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33,009,578 | The matter was raised during First Minister's Questions at Holyrood.
Ms Davidson said health workers in Scotland were under pressure "like never before".
Ms Sturgeon said it had always been a priority of health boards to "keep levels of sickness absence in the NHS to a minimum".
She added that trade unions "work very hard with health boards" to try to support staff.
Ms Davidson told the Holyrood chamber that her party had written to health boards across the country to ask how often staffing concerns had been formally raised by doctors and nurses, stating that the answer was "in their thousands".
She said: "More patients are coming through the doors and the cracks are beginning to show in hospitals across the country.
"This week the NHS workforce statistics were published and they uncovered staff sickness levels across Scotland at a seven-year high - worst affected is the Scottish Ambulance Service where more than 7% of staff are off at any one time, that is four times the average sickness rate outside the public sector.
"It is clear that health workers are struggling to cope in an increasingly strained environment and the figures show that the problem is getting worse. What will the first minister do to help?"
The politician challenged Ms Sturgeon to back her party's pledge to fund 1,000 more nurses and midwives by ending universal free prescriptions, and to promise to pass on extra health funding that arises as a result of UK government decisions.
Ms Sturgeon said the latest statistics showed there were now 10,500 more NHS staff than when the SNP came to power.
In Dumfries and Galloway, staffing is up 6.3% from September 2007, she added.
Speaking in the chamber, Ms Sturgeon said: "We will continue to ensure record funding of our health service, we will continue to ensure our record staffing numbers in our health service, and it is because of that that we have a health service now that is delivering historically low waiting times.
"Making sure that we keep levels of sickness absence in the NHS to a minimum has always been a key priority for health boards. Trade unions work very hard with health boards to try to support staff to do that.
"I think perhaps the most important thing we have done as a government is to ensure that the number of people working in our health service to deal with the rising demand for health services, because of our ageing population, is increasing." | Scotland's Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson has asked Nicola Sturgeon what she plans to do about a seven-year high in NHS staff sickness. |
30,265,602 | Saunders, 25, demonstrated his superior boxing skills to build a healthy lead against his less experienced opponent.
But Eubank Jr, also 25, came on strong in the second half of the fight and had the champion in trouble at times.
Two judges scored the fight for Saunders - 115-114 and 115-113 - and the third 116-113 for Eubank Jr.
Former Olympian Saunders, who is now undefeated in 21 pro fights, is next expected to challenge for the WBO title, which will be contested by Ireland's Andy Lee and Russia's Matt Korobov on 13 December.
Eubank Jr, who drops to 18 wins and one defeat, must bide his time before possibly earning a lucrative rematch a couple of years down the line.
Saunders said: "He had a good work-rate but it was a bit too slow in the early rounds. I'm ready for a world title. And when I get the world title, I'll give him the first shot."
Eubank Jr felt he had won the fight but acknowledged Saunders showed he had "a good engine".
He said: "It was a close fight. He did what I thought he would do. He boxed to plan in the early rounds but then I thought I overtook him. But I'll be back."
The Brighton fighter, whose father was a two-weight world champion in the 1990s, had never been in a competitive fight before, winning 13 times inside the distance.
But Eubank Sr likened to his son to the great Sugar Ray Leonard during the build-up, while he was also said to have impressed in sparring against Nottingham's super-middleweight world champion Carl Froch.
Meanwhile, some suspected Saunders had taken the challenger lightly, although that looked far from being the case in the opening round, during which the champion landed with right jabs at will.
Saunders, from Hatfield, also had the better of the second round, making the challenger, who was struggling to come to terms with the champion's southpaw stance, look ungainly at times.
Saunders probably nicked the third as well, despite Eubank Jr managing to land with a clunking left hook just before the bell, and the champion continued to outwork the challenger in the fourth.
Eubank Jr started the fifth round talking to Saunders but soon abandoned that tactic when his opponent, undeterred, continued to plough forward. Eubank Jr managed to draw Saunders into some rugged exchanges in the sixth, but the champion probably won that round as well.
However, the tide began to turn in the seventh, with Eubank Jr showing more urgency, landing with a couple of hurtful right uppercuts and reddening Saunders around the nose and eyes.
And Saunders showed definite signs of tiring in a sometimes desperate eighth, in which the challenger landed with one mind-scrambling right cross in particular.
Eubank Jr, who had never gone further than eight rounds before, started the ninth like a train, pounding Saunders on the ropes and standing the champion up with a tremendous left hook towards the end of the round.
Saunders still appeared to hold a comfortable lead heading into the 10th but by the end of the round he looked just about ready to drop, having been assailed by a fusillade of left jabs and hooks.
Eubank Jr, sensing his rival was wilting, continued to come bullocking forward in the penultimate round but Saunders continued to stand up to his best shots.
The 12th and final round was furious and sometimes brutal but when the final bell sounded most observers were of the opinion Eubank Jr had done too little too late.
Frankie Gavin,England's only ever amateur male world champion, retained his British welterweight title and secured the Commonwealth belt with a contentious points victory over Londoner Bradley Skeete.
Skeete, who was unbeaten in 18 pro contests before the fight, appeared to land the cleaner punches throughout but the judges scored it 116-112, 116-113, 116-113, all in Gavin's favour.
Birmingham's Gavin, 29, now has 21 wins from 22 pro fights and remains on course for a world title shot.
Meanwhile, Norfolk's Liam Walsh added the British super-featherweight title to the Commonwealth belt he already owned with a unanimous decision over Yorkshire's Gary Sykes. | Billy Joe Saunders beat Chris Eubank Jr on a split decision at London's Excel arena to retain his British, European and Commonwealth titles. |
33,684,715 | There had been speculation that the remains were much more recent - those of a suspected Russian vessel, spotted near Stockholm last year.
The Swedish Armed Forces examined footage filmed by divers from the Ocean X team who found the remains.
In a statement (in Swedish) the military said the wreckage was probably a Russian submarine that sank in 1916.
Last October saw Swedish naval vessels and military planes carrying out an extensive search operation after sightings of what was alleged to be a present-day Russian submarine.
The operation was called off after one week and Russia's defence ministry always denied any of its ships were involved.
Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula and Moscow's continuing support for separatist rebels in Ukraine have fuelled suspicion about its intentions towards other neighbouring states, notably in the Baltic.
The wreck of what is thought to be a World War One vessel was discovered by Ocean X Team and Ixplorer last week.
The company said the vessel was about 20m (66ft) long and 3.5m wide and was "completely intact", with its hatches closed.
Military spokesman Jesper Tengroth told the Local newspaper that the video material suggested it was a Russian "Som" submarine "which sank after it collided with a Swedish submarine in 1916".
They said it was no longer a matter for the armed forces and had been reported to the government.
Dennis Asberg, a partner in Ocean X Team, told Reuters that they planned to re-examine the vessel to confirm its origins.
"I am 99.9% sure it's from 1916, but the next step is to go down again and confirm it," he added. | A submarine wreck found off Sweden is probably a Russian vessel from World War One, the Swedish military says. |
38,867,772 | While paramedics were treating the injured man, another man opened the side door of the ambulance and removed an oxygen cylinder.
He then tried to put it through the windscreen of the ambulance, causing damage to it.
The injured man said he did not want to be taken to hospital.
The incident happened shortly after midnight.
The ambulance crew were able to return to their station and move to a spare vehicle.
"I have no idea first of all what is in the mind of anyone to go and take an oxygen cylinder from the back of an ambulance and then try and smash it through the windscreen," John McPoland of the ambulance service said.
"We really do hope that person gets a knock on his door in the near future from the PSNI."
Police have appealed for information about the incident, that happened at Liscorran Court.
A second attack was reported about two hours later, when a paramedic was assaulted in north Belfast by a patient they had been called to treat.
The member of staff was not seriously injured and returned to work after a short period. | An ambulance was damaged after being attacked while the crew treated a man who had been stabbed in Lurgan on Friday night. |
10,200,784 | The paper is referring to over 170 civil servants who earn more than Prime Minister David Cameron.
The Daily Telegraph says the names, positions and salaries of those public servants earning more than £150,000-a-year were revealed to aid transparency.
It says the details emerged as part of a bid to "open up the corridors of power", while the Guardian reports that the top earner is paid £275,000.
Israel's raid on a flotilla of ships carrying aid to Gaza is referred to as "gunboat diplomacy" in the Independent.
Meanwhile, the Sun headline on the story simply says "bloody disastrous". It said "international fury" had "erupted" as a result of the raid.
The knock-on effect of David Laws' resignation continues to attract attention in the papers.
The Daily Mirror says Nick Clegg's team are "fighting desperately" to stop him quitting as an MP.
The Daily Express reports that some £44m of taxpayers' money is being used each year "to maintain the drug habits of thousands or prisoners".
The paper says the figures show the state pays for one in six of the prison population to get a heroin substitute.
The Daily Telegraph says actors who work at Sydney's Opera House do so at their own peril.
It follows an engineer's report saying there could be "multiple fatalities" from faulty stage equipment.
Last-minute speculation over which players are likely to be included in Fabio Capello's final 23-man World Cup squad dominates the sports pages.
Offering its predictions, the Times says it is easy for England to "cull the not so magnificent Seven".
Aston Villa full back Stephen Warnock may be a "shock inclusion", according to the the Daily Mail.
And, under the headline "can they kick it?", the paper wonders whether Gerrard and Lampard can play side by side. | The Daily Mail describes them as "the penpushers costing taxpayers millions". |
33,129,613 | Jose Amin Hernandez Manrique, known as Marquitos, was killed in the north-western province of Antioquia, the army said.
He led 13 ELN units in Antioquia and Bolivar provinces, according to the military.
The region is known for drugs and arms trafficking and illegal mining.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, said on Twitter: "Alias Marquitos, commander of the Dario Martinez front and member of the national leadership of the ELN, has been killed. Congratulations to the armed forces."
The authorities believe Marquitos, also known as Marcos, was responsible for the 1999 hijacking of an aircraft with 46 passengers on board.
The ELN was founded in 1964 to fight Colombia's unequal distribution of land and wealth. It is now estimated to have about 2,000 active fighters.
The ELN has had exploratory talks but has not entered into peace negotiations with the government, unlike the country's largest left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
In April, the ELN's commander in chief, Nicolas RodrÃguez Bautista, told Reuters news agency that the agreement to start formal peace talks was 80% completed.
It is unclear whether Marquitos's death will affect preliminary talks, although many Colombians feel they have stalled, says the the BBC's Colombia correspondent Natalio Cosoy.
The Farc has called several times for the ELN to join their peace talks in the Cuban capital Havana. | The Colombian army says it has killed a top commander from the country's second largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). |
37,076,971 | De Oliveria, 19, was raised in a nearby favela but despite receiving ear-splitting support he was beaten 21-8 19-21 21-8 by the 28-year-old Irishman.
Evans ripped off his shirt and celebrated wildly after his win much to the displeasure of the home crowd.
"I'll definitely never forget tonight," said the Dubliner.
"I knew that the crowd would be crazy tonight but it beat all my expectations.
"Of course the crowd was against me and I understand that, but to play in that kind of atmosphere, it's something really special."
On Friday, Evans became the first Irishman to win a badminton game at an Olympics as he beat German Marc Zwiebler and his victory on Saturday guaranteed his progress to the knock-out stages.
De Oliveira, raised by a badminton-loving father, soaked up the attention after fulfilling his dream of competing at his home Games.
"It was just fantastic," added the Brazilian youngster after he was cheered incessantly by about 200 badminton-playing children and fans from his neighbourhood of Chacrinha.
"In the beginning I was nervous but the people helped me to get up.
"In the second game, it was fantastic I could play my best. In the third set, I think I lost my mind and he played well. But I played my best."
De Oliveira's loss eliminated him from the tournament but he is sure of more vocal support in his dead rubber against German Zwiebler.
His father Sebastiao Dias introduced the genteel sport into Chacrinha by building a court next to his home.
Hoping to get local kids off the street, he began offering training as a social project but had to overcome some initial scepticism.
Introducing samba music into training sessions proved a master-stroke and the school now has about 200 local children training there.
Badminton is a mystery to many Brazilians but De Oliveira has risen to a world ranking of 64, a remarkable achievement given the lack of top coaches and elite compatriots to train with.
Another player from the school, 20-year-old Lohaynny Vicente, also competed at Rio, losing her second pool match earlier on Saturday to be eliminated despite similar deafening barracking. | Irishman Scott Evans overcame local man Ygor Coelho de Oliveria and a vocal home crowd to book his last-16 spot in the men's badminton competition in Rio. |
33,744,133 | Ipswich midfielder Kevin Bru scored a spectacular scissors kick to give the visitors a half-time lead.
Ryan Fraser then tapped in shortly after the break to make it 2-0.
Substitute Andre Gray raced clear to score for the hosts two minutes into added time, before defender Tarkowski bundled the ball home to make it 2-2.
There was little sign of the late drama to come after Ipswich dominated the majority of the game and were kept out by a string of fine saves from David Button.
The lively Freddy Sears was denied twice by the Brentford goalkeeper in the opening half, first tipping his weak shot wide before palming his powerful strike away.
However, the visitors capped their dominance with a goal just before the break.
Fraser, on loan from Bournemouth, cut in from the right and smashed a shot against a post, but the ball fell to 17-year-old Joshua Emmanuel who chipped it back in for Bru to turn home magnificently.
After a fine counter-attack led to the Tractor Boys' second, Ipswich continued to press forward and almost added a third when Bru's fierce strike was tipped away by Button.
Gray - who was only among the substitutes after being the subject of interest from Hull this week - grabbed what looked like a consolation as he finished coolly from Tarkowski's through ball.
Then Tarkowski himself earned a point when he tapped home following a scramble in the box.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Brentford head coach Marinus Dijhuizen: "We put a lot of pressure on and took a lot of risks, but we got better and better in the game.
"There were big chances, but we couldn't get a goal. Then finally Andre scored.
"You think it's too late with a few minutes left, then we sent everybody forward and we got a goal. We got a bit lucky of course, but we deserved a draw in the end."
Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy: "It's an annoying one and we should have won. We conceded two really poor goals.
"There were chances at both ends and we had the majority of them. We scored two, but should have scored another to put it beyond doubt. If you don't, you don't concede two goals like that.
"I'm really delighted by the way we played, I thought we were terrific. It's a shame that three minutes at the end annoys you like that."
Match ends, Brentford 2, Ipswich Town 2.
Second Half ends, Brentford 2, Ipswich Town 2.
Goal! Brentford 2, Ipswich Town 2. James Tarkowski (Brentford) header from the centre of the box to the top left corner following a corner.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Jonathan Douglas.
Attempt blocked. Philipp Hofmann (Brentford) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Harlee Dean.
Goal! Brentford 1, Ipswich Town 2. Andre Gray (Brentford) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by James Tarkowski.
Attempt blocked. Jake Bidwell (Brentford) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Jota (Brentford) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Toumani Diagouraga with a headed pass.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Daryl Murphy.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Luke Chambers.
Attempt saved. Andre Gray (Brentford) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Alan Judge with a cross.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Freddie Sears.
Attempt missed. Alan Judge (Brentford) left footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Andre Gray.
Attempt missed. Akaki Gogia (Brentford) right footed shot from long range on the left misses to the left. Assisted by Jake Bidwell.
Attempt saved. Lasse Vibe (Brentford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Andre Gray.
Foul by Jota (Brentford).
Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Jota (Brentford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Jota (Brentford).
Freddie Sears (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Ipswich Town. David McGoldrick replaces Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Foul by Jake Bidwell (Brentford).
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Harlee Dean.
Attempt blocked. Jota (Brentford) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Ipswich Town. Jonathan Douglas replaces Ryan Fraser.
Attempt missed. Lasse Vibe (Brentford) left footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Akaki Gogia with a headed pass following a corner.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Tommy Smith.
Jake Bidwell (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Cole Skuse (Ipswich Town).
Offside, Brentford. Harlee Dean tries a through ball, but Andre Gray is caught offside.
Substitution, Brentford. Lasse Vibe replaces Alan McCormack.
Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Harlee Dean.
Substitution, Ipswich Town. Giles Coke replaces Kevin Bru because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Kevin Bru (Ipswich Town) because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Kevin Bru (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Luke Chambers.
Offside, Ipswich Town. Cole Skuse tries a through ball, but Ryan Fraser is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Andre Gray (Brentford) left footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the left is high and wide to the right. Assisted by James Tarkowski.
Akaki Gogia (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half. | James Tarkowski netted a dramatic 96th-minute equaliser as Brentford scored two stoppage-time goals to draw with Ipswich Town at Griffin Park. |
36,312,068 | A study published in the Journal of Education and Work suggests that better-informed teenagers are likely to make more advantageous career choices.
It measures the earnings benefit as an extra £2,000 per year for every six careers sessions when aged 14 to 15.
Researchers used the British Cohort Study tracking 17,000 people.
The research, commissioned by the Education and Employers charity, found that once other factors were taken into account, such as exam results and economic background, there were higher earnings for those who had received sustained careers advice in school.
The study, by Christian Percy and Elnaz Kashefpakdela from the University of Bath, used data from the British Cohort Study which has been tracking the health, wealth and education of people since 1970.
It concluded that there was a long-lasting employment impact from careers talks and lessons.
Where there were "higher levels of employer contacts, in the form of careers talks with outside speakers", researchers found that this was linked to higher returns in the labour market.
They concluded that getting careers information and meeting employers in school had a "meaningful and statistically significant impact on later earnings".
Anthony Mann, director of policy and research for Education and Employers, said: "Other well-known studies have highlighted the benefits of employer engagement, but never before have we had such a robust analysis drawing on such rich data."
Nick Soar, head teacher at Bishop Challoner Catholic Federation in east London, backed the benefits of outside speakers from industry.
"The pupils love it. They ask endless questions and you can see it really brings home to them what they need to do to succeed in the workplace," he said.
CBI president Paul Drechsler said: "This report makes clear the importance and impact of great careers insights and advice from people in the business world."
Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's education director, said the study provided evidence for how "career education translates into measurable earnings advantages".
Education and Childcare Minister Sam Gyimah said the research "provides further evidence of the positive impact an employer can have on a young person's future career". | Careers education given to pupils in secondary school can be linked to higher earnings in adult life, according to researchers. |
36,776,999 | Marwell Wildlife's event was led by "Gilbert" - the charity's multi-coloured zebra - which was stolen earlier this year from Bassett, Southampton, and later found in a back garden in Shirley.
An art trail of 150 zebras begins in the city on Saturday.
The sculptures will be auctioned for charity in October.
The trail will feature 47 life-sized zebras created by professional artists, as well as 103 smaller sculptures designed and decorated by local school children.
Money raised through the auction will aid Grevy's zebra conservation in Africa, Marwell Wildlife said.
A similar sculpture trail and auction, run by the charity in 2013 and involving 36 rhinos, raised £124,700. | More than 30 zebra sculptures have been paraded through a city centre ahead of the opening of a charity art trail. |
35,917,164 | The lower limit is being introduced in eastern areas of the town, from Kendrick Road, extending east to the borough boundary.
Signs for the new zone will cost £35,000.
Reading Borough Council also plans to impose a 20mph limit in the Oxford Road area, Amersham Road estate and the area surrounding EP Collier School. | A 20mph speed limit will come into force in parts of Reading before the end of May. |
36,401,287 | The Swiss third seed hit 36 winners and will face Serbia's Viktor Troicki in the fourth round.
Richard Gasquet is the first Frenchman into the last 16, beating Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-2 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 to set up a meeting with Kei Nishikori.
In the women's draw, 10th seed Petra Kvitova lost 6-0 6-7 (3-7) 6-0 to world number 108 Shelby Rogers.
Sixth seed Simona Halep was taken to three sets by 18-year-old Naomi Osaka, but Garbine Muguruza made more straightforward progress.
The Spaniard, who has hired coach Sam Sumyk since her run to the Wimbledon final last year, dispatched Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-3 6-0 in 63 minutes.
Rogers admitted that the emotion of the moment got the better of her in the immediate aftermath of the victory over two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova that took her into the fourth round of a major tournament for the first time.
"I immediately started crying," said the 23-year-old American. "It was an incredible moment, but it's definitely a little blurry.''
World number 101 Naomi Osaka had to be content with an improvement on the 6-1 6-1 defeat by Victoria Azarenka that she suffered at this year's Australian Open - her only other appearance in a Grand Slam third round.
"I played one of the best players in the world and I managed to worry her for a second there," she said after her 4-6 6-2 6-3 loss to Halep.
No doubt about this one.
Agnieszka Radwanska and Barbora Strycova shared an extraordinary point, in which both played shots from sitting positions before Czech Stycova finally found a winner to bring the crowd to their feet on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Second seed Radwanska lost that battle but emerged victorious, prevailing 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 6-2.
As Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament with a wrist injury, Roger Federer posted an image on Twitter showing his own comeback.
The 34-year-old Swiss, who won at Roland Garros in 2009, is absent from a Grand Slam event for the first time this century after opting to rest a back injury.
The withdrawal of nine-time champion Nadal means that at least one of the quarter-finalists in the men's draw will be in the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time in their careers.
Fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers was the direct beneficiary of Nadal's withdrawal, advancing to a fourth-round meeting with either Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem or Germany's Alexander Zverev, who at 19 is the youngest player in the world's top 50.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Stan Wawrinka continued his French Open defence with a comfortable 6-4 6-3 7-5 win over France's Jeremy Chardy. |
37,234,419 | The force said its Wakefield headquarters had been fielding an increasing number of calls better suited to local councils or social services.
There has been an increase in calls relating to mental health issues due to council cutbacks, police said.
August saw 1,000 additional emergency calls a day compared to 2015.
The increase has prompted a call handler recruitment drive.
Recent time-wasting emergency calls include one from a man with a pizza "with not enough pepperoni" and a man needing a "lift to Halifax", the force said.
The 999 and 101 call handling department has over 200 staff, with an additional 46 being recruited to help reduce 101 call waiting times.
Tom Donohoe, head of the contact centre, said a rise in calls during August was because of an increase in alcohol-related incidents related to the warm weather.
He said: "In the past month or so, we have seen a dramatic increase in the volume of calls and we have taken all necessary steps to ensure that every call is dealt with."
The number of calls West Yorkshire Police are not able to deal with has risen to a fifth due to "misdirected calls" which should be going to other agencies, Mr Donohoe said.
"It can be an extremely rewarding role, as the call handlers help someone literally in their darkest hour, but can also be frustrating as we deal with many calls which are not for the police." | A fifth of 999 and 101 calls made to West Yorkshire Police are not matters the force can deal with, it has said. |
40,267,498 | The 21-year-old, signed from Anorthosis Famagusta in August 2016, will join their Cypriot First Division rivals Apoel Nicosia for an undisclosed fee.
Makris's move to champions Nicosia is subject to international clearance.
He scored just once in his 35 appearances with Walsall, more than half of which were off the bench.
"The move has not quite worked out," said manager Jon Whitney. "But everyone could see how hard Andreas worked.
"He has been a pleasure to work with and hope that a return to his homeland will reinvigorate his club and international career."
The fee League One club Walsall paid for Makris was undisclosed, but more than the previous club record, the £175,000 paid to West Midlands rivals Birmingham City for Alan Buckley in 1979. | Walsall striker Andreas Makris is to return to Cyprus less than a year after becoming the Saddlers' club record signing. |
34,173,542 | "Denmark has decided to tighten the regulations concerning refugees in a number of areas," the advert begins.
It warns that Denmark has recently passed legislation cutting benefits by up to 50% for newly arrived refugees.
The governing Venstre (Liberal) party won power in June after running on an anti-immigration platform.
Migrants have been arriving in southern Denmark from Germany in the past two days, but most have said they intend to travel on to Sweden. Dozens of people were seen walking on the main road from the south coast towards Copenhagen, Danish media reported on Monday.
Venstre rely on the support of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP), which made large gains as they took 20% of the vote in this year's election.
The DPP's influence has led to the adoption of some of the toughest immigration policies seen in the EU in recent years.
Along with warning about benefits cuts, the Danish advert also highlights that "all rejected asylum seekers must be returned quickly from Denmark".
The DPP wants Denmark to leave the Schengen area - boosting border controls is one of its top issues - and to make it harder for EU migrants to claim benefits in other member states.
Denmark has already opted out of the EU's resettlement programme for asylum seekers.
First- and second-generation immigrants form 12% of Denmark's 5.6 million population.
New rules reducing the benefits that asylum seekers can apply for were approved in July.
Single asylum-seekers without children will receive an integration benefit of 5,945 kroner (??582, ???985) a month before tax, instead of the previous 10,849.
Married couples with children are able to apply for 16,638 kroner monthly, instead of the previous 28,832.
Immigrants who pass a Danish language test are to be entitled to a 1,500 kroner monthly bonus.
Lebanon has taken in more than one million Syrians fleeing from their conflict-torn country. Turkey is the only country to have taken more. | The Danish government has placed advertisements in Lebanese newspapers aimed at deterring potential migrants. |
10,287,358 | UK researchers compared the diets of more than 3,000 12-year-old girls.
They found high meat consumption at age three (over eight portions a week) and age seven (12 portions) was strongly linked with early periods.
Writing in Public Health Nutrition, the researchers said a meat-rich diet might prepare the body for pregnancy, triggering an earlier puberty.
During the 20th Century, the average age at which girls started their periods fell fairly dramatically, although it now seems to be levelling off.
This is widely thought to be due to better nutrition and rising levels of obesity, which has an impact on hormones.
In the latest study, the team used data from a group of children followed from birth.
At the age of 12 years eight months, they split the girls into those who had already started their periods and those who had not.
Comparing their diets at the ages of three, seven and 10, they found that meat intake at a young age was strongly linked with earlier periods.
In fact, at age seven there was a 75% increased chance of having a period by age 12 in those eating the most meat compared with those who ate the least.
Although this finding was independent of body weight, the study repeated previous research showing that bigger girls tend to menstruate early.
Starting periods at an early age has been linked with an increased risk of breast cancer, possibly because women are exposed to higher levels of oestrogen over their lifetime.
But the researchers stressed there was no need for young girls to cut meat out of their diet as those with the highest meat consumption were eating a lot.
The seven-year-olds in the highest meat category were eating 12 or more portions a week, and the three-year-olds were having more than eight portions.
Study leader Dr Imogen Rogers, senior lecturer in human nutrition at the University of Brighton, said weight could not be the only factor in girls having periods earlier as the average age had not gone down further with increasing levels of obesity.
She added: "Meat is a good source of zinc and iron, requirements for which are high during pregnancy.
"A meat-rich diet could be seen as indicating suitable nutritional conditions for a successful pregnancy."
Dr Ken Ong, paediatric endocrinologist at the Medical Research Council, said there had been "vast shifts" in the timing of first periods over the past century.
He added that the link with meat consumption was a "plausible" one.
"This was not related to larger body size, but rather could be due to a more direct effect of dietary protein on the body's hormone levels." | Girls who eat a lot of meat during childhood tend to start their periods earlier than others, a study suggests. |
34,773,138 | The disturbances began on Sunday after a detainee who had escaped the camp was found dead outside.
The immigration department said police were negotiating with detainees, but some had continued to engage in "non-compliant behaviour" overnight.
Facilities have been damaged and fires started inside, it added.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has blamed the disturbances on "a core group of criminals".
"We have been very clear about the fact that the government's not going to cower in the face of the activities of some of these criminals," he said.
Christmas Island is a remote outpost located 2,650km (1,650 miles) north-west of Perth and 380km south of Java in Indonesia.
It is part of Australia's network of offshore processing centres for irregular migrants who arrive by boat, and also houses New Zealanders facing deportation from Australia.
The unrest started when a group of Iranian inmates staged a protest about the death of an Iranian Kurd, Fazel Chegeni.
Mr Chegeni had broken out of the facility on Saturday. His body was found at the bottom of a cliff on Sunday.
Mr Dutton told parliament he had been advised there were no suspicious circumstances.
Reports on Tuesday said a hard core of detainees were still confronting guards and refusing to return to their cells.
One inmate, Tuk Whakatutu, is quoted as telling Radio New Zealand that some protesters with weapons were in one of the compounds, which had been surrounded by police in riot gear.
The immigration department said it remained committed to resolving the situation at the centre "peacefully and quickly", but it would "take action to protect people and facilities where an imminent threat exists".
People not participating in the unrest had been moved to a secure part of the facility, it said, asking anyone in contact with detainees to "inform them to return to their rooms if safe to do so".
It is difficult to verify information about what happens on Christmas Island as the media are generally barred from reporting there.
The Christmas Island centre
Australia asylum: Why is it controversial?
Australia sends intercepted asylum seekers to Christmas Island, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Pacific.
The government says the journey the asylum seekers make by sea to reach Australia is dangerous and controlled by criminal gangs and they have a duty to stop it. Critics say opposition to asylum is often racially motivated and is damaging Australia's reputation.
The policy was branded a "disaster" by Human Rights Watch's Australia director in July. The group also raised concern over conditions at the Manus camp.
Last February, an Iranian man was killed during a riot at the camp on Manus. The trial of a Salvation Army worker and a camp guard accused over his murder restarts later this month.
Australia is facing renewed criticism from the United Nations over the policies, with the US, Britain and others using a UN forum to say it should stop turning back boats and close the offshore centres. | Police reinforcements are trying to restore order at Australia's migrant detention centre on Christmas Island, as unrest there enters a third day. |
36,937,028 | The Belfast man became the first fighter from Northern Ireland to win a world title in two weight divisions after beating Leo Santa Cruz in New York in the the early hours of Sunday.
He met some of his fans in a packed Annie Moore's pub on Sunday.
"Win, lose or draw I was always going to do something for them," he said.
Before meeting his followers, he said it would be "nice for them to get a couple of pints and maybe get a few pictures as well" as a thanks for making the trip to Brooklyn for the fight.
Thousands of people, including golfer Rory McIlroy, watched the Jackal defeat his Mexican opponent, with many of them making the trip across the Atlantic from Northern Ireland.
Frampton said their support was "amazing".
"I thanked them straight away after the fight," the 29-year-old said.
"It's hard for people to [travel to fights] and people aren't flush with cash at the minute, so to come out and support me is great.
"I'd say most of the guys who were at the fight had a trip to the [Euro 2016 football tournament] as well.
"Obviously McIlroy's alright for a few quid, but its great to have [his] support to!"
Frampton said he hopes to reward his followers with a fight in his home city before the end of the year.
"I don't want the people to have to pay top money to come out and support me in the States all the time," he added.
"I'd like to fight in Belfast at least once a year.
"I love fighting at home and I feel like I haven't done it enough, but it's just because of the fights - I'm chasing titles.
"But I'm in the driving seat now and I want to bring [fighters] to Belfast." | Boxer Carl Frampton has joined his travelling supporters for a celebratory pint in a US bar after he won the WBA world featherweight title. |
40,306,552 | The body of man was found by firefighters who were called to a car fire in Whitehaven Road, Everton, Liverpool on Thursday.
A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out to establish the cause of his death.
A 31-year-old man being questioned by police. A woman, aged 31, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Forensic examinations of the scene where the car was found shortly after 23:10 BST are being carried out.
Investigation scenes have also been established in areas of Bootle and Wavertree. | A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found inside a burnt out car. |
37,623,119 | The 58-year old, who is the first American to manage in the Premier League, succeeded Francesco Guidolin as Swansea boss with the club only outside the relegation zone on goal difference.
"He strives to get the best out of players. The lads have said training has been really good," said Taylor, who has been on Wales duty.
"He looks a really exciting manager. He looks up for it and backs his ability."
Bradley could not have asked for a tougher baptism on Saturday with Arsenal having won seven of their last eight games in all competitions.
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However, left-back Taylor believes former USA national coach Bradley has already galvanised the squad.
"Hopefully from here onwards we can pick up results because that is what matters in the Premier League," he said.
"He looks very motivated and that is great for the players. We can feed off him and we need to use that to pick up results, that is obvious now."
Taylor fell out of favour under former manager Guidolin, starting only one Premier League game this term in which he was substituted before half-time, but he does not see Bradley's appointment as a new beginning for him.
"I will just go back and work the same way I was working under the old manager, that is the way I do things," Taylor said.
"It makes no difference to me, but obviously there will be different ideas.
"There are ups and downs for every footballer, you just stay on a level playing field whether you are up or down. You keep working the same way, things come back around - that is the way football is."
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Swansea are not expected to end their losing run at the Emirates Stadium with in-form Arsenal winning their last five league matches to move up to third place.
But Swansea have an excellent away record against Arsenal having won on three of their five Premier League visits, including a 2-1 win last season.
"It is a tough first game but we don't mind playing that," Taylor said.
"We are hoping we can pick up from where we left off there last season and pick up points. We would be probably written off even if we were in form."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Neil Taylor expects Swansea City to be rejuvenated by new boss Bob Bradley. |
35,872,574 | The 34-year-old, capped 56 times, has signed to play in Florida for North American Soccer League side Tampa Bay Rowdies when his current deal expires.
But he will be playing in the NASL, a level below Major League Soccer (MLS).
Cole left Aston Villa for League One side City on loan in November before completing a short-term free transfer move to the Ricoh Arena in January.
"I've always envisaged playing in the United States at some point in my life," said Cole, whose existing deal at Coventry was until the end of this season.
"My family and I came out to visit a few months ago and everyone was lovely. They really made us feel welcomed.
"I'm really excited. My desire to win football matches is still there. I'm not coming for an extended holiday."
City boss Tony Mowbray added: "I would have liked to have kept Joe. He's a fantastic character. No airs and graces, not looking for favours or extra days off and has shown his football ability.
"He has proved his fitness and worth to the team but he's made his decision for his family, and we wish him well."
Cole, who scored twice in 22 Coventry appearances, has signed a one-year deal with Tampa with an option for another year, subject to him getting international clearance.
After starting his career with West Ham United, Cole won three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and the League Cup twice after joining Chelsea in 2003.
He was named in the Premier League Team of the Year in 2006, although he endured several significant injury spells in his time at Stamford Bridge.
He joined Liverpool in 2010 but played only 42 games in three years, spending a season on loan in France at Lille, before returning to first club West Ham in 2012.
After being released by West Ham in May 2014, he was then signed by Paul Lambert for Villa on a two-year contract. But he started just four games for the Midlanders, as well as making 10 substitute appearances, before being allowed by then boss Tim Sherwood to link up with Coventry in October.
He scored 10 goals in his 56 international appearances for England.
Cole will follow former England team-mates David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, Republic of Ireland star Robbie Keane and Italy's Andrea Pirlo in moving to the USA.
Beckham played for five years until 2012 with MLS side LA Galaxy, who also signed Keane and later Gerrard, while Lampard and Pirlo now also play in the MLS for New York City.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Former England midfielder Joe Cole will leave Coventry City at the end of the season to play in the United States. |
36,090,037 | The Grecians lost 3-2 at home to Mansfield Town on Tuesday to slip to 10th place, five points off the play-off places with three games left.
"We have to believe we can do it. There's no reason why we can't," Tisdale told BBC Radio Devon.
"When you look at the last 10 games there's no reason why we can't win our last three," he added.
Exeter were unbeaten in their previous 10 games, winning six of them, as they moved to within two points of the play-off spots before the Mansfield loss.
But that defeat, coupled with Cambridge's 7-0 win over Morecambe, Wimbledon's victory at Dagenham & Redbridge and Wycombe's goalless draw with Yeovil, compounded Exeter's poor position.
"It's an increasingly difficult situation and we've just got to move on and try to get our minds very much focused on Bristol Rovers on Saturday," said Tisdale.
"We have three games to go and we have to concentrate on those and see what happens.
"Anything's possible, it's one of those leagues. Teams you think will win will lose and vice versa. We've just got to stay with it and you never know." | Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says his side must still believe they can reach the League Two play-offs. |
39,049,325 | The UK, as well as the Netherlands and Turkey, was affected by the writedowns, which led to a surprise net loss of 5.7bn euros (£4.8bn) during 2016.
"The difficult market environment made impairments necessary," said RWE chief executive Rolf Martin Schmitz.
RWE, which owns Npower, said it planned to pay dividends again in 2017.
Analysts and investors had been expecting dividend payouts to resume for 2016, after the previous year when the company cancelled them for the first time in at least six decades.
RWE, like most big European energy companies, faces the problem of low wholesale electricity prices and competition from heavily subsidised renewable energy rivals.
The group's performance was also dented by what it described as an "additional extraordinary burden" in the shape of new German legislation that forces energy firms to help pay for the country's move away from nuclear power.
RWE has to contribute about 6.8bn euros (£5.7bn) - 1.8bn euros (£1.5bn) of which was set aside in the 2016 results.
"The new regulations governing nuclear waste disposal are sensible, but require a great financial effort from RWE," said chief financial officer Markus Krebber. | Energy company RWE has cancelled its dividend for the second successive year, after writedowns of 4.3bn euros (£3.6bn) on its power plants. |
37,543,182 | Ana Garrido thinks it is. The 50-year-old former civil servant's personal investigation played a key role in exposing a massive corruption network linked to Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP).
But it is her life that has been ruined.
When 37 accused, including an ex-minister and the PP's former treasurer, go on trial in Madrid on Tuesday, it will mark a milestone in the fight against corruption in Spain.
But Ms Garrido no longer works at the council in Boadilla del Monte, a leafy Madrid suburb, where almost a decade ago she realised that something shady was going on. Instead, she has turned to making and selling handicraft jewellery to pay her rent.
She started working at the council in 1993. Then in 2007, as part of her role in the youth department, she says she received strange instructions to favour certain companies when contracts were to be awarded.
She cross-checked data and found that under the PP mayor of Boadilla at the time, Arturo Gonzalez Panero, a network of firms was being favoured without due process.
"I was passionate about my job working with young people and children. I had a good salary, I was buying a nice home and travelled a lot. I was a very happy person."
When Ms Garrido began to realise the dimensions of a scandal that spread far wider than the confines of her home town, she felt scared, exposed and vulnerable, she says.
"There is nothing like a whistle-blowers' charter in Spain. Not only are we not protected, but we can be persecuted and harassed by those we accuse of abusing power."
Ms Garrido's evidence ended up in the hands of investigating judge Baltasar Garzon. But her treatment at work led to clinical depression and, eventually, giving up her civil service career.
"My bosses held meetings without me, made me change office over and over and halted each project I was working on. Every day when I went in, I just didn't know what was in store for me."
Eventually, Ms Garrido won a lawsuit against the council for harassment, but she has not yet seen the €95,000 (£82,000; $106,558) awarded to her as compensation, because Boadilla town hall has appealed against the ruling. And the conservative PP has reported Ms Garrido for keeping public documents in her home.
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Ms Garrido also claims to have been vilified by sections of the Spanish media.
"Even some of my friends have asked me if I have tampered with documents. This is what they do; the aim is to discredit the whistle-blower, and it has not happened only to me."
In Andalucia, the UGT labour union is trying to have former employee Roberto Macias jailed for four years, for stealing computer files that helped uncover alleged fraud in the use of government subsidies.
Ms Garrido says that all of the parties in Spain's parliament are receptive to her Platform for Honesty's proposals to establish certain legal safeguards for whistle-blowers - all except the PP.
So has it been worth it, or is Spanish politics just as corrupt as it was in 2007, when Ms Garrido's life changed for ever?
"There is still a great deal of corruption in Spain, but today perhaps people will think twice about taking things that they used to assume was their right. I would do it all over again, but I have only managed to get so far because I don't have children. It is not the same to suffer extortion and threats directly if it affects the life of your children." | Is ruining a comfortable, middle-class life a price worth paying, if it means bringing rich and powerful people to justice on alleged corruption charges? |
35,142,740 | Authorities on Sulawesi island said that the ship was reported to have been hit by high waves and its engine had broken down.
Six rescue vessels have been despatched but are being hampered by bad weather.
Local search and rescue agency chief Roki Asikin said they were due to reach the ship early on Sunday.
There is no word yet of any casualties.
Officials said the last contact from the ship's captain said that water was beginning to enter the vessel.
The ship left Kolaka in south-east Sulawesi province with 118 passengers and crew on Saturday morning local time, officials said, and was bound for the port of Siwa across the Gulf of Boni.
Transport ministry spokesman JA Barata said a distress signal was sent out later in the day saying the ship had "had an accident as a result of large waves".
Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands linked by ferry services, but correspondents say the industry has a poor safety record. | Rescuers are trying to reach a passenger ship which is adrift in rough seas off of Indonesia with more than 100 people on board. |
10,765,721 | The Grade II listed Newbridge Memorial Hall, known as the 'Memo', will be restored for use by the community with the Heritage Lottery Funding award.
"It is the culmination of seven years of campaigning to save these magnificent buildings," said Howard Stone, the hall's chairman.
The 'Memo' narrowly lost in the 2004 UK final of the BBC's Restoration show.
Newbridge Institute and Memorial Hall was built by miners in 1925 to commemorate members of the local community who lost their lives in the World War I.
Its supporters say it is one of the UK's finest surviving early 20th century Art Deco cinema theatres, and claim it houses the largest ballroom in the south Wales valleys.
Entertainers such as Joe Loss, Clara Novello, Tom Jones, the Stranglers and Manic Street Preachers are said to have played there.
In 2006 Prince Charles made a special request to visit the building and threw his weight behind the restoration project which last year won £129,600 in HLF funding.
Campaigners said this year's £2.9m award would go towards extensive repair and restoration of the building's dilapidated interior and exterior, and a new link building would be built to improve access.
A learning and outreach officer would be employed and up to 25 local people trained to help run the centre as visitor numbers increased.
A 'Newbridge Hall of Fame' would also be set up to explore the social history of the area, celebrating local heroes such as photographer Angus McBean and singer James Dean Bradfield.
HLF chair Dan Clayton Jones explained the reasoning behind the award, saying: "It will bring a nationally important building back into use by a community who have worked hard to show how much they value it. "
He paid tribute to those who had campaigned to save the building: "Without the skill and dedication of the Memo team, this building would be facing a very uncertain future.
Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, said the award was "great news" for the local community and for visitors to the area.
"The dedication and commitment of the community has to be applauded," he said.
Howard Stone, chair of the Newbridge Institute & Memorial Hall, said the decision was "a huge boost" for Newbridge and the wider community of south east Wales.
"It is a testimony to the determination of all our volunteers, who have never lost the will to fight for what they believed in," said Mr Stone.
"It shows that communities can make a difference, it takes hard work and tenacity and the dedication to go on even through the tough times." | Campaigners battling to save an art deco hall from ruin are celebrating after winning £2.9m in lottery funding. |
38,649,422 | The new code of conduct means journalists can apply for permits to record proceedings in the chamber.
It brings the Isle of Man into line with the rest of the British Isles 27 years after the first House of Commons speech was televised in 1989.
House of Keys and Tynwald sittings are currently broadcast live on Manx Radio.
Previously, filming inside Tynwald has been tightly restricted, which Speaker of the House of Keys Juan Watterson said is "no longer justifiable."
He told the BBC: "It is quite legitimate to have people come and film as part of access to parliament. It is important and I think it is more widely recognised now than it ever has been.
"The move won't cost the taxpayer anything but will allow journalists to come and film what they consider newsworthy". | Isle of Man politicians have unanimously backed a move to allow cameras inside the Manx parliament, Tynwald. |
38,869,479 | The world number 66 followed up his earlier wins over Mark Selby and Barry Hawkins by beating world number two Stuart Bingham 6-4.
Hamilton, 45, whose last final was at the 2002 China Open, will face Ali Carter in Sunday's decider.
Carter, the 2013 winner, beat defending champion Martin Gould 6-2.
The world number 14 took control after establishing a 3-1 lead, winning a tense sixth frame on the black to go 4-2 ahead before wrapping up victory.
"It was workmanlike, but on the whole a good performance," he told World Snooker.
"I made a couple of really good clearances but there was a lot of pressure.
This is one of my favourite events and to win it would be extra special."
Hamilton led 5-1 at one stage but Bingham fought back to 5-4 with breaks of 80 and 55 before Hamilton, who has never won a ranking title, sealed it with a break of 77 in the 10th frame. | Anthony Hamilton reached his first ranking event final in 15 years by clinching a place in the German Masters final. |
35,104,969 | In a report, it highlights "pressing problems" undermining the effectiveness of laws on buying and owning guns.
Its recommendations - designed to make laws "clearer" and ensure they keep up with technology - include creating a new offence of possessing tools to turn imitation firearms into live ones.
The Home Office said it would "carefully consider" the report.
The commission is an independent body which reviews laws in England and Wales and can recommend reforms.
Commenting on current laws, the commission said: "There are over 30 pieces of overlapping legislation, some of the key terminology - such as 'lethal', 'component part' and 'antique' - is not clearly defined, and the law has fallen out of step with developments in technology."
The report calls for an "approved standard" on deactivating firearms, to reduce the risk that a weapon can be reactivated.
The commission says tools to convert imitation firearms to live ones are increasingly available, and it proposes a new offence of "possessing an article with the intention of using it unlawfully to convert an imitation firearm into a live one".
To clarify definitions, the commission says there should be:
Prof David Ormerod QC, law commissioner for criminal law, said existing laws were causing "considerable difficulties" for investigators, prosecutors and people involved with licensed firearms.
"The purpose of our recommendations for reform is to provide immediate solutions to the most pressing problems in firearms law, bringing clarity for those who own and use firearms, and those who investigate and prosecute their misuse," he said.
"We remain of the view that the entire legislative landscape requires fundamental reform and should be codified."
A Home Office spokesman said: "The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world and we are determined to keep it that way."
He added: "We recognise the importance of strengthening legislation to guard against misuse of firearms and will carefully consider the recommendations in the Law Commission's report." | Firearms laws in England and Wales are "confused, unclear and difficult to apply", the Law Commission says. |
34,761,620 | Four were found guilty of beating Samiul Alam Rajon to death after they said he tried to steal a rickshaw. Six other men were jailed.
The murder, filmed by one attacker on his phone, caused widespread outrage.
In the second case, two car mechanics were condemned for the death of a former employee.
Rakib Hawlader died in August after air was pumped into his body in retaliation for leaving his job.
Rajon was attacked in July after a group of men accused him of stealing a bicycle rickshaw van in the north-western city of Sylhet.
One of the attackers filmed the assault on his mobile phone. The footage showed the boy being tied to a pole and hit repeatedly with a rod.
The video, which was posted on the internet, showed the boy pleading for his life and crying for water, and screaming: "Please don't beat me like this, I will die."
An autopsy found that the 13-year-old had 64 separate injuries.
While suspected thieves are often attacked by mobs in Bangladesh, the brutality of this particular attack sparked protests, says the BBC's Mahfuz Sadique.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Sylhet and other parts of the Bangladesh over the killing.
Thirteen men were originally charged in the case, but three were acquitted. Six received sentences of between a year and life.
Kamrul Islam, described as the prime suspect, was one of those who received the death penalty.
He had fled to Saudi Arabia after the murder but was arrested less than a week later after officials were reportedly tipped off by members of the country's large expatriate Bangladeshi community. He was extradited in October.
One of the other four men condemned to death is on the run, and so was sentenced in absentia. | Six men have been sentenced to death in Bangladesh for torturing and killing two 13-year-old boys in separate incidents earlier this year. |
33,167,559 | The vehicle smashed into the house in Claremont Crescent, Rayleigh, Essex, on Tuesday morning.
The house was left structurally unsound and had to be shored up by fire crews.
Station Officer John Tidbury said the two parents and their child were "extremely lucky that they were not seriously hurt."
"The lorry had collided into the kitchen-diner of the house at around breakfast time," he said.
"Luckily the family had gone into the back garden to feed their pet rabbit at the same time the lorry struck their house.
"If they had all been sitting at their dining room table at the time the lorry hit the property, the situation could have been far worse."
Two fire crews and an urban search and rescue team worked to make the house safe. | A road sweeper careered into the dining room of a house, narrowly avoiding a family who were feeding their rabbit at the time. |
33,609,898 | The Cubric at Cardiff University will have one of the world's most sophisticated MRI scanners.
The funding, announced on Wednesday, will help build the facility at Maindy Park.
Prof Derek Jones, director of Cubric, said: "This funding cements Cubric's position as a European leader in brain imaging and stimulation."
Announcing the funding, Finance Minister Jane Hutt said: "I am delighted to announce EU funds to help construct a centre of excellence in Wales with the capability for world-class, highly specialised collaborative research in the field of neuroscience.
"This is another excellent example of how EU funds are supporting growth in the Welsh economy, helping our academic institutions to position Wales as a global leader in ground-breaking research and innovation."
The Welsh government has also invested more than £9m in the development of Cubric, including funding towards an ultra-high field Tesla MRI scanner.
The centre is due to open next year. | A new £44m brain research imaging centre has received a £4.5m funding boost from the European Union. |
38,848,297 | As many as 23 civilians were killed in the raid on a village in Yakla district on Saturday, including 10 children, rights group Reprieve says.
Yemeni reports say the victims included the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a US strike in 2011.
The raid was the first such operation authorised by President Donald Trump.
The US military had previously said a Navy Seal, William "Ryan" Owens, 36, died and three others were injured. But the US Central Command (Centcom) later said that those killed could include children.
Several Apache helicopters were reported to have taken part in the operation, which killed 14 militants, including three al-Qaeda leaders, according to the US military.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer told journalists: "It's hard to ever call something a complete success when you have a loss of life or people injured."
"But I think when you look at the totality of what was gained to prevent the future loss of life... I think it's a successful operation in all standards."
He made no mention of civilian victims.
Earlier on Thursday, Reprieve said a newborn baby was among 10 children killed in the attack.
It also cited local reports as saying that a heavily pregnant woman was shot in the stomach during the raid and subsequently gave birth to an injured baby boy who later died.
Images of several dead children emerged on social media soon after the attack took place.
Earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis told reporters to "take reports of female casualties with a grain of salt", adding that they had been "trained to be ready and trained to be combatants".
But US military Central Command on Wednesday acknowledged that a number of civilians had been "likely killed in the midst of a firefight".
Mr Trump travelled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday to receive the body of the US Navy Seal, William 'Ryan' Owens, who was killed in the raid.
Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the civil war in Yemen to entrench its presence in the south and south-east of the country.
For the past two years, Yemen has been embroiled in fighting between forces loyal to the internationally recognised president, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Shia Houthi rebels. | The White House has said a raid in Yemen on an al-Qaeda stronghold that is thought to have killed civilians was a "very thought-out process". |
36,478,529 | Police said two men escaped with a cash box after threatening G4S staff with weapons inside Santander, West Princes Street, Helensburgh, at 00:35.
Two men escaped with a five-figure sum of cash following a similar early-morning raid on 6 April.
Police said one line of inquiry was that both robberies were linked.
The G4S staff were not injured in the latest robbery.
The suspects are described as being of medium height, medium build and were wearing overalls and masks.
Det Insp Douglas Wilson, who is leading the investigation, said: "Two men entered the premises of the bank, by means of the window, threatened the men with weapons and then made off with the cash box in an unknown direction - possibly using a dark coloured 4x4 vehicle in their escape.
"Officers remain at the scene on West Princes Street and local door-to-door inquiries are underway. Specialist officers are analysing available CCTV."
The detective said that a dedicated incident room had been set up at Helensburgh police office.
He added: "Our inquiries are at an early stage. At this time, we are asking that anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or heard a disturbance in the area in the early hours of this morning, to please contact officers as soon as possible." | Security guards have been robbed for the second time in two months while carrying out cash transfers at the same bank branch in Argyll. |
38,338,841 | The construction union Ucatt has claimed Portuguese sub-contractor Sosia Ltd paid joiners £7.67 an hour and labourers £6.32 an hour.
The industry agreement for minimum rates is £11.61 and £8.73 respectively.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown will ask Acas to work with the lead contractors, Transport Scotland and Ucatt.
Mr Brown met representatives from Ucatt and Labour MSP Neil Findlay, who has called for a pay audit of the scheme, at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.
He said: "I advised Ucatt that I had ensured that their allegations regarding low pay had been fully investigated, with no evidence being uncovered to substantiate the allegations.
"In response, Ucatt have advised that they remained of the view that such practices had been prevalent.
"I have therefore offered to ask Acas to undertake further work in conjunction with Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC), Transport Scotland and Ucatt to examine this and related issues. Ucatt have agreed with this approach.
"It remains the responsibility of our contractor FCBC to manage matters relating to its workforce and sub-contractors. The Scottish government will continue to work together with all parties to ensure that all obligations over workers' rights, health and safety and pay are being met on the Forth Replacement Crossing project." | An arbitration service is to be brought in following allegations that workers on the £1.4bn Queensferry Crossing project are being given low pay. |
39,498,412 | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it will have "devastating effects" for the health of women and girls.
In total, $32.5m (£26m) will be withdrawn for the 2017 financial year.
This is the first of the promised cuts to US financial contributions to the UN by the Trump administration.
The state department justified its decision by saying the Population Fund supports or participates in a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation in China.
But the Population Fund, which promotes family planning in more than 150 countries, says this is an "erroneous claim", and that its work does not break any US laws.
On Tuesday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Mr Guterres deeply regretted their decision, adding he believed it was "based on an inaccurate perception of the nature and importance of the work done" by the fund.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump reinstated a ban on US funding of any international organisation that provided any kind of abortion service or advice.
The state department referred to the presidential directive from January and a provision called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment in its statement on Monday.
The UN Population Fund has often been the target of conservative Republican administrations, the BBC's Nada Tawfik in New York reports.
Presidents Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and George W Bush withheld funding for the same reason.
The Population Fund, like other UN agencies, is funded by governments voluntarily. In 2015, it received $979m in donations, with the US being its fourth-largest donor. | The US has been warned its decision to withdraw its support from the United Nations Population Fund will be a disaster for the world's most vulnerable families. |
36,853,353 | New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever were fined $5,000 (£3,773) while their players each received a $500 (£377) fine.
The teams wore the #BlackLivesMatter shirts following the deaths of two men and five police officers on 7 July.
WNBA rules state that uniforms may not be altered in any way.
"Don't say we have a voice and then fine us because we use it," Phoenix Mercury forward Mistie Bass tweeted. | The Women's NBA has fined three teams and their players for wearing black warm-up shirts to commemorate the recent shootings in America. |
36,139,683 | Jemal Williams, of Berkeley Gardens, Enfield, must serve a minimum of 24 years for stabbing Shaquan Sammy-Plummer, 17, in the chest.
Williams was having a party when Shaquan arrived. He had been invited by the boyfriend of Williams's sister.
The defendant refused him entry but demanded drinks be handed over.
The Old Bailey heard that when Shaquan refused, Williams chased and stabbed him.
The victim, who was from Islington, died at the Royal London Hospital a few hours later.
Williams fled the scene but handed himself in to police on 9 February 2015.
Det Ch Insp Jamie Piscopo, from the Homicide and Major Crime Command unit, said: "The death of Shaquan was a meaningless tragedy.
"Even when he was turned away from the party, he made no fuss and was in the process of leaving when Williams decided he needed to teach him a lesson."
He described the investigation as being complex due to the "wall of silence" by people too scared to come forward. | A 20-year-old man has been jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering a teenager he would not let in to his party. |
38,076,464 | Big brands including BT, Yves St Laurent and Strongbow have also recently had ads banned.
Meanwhile, other companies - Moneysupermarket.com and Protein World included - have been allowed to keep ads that attracted hundreds of complaints from consumers.
The Heinz TV ad, using the catchline "Learn the #CanSong", shows a group of people tapping and twirling empty cans to drum out rhythms.
Three people complained that the TV advert encouraged unsafe behaviour, while six more said it could be dangerous if children tried to copy the music.
Heinz denied the ad posed a safety risk, but the ASA upheld both complaints, saying it might result in "hands or fingers being inserted into an open tin".
But nine complaints is a drop in the water compared with the thousands of people who complain to the ASA each year.
TV is the most complained-about advertising medium, with 11,611 complaints about 3,920 different commercials made to the watchdog in 2015.
In the first six months of this year, the ASA has tackled 1,598 rogue ads across all media - TV, online, outdoors and in print - by telling companies to either change their campaign or scrap the ad completely.
With "dangerous" beans cans the latest to face a ban, which other adverts has the watchdog set its sights on?
BT's big budget campaign starring Deadpool and Green Lantern actor Ryan Reynolds was banned for making misleading claims about broadband speeds.
Rival Virgin Media complained that BT had implied its 52MB Infinity broadband offered the fastest speed at the lowest price in the UK.
And last month, BT was told to pull the ads, which ran across TV, in newspapers and online.
Mobile network Three's Muppet-themed advert was banned after another rival, EE, complained that it misled consumers.
In the ad, "Jackson the Muppet" is shown punching into the air, with the claim that the mobile company is the "undisputed" market leader for reliability.
The ASA said the wording of "undisputed" wrongly suggested there was an agreed measure of reliability.
Audi's advert for its sporty R8 model was banned in August for making an "irresponsible" link between speed and excitement.
The ad depicts a driver's pupil contracting and dilating as the car accelerates through a tunnel.
Volkswagen, which owns the Audi brand, insisted the ad had been shot at under the 30mph speed limit.
An Yves Saint Laurent magazine ad featuring an "unhealthily underweight" model was banned after a reader complained last year.
After seeing the ad in Elle UK magazine, the reader complained it was "irresponsible" of the designer brand to use a model whose ribcage was visible in the shot.
The ASA agreed that the model appeared "unhealthily thin".
A YouTube ad for Strongbow was banned for suggesting that cider was as important as a relationship.
The video features character Carl, who wins "Best Strongbow as my other half" in a fake awards ceremony.
Carl says: "I've loved you since the first day I met you, and I always will do, my dear Strongbow."
The ASA said his comments implied alcohol was "indispensible".
Meanwhile, alcopop Hooch was told to remove its ad featuring YouTube star Joe Charman over concerns it encouraged under-age drinking.
Charman is shown surfing across a swimming pool to deliver bottles of Hooch to his friends.
The ASA said his "adolescent or juvenile manner" could appeal to under-18s.
Hostelworld had to scrap its video of a group of skinny-dippers jumping from cliffs into water.
Twenty people complained over concerns the naked swimmers encouraged "tombstoning", which has resulted in a number of deaths in the UK.
The ASA refused to uphold 378 complaints that a weight-loss campaign featuring a woman in a bikini, asking: "Are you beach body ready?" was offensive.
Some of the complainants were concerned the ad could "shame women" with other body shapes.
The slimming product had earlier been told to change its ads, which ran prominently on London's Tube network, over potentially misleading health claims.
Moneysupermarket.com, meanwhile, is responsible for Britain's most-complained about TV commercial of 2015.
The ad showing a man walking down the street wearing heels and denim hot pants received 1,513 complaints.
But the ASA did not deem the "strutting man" offensive. | Beans may be good for the heart, but empty tin cans are not so good for hands or fingers - so says the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which on Wednesday banned a Heinz TV ad for encouraging people to beat out a song using empty cans - but Heinz is not alone. |
40,709,112 | Evidence of a longhouse has been found at the site, near Lossiemouth in Moray, along with a coin which is 1,100 years old.
The University of Aberdeen archaeologists had feared 19th-Century development would have destroyed remains.
They now hope the site will reveal more significant findings.
It is thought the Burghead Fort was a significant seat of power within the Pictish kingdom, between AD500 and AD1000.
The team from Aberdeen university began their dig in 2015.
They said the longhouse they found could provide vital clues about the character of Pictish domestic architecture and the nature of life at major forts such as Burghead.
Senior lecturer Dr Gordon Noble said: "The assumption has always been that there was nothing left at Burghead, that it was all trashed in the 19th Century but nobody's really looked at the interior to see if there's anything that survives inside the fort.
"But beneath the 19th Century debris, we have started to find significant Pictish remains. We appear to have found a Pictish longhouse.
"This is important because Burghead is likely to have been one of the key royal centres of Northern Pictland and understanding the nature of settlement within the fort is key to understanding how power was materialised within these important fortified sites."
Within the floor area of the longhouse, an Anglo-Saxon coin of Alfred the Great was found.
The team said this dated back to the 9th Century, when Viking raiders and settlers were leading to major changes within Pictish society.
"There is a lovely stone-built hearth in one end of the building and the Anglo-Saxon coin shows the building dates towards the end of the use of the fort based on previous dating," Dr Noble said.
"The coin is also interesting as it shows that the fort occupants were able to tap into long-distance trade networks. The coin is also pierced, perhaps for wearing; it shows that the occupants of the fort in this non-monetary economy literally wore their wealth."
The dig has been carried out in conjunction with Burghead Headline Trust, with support from Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service.
Bruce Mann, of Aberdeenshire Council, said: "Burghead Fort has long been recognised as being an important seat of power during the early Medieval period and is known as the largest fort of its type in Scotland.
"Its significance has just increased again though with this discovery. The fact that we have surviving buildings and floor levels from this date is just incredible, and the university's work is shedding light on what is too often mistakenly called the 'Dark Ages'." | Archaeologists have uncovered important new details of a Pictish settlement at Burghead Fort. |
40,761,294 | Micky Mellon's side showed no signs of a hangover from May's National League play-off heartache as James Norwood and Liam Ridehalgh both went close within the first five minutes.
From there Torquay, who avoided relegation on the final day of last season, restricted Tranmere to half chances and deserved to go in 0-0 at the break.
But Tranmere's hopes of seizing the early initiative in the title race took a blow when Steve McNulty saw red after 55 minutes for a second yellow, before Norwood's red card after 85 minutes left them grateful for a point.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Torquay United 0, Tranmere Rovers 0.
Second Half ends, Torquay United 0, Tranmere Rovers 0.
James Norwood (Tranmere Rovers) is shown the red card.
Substitution, Tranmere Rovers. Andy Cook replaces James Alabi.
Substitution, Torquay United. James Gray replaces Jon-Paul Pittman.
Substitution, Torquay United. Jordan Lee replaces Jake Gosling.
Substitution, Torquay United. Jamie Reid replaces Damon Lathrope.
Sean McGinty (Torquay United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Tranmere Rovers. Ritchie Sutton replaces Ollie Norburn.
Ruairi Keating (Torquay United) is shown the yellow card.
Second yellow card to Steve McNulty (Tranmere Rovers) for a bad foul.
Second Half begins Torquay United 0, Tranmere Rovers 0.
First Half ends, Torquay United 0, Tranmere Rovers 0.
Steve McNulty (Tranmere Rovers) is shown the yellow card.
Damon Lathrope (Torquay United) is shown the yellow card.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Tranmere were forced to hold on for a 0-0 draw at Torquay after going down to nine men. |
37,184,354 | The initiative was launched just before the Commonwealth Games in 2014 with 400 bikes located at 31 hire stations. There are now 435 bikes at 43 stations.
Glasgow City Council wants up to 900 bikes at 100 stations by next year.
Some of these would be located further afield such as Springburn in the north, Shawlands in the south, Tollcross in the east and Scotstoun in the west.
Bailie Elaine McDougall, the council's executive member for transport, environment and sustainability, said: "The people of Glasgow and surrounding areas have really embraced our cycle hire scheme, based on usage figures.
"The bikes are being seen in use all over the city and are very popular also with commuters, students, businesses and visitors.
"We receive overwhelming feedback from users of the scheme and numerous requests for more stations."
The current provider of the scheme, NextBike, operates 15,000 bikes in 80 cities worldwide, including Auckland, Dubai and Zagreb. Glasgow is the biggest bike scheme in the UK outside London and Liverpool.
The council's three-year contract with NextBike ends next year, with the option to extend it by two further 12-month periods.
EU procurement rules, however, mean there can be no further expansion of the current scheme without a competitive tender.
That process will begin at the end of the month, after which a known cost will emerge and the preferred bidder identified.
The authority hopes to have the first batch of new bike stations opened by Spring 2017.
Details of the scheme were put before members of the council's sustainability and the environment policy development committee on Thursday. | Plans have been unveiled to more than double the size of Glasgow's city-wide bike hire scheme. |
15,019,587 | The "GREAT" campaign hopes to create a £1bn boost for businesses and bring in four million extra foreign tourists.
Ministers are concerned that this summer's riots in several English cities have created a "negative image" abroad which needs to be overcome.
Mr Cameron said: "In 2012 there will be only one place to be. We are determined to make the most of this opportunity."
Speaking in New York, the prime minister added: "This campaign is simple. There are so many great things about Britain and we want to send out the message loud and proud that this is a great place to do business, to invest, to study and to visit."
Posters featuring, among others, tycoon Richard Branson, animated characters Wallace and Gromit, and King Henry VIII, have been designed to sell "great" British attributes.
The UK Trade and Investment, the Culture Department, the Foreign Office, Visit Britain and other government departments will work together on the campaign to bring in the business and tourists from now and beyond 2012.
London 2012: Latest Olympic news, sport, features and programmes from the BBC
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "This is not about rebranding Britain. It is about using that brand for exports and trade, more foreign tourists and to make sure we can put the record straight after some of the terrible events of this summer which created a negative image.
"I think that next year is really a time when we can tell the world what Britain is really about.
"It is a very practical, tangible programme based on something that is not new - the idea of putting the great back into Great Britain.
"If we were not doing this I think that people would be asking why we were not harnessing this absolutely unique opportunity.
"We want to do so in a way that is about jobs and prosperity."
The key campaign themes of heritage, sport, shopping, music, entrepreneurship, innovation and countryside are reflected in the posters produced to publicise the project.
However British design critic Stephen Bayley was not impressed by the display, telling The Times: "On this evidence, Great Britain does not do great ads.
"I don't blame the agency, I blame the client. A fundamental part of British greatness is self-criticism, not docile admiration of the trite and obvious."
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Weekend takes place from 2-5 June next year with the Olympics running from 27 July-12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August-9 September. | David Cameron has launched a project to promote Britain abroad to tie in with next year's London Olympics. |
40,011,733 | This means about 7.5 million people will not be able to vote for a woman.
The Scarborough and Whitby constituency has the longest men-only slate of candidates, with a total of eight male hopefuls.
Maidenhead has the biggest gap between the number of male and female candidates - with 11 men seeking election compared with two women.
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Enter a postcode or seat name
There are six seats in Wales and five seats in Scotland without a woman on the ballot.
The other 93 constituencies are all in England, as Northern Ireland is the only nation in the UK to have a female candidate in every constituency.
Within England, there are big regional differences in the number of seats being contested by at least one woman.
London comes closest to providing the option, with only 8% of seats not meeting the criteria - while in the West Midlands more than a quarter of all seats being contested lack female representation.
Northern Ireland also has the highest average for female candidates per seat - with 34 standing across the 18 seats available.
Overall, the 104 seats without female candidates is a fall from 2015 - then there were 124 seats across England, Scotland and Wales with no female contenders.
But there is one seat where it is impossible to elect a man to Parliament: Glasgow Central has four names on the ballot list - and they are all female.
The last time an all-female line-up was reported was in the 1992 contest in Lewisham Deptford between three women.
For a full list of candidates in all seats, you can visit the BBC's election page and find the constituencies there. | More than 100 constituencies across the UK have no female candidates on the ballot, BBC research has learned. |
37,799,732 | Performance inspectors found areas which missed targets included station toilets, ticket machines, train seats, toilets and cleanliness.
The results follow criticism of the ScotRail Alliance franchise, operated by Dutch firm Abellio, for delayed, cancelled and over-crowded trains.
ScotRail said the figures showed they "can never stop striving to improve".
Earlier this month, a petition to strip Abellio of the ScotRail contract was given to Transport Minister Humza Yousaf.
Following the release of the latest figures, which cover the period between July and September, Mr Yousaf said: "The latest quarter two results show a combined penalty of £483,000, and penalties to date for ScotRail's performance currently stands at £2.2m.
"This indicates further improvements can, and will, be made in terms of aspects of service delivery such as improvements in station shelters, train doors, train toilets and train announcements.
"As such, Transport Scotland have requested remedial action plans from ScotRail to focus on improving the performance in these areas."
Phil Verster, managing director of the ScotRail Alliance, said the operator had signed up to an even tougher inspection scheme than in previous years.
He said: "We did this because we know that being part of a tough scheme will mean that our staff will always be focused on delivering the best possible service to our customers.
"These figures show that, even although we are delivering in lots of areas, we can never stop striving to improve even further."
He added: "We have announced our largest-ever train improvement plan.
"Over the course of the next few years we will be spending £475m on new and refurbished trains as well as great services like enhanced wi-fi and at-seat power sockets."
ScotRail Alliance has previously published details of how it hopes to improve performance on the network.
The plan includes the protection of "golden trains", services that have the biggest impact on the network if they are delayed or cancelled.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she is "absolutely committed" to fixing the problems on Scotland's railways.
She said it was "absolutely incumbent" on operator Abellio to deliver services that met those expectations. | ScotRail has been fined £483,000 for failing to meet required standards for trains and stations. |
39,032,051 | Dozens of people, including construction workers and restaurant staff, reported being fired after staying at home on Thursday.
The protest aimed to highlight the contribution of immigrants in the US.
One employer told CNN his staff would have to "pay the price" of standing up for what they believed in.
Jim Serowski, of JVS Masonry in Commerce City, Colorado, said he had no regrets after sacking about 30 bricklayers.
"They were warned, 'if you do this you're hurting the company, and if you go against the team you're not a member of the team'," he was quoted as saying.
The exact number of workers fired is not clear, however US outlets reported a series of sackings. Among those who said they had lost their jobs were 12 restaurant workers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who spoke to Fox News and 18 employees at a commercial painting company in Nolensville, Tennessee, according to NBC.
Businesses and schools across the US faced widespread disruption on Thursday as workers and students took part in a strike over President Donald Trump's hard-line stance on immigration.
In a news conference last week, Mr Trump said he would publish a new executive order after the US courts stymied his previous attempt to bar the entry of immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries.
The Associated Press quoted a senior administration official on Monday as saying the new order would target people from the same countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.
Rallies took place in various US cities, including New York's Times Square, over the weekend to support Muslim Americans and to protest against Mr Trump's policies.
In Boston, hundreds of scientists took to the streets on Sunday over the president's approach to issues such as climate change.
Thousands of people are expected to attend further demonstrations on Monday to coincide with the US Presidents' Day holiday, with Mr Trump expected to return to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago beach retreat in Florida. | More than 100 workers in the US have lost their jobs after taking part in last week's Day Without Immigrants protest, US media say. |
38,686,748 | The pieces include Picasso's Child With A Dove worth £50m which is now thought to be in Qatar.
Wealthy buyers are using "exploitable loopholes" and "gentlemen's agreements" to avoid export restrictions on national treasures, say experts.
However, the Arts Council said 32 such items had stayed in Britain because of the rules since 2011-12.
Important cultural objects bought by overseas collectors often have a temporary export ban put on them.
This gives British dealers or museums a chance to match the price.
But a total of 41 national treasures worth £278m were granted export licences between 2011 and 2016.
These include:
The Art Fund - which campaigns to save art for the nation - said the rules should be tightened.
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said: "Applying for an export licence you have to promise if a museum raises a matching sum you will sell it to them.
"We [the Art Fund] want to see some proper legal muscle to a system currently based on gentlemen's agreements.
"The civil servants running it need to listen to people who have new ideas for change."
But leading art historian and dealer Bendor Grosvenor said the UK's export system was probably the best in the world because it balanced the interest of both the public and private collectors.
"Art is a global business," he said. "Is it in the public interest for the state to effectively seize someone's private assets?"
Artefacts are considered to be a "national treasure" if their loss would be felt through historical importance, appearance and scholarship.
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "The UK's cultural export controls helps to keep national treasures, such as TE Lawrence's dagger and Jane Austen's ring, in the country.
"While it's not possible to save every object, the system is designed to strike the right balance between protecting our national cultural heritage and individual property rights."
The decision on whether an artwork is a national treasure is made by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Artworks worth almost £300m have left Britain permanently since 2011, according to new figures. |
37,106,210 | The Supreme Court upheld an earlier high court ruling on Wednesday that the tradition was dangerous for children.
The court also banned human pyramids taller than 20ft (6m).
Every year dozens of groups in Mumbai mark the Hindu festival of Janmashtami by forming human pyramids to reach pots carrying yogurt hung high above.
The festival, known as the Dahi Handi festival, is celebrated to mark the Hindu god, Krishna's birthday.
Religious scriptures say he loved dairy products and often climbed onto his brother's shoulders to reach hidden pots of butter.
Many teams compete to make the tallest pyramid every year and children are often put on top to reach the pots.
But recent years have seen injuries and accidents. Last year, one man died and more than 100 other suffered injuries during the celebrations. | India's top court has ruled that people below the age of 18 years cannot participate in Mumbai's famous human pyramid religious festival. |
30,631,798 | Speaking for the first time about the claims, playwright Jon Conway says: "The press have run away with that story."
Conway says Truth, Lies, Diana uncovers "secrets about Diana and her death the establishment have tried to hide".
Diana died in a car crash in 1997.
She left behind her two young sons, Princes William and Harry, aged 15 and 12 at the time of her death.
In the play it's revealed James Hewitt knew her before Prince Harry was born.
He has always said Prince Harry was a toddler when he first met Diana.
Jon Conway says when researching and writing the play he found evidence suggesting Hewitt knew the Princess of Wales before 1984, when the prince was born.
He says he presented this to Hewitt who responded with "Yes, that is the inconvenient truth".
In Princess Diana's controversial 1995 Panorama interview she admitted to having an affair with James Hewitt.
She said: "Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him. But I was very let down."
Jon Conway said: "Neither James nor the play makes any claim he is the father of Prince Harry. It's one of many examples where the public hasn't been told the whole truth [surrounding Diana].
"At no point did he or does he claim he's the father [of Prince Harry], the press have chosen to misrepresent that. The point we're making is that it would appear that the palace and certain sections of the media have conspired to not tell the whole truth."
James Hewitt has previously said there is "no possibility whatsoever" he is Prince Harry's father, the fourth in line to the throne.
The new play, which opens in London next week, says it reveals "sensational new information" about the death of Princess Diana.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the new play or any personal friendships of the royal family.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | The author of a controversial new play about Princess Diana's death has exclusively told Newsbeat that reports it claims James Hewitt is Prince Harry's father are untrue. |
36,736,618 | The North South Ministerial Council Special EU Programmes meeting was held at Iveagh House.
Ministers repeated the commitment of the two governments to work together to ensure Northern Ireland's interests are protected in any new arrangements following the UK vote to leave the EU.
Mr Ó Muilleoir and Mr Donohoe also re-iterated the recent North South Ministerial Council commitment to the successful implementation of the Peace and Interreg programmes.
They agreed to consider the issue of securing finance from the European Regional Development Fund for the two programmes including through engagement with the European Commission.
"It is very clear there is 500m euros (£427m) in the balance and myself and junior minister Alastair Ross and Minister Donohoe want to secure that money," Mr Ó Muilleoir said. | Northern Ireland Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir and the Republic of Ireland Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe have discussed the implications of Brexit at a meeting in Dublin. |
35,217,233 | Hobden was found dead at a private property in Scotland on Sunday. The cause of his death has not been given.
Jeremy Green, the first XI captain of local league side Preston Nomads, said the news was "a massive shock".
"When he walked into a room, he lit it up," said Green, who felt Hobden could have played for England. "He was larger-than-life on and off the field."
Green said Hobden's "passing is unbelievably hard to take", adding: "Our thoughts go out to Matt's family and close friends at this really tough time."
Hobden was regarded as a potential future international and England players wore black armbands on day two of the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
"We had a nickname for him which was BMH, 'Big Matt Hobden'," said Green.
"He was certainly one of those guys who, although being a gentle giant, could still bowl you a 90mph bouncer.
"For a guy of 22 to have had such an impact is really testament to him as a person and really reflects how happy and joyous he was."
In addition to Green's sentiments, Preston Nomads Cricket Club issued a heartfelt tribute to Hobden.
It said players "felt honoured to be a part of his story", that they would "miss him terribly" and it is a "heartbreaking injustice" not being able to see how far he could have gone in the game.
Hobden attended Millfield School in Somerset and Eastbourne College. He studied business economics at Cardiff Metropolitan University before focusing on his sporting career.
As a youngster, he played for Glynde & Beddingham Cricket Club in East Sussex.
Aged 16 and nicknamed 'Hobbo', he was part of their senior squad as they became the first Sussex side to win the National Village Cricket Knockout Final held at Lord's in 2009.
"Matthew was often back at Glynde to cheer the club on and he will be greatly missed by us all," said a club statement.
Hobden joined Preston Nomads in 2012 and helped them win the Sussex Premier League title that season.
Within two years, he had signed a professional contract with Sussex.
"The first time he played for us, we were sitting around in the dressing room afterwards and I was speaking to the vice-captain and said 'we're not going to see much of him, he's destined for far greater things than playing amateur cricket,'" said Green.
"I have no doubt he would have played for England or certainly been very close.
"Whether he bowled 15 overs or had a hard day in the field, he still had a smile on his face at the end of the day.
"He just loved playing cricket and loved his life that went with it. It was his naturally sunny disposition."
Hobden took 23 wickets at an average of 47.30 in 10 County Championship Division One games last season.
"It was very noticeable what an absolutely beautiful bowling action he had," said Green.
"He was a big guy, huge, long delivery strides, almost effortless really.
"It seemed like he didn't have to put too much effort in... the ball just came out at 85-90mph the whole time."
But he also excelled with the bat, hitting an unbeaten 65 in a record 10th-wicket stand for Sussex with Ollie Robinson in April 2015.
"He was a natural athlete," added Green.
"His full-length diving stops, for a guy who was about 6ft 5in and 90 kilos, possibly heavier, was a phenomenal thing to see. I was quite shocked the first time I saw it.
"He was just a natural ball player. That came through as we always used to bat him quite high up the order. He had a couple of half-centuries for us."
Hobden last turned out for the Nomads on 28 August, 2015, when his figures of one for six, including two no balls, off seven overs helped secure victory against Middleton in their final game of the summer.
"I think they were slightly perturbed when they saw Matt rock up for us," said Green.
"The speed the ball was coming down at and the areas he was bowling were far too good for the batters. It was hitting the keeper's gloves before the batsmen had a chance to play a shot.
"What was noticeable for me was his willingness to still play amateur cricket while at the same time being a fully fledged professional. That was always a real breath of fresh air.
"He just wanted to play cricket because he enjoyed it so much.
"Even if he'd had a really hard week in the field and had been playing five or six days a week, he'd still turn up on a Saturday for a little amateur club like ours and give 110%. That was just the guy he was. It was in his blood." | Sussex bowler Matthew Hobden, who has died aged 22, was a "gentle giant", according to his amateur club captain. |
37,344,699 | Resuming on 50-4, Sussex slumped to 71-7 before a 97-run stand between Chris Jordan (57*) and Jofra Archer (46) helped avoid the follow-on on 229.
Having trailed by 77, Sussex then bowled out Worcestershire for 194.
Set 272 to win, Sussex closed on 13-1 for the loss of Chris Nash.
He was caught behind in the final over off Joe Leach by Ben Cox, who had earlier scored his second half century of the match to follow Tom Fell's 85 and 31 from Joe Clarke - the only three Worcestershire batsmen in double figures.
Magoffin's match figures of 10-70, having followed his first-innings 5-38 with an even tidier 5-32, has given Sussex hope, aided by David Wiese (4-18). but Worcestershire look in better shape to win and improve their chances of taking the runners-up spot off Kent in Division Two behind promoted Essex.
Cummins' earlier haul, in only his second appearance for Worcestershire, was not as economical as his career-best 7-45 for Barbados against Trinidad & Tobago at Port of Spain in April 2013 - but it was a big improvement on his wicketless debut against Essex at Chelmsford last week.
Sussex coach Mark Davis told BBC Radio Sussex:
"It was another exciting day and a lot happened but our bowlers kept us in the game. We did well from 71-7 to scrap to 229 and then Steve Magoffin bowled magnificently again on a pitch where you can score runs quite quickly.
"In the last few games he has been absolutely fantastic for us and he got great support from the other seamers, particularly David Wiese.
"Losing Chris Nash at the end was a blow but, as we showed in the first innings, we bat a long way down. It was great to see Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer batting so intelligently. Their partnership might turn out to be absolutely crucial.
Worcestershire assistant coach Matt Mason told BBC Herefordshire & Worcestershire:
"Our batsmen think Steve Magoffin is the best new-ball bowler in the division and he showed it again. He was magnificent for them.
"The first hour tomorrow is going to be crucial to deciding the outcome. If we can take two or three wickets then we'll be in a strong position but if Sussex come hard at us it will be us under a bit of pressure.
"Wickets have tended to fall in clusters but the way Tom Fell and Ben Cox, for the second time in the match, batted showed you can score runs. Their stand might make the difference." | Worcestershire's West Indies fast bowler Miguel Cummins took 7-84, while Australian Steve Magoffin weighed in with a second 'five-for' of the match as 17 wickets fell in the day at Hove. |
40,338,193 | One had fallen overboard and had been in the water for more than 30 minutes.
The pair were picked up just south of Portpatrick harbour by the local RNLI Lifeboat at about 18:30 on Monday.
Rescuers have praised the actions of two local boys who spotted the kayakers in trouble and called the coastguard. | Two kayakers have been rescued from the Irish Sea after getting into difficulty off the Wigtownshire coast. |
39,831,058 | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) officers are investigating following reports the water running through Llantwit Major was a milky colour.
Chris Rees, NRW team leader, said officers were working to try to identify the source of the pollution and assess any further impact.
He said if the source was found enforcement action would be taken. | About 100 eels and some brown trout have been killed after a stream in the Vale of Glamorgan was polluted. |
35,199,741 | Sean Moore, 49, has aided emergency responses to earthquakes and storms in countries such as Haiti, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and Turkey.
The father-of-two has spent most of his career in Coventry, where he grew up.
The National Crime Agency's Sarah Goodall, from Southam in Warwickshire, has also been appointed an OBE.
Mr Moore, who has been a group commander for West Midlands Fire Service for more than 20 years, also worked on the UK's response to the Ebola crisis.
Updates on this story and more from Coventry & Warwickshire
He was among crews sent to the US in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita - one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record - in 2005, and has taken part in humanitarian campaigns in Bosnia, Romania, Tanzania and the Middle East.
Describing his work in disaster zones as "an extension of what firefighters do every day", he said the recognition had come as "a total surprise".
"I simply enjoy helping people, especially at their greatest hour of need," he said.
"I only wish my mum, who passed away five weeks ago, could have been here to see it."
Others recognised in the New Year Honours include Coventry University Pro-Chancellor Michael Judge and Dennis Davison, chairman of Coventry-based charity Normandy Veterans UK, who were both appointed MBEs.
Warwickshire Police's Chief Constable Martin Jelley has been awarded the Queen's Police Medal. | A firefighter who plays a key role in a UK rescue team responding to global disasters has been appointed an OBE in the New Year Honours. |
27,911,416 | A report into the £15m system to log crime information found oversight of the project was "not fit for purpose".
Surrey PCC Kevin Hurley said Mark Rowley - chief constable at the time - should take responsibility.
But Assistant Commissioner Rowley, who is now at the Met, defended his role.
The Surrey Integrated Reporting Enterprise Network (Siren) was commissioned by Surrey Police in 2009 but was abandoned last year.
The report, by auditors Grant Thornton, said it was was an "ambitious project that was beyond the in-house capabilities and experience" of the police force and police authority.
Mr Hurley said: "Mr Rowley is no longer employed in Surrey, but if he were I would as PCC be considering how best to hold him to account.
"He is now employed by the Metropolitan Police Service. I will be writing to the Mayor for London Boris Johnson and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to take action as they see appropriate."
Siren was specifically designed to log crimes and store intelligence on criminals and suspects.
But Mr Hurley scrapped the project after the force concluded that it did not represent the "best long-term option for the force and the public".
Mr Rowley said he noted there were "no criticisms of individuals or their conduct" in the report but said he agreed with its recommendations.
"I'm sure that all those involved in leading this project as officers or from the Surrey Police Authority share with me regret and disappointment that Siren did not realise the benefits for the public we sought," he added.
The force spent £14.8m on the project from its inception to 31 March 2013. The money was spent on staff costs, training, software, technology and consultancy.
It was replaced with a less costly crime information system which is used by 13 other forces.
Mr Rowley's roles at the Met include overseeing the development of digital technology.
He is due to take up a new post later this month as head of specialist operations, which includes responsibility for counter-terrorism policing.
Echoing his statement, the Met said: "The MPS note that the report does not single out any individual for criticism and does not appear to identify any misconduct issues.
"If misconduct allegations are made in relation to any MPS officer, they will be considered in the normal manner." | Surrey's police and crime commissioner has called for one of Britain's most senior police officers to be held to account for the failure of a multi-million pound computer project. |
33,105,128 | Police have sealed off their offices in Islamabad and foreign staff given 15 days to leave the country.
Save the Children said it "strongly objected" to the action.
Pakistan has previously linked the charity to the fake vaccination programme used by the CIA to track down Osama Bin Laden.
The charity has always denied being involved with the CIA or Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, who carried out the programme.
The charity has had no foreign staff in the country for the past 18 months in response to the accusations.
It now has 1,200 Pakistani staff working on projects in health, education and food.
Speaking after the charity was shut, Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan said that NGO's were operating beyond their remit with backing from US, Israel and India.
"Local NGOs that use foreign help and foreign funding to implement a foreign agenda in Pakistan should be scared. We will not allow them to work here whatever connections they enjoy, regardless of the outcry," he said in a live television broadcast.
Save the Children, which has operations all over the world, has worked in Pakistan for more than 30 years.
The Pakistani government has not given a formal announcement explaining the decision.
But one official told the AFP news agency: "Their activities were being monitored since a long time. They were doing something which was against Pakistan's interest."
A police official said that the charity's phone calls and offices had been placed under surveillance. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, he added that the charity's activities were "very suspicious".
Condemning the move, Save the Children said it was "raising our serious concerns at the highest levels", adding that its workers were all Pakistani nationals.
A Save the Children official told Reuters that the Pakistan government had been stopping aid shipments entering the country, "blocking aid to millions of children and their families".
It comes after the Pakistani government announced it was tightening the rules for NGOs, revoking several of their licences.
The BBC understands that one of those NGO's, the Norwegian Refugee Council, has ceased all operations in Pakistan as its licence has not yet been renewed. | Pakistan has ordered the charity Save the Children to leave the country, with an official accusing the NGO of "anti-Pakistan" activities. |
35,104,306 | Last month, tyre manufacturer Michelin cited high electricity prices as one reason for closing its Ballymena plant in 2018, with the loss of 860 jobs.
The group will be chaired by Dale Farm chief executive David Dobbin.
It will report back to the minister by 1 March.
Other members of the group include Carla Tully from generating company AES, Jackie Pollock from the Unite union and Mark Nodder from Wrightbus.
Its terms of reference are to review the evidence about what effect energy costs have on the competitiveness of manufacturers.
It will then identify policies, strategies and examples of industry good practice in how to reduce energy costs.
Mr Dobbin said there will be restrictions, "whether it's state aid rules or European guidelines", that the group would have to adhere to in its recommendations.
He added that the aim should be to get energy costs as close as possible to the average EU benchmark.
"I don't think we're going to have the lowest costs in Europe because of our peripherality and the size of our market," he said. | Stormont Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell has appointed an advisory group to make recommendations about tackling energy costs in the manufacturing sector. |
32,697,212 | He told the BBC the leadership had allowed itself to be portrayed as "moving backwards".
There was "absolutely no point" blaming voters for Labour's defeat, he added.
But Mr Miliband, who was beaten to the job of leader by his younger sibling in 2010, also said the two of them would "remain brothers for life".
He ruled himself out of becoming the party's next leader, although that would not be possible anyway as he is not an MP.
Mr Miliband quit parliament in 2013 to work for the International Rescue Committee charity in New York.
Ed Miliband resigned as Labour leader in the aftermath of the general election, which left his party on 232 seats, with the Conservatives securing an overall majority.
His approach was criticised at the weekend by former Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, while some of the MPs tipped to replace him have spoken of the need to appeal to "aspirational" voters.
Speaking to the BBC's Nick Bryant in New York, David Miliband said there was "absolutely no point in blaming the electorate" for the election result.
"They didn't want what was being offered," he said.
He said his brother and, before him, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown had "allowed themselves to be portrayed as moving backwards from the principles of aspiration and inclusion that are the absolute heart of any successful progressive political project".
He added: "Either we build on what Labour achieved after 1997 and we have a chance to succeed, or we abandon it and we fail."
But he said he remained in touch with his younger brother, adding that "many of the attacks on Ed were unpleasant and unfair and I think he dealt with them with enormous dignity and with courage… I've always said you remain brothers for life and that's something that has to be kept".
Asked whether Labour would be better off if he had been chosen as leader, Mr Miliband said there was "no point in trying to press the rewind button in life".
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said Mr Miliband's remarks about aspiration suggested he thought the leadership was "obsessed with taking money from those at the top" but that it "didn't have enough to say about those in the middle".
Meanwhile, Labour's acting leader, Harriet Harman, urged the party's MPs to use their media appearances to "land one on the Tories in every interview you do".
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said Ms Harman used her appearance before the Parliamentary Labour Party to express frustration at some of the "commentary" from some party figures following the election.
"We do have to be truthful about what happened, but not step over the line and cause further problems," she said.
The meeting discussed the possible timetable for electing a new leader.
Ms Harman said there were "balanced arguments" over whether a short or long campaign would be best, and that the National Executive Committee, which will meet on Wednesday at noon, would make the final decision.
Liz Kendall, shadow care minister, has said she wants to stand as party leader.
Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Chuka Umunna are also expected to join the race - but backbencher Dan Jarvis has ruled himself out.
Labour MP Stella Creasy said she would be "open to the question" of putting her name forward for the deputy leadership of the party.
Speaking on Newsnight, she ruled out standing as leader but said she would "want to hear what people have to say" about the future direction of the party.
Tom Watson, the party's former deputy chairman, has also said he will consider running for deputy, and shadow Commons leader Angela Eagle is believed to be considering putting herself forward. | Ex-Foreign Secretary David Miliband has criticised his brother Ed's leadership of the Labour Party, saying voters "did not want what was being offered". |
39,181,084 | Sheeran's third album, titled ÷ (Divide), has become a monster hit since its release on Friday.
The all-time list for first-week sales has Adele's 25 and Oasis's Be Here Now at the top with 800,000 each.
If Sheeran doesn't quite match them, he could go third on that list, above Take That's Progress, which sold 518,601.
Sheeran has said he wants to challenge Adele's album sales.
"Adele is the one person who's sold more records than me in the past 10 years," he told GQ.
"She's the only person I need to sell more records than. That's a big feat because her last album sold 20 million. But if I don't set her as the benchmark then I'm selling myself short."
His album has already exceeded expectations. Before the release, Sheeran's manager Stuart Camp told Music Week he would be "ecstatic" with first-week figures of 350,000.
But he added: "But really I'm thinking, what will we have sold by the end of 2018? It's about the long game."
The final chart and first-week sales figures will be revealed on Friday.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion, email [email protected]. | Ed Sheeran's new album has become one of the fastest-selling releases ever in the UK, shifting 432,000 copies in just three days. |
35,983,364 | Ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of misdemeanour conspiracy to violate mine safety standards.
The 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia was the deadliest mine explosion in decades.
Mr Blankenship expressed sorrow but denied he was responsible during the sentencing hearing.
A judge also gave him the maximum fine of $250,000 (£165,000).
He called the coal miners who died "great guys, great coal miners".
"It is important to everyone that you know that I'm not guilty of a crime," he said.
His lawyers had argued probation and a fine would be a more appropriate sentence.
Family members of miners killed in the accident yelled at him as he left the courthouse.
"We buried our kid because of you," said Robert Atkins, whose son died in the accident. "That's all I got is a goddamn tombstone."
Mr Blankenship was convicted of conspiracy last December, and the former superintendent of the mine was given 21 months in prison for falsifying records, disabling a methane gas monitor and tipping off workers ahead of inspections. In total, the investigation into the explosion resulted in five criminal convictions.
"This sentence is a victory for workers and workplace safety," said Acting US Attorney Carol Casto in a release. "It lets companies and their executives know that you can't take chances with the lives of coal miners and get away with it." | The former CEO of a coal company has been sentenced to a year in prison for a mine explosion that killed 29 men. |
37,896,976 | The prime minister shared a long lunch, a long chat and two public platforms with her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi and she's sure to spend more time in future cultivating a personal and economic relationship she sees as vital to British prosperity after Brexit.
But sealing a comprehensive trade deal demands more than smiles and salutes.
India wants more visas for students and workers. Theresa May has shown no inclination to offer any broad commitment to a more liberal approach to Indian migration.
There is no cap on visa numbers. The official UK line is Britain's doors are open to the "brightest and the best". Yet the UK is widely seen in India as wanting "free trade in everything except people".
And Mrs May's anxiety to reduce net migration into the UK to the tens of thousands is well-known and frequently stated.
Today the prime minister promised to allow Indian travellers, maybe 10,000 over the coming two years, to pass UK immigration more easily at ports and airports - as easily as UK travellers.
Successful high value travellers, of the kind most countries are keen to welcome, would have extra help and advice for their families and themselves.
However, Mrs May also wants India to do more to facilitate the return of Indians who have overstayed their legal limit in the UK. That might mean more effort approving the documentation needed to return an overstayer home.
Again, the British desire to bear down on net migration lies at the root of a tension in relations between the two countries.
If Britain is going to make a success of Brexit in the broadest sense, it is vital to cultivate India, a trade market which has shrunk even as the Indian economy has grown.
The political obstacles at home on the road to Brexit have yet to be negotiated. The challenges beyond already look daunting.
Swashbuckling, dashing, gloriously reckless. Just a few of the epithets you'll never, ever, see applied to Theresa May. Yet it's hard to think of anyone who's had a more successful few months in today's politics. If she was a cricketer, she'd be Geoffrey Boycott.
And if the Yorkshire and England cricket legend was here in New Delhi, he'd probably sing her praises. Which, as it happens, he is and he did.
"She'll be like Margaret Thatcher," he told an admiring gaggle of cricket-loving journos who spotted him the the Taj Palace Hotel.
"She's good. She doesn't need my advice. She's got a few more strokes than me."
"She has views and she's strong. Life is about integrity and principles - it should be. We want politicians like that with integrity, with principles, with honesty."
As any Test Match Special listener could tell you, when Geoffrey likes someone, he says so.
And generally doesn't stop. | If Theresa May was seeking to ramp up UK-India trade in smiles, salutes and friendly rhetoric, she'd have a world class deal already. |
38,142,915 | Few people are aware of it, but a law requiring clubs and music cafes to pay a "dance tax" is being enforced in the capital of the EU.
This is not EU bureaucracy gone mad. It's the homegrown, Belgian kind imposed by the City of Brussels authorities.
For every dancer, establishments have to pay 40 cents (34p/$0.43) per night.
The law was adopted two years ago, but some cafes are only now being audited.
"The tax inspector explained that the tax is based on the number of people dancing," Nicholas Boochie, artistic director of the Bonnefooi venue, told local website Bruzz.
"I first thought it was a joke, but it really does turn out to be true."
At 40 cents per dancer per night, the amount can add up to €2,000 (£1,700) a year, he said, a large sum for a business with a small turnover. It's money he would rather put into hiring more performers.
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The city authorities say on their website that clubs and music cafes lead to additional expenses for the city in terms of security and public order, and that the tax is needed to cover some of the extra costs.
Some point out that the law has been in force for some time, and that the Bonnefooi is lucky not to have been charged before.
"Sometimes taxes are applied, but there are not enough officials to collect them," Marc Van Muylders, of Horeca Bruxelles, told Bruzz.
So is there any room for tax avoidance? Nicholas Boochie wondered about the criteria for dancing. "Is throwing your arms in the air dancing?" he asked.
The cafe is set to pay the bill, but not without a little peaceful protest.
The windows of Bonnefooi now have stickers asking customers not to dance. "Can you stop dancing guys?" a message on the cafe's Facebook page asks, tongue firmly in cheek.
If the answer is no, Mr Boochie is thinking about organising a "dance-protest" against the tax.
Expect some nifty - if costly - footwork. | If you're planning to hit the dance floor in Brussels, beware of a new tax and a strange request. |
13,507,474 | Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 65, is the first woman to be convicted of genocide by an international court.
She was found guilty, along with her son and four other former officials, after a 10-year trial.
Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 massacres.
Nyiramasuhuko, who was family affairs and women's development minister, was accused of ordering and assisting in the massacres in her home district of Butare in southern Rwanda.
The prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) accused her of taking part in the government decision to create militias throughout the country. Their mission was to wipe out the Tutsi population as fast as possible.
"The chamber convicts Pauline Nyiramasuhuko of conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination, rape, persecution and... violence to life and outrages upon personal dignity," read the ruling by the trial's three judges.
During the genocide she ordered women and girls to be raped and forced people onto trucks - they were driven away to be killed.
Her son, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, who was in his early 20s at the time, headed a militia that carried out the massacres. He also raped women.
Profile: Pauline Nyiramasuhuko
How the genocide happened
Presiding Judge William Sekule said scores of ethnic Tutsis were killed after taking refuge in a local government office.
"Hoping to find safety and security, they instead found themselves subject to abductions, rapes, and murder. The evidence... paints a clear picture of unfathomable depravity and sadism," he said.
Ntahobali and one other local official were sentenced to life in prison, while three others were jailed for between 25 and 35 years.
BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says Nyiramasuhuko showed no emotion as she was sentenced.
She was found guilty on seven of the 11 charges she faced. She had denied all the charges.
The trial opened in 2001, making it the longest held by the ICTR.
Last month, former army chief Augustin Bizimungu and three other former military officers were convicted after a nine-year trial.
The Rwandan government, led by Paul Kagame who ended the genocide, has long complained about the slow pace of justice at the tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania.
Butare was once home to a large mix of Hutu and Tutsi people, and there was some resistance there to the orders to carry out the massacres.
Nyiramasuhuko was accused of requesting military assistance to proceed with the massacres in her home commune.
After the genocide, she fled to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), before being arrested in Kenya in 1997, reports the AFP news agency.
Our correspondent says that although she was the only woman on trial for genocide before the ICTR, many other women have been convicted of genocide in Rwandan courts.
Two nuns were found guilty of participating in the genocide by a court in Belgium. | A former Rwandan women's minister has been sentenced to life in prison for her role in the genocide and the rape of Tutsi women and girls. |
39,934,711 | Notts folded in April and the Football Association wants to rebalance the two tiers of the WSL with 10 teams in each.
WSL 2 sides have been asked to show how they can meet the additional licence criteria and financial demands at the higher level.
A decision on the successful bidder will be made in June.
It will be based on the applicant clubs' skills in business management, youth development and marketing, as well as the quality of their facilities and their performances on the pitch in the past 12 months.
Before Notts' liquidation, there would have been 10 teams in WSL 1 for 2017-18, and 11 in WSL 2.
With one match remaining, Everton are top of the WSL 2 Spring Series - a one-off, smaller league competition designed to bridge the gap before the WSL reverts to a winter schedule in 2017-18.
Everton can win the title on Saturday, however, there will be no promotion and relegation between the top two tiers at the end of the Spring Series.
One of either Blackburn or Tottenham, who face each other in a promotion play-off at the end of May, will join WSL 2 for the 2017-18 campaign.
Current WSL 2 clubs will have until 30 May to submit their business plans and budgets. | Women's Super League Two clubs have been invited to apply to join WSL 1 for the 2017-18 winter season, to replace the defunct Notts County Ladies. |
37,383,779 | The five-year-old was killed by paedophile Mark Bridger after being snatched from outside her home in Machynlleth, Powys, on 1 October, 2012.
April's parents Paul and Coral Jones are hoping the petition will prompt a change in the law.
"The more signatures we get the more fight we have," said Mrs Jones.
The new petition follows April's Law petition which was set up in 2013, which attracted 70,000 signatures.
Mrs Jones said she hoped it would attract 100,000 signatures which would allow for it to be discussed in Parliament.
Unable to track down the author of the original petition, the family launched a new one hoping for the following three key aspects:
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Mrs Jones said: "It's three simple things, but we're hoping a new law will help other families.
"It's nearly four years on and we're still affected by it, and we don't want any other family to go through what we have."
April's sister Jazmin said April's death had a huge impact on her life.
"I shared a bedroom with her and me and my brother were always together with her," she said.
"We didn't really know what to do with ourselves.
"It took me two years to go and get help because I didn't want to admit that I was struggling and seem like the weak one in the family."
Mark Bridger was given a whole life jail term in 2013 after being found guilty of April's murder.
He was not on the sex offenders list, but indecent images of young children were found on his computer.
Jazmin said a year before April's death, he had attempted to approach her when she was 14-years-old.
"He contacted me on Facebook and tried to add me as a friend," she said.
"He was trying to say that he was friends with my mum and dad just to get me to accept." | The family of murdered schoolgirl April Jones have started a new petition calling for all sex offenders to remain on the register for life. |
23,409,404 | It reminds me of reporting on a drought a few years ago: while filming interviews with people about the impact, the heavens opened and rainwater was soon flowing down my neck.
So as journalists were invited to the Science Media Centre in London to hear how the worldwide rise in temperatures has stalled, the mercury shot up as if on cue to record the hottest day of the year so far.
In many ways, this event was long overdue: climate sceptics have for years pointed out that the world is not warming as rapidly as once forecast.
A lot depends on how you do the measurements, of course.
Each of the last few decades has been warmer than the last. But start your graph in 1998 - which happened to be an exceptionally warm year - and there hasn't been much global warming at all.
Gradually the words 'pause' and 'hiatus' which first featured in the blogs have crossed to the media and then to the scientists professionally engaged in researching the global climate.
The headline - which the scientists will not thank me for - is that no one is really sure why the rate of warming has stumbled.
There are plenty of possible explanations but none of them adds up to a definitive smoking gun.
Professor Piers Forster of Leeds University has tried to quantify the different factors involved - what's known as their "radiative forcing".
Between 1998-2012, he reckons, manmade greenhouse gases were still the biggest influence, causing warming of 0.48 of a Watt per square metre (a key measure of energy flows to and from the planet).
At the same, he estimates, two other natural influences might have led to some cooling: a relatively quiet Sun might have been responsible for a reduction of 0.16 of a Watt/sq m and volcanic eruptions another 0.06 Watt/sq m.
A big unknown is the effect of aerosols - tiny particles released by industrial pollution which could cause a further cooling effect.
It is thought that the world's massive industrialisation after World War Two contributed to a slight drop in global temperatures in the late 1940s.
But the key factor - according to all the speakers at the briefing - is that whatever solar energy is making it through to the surface, much is being absorbed by the hidden depths of the oceans.
The Argo network of automated monitors has been deployed since 2005 to measure the waters as deep as 1,800m. This isn't a very long period but the data are apparently showing some warming - even in this short time frame.
And readings from satellites since 2000 show how much energy is arriving at the planet, and how much is leaving, so if the energy left behind is not manifesting itself in rising surface temperatures, then it must be going somewhere - and the deep ocean is the most plausible explanation.
On top of that, the scientists say, pauses in warming were always to be expected. This is new - at least to me.
It is common sense that climate change would not happen in a neat, linear away but instead in fits and starts.
But I've never heard leading researchers mention the possibility before.
Professor Rowan Sutton, of Reading University, said computer simulations or models of possible future climate scenarios often show periods of ten years with no warming trend - some even show pauses of 20-25 years.
And Professor Stephen Belcher, head of the Met Office Hadley Centre, said observations and models showed that on average there were - or would be - two pauses in warming every century.
I asked why this had not come up in earlier presentations. No one really had an answer, except to say that this "message" about pauses had not been communicated widely.
So where does this leave us, as greenhouse gases emissions keep rising but the temperature does not?
Dr Peter Stott, of the Met Office, pointed out that 12 of the 14 warmest years have occurred since the year 2000 and says that other indicators - like the decline in Arctic sea ice of 12.9% per decade and losses of snow cover and glaciers - still point to a process of manmade warming.
But what about another possibility - that the calculations are wrong?
What if the climate models - which are the very basis for all discussions of what to do about global warming - exaggerate the sensitivity of the climate to rising carbon dioxide?
Dr Stott conceded that the projections showing the most rapid warming now look less likely, given recent observations, but that others remain largely unchanged.
A Met Office briefing document, released at the briefing, says that, even allowing for the temperatures of the last decade, the most likely warming scenario is only reduced by 10% - so "the warming that we might have expected by 2050 would be delayed by only a few years".
Overall, it concludes, the pause "does not materially alter the risks of substantial warming of the Earth by the end of this century."
In other words, global warming is still on.
But until the pause can be properly explained, many people will take a lot of convincing - especially if the pause lasts longer than expected. | With Britain's heatwave reaching a peak, there could be no better moment to talk about why global warming has slowed to a standstill. |
31,704,009 | The co-payment scheme would have required doctors to decide whether or not to charge patients an extra A$5 ($4.1, £2.6) for a visit.
Health Minister Susan Ley said on Tuesday that the idea had been dropped because of a lack of support.
Critics of the policy said it shifted the burden of financing healthcare to doctors and patients.
The proposed scheme had been heavily criticised by medical professionals.
It replaced a previous and equally unpopular plan in December to charge patients a A$7 fee to see a GP.
How does Australian Medicare work now?
Under the updated version of the scheme, doctors would have seen their Medicare rebates for some patients cut by A$5, with doctors given the option to pass that cost on to the patient.
The government claimed the scheme would save A$3.5bn over five years but critics said the cost to patients would rise.
Professor Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, said in December that GPs were "being forced to do the dirty work of the government".
Ms Leys said it was clear the proposal for a co-payment did "not have broad support and will not proceed".
"We recognise that we cannot introduce reforms to build a strong, sustainable Medicare without the support from the public and the parliament."
She said she would be consulting on short, medium and long-term policy options to ensure the government could continue to support high quality care and treatment.
Australian Medical Association President Dr Brian Owler welcomed the move, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the policy was "never one which was going to improve general practice or make the healthcare system more sustainable". | Australia's government has scrapped plans for a widely criticised medical payment scheme. |
38,270,805 | Twice champion Fionnuala McCormack is fancied to regain the individual title which she won in 2011 and 2012.
O'Flaherty and Mageean will hope to pack well in the team battle in Chia.
Holywood man Paul Pollock will also aim for an improved run from his fifth spot at last month's nationals in Dublin.
Pollock competed at Abbotstown after racing in a half marathon in India the previous weekend but should perform better in his first appearance in an Irish vest since his impressive 32nd place at the Olympic Marathon in Rio.
However, Irish medal interest is likely to be focused on the women's event.
McCormack's rivals in the individual race include Turkey's European 10,000m champion Yasemin Can and Norway's Karoline Grovdal, who pipped the Irishwoman for bronze at last year's championship in Hyeres.
Britain's 2014 winner Gemma Steel is likely to be another contender as may another Turkish competitor Meryem Akda.
McCormack's individual triumph in 2012 also helped Ireland land the team honours that year in Hungary and the Irish women have earned team bronze over the past two years.
McCormack, O'Flaherty and Michelle Finn all return after being part of last year's successful squad as they join surprise Irish champion Shona Heaslip, Mageean and Laura Crowe.
O'Flaherty and Mageean booked their spots in Chia on 11 December by finishing second and third at the the Irish Championships when McCormack missed the race as she was instead winning at the IAAF permit meeting in Alcobendas in Spain.
IRELAND TEAM FOR EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY
Senior Men: Mark Christie (Mullingar), Mick Clohisey (Raheny), Mark Hanrahan (Leevale), Liam Brady (Tullamore Harriers), Paul Pollock (Annadale), Kevin Dooney (Raheny)
Senior Women: Shona Heaslip (An Riocht), Kerry O'Flaherty (Newcastle), Ciara Mageean (UCD), Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole), Laura Crowe (An Riocht), Michelle Finn (Leevale)
U23 Men: Karl Fitzmaurice (Ennis), Mitchell Byrne (Rathfarnham)
U23 Women: Bethanie Murray (DSD), Amy O'Donoghue (Emerald)
Junior Men: Jack O'Leary (Mullingar), Peter Lynch (Kilkenny), Darragh McElhinney (Bantry), Fearghal Curtain (Youghal), Barry Keane (Waterford), Charlie O'Donovan (Leevale)
Junior Women: Sophie Murphy (DSD), Amy Rose Farrell (Blackrock), Emma O'Brien (Inbhear Dee/Sli Cualann), Carla Sweeney (WSAF), Jodie McCann (DSD), Aisling Joyce (Claremorris) | County Down athletes Ciara Mageean and Kerry O'Flaherty will have high hopes of helping Ireland land another women's team medal at the European Cross Country Championships in Sardinia. |
21,491,149 | Luigi Belcuore, from Warwickshire, died in October 2009 when an operation on his knee went wrong at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.
The Medical Practitioners' Tribunal Service ruled the case against surgeon James Richardson was not proved.
The hospital said Prof Richardson is a "highly experienced" surgeon.
In a statement the hospital said it "deeply regrets" the unexpected death of Mr Belcuore .
The hospital expressed its "most heartfelt and sincere sympathies" to Mrs Belcuore and her family, for what must have been "an extremely distressing and traumatic time".
In January Mr Belcuore's family was awarded an undisclosed sum in compensation following his death.
Speaking after the award was made Mrs Belcuore said she was "shocked" the surgeon was allowed to continue practising after the death of her husband.
In its statement the hospital said Professor Richardson "is a highly experienced consultant orthopaedic surgeon and continues to work at the hospital".
The tribunal heard that Prof Richardson had used a piece of equipment used to blow air into the knee joint, which he had modified specifically for the operation.
Over five weeks, the tribunal heard allegations Prof Richardson had failed to provide good clinical care, had not properly informed Mr Belcuore about the modified medical device being used and had failed to get proper consent for its use.
It was further alleged that Prof Richardson's actions had increased the risk of an air embolism occurring.
The Medical Practitioners' Tribunal Service, after hearing from several expert witnesses, determined the four main points against Prof Richardson to be not proven.
A DVD of the operation was shown twice to the tribunal panel.
Michael Menlowe, the tribunal's chairman, said in regard to failures of good clinical care it noted the statement of one expert witness who said the surgery had been carried out "very skilfully" and "elegantly".
Mr Menlowe said another medical expert had gone on to say that "had the tragic incident of 20 October 2009 not occurred... (the) method of carrying out the procedure would have been widely adopted".
The panel had determined he "did not fail to provide good clinical care", and the tragic outcome was not "reasonably foreseeable", he said.
He also said Prof Richardson had "explained the procedure to Mr Belcuore" and stated "the expert witnesses were unanimous in their view that consent had been satisfactorily obtained".
It further accepted air had probably entered Mr Belcuore's blood through an "abnormal and undetectable" cyst, and found Prof Richardson's actions had not increased the risk of an air embolism.
The tribunal reported its findings on Saturday. | A surgeon cleared as fit to practice by a medical tribunal after a patient died has been backed by the Shropshire hospital where he works. |
34,391,055 | A Nigerian official told the BBC the bodies of 1,075 victims had been taken to mortuaries in the city of Jeddah - higher than the official toll of 769.
Other countries also said they had been sent the photos of some 1,090 bodies.
But the Saudi officials said the photos included unidentified people who died at the Hajj - not just in the stampede.
Spokesman Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press that some were foreign nationals who lived in Saudi Arabia and carried out the Hajj without the required permits.
Others were among the 109 people who were killed when a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on 11 September, he said.
Confusion about how many people died in last week's stampede mounted after Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Sunday that the Saudi authorities had released photos of 1,090 pilgrims who died.
Pakistani and Indonesian officials also indicated that they have been sent more than 1,000 such images.
On Tuesday, a Nigerian Hajj official from Kano, Abba Yakubu, told the BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai that he had been to Jeddah, where the dead from the stampede were being processed.
Mr Yakubu said that in total, 14 lorries loaded with bodies were brought to the city.
He added that so far 1,075 bodies had been offloaded from 10 lorries and taken into the morgues. Four lorries had yet to be dealt with, Mr Yakubu said.
Several countries have been severely critical of the way the Saudi authorities have handled the accident's aftermath, notably Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which lost at least 228 people in the disaster.
Disaster puts pressure on Saudis
Hajj's safety concerns
In pictures: Aftermath of the stampede
Hajj stampede: What we know so far
Deadly pinch point at Jamarat Bridge
People ask who is to blame
The stampede was the deadliest incident to hit the Hajj in 25 years.
The crush occurred as two large groups of pilgrims converged at right angles as they took part in the Hajj's last major rite - stone-throwing at pillars called Jamarat, where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.
As well as the fatalities, 934 people were injured.
Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh, has defended the authorities, saying the stampede was "beyond human control".
King Salman has ordered a safety review into the disaster.
Deaths reported so far by nationality
Saudi helplines: 00966 125458000 and 00966 125496000
Timeline: Deadliest stampedes | Saudi officials have denied reports that more than 1,000 people were killed in a stampede near Mecca last week while undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage. |
38,111,802 | Len Condra had to undergo an emergency seven-hour operation after falling 14ft (4m) at the Haslington Care Home in Greenhithe, Kent.
His family fear the former soldier may never walk again.
The Care Quality Commission said it was investigating the incident. The care home declined to comment and referred the BBC to Kent Police.
Mr Condra has been in King's College Hospital, south-east London, since the fall at 07:40 GMT last Friday.
He had mild dementia, but his granddaughter fears that may have worsened.
Katalina Chu said: "He doesn't know where he is, doesn't know anything that's happened, he doesn't even remember me, and I'm the closest person to him.
"It shouldn't have happened, not in a care home, not a dementia ward where they need 24-hour care."
Nadra Ahmed, of the National Care Home Association, said the incident highlighted the fact the sector has "a massive recruitment and retention issue".
"There are very clear guidelines that you must have enough staff to look after the people that are within the service, and that is a judgement for the management of that care home to have made," she said. | A 92-year-old man has a shattered ankle and a broken leg after falling down a lift shaft at a care home. |
37,504,619 | The FTSE 100 firm said profits would be hit by one-off costs of up to £25m after it was late to implement new IT systems for the congestion charge.
A slowdown in other parts of its business and delays in client decision-making also contributed.
Shares in Capita closed down 27% to 698p - a record one-day fall.
"The [Transport for London systems] have now gone live, the contract is performing well operationally and these costs will not recur next year," the company said.
Capita also revealed that it was embroiled in a contractual dispute with the Co-op Bank, related to mortgage processing, and that there was a risk of legal action.
The company now expects annual pre-tax profit of between £535m and £555m, down from a previous estimate of £614m.
Capita said it was taking immediate steps to reduce costs in its underperforming businesses, which include its technology reselling division and specialist recruitment in the Workplace Services division.
As indicated earlier this year, the asset service division - which provides and services financial products - had less activity following the Brexit referendum.
Capita employs 75,000 people in the UK, Europe, India and South Africa. | Shares have plunged in Capita, the outsourcing company that operates the London congestion charge. |
40,969,475 | The president's tweet came hours after a driver crashed a van into a crowd of people in Barcelona, leaving many dead or injured.
"Study what General Pershing... did to terrorists when caught," Mr Trump said, referring to the discredited story.
Historians and fact checkers say there is no truth to it.
The myth, which has circulated online, refers to General John Pershing's actions during the US war in the Philippines in the early 1900s.
He is said to have rounded up 50 terrorists and then ordered his men to shoot 49 of them, using bullets dipped in pig's blood. The survivor was told to go back and tell his people what happened.
Pigs are considered ritually unclean in Islam, and in his tweet the president said the general's actions acted as a deterrent to further acts of terror.
His comments came shortly after more than a dozen people were killed on Thursday in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona.
Police say it was clearly a terrorist attack and they have arrested two people but not yet located the driver.
End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump
On the campaign trail, Mr Trump once told the same story, but that time he said there was no Islamist insurgency for 25 years, rather than 35.
The president has been engulfed in controversy since Saturday, when he said violence at a far-right rally should be blamed on "all sides".
Heather Heyer was killed when a speeding car rammed into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters in Charlottesville.
Republicans have rounded on President Trump for his comments and a slew of resignations among chief executives on two business councils led to their disbandment.
End of Twitter post by @oliverdarcy | US President Donald Trump has invoked a debunked myth about a general who fought Islamist militants by using pig's blood to commit mass executions. |
34,783,324 | The airport is putting its planning to the test with a simulated explosion at its fuel farm.
During the scenario being tested later, a helicopter will also be reported missing.
Chief executive Gordon Dewar said the airport is committed to the highest possible safety standards.
The live exercise, he added, is an opportunity to learn. | Members of the public have been warned not to be alarmed, as Edinburgh Airport prepares for an emergency training exercise. |
34,250,769 | Thistly Cross is encouraging donations from large orchards and private gardens across Scotland.
The company said its "bucket for a bottle" scheme was part of an attempt to reduce waste, as many locally-grown apples would otherwise go unused.
Dunbar-based Thistly added that donations would be welcomed, provided the fruit was clean and rot-free.
It will accept most apple varieties, apart from crab apples.
Thistly head cider maker Peter Stuart said: "We have a tradition of using apples grown across Scotland from a wide range of sources including professional apple growers, schools, large estate owners and the general public who grow apples in their gardens at home.
"We even use apples donated from the grounds of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
"Our popularity is increasing but Thistly can't make all the cider it wants to without the help of the public.
"Our unique system of using donated apples also eliminates the waste that is all too often associated with the food industry of modern times."
Donations can be delivered directly to the store at Belhaven Fruit Farm in Dunbar.
For those living further north, fruit can be handed in to a drop-off point at Gordon Castle in Moray. | An East Lothian cider maker is offering the public free cider or apple juice in exchange for spare apples. |
34,437,442 | The 118,200 standard tickets, which cost £228 plus £5 booking fee, went on sale at 09:00 BST on Sunday and were snapped up by fans in 30 minutes.
Glastonbury said: "We have, once again, been staggered by the sheer number of people from around the world who hoped to come to the festival, with demand significantly outstripping supply."
The line-up will be revealed next year.
"We're sorry to all of those who missed out," organisers said in a statement. "We really wish we could fit you all in.
"But there will be a resale of any returned tickets in the spring, and registration will open again in the next few days. Thank you for your incredible support."
Many unsuccessful fans reported a struggle to access the ticket site on Sunday morning.
Those wishing to attend had to register online in advance, and those who did manage to book were required to pay a £50 deposit.
The remaining balance will be required by the first week of April. Any tickets that have not been paid for will then go back on sale.
The first batch of 16,800 tickets - for combined coach travel and festival entry - sold out in 20 minutes on Thursday.
Coldplay and Adele are among the favourites to headline in 2016, while Muse have told Q magazine they would like to play.
Last month, festival organiser Michael Eavis told BBC Newsbeat he had booked the headliners for the next two years.
He said four of the six acts have headlined before, while the other two will top the bill for the first time.
Kanye West, Florence and the Machine and The Who headlined this summer. | Tickets for next year's Glastonbury music festival have sold out in half an hour. |
34,909,851 | Adam Parkin, Kieran McIntyre and Liam Scott set upon four boys, aged 14 and 15, who were camping in woods on the outskirts of Dundee in March last year.
They pulled the boys out of their tents in a "terrifying" attack before demanding valuables.
The three men, all from Dundee, pleaded guilty to assault and robbery.
Scott and Parkin admitted further charges of possessing an air rifle without lawful authority on 7 March 2014.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that the four boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were camping in Baldragon Woods in Clatto Country Park when they were attacked.
Twenty-year-old McIntyre along with Scott and Parkin - who are both 19 - sat the boys on rocks and shone torches in their eyes, the court was told.
One of the boys had the barrel of a rifle put against the back of his head by Parkin who took him into this tent to get his mobile phone.
The group were then ordered to stay in their tents until sunrise or they "would be shot".
One of the men later told police it was "intended as a joke".
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court the boys were left "fearing for their lives" by the attack.
"All of the males were dressed in camouflage, military-style clothing with faces masked and only eyes visible.
"Parkin was also wearing a cape and was described as being 'like the leader'," she said.
The teenage campers were forced to hand over mobile phones, cash and cigarettes,
Miss Robertson added: "The boys described the incident as 'shocking' saying they were 'in fear for their lives', 'shaken', 'terrified', and 'frightened'."
Lawyers for the three men said they were "extremely apologetic", "disgusted" and "extremely contrite".
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC deferred sentence until January for psychological assessments on Parkin as well as further reports on the other two.
She said: "These were terrifying offences. In my view it is quite clear that these offences justify custody." | Three men who dressed in capes, masks and camouflage gear before holding a gun to a schoolboy's head have been warned they face jail terms. |
18,076,137 | Abiraterone, which costs about £3,000 a month and can extend life by more than three months, was initially rejected by NICE for not being cost effective.
The decision prompted an angry response from patients and cancer charities.
Final approval will be made in June after the manufacturer offered the oral tablet at an undisclosed lower price.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. Once it spreads it cannot be cured - about 10,000 men die every year from the cancer in the UK.
Abiraterone is one of the few treatments available to prolong life in patients with advanced prostate cancer but, in February 2012, NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) said it was not cost-effective.
The latest draft guidelines by NICE
reverse that stance.
Chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said he was "very pleased" with the decision.
He explained the change of heart: "During the consultation on the draft guidance Janssen, the manufacturer of the drug, submitted further information for the committee to consider.
"This included a revised patient access scheme which involves providing the drug to the NHS at a discounted price; further information on which patients would benefit most and clarification on how many patients could receive the drug."
Janssen said it had gone to "significant lengths" to find a solution, although the scale of the discount has not been made public.
Owen Sharp, the head of the The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: "This announcement represents a resounding triumph for each of the thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer in England and Wales who know just how much the prospect of precious extra time with their loved ones really means.
Louis Gifford, a physiotherapist from Falmouth, was diagnosed when he was 54.
The marathon runner was told the cancer had already spread to his pelvis and lymph glands and was inoperable.
Hormone and steroid treatments were used, but struggled to contain the cancer.
Louis started taking abiraterone in September 2011, through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
He said the drug had "really improved my quality of life".
He added: "I'm able to do all the things I enjoy.
"I feel extremely lucky, I dread to think where I'd be without it."
Louis, who is now 59, had just completed a 100-mile bicycle ride.
"We are delighted that NICE has overturned its earlier decision after reviewing the evidence. We are also pleased that the manufacturer responded to our call to deliver a further reduction in price.
Cancer Research UK helped in the early stages of development of the drug and gets royalties when it is sold.
Dr Harpal Kumar, the charity's chief executive, said: "This is wonderful news for patients with advanced prostate cancer and, in part, this U-turn is down to the public's disappointment at the initial refusal.
"People's donations have allowed Cancer Research UK to fund the discovery and early development of abiraterone - now they've also helped to ensure prostate cancer patients get access to this important treatment by making their voices heard."
He said the government needed to get "exceptional" drugs to patients sooner and called on the pharmaceutical industry to "price in a realistic way".
If NICE approves the drug in June, it will have to be offered by the NHS in England and Wales.
At the moment, NHS patients in England can access the drug through the Cancer Drugs Fund, a pot of money which pays for unapproved cancer drugs.
Earlier this year the Scottish Medicines Consortium said the cost of the drug did not justify the health benefits, but it is still in discussions with the manufacturers.
The Welsh government has already made a decision to fund the drug. A decision will be made in Northern Ireland after the final recommendation is made by NICE.
Prof Johann de Bono, who led the trials of abiraterone at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said: "I'm thrilled that this drug will now be routinely available for eligible patients on the NHS.
"Abiraterone acetate is one of only a handful of life-extending drugs for these patients and, importantly, it can also improve quality of life.
"Some of my patients have been taking abiraterone for several years through a clinical trial and are still pain free." | A drug for advanced prostate cancer is likely to be approved for NHS use in England and Wales after the medical watchdog reversed an earlier decision. |
34,413,696 | The Mountaineering Council of Scotland has flagged up information from communications watchdog Ofcom about the denial of GPS during Joint Warrior.
Jammers will be in place at Faraid Head at Durness and Loch Ewe.
Jamming during Joint Warrior in October 2011 was suspended after complaints from Western Isles fishermen.
Relying on GPS for navigation in Scotland's hills and mountains is usually discouraged by the mountaineering council.
It would rather people attained skills in the use of a map and compass.
Ofcom said signals would not be jammed if GPS was required by the emergency services.
Joint Warrior, which involves army, navy and air force personnel, ships and aircraft from the UK, USA, Canada and European nations, is held twice a year.
The first exercise this year, in April, was the biggest in its history.
This month's exercise will be held from 4 to 16 October, with jamming happening periodically from 5 October. | Outdoor pursuits enthusiasts have been warned about military jamming of GPS services during UK-led Nato war games later this month. |
38,054,742 | The units in North Tyneside and Northumberland will be shut between midnight and 08:00 from 1 December.
Overnight emergencies will be diverted to the recently-opened Northumbria Hospital in Cramlington, until March.
Health bosses say the move - at North Tyneside, Hexham and Wansbeck hospitals - is needed to cope with an expected rise in 999 admissions over the winter.
The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said the impact on patients would be minimal as the units are currently underused at night.
Staff from the units are being moved to the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, in Cramlington, which opened last year, to deal with predicted peak day-time admissions, the trust said.
A spokesman said: "This essential temporary measure is being taken as part of winter resilience planning and means that highly-skilled nursing staff can be deployed where there is most demand on services from patients.
"Since opening the Northumbria hospital in June 2015, activity overnight at the urgent care centres has been minimal with, on average, less than 10 overnight attendances a day across all three centres.
"The trust is keen to emphasise that this is a temporary measure only.
"All three urgent care centres will continue to be open from 8am until midnight seven days a week, with a medical presence also on site from 9am to 10pm seven days a week." | Three emergency care units are closing their doors to overnight patients in an effort to focus care over the winter. |
38,859,638 | Premiership
Aberdeen 2-0 Partick Thistle
Hamilton Academical 1-1 Kilmarnock
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-2 Dundee
Motherwell 0-3 Heart of Midlothian
Rangers 1-1 Ross County
Championship
Dumbarton 2-2 St Mirren
Dundee United 3-0 Raith Rovers
Falkirk 2-0 Dunfermline Athletic
Hibernian 1-1 Ayr United
Queen of the South 3-0 Greenock Morton
St Johnstone 2-5 Celtic | Match reports from the weekend Scottish Premiership and Championship matches. |
40,732,939 | The woman was taken to hospital after the blaze at Redburn, Bonhill, at about 03:00 on Tuesday.
Officers said the fire was being treated as wilful after a joint investigation between the police and fire service.
Inquiries are continuing and police have appealed for witnesses. | A fire in West Dunbartonshire which left a 44-year-old woman in a critical condition is now being treated as deliberate. |
37,410,484 | Donald has been named in one of the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) 'International Pathway' squads.
The programme is aimed at helping county players find a route to the England side and includes the Lions, Young Lions, a Pace Programme and Overseas Placements.
Donald will spend the coming months playing in Perth in Australia.
He is one of more than 50 players aged between 17 and 30 from all 18 first-class counties selected for one of the schemes.
Swansea-born Donald shot to prominence when he equalled the fastest ever double-hundred in first-class cricket, off just 123 balls against Derbyshire in July.
He eventually scored 234 off 136 balls in an innings that was also his maiden County Championship century for Glamorgan.
Donald has already been tipped for international honours and even to become future England captain by former England skipper Michael Vaughan. | Glamorgan's 19-year-old batsman Aneurin Donald has taken another step towards international recognition. |
40,682,827 | The 20-year-old joined the Vixens in 2016 from Reading women.
"I'm delighted to have re-signed with the Vixens as we embark on our journey back into WSL 1. I am looking forward to testing myself against the best this season." Wilson told the club website.
Bristol City finished in eighth place in the Women's Super League Spring Series this year, winning one match. | Defender Ellie Wilson has extended her stay at Bristol City by signing a new contract with the WSL club. |
38,670,128 | Speaking after a gathering of ministers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, Mike Russell said it had been a "difficult" morning.
He said Prime Minister Theresa May had "pre-empted" much of their discussion.
Writing for The Times newspaper, Prime Minister Theresa May said the Scottish government should be "fully engaged" in the Brexit process.
A Brexit document prepared in Edinburgh was discussed at the Joint Ministerial Meeting in London.
The Scottish government said its plan outlined a "flexible" approach that would take into account the needs of different parts of the UK.
After the meeting, Mr Russell said: "It was a difficult morning.
"On the positive side, we were able to take forward the Scottish paper and have an agreement that the options that remain, and that paper would be taken forward by technical discussion and by bi-lateral discussion.
"But overall its very concerning.
"The prime minister's speech this week was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time.
"I think it's fair to say that at least in great part the other administrations [of the United Kingdom] were very concerned that she had pre-empted this meeting."
Sinn Fein has indicated it is unhappy with the process and said it could pull out of it.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell said after the meeting the UK government had not ruled out what the Scottish government had proposed.
He said: "If there is evidence that, for some reason, there should be a differentiated Scottish arrangement, then of course that will be properly looked at and considered.
"But at the moment I don't have any evidence to suggest that Scotland would benefit from a differentiated arrangement from the rest of the UK.
"If we can get that access to the single market, without barriers and without tariffs, then that's exactly what Scotland's businesses are looking for. That's what Scotland's economy needs."
He added: "That's why we should, in my view, all come together and focus on achieving that outcome for the United Kingdom."
In her newspaper article, Mrs May said she welcomed the Scottish contribution.
The prime minister said the Joint Ministerial Meeting was the first chance to discuss the Scottish proposals.
She said: "From the start I've been determined that the Scottish government should be fully engaged in the process and my commitment remains absolute.
"I welcome the Scottish government's paper.
"Today we shall seek to understand more about its proposals and press on with sharing information and views, and we will continue to do so in a series of further meetings before our formal negotiations with the EU begin."
The Scottish government said it accepted there would be one deal over exit from Europe, but within that it wanted to see a "differentiated approach" for Scotland.
At last June's referendum on membership of the EU, voters in Scotland backed remain by 62% to 38%. In the UK as a whole, the vote was 52% to 48% to leave.
In The Times piece, Mrs May repeated her opposition to Scottish independence.
And on the rights of EU citizens living in Scotland, she expressed optimism that a deal would be reached.
Mrs May added: "We want to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who are already living in Scotland and the rights of Scots in other member states as quickly as we can.
"I am ready to strike such a deal right now and many EU leaders agree.
"But I want no-one to be in any doubt that it remains an important priority to resolve this - because it is the right and fair thing to do."
Scotland's future post-Brexit was being discussed on Thursday inside and outside Holyrood.
The author of Article 50, which needs to be triggered in order to start the process of the UK leaving the EU, told the BBC that it would be "difficult" for Scotland to get a "differentiated deal".
Lord Kerr said he was impressed with the Scottish government's paper on options for Scotland's place in Europe.
But on the plan to retain membership of the single market for Scotland, he told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "I'm not sure that's negotiable. I'm not sure that legally feasible.
"I'm not sure it's workable with possible border controls at Gretna. But it was at least a serious proposal and I hope it will get a serious answer."
At First Minister's Questions, Ms Sturgeon said she was "determined to save Scotland from Brexit".
She again attacked the Conservatives over Europe, accusing the party of putting its "obsession with immigration" ahead of the interests of the economy.
Ms Sturgeon told the chamber: "I am determined to save Scotland from Brexit.
"It's not just the case that the Tories are running towards Brexit, they want to drag Scotland kicking and screaming over that Brexit cliff-edge and I'm determined they are not going to get away with this." | Scotland's Brexit minister has said there is "great frustration building up" over the UK's handling of Brexit. |
36,414,264 | The EU-US Privacy Shield agreement was supposed to safeguard EU citizens' personal information when stored in the US.
The agreement was designed to replace the Safe Harbour pact, which the EU Court of Justice ruled invalid in 2015.
But the EDPS Giovanni Buttarelli warned Privacy Shield was "not robust enough".
"I appreciate the efforts made to develop a solution to replace Safe Harbour but the Privacy Shield as it stands is not robust enough to withstand future legal scrutiny," he wrote in a statement.
Mr Buttarelli's statement does not mean the agreement will be scrapped, but his concerns echo those expressed by European privacy regulators in April.
The Privacy Shield agreement, negotiated by the US and the European Commission, was intended to be ratified in June.
Safe Harbour referred to an agreement struck between the European Union and United States, designed to provide a "streamlined and cost-effective" way for US firms to get data from Europe without breaking EU rules. It was introduced in 2000.
The EU forbids personal data from being transferred to and processed in parts of the world that do not provide "adequate" privacy protections.
Safe Harbour allowed US companies to self-certify that they had taken the necessary steps to protect data, to avoid having to seek permission for each new type of transfer.
In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed details about a surveillance scheme operated by the NSA called Prism.
It was alleged the agency had gained access to data about Europeans and other foreign citizens stored by the US tech giants.
Privacy campaigner Max Schrems asked the Irish Data Protection Commission to audit what material Facebook might be passing on. The watchdog declined saying the transfers were covered by Safe Harbour.
When Mr Schrems contested the decision, the matter was referred to the European Court of Justice, which ruled Safe Harbour inadequate.
In February 2016, the EU and US agreed a new pact to make it easy for organisations to transfer data across the Atlantic.
Key points of the agreement are:
However, the agreement has been criticised by European privacy watchdogs.
In April, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party said it was still concerned about the possibility of "massive and indiscriminate" bulk collection of EU citizens' data by the US authorities.
Mr Buttarelli has echoed those concerns.
"Significant improvements are needed... to respect the essence of key data protection principles," he wrote.
In a statement, the EDPS said the Privacy Shield agreement needed to provide "adequate protection against indiscriminate surveillance" and "obligations on oversight, transparency, redress and data protection rights". | The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has said a data transfer pact between the EU and US needs "significant improvements". |
29,586,627 | Mr Putin's spokesman said about 17,600 soldiers on training exercises in the Rostov region would be pulled back.
Russia has previously announced troop withdrawals that Nato and the US say were not actually carried out.
Russia has been accused of supplying troops and weapons to separatist rebels in east Ukraine - claims it denies.
The latest order comes ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday.
Ukrainian troops have been fighting pro-Russia rebels in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk since April, in a conflict that has killed more than 3,500 people.
The two sides agreed a truce on 5 September, but fighting has continued, especially in and around Donetsk.
"[Mr] Putin has ordered to start the returning of troops to regular station," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in quotes carried by Interfax and Ria Novosti news agencies.
Mr Peskov said this was because the period of training was completed.
Mr Putin made similar statements about withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border in March and May.
However, Nato and US officials said they saw no evidence of soldiers being moved.
Correspondents say the deployment of Russian troops on Ukraine's border is seen as a powerful tool designed to threaten the government in Kiev.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin and Mr Poroshenko are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Italy on Friday.
Mr Poroshenko told reporters: "I don't expect the talks will be easy."
"Russia's role in the issue of providing peace... is difficult to overestimate," he added.
Mr Poroshenko said he also hoped to discuss Russia and Ukraine's gas pricing dispute.
Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June, saying the Kiev government had not settled its debts.
Ukraine could face gas shortages in the winter if the dispute is not resolved. | Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered thousands of troops stationed near the Ukrainian border to return to their bases, Russian media report. |
35,173,618 | He told the BBC that the militant group could no longer mount "conventional attacks" against security forces or population centres.
It had been reduced to fighting with improvised explosives devices (IED) and remained a force only in its heartland of Borno state, he said.
Boko Haram has been described as one of the world's deadliest terror groups.
Critics of the government argue that it has exaggerated the scale of its success against the militants, and that each time the army claims to have wiped out Boko Haram, the militants have quietly rebuilt.
The group's six-year insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria has led to the deaths of some 17,000 people, destroyed more than 1,000 schools and displaced more than 1.5 million people.
President Buhari has given the army until the end of this year to defeat the group - a deadline that is likely to be extended as Boko Haram is still bombing some areas despite losing towns under its control.
But he told the BBC that the jihadists had been all but driven out from Adamawa and Yobe states, and their way of operating curtailed.
"Boko Haram has reverted to using improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," he said. "Indoctrinating young guys... they have now been reduced to that.
"But articulated conventional attacks on centres of communication and populations.. they are no longer capable of doing that effectively.
"So I think technically we have won the war because people are going back into their neighbourhoods. Boko Haram as an organised fighting force, I assure you, that we have dealt with them."
Only a few days ago, Islamic State, to whom Boko Haram is affiliated, said its West Africa division had launched more than 100 attacks - killing more than 1,000 people - over the past two months, the Site Intelligence Group, with monitors jihadist websites, reported.
Bokon Haram has also broadened its threat to neighbouring countries, around the Lake Chad region. It reportedly killed five people in a raid in Niger earlier this week.
Mr Buhari said that Nigeria had reorganised and reequipped the military, which had received training from the British, the Americans and the French.
A key priority for the government now, he said, is to rebuild infrastructure and help all displaced people to return to their homes.
Using football to tackle Boko Haram
Why Boko Haram remains a threat | Nigeria has "technically won the war" against Islamist Boko Haram militants, President Muhammadu Buhari says. |
35,710,256 | Lawler, 20, has been ever-present for the Super League side this season.
Head of rugby Jamie Peacock said: "George is a very popular member of the squad, level-headed and eager to learn, so we're delighted he sees at least the next four years of his career here.
"If this club is to develop and progress to where we want it to be, then it's vital we bring through more home-grown players." | Hull KR forward George Lawler has signed a new four-year deal. |
39,732,061 | League leader Van Gerwen took three points from his two games, drawing with Dave Chisnall before whitewashing Adrian Lewis 7-0.
Wright beat Phil Taylor 7-3 to stay second in the table.
Gary Anderson and Taylor are third and fourth, but Lewis' qualification chances were damaged by two defeats.
Having lost 7-4 to James Wade in Thursday's opening match, Stoke-on-Trent thrower Lewis had no answer to an imperious performance by defending Premier League champion Van Gerwen.
Anderson's 7-4 victory over Raymond van Barneveld left the veteran Dutchman one point outside the top four.
However, with each player having only two matches left in the group stage, only four points separate third-placed Anderson and Wade, who stayed bottom of the table despite his victory.
James Wade (Eng) 7-4 Adrian Lewis (Eng)
Dave Chisnall (Eng) 6-6 Michael van Gerwen (Ned)
Phil Taylor (Eng) 3-7 Peter Wright (Sco)
Gary Anderson (Sco) 7-4 Raymond van Barneveld (Ned)
Adrian Lewis (Eng) 0-7 Michael van Gerwen (Ned) | Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright became the first two players to secure Premier League play-off spots with wins in Birmingham. |
35,817,546 | Stokes arrived on loan from Celtic in January and has scored two goals in 11 appearances, with his partnership with Jason Cummings failing to fire.
"You've got Anthony Stokes and all the hoo-ha with bringing him in and he's just not produced," McManus said.
"I don't think Stokes' attitude at times has been great."
Allied to the Irishman's struggles in front of goal - he has failed to find the net in his past seven matches - strike partner Cummings is also in the midst of a dip in form.
He has contributed 20 goals in all competitions for Hibs this season, but just one of those has come in his last six matches, and McManus believes manager Alan Stubbs will dispense with the striking partnership.
"The Stokes - Cummings partnership for me, it just doesn't work," McManus told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound programme.
"You've got two guys who want to sit in the box and play. It's like a Kris Boyd and an Ally McCoist kind of partnership. Both of them want to sit in the box, get the glory and score goals. You've got to have a mix and a blend and Hibs have not got that at the minute.
"I think you'll see the end of that partnership. I don't think that's worked at all."
McManus thinks Stubbs may try to bring Stokes back into form by pairing him with a new strike partner.
"You've got Chris Dagnall there who could come in and play. You've got James Keatings who could come in and play.
"Maybe if you play him beside somebody else who is going to run wide and do all his running for him, you get Anthony Stokes in the box more and create more chances.
"I would maybe go and play Stokes and Keatings or Stokes and Dagnall and give Cummings a little rest. Sit him on the bench and bring him back in in a couple of games time." | Anthony Stokes has failed to produce the goods during his loan spell at Hibernian, according to former Easter Road striker Tam McManus. |
38,353,905 | The Scottish government said the money would be spent over two years and would support new forms of mental health work in primary care settings.
Some of the work will focus on improving the physical health of people with severe mental illness.
Ministers said the money was part of efforts to improve early intervention and put more focus on prevention.
Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt said: "We want to greatly improve early intervention, so that we can give people timely treatment before more serious problems develop.
"To do that there needs to be a strong mental health response in primary care settings, and that's what this £10m programme will help us to do.
"By testing innovative approaches we can see what works and potentially role these out more widely. In particular, we want to look at ways in which improving physical health can improve mental health.
"We also want to look at how targeting resources in deprived or rural communities can begin to break down some of the health inequalities we are still seeing."
Ms Watt said that for the first time £1bn would be spent on mental health next year, with £5bn spent over the next five years, porving how seriously her government was taking the issue of mental health.
However, Miles Briggs, mental health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: "While any further investment in mental health is welcome, this won't provide the help that patients urgently need.
"There needs to be a step change in the amount of support we currently offer to those suffering from mental ill health, and this funding doesn't go anywhere near far enough.
"It is clear that more needs to be done to improve capacity and staffing across the health service and address the unacceptable waiting times for treatment."
He added: "That is why we have called for an extra £300m to be spent over the course of this parliament on improving services, and ensuring that no one has to wait too long to see a specialist."
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: "All measures to improve mental health services in Scotland are welcome as too many vulnerable patients are left languishing on waiting lists.
"Scottish Labour looks forward to the publication of the mental health strategy, which the SNP has postponed until next year.
"Any additional investment should be underpinned by an ambitious and properly-resourced plan with a serious focus on prevention. Scottish Labour believes investing in school counsellors is key to this and we would urge the SNP to make this happen." | An extra £10m is being invested to help people with mental health difficulties at an early stage. |
39,451,055 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Its Premier League Primary Stars scheme aims to boost learning by tying education to football.
"We're doing it because we can," chief executive Richard Scudamore said.
"Young people are engaged by Premier League football. You can see the impact it has," he added.
Sky and BT Sport paid £5.136bn for TV rights until 2019-20, with clubs criticised for how the money is used.
However, Scudamore feels that criticism is unfair - the Primary Stars scheme is the latest in a long line of community projects supported by football. "The clubs have been doing all this for over 20 years," he said.
"They have huge involvement in their local communities, and yet the message never gets across."
However, he stressed top-flight clubs are not seeking "credit" by getting involved in the project.
Premier League Primary Stars will provide free resources linked to the national curriculum to boys and girls aged five to 11.
After the initial reach, Scudamore says he hopes the scheme will extend to every primary school in England and Wales by 2022.
The initiative will supply free to download lesson plans, activities and video content in Maths, English, Physical Education (PE) and Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE).
Scudamore added that schools located close to professional football teams could also benefit from club coaches coming into schools to assist with PE lessons.
The programme aims to use the appeal of Premier League clubs "to inspire children to learn, be active and develop important life skills" - an impact Scudamore says the clubs already see in their involvement in community projects.
"We do an awful lot of this anyway - the clubs have been doing a lot of work in communities, a lot of our clubs are involved in schools, not just Premier League clubs but English Football League clubs too," he said.
"Nobody out there really knows - clearly those actively involved know - but many parents will not be aware that these things are happening."
Despite a fall in viewing figures for live Premier League games, Scudamore says the organisation is "not seeing any diminishment" in the interest in football of primary school students.
"The take up is going to be enormous because the one thing we all know is if you can attach footballers to education then it does improve the engagement of young people," he added.
"Hopefully some hearts and minds will alter in their perceptions towards what the Premier League stands for." | The Premier League is aiming to provide teaching resources to 10,000 primary schools by 2019 - and believes it can be helping every one in England and Wales by 2022. |
36,055,912 | Christopher Backhouse, 26, from Scarborough, admitted causing the death of his friend Alexander Baron.
York Crown Court heard Backhouse, son of a former Scarborough mayor, was 130 times over the new drug-driving limit after the crash on the A64 in 2014.
Police said he had a "potentially fatal level" of MDMA in his system.
The court heard Mr Baron, 22, from Scarborough, was in the back seat of the Renault Clio as Backhouse drove back from the Boomtown Music Festival in Winchester, Hampshire.
As the car left the road near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, a piece of wood from a railing struck Mr Baron. The vehicle was found overturned in a ditch.
Results of a post-mortem examination indicated he would have died instantly.
Traffic constable Zoe Billings, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "The amount of drugs found in Backhouse's system was simply staggering - the highest reading our force has ever seen.
"How he thought he was fit to drive is just beyond comprehension. To then agree to take passengers and put their lives at risk was just plain irresponsible and sadly had very tragic consequences."
In a statement, Mr Baron's family said: "To learn that the driver of the car had been found with a very high level of an illegal substance in his system was difficult to comprehend, the thought of someone being so irresponsible and the fact that this accident could have been so easily prevented, infuriates us.
"The new drug-drive laws were not in place at the time of Alex's death, but to learn that the driver's level was in excess of 100 times the new drug drive limit shows the severity of his ways."
At the court hearing, Backhouse was also banned from driving for three years. | A driver who had a "staggering amount" of drugs in his system when he killed a passenger in a car crash has been jailed for two years. |
13,748,923 | For years, Chileans have been taught that Mr Allende committed suicide during the military coup of 11 September, 1973, and that Mr Neruda died 12 days later of heart failure brought on by prostate cancer.
But now, both deaths are under investigation.
In both cases, the Chilean military stands accused of murder and the country's former dictator General Augusto Pinochet is once again in the metaphorical dock.
The evidence against the military is far from conclusive.
In the case of Pablo Neruda, it rests largely on the testimony of one man, Manuel Araya, the poet's personal assistant during the last year of his life.
In the case of Salvador Allende, the story is more complicated. There are several conflicting accounts of how the president died.
Last month, on the orders of a judge, his remains were exhumed and handed to forensic experts who are trying to establish what happened.
It is known that Mr Allende died inside the presidential palace during the coup, which brought his Socialist government to an abrupt and bloody end.
The most widely accepted version is that, as Gen Pinochet's forces closed in on him, Mr Allende shot himself using an AK-47 rifle given to him as a gift by Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
That version is based largely on the testimony of Mr Allende's doctor, Patricio Guijon, who says he saw the president pull the trigger. Mr Guijon, who is still alive, says no-one else was in the room.
The initial autopsy from 1973 supported his testimony, and Mr Allende's family has long accepted that the 65-year-old leader killed himself rather than surrender to the military.
But ever since his death, people have speculated that he was murdered. Many on the political left prefer to think of Mr Allende dying in a hail of enemy bullets rather than taking his own life, alone in the palace.
"His assassination was hushed up," Mr Neruda wrote in his memoirs three days after the coup. "He had to be machine-gunned because he would never have resigned from office."
The latest twist in the story is the emergence of a 300-page military report into Mr Allende's death, compiled in 1973 but never made public.
Last month, Chilean state broadcaster TVN screened a documentary based on the report.
It said it obtained its copy from the rubble of a house destroyed in last February's earthquake in southern Chile. The house was once owned by a military prosecutor.
TVN interviewed Luis Ravanal, a forensic expert who believes there were two weapons involved in Mr Allende's death.
He says the president was shot with two bullets, the first from a small-calibre weapon and the second, when Mr Allende was dead or dying, from the AK-47.
That has prompted speculation that the president was shot by a soldier, a sniper or even one of his aides, possibly as a mercy killing.
While Mr Allende's death has always been shrouded in mystery, the latest claims about Pablo Neruda come as something of a surprise. Most people accept that he died of cancer.
But in a recent interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, the poet's former personal assistant said Mr Neruda, a lifelong communist and a Chilean ambassador, was given a lethal injection while being treated in a Santiago clinic in the days after the coup.
Manuel Araya says the poet was admitted to hospital on 19 September 1973, and from there he planned to seek exile in Mexico to escape the chaos in Chile.
But Mr Araya says that on 23 September, Neruda made a frantic telephone call to his wife to say he had been given a mysterious injection while he was sleeping.
The poet died later that day, and Mr Araya is convinced he was murdered.
Pablo Neruda's widow is long dead and the Neruda Foundation, which oversees his estate, says Mr Araya's claim is nonsense. Nonetheless, Chilean prosecutors have opened an investigation.
If it is proved that Mr Neruda was murdered, it will be a stunning revelation. Awarded the Nobel Literature Prize in 1971, he is a revered figure, not just in Chile but around the world.
Those who insist that Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda were killed by the military still have plenty of questions to answer.
Why, for example, would Mr Allende's doctor lie about seeing the president commit suicide? And in the case of Mr Neruda, why is his personal assistant only talking now, more than 37 years after the event?
But anyone who dismisses these claims as implausible conspiracy theories should perhaps reflect on Chile's recent history.
In 2009, six people were charged in connection with the death of Eduardo Frei, Mr Allende's predecessor as president.
Mr Frei went into hospital for routine surgery in 1981, at the height of Gen Pinochet's military rule, and never came out alive. His family believe he was poisoned with mustard gas.
In December last year, the remains of Mr Allende's Interior Minister Jose Toha were exhumed as part of an investigation into his death in 1974.
The military said he committed suicide by hanging himself in a hospital wardrobe. His family believe he was murdered.
Nearly four decades after Chile's military coup, the graves of Santiago are starting to give up their secrets.
Over the next few months, judges and forensic experts will sift through the new evidence and reach their own conclusions about what happened to Mr Allende and Mr Neruda in September 1973.
Their findings are likely to shape Chilean history for generations to come. | They were towering figures in 20th Century Chile: Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda, the president and the poet, two men united in life by their left-wing politics, and divided in death by a matter of days. |
33,720,952 | The inland lake covers an area the size of six football pitches, and the site cost £15m to build.
The owners of Surf Snowdonia claim to have created the longest man-made surf wave in the world.
The lozenge-shaped lagoon now dominating the Conwy valley is 300m long and 110m wide.
That's roughly the size of six football pitches.
It holds more than six million gallons (33,000 cu m) of filtered rainwater that is piped down from mountain reservoirs.
A snowplough-shaped underwater foil positioned under a pier running the length of the lake is designed to generate breakers reaching up to a hefty 6ft (2m).
It "barrels", which means it is fast and large enough to create a kind of mini "tube", which is what experienced surfers want. Surf Snowdonia says it will create up to 50 waves per hour.
It is also consistent, breaking in the same place every time. This could tempt beginners into the water along with helping pro-surfers perfect complex moves.
This kind of technology with its guarantee of waves could also help surfing to eventually become an Olympic sport.
Entrepreneur Andy Ainscough, director of Surf Snowdonia, calls it "surfing for softies", with heated changing rooms and hot showers nearby. "The hardest bit about surfing is that first learning stage. This fast-forwards this. I'm confident that our instructors could get anyone up," he said.
The wave itself was designed by Wavegarden, a company run by a group of engineers from northern Spain who are surfers. It took more than a decade to develop, and this is the first time that the technology has been used anywhere in the world.
The funding and logistics for the site in north Wales were organised at breakneck speed by Mr Ainscough, working alongside former Army colonel and managing director Steve Davies. The project received around £4m in loans and grants from the Welsh government.
Mr Davies spent more than 30 years in the Army. "The building and development of the former factory site was probably the biggest challenge because a century of contamination beneath the ground took a hell of a lot of work to decontaminate," he said.
Eighteen tanker-loads of heavy metals and hydrocarbons were removed, and 25,000 cu m of rubble from the old foundations were crushed and reused.
Despite the size and complexity of the project, it was completed in a year.
"Beneath the waves is the most closely guarded commercial secret of this project - the wavefoil," said Mr Davies.
"However, in effect it looks to the naked eye like a couple of snowploughs bolted together… but in combination with the speed and the depth of water, they are shaped to create the waves that every surfer wants."
Four-times Welsh surf champion Jo Dennison was recruited to work as a coach.
"I think it's going to shape the future of surfing. You can't compare it with surfing in the ocean, it's definitely a special thing to be in the water with nature, but this is a fantastic training facility."
There have been several setbacks including a fire in April, however the project has been completed on time.
A rival project in Bristol has decided to change the type of system it will use to generate its wave. It says the WaveLoch SurfPool technology will offer more waves per hour, and "has no moving parts in the water with the surfers, important for safety and maintenance".
Scottish company Murphys Waves uses a different system to generate what it claims are the "largest man-made waves in the world", up to 3.3m (12ft) high at a man-made site in Tenerife.
Surf Snowdonia's site is remote but the company stresses that more than seven million people - mainly in Liverpool and Manchester - live within two hours' drive.
There are good beach surf spots fairly near on the Llyn Peninsula. The question is whether surfers would rather spend time in the ocean or in a wave theme park.
Follow Claire on Twitter. | The first waves have peeled across an artificial surf lagoon built on the site of an old aluminium works on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park. |
37,345,436 | The spell of warm Autumn weather is forecast to continue across parts of England until Friday.
Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England have both warned that the weather can pose a risk to health.
Elsewhere, yellow warnings for rain are in place for some parts of northern England and southern Scotland.
As much as 30mm (one inch) of thundery, torrential rain could cause flash flooding and travel disruption in places during the afternoon and evening, the Met Office said.
The highest temperature of 2016 had previously been 34.1C, which was reached on 23 August at Faversham in Kent.
The all-time record for September of 35.6C (96.1F) was set in 1906, in Bawtry, South Yorkshire.
NHS England has declared a level-two heat alert, which means there is a high chance that an average temperature of 30C (86F) by day and 15C (59F) overnight will occur over the next two to three days.
These temperatures can have a "significant effect" on a person's health if they last for at least two days and the night in between, it said.
The East of England, the South East, and the East Midlands are expected to have some of the hottest weather.
Aberdeen and Glasgow will possibly see temperatures of 20C (68F) to 23C (73.4F), and there is a chance Aviemore could hit 24C (75.2F).
How do you get to sleep in hot weather?
How hot is it where you are v rest of the world?
Heatwave myths and how to stay cool
Dr Thomas Waite, from the extreme events team at PHE, said: "Think today about what you can do, and for those around you, to stay cool during the daytime and particularly at night.
"Much of the advice on beating the heat is common sense and for most people there's nothing to really worry about.
"But for some people, such as older people, those with underlying health conditions and those with young children, summer heat can bring real health risks."
Jacob Cope, BBC Weather Centre Meteorologist
Hurricane Hermine, which hit Florida in early September, pushed large kinks into the jet stream - large atmospheric waves which lock our weather patterns in place. For Spain and Portugal, that meant temperatures rising to 10C above average last week.
A large area of high pressure centred over northern Europe has brought southerly winds, which have drawn this warm air northwards, reaching our shores today. And we have mainly clear skies across much of England, so we're topping it up ourselves.
We saw 31C in September in 1973, and in 1961, in Gatwick, the temperature recorded was 31.6C. It's very doubtful that we will break the all-time record though, as a 1906 heat wave brought September temperatures of 35.6C (96.08F).
The high temperatures predicted means that Britain could be as warm as Bangkok in Thailand, and hotter than forecasts for Madrid and Los Angeles.
Dr Waite added: "The hot weather won't make life difficult for all of us; indeed, many of us will make the most of it when the sun shines.
"But some people may not be able to adapt to the extra strain hot weather will put on their bodies and may feel the ill-effects.
"Each year we hear stories of people who have fallen seriously ill because, even though it's hotter, they may wear clothes which are too warm for hot weather, they may not drink enough or just try to do too much."
Dr Waite advised people to close curtains on windows that face the sun during the day, and to open windows once the sun is no longer on them to get a breeze.
He added that people should think about turning off electrical devices, as they can generate unwanted heat. | The UK's hottest day of the year so far - and the warmest September day since 1911 - has been recorded in Gravesend, Kent, where it reached 34.4C (93.9F). |
35,763,978 | A flood relief charity boss believed most people are still struggling with immediate finances and not ready to consider future protection.
Carlisle Labour councillor Lee Sherriff said the government should be looking at preventing flooding before defending homes against it.
A government spokesman said there was no time limit for applications.
Only 493 out of about 6,000 people or businesses affected by Storm Desmond have submitted claims to the Property Level Resilience Scheme (PLRS).
Miss Sherriff said people had an "ingrained fear it's going to happen again" and instead wanted "concrete promises from the government" that it would invest in flood defences.
"It's better prevention rather than trying to hold water back once it's down," she said.
£9.4m
The total Cumbria Community Foundation expects it will need to pay out
£5.7m How much the Cumbria Flood Recovery Appeal has raised
£2.5m Amount paid out in first 13 weeks after December's floods
£0.9m How much Cumbria has been given by the government in match funding so far
July 2017 When the money will run out if more is not raised
A flood relief appeal run by Cumbria Community Foundation has raised £5.7m, mostly from donations, but it believes £9.4m will be needed over the next 12-18 months.
Chief executive Andy Beeforth said: "Many families have not returned to their homes, hundreds of homes are not yet dry or ready to be occupied, others are only just uncovering problems and issues and costs they had not expected."
The resilience grant was an "important component" but he was disappointed the government had not handed over the second half of £2m it promised for the immediate relief effort, he said.
"We're into March and we're waiting on the outcome of a match funding scheme that was announced in December."
Allerdale Borough Council - 130
Copeland Borough Council - none
Carlisle City Council - 136
Eden District Council - 113
South Lakeland District Council - 114
Government communities secretary Greg Clark has urged households and businesses to apply for the grants of up to £5,000 "so they don't miss out".
The money can been spent on work such as moving electrical sockets, installing flood doors, waterproofing windows and replacing fixtures with water-resistant alternatives.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "We have not imposed a deadline for people to apply for a share of the Property Level Resilience Grant.
"It is for councils to set this to meet local needs, but we do recognise that some may take longer than others to apply." | Fewer than 10% of flooded Cumbria businesses and households have bid for government "flood-proofing" grants. |
36,897,583 | At a meeting on Tuesday, the authority's executive board voted to buy the building.
The figure was set by the District Valuer, who is acting on behalf of HM Courts which is disposing of the building.
The future of the building has been uncertain since it was announced the law courts would close in May.
Council leader Emlyn Dole said it was not an easy time to look for capital expenditure, but he "wasn't going to be the leader that left that building dilapidated in the middle of the town".
He said the next step was to find a new purpose for the building, to bring in money to sustain it.
The Guildhall has been home to many famous trials over the years.
Discussions are continuing with potential partners including Carmarthen Town Council and Dyfed-Powys Police.
A call was made in April for the public to consider establishing a trust to run the building. | Carmarthen's Grade II* Guildhall is set to be bought by the county council for £225,000. |
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