography, she described the appointment as "my contribution to the battle for fair dealing for women in public and professional life".
Penny Mordaunt MP officially unveiled the renamed building after giving the annual Edith Morley Lecture, held annually to celebrate her achievements in the field.
The Portsmouth North MP said she was "very honoured" to help rename the building.
Who was Edith Morley? | Britain's first female professor has been honoured by her former university, by having a faculty named in her memory. |
39236638 | Well those were the humble beginnings of Lagan College, Northern Ireland's first planned integrated school 36 years ago.
The reasons why and how the college gave rise to the integrated education system are the focus of a new BBC Radio Ulster documentary.
The programme, All Children Together: The Story of Lagan College, reunites past pupils, teachers and parents to relive the highs and lows of those early days.
On 1 September 1981, 28 boys and girls from both sides of Northern Ireland's divide walked through the gates of Ardnavally Scout Hall on the outskirts of south Belfast.
This was no ordinary first day at school. The pupils were part of what was then considered a radical idea to educate Protestant and Catholic children under one roof.
A brave move, given that 1981 was a year of deep division with more than 100 Troubles-related deaths, tense Anglo-Irish talks and the H-block hunger strikes.
Throughout the 1970s a determined group of parents in a movement called "All Children Together" had campaigned relentlessly for integrated education.
After years of some success but also frustration, they decided at a public meeting in March 1981 to set up a new school.
The problem was they had no premises, little money and were not eligible for government funding for at least three years.
That was when the Scout Association stepped in and the makeshift school was created.
Brian Lambkin was Lagan College's only full-time teacher at the beginning.
"It was a real scramble that year," he said. "The principal wasn't appointed until May and I wasn't appointed until the end of June, beginning of July.
"The school I worked in before was very kind about donating books. We also scrambled the furniture together from somewhere. The basic materials were just about in place before we started."
Lagan College's first principal, Sheila Greenfield, who is now in her 80s and living in England, praised the pupils' parents for going above and beyond in those early days to keep the school going.
"I had them cleaning the building, supervising lunch, running a morning break tuck shop and they were even driving their cars all over for us [transporting pupils]," she said.
For those first 28 students, one of the more unusual things they had to face was constantly being in the media spotlight.
This was because of the intense interest in a school that was seen to be challenging the educational norm of the time.
Founding pupil Richard Sherry says Lagan College was, and in his view still is, Northern Ireland's most famous school.
He remembers an event held just days before it opened, when news crews filmed the students and did interviews.
"We had a picnic at the Giant's Ring [on the outskirts of south Belfast]. Myself and others were asked to bring our uniforms and there was a famous picture taken that day - the first of Lagan's new pupils," he said.
He said it was an opportunity for the press to get a photo so they would not turn up on the first day of school and cause disruption, but they could not stay away.
As Northern Ireland's only integrated school back then, pupils had to travel far and wide to get there.
Green Party MLA Clare Bailey was one of the founding students. At the time she lived in a mixed housing estate in Antrim and, with her sister, did a four-hour round trip to Ardnavally everyday.
Given that the Troubles, road checkpoints and police searches were the norm in 1981, Ms Bailey recalls the Lagan College minibus often being targeted because of what the school stood for.
"Other schools and their pupils, on main arterial routes, would have bricked the bus. I remember the drivers could obviously see people gathering down the street and knowing that we were going to be attacked," she said.
"They told everybody to lie on the floor while they had to drive through the bus being pelted with stones and bricks. It turned into a sport sometimes I think."
Yet despite incidents like this, Ms Bailey said Lagan College's first 28 pupils, wherever they came from and whatever their religious background, formed a crucial bond and became a "gang of friends".
In those early days Lagan College garnered much support but also faced opposition from the Catholic Church, Catholic educationalists and many within the predominantly Protestant state school sector.
PJ O'Grady is a former school principal of St Patrick's College in north Belfast and back in 1981, he was teaching at a school on the Falls Road.
While he aligned himself with Lagan College's all-ability, non-selection ethos, he agreed with little else.
"We, in the Catholic sector, and other churches, we go back centuries in educating people and I was just concerned there was a lack of depth in what integrated education was about," he said.
"Yes it was bringing people together but was that the main strand of their philosophy of education? Or is education not more important and profound than that?"
From 28 pupils in 1981, to more than 1,200 in 2017, many of those involved in setting up Lagan College said it was pivotal to the growth of integrated education in Northern Ireland.
Tony Spencer, a founding parent, believes it was a catalyst for change.
"Without those [first] parents, without the courage they showed, it [Lagan College] wouldn't be here today and there wouldn't be well over 60 integrated schools here."
And as for its legacy 36 years on, past pupil Ms Bailey said it was simple.
"Lagan College wasn't just a school, it was a grassroots movement. That sense of DIY, that people could do this for themselves, we didn't need somebody else to give it to us."
All Children Together: The Story of Lagan College airs on BBC Radio Ulster at 12:30 GMT on Sunday 12 March. | How many schools do you know start out life in a Scout Hall? |
36992632 | The move follows a monitoring programme by Caerphilly council of 7,000 randomly-selected homes which found only 38% were recycling.
Over the next few weeks, council officials will go to 80,000 homes in a bid to increase that figure.
The authority said 7,000 tonnes of food waste was not being recycled.
Councillor Nigel George, cabinet member for community and leisure services, said: "If every household participated in recycling food waste, the council could save nearly £200,000 a year which could go towards protecting other frontline services."
The Welsh Government has set targets which require councils to recycle at least 64% of all waste collected by 2019-20 and 70% by 2024-25.
Failure to do so could lead to significant fines of up to £1m being imposed on councils. | Every home in Caerphilly county will be visited as part of a new campaign to get more people recycling their food waste. |
34875638 | 20 November 2015 Last updated at 06:58 GMT
Marie-Ange Koutou, 42, is a paediatric nurse's assistant in the Medecins Sans Frontiers Hospital in Kabo, a remote rural village in the north of the Central African Republic.
Kabo is one of the worst three places in the world for child deaths. But the killing is not done by bombs and bullets, it's by malnutrition and malaria as a direct result of decades of civil war.
"People cannot walk around as they would like. When you walk you are afraid," she told the BBC.
100 Women 2015
This year's season features two weeks of inspirational stories about the BBC's 100 Women and others who are defying stereotypes around the world.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram using the hashtag #100Women. | As part of the 100 women series we met some of the nurses working in areas ravaged by conflict. |
33866704 | The 24-hour walkouts will begin at 18:30 BST on Tuesday 25 August and at 18:30 on Thursday 27 August.
Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT), the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) and Unite union members will strike about work-life balance and job cuts with September's night time tube.
The 24-hour service is set to be introduced on 12 September.
Station staff will strike from 18:30 each day and drivers from 21:00 in the protest, which follows two earlier strikes, on 6 August and on 8 July.
Disruption is likely to be felt from Tuesday evening until Friday night, owing to the knock-on impact of each strike to the service.
The train drivers' union ASLEF is yet to decide on the action it will take.
By Richard Westcott, Transport Correspondent. @BBCwestcott
It's interesting that the drivers' union, ASLEF, hasn't followed suit, just yet. I'm hearing that talks have been going better with ASLEF and they may just be able to do a deal that would sort out concerns over shift patterns.
Having said all that, negotiations could still collapse and ASLEF might well be joining the others in announcing strike dates, probably later this week. And I can't see drivers crossing picket lines anyway.
Resolution talks really haven't been going well in this dispute.
There's been a lot of anger and frustration on all sides. It's hard to pin down where it's all heading, although it seems likely that London Underground will have to postpone the start date for 24-hour tube services, which were meant to begin on 12 September.
A spokesman for Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "The union leadership appear hell bent on strike action and the mayor is dismayed at their continued failure to put what is a fair, sensible and generous offer on the table to their members."
He said the workers were being offered an above-inflation pay rise, cash bonuses and the commitment no one would have to work more hours than they do today and that strike action was "completely unnecessary".
But Manuel Cortes at the TSSA said it was "time for the mayor to start getting his hands dirty and get down to serious direct negotiations" to avoid a week of disruption on the Tube.
He said: "He will blame the rail unions for the disruption but the travelling public will be asking why he has allowed these talks to drag on for six months while he refused to meet the union leaders themselves."
General secretary at the RMT Mick Cash said the union's members didn't want to be "forced to wreck their home lives in order to comply with the rosters from hell".
He said Tube staff were angry Mr Johnson had "ignored" their issues.
"Running tube services with fatigued and burnt-out staff is a recipe for disaster," he said.
Hugh Roberts at Unite said London Underground's (LU's) "vague assurances" about work-life balance and unsocial shifts did not give its members "the security they need to plan their home life over the long-term".
He said: "If not enough people sign up for night shifts, what happens then? LU has made it clear that people will effectively be forced to work with its insistence that staff are contracted to work 24/7".
Steve Griffiths, London Underground's chief operating officer, said the union had demanded the hiring of "even more staff" and wanted to reverse "modernisation of customer service" in Tube stations.
"They expect our customers to pick up a bill running into hundreds of millions of pounds for this through higher fares or by forcing us to cut back investment to improve Tube services in a rapidly growing city.
"No responsible management can give in to such demands," he added. | London Underground workers will stage two more strikes in the dispute over night Tube plans, three unions said. |
32807799 | The UN Refugee Agency says that in the current crisis 1,396 people have arrived here, with about 430 more rescued on Wednesday.
The mayor of Langsa, one of Aceh's cities, told the BBC last week that city funds used to help were running low and the national government had not provided any money.
The BBC takes a look at how local people in Aceh have been stepping in to fill the gap.
Some of the local fishermen have been using their small boats to rescue migrants from the water or from their sinking boats.
There are reports the fishermen have been told by authorities not to pick up migrants even if they are drowning.
However, the Acehnese fisherman appear to be rescuing migrants regardless, and are the first point of contact for those who have been adrift at sea for weeks.
Razali Puteh (not pictured), is one of the fishermen who spotted the migrants rescued on Wednesday from an overcrowded trawler. He said he was about 60 km (37 miles) off the coast of Aceh when he saw the vessel.
"When coming close, I was very surprised with what I saw on the boat,'' he told AP news agency.
"It was crammed with people ... I was speechless and breaking down into tears when watching them screaming, waving hands and cloth."
"I could not have let them die, because they are also human beings, just like me. I am grateful to be able to save hundreds of lives."
Once on land, those in need of immediate medical assistance are being taken to tents set up as hospitals.
The rest are taken to temporary housing, where locals have donated food, water, clothing and small amounts of money.
A migrant woman (above), carried by Aceh residents, was unconscious when she arrived in Simpang Tiga.
Residents in Langsa and the village of Julok have been giving rice from their paddy fields, vegetables and eggs, correspondents say.
They have been donating money for gifts for the children and schools have allowed the migrant children into classes.
Volunteers from different religious groups and local NGOs are also involved in the aid effort. | Aceh province in Indonesia has seen the highest number of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants land on its shores, many malnourished and in need of medical attention. |
36245441 | The new positions will be based at the company's call centre at Springtown business park.
The jobs will bring the total local workforce at the firm to over 300. Axa has operated in the city since 2007.
In February, the company confirmed it would be relocating some roles from Dublin to the north west.
Centre manager Sean Harnett said their customer contact centre in Derry "efficiently services the company's business operations across the Island of Ireland while, at the same time, building on AXA's strong presence with 15 branches across Northern Ireland".
The jobs are a mixture of part-time and full-time permanent posts. | More than 80 new jobs will be created in Londonderry by the insurance company, Axa. |
34810806 | Operator E-On said it has 50 hours of its licensed operating hours left, which will end in the middle of next week.
The station, in Shropshire, had to close by the end of the year or after a set number of operating hours under EU environmental regulations.
E-On said no decision had yet been reached about the future of the station's well-known cooling towers.
The station, originally coal-fired, was converted to burn wood pellets in 2013 ahead of its planned closure this year.
It can generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of up to 750,000 homes. | Ironbridge Power Station will stop generating electricity next week. |
34059249 | Mr Corbyn told the Independent he would consult women on the suggestion.
But the idea was attacked as outdated and unhelpful by his Labour leadership rivals Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham.
And other critics, including Conservative women's minister Nicky Morgan, said it smacked of "segregation".
It comes after British Transport Police (BTP) figures suggested sex offences on trains and at stations had risen by 25% to record levels.
Mr Corbyn said: "My intention would be to make public transport safer for everyone from the train platform to the bus stop to the mode of transport itself.
"However, I would consult with women and open it up to hear their views on whether women-only carriages would be welcome - and also if piloting this at times and [on] modes of transport where harassment is reported most frequently would be of interest."
According to the Independent, he said it was "simply unacceptable" that many females have to adapt their daily lives to avoid being harassed in public, including while using public transport.
The Independent said he would also call for a 24-hour hotline for reporting harassment and assault.
Rail minister Claire Perry suggested introducing women-only carriages was an idea worth considering in September last year. Compartments solely for females were last used on UK railways in 1977.
But a report last year for the Department of Transport, by Middlesex University, said bringing them back would be a "retrograde step" that "could be thought of as insulting, patronising and shaming to both men and women".
Mr Corbyn's proposal was seized on by his Labour leadership rivals, who said it would not help cut violence against women.
Yvette Cooper said it would be "turning the clock back, not tackling the problem".
Ms Cooper, who is calling for stronger laws to protect women from violence and harassment, added: "We shouldn't have to shut ourselves away from men for our own safety.
"The staff needed to enforce the segregated carriages should be keeping all the carriages safe instead."
Andy Burnham said: "In this day and age, we shouldn't be even considering the idea of segregated train travel.
"As a dad of two young girls, I want to see a proper society-wide strategy on tackling violence against women."
Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, who chairs the health select committee, said women-only carriages "just normalise unacceptable attitudes".
She added: "In countries where women are segregated on public transport, this is a marker for disempowerment, not safety."
Everyday Sexism campaigner Laura Bates also rejected the idea, saying on Twitter: "Women-only carriages suggest harassment/sexual violence is innate & inevitable so women's responsibility to avoid."
But journalist and Jeremy Corbyn supporter Rahila Gupta said: "If there is a demand and it makes women feel safe then it's a good idea."
Countries that have introduced train carriages only for females include Mexico, Japan, India and Indonesia.
BTP recorded 1,399 sexual offences in 2014-15 in England, Scotland and Wales - up 282 on the previous year.
The force said the rise in sex crime figures was mainly because of a campaign to encourage reporting of these offences, which was launched in London in 2013 after a survey suggested that 90% of such attacks went unreported. | Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn has said he would consider women-only rail carriages to help stem a rise in assaults on public transport. |
36507854 | The British Team Sky rider finished fourth in the penultimate stage from La Rochette to Meribel, which was won by Frenchman Thibaut Pinot.
France's Romain Bardet was a narrow second to move into third in the overall classification behind Froome and Australian Richie Porte.
Froome, 31, had held a seven-second lead heading into stage six.
Bardet led Pinot up the final climb and, despite being beaten to the line by the FDJ rider, took 67 seconds out of Froome to vault up the overall standings.
Froome, twice a Dauphine winner, did not attempt to overhaul the French pair, but team-mates Mikel Landa and Sergio Henao led him up the final climb to ensure he would keep the yellow jersey.
The two-time Tour de France champion was able to steal a few seconds on other rivals as he broke clear to follow Etixx-Quick-Step's Dan Martin over the line.
Martin is now fourth, 30 seconds behind Froome, who also picked up eight seconds on Tinkoff's Alberto Contador and 10 seconds on Adam Yates of Orica GreenEdge.
In Sunday's final stage, the riders travel from Le-Pont-de-Claix to Superdevoluy.
Elsewhere, Froome's Team Sky and Great Britain team-mate Geraint Thomas finished 12 seconds behind home leader Fabian Cancellara in the first stage of the Tour de Suisse.
Stage six result:
1. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) 4hrs 24mins 16secs
2. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) same time
3. Daniel Martin (Ire/Etixx-Quick-Step) +1:04"
4. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +1:07"
5. Louis Meintjes (SA/Lampre) +1:15"
6. Alberto Contador (Spa/Tinkoff) same time
7. Diego Rosa (Ita/Astana) +1:17"
8. Adam Yates (GB/ Orica) same time
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Etixx-Quick-Step) +1:21"
10. Richie Porte (Aus/BMC Racing) same time
General classification:
1. Chris Froome (GB /Team Sky) 25hrs 50mins 22secs
2. Richie Porte (Aus/BMC Racing) +21"
3. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) same time
4. Daniel Martin (Ire/Etixx - Quick-Step) +30"
5. Alberto Contador (Spa/Tinkoff) +35"
6. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Etixx-Quick-Step) +56"
7. Adam Yates (GB/Orica) +1:02"
8. Diego Rosa (Ita/Astana) +1:18"
9. Louis Meintjes (SA/Lampre) +1:35"
10. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +2:12" | Chris Froome extended his lead in the Criterium du Dauphine to 21 seconds on Saturday with one stage remaining. |
38058402 | Ministers said they had "listened carefully" and decided not to proceed with the controversial "pay to stay" policy.
It would have applied to social housing residents in England earning £31,000 or £40,000 in London.
Councils and housing associations would be able to decide whether to impose higher rents, the government said.
Housing minister Gavin Barwell also confirmed the government would be ending the right of social housing tenants to stay in their homes for life, by introducing compulsory fixed-term tenancies.
This will mean tenancies are periodically reviewed "to ensure tenants still need a socially rented home", he said, with councils told to prioritise lower-income households.
He added that the government was exploring other ways to ensure higher-earning tenants "make a greater contribution to costs".
The change in policy comes after a public consultation into "pay to stay" in which council leaders and charities criticised the plans.
Under the current rules, social landlords can charge tenants with an income of over £60,000 market or near-market rent.
Former Chancellor George Osborne announced a compulsory scheme in his July 2015 Budget, with the government saying it was unfair for hardworking people to be "subsidising the lifestyles of those on higher than average incomes".
It would have meant local authorities were forced to raise rents with a taper system in place for those earning over £31,000 or £40,000 in London.
More than 70,000 households were set to be affected by the changes, pushing tenants' annual rent up by more than £1,000 a year on average.
In a written statement, Mr Barwell said the government remained committed to "ensuring social housing is occupied by those who need it most".
He added: "But we need to do so in a way that supports those ordinary working class families who can struggle to get by, and in a way which delivers real savings to the taxpayer.
"The policy as previously envisaged did not meet those aims."
The Local Government Association was among the organisations warning families could be forced from their homes and unable to stay in the same area if subsidised rents were dropped, with the proposal also facing resistance in the House of Lords.
The LGA said the decision not to enforce a compulsory policy would be a "huge relief to households across the country", saying implementing it would have been "difficult, lengthy and costly".
Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Lord Shipley said: "Finally the government have realised their plans to charge people more for their homes were not only unfair, but unworkable." | Plans to force higher-earning social housing tenants to pay more in rent have been scrapped by the government. |
34214022 | The 70-year-old was arrested at his home in Bayswater, west London, by Surrey Police on Wednesday.
His arrest was made in connection with allegations linked to the Walton Hop Disco in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
Two other men, aged 77 and 86, both from Walton-on-Thames, were arrested and have also been released on bail.
The men were all arrested on suspicion of various sexual offences concerning boys under the age of 16, Surrey Police have said.
All three men have been released on police bail until 9 March next year.
Mr King is a former chart-topping star and TV producer who worked on BBC shows such as No Limits and The Great British Song Contest.
He reached number four in the UK charts for his 1965 single Everyone's Gone to the Moon, and he also worked with bands such as Genesis and the Bay City Rollers. | Former music mogul Jonathan King has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of historical child sex offences. |
37498890 | The winner of the award will be announced during this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year, which will come live from the Genting Arena, Birmingham, on Sunday, 18 December.
Nominations will form a shortlist, with a panel including well-known sports stars deciding the winner.
Gymnast Ellie Downie took the award in 2015 after she became the first British female to win an individual all-around medal for Great Britain at the European Championships, claiming bronze at the age of 15.
Other past winners include diver Tom Daley, tennis player Andy Murray, footballer Wayne Rooney and Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds.
You can nominate by downloading and filling in this form and emailing it to [email protected] or posting it to YOUNG SPOTY 2016, 3rd Floor, Quay House, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, M50 2QH.
Nominees must have been 17 or under on the 1 January 2016 and nominations close on Friday, 11 November 2016. Nominations are made to the BBC and by sports governing bodies via the Youth Sport Trust.
This year, BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year has once again joined forces with Blue Peter to offer one young viewer the chance to join the panel to decide this year's shortlist.
The lucky viewer will be selected from those who have applied for a Blue Peter Sport Badge.
Youth Sport Trust's assistant director of development Will Roberts said: "Every year we are overwhelmed at the achievements of our hugely talented young sportsmen and women.
"This year we have witnessed some outstanding sporting performances, so trying to shortlist them to 10 and choosing the ultimate winner will be no easy feat.
"I hope our nominees will inspire other young people to get involved in sport and create even more stars of the future."
For more details of the nomination process, and for further information on how to join the judging panel, please see the terms and conditions. | After an incredible year of sport, you now have the chance to nominate your Young Sports Personality of the Year. |
36424069 | Paul Thornley and Noma Dumezweni were photographed in costume in Charlie Gray's portraits.
It was also revealed their daughter, Rose Granger-Weasley, will be played by Cherrelle Skeete - who is pictured in her Hogwarts uniform.
Previews of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child begin at London's Palace Theatre on 7 June.
Images of Harry Potter, his wife Ginny and their son Albus were released earlier this week.
Skeete has previously appeared in productions of The Lion King and Wind in the Willows, as well as television series Call the Midwife and Danny and the Human Zoo.
"I can't think about how big it is or I'll just faint," the actress said.
"Putting on my uniform, ready to go to Hogwarts, and seeing everyone else in their uniform was exciting. I've been looking at it every day in the wardrobe department, waiting for the day I can get on the Hogwarts Express."
The Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official story of the franchise to be presented on stage.
The casting of Ron and Hermione was announced in December, but the new portraits mark the first time the actors have been seen in costume.
Dumezweni said: "Every time I'm in the auditorium I turn around to people or say to myself, 'I'm in that show, I'm in that show.' I want to see it so much. I am so proud that I am in it."
JK Rowling said: "I saw Noma workshop the part and when [director] John Tiffany told me he'd cast her, I was overjoyed. She gets Hermione inside out."
Referring to the plot of the play, Thornley explained: "It's 19 years later when the play begins. Ron is married to Hermione Granger and they're now the Granger-Weasleys.
"Our magnificent daughter Rose Granger-Weasley is about to start at Hogwarts, which is obviously a big day for everyone."
Ron is seen in a grey-and-orange striped jumper in the photos.
"We had to make it look as though he doesn't really care what he wears in the morning," Thornley said.
"We wanted to find a jumper, that is definitely his favourite jumper, and that I think gets washed occasionally. He wants to essentially be comfortable at all times, hence comfortable cords, comfortable jumper, comfortable shoes. I don't believe he's a man who spends an awful lot of time shopping."
Rowling said: "Ron in his forties isn't very different from Ron in his teens, except that his feet hurt a bit more. Paul's so funny and brilliant in the role."
When the role of Hermione was cast, fans asked Rowling on social media how she felt about Hermione being played by a black actress.
The role was played by Emma Watson in the film series, but Rowling said that the character's race had never been referenced in the books.
Rowling tweeted: "Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione."
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is one play but will be presented in two parts. Both parts will run in the theatre simultaneously, split between matinee and evening performances.
The final photos of cast members in costume will be released on Thursday. | Photos of the actors who play Ron and Hermione in the new Harry Potter play have been released. |
37744872 | Laverty's performance earned him two more championship points as he remained in 12th place in the series.
He will quit MotoGP at the end of the season and return to World Superbikes, competing on an Aprilia machine.
Crutchlow became the first British rider to win the Australian Grand Prix as he held off Valentino Rossi.
Marc Marquez, who has already secured this year's championship, crashed out while holding a big lead on lap 10 which allowed Crutchlow to clinch his second win of the season after his triumph in the Czech Republic.
Crutchlow finished over four seconds ahead of Rossi with Spain's Maverick Vinales completing the podium positions.
"It's nice to win one in the wet and the dry because people only think you can ride in the rain when you win in it," said the Englishman. | Eugene Laverty finished 14th in Sunday's Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island as British rider Carl Crutchlow took his second career win. |
37936225 | So seriously, in fact, that they can come across as rather pompous to a British reader. When it comes to a presidential election they seem to believe that their endorsements are of huge significance and that their words will be weighed with utmost seriousness by their readers.
Well now we know how wrong that is because just about every major newspaper either backed Hillary Clinton or at least failed to endorse Donald Trump - and that went for papers who had faithfully swung behind Republican candidates in the past.
Now both the newspapers and the rest of the mainstream media are waking up to the fact that their influence may be as nothing compared with that of Facebook.
In 1992, a British tabloid newspaper claimed that it was "the Sun wot won it" when the Conservatives pulled off a surprise election victory. In the United States, some are asking whether the social network pulled off the same trick for Mr Trump.
The argument goes like this. A total of 156 million Americans are Facebook members and, according to recent research, two-thirds of them get news on the site.
Now that news may often come from mainstream media outlets - perhaps from papers endorsing Mrs Clinton - but what you end up seeing will be determined by who your friends are and what they share.
That's where the idea of a filter bubble comes into play - those inclined to vote for Mr Trump will only see stories that reflect their view of the world and the same will apply to those of a liberal mindset.
Now you could say the same filtering has always applied - liberal people tended to read liberal newspapers, conservatives got their views reflected back in what they read.
The difference was that most editors have tried to do two things - present at least some alternative views and make sure that the facts in any story stand up to scrutiny.
Neither applies on Facebook. The News Feed algorithm serves you up whatever it thinks you and your friends want to believe and it certainly does not do any fact-checking.
Stories that accused the Clintons of murder or maintained that Barack Obama was a Muslim will have cropped up in the feeds of millions of people inclined to support Mr Trump.
This cuts both ways - a made-up quote from Mr Trump saying in 1998 that he might one day run as a Republican because "they're the dumbest group of voters in the country" is still being widely shared on social media by his opponents.
Both the Democrats and Republicans have long made ample use of Facebook - indeed it was the Obama campaign of 2008 that pioneered the use of social media in elections.
But for a Trump campaign that saw much of the mainstream media as hostile and biased, both Facebook and Twitter offered a powerful way of getting its message direct to voters unchallenged by any pesky journalists.
If Facebook or something similar had not existed, would Donald Trump still be heading for the White House?
That is hard to say but what does seem likely is that social media served to polarise views in what was already a bitter election and may have encouraged a few hesitant voters to come out for Mr Trump.
This makes Facebook's claims that it just a technology platform, rather than a hugely powerful media company with Mark Zuckerberg as editor-in-chief, look very thin indeed. But there are few signs that the company is ready to face up to this heavy responsibility or engage in some serious soul-searching.
On Wednesday, my colleague Jane Wakefield went to meet the company's chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, who was on a visit to London. She asked him what role he thought social media had played.
Here is his extraordinarily unilluminating response: "It's hard to speculate. Our angle is that people can communicate and share what they want to talk about - that's what our endgame is."
Mind you, the editor-in-chief has shared some thoughts.
In a Facebook post adorned with a "feeling hopeful" emoji and a photo of him holding his baby daughter as he watched election coverage, Mr Zuckerberg told us that he'd been thinking about "all the work ahead of us to create the world we want for our children".
That apparently means "curing all disease, improving education, connecting everyone and promoting equal opportunity" and that will take a long time, and stretch beyond any presidency.
It was all very Californian, but the comment writers seemed to love it. "Thank you for your awesome comments and for being socially responsible leveraging your influence for good," was a typical response.
But no word of reflection from Mr Zuckerberg on how he had "leveraged" his influence over the way Americans understood the presidential campaign and whether its impact had been positive for the democratic process.
Media barons from William Randolph Hearst to Rupert Murdoch have sought to shape politics to their will. But they have revelled in their powers.
Mr Zuckerberg seems determined to pretend he is no more or less influential than any of his 1.6 billion readers sitting in front of the TV and watching the world change.
Read more:
What Trump means for tech
View from shell-shocked Silicon Valley
New Zealand immigration site's traffic surges
Obama to welcome Trump to White House | In the United States, newspapers take their responsibilities to the democratic process very seriously. |
36459733 | A revised version of the proposed law, that would change how the assembly makes laws and boosts its powers, was published on Tuesday.
Its earlier draft proved controversial amid claims it would hamper AMs' powers.
But First Minister Carwyn Jones said his remaining objections would not stop the bill.
Under the revised version, more powers, including coal licensing, would be devolved than previously planned.
Partial control over income tax would also be granted without a referendum.
The bill has now been presented to Parliament and is expected to complete its passage through the Houses of Parliament within the next 12 months.
Mr Cairns told BBC Wales the bill's "fundamentals are broadly agreed" with the Welsh Government.
"We want to negotiate on the fringes of elements of the bill but I'm optimistic that we can overcome those," he said.
Mr Cairns said the the UK and Welsh governments "both want the same thing, we want the Welsh Government to be accountable for the decisions it takes, but also for people to understand what is devolved and what is not devolved".
Asked if there would be any way the UK government could block the wishes of Welsh ministers on making legislation, he said: "Not at all."
"We're asking the assembly to rightly consider the implications of any law that it passes but every mature institution rightly does that."
Writing in the Western Mail, Mr Cairns said: "The UK government has listened, overhauled the draft bill in key areas and has produced a piece of clear legislation that takes account of the distinct and growing body of Welsh law."
Mr Jones previously warned the draft Wales Bill could amount to an English veto on Welsh law.
But on Tuesday Mr Jones said his remaining objections to the bill were not sufficient to stop it progressing.
"First of all it's not so badly flawed that it can't be improved, which the old bill was," he said.
"The old bill, basically, would have taken powers away from the people of Wales and given Westminster a veto in many, many areas.
"That's gone, I welcome that, but there are still some areas of detail that will need to be examined."
Mr Jones said there remained issues on which the Welsh and UK governments fundamentally disagreed.
"Why, for example, is the criminal law going to be mainly dealt with in Cardiff yet alcohol licensing will be in London?
"And policing will still be in London, whereas policing is devolved in Scotland, Northern Ireland and even Manchester."
Mr Jones also expressed concerns that the Welsh Government could be "stitched-up" over a financial deal to allow the devolution of income tax.
The Wales Bill promises new powers for the assembly - including over assembly elections, speed limits, and fracking - and rewrites how Wales is governed by defining what is under the control of Westminster, known as the reserved powers model.
The change is an effort to make Wales' devolution settlement clearer. The current system defines what is under the assembly's control, with everything else assumed to lie with the UK government.
But the draft version, published last year, faced considerable criticism across the political spectrum, with some saying the law would reduce the assembly's powers rather than increase them.
The row prompted the UK government to promise significant changes to the planned legislation, and the revised bill has several changes that include:
There is no provision for a distinct legal jurisdiction despite claims the new system needs a clearer separation between English and Welsh law to work properly.
However, a working group of officials from the Wales Office, Ministry of Justice, Welsh Government, and Lord Chief Justice's office is to be set up to decide how the judicial assessments are dealt with.
That group will report back by autumn 2016 on the "constitutional and practical implications" of diverging Welsh laws within the England and Wales justice system.
Plaid Cymru Westminster group leader Hywel Williams said: "The UK government's words have once again been proven hollow.
"The new Wales Bill will entrench Wales' status as the poor relation in this union, limiting our democratically elected government from acting in the interests of the people it represents, keeping as much power as possible on the corridors of Whitehall while devolving just the bare minimum.
David Cornock: "Minister tries to end Welsh powers arguments (again)"
"The Wales Bill," says the secretary of state, "is in the finest traditions of Welsh radical reformers like Lloyd George. It is designed to set the course for decades ahead and put a definitive end to outdated arguments over who possesses what powers."
What could possibly go wrong?
You cannot fault Alun Cairns' optimism as he unveils the latest Wales Bill on Tuesday but you may feel we have been here before.
For more see David's blog. | Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has said he is optimistic UK and Welsh ministers can reach agreement on the Wales Bill. |
32833797 | Robert Gates said no changes would be made at the meeting, but opened the door to a future policy review.
The former US Defence Secretary cited defiant chapters, possible legal challenges and other developments related to gay rights in the US.
Gay rights groups have welcomed Mr Gates' comments.
"The status quo in our movement's membership standards cannot be sustained," Robert Gates said at the group's annual meeting in Atlanta.
However, he raised the possibility that the organisation could revise its policy to allow local chapters to decide for themselves whether to allow gay adults to serve as leaders.
In 2013, the national organisation decided to allow openly gay youth to participate as scouts, but kept its ban on adults in place. The came into effect in January of 2014, and was the result of a bitter internal debate.
Mr Gates, who was in charge of the US military when congress voted to repeal the ban on openly gay service members, became the BSA's president in May 2014. Upon assuming office, Mr Gates said that he personally would have favoured ending the ban on gay adults. However, he did not want any further debate on the issue at that time.
On Thursday, he said recent developments "have confronted us with urgent challenges I did not foresee and which we cannot ignore".
Citing a defiant chapter in New York that recently hired an openly gay summer camp leader and other developments related to gay rights in the US, Mr Gates said: "We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be."
"I remind you of the recent debates we have seen in places like Indiana and Arkansas over discrimination based on sexual orientation, not to mention the impending US Supreme Court decision this summer on gay marriage," he said.
He said that while the BSA had the power to revoke the charters of local chapters that defied the ban on gay adults, doing so would be harmful to boy scouts in those regions.
Mr Gates also said that laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation that have been passed in many states could open the BSA up to extensive legal battles.
"Between internal challenges and potential legal conflicts, the BSA finds itself in an unsustainable position, a position that makes us vulnerable to the possibility the courts simply will order us at some point to change our membership policy," he said.
Groups that campaign against the ban have welcomed Mr Gates' comments.
"It seems like the Boy Scouts will continue an internal dialogue about the subject and that a change within the next year or two is imminent," said Zach Wahls of Scouts for Equality. | The head of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has said that the organisation's long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults is unsustainable. |
32530718 | Joseph Nkaisserry, who is in charge of security, also admitted that the response was poorly co-ordinated.
Militants from the Somali-based Islamist al-Shabab group killed 148 people during the day-long siege at the campus in the north-eastern town.
There has been much public criticism over the alleged security failings.
Correspondents say Mr Nkaisserry's admission is the boldest yet from the government, which has largely been defensive over the terror attack.
Latest news updates from across Africa
Last week, seven top policemen were suspended by Mr Nkaisserry following an initial inquiry into the security failings.
Universities had posted memos warning students of possible violence and the principal of Garissa University College is reported to have requested additional security at the campus, in vain.
Mr Nkaisserry made the comments before a parliamentary committee on security.
The security force's delay in responding to the university attack was caused by poor co-ordination, he said.
The structural design of the campus had also hampered the rescue mission as the accommodation hostels were "like cells as the windows had grills".
The majority of those killed could have been rescued had security officers accessed the college building where they were cornered by terrorists in the morning, he said.
The BBC's Odhiambo Joseph in the capital, Nairobi, says there was drama during the hearing when the minister became involved in a heated exchange with MP Ababu Namwamba.
Another legislator, Zakayo Cheruiyot, then walked out - signalling his dissatisfaction with Mr Nkaisserry's response over the handling of the Garissa attack.
Most of those who died in the raid were students and the attackers singled out Christians to be killed and spared Muslims.
It was worst attack to date in Kenya by al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda. | Kenya's interior minister has said security officers ignored intelligence reports prior to the attack on Garissa University College earlier this month. |
39875858 | The 31-year-old began his career as a trainee with Leicester and made 28 starts for the Foxes.
"I'm excited at the prospect of playing here. It's a good club with massive ambitions and I'm raring to get going," Logan said.
"It's a drop in division. Hopefully it's only for a year because this is a club that's striving for promotion."
The Stags have not disclosed the length of Logan's contract.
Logan left the East Midlands for Scotland after 10 years with Leicester to link up with Hibernian.
His eight-game spell saw him win the Scottish FA Cup as he played starring roles in the semi-final - where he saved two penalties in a shootout - and victory over Rangers in the final, before moving to Rochdale in August 2016.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | League Two Mansfield Town have signed goalkeeper Conrad Logan from League One side Rochdale on a free transfer. |
39109786 | Most of these "self-isolators" at HMP Featherstone, near Wolverhampton, felt at risk because of their debts.
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, said there had been a "shocking worsening in standards", and violence against staff had increased.
The decline is not acceptable but reflects pressures, a spokesman said.
The unannounced October inspection was held two months after inmates started fires during a week-long disturbance.
Mr Clarke said the number of men who chose to self-isolate was a "symptoms of the lack of safety" at the prison.
For more on this and other Birmingham news
Inspectors said the abuse these prisoners suffered included other prisoners urinating under their cell doors.
"They could not access showers, exercise, food or work without fear of repercussion," the report said.
Inspectors said while some officers showed concern, others referred to them as "scaredy cats" and their predicament as "self-inflicted".
The Category C prison, in Staffordshire, which holds about 650 men, was last inspected by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons in 2013, when it received a positive report and scored highly in two out of three areas.
The latest report found a "sharp decline" in three out of four areas, with safety assessed as "poor".
Two thirds of prisoners said it was easy to obtain drugs, with a fifth admitting they had developed a drug problem while inside.
"The backdrop to the decline at Featherstone was clear evidence of poor industrial relations, staff shortages and some significant prisoner unrest," Mr Clarke said.
The report noted the quality of teaching inside the prison was good.
Michael Spurr, head of the National Offender Management Service, is convinced the Featherstone governor could turn its fortunes around.
"The deterioration in performance at Featherstone isn't acceptable, but reflects the real pressures which the system has faced over the last few years," he said.
"The government has set out a clear plan for reform in the Prison and Courts Bill laid before Parliament last week, including investing more than £100m to provide 2,500 additional prison staff." | Some inmates are "living in fear" choosing to stay in their cells 24 hours a day at a prison where violence has increased, inspectors said. |
24237463 | The court said it had shown leniency to Li Tianyi, 17, because he was a juvenile, despite the fact he was the ringleader.
Li and four others raped the woman at a Beijing hotel in February after drinks.
He had denied any sexual relations with the woman, who he alleged was working as a prostitute, previous reports say.
Li Tianyi is the son of Li Shuangjiang, who has the rank of general and is known for his renditions of patriotic songs on television. Li's mother, Meng Ge, is also a well-known singer in China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Many people in China have watched the case closely, shocked by the behaviour of the children of China's elite, and the way the police and courts often give them favourable treatment, the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing reports.
User Happy Edge Ball: "This verdict shows that China's legal system is fair and just."
User 9999jasmine: "Li's parents are both famous celebrities. He won't stay in prison for long as they have connections."
User TAR_survivor: "Public opinion hijacking the law is the biggest obstacle to rule of law in China."
In a news conference, court official Fan Jun said that it was irrelevant whether the woman was a prostitute or not, AP news agency reported.
"The key is whether the female has consented to sex," Fan Jun reportedly said.
Li, who was 16 at the time of the rape, plans to appeal against his conviction.
"I think this verdict is unjust," one of his lawyers, Chen Shu, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. "This decision is based on evidence that is delayed and verbal testimony. This type of verbal testimony is unreliable."
Three other teenage defendants and an older man were also found guilty by the Haidian Court in north-west Beijing.
The court said it was giving Li Tianyi a lighter sentence because juvenile offenders should be given a chance to correct and reform their behaviour.
Two of the teenagers who took part in the rape, one aged 15, had their sentences suspended because, the court said, they had confessed, showed remorse and apologised to their victim.
The one older man who took part was given a 12-year sentence because he too had regretted his actions and been co-operative.
Many observers outside the court expressed satisfaction with Li's sentence.
By Damian GrammaticasChina correspondent
Just 16 years old when he led this gang rape, Li Tianyi has come to symbolise the outrageous excesses of the children of China's elites.
Convicting him, the court said security camera footage showed Li dragging his victim into a hotel lift and hitting her in the face.
When the 18-year-old refused to undress he stripped her and had forced sex with her.
His four companions, three also teenagers, then raped her too.
Li Tianyi is already notorious. Two years ago, driving a BMW car in Beijing, with no licence and no number plates, he assaulted an elderly couple who blocked his way, telling bystanders not to "dare call police".
Li Tianyi's father is an army general, famous for singing patriotic songs on television.
His mother also a singer, had insisted the woman had lured the boys into having sex.
Under pressure from the public the court has convicted Li Tianyi, but said it was giving him a lighter sentence because juvenile offenders should be given a chance to correct and reform their behaviour.
"This case represents the current social climate," observer Ma Haodong said. "Everyone is quite angry with the second-generation rich, the second-generation of officials and the second-generation celebrities."
Peng Kefang, who was also outside the court, said: "They shouldn't be able to do whatever they want."
Liu Shanying, a politics researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told AP: "There has been too much public sentiment involved in this case, namely the hatred of the rich and powerful... the ruling has been directly or indirectly influenced by that."
This was not the first time that Li Tianyi, also known as Li Guanfeng, has been involved in a public outcry. In 2011, he was sentenced to detention for a year over a road rage incident.
He was behind the wheel of a BMW car with no licence plates in Beijing when he confronted a middle-aged couple in another vehicle blocking his way.
He assaulted the couple and shouted at shocked bystanders, telling them not to "dare to call the police".
His father apologised to the couple over the incident. | A court in China has convicted the son of two high-profile army singers of rape and sentenced him to 10 years in jail, state media say. |
40673432 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Victory in the fifth-to-eighth place at the World League tournament game would have secured Ireland's World Cup spot.
A win in Saturday's seventh and eighth place game against India could still prove enough for the Irish to qualify.
But they will be depending on results to go their way at the upcoming Continental Championships.
Victory at the European Championships later this year would also secure Ireland's World Cup qualification but that looks a remote prospect judging by their performance on Thursday.
Lisa Deetlefs put the hosts ahead late in the first half before the Irish missed a chance a great chance to level as Roisin Upton hit the post from a penalty stroke with the South African keeper beaten.
Anna O'Flanagan went close to levelling in the third quarter as the Irish bossed possession.
However, South Africa doubled their lead early in the final quarter as Bernadette Coston hammered to the net after Anna Matthews had lost possession near her own goals.
Opting to go for broke, Ireland withdrew their keeper Ayeisha McFerran as they introduced Shirley McKay as a kicking back but another defensive mix up saw Lilian du Plessis netting the South Africans' third goal. | Ireland women's World Cup qualification hopes now look to be out of their own hands following Thursday's 3-0 defeat by South Africa in Johannesburg. |
40338362 | They also said it was overcrowded and struggled to hold prisoners in safe and decent conditions, after an unannounced inspection in February this year.
A report said violence levels had more than doubled since those found during the last inspection in November 2013.
But HM Inspectorate of Prisons praised the category B jail's cleanliness and efforts to "get the basics right".
Read more about this and other stories from across Lincolnshire
The report stated "too many prisoners felt unsafe", and recorded 126 assaults and fights six months before the inspection, with some injuries requiring hospital treatment. Attacks on staff were also "relatively high", with 49 incidents logged.
It said the number of inmates at risk of suicide or self-harm was also high, with 256 incidents of self-harm in the same period, three times higher than at the last inspection. But the report suggested "a smaller number of prisoners with complex needs accounted for many of the incidents".
Inspectors said the Victorian prison "faced increased levels of violence, often related to the prevalence of drugs and the difficulty of managing the problem with reduced staff numbers".
Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said it had "achieved some success" and the new governor and his team had "redoubled efforts to build on the institution's strengths."
Chief Executive of HM Prison & Probation Service Michael Spurr said HMP Lincoln's governor was working to "achieve further improvements" at the jail. | High levels of violence mainly related to drug use have been found by inspectors at HMP Lincoln. |
33893480 | It follows news that some airport shops are reclaiming VAT relief intended for shoppers flying to non-EU countries after checking their boarding passes.
Ombudsman Dean Dunham said there was little he could do as the law stands.
Retailers have said they are following government rules.
Passengers are asked to show passes so retailers can identify who is flying to non-EU countries and avoid paying 20% VAT on customers' purchases.
Treasury minister David Gauke said the relief was intended to reduce prices for travellers, not be a windfall gain for shops.
Boots, one of the retailers which said it claimed back some VAT for non-EU passengers, has since said it will no longer ask customers to show their boarding passes while it undertakes "a longer term review of the situation".
Dixons said it was reminding staff that seeing the boarding passes of passengers was a "request" and not mandatory.
Who is entitled to VAT savings?
Anyone travelling outside the 28 countries of the European Union (EU). Travellers within the EU or the UK have to pay existing rates of duty and VAT.
Do you have to show a boarding pass?
If you are buying cigarettes or alcohol in a duty free shop, you are legally obliged to show your boarding pass, to prove you are travelling outside the EU. If you are buying other goods - say books, snacks or cosmetics - you are not obliged to show your pass.
Read more from the BBC's personal finance reporter Brian Milligan
Mr Dunham, a barrister who was appointed in December to resolve disputes between retailers and customers, told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "Government needs to make this a law.
"They need to say to the retailers in airports 'you must', not 'we want you to'.
Ministers must say "you must pass on this relief, and you must make it very clear to your shoppers what it is they're getting for their money", Mr Dunham added.
A number of retailers have responded to the criticism:
Customers are not legally obliged to show their passes when buying goods at the airport, except when buying cigarettes or alcohol in a duty free shop.
But the Independent newspaper's travel editor, Simon Calder, said retailers were often giving "all kinds of stories" to explain why passengers should show them, such as for security reasons, which he said was "complete tosh".
Mr Dunham said it was difficult for him to do anything because it was rare for retailers to say something was entirely VAT-free.
He said many people were also confused about what duty-free means.
"They are thinking that because shops are duty-free, that it also includes VAT on all occasions, and that all of the shops in the airport are duty-free, which is not the case," he added. | The government should make it illegal for airport shops to keep VAT savings for themselves rather than passing them on to customers, the Retail Ombudsman has said. |
40684273 | Matthew Lucas told police in interview that it was "common knowledge" Adrian Pogmore visited naturist camps.
Pogmore, 51, has admitted making recordings of people sunbathing naked and a couple having sex.
Mr Lucas is one of four men on trial accused of misconduct in a public office in connection with the filming.
More stories from across Yorkshire
Police officers Mr Lucas , 42, and Lee Walls, 47 and police helicopter pilots Matthew Loosemore, 45, and Malcom Reeves, deny the charges.
The films are said to have been recorded from the South Yorkshire Police helicopter on four occasions between 2007 and 2012.
A jury at Sheffield Crown Court was read transcripts of police interviews with all four men.
Asked about Pogmore, Mr Lucas said: "It was common knowledge that he was the team deviant and he went to naturist camps."
He said that members of the team used the term to his face "but not in a bad way".
The court has heard that in July 2008 Pogmore recorded a couple, who were his friends, having sex in their garden and filmed a couple sitting naked on a naturist campsite.
Mr Lucas said the helicopter had been on "proactive duties" at a hotspot for stolen motorbikes near to a housing estate.
"I recall my attention being drawn to the camera screen by a comment made by PC Pogmore," he said.
"I recall seeing a female with no clothes on. From the brief view I had she appeared to be aware of the aircraft.
"I would have made some comment like 'my God Poggy' then continued with the proactive search."
He said he remembered the pilot - Mr Loosemore - being "shocked or flabbergasted" by what was on the screen but did not think he was aware of what was going on.
He told the interviewer that had he known Pogmore was recording the incident he would "have come down on him like a tonne of bricks" and that he was "naive" not to have challenged him.
Mr Loosemore said he remembered hearing an "exclamation" and had looked at the screen as a result.
He said he had seen "something inappropriate, some nudity" and then had looked away and the aircraft left the scene.
Mr Walls said he had no recollection of the flight during which Pogmore filmed a woman sunbathing naked in August 2007.
Mr Reeves, a former RAF pilot, said he had flown more than 2,500 hours and attended in the region of 10,000 incidents during his time with the police and had no memory of the incidents.
Pogmore, of Guilthwaite Crescent, Whiston, Rotherham, has admitted four charges of misconduct in a public office.
Mr Reeves, of Farfield Avenue, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, denies two counts of the same charge.
Mr Walls, of Southlands Way, Aston, Sheffield, denies one count.
Mr Loosemore, of Briar Close, Auckley, Doncaster, denies one count.
Mr Lucas, of Coppice Rise, Chapeltown, Sheffield, denies three counts.
The trial continues. | An ex-police officer who filmed people having sex using his force's helicopter was known by colleagues as the "team deviant", a court has heard. |
35652111 | A 42-year-old man from Walsall was arrested at the scene, just after the Merrions Close turning, on the Birmingham Road, Walsall, during the morning.
The girl was taken to hospital but died a short time later, West Midlands Police said.
A spokesman said the police had spoken to a number of witnesses but would still like to hear from people.
"This is a devastating tragedy for the girl's family and her friends and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time," the spokesman said.
More on this story and other Birmingham and Black Country | A 17-year-old pedestrian has died after being involved in a traffic collision. |
40999405 | Minister for Transport and the Islands, Humza Yousaf, said Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) would be introduced on Pentland Firth routes, with a variant for Aberdeen to Kirkwall and Lerwick.
RET allows fares to be realigned with the equivalent cost of travel by road.
It is expected to see foot passenger fares cut by an average of more than 40%, with car fares down more than 30%.
Mr Yousaf said: "During my first visit to the Northern Isles as Transport Minister I committed to ensuring we would reduce ferry fares as soon as practically possible.
"These significant fare cuts will be rolled out in the first half of 2018.
"It is also our intention to include the commercial operators on the Pentland Firth in this scheme, and we will work with them to put a suitable system in place to allow that to happen.
"This reduction in fares will make ferry travel to and from the Northern Isles even more attractive for islanders and tourists.
"It also brings fares into line with those on the Clyde and Hebrides network, ensuring parity and supporting our aim of having one overarching fares policy across our ferry services."
Northern Isles MSPs Liam McArthur and Tavish Scott both welcomed the news, and praised campaigners.
Orkney Lib Dem MSP Mr McArthur said: "I am grateful to all those in Orkney and Shetland who supported the campaign for fair ferry fares.
"It has been a long time coming but shows the importance of standing up for what's right and not taking no for an answer." | A scheme to reduce ferry fares to and from the Northern Isles is to be rolled out next year. |
34982579 | It is the first time the award has been given to two winners.
Both are tipped for Oscar nominations for their roles in Brooklyn and Room respectively.
Larson and Ronan have both previously been awarded the festival's Virtuoso award.
They will be honoured at a ceremony on 8 February.
The festival's executive director Roger Durling said they were "proud" to jointly celebrate "these two great actresses in such strong performances".
"This is an incredible year for emerging talent to take centre stage and showcase their abilities. We've long been following the careers of Brie and Saoirse and their recent roles as empowered young women transcend time, place and circumstance."
Ronan's performance in Brooklyn has already won her the New Hollywood Award at the Hollywood Film Awards.
In the film she plays Eilis Lacey, a young woman from rural Ireland in the 1950s, who has to leave her home to find job opportunities and a future in the US.
Brooklyn won the top audience award at the Vancouver Film Festival in October.
While captivity drama Room took home the People's Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
The film sees Larson play a woman who is kidnapped and gives birth to a son while being held captive.
Both the actress and eight-year-old Jacob Tremblay have been winning critical praise for their harrowing performances.
Tremblay will also be honoured at the festival for his performance. He will be one of four actors who will take home a Virtuoso Award.
The award recognises a group of actors who have distinguished themselves through performances in the past year.
The other honourees are Elizabeth Banks for her role in Beach Boys biopic Love & Mercy, Joel Edgerton for Black Mass and Paul Dano for his roles in Youth and Love & Mercy.
Also being honoured at the festival is Johnny Depp, who is being awarded the Maltin Modern Master award.
While Spotlight stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams will be honoured as an ensemble with the American Riviera Award. | Saoirse Ronan and Brie Larson are to be honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival - sharing the outstanding performer of the year award. |
36006710 | What makes Son of Saul's success even more extraordinary, however, is that it's a debut film - the first feature-length movie made by Laszlo Nemes, a 39-year-old Hungarian director.
The foreign language Academy Award-winner is set in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1944, where Jewish prisoner Saul works as a sonderkommando - someone who incinerates the dead in the crematorium. When he discovers the body of a child he thinks is his son, he risks everything to give the boy a dignified Jewish burial.
With no soundtrack apart from the sounds of the camp - banging doors, the scraping of shovels, the screams of prisoners - Son of Saul also focuses almost entirely on the face and movements of the lead actor, Hungarian poet Geza Rohrig. The background is a blur, although the audience is still aware of the horror unfolding around him.
"I wanted everything to come down to one man's suffering," says Nemes. "It's like making a portrait of someone. I thought if the audience could immerse themselves in one person's experience, then you could capture what it meant to be there on a visceral level. Too often the Holocaust is about the masses; it has lost its face."
This was also Rohrig's first film. He describes its effect on the audience as "a punch to the throat".
"My main task was to separate the feelings of myself as an actor and myself as a man," he says. "I had to avoid all sentiments and feelings, just to give Saul an intensity about him.
"The sonderkommandos had a stay of execution while they performed the work of the camp, but they alone out of all the arrivals at Auschwitz knew for certain that death was coming for them."
Nemes says: "This is about Saul's struggle to remain human when there is no more humanity. That's my question for audiences: is it possible to still have a voice within you, an inner God, in the middle of hell?"
Filmed in just under a month, outside Budapest, Nemes used an agricultural warehouse and points out that "Auschwitz was a factory, it just happened to be a factory of death".
"When people arrived, it just seemed like an ordinary building," he says. "Because of the significance it has in retrospect, people have forgotten that. We wanted to keep the everyday - how very real and very ordinary the horror was."
Nemes developed the script with his co-writer Clara Royer over the past decade, after reading accounts of the sonderkommandos' experiences.
But his refusal to tone down his vision meant he was turned down for funding in France, where he moved to at the age of 12, and Israel, as well as Germany and Austria. He eventually raised the £1m budget from the Claims Conference, which supports financial restitution for victims of the Nazis, as well as the Hungarian Film Fund.
As well as its international acclaim, Son of Saul has gone on to become Hungary's biggest independent film at the box office, but at the time of release there were media reports of anti-Semitic abuse on social media, calling the film "Jewish propaganda".
The director, who lost his great-grandparents to the Holocaust, among the 400,000 Hungarian Jewish people deported to Auschwitz, says he felt impelled to make the film "for a younger generation who now have the distance of time between us and the reality of what happened".
"For the film to first be seen in the year of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, it's a prophetic vision of what happens when people lose tolerance," he says.
"You only have to read the news to know that history did not turn a page after the Nazis - we have to keep telling this story over and over again. I want this generation to consider the evil that still exists within us as humans."
Many films set around the Holocaust have found box office and critical success, from Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, to Roberto Benigni's 1997 hit Life Is Beautiful, and 2007's foreign language Oscar winner, The Counterfeiters.
Nemes says he rejects "the Hollywood version" of the concentration camps, but says he understands "that the storyteller often wants to focus on acts of heroism, and the will to survive".
"As humans, we want to hear about people who make it through impossible odds," he says..
"However, the testimonies I read for this film were not those of survivors - they were from people working inside the camps who were just desperate for their reports to get out to the outside world. The rule of these places was death, and survival was often a complete accident."
Son of Saul is released in the UK on 29 April. | It's rare for a film to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe and the jury prize at Cannes, while at the same time being described by critics as "excoriating", "harrowing" and "unbearable to watch". |
36537482 | Damien Bancroft shared the photographs and videos from addresses in Dundee and Forfar over a four-and-a-half year period.
A court was told that the 36-year-old could not explain why he had distributed the material to others.
Bancroft will be sentenced at Forfar Sheriff Court on 3 August.
Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair told the court that police officers, acting on information, found more than 600 still images and 16 videos on two laptops and also on a mobile phone.
Miss Sinclair said Bancroft admitted to police that he was a pornography addict, having started watching adult material at the age of 19.
He accepted that he had downloaded and shared images with others but could not explain why that included indecent images of children.
Bancroft admitted taking or making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between 14 May, 2011 and 20 October, 2015.
He further admitted distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.
Sheriff Pino de Emidio continued Bancroft's bail and placed him on the sex offenders' register in the interim. | A self-confessed pornography addict who admitted possessing and distributing child abuse images has been placed on the sex offenders register. |
34211716 | The retailer is looking for almost 300 new locations for small to medium-sized supermarkets within the M25.
The move puts it into the heartland of supermarkets such as Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Grocers are under pressure, with Waitrose reporting its first fall in annual sales for seven years on Thursday.
This week Morrisons reported a 47% slide in annual profits, as well as the sale of 140 convenience stores.
Analysts say Lidl is simply extending a plan that has been in place for several years as it moves more upmarket.
David Gray, retail analyst at Planet Retail, said: "This is part of an ongoing strategy, with Lidl putting in more premium ranges, more fresh bakery products, more brands, to make it more like a mainstream supermarket."
Last week its stores introduced 60 new lines to its "Wine Cellar" concept, all from France, including less well-known wines such as Arbois, and a white Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Lidl has just under 4% of the UK grocery market and last year turned over a record £4bn - 21% higher than the previous 12 months.
It has also bought a five-acre site in southwest London at Tolworth for a new headquarters.
It plans a 220,000 sq ft building that will accommodate more than 750 people - double the size of its existing base in Wimbledon.
But Mr Gray added: "They are not there yet. Lidl is still a discount store, with a limited range, and shelf-ready packaging.
"You still do your main shopping at Tesco or Sainsbury and then top up at Lidl. You don't do your main shop there."
There are signs that Lidl's plan to change its image is working. Advertising group Havas last month put Lidl - and its rival discounter Aldi - among the UK's "Top 10 most meaningful retail brands", above Tesco, Asda and Morrison's.
Mr Gray said that Lidl's strategy was a gamble because its model was based on low-cost out-of-town sites and moving into central London could be far less profitable.
"I can't see them moving into the heart of central London. They will end up with smaller shops - they'll end up with convenience stores, which are a high-cost business model where it's a lot harder to make money." | Budget supermarket Lidl is planning to move into central London as part of a plan to shake off its discount image. |
35198388 | Katie Locke's body was found by police at Theobalds Park Hotel in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire.
Carl Langdell, 26, of the town's Roundmoor Drive, has been charged with her murder and was remanded in custody at Luton Crown Court on Tuesday.
Ms Locke, who was from Buckhurst Hill, Essex, "loved her job" said her family.
In a tribute, they said: "As a family we are distraught, in shock and totally devastated.
"There was not a bad bone in Katie's body.
"Katie worked hard and loved her job as a teacher. In what little spare time she had, she enjoyed sports.
"We now feel like our future has been stolen from us."
Mr Langdell is due to appear at St Albans Crown Court on 8 January. | The family of a 23-year-old teacher found dead in a hotel on Christmas Eve has said they feel their "future has been stolen". |
39783902 | Jack Crocker, 41, of Chacewater, Cornwall, and Robbie Long, 21, of Redruth, were given suspended sentences after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
Crocker encouraged his saluki dog to attack and kill the fox on his farm in June, Bodmin Magistrates' Court heard.
The RSPCA became aware after films of the incident were posted by Long.
The court heard how the young fox got into a barn where chickens and a pet rabbit were kept.
A video filmed by Long, of Lower Tolgullow Vean Farm, showed the dog, called Lady, being taken into the barn by Crocker, where it found the fox and gripped it around the neck.
The fox then appeared to escape and jumped into a neighbouring barn.
A second video showed Crocker, of High View Farm, taking the dog into the second barn and pushing it towards the fox, prompting it to carry out a two-minute attack, during which the fox died.
Judge Diana Baker said: "The fox went on to the land voluntarily. He [Crocker] had the right to protect his animals and to dispatch the fox, but he had to do so humanely.
"The DVD clearly shows him encouraging the dog to attack the fox. Most concerning there were howls of laughter during the two minutes.
"This action is deliberate and cruel."
The men have not been disqualified from keeping animals but two dogs have been removed from the farm.
Crocker had previously pleaded guilty to shooting a wild rabbit with a bow. This also only came to light when the RSPCA became aware of a photo on Facebook.
Both were given six-week jail sentences for causing unnecessary suffering to the fox, and Crocker received an additional two weeks for the bow offence.
The sentences are suspended for 12 months.
RSPCA chief inspector Ian Briggs said: "We hope this case being brought before the court will encourage others to report any concerns they have about animal welfare to the police or RSPCA." | Two men who laughed as they set a dog on a young fox and posted films of the attack on Facebook have been sentenced. |
35131174 | He arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday after blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz rocket.
In tweets, he said he was "loving every minute" of the first days of his stay.
Later on Friday he will answer questions from journalists in a live link-up with the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
Mr Peake is among six crew members living and working in space.
They include US station commander Scott Kelly, who is spending a year on board the ISS.
In a tweet, mentioning the Nasa astronaut, the 43-year-old from Chichester in Sussex said: "What makes a good leader? @StationCDRKelly having a hot bacon sarnie waiting as my 1st meal on #ISS. Boy that tasted good! #Principia."
And he added: "1st 48hrs on ISS - busy but incredible. Amazing how fast the body adapts to new environment. Found my tea ... life is good!"
The former Army aviator and helicopter test pilot also received messages of support from the Queen and Sir Elton John after the successful launch and docking on Tuesday.
He tweeted singer Sir Elton John from space, quoting his famous song Rocket Man, in response to a good luck message.
And he tweeted the Queen from space after Buckingham Palace's twitter account posted a good luck letter from the monarch.
Later on Friday, Mr Peake will speak to members of the press via a live link to the European Astronaut Centre near Cologne in Germany.
The question and answer session will be streamed live on the European space agency website.
It will be a brief break from a busy schedule.
According to the European Space Agency, he has a number of tasks to perform, including unpacking cargo, spending an hour on an exercise bike and taking part in an experiment looking at the effects of microgravity on the bone marrow.
Tim Peake in space: Want to know more?
Special report page: For the latest news, analysis and video
Video: Bye bye Daddy
In pictures: Flight to the space station
Explainer: How do I become an astronaut? | UK astronaut Tim Peake has begun his life in space with tea and a bacon sandwich. |
39799915 | The 24-year-old was cited by the Rugby Football Union for shoving Greg Garner with both hands in Friday's Premiership defeat to Newcastle Falcons.
He will miss the final match of the season against Leicester on Saturday.
Rapava Ruskin, who will join Gloucester at the end of the season, is available to play again on 4 September.
The Georgia-born player went before a disciplinary panel on Wednesday.
In a statement, the panel said the sanction "reflects the seriousness of making contact with a referee or any match official".
Rapava Ruskin's suspension rules him out of a potential England squad call, but three of his current Warriors team-mates - lock Will Spencer, stand-off Ryan Mills and winger Perry Humphreys - have been included in a 20-man three-day England 'strength and conditioning' training camp from 9-11 May,
England face the Barbarians on 28 May before playing two Tests against Argentina in June. | Worcester Warriors prop Val Rapava Ruskin has been given a six-week ban after pleading guilty to pushing a referee in the back. |
35899148 | The 67-year-old was found at Fairview Cottages in Badenscoth, Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire on Saturday 12 March.
Police have described the murder as "brutal" and said a "heavy weapon" was used.
Speaking at a press conference, William McKandie said "somebody somewhere must know what happened to Brian".
Earlier police divers searched a small stream near the victim's home.
Detectives have also released an image showing Mr McKandie at a bank in Turriff on 11 March.
His brother said the death had come as a "terrible shock" to the family.
Mr McKandie added: "My sister and I are now left with questions about why someone would hurt him. What did they want?
"He was a 67-year-old man who lived alone and worked hard as a self-employed mechanic and was friendly to anyone who spoke to him. How could someone do this to him?
"I would ask that if anyone thinks they have information about what happened to my brother - they might have seen something or heard something - to contact police.
"We are finding this whole situation really hard to come to terms with. We have lost our brother and we just want to know what happened and why."
Officers have been carrying out further forensic searches in the area around the murder scene.
Two men were reportedly seen speaking to Mr McKandie between 13:00 and 14:00 on the Friday before his body was found.
One of the men was said to be in his 50s and heavy set. The other was a younger man.
They were beside a burgundy or maroon estate car, possibly a Saab or Volvo.
Officers have also appealed for two men seen talking to Mr McKandie between 17:00 and 18:00 on the Friday. One was described as in his 20s, and the other in his 30s or 40s.
Detective Ch Insp Iain Smith said: "This type of crime is highly unusual in the North East, but especially all the more rare in a rural community in Aberdeenshire, such as this.
"We have a dedicated team investigating this incident plus the assistance of a number of specialist officers and departments, however information from the public will be key to us solving this case."
He also appealed for motorists with dashboard camera footage to come forward.
Mr Smith said it had been a "shocking" crime for the local community and "deeply upsetting" for Mr McKandie's family.
"Brian's brother and sister are obviously desperate for us to catch whoever has done this to their brother so they can get the answers they want and start to try to come to terms with what has happened," he added. | The brother of murder victim Brian McKandie has made an emotional plea for anyone with information about his death to come forward. |
22323144 | Nouri Maliki said sectarian conflict had returned to Iraq "because it began in another place in this region" - an apparent reference to Syria.
The violence has left some 170 people dead across the country since Tuesday.
On Saturday, at least five anti-al-Qaeda Sunni militiamen and three security forces personnel were killed.
Police said the first attack saw gunmen open fire on a checkpoint near the city of Tikrit manned by members of the local Awakening Council.
Awakening Councils, which were set up by Iraq's Sunnis to combat insurgents linked to al-Qaeda, have been seen as a key factor in reducing violence across the country since 2006.
In Saturday's second attack, three army intelligence personnel were stopped by gunmen while travelling in a civilian vehicle near an anti-government protest camp in the city of Ramadi, police said.
A gunfight soon erupted, in which the soldiers were killed.
In a televised speech following the latest violence, Prime Minister Maliki condemned sectarianism as an evil that was being brought back to Iraq.
"Sectarianism is evil, and the wind of sectarianism does not need a licence to cross from a country to another, because if it begins in a place it will move to another place," he said.
"Strife is knocking on the doors of everyone, and no-one will survive if it enters, because there is a wind behind it, and money, and plans," he added, without giving details.
Awakening Council chief Sheikh Wissam al-Hardan was meanwhile quoted by state television as saying that if those responsible for killing soldiers in the past week were not handed over, it would "take the requested procedures and do what it did in 2006".
On Friday, the UN envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, urged political and religious leaders "not to let anger win over peace" and exercise restraint, warning that the country was "at a crossroads".
The clashes in several towns and cities were sparked by an army raid on an anti-government protest camp near the northern town of Hawija on Tuesday that left 50 people dead.
The protesters were calling for the resignation of Mr Maliki, a Shia, and denouncing the authorities for allegedly targeting the Sunni community.
Although the violence is less deadly than that seen during the heights of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, it is the most widespread since the US military withdrawal in 2011. | Iraq's prime minister has warned that a plague of sectarianism is threatening Arab nations, after the most widespread violence there since US troops left. |
36946000 | NHS England previously said councils should provide the pre-exposure prophylaxis (Prep) drug as they are in charge of preventative health.
This stance was successfully challenged by the National Aids Trust (NAT).
But the High Court ruling does not make funding of Prep automatic and the NHS is set to appeal.
The ruling by Mr Justice Green said health bosses had "erred" in arguing it was not their responsibility.
NHS England has already announced it will appeal against the ruling - and even if that goes against health bosses it is not a given that Prep will be considered effective enough to warrant NHS funding.
If the Court of Appeal uphold the ruling NHS bosses would then assess Prep's cost-effectiveness alongside the merits of other treatments the NHS is being asked to provide.
HIV drug row: A very modern dilemma for the NHS
Using Prep has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection by 86%.
The once-a-day pill, which costs £400 a month per person, works by disabling the virus to stop it multiplying.
It is currently used in the US, Canada, Australia and France to help protect the most at-risk gay men.
Harry Dodd, 25, is one of about 500 homosexual men in England who are taking Prep as part of a trial called Proud.
He says: "I've seen the panic on the face of previous boyfriends when they are awaiting their [HIV test] results - it's a huge fear and it affects everything you do.
"To be able to have sex without having that fear hanging over you all the time is huge."
Harry says taking Prep has still not become socially acceptable.
"Too many people seem to think it will encourage a hedonistic lifestyle, but for me this is about saving lives," he says.
"People reacted with cynicism when the contraceptive pill for women was first introduced.
"For me, taking Prep has helped me to trust again, have relationships and build bridges and that shouldn't be taken away."
Read more on Harry's story
NHS England had argued that because Prep was preventative it was not its responsibility.
In May, it said it had legal advice that said it did not have the "legal power to commission Prep" and that under 2013 regulations "local authorities are the responsible commissioner for HIV prevention services".
NHS England has also warned that if it prioritised Prep, there was a risk of a legal challenge from people wanting similar access to other preventative treatments.
But the National Aids Trust (NAT) said local authorities did not have sole responsibility for HIV prevention in England.
The NHS in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet made a decision on Prep.
Deborah Gold, chief executive of NAT, said: "This is fantastic news. It is vindication for the many people who were let down when NHS England absolved itself of responsibility for Prep."
She urged NHS to act immediately and start funding Prep.
"Prep works. It saves money and it will make an enormous difference to the lives of men and women across the country who are at risk of acquiring HIV. The delay to commissioning Prep is both unethical and expensive."
But a spokesman for NHS England said an appeal would be launched first.
"NHS England has considered the judgement carefully and has taken legal advice. Queen's Counsel has advised that the court's ruling interprets the legislation governing NHS England's role and functions in a way that is inconsistent with Parliament's intention."
Meanwhile Dr Jonathan Fielden of NHS England, told the BBC: "Prep, subject to the appeal, will seen and considered alongside 13 other treatments including treatments for children with cystic fibrosis, for prosthetic limbs and certain types of auditory implants for deafness."
Councillor Izzi Seccombe, of the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said she was "pleased" with the ruling.
"We firmly rejected the argument by the NHS that it should fall to councils." | The High Court has told the NHS in England it can fund a drug that can prevent HIV - after health bosses argued it was not their responsibility. |
37278454 | Rooney, 30, made his 116th appearance for England in Sunday's World Cup qualifying victory over Slovakia.
But his value to the team has become a hot topic after he spent most of the game playing in a deep midfield role.
"I don't think he's a striker anymore," said Shilton, who won 125 caps. "We are trying to fit him in, but he's not a midfield player for me. Never will be."
Speaking to BBC Scotland, Shilton, 66, added: "He is spraying a few balls around, but I don't think he's being very effective.
"I thought he should have retired after the Euros. It's not because he could break my record. Far from it. If he does and he plays well, fine."
Rooney did not touch the ball once in the Slovakia penalty area but England's captain and record goalscorer says the debate over his role in the team has been an "overreaction" following the 1-0 win in Trnava.
"I played in that role and helped us win the game," Rooney, who has scored 53 goals for his country, told Sky Sports: "Too much is getting made about it."
In his post-match interview, new England boss Sam Allardyce said it was "not for me to say" where Rooney should play and said the Manchester United forward could play "wherever he wanted".
But former Norwich, Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton, who won one cap for England, said such an approach was damaging.
"With Rooney in a deep-lying midfield role for most of the match, Harry Kane was isolated up front and it killed his game," Sutton told the Daily Mail.
"Rooney can't pick and choose where he plays, it's not a testimonial.
"He is a lovely passer and technician but if he's not playing to Kane's strengths then the whole team suffer."
Fellow BBC pundit Alan Shearer added: "I did think he was too deep in that particular game. I thought we had a ball-playing centre-half and a sitting midfielder so I didn't think there was any need for him to keep on going and getting the ball off the back four, even deeper than the back four at times.
"I thought he would have been better served playing in the number 10 role and getting the ball and threading passes through further up the field, but they won the game so no one can complain," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.
Rooney says he will retire after the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, by which stage he is likely to have overtaken Shilton as England's most-capped player. | Wayne Rooney should have retired from international football after Euro 2016, says ex-England captain Peter Shilton. |
33009072 | A Local Government Association survey of councils in England, says 90% have cut services for teenagers not in education, employment and training.
Local authorities have seen funding cuts of 40% since 2010, and their responsibility for careers advice and further education has been removed.
The government said the teenage Neet rate was now 64,000 lower than in 2010.
And it highlighted that it is investing £7bn "to fund a place for every 16- to 18-year-old in England who wants one".
Since 2012, local councils in England have no longer had control over careers advice, which has switched to schools.
Local authority-run Connexions services were one of the first areas to be cut under the previous coalition government.
Councils have also lost control of post-16 education and schemes to tackle young people's disengagement.
But the LGA points out that local authorities still have a duty to encourage 16- to 18-year-olds to remain in education, employment or training and ensure there are enough opportunities available locally.
It says local councils are best-placed to oversee support for 14- to 21-year-old Neets because they know what is needed on the ground.
And it warns the advances that it has made could be lost with further cuts ahead.
David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, said: "The message from local government is clear.
"Cuts without reform risk undoing all of our collective good work, putting thousands of promising futures at risk.
"Councils are uniquely well placed to help young people access the opportunities created by the local employers increasingly frustrated by remote national institutions.
"It is important that we have the powers, levers and funding to fulfil our legal duties to young people.
"The new government has a real opportunity to build on recent successes and meet its ambition of full employment by enabling local partnerships of councils, schools, colleges, jobcentres and employers to locally coordinate a single youth offer.
"It will ensure every young person is either in work or learning."
A survey of 87 local authorities for the LGA also suggests the vast majority (97%) believe services for young people will be put at risk unless councils regain powers over them and general council cuts are avoided.
The Department for Education said: "Thanks to our essential reforms, there are 64,000 fewer 16- to 18-year-olds Neets than there were in 2010.
"We have ended the historic and unfair funding difference between schools and colleges from the 16-19 funding formula, and are maintaining funding rates for 2015-16 so they can plan their future offers for students.
"We are also reforming academic qualifications and vocational education to ensure young people get the knowledge and skills that they need to move into a job, apprenticeship or to continue their education."
The rate of 16- to 18-year-olds who are Neet has tended to fluctuated between 8% and 10% over the past decade, but has been following a downward trend since 2008. | Further council funding cuts will put thousands of youngsters' "promising futures" at risk, say town hall bosses. |
30346878 | In 1992 brother and sister Erik and Lina Runestam, with their friend Christoffer Hogstrom dropped a letter in the sea in Hunnebostrand.
It was found in November by Leonard Pearson, who lives in Panama.
He said he used Google Translate to help him read the message and sent a reply, hoping it would reach the kids who wrote the message in a bottle.
Speaking to Newsbeat, Erik said: "My memory is a bit blurry because I just turned six that summer.
"We wanted to make it look old school so we burned the edges of the paper and we wrote a message saying we were in desperate need of help, saying we were stranded on a desert island."
Erik remembers being excited about sending the message in the bottle.
He told Newsbeat: "Our dad told us we should wait until the wind was blowing off land because it might go as far as England, so we were a bit excited about that.
"It would have travelled north of Denmark, through the English Channel to cross the Atlantic. Our hopes weren't that high to even get to England."
Erik had lost touch with his childhood friend Christoffer - they hadn't spoken for 10 years. So Erik was very surprised when Christoffer sent a photo of the letter with a reply from Panama.
The letter - dated 6 November 2014 - reads: "Bueno dias. I have found this message in a bottle at Playa del Dragos, Bocas del Toro.
"I used Google Translate, and it seems the message is in Swedish? I hope that the address is correct and that this letter reaches the kids who sent the message."
Erik told Newsbeat: "I really want to tell Leonard that it has reached us and we're no longer kids but he didn't post a return address so we're trying to find him."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | A message in a bottle has been found in Panama - 22 years after it was posted in Sweden. |
37620814 | As part of the BBC's coverage, leader Nicola Sturgeon will take part in a half-hour webcast in which she will answer the public's questions.
This is your opportunity to quiz her on the issues that matter to you.
If you have something to ask, email [email protected] put "webchat questions" in the message field.
Maybe you would like to know more about;
The three-day SNP conference gets under way on Thursday and will be opened by Ms Sturgeon.
She will make her keynote speech to 3,000 delegates on Saturday afternoon.
You will be able to watch Ms Sturgeon's webcast, hosted by BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor, via BBC Scotland's politics web page. | The Scottish National Party will be holding its annual conference in Glasgow this week. |