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39,786,579 | Steve Stannard, 37, was killed in Bowers Avenue in Norwich on 5 November.
Hassiem Baqir of Howberry Road, Thornton Heath, south London, denies murder.
Giving evidence, the 19-year-old told Norwich Crown Court he carried a knife as a drug runner to look "sinister" but was not prepared to use the knife as he was not violent.
The court heard earlier Mr Baqir has admitted dealing drugs from Mr Stannard's flat, but he denies killing him.
Earlier the jury was told Mr Stannard was stabbed twice in the back and three times in the front. The wounds perforated his lung and his heart.
His dog, a border collie called Trixy, was also stabbed.
The trial continues. | A teenager accused of stabbing to death a man in a flat has told a court he is "not a violent person". |
27,640,733 | From Sunday, the maximum sum any one person can invest rises to £40,000.
That is an increase of £10,000 from the current limit of £30,000. The last time the limit was raised was in May 2003, when it increased from £20,000 to £30,000.
It is the latest tweak to the operations of what was originally a scheme to help the government raise essential cash without going to the money markets.
For nearly 60 years now, Ernie - the UK's official electronic random-number-indicator - has been whirring away picking the month's prize-winning Premium Bonds.
About a third of us - that is 21 million people - already hold at least 100 of these National Savings and Investments (NS&I) lottery-style bonds.
"People tend to either love or hate Premium Bonds," says Sarah Pennells, editor of the Savvywoman website.
"Those who win regularly love them, but those who've never won a penny probably feel they're a waste of time."
Ernie has been steadily getting higher tech. Once upon a time, a letter postmarked "Lytham St Annes" told you if you had won a prize. Now you just check your numbers online.
By Anthony ReubenHead of statistics, BBC News
If you're relying on the Premium Bonds to make you a millionaire there's bad news I'm afraid.
There are 45.7 billion bonds in circulation and one £1m prize, so your chances of winning the jackpot with a single bond are (with thanks to Prof David Spiegelhalter) slightly worse than the odds of flipping a coin and getting 35 consecutive heads.
From August, there will be a second £1m prize added, which improves your odds to 34 consecutive heads.
But your chances of winning any one of the 1.8m prizes is considerably better - about 25,000 to one - which is about 15 consecutive heads.
Try this excellent calculator to find out more about how much you should expect to win.
But the basics remain the same. By investing in Premium Bonds, you forgo any interest payments on your money but are entered into a monthly prize draw in the hope of winning £1m.
Julian Hynd, NS&I's retail director, is clearly braced for a busy few days.
"Premium Bonds are one of the nation's favourite ways to save," he says.
"Raising the maximum amount that can be invested is good news for customers because the more they invest, the greater their chance of winning a tax-free prize."
That is certainly true, but it is also a fact that the odds on a good win are still not that great. So the big question for British savers is this: Assuming you have the cash, should you buy even more Premium Bonds simply because you can?
One way to assess the value of Premium Bonds is to study the "prize rate". That is the percentage of the whole fund paid out in prizes.
Over the years, the chances of winning on Ernie have been regularly tweaked to regulate the flow of deposits and match market conditions. The bad news is that the prize rate was recently cut from 1.5% to 1.3%. That means for each £100-worth of premium bonds that you hold, your average annual return will be £1.30.
That is not enough for a cup of coffee on the High Street. However, some easy access savings accounts offer a similar or even worse rate of return, so it is not surprising that many people like the idea of at least keeping their principal sum safe, and enjoying a harmless flutter with a chance of bagging a tax-free windfall.
Of course, you could be unlucky and win nothing at all. That's Ernie for you.
Christine Ross, head of wealth planning at SG Hambros Bank, says some people treat Premium Bonds as a useful form of tax-free allowance. Others see them as a cheaper way of playing a lottery.
Ms Ross says some hold them for nostalgic reasons, because they have always had a few hundred tucked away.
"A lot hangs on whether you rely on absolutely every bit of income from your investments," she says.
"If you have got the money and probably if you are a higher rate taxpayer, then yes, Premium Bonds are a good idea. In that case it is worth maxing up to take advantage of this increase in the maximum number of bonds that you can hold."
Source: NS&I
But Ms Pennells is less keen, warning that it is not a good idea to pile extra money into Premium Bonds in the hope that your luck will change.
"Think about what you want your money to do before you put it in Premium Bonds," she says.
"The equivalent interest rate is 1.3%, but the payout is tax-free so it works out more if you pay tax. But that doesn't mean you'll get 1.3% of your stake in prizes. That's the amount you could get if you have 'average' luck, whatever that is!
"I'd say that if you need to have a regular and dependable payout, I wouldn't invest in Premium Bonds. But if you want a safe home for your money, National Savings & Investments' accounts are backed by the government, and if you don't mind if you don't make any money, then go ahead."
Another change announced in Chancellor George Osborne's Budget comes into force from the August draw. From that month, there are to be two £1m prizes instead of one. But there is a catch - there will be fewer smaller prizes.
No one doubts Ernie will remain as busy as ever. In May 2014, he paid out over 1.8 million prizes, ranging from £25 to the £1m jackpot. The overall payout is dictated by the current prize rate and the number of bonds in each monthly draw.
NS&I is also keen to dispel several myths that have grown up around Ernie. One is that older numbers never win. They have an equal chance, it is just that there are so many more of the newer (and longer) numbers.
Another myth is that people in the South East of England win more often. The answer to that is simply that more bonds are bought there compared to the rest of the UK.
But, in the end, for most people a Premium Bond represents a dream rather than much understanding of the complex world of probability, which is just as well because, if you put your savings in a cash Isa and buy a lottery ticket every month, you have slightly better odds of becoming a millionaire.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. | There is good news for lovers of Premium Bonds. |
36,701,397 | The programme will come back to BBC One later this year with all the original cast returning to their roles.
Still Game follows the antics of pensioners Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade and ran for six series between 2002 and 2007.
The show is written by Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan, who play the two central characters.
Filming on the new series is taking place on a purpose-built set at BBC Scotland's Dumbarton Studios with the first scenes starring Kiernan as Jack, Hemphill as Victor and Jane McCarry as Isa.
Kiernan said: "The BBC Dumbarton Studios are incredible and we're super chuffed to be back in the costumes and wigs again."
Hemphill added: "We were nervous at the beginning but after 10 minutes we felt as though we'd never been away."
The series will also film on location around Glasgow during the six-week shoot.
The new series will also see the return of Sanjeev Kohli as Navid, Gavin Mitchell as Bobby, Paul Riley as Winston and Mark Cox as Tam.
Reruns of the show have proved popular with audiences and it has also attracted new fans on TV streaming service Netflix.
Steven Canny, executive producer for comedy at BBC Studios, said: "We're delighted to welcome Still Game back.
"Quality scripts, a terrific cast and a wonderful creative team are all working together to create something really special. It's very exciting." | Filming has begun on the new series of the popular Scottish comedy Still Game after a nine-year break. |
17,347,054 | At present any doctor who deliberately gave a lethal dose - even if the intention was to relieve suffering - would face a murder charge.
In his judgement, Mr Justice Charles said the court was being invited to cross the Rubicon which runs between the care of the patient on one side and euthanasia on the other.
The Ministry of Justice argued that the Nicklinson case should be struck out and never have a full hearing because the law on murder was settled and it was for Parliament, not the courts, to change it. But the judge ruled that Tony Nicklinson had an arguable case which deserved a full hearing.
Judges can and do intervene in end of life decisions.
In 1993 the House of Lords ruled that Tony Bland, crushed in the Hillsborough disaster, should be allowed to die through the withdrawal of feeding tubes. He was in a persistent vegetative state after suffering severe brain damage and the judges said that it was in his best interests to be allowed to die.
In 2000 judges ruled that conjoined twins being treated at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital should be separated - against the wishes of their parents - in the full knowledge that one of them would die. In this case it was to give one of the twins a chance of life.
The courts have also forced prosecutors to clarify the law surrounding suicide. Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he took her to a suicide organisation in Switzerland.
Jane Nicklinson said her husband's only way of committing suicide would be to refuse food and the family did not want to go to Switzerland - and this might not even be possible.
The case of Tony Nicklinson will prompt enormous sympathy. Before his stroke he led an active life, working in Dubai as an engineer. For more than six years he has needed constant care - an active mind locked inside a paralysed body.
But many will find the case unsettling. Dr Chris Farnham, a consultant in palliative medicine, said victory for Mr Nicklinson would have damaging implications:
"It would set a precedent that would fundamentally change the relationship between patients and doctors and create an expectation that we can deliver something that within the law we currently can't - namely to actively kill our patients."
Mr Justice Charles said Tony Nicklinson's case raises questions of great social ethical and religious significance, issues which will now be fully aired in court later this year. | The case of Tony Nicklinson represents a fundamental challenge to the current law on murder and euthanasia. |
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Racing his first marathon, Griffiths was the first Briton across the line to qualify for the World Championships.
The 23-year-old is one of six marathon runners selected by Great Britain for August's competition in London.
The others are Callum Hawkins, Robbie Simpson, Alyson Dixon, Charlotte Purdue and Tracy Barlow.
It is only the third time that British Athletics has selected six marathon runners to compete at a World Championships.
Dominic King will be the first 50km race walker to represent Great Britain at a World Championships in 22 years.
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Griffiths had entered the London Marathon hoping to qualify for the Wales team for next year's Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast.
Not only did the Swansea Harrier manage that feat, his time time of two hours 14 minutes 49 seconds saw him secure an unexpected place at the World Championships.
"It's crazy. You almost don't believe it's going to happen," he told BBC Wales Sport.
"It's such a jump from where you're at, so to make that jump is just surreal.
"To be back in London in the summer, competing in front of those crowds, it's going to be great."
Find out about how to get into running with our special guide.
Griffiths will graduate with a masters degree in sports coaching from Cardiff Metropolitan University in July.
But he says the rest of his summer plans are now going to have to change.
"I thought I'd maybe have a week away somewhere nice and relax a little bit," he said.
"But now it's full steam ahead towards the World Championships." | Josh Griffiths' selection for the World Championships has been confirmed after the club runner beat the country's elite men at the London Marathon. |
35,020,398 | Les Gibson, from County Durham, was flying Odin on the Glen Muick estate in Aberdeenshire when they became separated.
The keen falconer issued an appeal to help find Odin and he was spotted eating a rabbit by gamekeepers in Angus, who helped reunite the pair.
Mr Gibson said he had begun thinking he would never see Odin again.
He had been able to track the eagle for a while using transmitters on his tail, but these had become waterlogged in bad weather after he went missing over a week ago.
Gamekeepers at Millden Estate had seen appeals to find Odin on social media when they spotted an eagle which had leather straps, or jesses, sitting on a meal of fresh rabbit.
Head gamekeeper Mark Palmer then got in touch with Mr Gibson.
Mr Palmer said: "Les came up, stayed over locally on the Friday night and we went out onto the moor to have a look on Saturday. We went out onto the top of the hill and saw a good sheltered bit where an eagle would look to find prey.
"We started looking around and there he was, about 200 yards away. Les was ecstatic. He had been through so much worry. We were just glad we could help out."
Using a lure of hare, Mr Gibson managed to coax Odin back to him.
"It was unbelievable to see him again," Mr Gibson said. "I didn't sleep a wink after he went missing.
"He was a bit wet but I put him on the scales and I would normally fly him at 7 lbs 5 or 6 ounces. I didn't have enough weights with me to get a definite reading, but he was up at 8lbs, which shows he had fed well in Angus.
"When they have fed, it is harder to lure them back in with food. I thought he might have shied away but he recognised my vehicle and, thanks to some brown hare, I managed to walk him in."
Odin and his owner have now headed back home to Consett together.
"I never thought I'd see him again after losing him so long ago, and in such bad weather," Mr Gibson added. | A young golden eagle is back with his owner after flying off on a trip to the north east of Scotland. |
21,653,846 | The authorities know where he is and have even invited him in for a chat.
But much to the frustration of European investigators, Dan Tan Seet Eng remains a free man and the Singaporean police seemingly powerless to act.
Dan Tan, as he is more commonly known, has been closely linked to international match-fixing for more than two years. Aged 48 and of Chinese descent, there are just two known photographs of the Singaporean in circulation.
His name, on the other hand, repeatedly appears in court papers from the Italian "Calcioscommesse" match-fixing and betting scandal investigation.
That investigation has been under way since 2011 and involves the rigging of games in Italy's lower divisions. So far, it has implicated scores of players, many of whom have been given bans and their clubs docked points.
In the papers from the court in Cremona, Dan Tan is referred to as "Il Boss", and it is claimed that he leads a huge fixing syndicate operating from his home in Singapore.
Extensive phone records were published between Singaporean numbers said to belong to Dan Tan and contacts in Europe.
According to the papers, Dan Tan had been using Eastern European fixers to make contact with players. These fixers are often former footballers or agents with established links to the modern game.
"Dan Tan probably pays the European match fixers about 200,000 euros ($260,200, £172,900) to fix per game," Stanley Ho, a Singapore Straits Times reporter who has investigated the fixers, said.
"He will then pass that information to illegal betting syndicates in China where they will have dozens of guys on laptops and computers and they will be clicking - live betting - all at the same time - on that particular game."
Ho says his research suggests that Dan Tan should be seen more as a match "buyer" than a "fixer".
The arranging of the match was being done by Europeans, he told me, and it was only when they had secured a possible fix that they would make contact with Dan Tan for the funds to achieve it.
Much of the evidence against Dan Tan comes from a former associate, Wilson Raj Perumal.
A fellow Singaporean with a history of petty crime, Perumal's brazen acts of fixing moved beyond simply rigging games to include organising international friendlies featuring entirely bogus national sides.
Perumal's own fixing career came to a juddering halt in February 2011 when he fell out with Dan Tan and was arrested in Finland. A deal to buy the Finnish football club Rovaniemi had turned sour, and it is widely thought that someone tipped off the authorities.
In prison - first in Finland and then under house arrest in Hungary - Wilson Raj Perumal began to talk. The details he revealed became central to the cases that have now been made against Dan Tan in both Italy and across Europe.
A month ago, thanks in part to Perumal's testimony, European police forces presented a summary of their findings in The Hague.
Between 2008 and 2011, Europol said they had identified 680 suspicious games, of which 380 took place in Europe. The matches included World Cup qualifiers and the European Champions league.
Further details were withheld for legal reasons but blame for the fixing was placed firmly on Asian syndicates, and in particular, a group based in Singapore.
Thousands of miles to the east, this was deeply embarrassing for Singapore. It is normally a country that prides itself on being business-friendly and virtually corruption-free.
Football fans were now clamouring to know why a man alleged to have corrupted the world's favourite game on a massive scale was still at large.
I went to Singapore to try to find Dan Tan and also to discover from authorities why he had not been arrested.
I failed on both counts.
Dan Tan is still free somewhere in Singapore, but he has moved on from the apartment block which is listed as his residence.
Through a contact, it was established that he had no interest whatsoever in talking to the media or responding to the charges made against him.
So why then is Dan Tan still free? The Singaporean authorities were more accessible but just as unco-operative.
Neither the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Singaporean police or the country's anti-corruption agency would speak to me about match-fixing.
So I turned to one of Singapore's leading criminal lawyers, Subhas Anandan, for legal advice. In the past, he has represented some of the country's most notorious match-fixers in court.
Mr Anandan said that in fact the matter was quite simple.
There is no extradition treaty between Singapore and Italy, so it's impossible for Dan Tan to be simply handed over to the Italian authorities.
Action could only be taken against him if there was proof of wrongdoing in Singapore, he said.
"There is no evidence to say that he [Dan Tan] has committed any offence in Singapore. So you cannot do anything to him here in Singapore."
But there's no doubt that the Singaporean authorities are under intense pressure and feeling it.
Two weeks ago, Dan Tan and seven of his associates were brought in for questioning and then released a few hours later without charge.
Days later, one of them, a former footballer from Slovenia named Admir Suljic, decided to fly to Milan.
He was met in Italy by police officers and will face charges of sporting fraud in connection with the Calcioscommesse scandal.
Some have seized on Dan Tan's continuing freedom as proof that Singapore isn't interested in fighting football corruption.
It is a charge that the Singaporean authorities not surprisingly have rejected and they have been supported by the secretary-general of Interpol, Ronald Noble.
I spoke to Mr Noble at a conference on match-fixing in Malaysia. He said he believed Singapore had been unfairly singled out and that despite pointing fingers, Europol was not sharing the evidence it had gathered with the rest of the world.
"All police forces need to be permitted by law to co-operate internationally while their investigations are ongoing and not be required to wait until the investigation has been concluded and the trial has been concluded," he said.
There is little doubt that the match fixers' sophisticated inter-continental operations have put them a long way ahead of the rigid rule-bound tactics of those trying to stop them. Depressingly for football fans, it is not going to be easy or quick to change.
Many in Singapore are also doubtful as to whether Dan Tan really is quite as important as he has been made out to be.
They say he only became the focus of attention because his jailed associate, Wilson Raj Perumal, was arrested and became the only decent lead to those who fund the fixing that investigators have.
They say organised crime networks in China, Vietnam, Russia and elsewhere are also almost certainly involved in the rigging of matches.
"If the European fixers can sell the matches to Dan Tan," journalist Stanley Ho told me. "Don't you think they're calling other syndicates too?" | Somewhere in one of the world's least corrupt countries is a man accused of fixing hundreds of football matches around the world. |
36,051,712 | Rangers v Celtic (or Celtic v Rangers as one incensed character on Twitter demanded it be called, among other things) is a show, no doubt about it.
At times, it can be a production that you end up watching between the cracks in your fingers - painful to witness but compelling all the same.
It's not necessarily the football that draws people in - too often the stuff that happens on the pitch is a 100mph demolition derby. It's the whole bizarre scene that lends this affair its appeal.
Look one way and you could be at Wembley in 1966 with all the Union flags waving. Look the other, with all the Tricolours, and you could be at Croke Park on All-Ireland hurling final day.
One thing you will struggle to see is a flag of the nation from which these teams hail. So many symbols of identity and yet barely a Saltire to be seen.
The hope for Sunday is for unpolluted airwaves, untroubled streets - and on-field drama. The last time these sides met, the occasion fell in a heap.
It got the big build-up back then as well - the League Cup semi-final of last February - but it was a non-event. Rangers were still a basket case, a wounded and almost pitiful animal.
The people who ran the club could not have been any more unpopular with the fans had they gone about Glasgow in Celtic strips while singing Paddy McGinty's Goat.
They had a caretaker manager, Kenny McDowall, who took to the role like a rabbit takes to oncoming traffic. They had a team whose collective heart could have been comfortably placed inside a peapod.
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Before they played Celtic, they had already lost to Hibernian (twice), Hearts (twice), Alloa Athletic and Queen of the South on a cumulative score of 16-4.
Immediately after their 2-0 defeat by Celtic, they won just one of their next six games in a doomed Championship campaign that was brought to an ignominious end when they got hammered 6-1 on aggregate in the play-off final against Motherwell.
That was then, but it's different now. Rangers' landscape is no longer blurred.
They have a new team, a new manager, a new board and an infinitely brighter outlook on life. They're champions of their league and now they have a shot at the reigning champions of the Premiership.
The only pressure on Rangers is to be competitive, to rattle Celtic's cage and give them a scare. If that brings them a victory then that's a seismic day out, but there's not a great burden of expectation on Mark Warburton's team.
They had one task to perform this season - getting out of the Championship - and they've done it well. Anything else is a cherry on top.
Rangers have an in-built rationale for defeat, if it comes. Everybody at Ibrox knows that the team that won the Championship is not going to be the same team that compete next season for the Premiership. They need to strengthen. Warburton has made no secret of it.
In Hearts' story, we can see the proof that a landslide winning of the Championship doesn't equip you for life in the top tier. Robbie Nielson took a scalpel to his title-winning team of 2014-15.
He has signed nearly a dozen players since lifting the trophy. He has let players who performed admirably for him last season leave the club because he knew he needed better. That's the road Warburton is surely going to go down now.
If Rangers lose, you can already hear Warburton's reaction: "We weren't ready today, but we will be come August."
It's different for Celtic. Everybody expects them to win. Manager Ronny Deila's job might well depend on it.
There is no parachute, no safety net. That's pressure. And pressure is something that has troubled them at Hampden in the recent past.
In their last two visits there - the Scottish Cup semi-final last season and the League Cup semi-final this campaign - they have lost an early lead, lost a man to a red card and lost the match, against Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County.
Celtic's mindset can be frail. Not always, but on certain days. Perhaps the losing of leads and the dropping of points in European games against Ajax and Fenerbahce is understandable, but doing the same against Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hearts and Hamilton Accies raises doubts.
When you add in their inability to deal with Inverness and Ross County then there is a vulnerability that could be exploited if the stars are aligned for Rangers.
Rangers have not come up against a striker of Leigh Griffiths' quality this season. Not even close.
Griffiths has scored against every opponent in the Premiership and ended his three-match 'drought' with the two goals that beat the country's form team, Motherwell, last weekend. That brought his total for the season to 37.
In Martyn Waghorn's likely absence, Kenny Miller is Rangers' top scorer with 17, but 13 of those came against sides outside of the top-four in the Championship.
That's the unknown with Rangers. They have, in Andy Halliday, Jason Holt, James Tavernier and Lee Wallace, players who have scored a combined 40 goals this season, but what value would you put on those goals in the context of this semi-final?
Most were against substandard Championship teams. Can they do it against the best in Scotland?
James Keatings was Hearts' second-top scorer in the Championship last season and they let him go. Billy King, now at Rangers on loan, scored eight from midfield and was allowed to exit in the short-term.
Genero Zeefuik was the size of a house, but he still scored 12 times in 13 starts in Hearts' Championship-winning campaign. Scoring freely in the second tier is one thing. Doing similar against the top of the top tier is an altogether different proposition.
Griffiths is one of the keys to this match because he operates in the precise area where Rangers are at their weakest.
Rangers are available at odd of almost 3-1 with the bookmakers for a reason. They have already conceded 27 goals in the Championship this season and they still have four games to play.
Hearts conceded a total of 26 in that division last season. In the Premiership, Celtic have conceded 25.
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Hibs (twice), Falkirk (twice), Queen of the South and Raith Rovers have all scored two or more in league games against Rangers. Rovers scored three in one match, Queen of the South have scored five in four games against Warburton's side, Falkirk have got six in four.
Bring Hearts back into the debate. Only 26 goals conceded in the entire Championship last season, but they strengthened at the back in the summer none the less.
Blazej Augustyn and Igor Rossi - solid defenders both - were signed and yet still Celtic have scored seven times in four games against Hearts this season.
Danny Wilson and Rob Kiernan lack pace and could be easy prey for Griffiths. Tavernier scores goals from full-back, but he lacks discipline as a defender.
Patrick Roberts, a terrific young player with incredibly quick feet, plays on the right wing for Celtic, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see him pop up on the left at times in an attempt to expose Tavernier's defensive shortcomings.
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The question is: can Rangers hold Celtic out? Do they have the concentration and discipline to defend properly against Griffiths and Roberts, in particular?
Do they have the steel in the middle of the park to contend with Scott Brown and Nir Bitton?
They might argue that there is an encouraging form-line. In three recent cup ties with Premiership opposition - Kilmarnock (twice) and Dundee - Rangers only conceded one goal while scoring six.
Kilmarnock are, currently, the 11th best team in the Premiership and Dundee are the seventh. Celtic are clearly first, but Rangers people will point out that Dundee held Celtic scoreless twice in recent months and Killie denied them for 90 minutes until Tom Rogic rescued his team with a thumping hit from a mile out.
It can be done, no question. Celtic are going to win the Premiership title, but they have put in a string of poor performances along the way.
Griffiths has been like a human sticking plaster at times, holding the whole thing together. If Rangers bring defensive stability, fire in the midfield and ruthlessness up front then they can scare Celtic, but that's a lot to ask.
Their job would be made easier, of course, if Deila's team press the self-destruct button again at Hampden. Celtic deserve to be warm favourites - and, in quality terms, should win by a couple of goals - but given the recent evidence, you cannot discount another mental implosion.
It depends which version of themselves they bring to Hampden on Sunday. They hold most of the aces, but they carry all of the pressure too. | If the world is watching, as the hype assures us, then the world had better get ready for a piece of footballing theatre that wouldn't be out of place as some kind of warm-up act for the Jim Rose Circus. |
38,695,528 | The white paper, launched by Carwyn Jones and Leanne Wood in London, demands full single market access.
Ms Wood said on Monday that free movement was "not a problem".
UKIP's Neil Hamilton dismissed the Labour/Plaid white paper as a "white flag of surrender" to the EU.
Last week, Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK should leave the single market as she outlined her 12 principles for Brexit.
Mr Jones said the plan respected the Welsh vote to leave the EU but would give the UK "full and unfettered access" to the single market.
He said freedom of movement rules could require EU migrants to have a job offer before entering the UK, adding UK legislation could be enforced to stop workers being exploited.
"Our plan explains how we can strike a balance between the message the Welsh people gave us with the economic reality that we face," he said.
According to the paper, 79% of EU migrants aged 16-64 in Wales are in employment.
The Welsh Government white paper called for:
It also called for social and environmental protections, and workers' rights to be maintained, and for transition arrangements to be properly considered so the UK does "not fall off" an economic "cliff edge".
Ms Wood said that, in engaging with the process of drawing up a plan, Plaid Cymru had "prioritised the Welsh economy".
"We have done this because two thirds of all of our exports go to the European single market," she said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday, Mr Jones said it made "no sense" to place barriers between Wales and its biggest market.
The document follows an agreement between Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats.
UKIP Wales leader Neil Hamilton dismissed the proposals, saying: "It's not so much a white paper as a white flag of surrender to the EU before negotiations have actually started.
"If Theresa May were to take this blueprint to Brussels then the EU would get everything they wanted.
"It would mean that we weren't leaving the EU in any meaningful sense at all."
Nathan Gill, UKIP Wales MEP, said the paper proved "just how out of touch the political elite in Cardiff Bay are with the majority of Welsh voters".
"The latest YouGov poll released at the beginning of this month showed that the majority of Welsh voters want full control over immigration," he said.
"The only way to control the quantity and quality of people coming to Britain is to leave the single market."
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said he would have tried to reach a wider cross-party agreement but claimed the first minister had not invited him.
"We have a disorganised message coming from Wales," he said, adding Europe also needed to respond on the issue of immigration.
"When the single market was created and the tenets that underpin the single market, this mass movement of people around Europe wasn't a consideration," he said.
"It is a consideration today."
Mr Davies told BBC Radio Wales that, given Scotland had tabled a paper at the joint ministerial committee on Brexit last Thursday, the Welsh Government plan was "a bit late in the day".
But the first minister has defended the decision to publish the plan a week after Mrs May set out the UK government's objectives, saying the Welsh plan was more detailed and comprehensive.
The leaders' launch comes ahead of the expected decision by the Supreme Court on Tuesday on whether Parliament should have a say before Article 50 is invoked. | The first minister of Wales and Plaid Cymru's leader have published a plan for Brexit, calling for freedom of movement rules to be linked to whether migrants have a job. |
34,383,082 | We will learn how many cars were sold in September.
Figures from the the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) will be broken down by manufacturer, model and type of engine.
So they should give us the first indication of whether or not the Volkswagen emissions scandal has dented sales of its diesel engine cars in the UK.
If sales have fallen, the data will be sure to provoke suggestions that the German company, and maybe even the entire car industry, is suddenly staring into the proverbial abyss.
For several years now the industry has in fact been in rude health.
New car sales in the UK have risen steadily since the beginning of 2012, following the huge slump caused by the great banking crisis a few years before.
Purchases reached a 10-year high of just under 2.5 million in 2014 and, Volkswagen possibly aside, they seem to be on course to grow even further this year.
There is a good reason for that.
The car industry has shown itself to be quite innovative when it comes to ways of luring members of the public to open their wallets, or at least hand over their bank details, to buy a new car.
The main innovation has been a type of deal known as a personal contract purchase (PCP).
If you have not been interested in shelling out £15,000 to £30,000 for a new car in the past five or six years you may not have noticed this.
Once upon a time these sorts of arrangements, structured as rental or leasing agreements, were targeted just at businesses, especially the buyers of huge fleets of cars who wanted new cars they could offload easily after just two to three years.
But the new variation on this theme, the PCP, has been targeted at small businesses and individuals.
It has become very popular, especially with those who want to buy a more expensive or up-market car.
Apparently more than 80% of Mercedes sales in the UK now take place via this sort of deal.
Toby Poston of the BVRLA, a trade body for rental and leasing firms, says two things have driven this.
One is that the banking crisis forced manufacturers to find new ways to stimulate car sales.
And then came the availability of very cheap finance, courtesy of the Bank of England's policy of keeping interest rates very low.
"It's all to do with the availability of cheap finance," he says.
"These deals make cars more affordable for those who don't have the cash or can't take a loan... and give access to new, high quality vehicles."
Although the terminology can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, the PCP deals generally work like this.
You pay a deposit, make monthly payments for three or four years, and at the end of that you have a choice.
You can either buy the car outright with a final "balloon" payment, or you can hand the car back to the dealer.
There is nothing very cheap about this though, and you can easily be paying £300, £400, or even more each month, depending on the starting cost of the car and the length of the deal.
The industry argues that these plans can work out cheaper than the more traditional form of borrowing to buy a car, called hire purchase.
Under that arrangement, the car manufacturer or someone else in the finance industry lends you the money.
You pay for the car in monthly instalments over several years, along with a hefty slug of interest, and at the end of the process the car is all yours.
So popular have the new PCP deals become that, in the twelve months to July 2015, 705,000 people used them to buy new cars.
That was nearly 59% of all private new cars sold in the UK during that period.
So what is the advantage, real or perceived?
One big attraction is that while you are driving around in your swanky, unblemished new car, the cost of servicing, maintenance and even accident repairs may still be borne by the manufacturer as part of the arrangement.
In other words, hassle-free driving; albeit you have to pay for it.
Breakdown costs, and even new tyres and windows, may be covered too, though generally not the cost of your car insurance premiums.
And then after three or four years you can roll over the deal and pay for another new car in a similar fashion.
Garel Rhys, Emeritus Professor of Motor Industry Economics at Cardiff Business School, says: "Leasing plans present a very good deal for both companies and buyers."
"It is very difficult to see what is wrong for the customer in this sort of thing.
"A C-class Mercedes can cost just the same as a Mondeo in terms of monthly repayments," he adds. | Tuesday 6 October 2015 will be a big day for the UK's car industry. |
40,670,270 | The proportion of students achieving first-class degrees in 2015-16 was 23%, compared to fewer than one in six five years ago.
The figures were released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
They show in 2015-16, 24% of students at Queen's University in Belfast and 21% at Ulster University got firsts.
The proportion of firsts awarded has almost trebled since 20 years ago, when only 8% of students at Queen's University and Ulster University achieved them.
The 2015-16 academic year was also the first in which it was more common for Northern Ireland students to be awarded a first-class degree than a lower second (2:2) grade.
Meanwhile, 60 out of 210 graduates at St Mary's University College (29%) and 65 out of 270 graduates at Stranmillis University College (24%), both in Belfast, were awarded firsts.
That equated to 23% of graduates overall, a sharp rise since five years ago (2011-12), when only 15% of students in Northern Ireland achieved firsts.
By contrast, just over one in five students was awarded a lower second (2:2) degree in Northern Ireland in 2015-16.
The most common degree, however, is still an upper second (2:1).
About half of graduates - 4720 out of 9475 - in Northern Ireland achieved that grade in 2015-16.
According to a UK-wide survey of the HESA data carried out by the Press Association, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of firsts awarded at some universities.
The University of Surrey awarded a first-class degree to 41% of students last year, more than doubling the proportion five years ago.
And firsts awarded at the University of East Anglia almost trebled to 37%.
Overall, 24% of students at the 148 UK universities were awarded first-class degrees in 2015-16.
Some critics, such as professor of education at Buckingham University Alan Smithers, have called it "chronic grade inflation".
However, there have also been arguments that rising degree grades reflect the improved A-level grades of those entering university and a more focused attention to studying.
The figures from HESA go back only as far as 1994, when only 7% of all UK graduates were awarded first-class degrees.
They show the proportion of firsts at UK universities has more than trebled in the past two decades.
Universities are their own degree-awarding bodies, so can decide their own levels of degree grades.
First-class degrees will be an advantage for future job opportunities and some companies recruit only from graduates with an upper second or above.
Some graduate employers have previously called for more detailed degree grades. | Northern Ireland's universities award top degree grades to almost a quarter of their students, an increase of more than 50% since 2011-12. |
37,369,011 | The ex-West Ham striker revealed his tattoo of the word "dux" during their Premier League coverage on Sunday, prompting a protest on social media.
The Latin word is the origin of the Italian "duce" meaning leader - Il Duce was the title adopted by Mussolini.
"We made a mistake, we are sorry to all who were hurt," said a Sky executive.
Jacques Raynaud, Sky Sports executive vice-president, continued: "After speaking at length to Di Canio, and despite his professionalism and his expertise regarding football, we have decided together to suspend the partnership."
Former West Ham striker Di Canio has previously been criticised for his political views and refused to address his reported beliefs when he was appointed Sunderland manager in 2013.
He was fined by Italian club Lazio for making the fascist salute for the third time in a year during the 2005 derby with AS Roma.
Mussolini was the fascist dictator of Italy for 20 years until 1943, and was summarily executed in 1945 when he was captured by Italian communists while attempting to flee the country. | Paolo di Canio has been suspended from his role as a Sky Italia pundit after showing on air a tattoo referring to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. |
37,937,121 | Mr Glenn, who spent decades in the food industry before taking over at the FA some 18 months ago, has a long list of goals, with success for the men's elite football team just one of them.
Transforming the FA's finances, promoting more diversity within its structures, and continuing to support the grassroots game - including women's football - are also high on his agenda.
"The FA is a not-for-profit organisation - that is intentional... not accidental," he jokes.
"We play an interesting role in the game, we sit in the middle of two very successful leagues, the Premier League and English Football League.
"The FA's job is to sit between highly successful commercial enterprises, and try and harness the amount of money in the game to best effect."
Mr Glenn's reign at the head of English football has been something of a roller coaster ride so far, with the shock defeat to underdogs Iceland at Euro 2016, and then manager Sam Allardyce resigning after a Daily Telegraph investigation.
Prior to taking up his role in March last year, Mr Glenn worked as chief executive for United Biscuits, home to the well-known McVities's and Jacobs brands.
Before that, he first attracted attention in the business world in the mid-1990s when he greatly increased the market share of Walkers Snack Foods, and signed up former England star Gary Lineker to be the face of the eponymous crisp brand.
Mr Glenn ran the business until 2006, when he left to join another food brand, Birdseye, where he put the iconic Captain Birdseye into dry dock and replaced him with a polar bear called Clarence.
Mr Glenn has being using that commercial experience - and seeming ruthlessness - to reinvigorate the FA's finances, for example by cutting admin jobs and diverting the money into grassroots football development.
"I was brought in to relocate cash from the back office to the playing side. We have made a lot of progress over the past year on the economics of the FA," he says.
One indicator of progress made is his declaration that the FA's revenues are forecast to grow by around a third, to £420m, in 2018.
"I am also happy we have extended our domestic TV rights deal for the FA Cup with BT and the BBC," he says.
In addition, a new international TV rights deal for the FA Cup will be worth more than £800m in total across six years - a development Mr Glenn says presents him with the welcome problem of deciding, with the FA's board, of how to spend the money.
Meanwhile, the financial ball-and-chain that had been Wembley Stadium is being turned into a useful asset, bringing in revenues not only through FA-sanctioned matches, but also via music concerts, NFL American football games, and... Tottenham Hotspur.
While they build their new stadium, Spurs are playing this season's Champions League games at Wembley, and there is also an option to play Premier League and cup games at the 90,000-capacity national arena during the 2017-18 season.
However, he points out that the FA is still carrying £200m debt from the building of Wembley Stadium.
"We would like to pay that down - to be debt free," says Mr Glenn, speaking at a Sport Industry Group business gathering in London.
"But the Wembley Stadium proposition is profitable, it is not a stone in our shoe any more."
Another issue in Mr Glenn's in-tray is diversity at the FA. The government has recently announced new governance standards for sport, that come into effect next April.
Organisations seeking funding from Sport England, regardless of size and sector, including national governing bodies, have been set a target of at least 30% gender diversity on their boards.
Failure to comply could mean government funds for the FA being withheld, but Mr Glenn says he does not need the fear of sanctions in order to modernise the game's governance demographic.
"From my experience in business, I can see the whole drive for wider recognition on boards is not about box ticking," he says. "There is a good business case for it."
He believes that organisations whose management structures reflect the people they represent "make better business decisions".
Mr Glenn says among the FA workforce there will be no problem in achieving the desired representations, but he admits that more will have to be done to address the make-up of the FA board.
At present Heather Rabatts is the only woman and the only representative from an ethnic minority on the board.
"What we can control is fine," he says, but points out that five members of the board are appointed by other bodies, namely the county FAs (representing the national game), the Premier League, and the Football League.
He says his job is to "persuade the other constituents of the board" that more diversity is desirable.
"Business is run in the 21st Century in a certain way, and we should reflect how that is."
Mr Glenn is a former Leicester City FC non-executive director, and sat on the club's board from 2002 to 2006.
But he is also an FA qualified grassroots coach, holding a Level One coaching badge, and is aware that as local councils provide fewer facilities for grassroots football it behoves the football body to step in.
Last month in Sheffield he was at the opening of the first Parklife hub - part of a plan to roll out 150 football centres across 30 cities by 2020 in a drive to upgrade grassroots football facilities across the country.
That is another reason why he says money is important for the FA, to help with the grassroots investment in pitches and coaches, schemes which do not always get the same media attention as the England men's team playing tonight.
"We are a very broad church - we run women's soccer, are in charge of elite international teams, in charge of discipline, and responsible for participation and development of the sport," says Mr Glenn. | As England take on Scotland at Wembley tonight the FA's chief executive Martin Glenn is looking beyond the result of one World Cup qualifier. |
35,216,703 | Amiram Ben-Oliel, 21, has been charged with murder, and a second suspect, a youth, as an accessory to murder.
At least two others have been charged over attacks on Palestinians.
The killing of Saad and Riham Dawabsha and their 18-month-old son, Ali, in the village of Duma last July sparked international condemnation.
Another son, four-year-old Ahmed, is still being treated for his wounds.
The Dawabsha family were sleeping in their home when it was firebombed early on 31 July, and daubed with slogans in Hebrew, including the word "revenge".
Investigations have focused on young Jewish extremists, based largely in the occupied West Bank.
According to the indictment, Mr Ben-Oliel carried out the attack in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli settler in a drive-by shooting one month before the Duma attack.
Saad's brother Naser was unconvinced by Israel's commitment to the prosecution.
"We have no trust in the Israeli judiciary. They would not have launched an investigation were it not for the international pressure on them," he said.
The arson case has been cited as a factor in a spate of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis across Israel and the occupied West Bank.
It also prompted the Israeli government to approve the use of administrative detention - a procedure under which a military court can order suspects to be detained indefinitely without charge or trial - for suspected Jewish terrorists.
Lawyers for some of those detained over the arson attack allege their clients were tortured to extract confessions but this has been denied by the Israeli authorities. | Israeli prosecutors have charged two suspects over an arson attack on a Palestinian family's home in the West Bank last year that killed three. |
35,004,437 | Online customers experienced long queues, and several told the BBC they had entered payment information only to be kicked out and returned to the ticket selection page.
But there was no repeat of the issues that plagued an earlier pre-sale, where fans saw other people's details.
The star's tour kicks off in Belfast next February.
She has just announced two extra dates in Birmingham and Manchester, and a further four at the O2 in London, to cope with demand.
Those tickets will go on sale next Monday.
Fans trying to buy tickets on Friday complained about long waits and technical errors.
"Three times I have got through to select tickets and three times kicked back to the waiting room!" tweeted Amy Clarke.
"This just happened to me too! Picked my tickets then got kicked back to the home page!" added Jo Porteous.
The issue affected customers on several sites - including Ticketmaster, Eventim and AXS - but not everyone was disappointed.
"Just so you know I'm gonna be busy on 26th March 2016," wrote Oliver Gunn. "Adele and I have a date."
Other fans complained that tickets had appeared on re-selling websites before they were able to complete a purchase from the official retailers.
The BBC has seen tickets selling for up to £3,000 on sites like GetMeIn and Viagogo - 30 times the face value.
This is despite Adele's website saying "resale of tickets will not be tolerated". It remains to be seen how this will be policed.
About 60% of the tickets for the singer's tour were sold on Friday, after several pre-sales for fans and priority customers.
Tuesday's offer was beset by problems, with several fans telling the BBC they were shown the address and credit card details of other customers.
Ticketing company Songkick said due to the "extreme load" on the site some customers could see others' account details and apologised for any "alarm".
However, it added: "At no time was anyone able to access another person's password, nor their payment or credit card details (which are not retained by Songkick)."
The site also said it had worked with Adele's management to keep a lid on ticket resale, by screening customers to eliminate known and suspected touts,
"We were carefully monitoring all of the registrations to try and spot anything suspicious," Adele's manager, Jonathan Dickins told Music Business Worldwide.
"This is a show for fans who've waited years for Adele to perform," he added. "Everyone working on it just wants the best outcome for those fans."
Songkick told the BBC it had eliminated "18,000 known and suspected touts" limiting the number of advance sale on secondary websites to less than 2 per cent.
"This is an over 50% decrease in the number of tickets generally found on secondary ticketing sites for similar events," it said.
"The big problem here is legislation," said Dickins. "Until a law is passed in the UK that outlaws ticket resale profiteering you cannot stop it completely." | Fans have faced more frustration as they tried to buy tickets for Adele's first tour in four years. |
37,865,920 | In the same vein as the "live" space walk that wasn't live - broadcast on 26 October on the social network - a video of a sky-high maintenance job has racked up over six million views.
The Facebook pages for Interestinate and USA Viral this afternoon each posted a video claiming to be of a lightbulb being changed at the top of a 1,999ft (609m) tower.
How to spot a fake US election claim
It claimed the video was live and four hours long. It wasn't and isn't.
It's roughly 18 minutes long, but looped for four hours, a tactic used by the Viral USA page with the space walk video. Unlike the space walk, the video was not said to be from any particular body or organisation.
The earliest copy we could find on YouTube was published on 21 September 2015 at 16:38 UTC. It claims to be of an ascent of the KDLT Tower in Rowena, South Dakota, to inspect the antenna at the summit.
Facebook Live videos are a lightning rod for attention through users' notifications. Look at the screengrab at the top of the page: 251,000 reactions, six million views, more than 54,000 shares, and each one of those turning up in the timeline of other Facebook users.
Facebook has seen its finances improve on the back of the potential of live video as a revenue stream. It has recently begun advertising its live video facility on UK television.
The service has already had some big hits, such as Candace Payne's Chewbacca Mask and BuzzFeed's exploding watermelon.
However, live broadcasts of killings in France and in Chicago, USA, have highlighted the dangers of broadcasting online in real time.
The BBC has contacted Interestinate and USA Viral for comment.
Produced by the BBC's UGC and Social News Team | Yet again, a "live" video on Facebook has brought in millions of views and reactions to something which is not what it claims to be. |
33,071,069 | The Care Quality Commission reviewed the help given to people in mental health crisis, which includes people who are suicidal, having serious panic attacks or psychotic episodes.
The regulator said the system was "struggling to cope".
Its report also highlighted what it described as a "lack of compassion" from A&E staff.
The CQC carried out its investigation following the signing of a Crisis Care Concordat between the government and the sector last year which promised round-the-clock support to those who needed it.
This includes help from dedicated mental health staff, intensive support at home or telephone advice.
But the review - based on surveys of patients, analysis of national data and inspections of services - found that 42% of patients did not get the help they needed.
Patients were also asked about the attitudes of staff towards them. Staff working for charities and volunteers received the most positive ratings, while staff in A&E received the worst.
Just over a third of patients who ended up in A&E thought they had been treated with compassion and warmth, and a similar proportion said their concerns had been taken seriously.
The dedicated crisis-resolution teams that are there to help those in trouble did little better, with fewer than half answering positively to each question.
The report also highlighted the experiences of a number of patients. One said: "It was approximately seven hours before I got crisis support and that was only a call not a visit, which would have been more useful.
"As my crisis worsened, I took a small overdose as I was not coping or getting any immediate help."
Dr Paul Lelliott, the CQC's mental health lead, said while there were some excellent examples of care, the findings must "act as a wake-up call".
"Worryingly many people told us that when they were having a crisis they often felt the police and ambulance crews were more caring and took their concerns more seriously than the medical and mental health professionals they encountered."
Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, the mental health charity, said: "The report will not come as a surprise to anyone who has found themselves in crisis or who is involved in supporting people when they are at their most unwell.
"We take for granted that when we have a physical health emergency we will get the help we need urgently. It should be no different for mental health."
Care Minister Alistair Burt said the government was trying to tackle the problems in mental health with its new treatment targets and extra funding that were both announced before the election.
"Improving mental health care is my priority," he added.
Last year 1.8m people sought help for a mental health crisis.
Have you been affected by any of the issues raised in this story? You can share your experience by emailing [email protected].
If you would be happy to speak further to a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number when emailing us your details. | People who need urgent mental health care in England are receiving inadequate support, regulators say. |
39,389,860 | John O'Sullivan lifted the visitors into an early advantage while Reggie Lambe struck after the interval to ensure a miserable afternoon for the Glovers in which their midfielder Ben Whitfield was also shown a straight red card.
Keith Curle's men, who had lost six of their previous seven games, move back into the play-off places as a result of Blackpool's defeat at Luton.
O'Sullivan broke a goal drought for Carlisle that had stretched to 701 minutes at the point he found the net in the 16th minute, heading a quickly taken Danny Grainger free-kick past Artur Krysiak.
The hosts struggled to respond, not creating any chances of note until just before half-time as Tom Eaves nodded a cross just wide.
Yeovil's task was made even harder on 53 minutes when Whitfield appeared to elbow Tom Miller and referee Trevor Kettle immediately sent off the Bournemouth loanee.
The Cumbrians wasted no time in making their one-man advantage count as Lambe was played in behind in the 55th minute and although Krysiak saved the winger's first effort, he turned it in at the second attempt.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Yeovil Town 0, Carlisle United 2.
Second Half ends, Yeovil Town 0, Carlisle United 2.
Corner, Yeovil Town. Conceded by Mark Gillespie.
Foul by Shaun Brisley (Carlisle United).
Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt saved. George Waring (Carlisle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Jamie Devitt (Carlisle United) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Bevis Mugabi (Yeovil Town).
Danny Grainger (Carlisle United) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Liam Shephard (Yeovil Town).
Attempt missed. Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) right footed shot from outside the box is too high from a direct free kick.
Foul by Michael Raynes (Carlisle United).
Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt saved. Reggie Lambe (Carlisle United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Attempt blocked. Jamie Devitt (Carlisle United) right footed shot from very close range is blocked.
Attempt saved. George Waring (Carlisle United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt blocked. James Bailey (Carlisle United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right.
Substitution, Carlisle United. Samir Nabi replaces John O'Sullivan.
Gary Liddle (Carlisle United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Kevin Dawson (Yeovil Town).
Attempt saved. Brandon Goodship (Yeovil Town) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Reggie Lambe (Carlisle United) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top left corner following a set piece situation.
Foul by Ryan Dickson (Yeovil Town).
Jamie Devitt (Carlisle United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. George Waring (Carlisle United) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high following a corner.
Corner, Carlisle United. Conceded by Ryan Dickson.
Attempt missed. Reggie Lambe (Carlisle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high.
Delay in match Michael Raynes (Carlisle United) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Brandon Goodship (Yeovil Town) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high.
Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by James Bailey (Carlisle United).
Substitution, Yeovil Town. Brandon Goodship replaces Tom Eaves.
Substitution, Carlisle United. George Waring replaces Jamie Proctor.
Substitution, Yeovil Town. Tom James replaces Shayon Harrison.
Substitution, Carlisle United. Jamie Devitt replaces Luke Joyce.
Foul by Danny Grainger (Carlisle United).
Bevis Mugabi (Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal! Yeovil Town 0, Carlisle United 2. Reggie Lambe (Carlisle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the top right corner.
Attempt saved. Reggie Lambe (Carlisle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. | Carlisle ended a seven-match winless run in League Two with victory at Yeovil. |
40,085,317 | Emergency services were called to Castle Park, Bristol, on Saturday night.
The woman, who is in her late 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Initially officers said the death was "unexplained".
However, following a post-mortem Avon and Somerset Police said it does not believe foul play was involved.
Anyone who was in Castle Park at about 23:30 BST on Saturday is asked to contact police. | The death of a woman whose body was found in a park is not being treated as suspicious by police. |
36,626,486 | Ex-Swansea trainee Edwards, 23, has agreed a three-year deal with Posh.
"We have been tracking Gwion for quite a while now. He is a clever footballer and he has had two good years with Crawley, especially last year," boss Grant McCann told the club website.
"He will suit the way we play. He is a special talent and I am confident we can make him better in the future."
Crawley head coach Dermot Drummy told his club's website: "I spoke to Gwion about extending his contract beyond the end of next season but he made it clear he wanted a new challenge.
"It's obviously disappointing to see him go because, even from the short time I worked with him, I could see his qualities."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Crawley midfielder Gwion Edwards has joined League One side Peterborough for an undisclosed six-figure fee. |
24,800,213 | As YouTube is a video-sharing site, the event featured Eminem, Lady Gaga and M.I.A making live music videos directed by the awards' creator, Spike Jonze, and others.
Eminem won Artist of the Year, while Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble took the YouTube Phenomenon award.
The ceremony was streamed live online.
Nominees were chosen by taking into account the YouTube views, likes, comments and subscription figures for different artists.
Indie actress Greta Gerwig kicked off proceedings at the sprawling Pier 36 venue, performing in a live video for Arcade Fire and their new song Afterlife.
Lady Gaga was up next, tears rolling down her cheeks as she performed her single Dope for the first time wearing a baseball cap and flannel shirt.
The coveted Video of the Year award went to South Korean group Girls' Generation for their song I Got A Boy, while Innovation of the Year went to DeStorm Power, the YouTube user whose 250 videos on the website have been watched more than 200 million times.
The inaugural YouTube awards reflect an increasing trend for people to turn to the internet, rather than television and radio, for music and video.
In August last year, the Nielsen rating agency published a survey in which 64% of American adolescents said they listened to music on YouTube, compared with 56% who listened to radio. | The first ever YouTube awards have been held in New York, with actor Jason Schwartzman and musician Reggie Watts presiding over a frenetic ceremony. |
39,309,932 | United admitted a misconduct charge after referee Michael Oliver was surrounded by several players following the dismissal of midfielder Ander Herrera.
United lost the tie 1-0.
An FA statement said United had "accepted the standard penalty". | Manchester United have been fined £20,000 by the Football Association for failing to control their players in last Monday's FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Chelsea. |
40,247,416 | The incident happened as the Spanish man passed a bus stop beside Marco Polo and Tesco in Hawkhill, Dundee, at about 19:10 on Saturday.
Police said he was spat at by a man standing with two other people at the bus stop.
The suspect was in his early 20s and was wearing a red top.
He was about 5ft 9in tall, of medium build with short, brown hair.
Police described the man's actions in the unprovoked assault as "particularly disgusting".
Officers urged anyone with information to contact police. | Police are appealing for witnesses after a man spat in the face of a Spaniard and subjected him to racist abuse. |
34,207,470 | So why is this suddenly an issue and what could it mean for society?
Well it is like a normal baby, but one that has been modified by altering their DNA - which is the blueprint for building a person.
Your DNA blueprint is far from perfect. Lots of diseases such as cystic fibrosis, bubble boy syndrome (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease) and the blood disorder beta thalassaemia are down to bad instructions in your DNA.
These defects could be corrected.
But a baby could in theory also be engineered to resist diseases. A single mutation can protect against HIV infection and there are also sections of your DNA which increase the risk of cancer which could also be altered.
Then there's the far more distant prospect of making alterations to alter height, beauty, hair colour or intelligence.
Nobody is on the cusp of doing this.
However, genetic engineering is progressing at a phenomenal pace and scientists say it is important to discuss what is acceptable now, rather than wait until someone crosses an ethical line.
Earlier this year Chinese scientists corrected the defect causing beta thalassaemia in embryos (they were then destroyed rather than implanted).
A few years ago a new way of editing DNA was discovered. It has transformed research and is now being used by biology laboratories around the world, whether they're working on plants, animals or human embryos.
The method combines a "molecular sat-nav" that travels to a precise location in our DNA with a pair of "molecular scissors" that cut it.
But that's a simple description.
The main method being used is called CRISPR-Cas9 and it is the way bacteria defend themselves against viruses.
A short section of genetic material precisely matches up with a section of DNA and then the enzyme Cas9 comes along and makes a cut.
Your DNA then tries to repair itself - this can turn off that section of DNA or allow scientists to insert new sections of DNA that they have engineered.
And it is cheap. And it is easy.
There are other techniques such as Zinc Fingers and Talens which have some advantages, but are harder to perform.
Well that's for you to decide, but in the eyes of the law at the moment then 'no'.
But it is worth noting the UK has already made a big shift - in 2015 it made the historic decision to allow the creation of babies with DNA from two women and one man.
The reason was to prevent babies being born with "mitochondrial diseases".
It was the source of vigorous ethical debate - and it's one we may be hearing again soon. | Scientists say it may be "morally acceptable" to create genetically modified babies in the future and say it is "essential" that they are allowed to experiment on embryos. |
35,262,375 | Alex McLoughlin, from Liverpool, accidentally left the rings, worth £5,500, behind on the train at Birmingham New Street.
CCTV pictures showed a cleaner picking up items where she had been sitting.
The rings were later found at his house and Osman Salhi of Gladstone Street, Birmingham, was arrested.
The 38-year-old was given a 12-month community order and told to complete 240 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activity, when he was found guilty of theft at Birmingham Magistrates Court in December.
Salhi was also ordered to pay costs of £1,620.
More on this story and others Birmingham and Black Country
Mrs McLoughlin, 36, took off the platinum and diamond rings to moisturise her hands and then dropped them when she showed her tickets to the conductor.
She realised what had happened when she left the train at New Street and contacted lost property, who told her the rings had not been handed in.
They were eventually retrieved by PC Rob Kelly of British Transport Police after he checked CCTV.
Mrs McLoughlin said she could not thank him enough.
"You have stopped at nothing to get this result and I am utterly astounded you managed to retrieve them - no one can believe it," she said.
PC Kelly said theft from passenger was a priority for the force.
"As an officer, it was a truly rewarding experience to successfully locate, seize and return items of such sentimental value to Mrs McLoughlin and this final news of Salhi's conviction is the icing on the cake," he said. | A woman has been reunited with her wedding and engagement rings after they were stolen when she dropped them on a train. |
33,456,356 | She also confirmed there had been allegations of "bullying and harassment" within the 140-strong workforce.
The minister was appearing at the DCAL committee.
Defending her decision to send in three civil servants to take charge of Sport NI, she said she was prepared to send in four more if the need arose.
She insisted the problems at Sport NI were not her fault.
The minister dismissed calls by the MLA Basil McCrea for her to stand down.
She said she did not know why nine members of the Sport NI board quit earlier this week.
Ms Ní Chuilín said: "It's a complete mystery to me."
She will also be asked at the Culture, Arts and Leisure committee about her handling of the Casement Park GAA stadium project in west Belfast.
On Wednesday, Ms Ní Chuilín announced she had decided to send three civil servants to take control of Sport NI.
The minister also decided to appoint a number of civil servants to the board of the organisation.
How the changes will impact on Sport NI
Sport NI is now being led and run by three senior servants on a day-to-day basis.
Civil servants are also being drafted onto the board. They will not be running the board.
The chair and vice-chair remain in place.
However, the three civil servants in the organisation (not the ones drafted onto the board) will be in charge.
The top man will be Arthur Scott, currently the director of culture at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
He has been appointed the "interim CEO".
The existing CEO, Antoinette McKeown, was suspended in March.
She insists she did nothing wrong.
The move, in effect, means the arms-length body is now under hands-on control by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) after a troubled few months.
Nine of the organisation's 14 board members resigned on Monday, but they have yet to explain why they stood down.
Concerns have been raised about working practices within Sport NI, and at least 10 employees have made complaints. | The Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has said there is a "culture of fear" within Sport NI. |
33,960,625 | The website Moneyfacts said the average interest rate on the top ten savings accounts has risen from 1.39% a year ago, to 1.48% now.
But increasingly providers are placing tighter restrictions on how many times you can take cash out of such accounts.
In some cases, savers are only allowed to withdraw money three times a year.
Moneyfacts is suggesting that the regulator - the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - should investigate the matter.
"Perhaps it's time the FCA started to look more closely at these restrictive accounts - transparency will only go so far after all," said Charlotte Nelson, a finance expert at Moneyfacts.
After years of record low savings rates, Moneyfacts said the small rise in rates "restores hope" in the market.
The change comes ahead of an expected rise in the Bank of England base rate, which most analysts predict will come in 2016.
"However, while this is great news for any saver looking to maximise their returns, savers may be disappointed to find out that many accounts are now limiting access to their funds, with restrictions varying from a maximum of 150 withdrawals per year to just one," said Charlotte Nelson.
Most providers do make the restrictions clear.
Virgin Money - which allows three withdrawals a year - calls its account "Defined Access Saver".
Chelsea Building Society - which also restricts withdrawals to three - markets its account as "Triple Access Saver".
And the Nationwide has a "Limited Access Saver", which allows five withdrawals a year on the top savings rate.
An FCA study into the cash savings market, published in January, found there were barriers to switching accounts.
It found that 80% of easy access accounts had not been switched in the last three years. | Savings rates are at last beginning to edge upwards, but 'easy access' accounts are getting less easy to access, according to new research. |
40,275,481 | Jamie Lee Sawyer from Birmingham died during a British Army-led kayak training exercise off the coast of Cyprus on 12 March 2015.
The vessel Pte Sawyer was in capsized as it was overcome by large waves.
Coroner Louise Hunt gave a narrative verdict after a three-day inquest.
More Birmingham and Black Country stories here
One survivor told the court "it could have been any of us that day," as the boat was swamped by waves of up to to 2.5-metres (8ft) high.
An official accident report into the drowning of the 20-year-old found faults and poor practice in the way the course was run.
Two Met Office warnings, advising of thunderstorms in the area, had not been passed to the Army officer overseeing training.
The senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, said the factors that contributed to his death were: "a failure to adequately assess the weather forecast before the event began.
"A failure to ensure thunder storms warnings were provided to the regimental adventure training team."
And "a failure to ensure the generic and dynamic risk assessments covered specific hazards, specifically adverse sea conditions in poor weather."
The kayak instructor was acquitted by a Greek Cypriot criminal court earlier this year because of the weakness of the case against him.
Private Sawyer, a Royal Logistic Corps chef serving with 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment battlegroup, was hit by a large wave.
He then resurfaced "face-down" and was eventually rescued but died later in hospital.
Speaking after the verdict, Pte Sawyer's mother Tracy said she had finally got answers.
She added: "We are deeply proud of him and feel his loss deeply." | The failure to take account of a weather forecast warning of high winds and thunder storms contributed to the drowning of a soldier, a coroner has ruled. |
38,505,950 | Speaking at a press launch of the sixth series of the show, Sir Tom added he was pleased ratings went down when he was not featured as a coach.
"Whoever was responsible made a mistake," said the Welsh singer.
He was invited back after ITV bought the rights to broadcast The Voice, previously shown on BBC One.
Sir Tom said it was not the BBC that was behind the decision to no longer have him on the show, but "the people on The Voice, whoever, the powers that be".
"I did a show on the BBC right after that - Children in Need, with Rob Brydon," he noted. "I wasn't really upset with the BBC. But whoever was responsible made a mistake."
Sir Tom spoke of the importance of artists believing in themselves because "you're bound to get knockbacks".
"There's a knockback right there, at my time of life - to prove to these young singers coming on the show that even I got a knockback, after all that time.
"Then you've got to think - it's their loss. I knew what the public felt because of the feedback I had.
He recalled a time he entered talent competitions himself, in south Wales - much to the amusement of his fellow coaches.
"I lost out to a ventriloquist once - and she was terrible," he mused. "I had to walk away from that."
Will.i.am, the only coach to have featured on every series of the talent contest, said the lack of chart success for its previous winners has been "down to song choice".
The debut single by Kevin Simm, the former Liberty X singer who won the last series, peaked at 24 in the charts.
Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am said the new prize of a record deal with Polydor would change things.
"It comes down to song choice. I think that's one of the reasons we've not seen a real star from the show. The songs they've been singing [have been] like… whatever."
And talking about the show going up against BBC singing competition Let It Shine, fronted by Gary Barlow, he said: "We have people coming up against us, thinking they can slide right around our time slot - so what.
"We're the headliners - watch The Voice, see the drama, see the amazingness, boom."
Barlow has since tweeted a response, saying: "Good luck to everyone on @thevoiceuk good honest competition makes us all better."
The Voice has a new twist that means the judges no longer speak to the contestants if none of them has chosen to turn their chair around - indicating they want them in their team.
New coach Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of Bush, said it was difficult seeing the disappointment on the faces of those who had been unsuccessful.
"I'm having so much fun - I wasn't expecting to have that much fun all the time," he explained. "The only thing that's been a bit hard is seeing some of the contestants that didn't make it, and we see their story - I could feel myself sinking lower and lower. I was feeling bad."
He said one of the reasons he wanted to be a coach was because of "how emotionally invested you get in the contestants".
"You can't help yourself. You're caught up in the dreams they've had for years."
Rossdale, the father of model and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Daisy Lowe, said: "We can help one person. We're just preparing them.
"We're real coaches - it's the FA Cup final, they go out there and play it, it's up to them. But it's good if they win!"
Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson - a former contestant on singing contest American Idol, who came seventh on the show in 2004 - said of being a coach: "It's so good. I'm really enjoying this experience and working with these guys, and being on the other side.
"I can't believe I'm here because it's still so fresh in my mind, when I was a contestant and trying to get here. But I feel empowered because I feel like I can help them get there."
She said she was a "firm believer in taking the opportunity you're given" - adding that failing to win a show did not mean you could not be a success.
"No-one is going to live your dream for you - no one is going to chase your dream for you," said Hudson. "It's something everyone should keep in mind. You have to go out there.
"This is the type of thing you cannot do unless you're passionate about it. Other than that, you just go home."
The sixth series of The Voice starts on 7 January on ITV at 20:00 GMT.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Sir Tom Jones has said getting dropped from The Voice shows its contestants that even established stars have to cope with rejection. |
40,797,394 | The 17-year-old former West Ham academy player leaves National League side Aldershot just six months after signing his first professional deal, which was to run until the summer of 2019.
Kanu, who joined the Shots after having a trial with Manchester United's Under-18 side, scored four goals in 32 appearances last season.
His move is subject to paperwork.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Teenager striker Idris Kanu has joined Peterborough United from Aldershot on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. |
36,712,189 | Speculation, apprehension and more than a whiff of retribution. It is not the outcome Australians expected when in their millions they cast their ballots in Saturday's federal election.
But three days later, the result remains unclear and no-one is sure who will form the next government, or how, or when.
Neither of the major parties have so far won enough seats to claim an outright win as counting continues in around a dozen tightly-contested constituencies. They will decide this federal election that was fought on the promise of stability but has delivered, in the short-term at least, turmoil.
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who leads the centre-right Liberal-National Coalition, says he is confident of winning a majority. He may just squeeze home but his leadership could be damaged beyond repair.
After all, it was the millionaire former merchant banker who gambled on dissolving both houses of the Australian parliament (the first so-called Double Dissolution election since the late 1980s) and calling an early poll.
Frustrated at the refusal of the Senate, the upper chamber, to pass key labour reforms, Mr Turnbull went to the country, but has been left clinging to power as anger within his governing coalition intensifies.
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull urged to quit
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Who's who in Australia's 2016 federal elections?
He is an accomplished media performer, as you might expect from a former journalist and lawyer, and came to the highest office last September, ousting Tony Abbott in a sensational party room coup.
The new man at the helm of the conservative government appeared to promise a more progressive approach than the pugilistic ways of his predecessor.
There would, his supporters hoped, be bolder policies to combat climate change in a country heavily reliant on coal (with one of the highest per capita rates of carbon pollution), and decisive action on a republic (Britain's Queen Elizabeth is the head of state here) and same-sex marriage.
But there was to be no grand theatre of reform. Was Mr Turnbull a hostage to right-wing factions within his government that were keeping him in the job, or was he biding his time waiting for an unequivocal mandate from the people?
There has, though, been no concrete endorsement from voters in an election fought mostly over jobs, health care and education. But the decisive swing against the conservatives has not seen a corresponding surge in public support for their main rival, the Labor opposition. Far from it.
While it has done better than many of its strategists had dared dream, it has almost no chance of forming a majority government. In recent years the party had self-destructed through repeated bouts of infighting as previous Labor prime ministers, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, took it turns to knife each other in the back.
Although the current leader, Bill Shorten, harbours ambitions of forming a minority government, he might be best off losing this time around and sitting back and watch a weakened Mr Turnbull lead either a nervous government with a waver-thin majority or a potentially fractious one dependent on minor parties and independents.
Labor could then agitate and destabilise from opposition, and then go on to win big at the next election.
That, however, supposes that the traditional two-party system in Australia is in good health. It isn't. Minor parties and independent candidates have attracted record support in this election.
They may be a disparate and controversial bunch, who variously support tough anti-gambling policies, banning the burqa in public places and voluntary euthanasia, but millions of voters consider them to be politicians with convictions, free of what newspapers here have described as the "all-consuming narcissism" of the main parties.
Voters have raged against the two heavyweights like never before.
There are fears that Australia could lose its AAA credit rating if the current gridlock hampers the government's ability to reform the economy as a long mining boom comes to an end.
Politics in Australia is a volatile business, and there have been four prime ministers in the past three-and-a-half years, yet the economy continues to grow and its fundamentals seem strong, despite the lack of political stability in recent years.
Elsewhere, life goes on in other countries with hung parliaments and dysfunctional governments.
Australia may find itself back at the polls if the impasse can't be resolved as a new type of politics emerges, one fuelled by voters who feel disenfranchised and betrayed by the old order.
On morning radio, a government minister said that as a child he used to laugh at the regular changing of leaders in Italy, but now the joke is on Australia. | Will Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull be able to form a government, or is the country on course for its fifth leader in three-and-a-half years? |
39,364,558 | The court said that the five had been abducted and killed, and their bodies thrown into the sea.
Investigators said they were killed in revenge for the abduction of an army colonel by left-wing guerrillas.
The five are believed to have been the last people kidnapped under the rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990.
Those sentenced are former members of the CNI intelligence service, the army's intelligence battalion and the army's flight commando.
Among them are former CNI head Gen Hugo Salas Wenzel and the CNI's ex-chief of operations, Maj Alvaro Corbalan Castilla.
The two, who are already serving sentences for human rights abuses, were given 15 years in prison each.
The remaining defendants were sentenced to jail terms ranging between five and 10 years, with one released subject to conditions.
The five disappeared activists were members of the Communist Party and its militant wing, the Manuel Rodriguez Patriot Front, which used guerrilla tactics to fight the rule of Gen Pinochet.
They were arrested in September 1987 by the secret police in retaliation for the abduction of Col Carlos Carreño by the Manuel Rodriguez Patriot Front.
Col Carreño was kidnapped on 1 September 1987 and released three months later after his family agreed to the kidnappers' demand for $50,000 (£40,000) in food and clothing for Chile's poor.
The bodies of the five were never found but Judge Mario Carroza's investigations revealed that they had been thrown into the sea from a helicopter off the coast of Valparaiso.
It is not clear whether they were still alive but drugged at the time or if they had already been killed in detention.
More than 3,200 people were killed or disappeared during Gen Pinochet's rule, according to official figures.
Gen Pinochet came to power in a military coup in 1973, when he overthrew the socialist government of President Salvador Allende.
Outside Chile, he is remembered as a ruthless dictator whose military regime tortured and killed thousands of opponents and drove many into exile.
But inside Chile he still has a small but ardent group of right-wing supporters who regard him as a hero for "saving the country from becoming another Cuba".
He stepped down from power in 1990, two years after he lost a referendum on whether he should remain in power. | The High Court in Chile has sentenced 33 former intelligence agents for the disappearance of five political activists in 1987. |
37,857,996 | Sonny Bono talent-spotted Cher in a coffee shop. Kiss hired their drummer after he placed an ad in Rolling Stone magazine saying he was "willing to do anything". REM's Mike Mills and Bill Berry were sworn enemies until a mutual friend asked them, separately, to a rehearsal.
Berry wanted to storm off... but his drums were too heavy to allow a dramatic exit, so he stuck around and the history of rock was changed forever.
The Chainsmokers, it is fair to say, do not have such an interesting story.
"Our manager's intern introduced us," says Alexander Pall.
"We talked about our passion and interest in dance music and we took a shot."
Despite those undramatic beginnings, the duo, in which Pall is joined by Andrew "Drew" Taggart, have created one of 2016's biggest hits.
Closer is a duet between Taggart and alt-pop heroine Halsey, who portray a couple rekindling their romance after a four-year break, only to remember all the reasons it didn't work out in the first place.
"We wanted to write an unsexy sex song," says Taggart. "And every line in Closer is pulled from, like, five of my past relationships."
The lyrics are sentimental but quirky. "Baby pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover, that I know you can't afford," sings Taggart, before the encounter continues on a "mattress that you stole from your roommate back in Boulder".
It's unusual to hear such autobiographical, observational phrases in a dance track - but that's exactly why Closer broke free of genre constraints, topping the UK charts for four weeks and, at one point, racking up more than five million plays on Spotify every day.
"It's hard to comprehend, to be honest," says Pall.
"We wrote it and recorded in our tour bus and we didn't immediately say, 'Wow, this is really something,'" adds Taggart.
"We didn't even know it was going to be a big-selling song."
There was one small snag along the way. A couple of weeks before Closer came out, it emerged that its riff bore similarities to a piano line on The Fray's 2005 single Over My Head (Cable Car).
"Luckily, someone in Sony Australia was like, 'Hey, by the way, did you guys notice this?'" says Pall. "We just went, 'Oh my God!'"
The Fray were hastily given writing credits on the song, allowing them a share of all future royalties.
"I'm really happy we took care of it the way we did," says Pall. "It would have sucked if it became a headline, simply because of a lapse of thought or whatever. That takes away from the song."
"We're lucky it was resolved that way and not like Blurred Lines," adds Taggart, referring to the controversial trial which found Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams guilty of copying Marvin Gaye's single Got To Give It Up.
"That case sets an insane precedent for what is plagiarism and what is inspiration. Pharrell said in an interview that he used to listen to Marvin Gaye and that was used against him. He listened to Marvin Gaye? Yeah, so has everybody that exists on the planet."
Growing up in separate states of the US, music was the unifying feature of The Chainsmokers' formative years.
Taggart was born and raised in Freeport, a coastal town in Maine with a population of 7,700.
He was a studious teenager, who found time to set up an investment club for his classmates. "I thought it was crazy that kids weren't taught about taxes and what to do with their money before they leave High School," he says, cringing at his "dorky" hobby.
Pall was more rebellious. The son of a New York art dealer, who hung Picassos in the family's Manhattan home, he says he spent his school years smoking marijuana and throwing parties.
When Napster emerged as a source of free music in the early 2000s, it was a revelation. "I destroyed my family's computer," he laughs. "So many viruses." But it gave him a musical education that inspired The Chainsmokers' mix of indie and dance.
Indeed, the duo's introduction to dance music came late - in Taggart's case, on a school trip to Argentina. Previously, they were into punk and emo bands like Dashboard Confessional and Death Cab For Cutie.
As they refined The Chainsmokers' sound, those were the groups they turned to for a lyrical blueprint.
"When we started, there was so much European dance music. A lot of these artists were Dutch and Swedish and it's different to sing in a second language," says Taggart.
"We'd look back to those bands we loved and think, 'Why isn't this making its way back into our music?' And when we applied that lyrical process, that's when we realised that what we were doing was interesting."
But it took a while to get there. The band's breakthrough single #Selfie was a big, dumb party anthem built around the inane ramblings of a drunk girl. The key lyric: "But first, let me take a selfie".
"It was a novelty hit and I'm sure a lot of people doubted we'd be back," admits Taggart. "But the only thing you can do after your first hit song is keep trying to write another one."
"It taught us a lot about us and the music business," adds Pall. "And, you know, obviously, if I could make it not be a song about selfies, that'd be great - but that's just the way it is and we're all good where we are now."
And right now, they are one of the most in-demand groups on the planet, with Bono and Chris Martin among the names in their phonebook.
"A year ago we were not getting as many of these calls. Now we're working with a lot of artists who we're huge fans of," says Pall.
The limelight hasn't always flattered the band, however. A profile in Billboard magazine painted them as beer-swilling misogynists, while Pall made headlines after telling a reporter that Lady Gaga's comeback single, Perfect Illusion, "sucks".
"Who cares what I think?" he asks, still bewildered by the backlash. "No-one's cared whether I thought something was good or bad for 30 years.
"I do feel badly about it, because it was never my intention to be disrespectful. Lady Gaga is an amazing artist - and she hit us back with the perfect response". (Gaga tweeted the band a link to her follow-up single, A-Yo, saying: "Maybe you'll like this one better").
The musician says he's still "in an adjustment phase", as he grapples with the idea that people are paying attention to what he says.
"It's a lesson learned."
Perhaps that's why The Chainsmokers are so cagey about their future plans. After a run of hit singles - Don't Let Me Down, Roses, Closer and All We Know - most bands would be prepping an album. But Pall side-steps the idea in almost every interview.
"We don't want to put out an album that's a collection of singles. We want to have a concise message throughout our discography and we're waiting to figure out exactly what that message is going to be."
They "definitely have the songs" to make a full-length record, he adds, but given that their biggest audience is on streaming services - where fans favour tracks over albums - maybe there's no point.
"To us, it's just about putting music out consistently. We don't want to put all this work into making an album of 12 songs and some of it gets overlooked".
Instead, the band are biding their time by releasing an EP, Collage, which will combine all of their 2016 singles with a brand new song.
"The idea is that we got a lot of new fans with Closer and, by creating an EP, it will hopefully introduce them to our older work."
"It's really exciting," adds Taggart, "but it's taken a lot of steps to get to this point. It's not like we suddenly woke up one morning and felt, 'Wow, it's arrived', but we're really pumped - and there are still big things to come."
If he's right, and the band steer clear of controversy, they could become one of dance music's few genuine crossover acts.
Either way, one thing's for certain - that intern has a bright future in the music business.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Bands meet in the strangest ways. |
37,995,630 | South Africa thrashed Australia by an innings and 80 runs in Hobart on Tuesday to seal the three-Test series.
Captain Steve Smith said he was "embarrassed to be sitting here" at a news briefing after the game, but local observers were even more withering.
"Australian cricket is in crisis like never before," said one review.
"The captain has no answers. The coach has no answers. The men in suits are boarding planes," Peter Lalor wrote in The Australian.
"Heads have to roll, but no matter how many sacrifices are made, it will not satisfy the blood lust of the public, of whose game they are the guardians."
Former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh resigned as Australia's chairman of selectors on Wednesday, saying it was "time for some fresh thinking, just as it is for our Test team to welcome some new faces."
Writing for the ABC, Geoff Lemon said batting collapses had become "endemic" and "the defining factor" of a team which was all out for 85 in the first innings.
"But the point for Australia is the absence of players who can withstand this," he wrote.
"As batting orders have collapsed, so has morale, and there's no repairing a crushed meringue."
"What would Sir David Attenborough think?" asked The Age's Phil Lutton, rating seven current players "endangered" or "critically endangered" of losing their place in the side.
Anthony Sharwood said Australia was "getting towelled up" by a South African team missing its two best players, captain AB de Villiers and fast bowler Dale Steyn.
"There's just not the quality replacements out there. The question is why? Too many players growing up on the Froot Loops diet of T20 rather than the muesli of long form cricket?" he wrote in the Huffington Post.
Nor were the Australian players spared by the general public.
"The Australia cricket team are an embarrassment to Australia you showed no heart or fight," tweeted Joshua Lewis.
Devi Pokhrel wrote: "Make Australia Cricket Team Great Again! Gosh what's happening?" | Australian commentators have proclaimed a "crisis" in the nation's cricket team after it slumped to another emphatic loss. |
36,139,073 | Jack Greenwell's move to Spain in 1912 caused amazement among his neighbours in Crook, a colliery town in County Durham's Wear Valley.
"Most people found it an adventure just going to Bishop Auckland," recalled Cicely Hetherington, then a six-year-old whose family were friends of the Greenwell's.
Bishop Auckland was five miles away (8km), Barcelona 1,200 (1,900km).
His story, which took him from his hometown club to a successful coaching career in Europe and South America, was made for the movies, according to journalist Rory Smith.
"His story is extraordinary and needs to be told," he said.
Greenwell was born in 1884 in Crook, then a prosperous and busy town surrounded by collieries.
After leaving school he became a miner and started playing as a winger for Crook Town when he was 17. In 11 seasons, he won one Crook and District League title and made numerous appearances in the FA Cup.
In 1909 he was a guest player for West Auckland Town when they won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, regarded by some football historians as "the first World Cup", in Italy.
Three years later, the 28-year-old moved to Barcelona, then competing in the Campionat de Catalunya (Catalonia Championship), a predecessor to Spain's modern La Liga.
How the move came about is something of a mystery, although Crook historian Michael Manuel has a theory.
"He probably made connections through travelling to Italy with West Auckland," he said.
"Probably there was someone from Barcelona there who liked what they saw who then spent a year or two trying to persuade him to go over."
Greenwell played 88 times for Barcelona scoring 10 times and winning two Catalonia Championships. His real impact on the club came after he hung up his boots however.
"Football was very much played in a certain way, there were no real tactics at that time" said Mr Smith, a football journalist for the Times who has also written a book, Mister, about Greenwell and five other Englishmen who helped globalise the game.
"You had two defenders, three midfielders and five strikers essentially and that was it, no-one moved.
"Greenwell started a very early form of experimenting with that, so he took Paulinho, who was Barcelona's star striker, and played him as a centre back.
"It didn't really work but it's [him] starting to think maybe if we put a ball-playing central defender in there maybe we can build from the back."
Greenwell's philosophy was to start attacks in defence with players passing the ball to each other rather than dribbling past opponents.
"He encouraged the passing style and at the time that was really rare," said Mr Smith.
"That made him unique. Sadly, in England no-one really wanted anyone to do that."
While Greenwell was at Barcelona, another Englishman was also making his mark in Spain.
Fred Pentland, who had played 96 times for Middlesbrough and five for England, took over Athletic Bilbao in 1921 and won two league titles and four consecutive cups.
On the field he preached "serenity and intelligence" on the ball, demanding his players use both feet.
He told them: "The purpose of the game of football is to shoot, you must strike the ball hard, rapidly, curtly, you must take a shot at goal constantly."
Pentland also remained resolutely English, wearing a bowler hat at each game. After every win, the hat would be taken and destroyed by his players.
"He went through 20 hats a seasons which is quite a good indication he was good at his job," said Mr Smith.
He also managed the France and Germany national teams.
Greenwell started his seven-year tenure at the helm in 1917 with the club going on to win four Catalonia Championships and two Copa Del Reys - the Spanish equivalent of the FA Cup - during his spell in charge.
But his legacy is much more than trophies, according to Andy Murray, a writer and expert on Spanish football for FourFourTwo magazine.
Greenwell established the passing philosophy which has become Barcelona's trademark.
"He is without a doubt one of the most influential and essential figures in creating that," said Mr Murray.
"The preference in the English game at that time was for a jinking winger who would take on a full-back and charge at them.
"Using more passing was seen as a bit of a cop out.
"That's one reason why people like Greenwell went abroad where their ideas would be appreciated.
"He and others like him trained those in other countries to be better than we were."
He left Barcelona in 1923 to take over their rivals RCD Espanyol, with whom he finished seventh in the inaugural season of La Liga and won another Catalonia Championship and Copa Del Rey in 1929.
Greenwell returned to Barcelona in 1931, winning another league title before heading to Valencia two years later and then, upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, headed to Turkey.
In 1939, Greenwell, who by this point had married Doris Rubinstien, an English dancer he met at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, moved to Peru to manage both the national team and Universitario de Deportes.
He led Peru to their first South American Championship title, now known as the Copa America, in 1939 and in the same season guided his club to win the Peruvian league.
Greenwell then moved to Colombia in 1940 to manage the national side before suffering a fatal heart attack in Bogota two years later as he was driving home from a training session.
He was 58-years-old and alone, his wife and daughter, Carmen, having stayed in Peru.
"What's really sad about is he gave everything up for football all of the time," said Mr Smith.
"He leaves Crook, his home and family for Spain, then he has to leave everything in Spain because of the war and then he leaves his family in Peru to go to Colombia.
"It's a very powerful story of someone who just wants to teach football."
Now plans are afoot to have a memorial plaque and bench placed in his home town, Mr Manuel said.
"We think this man should be commemorated, he was one of Crook's famous sons, he stands out as a forgotten football superstar." | Barcelona FC are now synonymous with beautiful, passing football but the Catalan club's traditions can be traced back to the vision of a former miner from north-east England. |
39,445,714 | First MTR, which was awarded the South Western franchise on Monday, is committed to a fleet of 90 new trains to increase capacity on the Reading, Windsor and London routes.
It will, however, reject 150 Siemens carriages ordered in 2014.
Instead, the operator is commissioning further new trains to replace them on a cheaper annual lease.
The German trains will enter service in April and can carry an extra 8,000 commuters each day.
The substituted cheaper carriages will arrive from 2019.
At the same time, newly-refurbished carriages which currently run to Reading are being dumped, together with other suburban rolling stock which is currently in the middle of a full technical rebuild.
It's a bit like walking into a car showroom, and being offered a brand new car from the factory for less money than the identical demonstrator that is already sitting in front of you ready to go.
The bottom line: hundreds of carriages worth hundreds of millions of pounds are simply being dumped.
The cost of borrowing has tumbled, new manufacturers are competing for orders and production lines are already set up.
That makes a new train cheaper even than one that is right now half-built.
Who pays for the ones that are left behind?
Ultimately we all do, through the fares we pay.
The new and refurbished carriages, which can only be used on southern England's third rail system, are destined to sit on sidings indefinitely.
First MTR, a partnership between First Group and Hong Kong metro firm MTR, said it could not yet be interviewed due to a non-disclosure agreement.
It will take over the seven-year franchise from Stagecoach on 20 August.
The Department for Transport said: "First MTR has committed to deliver 750 new carriages by the end of 2020 which will offer more space and improve journeys for passengers on the Windsor, Reading and London suburban routes.
"It is for First MTR South Western to decide how it uses its trains." | A rail operator is to abandon trains costing £200m which are currently being built in Germany. |
38,031,257 | Using the technology, people visiting the rock circle will be able to hear what it would have sounded like 3,000 years ago, back when it was complete.
The sounds visitors will hear are made using ancient instruments to take people back in time.
Newsround takes a look at just why this stone formation is so important.
Stonehenge is an historical site in the south-west of England with a very famous and mysterious circle of stones built at it.
The stone circle dates actually dates back around 5,000 years.
It is made up of lots of big stones, called sarsens, and smaller stones inside the circle, called bluestones.
No one actually recorded exactly who built it or even how they did it, but from studying the site, archaeologists believe that it was built bit by bit.
They think the big stones - a type of sandstone - came from somewhere around 19 miles away and were dragged on wooden sledges to where Stonehenge is today. On average, they weigh about 25 tons each!
Meanwhile, they believe the smaller stones used inside the circle came from over 150 miles away!
There are many theories about exactly who built it, when and why, because no one knows for sure.
Some say it was where Danish kings were crowned. Others that it was used as a way of predicting eclipses and solar events, because of the way the stones are positioned.
However, what has generally been accepted is that it was a temple with the stones set up to line up with the movements of the sun.
Archaeologists have found all sorts of items from thousands of years ago all around the Stonehenge area, which have taught us a lot about the Neolithic and early Bronze age periods of history.
One of the most impressive things about Stonehenge is how people were able to build it in the first place.
They didn't have any cranes to help them lift the heavy stones back then and would only have been able to use simple tools made from wood, stone and bone.
As World Heritage say: "Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world."
It's also important as it was built in a special way so that the stones line up with the sunlight at certain points in the year.
When this happens, many people go to visit Stonehenge and enjoy the sun's light show through the rocks, as you can see in the picture above.
Stonehenge has also inspired many pieces of art and has featured in books, music and on screen - including in Doctor Who!
For many people, it is a very spiritual place. As English Heritage says: "It allows everyone to feel a connection to the past."
It is a symbol of Britain and a very important piece of the UK's history.
At the end of November 2016, Stonehenge celebrated 30 years as a World Heritage Site.
This was significant as, back in 1986, Stonehenge was one of the very first sites in the UK to get onto the World Heritage list.
Being a World Heritage site means that the area is officially recognised as being extremely important to the world's history and culture, and it is protected.
Now, it is one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in Europe. | Scientists have recreated the sounds of Stonehenge from thousands of years ago, using virtual reality. |
38,200,232 | Explosions have been heard coming from the Remondis site on Carr Lane, Prescot, Merseyside, since the fire started at about 06:00 GMT.
Fire crews have not yet confirmed what materials are handled at the site but have advised residents nearby to keep doors and windows closed.
Forty business premises at Prescot Business Park have been evacuated.
Half of the building is alight and part of the building is beginning to collapse, the fire service said. No injuries have been reported.
The fire service said up to 80 firefighters were tackling the blaze at its height.
It said the site which was built in 2012 could "burn for days".
"We have made good progress. The smoke has reduced and we are receiving advice from the Environment Agency on any risks to health," said the fire service.
It added any residents with pre-existing medical issues or residents with concerns about the smoke's impact on their health should contact the NHS 111 service or their GP surgery.
Earlier, police tweeted pictures showing a plume of dark-coloured smoke arching over the M57 near junction 2.
Twitter user Ubik said: "Audible explosions still being heard in surrounding area".
North West Motorway Police said visibility on the motorway was not affected but was being monitored.
Some roads close to the site have been closed.
The site holds an environmental permit for the treatment, storage, transfer and disposal of hazardous waste.
The Environment Agency said in a statement: "We are working with partner agencies including Merseyside Police, Public Health England and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to ensure the risk to people and the environment is minimised."
Remondis UK was unavailable for comment. | A huge blaze has engulfed a warehouse which handles hazardous waste, sending huge plumes of smoke into the sky. |
39,419,859 | Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, Cardiff and Vale, and Hywel Dda will have their 2016-17 accounts finalised in June.
In First Minister's Questions, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies called their finances "chronic."
One board - Betsi Cadwaladr in north Wales - is already controlled by ministers under special measures.
Three other boards were placed under an increased level of scrutiny from ministers in September 2016, due to doubts about their ability to tackle the financial challenges they face.
The combined overspend of the three boards and Betsi Cadwaladr is forecast to reach £146m in the current financial year, three times their combined deficit in 2015-16.
Mr Jones told AMs: "We will look very carefully at what they are doing.
"If they do not come in 'in-budget' without harming services then we will have to look carefully at the governance of those boards.
"We will not shy away from that in the same way as we did not shy away in dealing with Betsi Cadwaladr when that situation arose."
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething told the Senedd that bills would get paid and there would be no interruption to treatment for patients.
He also warned that pumping more money into the NHS was not a "consequence-free game", in relation to the impact on the funds available for other public services.
Mr Gething told BBC Radio Wales on Monday that the health boards in the red would not be bailed out by the Welsh Government. | Three health boards facing big deficit increases could be taken under direct government control, First Minister Carwyn Jones has indicated. |
36,744,273 | Schulte - who qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother - is Warriors' eighth signing of the summer.
Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: "Hagen came over to Glasgow in March and spent a few weeks training with us.
"He fitted in really well with our squad. We're delighted that he's accepted the opportunity to join us."
The signing of Schulte follows the arrivals to Scotstoun of hooker Corey Flynn, winger Leonardo Sarto, scrum-half Nemia Kenatale, props Jarrod Firth and Djustice Sears-Duru, fly-half Rory Clegg and second-row Tjiuee Uanivi. | Glasgow Warriors have signed the New Zealand-born fly-half Hagen Schulte on a one-year contract. |
34,846,167 | Froch, 38, from Nottingham, who has been crowned world champion four times, has now retired from the sport.
The super-middleweight fighter's last bout ended in victory against George Groves in front of a record breaking crowd at Wembley in May 2014.
Injury ended plans to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas in March.
Last week Froch said he would consider returning to the ring for one fight to reclaim his title.
The boxer, who has won 33 of his 35 fights at super middleweight level, grew up in Gedling, just outside Nottingham.
When he was notified of the MBE in June, he said it was a "massive honour and a big surprise".
He became an honorary freeman of of the city in September 2014. | Boxer Carl Froch has collected his MBE medal for services to his sport from the Duke of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace. |
33,786,679 | The bodies of Mr Espinosa and four women were found in a flat in the Narvarte district of Mexico City on Friday.
They had been tied up and shot dead.
Mexico City prosecutor Rodolfo Rios Garza said the three men were the prime suspects in the murder, which has shocked Mexico City residents.
The surveillance footage shows them leaving the flat at 15:02 local time, 50 minutes after Mr Espinosa sent a text message to a friend, his last known communication.
Investigators said one of the men was pulling a suitcase.
Another can be seen getting into a red Ford Mustang which belonged to one of the victims.
The car was found abandoned on the outskirts of Mexico City on Monday.
The bodies of the five victims were found by one of their friends in the flat on Friday evening.
Investigators said three of the four women had been raped and the body of Mr Espinosa showed signs of torture.
Mr Rios Garza said they were looking into all possible motives for the crime.
On Sunday, officials said the fact that one of the victims' cars had been taken pointed to a robbery.
But the theory was dismissed by the editor of news magazine Proceso, for which Mr Espinosa took photos.
The editor said that the brutality of the crime suggested it was not a simple robbery.
Mr Espinosa spent eight years working in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, where almost a dozen journalists have been killed in the past years.
He moved to Mexico City in June saying he had been harassed and threatened.
One of the female victims, Nadia Vera Perez, was a student activist in Veracruz and had worked there with Mr Espinosa.
She was highly critical of the Veracruz governor.
She had moved to Mexico City to work as a cultural promoter.
The three other victims were the cleaner and two women who shared the flat with Ms Vera Perez, one of whom is believed to be Colombian.
While the motive behind the crime remains unclear, rights group say it suggests that journalists who have come under threat in violence-ridden states are no longer safe in the capital.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 31 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 1992 in connection with their work. | Mexican police are searching for three men shown on surveillance video leaving the building where photojournalist Ruben Espinosa was killed. |
37,871,897 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Will Boyde crossed to put Scarlets ahead before Peter Horne's penalty got Glasgow back in the game at the break.
Jonathan Evans sent the hosts 14-3 ahead with a try from the restart and the visitors faced an uphill battle when Pat MacArthur was sin-binned.
Scarlets then drove for the line and Boyde touched down again while Rhys Patchell's kicking sealed the win.
The result means Scarlets leapfrog Cardiff Blues into sixth in the table, while Glasgow remain fourth after their third league loss of the season.
After Boyde's early try, Glasgow fought back and Patchell was forced to pull off a tremendous clearance kick to deny Glasgow's Rory Hughes as he chased his neat chip towards the tryline.
After a dull first half, the game's second period started dramatically as Patchell jinked his way through unopposed to offload to Steffan Evans, who fed Jonathan Evans to cross over.
Glasgow's task was made even harder after MacArthur was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on James Davies. Patchell kicked the penalty that followed on the way to his 12-point contribution for the hosts.
The visitors were given their second yellow card of the game when lock Brian Alainu'uese, who was making his first Glasgow Warriors start, was sent to the bin for an elbow to the back of Werner Kruger.
Scarlets chased a bonus-point win and were denied a fourth try in the last play of the game when captain Hadleigh Parkes carried the ball into the post but could not ground it over the line.
Scarlets: Aled Thomas, DTH van der Merwe, Steff Hughes, Hadleigh Parkes (captain), Steff Evans, Rhys Patchell, Jonathan Evans; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Werner Kruger, Tom Price, David Bulbring, Aaron Shingler, Will Boyde, James Davies.
Replacements: Emyr Phillips, Dylan Evans, Peter Edwards, Lewis Rawlins, John Barclay, Aled Davies, Dan Jones, Gareth Owen
Glasgow Warriors: Peter Murchie, Lee Jones, Mark Bennett, Sam Johnson, Rory Hughes, Peter Horne, Ali Price; Djustice Sears-Duru, Pat MacArthur, Sila Puafisi, Tim Swinson, Brian Alainu'ues, Rob Harley, Simone Favaro, Lewis Wynne
Replacements: Corey Flynn, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Matt Fagerson, Langilangi Haupeakui, Grayson Hart, Rory Clegg, Nick Grigg
Referee: Gary Conway (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: David Wilkinson (IRFU) Neil Jones (WRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU) | Scarlets won their fifth consecutive Pro12 game as they comfortably beat Glasgow Warriors at Parc y Scarlets. |
36,414,592 | The event will see the awards celebrate their 21st anniversary with "spectacular musical performances from a host of world famous artists".
It will be the fourth time the awards, which celebrate urban music artists, have been held in Glasgow.
London, Liverpool and Leeds have also previously hosted the awards, which were established by Kanya King in 1996.
Artists to have performed at the awards over the years have included Rihanna, Amy Winehouse, Grace Jones and Scotland's Emili Sande, who won both Best Female and Best Album in 2012.
Ms King said: "Mobo turning 21 is a huge achievement and a special time for us. Celebrating this in Glasgow, which has become our second home, is an absolute joy.
"The Mobo Awards has changed the music industry, and helped represent a diverse range of music that is now the heartbeat of youth culture.
"Having given a platform to so much emerging talent which has then gone on to achieve global and commercial success is something to be proud of. We will continue to build a positive legacy that can be enjoyed by various generations to come.
"There has never been a more thrilling time in music than now so I look forward to making some exciting talent announcements in the lead up to the show."
Mobo is expected to announce the line-up of artists for the show over the coming weeks. Tickets for the awards will go on sale from 09:00. | The annual Mobo Awards are to return to Glasgow's SSE Hydro on 4 November, its organisers have confirmed. |
34,652,652 | The motion won more support than it has done in the past, with 191 members of the 193-member body voting in favour.
Only the US and Israel opposed the resolution, which is non-binding.
The US had earlier said it may abstain if the resolution's language differed significantly from previous ones.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has voted in favour of the resolution condemning the US embargo on Cuba for every year since 1992.
Last year, the US and Israel voted against the resolution, while three countries abstained.
In July, the US and Cuba reopened embassies in each other's capitals and restored full diplomatic ties.
Relations had been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo on Cuba.
US President Barack Obama last month told UNGA he expected the US Congress to ultimately lift the embargo.
However, the move is opposed by the Republicans, who control Congress.
According to the BBC's Will Grant in Havana, there had been speculation that the US might abstain from the UN vote this year, thereby isolating the US Congress in the eyes of the world - and pressurising them to lift the embargo.
However, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, Ronald Godard, said shortly before the vote that the US would not abstain, as the Cubans had not sufficiently changed the language of the motion.
"We find it unfortunate that despite our demonstrated bilateral progress the Cuban government has chosen to introduce a resolution that is nearly identical to those tabled in years past," he said.
"Nevertheless, the United States will not be bound by a history of mistrust."
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the assembly that the "lifting of the blockade" would "give some meaning" to the progress achieved recently, and "set the pace towards normalisation".
The resolution welcomes the renewed ties and recognises Mr Obama's "expressed will" to end the embargo.
Our correspondent says the vote is unlikely to derail the process of normalisation between the US and Cuba on its own.
He says Mr Obama still wants to see the embargo lifted, and behind the scenes, the Castro government has appreciated his support in that endeavour. | The United Nations General Assembly has almost unanimously voted to condemn the US embargo on Cuba, in the first such resolution since US-Cuban diplomatic ties were restored earlier this year. |
13,628,771 | But it was his arrest by Israel in 2002 and conviction on five counts of murder two years later that turned his into a household name.
Barghouti enjoys widespread respect and support among all Palestinian factions and, despite currently being in an Israeli prison, is now considered a favourite to succeed to Mahmoud Abbas as President of the Palestinian Authority.
Such an outcome would depend on him being freed in a major prisoner exchange, possibly in return for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since June 2006.
Born in 1958 in the village of Kobar, near the city of Ramallah, Barghouti was nearly nine years old when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war.
At the age of 15, he became active in the Fatah movement of the late Yasser Arafat.
In 1978, he was arrested and imprisoned by Israel for more than four years on charges of being a member of an armed Palestinian group.
Barghouti completed his secondary education and learned Hebrew while in jail, and after his release in 1983, began a degree at Birzeit University.
It took another 11 years to finish his studies, however, as he remained politically active and became a leading member of Fatah's "young guard", who came to prominence while the movement's established figures, including Arafat and Mr Abbas, were exiled in Lebanon and Tunisia.
Then, in 1987, Palestinians broke out in revolt against Israeli occupation, in what became known as the first Intifada, or uprising. Barghouti emerged as a leader in the West Bank, and was later deported to Jordan.
He returned in 1994 following the Oslo peace accords. He strongly supported the peace process, but was sceptical about Israel's commitment to successive land-for-peace deals.
In 1996, he was elected to the Palestinian Authority's new parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council, with overwhelming support.
He then launched a campaign against human rights abuses by Arafat's own security services and corruption among his officials, further raising his profile.
At the same time, Barghouti established close contacts with several Israeli politicians and members of the country's peace movement.
But by the summer of 2000, especially after the collapse of the Camp David summit, he had become disillusioned. He predicted that the "next Intifada" would mix popular protests with "new forms of military struggle".
The second Intifada broke out that September after a visit by Ariel Sharon, then the leader of Israel's opposition, to the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, which houses the al-Aqsa mosque, sparked Palestinian anger.
Now leader of leader of Fatah in the West Bank and chief of its armed wing, the Tanzim, Barghouti led marches to Israeli checkpoints, where riots broke out against Israeli soldiers.
He also spurred on Palestinians in speeches, condoning the use of force to expel Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"While I, and the Fatah movement to which I belong, strongly oppose attacks and the targeting of civilians inside Israel, our future neighbour, I reserve the right to protect myself, to resist the Israeli occupation of my country and to fight for my freedom," he wrote in the Washington Post newspaper in 2002.
"I still seek peaceful coexistence between the equal and independent countries of Israel and Palestine based on full withdrawal from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967," he added.
The second intifada saw a number of armed groups associated with Fatah and the Tanzim emerge, most notably the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which carried out numerous attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, and suicide bombings targeting civilians inside Israel.
The Israeli authorities accused Barghouti of having founded the Brigades, which he denied, though he hailed some of the group's operations.
Having survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2001, when his bodyguard's car was hit by a missile, the Brigade possibly sealed Mr Barghouti's fate when it issued a statement in 2002 claiming him as its leader.
Barghouti was arrested by Israeli troops in Ramallah that April and first appeared in an Israeli court the following August - charged with the killing of 26 people and belonging to a terrorist organisation.
Throughout his trial, he refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli court. His lawyers insisted he was only a political leader, and sought to turn the process into a trial of Israel and its occupation of Palestinian territory.
In 2004, Barghouti was convicted on five counts of murder for the deaths of four Israelis and a Greek monk, as well as attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, and membership of a terrorist organisation.
The court found there was insufficient evidence connecting him to the 21 other deaths on the original indictment.
But even from his prison cell, Barghouti has remained an important Palestinian political figure.
He helped negotiate, using his mobile phone, a unilateral truce declared by the main Palestinian militant groups in June 2003.
That ceasefire collapsed two months later, following a Palestinian suicide bombing and an Israeli air strike that killed a Hamas political leader.
Barghouti also drafted the 2006 Prisoners' Document, in which jailed leaders of all major factions called for a Palestinian state to be established within pre-1967 borders and the right of return for all Palestinian refugees.
He also helped forge the Mecca Agreement, which attempted to bring about a national unity government for the Palestinians in 2007.
And this August, Barghouti was elected to Fatah's Central Committee, along with other members of the "young guard" - now in their 40s and 50s - including Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub, a former Arafat aide.
The prospect of Barghouti's release has divided Israel, with some cabinet ministers arguing that as a reformist who could unite the rival Palestinian factions, he offers the best prospect for peace should Mr Abbas step down, and others saying someone convicted of five murders should never walk free. | Marwan Barghouti was not well known among Palestinians until he came to prominence as a leader of the second Intifada. |
39,872,530 | Twenty-year-olds who started antiretroviral therapy in 2010 are projected to live 10 years longer than those first using it in 1996, it found.
Doctors say that starting treatment early is crucial to achieve a long and healthy life.
Charities say there are still too many people unaware they have the virus.
This is particularly true in the developing world, where the majority of HIV deaths occur because access to drugs is limited.
The study authors, from the University of Bristol, said the extraordinary success of HIV treatments was a result of newer drugs having fewer side effects and being better at preventing the virus from replicating in the body.
It is also more difficult for the virus to build up a resistance to the most recent drugs.
Improved screening and prevention programmes and better treatment of health problems caused by HIV are thought to have helped, too.
But many people with HIV still do not live as long as expected, especially those infected through injecting drugs.
Antiretroviral therapy involves a combination of three or more drugs which block the normal progress of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
They have been called "one of the greatest public health success stories of the past 40 years".
Jimmy Isaacs, 28, discovered he had been infected with HIV by a former partner nearly three years ago.
He takes three drugs once a day at 18:00 and will continue to do so for the rest of his life.
"My health is absolutely fine. I'm eating healthily and drinking healthily," he said.
"It doesn't impact on my job and hasn't impacted on my social life either."
Although it took two changes of medication to find the right combination for him, he says he now has no side effects at all.
"I had heard a lot of bad stories about the drugs back in the '90s - but when I did some research, I realised the drugs had completely changed."
Not all his employers have been supportive since his diagnosis and he says that is down to ignorance.
His current employer has given him time off to tour the country and speak to students and school pupils about HIV prevention and treatment.
The researchers looked at 88,500 people with HIV from Europe and North America who had been involved in 18 studies.
They based their life-expectancy predictions on death rates during the first three years of follow-up after drug treatment was started.
They found that fewer people who started treatment between 2008 and 2010 died during this period compared with those who began treatment between 1996 and 2007.
The expected age at death of a 20-year-old patient starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) after 2008, with a low viral load and after the first year of treatment, was 78 years - similar to the general population.
Dr Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the study showed how much things had changed since the start of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s.
But he said it also meant people aged over 50 now represented one in three of all those living with HIV.
"As it stands, the healthcare, social care and welfare systems simply aren't ready to support the increasing numbers of people growing older with HIV.
"We need a new model of care to better integrate primary care with HIV specialist services, and we need a major shift in awareness and training around HIV and ageing, so that we're ready to help older people live well in later life," he said.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, who chairs the Royal College of GPs, said: "It's a tremendous medical achievement that an infection that once had such a terrible prognosis is now so manageable, and that patients with HIV are living significantly longer.
"We hope the results of this study go a long way to finally removing any remaining stigma associated with HIV, and ensuring that patients with HIV can live long and healthy lives without experiencing difficulties in gaining employment and - in countries where it is necessary - obtaining medical insurance."
She said steps were being taken to increase appropriate HIV testing by GPs.
The proportion of people with undiagnosed HIV has fallen steadily over the past 20 years.
But one in eight people with HIV is still thought to remain undiagnosed.
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning | Young people on the latest HIV drugs now have near-normal life expectancy because of improvements in treatments, a study in The Lancet suggests. |
38,570,789 | Paul Bond, 62, attacked Dr Marian Bond at their home in Over, Cambridgeshire, on 11 July. Surgeons had to remove part of her skull to save her life.
Bond, who called 999 himself to say he had attacked his wife, was found guilty of attempted murder.
A judge at Cambridge Crown Court imposed a hospital order against Bond.
Cambridgeshire Police arrived at the couple's Willingham Road home to find Bond with his hands, cheek, chest and dressing gown covered in his wife's blood.
More news from Cambridgeshire
He had struck Dr Bond, a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, at least three times with a 2.5lb (1kg) lump hammer severely fracturing her skull and jaw, Cambridgeshire Police said.
Detectives described it as a "horrific assault which could easily have killed Dr Bond".
She was placed in an induced coma in hospital and part of her skull was removed. She has since made a partial recovery, police said.
In November, Bond admitted a charge of grievous bodily harm but denied attempting to murder his wife.
He was found guilty by a jury on Monday.
Imposing a hospital order on Bond without time limit, Judge Farrell QC said Bond had undoubtedly intended to kill his wife and had struck her with the hammer at least three times.
He was detained under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983. A Section 41 restriction was also imposed meaning Bond will not be released until a mental health tribunal has decided it is safe to do so. | A man who hit his university lecturer wife in the head with a hammer as she slept has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. |
35,503,459 | The images were taken by archaeologists in surveys of sites across Scotland.
The sites include the remains of an ancient fort at Mither Tap on Bennachie in Aberdeenshire and Caisteal Grugaig, an Iron Age broch in the Highlands.
The exhibition, Echoes in Stone, will be running at the University of Stirling's art gallery.
It uses images taken during work done for Forestry Commission Scotland.
Matt Ritchie, Forestry Enterprise Scotland Archaeologist, said: "Whether at a landscape scale, recording stone-by-stone detail or achieving sub-millimetre accuracy, archaeological laser scanning can produce amazing images.
"We have really got to grips with the idea of 'creative archaeological visualisation' and have tried to combine these new archaeological survey techniques with an artistic ethos.
"This means we can produce detailed site records alongside innovative and spectacular illustrations that will really capture people's imaginations and hopefully help them get a fascinating new insight into life in Scotland in the distant past." | Laser scans of Neolithic chambered tombs, Bronze Age burial cairns and Iron Age hill forts have been put on display in a new exhibition. |
39,576,680 | It features landmarks of the region including Traquair, Abbotsford, Thirlestane Castle, Floors Castle, Gunsgreen House, Bowhill House and Country Estate, Mellerstain House, Monteviot House and Neidpath Castle.
To be launched at the VisitScotland EXPO trade show in Glasgow the map has been designed by Galashiels graphic designer Winnie Stewart and illustrator Diane Lumley, also from the Borders.
Here are a selection of images of some of the sites featured. | A new map has been produced by the Big Houses in the Scottish Borders group to highlight the attractions of the area. |
40,366,031 | That was - according to the Lagan Valley MP - "wild speculation" and "wide of the mark".
However, the sources for those reports were reliable - so is it possible the DUP is now seeking to manage down the expectations of its supporters?
Perhaps Newsnight's Nicholas Watt was closer to the mark when he reported that the DUP was looking for £2bn, but the government was offering only £750m.
Although the big cash sums are eye catching, the negotiations are more wide ranging. The DUP also wants changes, for example, to Air Passenger Duty and the bill for lowering Corporation Tax.
But these would have year-on-year financial implications, and Labour put a warning shot across the government's bow when it calculated the potential lost revenue from Air Passenger Duty at £90m a year, but also the number of extra firefighters who could be hired (2,000 according to the Shadow Chancellor).
There are now reports that a cooling in the courtship between the DUP and the Conservatives might lead to a more short term, less comprehensive arrangement than Downing Street originally envisaged.
The DUP won't put Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10, but they may feel free to vote as they choose on a wide range of individual policies.
Arlene Foster told me it was "right and proper" for her MPs to back the Queen's Speech.
But some DUP sources aren't ruling out their 10 MPs backing amendments to the Speech if they regard them as in line with DUP policy.
The delay in the London talks means things are now getting perilously close not just to next week's vote on the Queen's Speech, but also to next Thursday's deadline for restoring devolution at Stormont.
Does it suit the DUP to present the other Stormont parties with their deal as a last-minute fait accompli?
Sinn Féin is getting increasingly restive, pointing out that, having laid down the 29 June ultimatum, it's the Westminster government which has used up all the DUP's time and energy in talks designed to save the Conservatives' skin.
In these circumstances, can the 29 June Stormont deadline hold?
I'm not sure, but I do know that this recent turbulent period in UK Politics will be remembered, at least in part, as the time the DUP demonstrated to Westminster what Stormont-style brinkmanship looks like. | Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has poured cold water on reports that his party was seeking an extra £2bn in health and infrastructure spending. |
40,472,374 | The US will join France, Argentina and an Oceania qualifier in Pool C for the tournament in Japan after their record 52-16 win in San Diego on Saturday.
The Canadians will now face Uruguay in a two-legged tie to decide the second Americas qualification place.
The winner of that will be placed in Pool D alongside Wales, Australia, Georgia and a second Oceania qualifier. | The United States earned a place in England's group for the 2019 Rugby World Cup by beating Canada. |
35,511,905 | Kirsty Williams said that such predictions in 2011 were wrong, and the party went on to win five seats.
"The challenges are the same, and the predictions are the same," she said.
The Lib Dems also backed a call to end parents' rights to remove their children from sex education lessons, at their spring conference in Cardiff.
Speaking to BBC Wales political editor Nick Servini, on the Sunday Politics Wales programme, Ms Williams said: "Obviously these elections are challenging, but they were challenging for us five years ago, when people like your colleagues in the BBC and pollsters said that we would be wiped out.
"We demonstrated, by taking a very strong campaign out onto the streets into communities, and articulating very clearly why Welsh Liberal Democrats needed to be in the assembly, what we would do if we had the opportunity."
Ms Williams said the Lib Dems had then returned a "small but strong group" that had "punched above its weight and has used its influence to do good things".
"My more nurses bill, for instance, the first part of Europe that will have a law that will say that we'll have safe staff levels on all our hospital wards."
On the final day of the conference, a motion to end parents' rights to remove their children from sex education lessons was backed by party members.
Cardiff West candidate Cadan ap Tomos, who proposed the motion, said the status quo was "woefully inadequate".
He said he had spent much of his teenage years "struggling...mainly because at no point during my education was the message hammered home that being anything other than straight was perfectly normal".
Every child in Wales needed access to sex education, he said, in order to tackle issues including domestic violence, sexual health and teenage pregnancy.
Some activists argued that the move would conflict with the right to religious freedom, but the motion was approved by the party's conference and could now feature in the party's assembly election manifesto.
Earlier, plans to build 20,000 new affordable homes, if the party wins power in May, were outlined.
Double ministers' current target, it would increase social housing spending from £35m a year to £70m.
Money saved from scrapping the Labour Welsh government's planned M4 relief road around Newport would be used to fund the scheme, the party said.
Party housing spokesman Peter Black said: "Wales needs a government that will invest in a house building programme so everyone can have a roof over their heads.
"Social housing will be a priority for the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
"We will ensure that there is quality, affordable housing for those who need it."
Labour had an "almost sneering" attitude to home ownership and aspiration, he said, repeating a party pledge to introduce a "rent to buy" scheme to help people get on the housing ladder.
On Saturday, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron called delays to a £1bn tidal energy project in Swansea "shameful" and urged the party to challenge Labour's "arrogant sense of entitlement to rule" in May. | The Liberal Democrats will confound warnings that they could lose all of their AMs in May's assembly election, the party's Welsh leader has insisted. |
38,123,664 | Media playback is not supported on this device
He scored a stunning try as Wales beat South Africa 27-13 on Saturday.
Wales were heavily criticised following their opening defeat by Australia and unimpressive displays in wins over Argentina and Japan.
England and Ireland have enjoyed greater plaudits and Tipuric said: "There are going to be up there as favourites for the Six Nations."
He added: "It's going to be tough for us, but everybody loves an underdog."
Ireland beat Australia on Saturday to add to historic wins over New Zealand and South Africa in 2016.
England have also shone, their latest successes being wins over the Springboks, Fiji and Argentina and hopes of also toppling the Wallabies on Saturday 3 December.
Michael Cheika's tourists opened their now-failed Grand Slam tour bid by humbling Wales 32-8 in Cardiff.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Wales improved to see off the Pumas a week later, but had to rely on a late Sam Davies drop-goal to beat Japan.
The Springboks ended 2016 with an historic eight defeats in a calendar year with their loss in Cardiff.
Ospreys flanker Tipuric said: "Game by game we are getting better and hopefully by the Six Nations we'll be flying.
"Definitely, we could raise it up again, look after the ball a little better, not give so many penalties away and take it on to another level."
Wales captain Gethin Jenkins - he was deputising for Tipuric's injured rival Sam Warburton - admits "there is still a long way to go" for them in terms of performance.
But amid the much-vaunted Welsh desire to successfully adopt a more attacking ethos, the loose-head prop had a warning.
"We're definitely changing the way we're playing a little and playing with a lot of confidence," said the Cardiff Blues veteran.
"Criticism comes from the coaches and your team-mates and those are the people you listen to.
"I think there's a balance between playing open rugby and playing winning rugby.
"I think everyone would be complaining if we played a big, open style and lost every game.
"There's a bit of development. We're working on things in training that we probably need to put a little bit more into the game, but we're getting there and three wins out of four is something we can build on."
Centre Jonathan Davies saaid Wales showed they were on an "upward" curve during autumn and that their defensive display against the Springboks impressed their coach in that area, Shaun Edwards.
"Shaun said we didn't concede a line-break so that's a big defensive performance and that's pleasing," said the Scarlets player.
Wales' Six Nations campaign kicks off against Italy in Rome on Sunday, 5 February, but Davies' Scarlets' team-mate Gareth Davies' eyes are already on England's visit to Cardiff in the second round on Saturday, 11 February.
The scrum-half said: "We've got another couple of gears in us and for us to beat England we're going to have to go through those gears.
"And if we can get up to that top gear, I think it will be one hell of a game." | England and Ireland are the 2017 Six Nations favourites, says Wales open-side flanker Justin Tipuric. |
33,186,154 | It took place late on Wednesday night, according to a security source quoted by the Reuters news agency.
Local MP Bulu Mammadu told the BBC that the victims included women and children who had been shot dead in two different villages.
Boko Haram is based in Nigeria but is being tackled by a multinational force, including soldiers from Niger.
On Monday, there was a suspected Boko Haram suicide attack in Chad, which is also supplying soldiers to the multinational force.
Chad responded to that attack with air strikes on suspected Boko Haram positions.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says that by attacking Niger, Chad and Nigeria this week, Boko Haram appears to be hitting out at a region which is determined to unite and fight the jihadists.
In Niger, Mr Mammadu said that, as well as killing people, the militants had burnt down several houses in the two villages of Lamina and Ungumawo in the Diffa region, close to Nigeria's border.
Boko Haram first attacked Niger in February when the government said it repulsed an attack, killing more than 100 of the group's fighters.
Since being sworn in last month, Nigeria's new President Muahammadu Buhari has pushed ahead with plans to beef up the multinational force which will be made up of 7,500 troops.
The US has backed the force and offered $5m (£3.2m) to help get it established.
President Buhari promised in a message on his Twitter feed on Thursday that the "efforts to strengthen security cooperation with our neighbours and adjust our own response to Boko Haram will yield results very soon".
Boko Haram was founded in northern Nigeria in 2002 with the aim of creating an Islamic state, and has since caused havoc through a wave of bombings, assassinations and abductions.
Africa news updates | An attack by suspected Islamist Boko Haram fighters in Niger has killed at least 38 people, officials say. |
34,001,126 | North Korea fired a shell at a South Korean military unit on Thursday, prompting the south to retaliate with several artillery rounds, the South's defence ministry said.
South Korea's National Security Council is due to hold an emergency session.
The western sea border has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas.
North Korea fired a projectile towards Yeoncheon, a town north-west of Seoul, at 15:52 local time (06:52 GMT), the defence ministry said.
Reports suggest the target could have been a loudspeaker broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages.
The South then fired "dozens of rounds of 155mm shells" towards where they thought the rocket was launched from, the ministry added in a statement.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage on either side.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The two sides have exchanged cross-border fire several times in recent years.
A local official told AP news agency that about 80 residents in Yeoncheon had been evacuated, with other residents in the area also urged to take shelter.
The latest incident comes amid heightened tensions between the North and South.
Seoul has blamed the North for planting a landmine that injured two South Korea soldiers earlier this month.
Since then, the sides have begun blasting propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers along the border - restarting a practice both had suspended back in 2004.
South Korea and the US also began annual joint military exercises on Monday - they describe the drills as defensive, but North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion. | South Korea has ordered the evacuation of residents from an area of its western border after an exchange of fire with North Korea, reports say. |
30,782,087 | Managers and governors of Thetford Academy were rated as "outstanding" for tackling previous under-achievement, inspectors said.
From starting points below the national average, students make good progress by the time they leave, the report said.
The school did not get an "outstanding" rating as some disadvantaged students still failed to achieve.
Teaching still needed to improve and the school had a disruptive minority, the report added.
Executive Principal Adrian Ball said: "In 2013 the academy was ranked in the bottom 9% of schools nationally for value added.
"We are now ranked in the top 18% of schools nationally proving that all students, regardless of their prior attainment, make good progress.
"Although the gap in attainment between disadvantaged students and other students is less than that seen across Norfolk and the rest of the country our next challenge is to remove it completely; a challenge that we are ready to accept," he said.
The school has 1,186 pupils with ages from 11 to 18.
Ofsted did not say when the academy would emerge from special measures.
The unannounced inspection at Thetford Academy was carried out on 4-5 December last year. | A Norfolk school put into special measures in 2013 has achieved "good" rating in its latest Ofsted inspection. |
35,568,494 | 13 February 2016 Last updated at 12:50 GMT
The opening ceremony last night marked the start of 10 days of competition.
17-year-old athlete George Johnston carried the Union flag for Team GB.
BBC Reporter David McDaid is there. | A 16-strong British youth team is hoping for lots of medals at the second Youth Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in Norway |
36,348,995 | World number two Spieth fired a five-under 65 to join Brooks Koepka and Bud Cauley in a share of the lead after the morning starters finished their rounds.
Overnight leader Sergio Garcia joined them at 11 under with a 66.
But Crane, ranked 405 in the world, moved one clear after a round of 63 which included eight birdies.
It continued the turnaround for the American who had completed his first bogey-free round in 36 attempts on Thursday.
Spieth dropped six shots in three holes as Danny Willett won the Masters in April, missing the cut at the Players Championship in his next outing.
As in the opening round, Spieth again dropped a shot on the par-three 13th in Texas, but also enjoyed six birdies.
"I took advantage of the easier holes, a couple of the long holes, I found both par fives in two and two-putted for birdies," said Spieth, who made his PGA Tour debut at the 2010 Byron Nelson, finishing tied for 16th aged 16.
England's Greg Owen (69) was joint 37th on four under, but Ian Poulter missed the cut after a 73 left him at level par.
We're launching a new BBC Sport newsletter before the Euros and Olympics, bringing all the best stories, features and video right to your inbox. You can sign up here. | Ben Crane snatched a one-shot advantage to lead ahead of rivals including Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia after round two at the Byron Nelson. |
31,025,404 | But for one unfortunate Hansard reporter, they are both called Albert Owen. Readers of the official report on Monday's House of Commons debates will have noticed an intervention from someone of that name during questions to the secretary of state for work and pensions.
Except the intervention didn't come from Mr Owen, but from his colleague Wayne David, who was most put out - in a genial way - to discover his words credited to the Ynys Mon MP.
"Albert Owen wasn't there," Mr David tells me. "It was me. I can't understand how they mixed us up. I'm a south Walian, he's a north Walian. I'm much taller than him. I've got more hair."
I'm not sure the last argument is really a clincher, but the Caerphilly MP joked that he was now consulting his solicitor. It doesn't help his case that he was 550th in a "sexiest MP" poll, more than two hundred places behind Mr Owen).
Be that as it may, Hansard has now corrected the record online and Mr David's views on job creation in Shipley and Yorkshire are now recorded correctly for posterity. | One is Labour MP for Ynys Mon; the other is Labour MP for Caerphilly. |
38,638,325 | Yet if you attend any major business conference this year, then you're likely to come across "The Girls' Lounge".
It might sound like a name dreamt up by an unimaginative spa owner or an all-female pop-band, but in reality it's a professional networking space for women.
On the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos - a place where male attendees outnumber females five to one, the space is just being prepared.
A peek through the windows show that it's all white sofas and cushions, some adorned with glitter pink writing. The decor is soft and unashamedly feminine.
Lounges at previous conferences have included beauty treatments, such as face masks and manicures.
Aside from the patronising use of the word "girl", surely the idea that women need a separate mingling space, and such a stereotypically feminine one to boot, is doing little to further the case for female equality?
Shelley Zalis - who started The Girls' Lounge five years ago - is unapologetic:
"This is their boys' club - for women to get to know other women.
"There are masculine and feminine styles of leadership and we encourage women to find and lead with their strengths. We need both [styles] or we're all the same," she says.
Ms Zalis resolutely refuses to apologise for using the word "girl", arguing the word "woman" is too associated with the traditional hierarchy where female leaders conform to male leadership styles.
Beyond Ms Zalis' deliberately provocative and attention-grabbing approach, her point is that women need to take on leadership in whichever way they choose, not emulating the male, institutional model.
"We have to stop fixing the women. We have to fix our mindset and recalibrate our mindset on equality and understand men and women are all equal. Until society and corporations value the individual strengths of each person we won't progress," she says.
And in The Girls' Lounge, underneath the seemingly fluffy interior, there's plenty of hard facts.
In it, for example, there are ten clocks from various countries. Based on a nine to five day, they point to the time a woman should leave work according to the wage gap in the country.
The US clock points to 3.20pm, highlighting the fact that women there earn only 79% of what men earn.
To make the same point, men in the Girls' Lounge are charged $1 for a bar of chocolate, while women pay 79 cents.
While Ms Zalis' initial aim was simply to provide a space for women to feel less isolated at male dominated business events, the Girls' Lounge now hosts serious talks on addressing inequality and has attracted some heavyweight commercial partners including Unilever and Google.
The Girls' Lounge is part of The Female Quotient, the firm founded by Ms Zalis which aims to advance workplace equality.
The firm has conducted research for consumer goods giant Unilever showing the extent to which underlying bias is holding back progress on the issue.
The study, published on Tuesday, showed that not only do an overwhelming 77% of men believe that a man is the best choice to lead an important project, but also the majority (55%) of women.
More so, men and women overwhelmingly believe that men don't want women in top corporate positions, according to the research, which interviewed more than 9,000 men and women across eight markets.
Unilever's chief marketing officer Keith Weed said the poll pinpointed how traditional beliefs and norms were still holding back women's progress.
"Men have intellectually bought into [the] whole area of gender inequality, but acting on it there's still a long way to go. We are holding stereotypes in our head that we fit people into," he said.
Mr Weed said addressing the issue was not just "a moral issue but an economic issue".
The firm, behind more than 400 brands from Ben & Jerry's ice-cream to Dove soap, last year pledged to remove sexist stereotypes from its own ads.
Mr Weed said while it was too early to measure the impact of this change, its previous research had shown that progressive ads were 12% more effective.
Yet, Erica Dhawan, a female chief executive of consultancy Cotential, perhaps offers some hope.
In her thirties, she says she identifies herself as part of several groups: a millennial, an Indian American, and has never thought there's anything that either women or men could do better.
"We can't solve age old problems with old solutions. We need to redefine inclusion in today's modern world and by bringing new perspectives we can improve gender equality. I'm extremely optimistic I believe we need to broaden the conversation.
Ms Zalis also believes the new corporations which have emerged in the past couple of decades, such as the tech giants such as Facebook and Google, could help to adjust the balance.
"Most traditional corporations were founded over 100 years ago when women weren't in the workplace. Newer firms have equality in their DNA," she says.
Hopefully that heralds a future where there will be no need for a girls or boys club but just clubs. | "Embrace your inner girl" is not a phrase you'll hear very often, particularly in the macho world of business where "manning up" is more de rigueur. |
34,972,263 | The plane's rudder control system malfunctioned four times during the flight - a fault that occurred 23 times in the preceding year, officials said.
Their report added that the crew's response contributed to the disaster.
The Airbus A320-200, travelling from Surabaya to Singapore, crashed into the Java Sea on 28 December 2014.
Investigators had initially indicated that stormy weather was a major factor in the crash - however, they now say that this was not a cause.
The new report from the National Transport Safety Committee, released after a year-long investigation, found that the soldering on a tiny electronic part in the system that controlled the rudder was cracked, causing it to send four warning signals to the pilots.
The crew tried to fix the problem by resetting the computer system, but this disabled the autopilot. They then lost control of the plane.
The plane then entered "a prolonged stall condition that was beyond the capability of the flight crew to recover", the report said.
'Startled and disoriented': Key report findings
Read more: Anatomy of an avoidable crash
Who were the victims of the AirAsia crash?
What we know
Maintenance crews were aware of the problem as it had occurred 23 times in the past year, and resetting the system was one of several methods used previously to address it, the report said.
Inadequacies in the maintenance system had led to "unresolved repetitive faults occurring with shorter intervals", it added.
The report does not apportion blame or liability, but is intended to help the industry avoid future accidents.
Sri Budi Siswardani lost her son Bhima Aly Wicaksana in the crash.
She told the BBC's Indonesian service: "The report today brought back all the trauma, grief and loss... I don't want to be angry with AirAsia, what's the use of anger? In the end it will only hurt me and stop me from moving on.
"We accept Allah's plan for us. But I do want the government to make sure it doesn't happen again. Don't let the disaster of 28 December ever happen again."
Malaysia-based AirAsia's Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said: "There is much to be learned here for AirAsia, the manufacturer and the aviation industry."
"We will not leave any stone unturned to make sure the industry learns from this tragic incident."
Since the crash, AirAsia had carried out 51 measures to improve safety standards, the report said.
Meanwhile, an Airbus spokesman said: "Airbus has just received the final accident report. We are now carefully studying its content. With safety being top priority Airbus is fully committed to push the safety track record of our industry even further."
The plane's wreckage was found days after the crash at the bottom of the Java Sea near Borneo.
Most of the passengers were Indonesian, and others on board included a French citizen, a Singaporean, a Malaysian, a Briton, and three South Koreans.
Only 106 bodies have been retrieved so far.
The crash came at the end of a year of major air disasters, including the disappearance of MH370 and the shooting down of MH17- both flights operated by Malaysia Airlines. | Faulty equipment was a major factor in the AirAsia plane crash last December that killed all 162 people on board, Indonesian officials say. |
34,991,931 | The 50-year-old, known only as C, had been at the centre of litigation at the Court of Protection and last month a judge ruled she could refuse dialysis.
A solicitor representing one of her daughters said C died on Saturday.
C had damaged her kidneys when taking a drug overdose in a suicide attempt but did not want to undergo dialysis.
The court, which considers cases relating to sick and vulnerable people, had to decide if she had the mental capacity to refuse treatment, in a case brought by the trust with responsibility for her care.
The hearing was told that C's life "had always revolved around her looks, men and material possessions".
In a statement, one of C's daughters told the court said: "'Recovery' to her does not just relate to her kidney function, but to regaining her 'sparkle' [her expensive, material and looks-oriented social life], which she believes she is too old to regain."
Last year, C had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but had refused treatment that would "make her fat".
A long-term relationship had broken down, she had been plunged into debt, and she had tried to kill herself, the court heard.
Her suicide attempt damaged her kidneys but with dialysis, her prognosis would have been positive.
King's College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in London, had wanted dialysis forced on C, claiming a "dysfunction of the mind" meant she could not decide for herself.
Mr Justice MacDonald dismissed the hospital trust's application, saying C was "sovereign" of her "own body and mind" and thus "entitled" to make such a decision.
But he said many people may be horrified by C's thinking and that the decision to refuse treatment could be described as "unwise", with some considering it "immoral".
His ruling was made on 13 November and it has emerged that she died 15 days later.
He said she could not be identified. Another judge has since ruled that she had to remain anonymous, even after her death. | A woman who rejected life-saving kidney treatment, saying she felt she had lost her "sparkle" and did not want to get old, has died, it has emerged. |
37,823,559 | His family's Stellar International Art Foundation owns more than 600 rare works of art by artists including Picasso, Renoir and Andy Warhol.
He has been photographed receiving a business award from Theresa May and his family has given more than £1.6m to the Liberal Democrats. The 67-year-old is now an adviser to Lib Dem party leader Tim Farron.
Mr Choudhrie and his family run a global business empire that includes hotels, healthcare and aviation.
But an investigation by BBC Panorama and The Guardian suggests he is also one of the world's biggest arms dealers.
Leaked documents from the Choudhries' Swiss bank show that the family's companies were paid almost 100m euros by Russian arms firms in one 12-month period alone.
One company owned by the Choudhrie family, Belinea Services Ltd, received 39.2m euros between October 2007 and October 2008. Another company, Cottage Consultants Ltd, was paid 32.8m euros in the same period, while a third company - Carter Consultants Inc - was paid 23m euros.
Panorama: How Rolls-Royce Bribed Its Way Around The World is on BBC One at 20.30 and available on the BBC iPlayer afterwards.
The leaked documents say one of the Russian arms firms paying the Choudhries "makes cruise missiles".
Some of the payments were viewed as suspicious at the time by the Swiss bank Clariden Leu. Its compliance office in Singapore raised anti-money laundering alerts and the Choudhrie family accounts were reviewed by the bank's risk management team.
It's not clear what action - if any - the bank eventually took. But the leaked report describes the payments from the arms companies as "incoming funds from clients offset business".
Offset payments are sometimes paid by arms companies to provide investment in the country that is buying the weapons. But anti-corruption campaigners say offset payments can be used as a way of funnelling bribes to middlemen and officials.
In the leaked documents, Clariden Leu describes the Choudhrie family as being "very wealthy with an overall fortune of approx $2bn".
Sudhir Choudhrie declined to comment, but lawyers acting for Bhanu Choudhrie have said he had no knowledge of the Clariden Leu documents.
"The report to which you refer appears to be a confidential bank document. Mr Choudhrie has not broken any money-laundering rules in any of his business dealings at any stage."
The lawyers said our questions about offset payments by Russian arms companies were too vague.
"You have not given the dates or amounts of the alleged payments or the basis on which you say they were 'suspicious' or made in relation to Russian arms deals. The business of Cottage Consultants was conducted in a lawful and proper manner."
In 2014, Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu were arrested as part of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into Rolls-Royce. Both were released without charge. | Billionaire Sudhir Choudhrie has been welcomed by the British establishment. |
36,723,486 | The programme, which was due to launch in 2014, faced widespread criticism - including fears the public had been left in the dark about it.
The announcement comes as Dame Fiona Caldicott and the Care Quality Commission published two reviews on data security in English healthcare.
Their reports put forward a series of proposals to safeguard data in the NHS.
They call for stronger government sanctions for malicious or intentional data breaches, together with tougher criminal sanctions against those who use any anonymised data to re-identify individuals.
Meanwhile, out-of-date computer software and hardware should be replaced urgently, they say.
The reviews recommend an opt-out system so patients can say no to confidential or personal health data being used for anything beyond their direct care.
But this could be overridden for mandatory requirements such as fraud investigations or situations of public interest such as epidemics, they suggest.
And patients could give explicit consent for specific research studies, even if they had opted-out.
Responding in a written statement to Parliament, the Department of Health said it has launched a public consultation on the option of opt-outs, alongside 10 security standards that Dame Fiona suggests NHS organisations must meet.
Officials also say they support stronger criminal sanctions for misuse of anonymised data and are working with suppliers to ensure IT systems are up-to-date.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health said though it had taken the decision to close the Care.data programme it was "committed to realising the benefits of sharing information".
The Care.data project, led NHS England, together with the Health and Social Care Information Centre, was designed to bring health and social care information from different settings together to see what was working well and what could be done better.
It was due to launch two years ago, but was paused after concerns a public information campaign explaining its use was not clear enough and did not reach everyone. | The Department of Health in England is scrapping its controversial data-sharing project - known as Care.data. |
35,347,771 | The 83 migrants were found crammed into the back of a lorry that was headed towards the Tanzania-Malawi border.
Most were dehydrated and could have died if they had not been found, said local police chief Peter Kakamba.
Tanzania has become a key staging post for people fleeing drought and conflict in Ethiopia and Somalia, and trying to reach South Africa.
"We had to have a team of nurses to put them on drips, they were starving, very weak, they were lying on top of each other in that lorry," said Mr Kakamba.
"They were in such a bad condition, if we had delayed in finding them, they would have suffocated and lost their lives."
He said that patrols are being stepped up to intercept migrants, as well as the Tanzanians assisting them.
The migrants were found travelling towards the southern town of Mbeya.
Late last year, more than 100 Ethiopian migrants were rounded up on their way to South Africa.
In June 2012 ,40 migrants from Ethiopia were found dead after they suffocated inside a truck transporting them in central Tanzania.
How Ethiopia has cracked down on people smugglers
First risky step in an Eritrean's journey to Europe
The Ethiopians who predict an end to international aid
Find out more about Ethiopia | Tanzanian police have arrested more than 80 Ethiopian migrants believed to be heading to South Africa. |
40,938,133 | The visitors led at the break after two tries from Darnell McIntosh and efforts from Lee Gaskell and Alex Mellor, while retiring back-rower Gareth Ellis and Jake Connor went over for the hosts.
Tyler Dickinson and Gaskell extended Huddersfield's lead.
Josh Griffin reduced the arrears but Kruise Leeming and Gaskell scored his hat-trick.
It was a hugely disappointing night for the Airlie Birds, who take on Wigan in the Wembley final on Saturday, 26 August.
They twice took the lead, first through Ellis, who was making his 450th Super League appearance and first since announcing he was retiring at the end of the season, and then through Connor but they never recovered after going into the break 10 points down.
The hosts struggled in defence all night and Gaskell's third summed up their night as he touched down after Mahe Fonua spilled a kick in the in-goal area.
Victory for Huddersfield means they are now just three points outside the play-off places with four games to play, while the Black and Whites remain third.
Hull head coach Lee Radford:
"It has made my job [picking a team for the Challenge Cup final] super easy for one or two. This was down to attitude, real plain and simple.
"It took Danny Brough 46 minutes to kick from his own end which tells its own story.
"Huddersfield ran harder than we hit. And it is a really simple game when you break it down like that."
Huddersfield head coach Rick Stone:
"A few weeks ago we played Hull here in a bit of a knock them down, drag them out affair.
"We learned a bit from that game and tried to play through them a bit more. We got some good results with that and the boys stayed at the plan which was nice.
"Our ball control was better and the result showed in the end."
Hull FC: Connor, Michaels, Fonua, Griffin, Talanoa, Tuimavave, Sneyd, Bowden, Houghton, Watts, Minichiello, Turgut, Ellis.
Replacements: Green, Thompson, Washbrook, Manu.
Huddersfield: Rankin, McGillvary, Mellor, Turner, McIntosh, Gaskell, Brough, Wakeman, Leeming, Ikahihifo, Hinchcliffe, Ta'ai, Clough.
Replacements: O'Brien, Lawrence, Smith, Dickinson. | Challenge Cup finalists Hull FC fell to a heavy home defeat by Huddersfield Giants. |
35,074,858 | John Henderson, from near Invergordon, brought his grandfather John Cargill's awards to the programme's visit to Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.
Medals expert Mark Smith described the collection as "one of the most amazing group of medals" he had ever seen.
Mr Cargill was on the Carpathia, which rescued Titanic's survivors in 1912.
He went on to serve in World War One and World War Two and was awarded for bravery and gallantry for his actions in both conflicts.
Asked how his grandfather came to be on the Carpathia, Mr Henderson said: "He was a fisherman and when things were tough he would take himself off to earn some money."
Later, at an event reuniting Titanic's survivors with their rescuers, a woman who was a child when saved by the Carpathia's crew approached Mr Cargill to thank him.
Mr Cargill's military career saw him serve in the Black Watch and the Royal Navy.
Mr Henderson, himself a fisherman, said: "I remember him very well. He was a character.
"He had a small fishing boat and I would go to sea with him before school. He would say to me 'you need to get to school' and I would say 'don't bother, I'm happy where I am'."
Mr Cargill's medals are kept in a 1914 Christmas tin.
Medals expert Mr Smith, who admitted to shaking as he held the first Carpathia medal he had been able to handle, told Mr Henderson: "You have made my year.
"You have one of the most amazing group of medals I have ever seen."
Mr Smith valued the collection at £10,000. Mr Henderson said the medals would remain in his family.
The Carpathia was sailing from New York to Europe when it received a distress call from the Titanic on 15 April 1912.
It immediately changed direction, and travelled almost 60 miles (96km) to the ship's location.
When the ship arrived, the Titanic had already sunk.
The crew spent four hours rescuing survivors from lifeboats before heading back to New York.
The medals were awarded by the Titanic Survivors' Committee, chaired by Mrs J.J. 'Molly' Brown.
Junior officers received silver medals, while members of the crew were given bronze versions.
The episode of the Antiques Roadshow featuring Mr Cargill's medals will be shown from 20:00 on Sunday. | A tin box containing medals from the two world wars and the rescue of survivors of the Titanic have stunned an expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow. |
40,321,764 | And they were joined by their Edinburgh rivals Hearts who also put 11 goals past Tayside.
Last season's beaten finalists Glasgow City saw off Spartans 5-0 while Celtic were 6-0 winners over East Fife.
Rangers squeezed past Aberdeen in extra-time despite having goalkeeper Joanna Viollaz sent off five minutes from the end of the 90 minutes.
Hamilton beat Kilmarnock and Stirling University defeated Edinburgh University Hutchison Vale in the other games involving SWPL 1 sides.
Elsewhere, Granite City won 2-0 on penalties against Edinburgh Caledonia after an exhilarating 4-4 draw between the pair.
Glasgow Girls, Renfrew Ladies, Cumbernauld Colts, Queen's Park, Jeanfield Swifts, Buchan and Blackburn United also won.
SWPL 2 runaway leaders Forfar Farmington completed the last 16 line-up after a 5-2 win away to Raith Rovers.
Mark Nisbet's side arrived in Kirkcaldy buoyed by a 10-game unbeaten run in the league which has them nine points clear of nearest rivals Motherwell and Glasgow Girls.
It was easy to see why Forfar have been so dominant this season. Strong and pacy, they will be a match for any of the top-flight sides in the competition.
The home side, two divisions below Forfar, put up brave resistance until the 18th minute when Julia Scott was allowed a free run down the right hand side and finished beyond stand-in goalkeeper Michaela McLachlan.
Danni McGinely was inches away from adding a second when she failed to connect with Kayleigh Noble's swinging cross to the back post, then Scott's free-kick was brilliantly tipped over by McLachlan.
However, on 35 minutes Kayleigh Brough was given too much space at the edge of the box to pick her spot in the bottom right hand corner with a deftly struck shot.
McLachlan denied McGinley again with a fine save low down, and Gemma Collier was unlucky when the ball bounced off her shin a yard from goal.
The third did arrive before half-time; McGinley finally finding the goal her performance deserved with a close-range finish.
Raith refused to fold though, and they fired an early second-half warning when Leanne Philp raced clear of the defence, but could not find the power to trouble goalkeeper Fiona McNicoll.
Five minutes later though and they pulled one back; a long ball finding Kerri Dinnel who saw the goalkeeper off her line and cracked a laser over her head and into the net.
Within two minutes though Forfar restored their two-goal lead when Brough added her second from long range.
And in 58 minutes Scott cut inside from the right onto her left foot and found the far corner to make it five.
The result was not in doubt, but that did not stop both teams going for it.
Raith's Tiegan Clark's forced a fine save from Dinnel's lay-off, and at the other end Sophie Young hit the bar.
And then the home side found a second goal when Scott was penalised for a handball in the box, and despite the goalkeeper guessing correctly Clark stroked home the penalty.
Brough had a shot blocked on the line by Raith's Alicia Paterson, and McLachlan tipped over Ellie Cook's shot, but Forfar had done enough to reach the third round.
Forfar Farmington head coach Mark Nisbet: "I'm obviously happy to score the five goals. We probably should have got another couple there.
"The more annoying thing for me is conceding goals and I thought they were a bit soft. At times defensively we were not as good as we've been in previous games.
"It doesn't bother me who we get in the next round. Whether it's a lower division team or it's someone from premier league one, I'm quite happy. It would probably be quite a good thing for us at this time just to see where we are against one of the top teams, so a draw against one of them would be fine."
Raith Rovers head coach John Fettes: "I couldn't be prouder of the players today. They were outstanding, each and every one of them. They are all a credit to themselves, their parents and to the club.
"Special mention to centre backs Alicia (Paterson) and Sophie (Aitken) who I thought had an outstanding game, but every single player was awesome today."
Bayside 0-3 Queen's Park
Blackburn United 1 v 2 Boroughmuir Thistle
Buchan 6-0 Inverness City
Cumbernauld Colts 3-1 Falkirk
Deveronvale 1-7 Renfrew
East Fife 0-6 Celtic
Edinburgh Caledonian 4-4 Granite City (Granite City won 2-0 on penalties)
Edinburgh University Hutchison Vale 0-4 Stirling University
Glasgow Girls 8-0 Bishopton
Hearts 11-0 Tayside
Jeanfield Swifts 3-0 Westerlands
Kilmarnock 1-4 Hamilton Academical
Motherwell 0-11 Hibernian
Raith Rovers 2-5 Forfar Farmington
Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen (after extra-time)
Spartans 0-5 Glasgow City | Holders Hibernian thumped Motherwell 11-0 to seal their place in the third round of the Scottish Cup. |
22,593,911 | 20 May 2013 Last updated at 08:15 BST
The little piggy now has four new cat brothers and sisters, all of whom treat him like he's one of them!
The owner Dumitru Grigore was surprised when the cat started treating the piglet like one of her kittens.
He said: "I think that this is a miracle and a lesson for all mankind". | A piglet has been adopted by a cat in Romania after its mum rejected him. |
35,913,863 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Wales' Easter double-headers against Northern Ireland and Ukraine were the final games before Coleman names his 23-man Euro 2016 squad. | Chris Coleman says he was pleased with under-strength Wales' "performance and attitude" despite a 1-0 defeat in their Euro 2016 warm-up in Ukraine. |
20,407,850 | The item, among 150 lots which were on sale in Colchester, was sold to a collector from Braintree for £360.
James Grinter, from Reeman Dansie auctioneers, said people liked to collect clothing and "you can't get more personal than royal pants".
He added: "We commented that Queen Victoria would not have been amused - they were enormous and very rare."
Bids in the royal auction were made from around the world.
The most expensive item sold was a 15.5cm (6in) gilded presentation carriage clock, engraved with the inscription "Presented by HRH The Princess of Wales". It fetched £4,900.
The auction also featured a silver apple which was commissioned by Princess Diana and given as a gift to her dresser Fay Appleby to mark their first visit to New York in 1989. It was bought for £3,700.
A programme from the 1944 Royal Pantomime Old Mother Red Riding Boots signed by the cast, including princesses Elizabeth, Margaret and their nanny Marion Crawford, sold for £500.
And a piece of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding cake went for £420.
Mr Grinter said: "It's rare, has novelty and I think people like to show it off to their friends.
"They are quite a good investment if you buy them at the right time and it's quite conceivable the buyers could make money on it.
"It's the first piece of that cake we've ever sold.
"We've had lots of Charles and Diana cake in the past. That normally fetches between £100 to £200 a piece, but it has sold for as much as a thousand so this could be a good investment."
The auction sold 146 of the 150 lots for a total of about £42,000. | A pair of Queen Victoria's 38in (97cm) linen bloomers have been sold in an auction of royal memorabilia in Essex. |
35,946,649 | The ceremony to award him an honorary Doctor of Literature degree was held in Bute Hall, at the University of Glasgow.
Fellow crime writer Val McDermid and actor David Hayman paid tribute to the "tartan noir" author, who died in 2015, aged 79.
McIlvanney is best known for his Laidlaw trilogy.
The service was introduced by his longtime friend, journalist and broadcaster Ruth Wishart.
Mr Hayman read an excerpt from Shakespeare's King Lear, which he said was McIlvanney's favourite play.
After also reading part of a McIlvanney poem from Weddings and After, he said: "Willie you embellished and enriched our lives. Thank you.
"A light has gone from the earth with that passing. Take care big man."
He then blew a kiss.
Traditional musician Sheena Wellington, who sang the Robert Burns song A Man's A Man For A' That at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, was also expected to perform.
Mr McIlvanney's daughter Siobhan McIlvanney and his brother, the sports journalist Hugh McIlvanney also spoke at the service.
The son of a miner from Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, William McIlvanney studied English at Glasgow University, graduating in 1960.
He worked as a teacher before devoting himself full-time to writing. His crime novel Laidlaw, published in 1977 is credited as being the first example the Scottish crime fiction genre known as tartan noir.
Siobhan McIlvanney said the last piece of writing her father did was an acceptance note for the honorary degree and she was proud to accept it on his behalf.
Prof Roibeard O Maolalaigh, vice-principal and head of the college of arts, who will confer the degree, said: "He was one of Scotland's most accessible intellectuals who captured accurately and gracefully so many facets of the human condition.
"It is entirely fitting that his alma mater should honour and recognise his extraordinary contribution." | Scots author William McIlvanney has been honoured with a posthumous doctorate at a memorial service. |
38,687,964 | The 51-year-old was discovered in a house in the Toberhewney Hall area of Lurgan at about 02:50 GMT on Friday.
A man of the same age has been arrested.
A post mortem examination is expected to take place later.
DUP MLA Carla Lockhart said it was "very alarming news in what is a very quiet residential area".
"My sympathies are with the family of the deceased," she said.
"The police are treating this as a murder investigation and therefore I would encourage anyone who has any information to come forward to the PSNI." | A murder investigation is under way after a woman's body was found in County Armagh. |
34,921,908 | Tomkins, 23, will remain at the Red Devils for the 2016 season, after loan spells in 2014 and 2015.
He made 15 appearances last term, having also played 38 career games for the Warriors following his 2012 debut.
"Delighted that Logan Tomkins is now a Salford Red Devil. Great addition to the team," owner Dr Marwan Koukash tweeted about the signing. | Salford Red Devils have signed hooker Logan Tomkins on a permanent basis from Wigan Warriors. |
32,136,698 | The women, aged 33 and 54, were charged under the Children and Young Persons Act after the girl was found on the corner of Abbotsford Drive on Sunday.
They had been due to appear at Falkirk Sheriff Court, but were released after the Procurator Fiscal decided there was insufficient evidence.
The case has been referred to the Children's Reporter.
A Crown Office spokesman said: "After full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the report, the Procurator Fiscal decided that there was insufficient evidence of criminality to take proceedings against them." | Two women arrested after a toddler was found alone in a street in Grangemouth have been released by prosecutors. |
38,273,087 | The hosts took the lead when Martin Riley put the ball into his own net from Kevin Amankwaah's long throw-in.
Curtis Tilt came close to restoring parity after the break but his glancing header went just wide of the post.
Jordan White almost stole a late point for the visitors with a header of his own late on but Sutton held on to win.
Wrexham boss Dean Keates told BBC Radio Wales Sport: "I need to use a comment I have used a lot in recent games, it was frustrating.
"We had no tempo until the last ten minutes. We don't put the balls in the box.
"Why does it take us so long to get going? That's the million dollar question."
Match ends, Sutton United 1, Wrexham 0.
Second Half ends, Sutton United 1, Wrexham 0.
Substitution, Sutton United. Dan Fitchett replaces Maxime Biamou.
Substitution, Sutton United. Craig McAllister replaces Matt Tubbs.
Simon Downer (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Wrexham. Callum Powell replaces Mark Carrington.
Substitution, Wrexham. Rekeil Pyke replaces Leo Smith.
Substitution, Wrexham. Rob Evans replaces Antony Barry.
Substitution, Sutton United. Craig Dundas replaces Gomis.
Second Half begins Sutton United 1, Wrexham 0.
First Half ends, Sutton United 1, Wrexham 0.
Own Goal by Martin Riley, Wrexham. Sutton United 1, Wrexham 0.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Wrexham's winless away run in the National League stretched to six games as Sutton United sealed their ninth home league win of the season. |
39,540,944 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 14-1 shot, ridden by Derek Fox and trained by Lucinda Russell, charged clear to finish ahead of Cause Of Causes (16-1) and Saint Are (25-1).
Jockey Fox only returned to riding this week having broken a wrist and a collarbone in March.
The 8-1 favourite Blaklion, who led for much of the contest, was fourth.
Gas Line Boy - a 50-1 outsider - was fifth with Becher Chase and Grand National Trial winner Vieux Lion Rouge (12-1) sixth.
The win was just the second by a Scottish-trained horse since Rubstic's victory in 1979.
In sunny conditions in Liverpool, 19 of the 40 horses finished the race, with Aintree reporting afterwards that all runners came back safely.
Fox, who broke his wrist and dislocated a collarbone just over a month ago, told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's the best feeling I've ever had. He's just such a brave horse. It's a sign of a true racehorse to win the Grand National. It's unbelievable.
"I was injured on 9 March, I got a heavy fall on the novice chase and that was four weeks ago on Thursday.
"This is the best feeling I have ever had or probably ever will have and I want to take most of it in. I don't often get a chance to ride a horse as good as that."
Russell, whose partner and assistant is former champion jockey Peter Scudamore, is the fourth woman to train a Grand National winner after Jenny Pitman, Venetia Williams and Sue Smith.
"He's amazing," she said. "He's improved every time. I kept thinking barring accidents, he would win the National and he has.
"Together [Peter and I] we have had good and bad times but the horses are all back in form now.
"He's done us proud, he's done Scotland proud and he's done everyone at the yard proud."
The winning owners are Deborah Thomson and Belinda McClung, who go under the name 'The Two Golf Widows'.
Thomson said: "I just can't believe it. It's been an absolutely amazing day. Arthur just cruised that race, Derek rode so well and I'm just a bit lost for words really.
"He's given us a fantastic journey."
McClung added: "I thought this morning, it's baking hot so there's no pressure now, he's not going to win on that ground but I have to say he's just shown his class today.
"He's amazing and he got a great ride."
Aintree stewards referred 31 of the 40 Grand National jockeys, including winner Fox, to the British Horseracing Authority after it took three attempts to get the race started.
Runners and riders were twice called back after some set off before the starter was happy an orderly line had formed.
Nine jockeys were exonerated, but the starter reported the rest to the stewards, saying they approached the tape before the flag was raised.
The BHA will consider whether to take further action.
After the false starts, the race eventually got under way but began with exits at the first fence for Vicente (16-1) and Cocktails At Dawn (33-1).
Definitly Red (10-1), who was an impressive winner at Doncaster last month for Brian Ellison, was pulled up at the Canal Turn, with jockey Danny Cook revealing that an awkward landing sent his saddle slipping round and the pair out of the race.
The ending was equally eventful as a collision coming over the last saw Blaklion overtaken before One For Arthur showed greater speed to hold off the valiant Cause Of Causes.
Jamie Codd, rider of the Gordon Elliott-trained Cause Of Causes, said: "He's a fantastic little horse. I thought I had half a chance at the back of the last, but the winner has won quite well on the day.
"My horse has galloped all the way to the line. He's an incredible little horse. I'm disappointed I didn't win, but he's run a great race."
BBC horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght
The cheers may have been loudest for this emphatic winner around Lucinda Russell's base near Kinross, but they will echo across jump racing's north of England and Scottish circuit.
Jumping in the north is regularly - and correctly - portrayed as the poor relation to its cousins in the south. The bigger investors tend to stay away.
However, three Grand National runners - also Definitly Red and Highland Lodge - boded well, and One For Arthur, who's done a majority of his racing at places like Kelso, Carlisle and Ayr, has been invaluable to show it can be done perfectly well north of the Trent as well; will those biggest investors take notice?
Meanwhile, talk will turn to Aintree 2018 and a possible repeat; he'll have more weight, but as an eight-year-old can he be expected to improve again? | One For Arthur became only the second Scottish-trained winner of the Grand National after a four-and-a-half-length victory at Aintree. |
25,086,345 | China's unilateral establishment of an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) demonstrates President Xi Jinping's resolve to defend China's territorial integrity.
It is the most striking act of military escalation since he became China's top leader and top military chief one year ago.
Nevertheless, Chinese leaders will repudiate any criticism, pointing out the imposition of Japan's existing ADIZ in the region extending over China's claimed territory.
In the absence of transparency in Chinese defence spending, analysts commonly resort to the study of strategic signalling by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) - and the creation of the ADIZ amounts to a very strong signal from the military leadership.
The imposition of the ADIZ is resonant of the PLA's missile blockade of Taiwan in 1996, when former Chinese President Jiang Zemin ordered the unilateral establishment of air and maritime exclusion zones during a series of missile tests to the north and south of Taiwan.
The ADIZ declaration confirms that the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands are a "core concern" for China; it places the archipelago in the same category as the South China Sea and Taiwan.
China's defence white paper released in April holds some obvious clues to recent PLA actions. Japan is described as "making trouble" over the island dispute, while the US military pivot to Asia has created regional tension, according to the document.
Over the last decade, populist nationalism in China has been fuelled by an official narrative of humiliation at the hands of the West. Such sentiment has been tempered by adherence to Deng Xiaoping's "hide and bide" policy of strategic restraint.
Recently, however, demonstrations of Chinese military power would suggest that Xi Jinping may be prepared to overlook this policy.
Source: aviationdevelopment.org
China's new regional identity as an economic powerhouse with an increasingly potent military has made the humiliation narrative less relevant; a sense of national pride is now pervasive. Chinese sabre-rattling is often a reflection of domestic sentiment and a form of public appeasement.
This latest gesture comes in the wake of significant military tension in the region.
In January 2013, Japan's Ministry of Defence accused the PLA Navy of directing fire control radar onto a Japanese naval vessel not far from the disputed islands. China vehemently denies that such hostility took place.
China's best option to maintain escalation dominance in the absence of a permanent military presence in the Senkaku region is the establishment of the ADIZ.
The greatest red line for China would be the establishment of manned positions on the islands by Japan, an action which could prompt a swift escalation in hostility.
Both countries have avoided such actions thus far; however, recently China has flown drone sorties close to the disputed region, prompting fighter scrambles by Japan.
Another recent development was the roll-out of China's first stealth drone, which came soon after the maiden flight of the J-31 stealth fighter earlier this year.
Q&A: China-Japan islands row
All of these weapons systems are still in the developmental phase but they emphasise the success of Chinese military modernisation over the last decade.
And while China is far away from becoming a global military power, US defence experts have noted that China has been able to concentrate formidable military capabilities in its own backyard. Some analysts suggest that in certain areas, the PLA may be able to rival US capabilities in the region.
Most significantly, the ADIZ is symbolic of China's persistent anger at the regular surveillance and intelligence gathering sorties mounted by the US military at sea and in the air along China's borders.
One particularly sensitive episode was the loss of a Chinese fighter pilot killed in a collision with a US surveillance aircraft on an intelligence gathering mission over the South China Sea in 2001.
Chinese leaders will argue that the establishment of the zone is designed to avoid such incidents, but given the extremely fast reaction times required for air interdiction and the relative inexperience of both the Chinese and Japanese air forces, the potential for swift escalation and possible miscalculation will increase.
The proximity of the US 7th Fleet in Japan and the regular operations mounted by the US military in the ADIZ area mean that the Pentagon will be extremely resistant to comply with air identification protocols demanded on China's own terms, as will the Japanese military.
The creation of an air identification zone also belies Chinese confidence in its own command and control networks and its ability to mount air surveillance over a large expanse of the East China Sea.
The US response may be to up the tempo of its own military drills planned for the area, forcing the PLA into a defensive response, testing both Xi Jinping's resolve and his chain of command.
Alexander Neill is the Singapore-based Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies | China's demarcation of an air defence zone that overlaps areas claimed by Japan is a strong statement, writes Alexander Neill of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and one that raises the risk of possible miscalculation and escalation in the region. |
37,401,472 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Britain had trailed 2-0 after the first day in Glasgow, but doubles victory on Saturday was followed by a singles win for Andy Murray on Sunday.
Dan Evans won the first set of the deciding match but Leonardo Mayer fought back to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Argentina will travel to Croatia for the final in November.
It is the fifth time Argentina have reached the final as they attempt to win the title for the first time.
Britain, who won the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years 10 months ago, must wait for Wednesday's draw to see which nation they will face in the 2017 first round in February.
"It never feels good losing, of course it doesn't, but no regrets," GB captain Leon Smith told BBC Radio 5 live.
"We just asked the guys to go out and fight their hardest - the Argentines over the course of the weekend just played that little bit better and got the wins that were needed."
There was intrigue well before the first ball was struck on Sunday, with rumours circulating that Juan Martin del Potro would not play in a potential deciding fifth match as he nurses his body back from serious injury.
After Murray beat Guido Pella 6-3 6-2 6-3 to level the tie at 2-2, it was confirmed that Argentina's star man would sit out the final rubber and be replaced by world number 114 Mayer.
"We had to keep it to ourselves until the last moment so Great Britain were thinking a little bit, but we knew from last night that Mayer would play," said Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic.
Evans, the world number 56, had been expected to come in for Kyle Edmund, who was named in the original line-up on Friday, and fresh from a superb run at the US Open he had every reason to be optimistic.
That feeling only grew among the 8,000 home fans as Evans won the first set impressively, but Mayer then simply took over with some magnificent serving.
His lowly ranking was misleading, a shoulder injury having caused him to plummet from inside the top 40 six months ago, but his form had clearly returned as he made 20 of 24 first serves to level at one set all.
The 29-year-old then backed it up with some huge returning to win the third set, by which point it was the 400 travelling Argentine fans making most of the noise in the Emirates Arena.
Evans held on in a 12-minute opening service game to the fourth set, but Mayer broke for a 3-2 lead and coolly served out to love for his ninth consecutive Davis Cup singles victory.
"I am very emotional," said Mayer. "I haven't been able to play because of injury so I am delighted to be back on form.
"I do not know what it is about the Davis Cup it brings out the best in me."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Murray, 29, suffered an injury scare in the third set of his win over Pella and was off court for eight minutes as he received treatment on his thigh, but the Scot returned to clinch victory.
He did not face a break point over the course of two hours and 11 minutes but was stretched more than the straightforward score might suggest, with Pella testing the Wimbledon champion's energy levels.
It appeared that the tactic might bear fruit after Murray missed an early break point in the third set, and then pulled up with obvious pain in his leg.
Trainer Shane Annun took his man off court and, while walking gingerly between points, Murray was more focused than ever on the resumption, winning five of the last six games.
"I have a lot of sharp pain in my right quad," he said. "I have to go and see what's up and get some treatment. I need a break. I have played so much tennis, my body needs some rest."
Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent: "Britain's hopes of winning back-to-back titles for the first time since the 1930s were ended by the better team. Three different players won singles points for Argentina, with only the Murray brothers contributing for Britain, and that ultimately was the difference.
"Del Potro's fatigue meant Mayer was the strongest option for the final rubber, and captain Orsanic deployed his resources very shrewdly throughout the weekend." | Argentina saw off a thrilling comeback from defending champions Great Britain to win their semi-final 3-2 and clinch a place in the Davis Cup final. |
38,891,601 | Liz Saville Roberts says young recruits are more vulnerable to mental health illness, suicide and death or injury than adult recruits.
The Ministry of Defence has no plans to raise the age, arguing enlistment could be beneficial for youngsters.
The Plaid Cymru MP is due to lead a Westminster Hall debate on the topic.
She said: "The outcomes, the future that happens to the young people who are recruited into the army in the United Kingdom, they are not good prospects.
"It concerns me that this country still recruits people under the age of 18 when, in all honesty, we are the only country in the EU, in Europe, that does so."
Ms Saville Roberts, who represents Dwyfor Meirionydd, refers to a report released by the medical charity Medact which found child recruits were more prone to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol abuse, self-harm, suicide, and death or injury during their career when compared to adult recruits.
The report also found child recruits were more likely to end up on the frontline, and that practices for recruiting children did not meet the criteria for full and informed consent.
Rhianna Louise from Forces Watch, which campaigns for raising the recruitment age limit, was involved in writing the Medact report.
She told BBC Radio Wales' Good Morning Wales: "Some people who are young recruits do enjoy their army career and it works well for them.
"But there are other people who were recruited as children who are campaigning for the recruitment age to be raised.
"Overall, people who were recruited as children face greater risks than adults.
"People talk about the army and armed forces rescuing young people who come from a certain background but, actually, if you have an experience of childhood adversity in your background, that's actually a pre-service vulnerability which means you are more likely to suffer from long-term mental health risks such as PTSD and self-harm."
James Wharton, 30, joined the Army as a 16-year-old following a number of years in the army cadet force in Wrexham, where he undertook Duke of Edinburgh awards and learned "self-discipline".
He said: "It took me off the streets of north Wales."
After 18 months of training in north Yorkshire, he was posted to London to carry out duties for the Royal Family.
"It was a wonderful journey and experience to go from a council estate in the north of Wales to riding a horse down the Mall next to Her Majesty the Queen.
"It's all I ever wanted to do."
Mr Wharton said his army experience had set him up for later life.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: "The armed forces offer young people opportunities that aren't available elsewhere, from basic literacy education and support for postgraduate degrees, to high quality accredited training and unique employment prospects.
"Like everyone who serves our country, under 18s - who can only sign up with formal written consent of a parent or guardian - are fully supported throughout their service career."
The Parliamentary Westminster Hall debate is due to take place on Tuesday afternoon. | An MP is making a bid to raise the age of army recruitment from 16 to 18 over concerns about the long-term impact on young recruits. |
38,956,106 | British Transport Police and the ambulance service attended Kidwelly Railway Station after receiving a call at about 11:35 GMT on Monday.
They said the man died at the scene and the death is not believed to be suspicious.
The train line has since reopened, but Arriva Trains Wales warned its services may be delayed.
Replacement bus services were running between Carmarthen and Swansea and Milford Haven, and between Llanelli and Fishguard Harbour. | A man has died after reportedly being struck by a train in Carmarthenshire. |
35,028,670 | Holm, 34, floored the previously undefeated 1-20 favourite Rousey with a knockout head kick in the second round of their bout last month.
The new champion was emotional during a presentation on Sunday - which 20,000 people attended - after admitting she had left her speech at home.
Holm, known as the Preacher's Daughter, thanked her home town, with New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez declaring 6 December 'Holly Holm Day'.
"I see all the signs and the happy faces. You here, Albuquerque, made this possible," said multiple boxing world champion Holm, whose MMA record now stands at 10-0.
"My whole career started right here. It wasn't just my team that helped me believe in myself, but it was the support of Albuquerque and I just thank you so much.
"I'm not stopping now. I want to keep taking it to the top." | New UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm had a day named after her to honour her stunning victory over Ronda Rousey at a parade in her native Albuquerque, New Mexico. |
35,272,552 | Junior Dian, 24, died in hospital after his heart stopped while he was playing for Tonbridge Angels on 7 July.
Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes was at the team's ground in Kent to support the screening programme.
"Some people have an underlying defect that they are are not aware of, and screening is very important," she said.
"You think you're young, you're healthy, you're fit - yet you're collapsing or dying of a heart problem."
About 200 people will be screened this weekend, with hundreds more expected to attend sessions in Gillingham and Sevenoaks in the coming months.
The Football Fightback screening campaign was spearheaded by Jim Maddams, whose 17-year-old son Jack, who also played for Tonbridge, died eight years ago.
"My son was young and in peak fitness but he went to bed one night and didn't wake up," he said.
"He had an electrical condition in his heart he didn't know about we and he passed away in his sleep.
"We don't want tragedies like this to happen to anyone else."
One of the players screened and given a clean bill of health was James Folkes, who was playing in the game against Whyteleafe in Surrey when his friend Mr Dian collapsed in the non-league pre-season game.
"It was very frightening because before the game he said he felt good," he said.
"It was a big shock that something like that could happen." | Hundreds of footballers and their families are being screened for heart defects after the sudden death of a player who collapsed on the pitch. |
27,401,986 | Dummett, 22, was sent off by referee Phil Dowd for serious foul play following a challenge on Luis Suarez.
An Independent Regulatory Commission hearing on Tuesday upheld Dummett's claim of wrongful dismissal.
"The standard punishment has, therefore, been removed with immediate effect," an FA statement read.
The Wales Under-21 international escapes a potential three-match ban and will be available for Newcastle's first match of the 2014-15 season.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew had condemned Dowd's performance in his comments after Sunday's match, stating that the decision to send off Dummett and Shola Ameobi had played a part in his side's defeat. | Newcastle United defender Paul Dummett has won an appeal against his red card in Sunday's 2-1 Premier League defeat by Liverpool at Anfield. |
23,547,340 | Dennis is joining the cast as King Arthur on 3 August, while Davis will make his West End debut when he takes on the role of Patsy on 23 September.
Dennis, who appeared with Davis in the BBC comedy Life's Too Short, said he was "really looking forward to always looking on the bright side of life".
He is scheduled to appear in the musical until 2 November.
"As a kid I was always a massive fan of Monty Python so when Spamalot came to town I thought, 'I'd really love to be in that'," he said
"And now I'm excited that I'm actually not just in it, but playing the lead role."
Davis said he "jumped" at the opportunity to star in the show.
"I've been in hit TV shows and blockbuster Hollywood movies, but you are never really taken seriously as an actor until you've done a play," he said.
Role of God
Spamalot currently stars Bonnie Langford as Lady of the Lake.
The current run will also feature a video recording of different celebrities, including Barbara Windsor, Christopher Biggins and Larry Lamb, playing the role of God for one week.
Spamalot, written by Monty Python star Eric Idle and John Du Prez, and directed by Christopher Luscombe, is showing at the Playhouse Theatre.
Like Monty Python And The Holy Grail, the film upon which it is based, the stage comedy is about a group of medieval knights searching for the mythical Holy Grail but the plot broadens out to spoof Broadway, and various musicals, including those of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The stage show premiered on Broadway in 2005 and went on to win three Tony Awards.
Last month a film producer won a High Court case against the surviving members of Monty Python over royalty rights to Spamalot.
Mark Forstater, who co-produced the 1975 film, claimed he was underpaid royalties since the musical's launch in 2005. | Les Dennis and Star Wars actor Warwick Davis are to star in the hit stage show Spamalot, in London's West End. |
36,660,737 | 29 June 2016 Last updated at 16:53 BST
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne used X-ray videos to track the salamander's movement. | A robot salamander that mimics the movement of the real thing has been developed in Switzerland. |
35,656,665 | Wednesday's 3-0 home defeat by Morton left Hibs eight points behind leaders Rangers with 11 games remaining.
"It certainly doesn't make it any easier but we have been eight behind before and we managed to claw it back," Stubbs told BBC Scotland.
"We'll keep going, as we have done all season."
Hibs had not lost at home in all competitions since July and they travel to face Dumbarton on Saturday before visiting Queen of the South on Tuesday.
Stubbs' men then have a Scottish Cup quarter-final with Inverness followed by the League Cup final against Ross County.
Only the Championship's winners will gain automatic promotion to the Premiership, with the sides finishing second, third and fourth going into the play-offs.
"Tonight is a blow, it's a blip," said Stubbs.
"It's going to be an uphill challenge but we'll obviously give it our best shot until the end of the season.
"We've been fantastic for the majority of the season and it's disappointing when you lose a game of football.
"I've got to say I've not been in this position a lot of times this season and that's where the players deserve a lot of credit.
"They've not performed as well as what they have done and they're as disappointed as anybody but the good thing is we go again on Saturday and we've got a lot to play for.
"They know they've dropped below their levels tonight. We've had chances and unfortunately we haven't taken them. When Morton had chances they've taken them and all credit to them.
"I don't want to take anything away from them. It's a great result for them, it's a poor result for us."
The hosts had opportunities, most notably Jason Cummings with a close-range header, before Thomas O'Ware, Denny Johnstone and Ross Forbes netted for Jim Duffy's visitors.
"We started the game okay then we had a period when we had a couple of half-chances," Stubbs explained.
"Jason's one in the middle of the goal, he should score but that probably summed the night up, really.
"We just lacked a little bit of urgency. I thought we made too many wrong decisions."
Morton boss Duffy lauded his side's display after they moved to within a point of the promotion play-off places.
"It was an outstanding performance from the team," he said.
"Overall, I didn't think we had a failure. I think everybody deserves the credit.
"To win in the manner we did, we're absolutely thrilled." | Head coach Alan Stubbs says it will "be an uphill challenge" for Hibernian to win the Championship but insists they can claw back their deficit. |
31,611,241 | It called on Houthi rebels to surrender their military gains and everyone to get behind the 2011 Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) initiative and the recently completed draft constitution.
Jamal Benomar, the UN special envoy to Yemen, is worried that instead of successfully implementing the GCC initiative, the country might be heading towards civil war. His concerns are valid.
But a multi-polar balance of military power and indigenous political mediation might yet forestall widespread violence.
Here is a brief synopsis of the GCC initiative.
In 2011, there was a mass uprising/camp-out across Yemen. It was mostly peaceful, although more than 50 demonstrators were killed in March, and President Ali Abdullah Saleh himself was seriously injured in an assassination attempt in June.
While Mr Saleh was recuperating in Saudi Arabia, leaders of a National Dialogue that had tried to negotiate the impasse between Northern and Southern leaders before the outbreak of a civil war in 1994 re-launched that Dialogue.
This project was overtaken by the GCC deal with Mr Saleh, whereby he handed presidential power to his hand-picked Vice-President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in exchange for immunity.
Mr Saleh also remained the head of the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) party, which in turn retained its parliamentary majority.
This deal was signed in Saudi Arabia, with witnesses from the Gulf monarchies but not Yemen's "revolutionary youth".
A National Dialogue Conference (NDC) was also convened as part of the deal.
It was a very good idea, grounded in Yemeni precedents, and helped tamp down tensions in 2012 and part of 2013. But in the end it did not deliver.
Although the NDC involved young and/or female intellectuals and technocrats, most delegates were aging politicians.
Working groups tackled a range of issues - from economic development to the Houthi and Southern problems, respectively, although those dissident groups were under-represented in the negotiations. Some working groups made real progress.
However, the NDC became a donor-dominated transitology project, envisioned by foreign experts and GCC backers rather than Yemeni activists.
Some 560 delegates earned generous per diems to meet in the five-star Moevenpick Hotel in suburban Sanaa, where international consultants' lectures were simultaneously translated into Arabic before everyone enjoyed excellent buffet lunches.
The rent-driven conference persisted, irresolutely, well beyond its initial timeline.
Ironically, a major outcome - the federalism proposal dividing the country into six administrative regions, as recommended by the World Bank - was not on the agenda, mission statement or committee structure of the NDC.
It seemed to be based on the utterly failed federal constitution of Iraq rather than on any on-the-ground demands for local autonomy in Yemen.
Accordingly, the draft constitution endorsed by the UN proposed a radical rewriting of a political order heretofore based on 21 governorates.
The newly proposed governance model neither addressed the demands of the revolutionary youth nor provided for the decentralised federalism most Yemenis want.
For instance, or especially, it remade the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, to consist of 260 members elected through a nationwide vote under a closed proportional list system - instead of the 301 district constituency seats in the previous House.
Other provisions for electing a new upper house or even the next president and vice-president lack either popular support or genuinely federal logic.
Mr Benomar, the GCC, the UN and G-10 hoped to placate Yemenis' aspirations for social justice via managed negotiations among factions of the ancien regime and anti-democratic Gulf monarchies.
But anti-systemic movements - the ragtag Houthi militia astonished by the lack of resistance to their advance against the flailing "transitional" regime; the separatist Southern Movement (Hiraak al-Janoubi), also marginalised from the National Dialogue but now taking up arms; fringe Yemeni and foreign Salafist fighters for al-Qaeda; and divisions of what used to be Mr Saleh's security apparatus - are jockeying for power in the new order.
Mr Benomar rightfully frets that the collapse of UN-sponsored talks between the Houthis and the main political factions might embolden multiple well-armed forces to resort to military struggle.
The GCC initiative to ward off revolutionary democratisation in the Arabian Peninsula via a managed dialogue has already aborted.
Clashes between and among rival factions are reported in various locations, including Sanaa and the oil-rich desert governorate of Marib. However these are localised gun battles over particular installations, whether government buildings or oil facilities.
Hiraak, certainly, Marib tribes, and even the Houthis are fighting for self-governance and seats at the negotiating table rather than control of the central government.
The national army, split since March 2011, has not seriously resisted Houthi advances.
The erstwhile President Hadi resigned and moved to Aden rather than battling for control of Sanaa.
Brinksmanship might get out of hand, of course, but no one faction can hope to rule the country by force alone, and all remain wary of mayhem.
Warfare is diplomacy by other means. There is still a glimmer of hope for genuine multiparty National Dialogue.
Dr Sheila Carapico is professor of political science and international studies at the University of Richmond, Virginia | As the US, other Nato powers and neighbouring monarchies - the "Group of 10" - shut down their embassies in Sanaa and evacuated their diplomats earlier this month, the UN Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 2201. |
36,075,209 | The moment in this context is the highlight or the one event which has set the tone for others to follow.
If I had to make that call now I'd say the moment came late on Tuesday March 29, when it emerged from Mumbai that Tata's UK steel operations were being put up for sale.
Despite the fact that there are limits to what any Welsh government is able to achieve because of its lack of financial muscle, steel has dominated the campaign so far.
No-one should be surprised. We're talking about the potential end of one of the last forms of heavy industry, and that was always going to strike a chord in Wales more than anywhere else.
The winner from the emergency of steel has got to be Labour. It has allowed Carwyn Jones to portray himself as batting for Wales in Downing Street and beyond.
The opposition parties are desperate to get the agenda back onto problems in the NHS.
Their wish may be granted if the steel story settles down slightly for a week or two as the hunt for a buyer continues.
I've just listened to a BBC Radio Wales hustings in Haverfordwest with regional candidates, where Labour's Eluned Morgan faced some very hostile questions from the audience annoyed by the downgrading of some paediatric services at Withybush hospital.
And Carwyn Jones himself was put on the spot on Friday night's Ask the Leader event in Llangollen when the first question was about why Labour had screwed up the NHS.
The YouGov poll for ITV Wales last week suggested that support for the Conservatives had fallen away, indicating that problems at Westminster over tax affairs, welfare reform and the response to the steel crisis was taking its toll.
The Welsh Conservatives are trying hard to regain the initiative with a number of measures like a higher proposed cut to the basic rate of income tax than was expected, and 80mph speed limits.
We've also had the manifestos now of Plaid, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP.
Plaid's was striking for scale of the efficiency savings in the NHS, and more broadly in the public sector, it wants to make in order to plough the money back into services.
As expected, the Lib Dems focused on a handful of policies like smaller class sizes which could in theory be taken off-the-shelf and slotted into another party's programme for government.
And UKIP's nearly fifty pages, which was appropriately launched at a theatre after all the dramatic infighting, was an attempt to show that it is serious about devolution without one mention of immigration. | In editorial meetings discussing election campaigns, a question that's often asked is "what has been the moment of the campaign so far?" |
35,027,065 | "The costs of delay are felt in businesses going bust, jobs being lost, livelihoods being destroyed," he told the CBI employers' group. That was in 2012.
Winning approval for major infrastructure investments has long been fraught with politicking and protest.
Airport expansion is just the latest in a long list of problem projects.
The bill for upgrading the West Coast Main Line from London Euston to Glasgow and Edinburgh cost six times more than expected at £14.5bn.
The Channel Tunnel rail link, running through Kent into St Pancras station, was criticised by the National Audit Office for its "hugely optimistic assumptions" about passenger numbers and costs.
Deciding whether to build new nuclear power stations took years - and then hit a problem of who would pay for them.
Then there is the HS2 high-speed rail project. After years of consultation, HS2 looks to be going ahead. However, the precise details have not been finalised, and the bill for the first stage has yet to go through parliament.
Now, a decision on whether to build a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick airport has been postponed for another six months. Still, after several decades of wrangling, what's another six months?
Rhian Kelly, business environment director at the CBI, says that once a project gets the green light, Britain tends to move very fast. It's arriving at a decision that is the tortuous part.
"By the time a decision is made, our competitors have often caught up or moved ahead," she says.
Not all projects get mired in a political cul-de-sac.
Richard Threlfall, UK head of infrastructure at the business advisory group KPMG, points to major successes, including the Mersey Gateway bridge, the Manchester Ship Canal, and Crossrail, the first complete new London underground line in more than 30 years.
Both look likely to come in on time and on budget, he says.
The UK planning process, which used to be much slower than in other countries, has been significantly improved, Mr Threlfall argues. And some projects can be fast-tracked to an early decision.
A decision to build the Thames Tideway - a sewer running up to 20 miles from west to east London - benefited from this new streamlined process.
Yet, these examples seem to be the exception, not the rule.
One impediment to smooth decision-making is the relatively small size of the UK. Its dense population makes it harder to secure the space and necessary approval for big projects.
Improving the UK's "particularly ungenerous" compensation scheme would help, Mr Threlfall says.
Homeowners displaced by, say, the HS2 project, could be compensated up to the value of their home before the project was announced. But is that enough for someone whose life will be turned upside down?
More generous compensation would mean less opposition, and the extra financial outlay would be a drop in the ocean compared with a £50bn project, for example.
Mr Threlfall says the current compensation system "ignores the fact that the whole of the UK will benefit. So why should that cost be borne by just the people on the route?"
Critics often accuse governments of short-termism. Infrastructure is a long-term issue, and governments can be reluctant to commit vast sums of money to projects that will take years to return benefits.
But Tony Travers, director of LSE London - a research centre at the London School of Economics - says the apparent reluctance to make decisions is usually due to politics, not resources.
"It is the government's sense of danger to itself that stops it making the decision. In west London [where Heathrow is located] the government has a lot of marginal constituencies and cabinet ministers who have seats in the area," he says.
It is hoped that the creation this year of a National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) - an independent body to oversee £100bn of spending on infrastructure projects - will help ease political indecision.
The commission will produce a report at the beginning of each Parliament and take a more strategic review, helping to take politics out of decision-making.
The NIC was recommended by Sir John Armitt, former chairman of the UK's Olympic Delivery Authority and head of a 2013 review of infrastructure planning.
He says its success will be a key test of whether the UK is prepared to change its ways.
Sir John says: "The Airports Commission was incredibly thorough. If [government] cannot make a decision after all its work, then you have to ask how it's going to be for the NIC."
Politics cannot be taken out of infrastructure, and nor should it be, he says. "But the role of politicians is to make decisions, even if they are unpopular ones."
The state of infrastructure planning is often compared unfavourably with Victorian times, when bigger sums of money in relative terms were spent on railways, bridges and sewers that are still used today.
Sir John points out that many of these projects were controversial and loss-making.
But the Victorians had a vision, self-confidence and industrial drive that forced projects through.
Proponents were better able to garner a broader consensus that developments were in the national interest. In other words, there was more emphasis on the "big picture".
Sir John believes that the focus today is too narrow, with too much emphasis on rigid cost-benefit analysis.
The costs of a project are added up, along with the benefits. And, hey presto, the financial pros and cons stretching over a couple of decades are deduced.
There needs to be much more socio-economic analysis, says Sir John. "We look at some projects today [the Channel Tunnel or London's Jubilee tube line, for example] and ask: how did we ever survive without them?" And yet both projects struggled to get off the ground.
Professor Diane Coyle says infrastructure projects are particularly inappropriate for standard cost-benefit analysis. The multiple variables make such an approach "simple in principle, but extremely difficult in practice", she wrote in the Financial Times earlier this year.
"In the UK, we seem particularly prone to short-termism… I think it is because we pay too much attention to the conventional economic approach to assessing projects.
"We have forgotten how to take the imaginative leap that inspired some of the most vital infrastructure of the Victorian age," she says. | Prime Minister David Cameron could not have been clearer about the impact of delaying major UK infrastructure projects. |
38,589,492 | Mayor Marvin Rees said the planned opening date is now delayed until 2020.
The 12,000-seat venue near Temple Meads was originally due to have been finished by late 2017. A delay until 2019 was announced last year.
Mr Rees said he is "committed" to getting the arena built and "it remains closer than it has ever been".
Bristol City Council said it had been working with its preferred construction firm Bouygues UK to agree the final package of works and a target cost.
The cost of the project has been estimated at £92.5m, however the two sides have been unable to agree on price and will not be progressing to full contract.
The authority said it is now actively exploring other options to construct the arena "as quickly as possible". | Bristol's long-awaited arena has suffered another setback after the local authority failed to agree on the cost of the project with developers. |
21,120,593 | In 2011 there were 688,120 babies born in England, the highest number since 1971, official figures show.
Provisional numbers from the Office for National Statistics suggest 2012 could be another record-breaking year.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) says hospital services are struggling to keep up. But the government says it has been investing in maternity care.
Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said that the number of midwives is increasing faster than the birth rate.
Jon Skewes, a director at the RCM, says some maternity units have been forced to close temporarily for safety reasons because demand has outstripped staffing.
The RCM says a big issue is the country's rising birth rate - which is up by more than 124,000 since 2001.
In some parts of England, the birth rate has jumped more than 50% in recent years.
The area which saw the fastest growing number of births to local women was Corby, Northamptonshire, where births jumped 63% between 2002 and 2011. That was almost three times faster than the England-wide rise of about 21%.
Other "hotspots" include Bournemouth, Boston in Lincolnshire , the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, Slough and Norwich (48%), Peterborough, Watford, Southampton, and Bristol, says the RCM's report called The State of Maternity Services.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the birth rate has plateaued.
Throughout the UK more older mothers are now giving birth - the number of babies born to women aged 30-34 was the highest on record, with records beginning in 1938.
Meanwhile, the number of babies born to girls and women aged below 20 has fallen.
Older mothers are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and labour and need medical intervention.
Official data also suggest that immigration may be another factor behind rising birth rates - foreign-born mothers make up nearly a quarter of the figures.
The RCM says although more midwives are being employed in England, and the number of places for midwives in training is on the rise, there are still too few staff to cope with the rising demand for services.
And with a substantial number of England's working midwives soon reaching retirement age, the problem could intensify, it says.
RCM chief executive Cathy Warwick said: "England remains around 5,000 midwives short of the number required to provide mothers and babies with high-quality service they need and deserve.
"Maternity units are under intense strain and have been now for many years, with many midwives really at the end of their tether in terms of what they can tolerate. We are reaching a crucial tipping point for maternity services in England."
Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "It is because of the historical shortage in the number of midwives, that from day one, investing in maternity care has been a top priority for the government.
"We have taken quick action and there are now over 800 more midwives in the NHS since 2010, and there are also a record 5,000 midwives in training who will qualify in the next three years.
"The number of midwives is increasing faster than the birth rate. Most women already have choice and one-to-one maternity care, and we are working closely with the Royal College of Midwives to ensure that personalised, one to one maternity care is available for every woman across the country." | England is seeing a massive increase in its birth rate which is putting a strain on the NHS, midwives warn. |
35,528,851 | Rowett will be running the 26.2-mile course on 24 April, less than 24 hours after play-off hopefuls Blues' Championship fixture at Huddersfield.
He will be running with Becky Doyle, wife of ex-Blues keeper Colin Doyle.
They will raise money for the Liam's Smiles charity, set up by Mrs Doyle.
She founded the charity to support other families who see their children go through the same life-threatening condition as her son Liam, now five, who was only weeks old when he contracted meningitis.
Doyle is no longer at the club, having left to play for Blackpool last summer, but the former Blues goalkeeper's son's progress is sufficient incentive for Rowett to keep on running.
"When you see children suffering from these illnesses, you realise there are a lot more important things in life than just football," Rowett told BBC WM. "I've got four kids, they're all healthy, and God help it stays that way.
"This is something I've wanted to do for a while. When you're in a public position where people listen to you, sometimes you have to use that for the benefit of something.
"I know there are a lot of good charities out there, but we could make a real difference. It's a cause that we're close to. If we had 20,000 there for a game at St Andrew's and 16,000 of them are Blues fans, if every fan gave a quid, then you're talking about £16,000 just from one game."
Rowett's only problem is to keep his training programme as well timed as his side's promotion bid, which had been progressing nicely with a six-match unbeaten league run until Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday.
That was Blues' first defeat since losing on Boxing Day, also against the Owls, dropping his side back to eighth in the table.
"I have to make sure I don't take my eye off what we're doing here. But I've got up to 16 miles now," said Rowett, 41.
"I did the Leicester one four years ago and I'm a little bit ahead of that, but I did my 16-mile run on Sunday and it was hard going. I got to 12 and crumbled for some reason.
"But I remember coming in one day and saying how sore my knee was and Becky telling me a few more stories and I just thought I'd better shut up, stop moaning and get on with it."
As a former Derby County player, highly-rated Rowett was quickly linked with the managerial vacancy created by Paul Clement's surprise sacking by the Rams on Monday.
He has already been the subject of media speculation following similar vacancies this season at two other Championship sides, Fulham and Charlton Athletic.
"To see Gary Rowett's name linked with the Derby vacancy is absolutely inevitable," said BBC WM's Richard Wilford.
"He played there for several seasons, he lives near the city and his son is a big-time Rams fan. He will also have impressed the Derby hierarchy with the manner of Blues' 3-0 triumph there last month.
"However, Rowett may well feel obliged to see out the season at St Andrew's, not least given his squad's continuing flirtation with the play-off places, and given his pledge to stay on after considering the Fulham job." | Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett is to run in the London Marathon to raise money for a meningitis charity, just two games from the end of promotion-chasing Blues' season. |
35,681,617 | The 31-year-old Asian man was attacked by two men as he used the cash point at the BP garage on Herringthorpe Valley Road in Rotherham, police said.
He was also punched several times in the face during the attack, which happened at 06:00 GMT on Saturday.
The victim is hospital in a stable condition.
South Yorkshire Police said the first man was white and of tall, slim build. The victim could not provide a description of the second man.
Det Insp Richard Partridge said detectives were treating the incident as a "racially aggravated" assault.
The first man is reported to have punched the victim several times in the face before the second man used what has been described as a meat cleaver to slice off the top of his left hand forefinger.
The two men then left the scene in a dark coloured vehicle.
Mr Partridge said the victim did not know his attackers and the incident appeared to be unprovoked.
"A full investigation is underway and as well as reviewing CCTV, we have a team of detectives in the area and officers are supporting the victim," he said. | The top of a man's finger was chopped off with a meat cleaver in a racially aggravated attack outside a petrol station, police have said. |
32,391,687 | 24 April 2015 Last updated at 05:35 BST
The caller told the 999 handler how the animal had broken its neck after the accident in the Epping Forest area.
At first, the East of England Ambulance Service call handler assumes the victim is a person and seeks to confirm if an ambulance is needed.
But it then emerged the victim was in fact a squirrel - which was dead.
Gary Morgan, eastern regional head of emergency operations centres, said: "We prioritise all life-threatening calls to get the quickest possible response.
"However, that response can be affected if our call handlers and front-line staff are dealing with inappropriate 999 calls." | An ambulance service has urged people to think before they dial 999 after they received a call about a squirrel injured in a "hit-and-run". |
31,451,092 | 360 Production, set up in 2009, makes programmes for broadcasters such as the BBC, Sky and Channel 5.
A company director said the redundancies are caused by a lack of new commissions but that there were no plans to close the company.
It has played a leading role in bringing Northern Ireland-produced content to a global market.
The Birth of the Empire: The East India Company, presented by historian Dan Snow, James May's Things You Need To Know and Digging for Britain on BBC4 are all 360 Productions programmes .
The firm was bought over by a London-based media company called Rare TV last year and moved to a new science park at Fort George in the city.
Last month staff were served with redundancy notices.
Company director Mark Wright said said they were committed to securing future output in the region but would not confirm the number of staff that had been affected.
However the BBC understands the figure is nine, which would be the majority of the workforce.
The jobs promotion organisation Invest NI told the BBC that 360 Production has been offered a total of £192,035 of support since 2009, of which £114,311 has been drawn down.
NI Screen, the government-backed agency for the film, television and digital content industry, confirmed that it also funded work by 360 Production.
A spokeswoman for NI Screen said they were aware of the difficulties at the company and was supporting them as much as possible.
"Given the nature of the television industry most people do work on a freelance basis and steady work is never guaranteed. We really believe that 360 Production will come back strongly and, as business picks up, they will be in a position to rehire soon."
Last year, the Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster announced a £42.8m fund to boost the TV and film industry in Northern Ireland. | Nine staff at a television company in Derry have been told they have lost their jobs. |
35,871,521 | The hole, which measures approximately 4m (13ft) by 2m (7ft), has caused rubble to tumble into the water at Carnsew Quay, in Hayle.
Hayle Harbour Authority has fenced off the area and people are advised to stay away. Boats have also been moved.
Harbourmaster Peter Haddock said he was in contact with contractors, but was unsure when the wall would be repaired.
More on this story and other news from Devon and Cornwall | High tides and poor weather are to blame for the partial collapse of a quay wall, a harbourmaster has said. |
40,304,645 | At the height of Ireland's Great Famine, Choctaws in southern states of the USA sent a donation of $170 (£111).
An extraordinary whip-round, that would be tens of thousands of dollars today.
The sculpture Kindred Spirits stands in a park in the small town of Midleton, in east Cork.
Cork-based artist Alex Pentek told the BBC that the 6m tall feathers, all unique "as a sign of respect" signify the feathers used in Choctaw ceremonies. They are arranged in a circle, making the shape of an empty bowl that symbolises the hunger suffered by Irish people in the famine.
A million people died in Ireland and another two million left the country when the potato crop failed for successive years, removing a vegetable that poor people ate every day.
The British government, which ruled the whole island at the time, did not offer comprehensive relief help, partly due to an economic doctrine of laissez-faire and partly due to a belief that the famine had been sent from God to improve Ireland, according to Charles Trevelyan, the British administrator in charge of relief.
The Choctaw people empathised with Ireland's famine victims. Just 16 years before, the American government had forcibly removed them from their land, moving them to designated parts of south-east Oklahoma.
In what became known as the Trail of Tears, thousands of people walked more than 1,000 miles (1,600km), having been forced to leave without gathering their possessions. Four thousand people died of hunger, cold and disease.
Historian Julie Allen told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme: "We had been through so much, losing so many of our people through death because of the weather, starvation and disease that 16 years later we heard about the Famine and the horrible situation that they were going through, we felt such empathy that we wanted to help.
"The memory of that has been passed down through oral history and written history to both the Choctaw and the Irish people.
"This is just such a blessing to us, that the links between our nations can be strengthened with this sculpture."
Mr Pentek said: "While I was trying to put myself in the shoes of the people suffering I realised that some things are just unimaginable, that the level and scale of suffering that both nations had endured was really beyond being able to think about, beyond our grasp."
Joe McCarthy of Cork County Council said there was no specific link between Midleton and the donation, but the story had "relevance to every single Irish person born since the famine".
The sculpture is made of stainless steel and includes more than 20,000 welds. | Native American Choctaw leaders have arrived in Ireland to unveil a sculpture celebrating the financial contribution made by the tribe to starving Irish people in 1847. |
34,205,128 | Governor Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday set the execution dates for eight men.
On 21 October, two inmates are scheduled to die by the state's lethal three-drug cocktail, which includes the controversial drug midazolam.
Executions in the US have been delayed recently amid problems buying drugs as many firms have refused to sell them.
Twenty-seven people have been executed in Arkansas since 1976 when the US Supreme Court reintroduced the death penalty.
The dates were set following the request last week of Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
She sent letters to the governor telling him that the condemned inmates had run out of appeals options and that state officials had acquired enough of the needed drugs to carry out the punishments.
The state still faces one lawsuit that challenges a new law that allows the state to conceal how it obtains the lethal drugs needed to perform the execution procedure.
However, the US Supreme Court and other federal courts have rejected similar challenges in other states.
Lawyer Jeff Rosenzweig represents the eight condemned inmates as well as a ninth individual whose case is still in the appeals process.
Mr Rosenzweig has said that he plans to file for the executions to be delayed.
On 1 July, the state's Department of Correction said it had enough of the lethal drugs it needed to perform the executions.
Its stockpiles include a sufficient supply of midazolam, which has been criticized since executions last year in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma did not go as planned.
In June, the US Supreme court approved the drug for continued use when it rejected a challenge from three Oklahoma death-row inmates. | The US state of Arkansas is set to resume executing death row inmates after a 10-year hiatus brought on by legal concerns and drug shortages. |
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