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35,253,353 | He spent much of it recovering from a horrific leg injury, but against all the odds, still made England's World Cup squad, and ended the year by becoming a father for the first time.
His hopes for 2016 are quite simple, to care for his son, Finn, and stay injury-free.
However, there is also the small matter of making new England head coach Eddie Jones' first Six Nations squad.
"As far as international rugby comes, you have to be playing well for your club and this weekend is another opportunity," Morgan told BBC Gloucestershire ahead of this weekend's meeting with Exeter Chiefs.
"As far as I'm aware they are just speaking to the directors of rugby and I'm just keeping my head down and just get back into the swing of things.
"If he (Eddie Jones) wants to select me that will be great but I'm happy playing here."
Gloucester travel to Sandy Park on Saturday and Morgan will come up against the Exeter number eight Thomas Waldrom, who was this week voted the Premiership's forward of the month award for December.
Morgan has 31 caps, while Waldrom - six years his senior at 32 - has only represented England five times, but seems to get better with age, having topped the Premiership try-scoring list last season with 16.
"I always enjoy playing against good number eights and he is fine form, playing really well," said Morgan. "I'm really excited to go down there and come up against him.
"We've started to come together, put some big performances in and it's a great place to go, Sandy Park, and I'm really excited to be going down there.
"It'll be a big clash, we tend to have some ding dong battles down there. We need to tighten up our defence and put them under some pressure."
Morgan, 26, suffered his season-ending injury against Saracens exactly a year ago on Saturday, but still managed to make England's team for the World Cup, and came off the bench against Fiji and Australia.
He was given a break by Gloucester in November after an intense 11 months of rehab and subsequent appearances at the Rugby World Cup in September.
"I was fortunate to get the time to refresh, it was a pretty full on year. Breaking the leg, doing the rehab, making the World Cup and then straight back into it. I feel really good and cannot wait to get stuck back in."
He added: "I'm only going to improve the more time I put between myself and the injury. My body is adjusting to an alien thing being in there, a bit of metal, but I feel good and really confident with it."
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Morgan's wife Alice, gave birth to son Finn as 2015 drew to a close.
It was, as for all new parents, a life-changing event - and Morgan is still adjusting.
"It's pretty awesome, lack of sleep but it's been great," he said. "He was born on New Year's Eve. We just got home, it wasn't quiet, it was different." | Gloucester number eight Ben Morgan could be forgiven for describing 2015 as something of a rollercoaster. |
37,926,182 | The Scots trail leaders England by three points in their World Cup qualifying group.
Lambert believes the pressure is on the hosts in the "unpredictable" fixture.
"I guarantee their performance level will raise because of the atmosphere and because of the game that they're playing in," said Lambert.
"I think it's going to be a lot closer than what people think. Scotland-England, in any sport, you're never quite sure.
"It's unpredictable because of the nature of the two countries. It's a huge game for Scotland, huge game for England. Anything can happen.
"[England interim manager] Gareth [Southgate] will know he cannot afford for Scotland to go down there and win. The pressure's all on England for this one.
"I'd love to see Scotland qualify for a major tournament because our country needs it - sooner rather than later.
"We've got a chance going down there."
Lambert, then of Celtic, was out with concussion when Craig Brown's Scotland lost a Euro 2000 play-off to England 2-1 on aggregate in 1999.
But the former midfielder, who played in Scotland's last major tournament at the France 1998 World Cup, insists: "I don't have any regrets from my football career. I never do.
"Craig always says if I had played maybe [England's] Paul Scholes wouldn't have scored the two goals [at Hampden], which was a nice compliment."
Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam expressed his frustration that his "face does not fit" with current Scotland coach Gordon Strachan, with the 30-year-old having not featured for the national team since last year.
But Lambert said: "It's really difficult for any manager to pick a squad and try and keep everybody happy. It's nigh on impossible. He's picked what he thinks is the best squad.
"Charlie's playing well with Stoke at the minute and Gordon's got a difficult job picking a certain amount of guys to come in. Whatever team Gordon picks on that night, you're hoping the whole country get behind the team."
One player who could face against England is RB Leipzig's Oliver Burke but Lambert attempted to temper the expectations being placed on the 19-year-old winger.
"I think he's at a fabulous football club," said former Borussia Dortmund player Lambert.
"I was there a few months ago, looking at it. He's at a great club who are absolutely flying in the Bundesliga.
"He hasn't probably played as many games or many minutes as what he would like but I guarantee he's learning every time, every training, every day of life over there he'll be learning.
"He's a terrific talent but you can't rest everything on that young kid's shoulders.
"I keep reading those comparisons with [Wales and Real Madrid forward] Gareth Bale. I think they're slightly inaccurate.
"He's got a fabulous chance to be a great player at a really good club and he's a threat because of his speed and his power.
"People have to remember he's only a young player still learning."
Lambert is back in management as Wolves head coach, having finished last season with Blackburn Rovers.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said of his move to Molineux.
"I had opportunities but it just feels right. Great club, great history attached to it, terrific facilities. Big fan base, which is something I always think is important.
"I never put a target on anything. This is the right moment to come back in." | Former Scotland captain Paul Lambert expects the national team to rise to the occasion in Friday's meeting with England at Wembley. |
37,334,770 | He suffered the injury while playing for Bath against Northampton last weekend.
Denton will miss Scotland's November matches against Australia and Argentina at Murrayfield and the clash with Georgia at Rugby Park.
The Zimbabwe-born 26 year-old has won 34 caps for Scotland. | Scotland back-row David Denton will be unavailable for the autumn Tests after being ruled out for up to four months with a hamstring tear. |
35,576,495 | Olmert was handed a six-year sentence in 2014 after being convicted of bribery charges relating to his time as Mayor of Jerusalem.
This was reduced to 18 months in December, but an extra month was added last week for obstruction of justice.
In a video released on Monday, the 70-year-old said he "rejects outright" the bribery charges.
It came just hours before Olmert, prime minister from 2006 to 2009, was due to arrive at Maasiyahu prison in the central Israeli town of Ramle.
In March 2014 he was found guilty of accepting, while he was Mayor of Jerusalem, a 500,000-shekel ($129,000; £89,000) bribe from developers of one real estate project and a 60,000-shekel bribe in connection with another.
But the Supreme Court subsequently cleared him of the charge of accepting the 500,000-shekel bribe and reduced his sentence to 18 months.
On 10 February, the court rejected key part of a plea bargain and added one month on to Olmert's sentence after he admitted attempting to persuade his former secretary not to testify against him.
The Supreme Court is yet to rule on an appeal by Olmert against an eight-month prison sentence he was handed last year after being convicted of fraud and breach of trust for accepting illegal payments from an American businessman. | Ehud Olmert has begun a 19-month jail sentence, becoming the first former Israeli prime minister to go to prison. |
38,882,915 | In an interview with President Donald Trump Mr O'Reilly described President Putin as "a killer".
Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that an apology from the "respected television company" should be sent.
Mr Trump was being questioned about his counterpart's alleged links to the murders of reporters and dissidents.
"He's a killer though, Putin's a killer," Mr O'Reilly commented in the interview.
Mr Trump replied: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"
Mr Trump said he respected President Putin and would prefer to "get along with him".
He said he wanted help from Russia in the fight against "Islamic terrorism".
The new president's opinions on Mr Putin are being closely watched in the US, where the intelligence community believes the Russian president orchestrated widespread computer hacking during the recent election to help Mr Trump win.
Many Republicans were unhappy at Mr Trump's assertion in the interview with Fox that the US was not always "innocent" in the way it behaved.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described Mr Putin "as a former KGB agent [and] a thug".
But Vice-President Mike Pence insisted that Mr Trump would not "let semantics or the arguments of the past get in the way of exploring the ability to work together with Russia".
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi said she wanted to know: "What do the Russians have on President Trump?"
The Democratic leader has called for an FBI investigation into Mr Trump's links to Russia.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin spoke in a telephone call on 28 January - the first since Mr Trump assumed office. It was described by the White House "as a significant start to improving the relationship between the United States and Russia". | The Kremlin has demanded an apology from Fox News over "unacceptable and offensive" comments about Vladimir Putin made by presenter Bill O'Reilly. |
31,484,666 | Steven Varley, 45, and Michael Gath, 30, appeared at Leeds Magistrates' Court charged with robbing and killing 48-year-old Andrew Gordon.
His body was found on 11 February at a flat in Briarsdale Heights, Gipton.
Mr Varley, of Coldcotes Crescent, Gipton, and Mr Gath, of Barton Terrace, Beeston, were remanded in custody to appear at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday. | Two men have appeared in court charged with murder and robbery following the death of a man in Leeds. |
36,537,748 | Under the resolution, European Union boats charged with seizing migrant-smuggling vessels in the Mediterranean Sea will also be asked to stop vessels suspected of smuggling arms.
The UN had become concerned that arms trafficked to the country were being used by so-called Islamic State (IS).
There are 20m weapons in the country of 6m people, the UN envoy to Libya said.
"These weapons do not fall from the sky, but come increasingly through illegal shipments by sea and by land.
"The arms fuel the conflict. These shipments must end if there is any serious hope of bringing peace to Libya," said Martin Kobler.
Why is Libya so lawless?
Can unity government restore stability?
Control and crucifixions: Life in Libya under IS
The British-drafted resolution had the potential to be a "game changer" for Libya, France's UN ambassador Francois Delattre said.
Under it, EU ships will seize and dispose of boats being used by arms traffickers.
But vessels must first make efforts to obtain consent from the country where the suspected smuggling boat is registered.
The UN imposed an arms embargo on Libya in 2011, when former leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.
However, Libya has become increasingly lawless since Gaddafi's overthrow and a power vacuum has allowed IS militants to gain control of parts of the country.
Last year sanctions monitors told the UN that Libya needed help from an international maritime force to halt the flow of weapons.
Western countries hope a new unity government formed earlier this year will be able to bring together Libya's different factions.
The new government is allowed to import arms with UN approval. | The United Nations Security Council has approved a crackdown on arms smuggling in the waters off the Libyan coast. |
32,354,553 | Robert Ewing, 60, is accused of killing 15-year-old Paige Chivers, who went missing in Blackpool in 2007.
Preston Crown Court has heard he rang police anonymously to say a girl had turned up on his doorstep.
Mr Ewing denies murder.
It is said that Mr Ewing, of All Hallows Road, Bispham, was "testing the water" to discover what the official reaction would be to Paige turning up on his doorstep after she had been thrown out of her home by her father.
Later that month in August 2007, Mr Ewing is alleged to have murdered Paige at his flat before he disposed of the youngster's body, which has still not been found.
The court heard the defendant told a police operator that a 15-year-old girl who he "vaguely knew" had come to his house following a family row.
He said he let her in before later sending her home but was concerned he had "left her in limbo" and wanted to know what he should do next.
During the recording, which was played to the jury, he said: "She's permanently excluded from school. She's a problem child. Drinks, smokes ...you name it she does it."
Mr Ewing revealed he knew her full name but was not asked to disclose either his or her name.
After adding he did not know her address, the operator advises him to ring social services.
Co-defendant Gareth Dewhurst, 46, of Duncan Avenue, Blackpool, has pleaded not guilty to a serious sexual act, assisting an offender in disposing a body and intending to pervert the course of public justice.
Mr Ewing also denies intending to pervert the course of public justice.
The trial continues. | The alleged murderer of a teenage girl was told by police to contact social services when he sought advice about what to do with the "problem child" up to two weeks before he killed her, a court has heard. |
35,356,510 | They will be joined by Merrion batter Kate McKenna whose addition completes the Irish panel.
Ireland clinched their place by winning the qualification tournament in Bangkok in December.
They will play holders Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Group A.
"We have a tough game first up against New Zealand, but the squad has been training through the winter and with three warm-ups against India, Bangladesh and Pakistan lined up, we will be ready," said head coach Aaron Hamilton.
Ireland have revealed former Australian international Julia Price will join their coaching set-up when the tournament gets under way in India in March.
Price played in 10 Test matches and 84 one-day internationals with Australia.
Ireland's first group match against New Zealand is in Mohali on Friday, 18 March, followed by Sri Lanka at the same venue two days later.
They face South Africa in Chennai on 23 March, with the final group game against Australia in Delhi on 26 March.
Ireland squad: Isobel Joyce (capt, Merrion), Catherine Dalton (Middlesex), Laura Delany (Leinster), Kim Garth (Pembroke), Jennifer Gray (YMCA), Cecelia Joyce (Merrion), Shauna Kavanagh (Pembroke), Amy Kenealy (Leinster), Gaby Lewis (YMCA), Robyn Lewis (YMCA), Ciara Metcalfe (Pembroke), Kate McKenna (Merrion), Lucy O'Reilly (YMCA), Clare Shillington (YMCA), Mary Waldron (Malahide). | All 14 players involved in getting Ireland to the ICC Women's World Twenty20 have been selected for the tournament in India in March. |
30,819,742 | The local authority's education committee has backed the proposed closures of Edinbane, Dunvegan, Knockbreck and Struan primaries.
A new school would be built at Dunvegan.
The proposal will be put to a full meeting of Highland Council in March. | Councillors have recommended that Highland Council closes four schools on Skye and replaces them with a new building on one of the sites. |
36,673,358 | Thousands of babies worldwide were born with deformities in the 1960s after the drug was given to pregnant women to combat morning sickness.
Thalidomide-impaired people, their families and supporters attended the unveiling in the city's Cathays Park.
It follows a seven-year battle by campaigners to establish a permanent memorial made of Welsh stone.
Lead campaigner Rosie Moriarty-Simmonds said: "After seven years of campaigning and persuasion, we are delighted that the memorial will be sited in the heart of Cardiff's Civic Centre, in the shadow of the National War Memorial, the City Hall and the Welsh Office.
"It is a fitting location to remember all those who have been and continue to be affected by a medical disaster which, but for the desire for profit, should never have happened."
People travelled from all over the country to attend the memorial.
Geraldine Freeman, from Swindon, said: "It's important to remember those that have gone, and our parents that are no longer with us, to know that we are going to be remembered."
Jacqueline Harper, from Wakefield, said: "It's for the people that have lost their babies and what we went through when we were little. It's a reminder of who we are today.
"It's emotional with everyone here - it's puts everything into perspective, that there's something here so that what happened is never forgotten." | A memorial to those affected by the thalidomide drug scandal has been unveiled in Cardiff. |
35,441,406 | The iconic tunnel of trees on the Bregagh Road near Armoy features as the Kingsroad in the smash-hit HBO television series.
But now some of the 200-year-old beeches have fallen victim to the savagery of Storm Gertrude.
High winds ripped up two trees on Friday morning, causing them collapse on to the road, and a third was left badly damaged.
The trees were planted by the Stuart family along the entrance to their Gracehill House mansion.
Over the decades, the branches grew over the road and became entangled and intertwined, creating a covered passageway with something of an ethereal feel.
Originally, there were about 150 trees, but time has taken its toll and now only about 90 remain.
The combination of light and shadow at the Dark Hedges, as well as snow, mist or haze depending on the time of year, draws both amateur and professional photographers keen to capture a compelling image.
American photographer Jim Zuckerberg has said the country lane is "one of the most beautiful roads I've ever seen".
"The serpentine trees form a tunnel that is spectacular at any time of the day, but I find it particularly intriguing and mysterious just before dark," he said.
That enchantment also caught the eyes of the makers of Game Of Thrones, who included it in episode one of the show's second season.
Thrones fan Cristina Lekka, from Greece, who visited the Dark Hedges on Friday, said she was "disappointed" that some of the trees had fallen down due to Storm Gertrude.
"I saw this place on Game Of Thrones and we came here only for that - we came here to see the trees," she said.
Caroline McComb, who runs tours for Game Of Thrones fans, said about 10,000 people travelled to Northern Ireland last year to visit to the Dark Hedges and the show's other scenes.
"We keep the Dark Hedges as the last location on the tours, because the sight of them just blows people away," Ms McComb said.
"Five days a week we take people to the Dark Hedges - they are so tangible for people, so relatable and recognisable.
"It's one of the most stunning parts of our Northern Ireland countryside, so it's greatly disappointing to see some of them damaged.
"Hopefully we can protect the ones that remain."
That job has been taken on by the Dark Hedges Preservation Trust.
Its chair is Mervyn Storey, who is also Northern Ireland's finance minister.
He said that while the Dark Hedges now appear on posters and in advertisements around the world promoting the Thrones tourism trail, many people in Northern Ireland knew little about them even as recently as 10 years ago.
"The dilemma we had was that here was this amazing set of trees that people took great pride in, but nobody really knew where they were," he said.
"A campaign then put them on the map and the numbers of people coming to see them started to increase.
"But then they were used in Game Of Thrones and they went viral."
The task of maintaining the Dark Hedges has not been an easy one.
A survey of the trees carried out in 2014 showed some were in much better health than others, and that they were vulnerable in severe weather.
As Mr Storey said, "many have well over-lived their lifespan".
The preservation trust is now having to be "ultra cautious" about the work it does to protect the stunning natural landmark.
"What makes the Dark Hedges is the intertwining of the branches, but that also creates a difficulty because when those branches get weak they have to be taken out," Mr Storey said.
"All we're able to do is ensure we apply as much tender, loving care as we can." | Even though their appearance in Game Of Thrones is a fleeting one, County Antrim's Dark Hedges are instantly recognisable to fantasy fans around the world. |
35,549,590 | The Case for Change looks at the problems facing health trusts in northern, eastern and western Devon.
It highlights the county's ageing population and the difficulty in recruiting staff to the region.
Health trusts collectively spend £35m a year on agency and bank staff, the report says.
Read more on this story and others on our Local Live page
The document has been compiled as part of the Success regime, announced last summer, which has been brought in by NHS England to deal with the financial problems facing NEW Devon CCG.
Devon is one of three worst-performing areas in the country.
The programme aims to create the "conditions for success" in challenged areas by looking at health and social care as a whole, according to NHS England.
Three areas have been chosen to be part of the regime.
They are:
An estimated £85m is being spent on areas where staff may be able to provide the same quality of service but more efficiently, the report says.
It predicts there will be 37,000 more emergency admissions to local hospitals over the next five years, an increase of 30%, many of which are preventable if patients get more support at home.
The report also states that almost a quarter of GPs in the area are planning to leave the NHS in the next five years, mostly due to retirement.
Ruth Carnall, chair of the Success regime in the NEW Devon area, said: "Financially, the NHS is living well beyond its means. The publication of the Case for Change is the start of our engagement with people about what needs to change and why."
All these issues could lead to health trusts in northern, eastern and western Devon to be £442m in deficit by 2021.
Chief executive of Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Ann James said: "Clearly we can't carry on. What we need to do is make sure we're able to recruit and retain the right numbers of staff for the services we've got and we're really struggling to do that.
"The older you get and certainly where you've got issues of deprivation, you're much more likely to have more than one thing which needs the care and attention of health and social care, and that of course drives the costs."
This document paves the way for the next phase of the success regime, when we will be presented with some possible solutions. I'm told they are likely to be unpalatable.
Saving so much money is going to require some radical changes. Community hospital campaigners will no doubt be alarmed to read that the cost of beds is highlighted as being more expensive than in an acute hospital and more expensive than other community hospitals elsewhere in the country. | Health and social care services in parts of Devon are likely to be £442m in deficit by 2021 if nothing changes, according to a new report. |
35,942,478 | The boy, who was accompanied by an adult, fell at Hilbre Island, West Kirby, at about 13:00 BST on Thursday.
He was airlifted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, where he remains in a critical condition.
Merseyside Police are appealing for information. Anyone who was in the area between 12.30 and 13.30 is urged to contact the force.
Read the latest updates on this story and more on Merseyside Local Live
Hilbre Island is a rocky crag of land that lies about a mile (1.6km) from West Kirby. It features a ranger's cottage and several privately-owned properties.
It can be approached on foot at low tide. | A 10-year-old boy was critically injured after slipping on rocks off the coast of Wirral. |
38,952,000 | The Clarets were extremely clever in Sunday's 1-1 draw, especially in the way they targeted Chelsea's left flank, which is far less disciplined defensively than their right side.
Eden Hazard always wanders inside from the left - far more than Pedro does when he starts on the right - which is what happened at Turf Moor.
That leaves Chelsea's left wing-back Marcus Alonso to advance up the pitch and give them an option wide on that flank.
But, with Hazard often on the opposite side of the pitch, Alonso is sometimes left isolated when the Blues lose possession.
Alonso is also not as strong as their right wing-back Victor Moses when it comes to getting back to help his centre-halves. I look at him and think he is more of a left winger.
It is a weak spot because it leaves space to exploit if teams can get the ball into that channel behind Alonso, but you usually have to do it quickly.
Burnley managed it early on by playing long balls up to Andre Gray that forced Gary Cahill and David Luiz to come out wide, out of their comfort zone.
The Clarets had more success in the second half when Ashley Barnes intercepted a Chelsea header down that flank, with Alonso further up the pitch, and Hazard over on the right.
Cahill should have done better with his challenge on Barnes inside the Burnley half, and Luiz should have cut out the cross after Barnes had burst forward - but the ball still found Gray, who missed an excellent chance to put his side ahead.
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Burnley got their tactics exactly right on Sunday. Their attitude was spot-on too.
Their game plan, and the way they executed it, was an example of how the right system and attitude gives you a chance when you are facing a side with more technical quality.
Chelsea are always well organised under Conte as well, of course, but they struggled to control the game because of Burnley's approach.
The Blues' goal at Turf Moor was typical of the clinical counter-attacking play that has helped take Conte's side to the top of the table.
But the speed of Burnley's own transition from defence to attack meant they created chances that way too, especially in the first half.
Sean Dyche's side played a lot of long balls right from the start of the game, but they did not just lump the ball forward for the sake of it. Those passes had a purpose.
It meant they bypassed midfield - an area where Dyche knew his side would be over-powered - and got the ball to Burnley's two strikers as quickly as possible.
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Burnley were attacking very well for a lot of the game but those long balls were also a defensive tactic. They stretched the play.
Instead of Chelsea winning back possession in midfield and launching attacks from there, which is what they wanted to do, they had to come at them from much further back.
That made it harder, especially against a team that does as much running as Burnley. The Clarets had more time to recover and get numbers back to hassle them outside their own area.
From Burnley's point of view, most of the second half was more about digging in and working hard defensively, rather than asking more questions of Chelsea.
But Dyche's side did well at that too. They were extremely well organised and were very difficult to break down. Their 4-4-2 formation sometimes became a six-man defence.
Chelsea had lots of the ball in the second half, but they did not find much space or create lots of chances and, after the break, it was significant that Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton did not have to make a save.
The Clarets have an incredible home record this season and, although they were beaten by Arsenal and Manchester City, they caused them plenty of problems too.
Dyche's side have to work very hard for every point they pick up but they got their reward for it this time - and they fully deserved their draw.
I think it was a good result for Chelsea too, because they could have lost. They did not play particularly well, but they still picked up a point, and they still have a very healthy lead at the top of the table.
Ruud Gullit was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan. | Not many teams have tested Chelsea's three-man defence this season, but Burnley showed there is a way to get at Antonio Conte's side. |
36,550,722 | The former Manchester United trainee, 24, was Swindon's top scorer last term with 25 goals in all competitions.
Head coach Luke Williams has previously said they must "plan for life without" Ajose and midfield star Yaser Kasim.
BBC Wiltshire also understands that Swindon have agreed a deal worth about £400,000 to sign Lawrence Vigouroux.
The Chilean goalkeeper made 36 appearances while on loan at Swindon from Liverpool in 2015-16.
Vigouroux, 22, was a regular in the Wiltshire club's starting side before suffering an injury in March.
Charlton were relegated from the Championship last term and will play in League One alongside Swindon in 2016-17.
On Thursday, the Addicks signed Northampton Town midfielder Ricky Holmes for an undisclosed fee. | A deal has been agreed for Swindon Town striker Nicky Ajose to join Charlton Athletic for a fee in the region of £800,000, BBC Wiltshire understand. |
35,349,949 | About 20 people were also wounded in the blast, which took place in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on the outskirts of Peshawar.
There has been fierce fighting in the region between security forces and the Pakistani Taliban.
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.
TV footage of the latest attack showed vehicles parked near the blast site on fire after the explosion.
At least five policemen are among the dead. Their vehicle was targeted by the bomber, officials said. Several civilians were also killed, including a child and a local journalist.
The bomb went off near Peshawar's Karkhano Market, The Express Tribune reported.
A suspected suicide attack at a government office in north-western Pakistan killed at least 26 people last month.
That bomb went off outside the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office in the town of Mardan.
The attack was one of the deadliest since the December 2014 massacre by the Taliban of 150 pupils and teachers in Peshawar. | At least 10 people have been killed by a suicide bomber riding a motorbike close to a police checkpoint in north-western Pakistan, police say. |
33,836,426 | The attack on a 26-year-old man happened in the west end of Glasgow on Wednesday, 11 March.
The victim was walking on Great Western Road at about 00:25, near to the junction with Crow Road, when he was approached by a man.
The 26-year-old fell to the ground following the attack and required hospital treatment for a facial injury.
Police officers believe the male and female shown in the CCTV images may have information that could help them with their inquiries.
The man is white, about 5ft 9in tall, slim with light brown receding hair. He was wearing dark trousers, a white shirt and a dark jacket.
The woman was seen speaking to the victim in Great Western Road shortly before he was assaulted. The police believe she may have information that is vital to their investigation.
She is described as white, about 5ft 6in tall, medium build with long fair hair. She was wearing a black jacket with a pink top underneath, denims and dark boots. | Police have issued CCTV images of a man and woman they want to speak to following a serious assault. |
23,282,724 | According to figures from around the world in June, Beijing and Shanghai airports came bottom for on-time flights, the US-based firm said.
Eight of the 10 worst-performing Asian airlines in terms of delays were Chinese carriers, the report added.
The report did not explain the reasons for poor performance.
The report looked at "on-time performance of scheduled passenger flights" by top airlines, as well as "top performing airports based on their reported departure performance" in June, FlightStats said on its website.
"A flight is considered on-time if it arrives or departs within 15 minutes after its scheduled take-off or landing time," the report says.
Among 35 major international airports, the report ranked Beijing Capital International Airport lowest for on-time performance.
It figure for on-time departures was 18.30%, with 42.02% of flights falling under the "excessive" category - a delay of 45 minutes or more.
This means that only a fifth of the flights left on time and close to half of flights were delayed for 45 minutes or more.
The Shanghai Pudong International Airport, second from bottom, fared slightly better, with on-time flight departures at 28.72%. Under the "excessive" category, it scored 34.22%.
Tokyo's Haneda airport topped the list, with an on-time performance of 95.04%. Osaka International Airport, which did not feature in the main list but in a separate Asian ranking, did even better with 95.88%.
Meanwhile, China United Airlines was ranked the worst-performing among the 41 Asian airlines listed on the report, with just over a quarter of its flight performing on time.
The Asian airline with the best on-time rate was South Korea's Air Busan, with a near-perfect 96.77%.
Some Chinese industry insiders blame "air traffic volume as the cause of flight delays", China Daily newspaper said. In China, about 80% of air space is restricted to military use, the paper said.
But it also quoted an expert as saying that China's airports could not keep up with commercial airline growth. | China's major airports have the worst flight delays in the world, a report from travel industry monitor FlightStats says. |
40,459,489 | The 15ft (4.5m) sculpture, titled Slate or State was carried from Bethesda to the castle's Grand Hall.
The inflatable structure was created by Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich with local artists and the community.
The project aims to bring the history of the Penrhyn Quarry Strike to life and will help National Trust tell its "dark history" of the castle.
Mr Bromwich said: "It's quite a contrast to the decadence and the prominence of the space.
"It's a very temporary structure that will be here until November but it says a lot about an invisible story that's not told here."
The strike, from 1900 to 1903, saw 700 men begrudgingly return to the quarry while more than 2,000 quit for the coal mines of south Wales.
It followed a three-year strike over rights, pay and working conditions.
The memory of the strike and what the castle still represents has kept many in the community from visiting.
Ms Walker said: "It's been an amazing experience and really interesting working here.
"Local people have been really supportive of the idea, with a history that is so important in Bethesda."
Slate or State is part of the castle's Artists in Residency' project, held in partnership with the Arts Council of Wales. | A procession has been held in Gwynedd to transport a sculpture to Penrhyn Castle. |
29,831,262 | Correspondents say the city hall and ruling party headquarters are also in flames in the capital, Ouagadougou.
A huge crowd is surging towards the presidential palace and the main airport has been shut.
MPs have suspended a vote on changing the constitution to allow Mr Compaore to stand for re-election next year.
Five people have been killed in the protests, among the most serious against Mr Compaore's rule, reports BBC Afrique's Yacouba Ouedraogo from the capital.
The military fired live bullets as protesters stormed parliament, our correspondent says.
Journalists are now gathered outside the defence ministry awaiting a statement from the military, he says.
Witnesses say dozens of soldiers have joined the protests, including a former defence minister, Gen Kouame Lougue.
The main opposition leader, Zephirin Diabre, has called on the military to side with "the people" and has demanded the resignation of the president.
Mr Compaore's whereabouts are unknown, but he has appealed for calm via Twitter.
He first took power in a coup in 1987, and has won four disputed elections since then.
I am in an area where many MPs live and I have seen two of their homes set ablaze and smoke coming out of another two or three homes. Hotel Azalai, one of the main hotels in the city, is also on fire.
Two helicopters flew over my house - the president's and a normal helicopter. I cannot confirm whether the president was in one of them.
No-one knows what is going to happen next. It is chaotic and tense. We hear sporadic gunfire.
There is no TV anymore. So we are depending on internet access and phone calls. The 3G network and the texting system are blocked.
The opposition has called for a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that he steps down in elections next year.
"October 30 is Burkina Faso's black spring, like the Arab Spring," opposition activist Emile Pargui Pare told AFP news agency.
State television went off air after protesters stormed the building housing it and ransacked it, Reuters quotes a witness as saying.
About 1,500 people breached the security cordon at parliament, according to AFP.
Protesters were setting fire to documents and stealing computer equipment and cars outside the building were also set on fire, the agency says.
A massive crowd has also converged on the main square in Ouagadougou and is marching towards the presidential palace, which is about 5km (three miles) away, our reporter says.
A government helicopter flying overhead was firing tear gas at them, Reuters reports.
There are also reports of protests in the south-western city of Bobo Dioulasso.
The government has been forced to suspend Thursday's parliamentary vote on a constitutional amendment that would have lifted the limit on presidential terms so that Mr Compaore could run for office again in 2015.
It is not clear whether the government intends to hold the vote at a later stage, correspondents say.
Mr Compaore is a staunch ally of the US and France, which uses Burkina Faso as a base for military operations against militant Islamists in the Sahel region.
Both France and the European Union (EU) have called on him to scrap the proposed constitutional amendment.
The EU said it could jeopardise Burkina Faso's stability. The US has also raised concern about the proposed amendment. | Protesters angry at plans to allow Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year-rule have set fire to parliament. |
35,489,774 | CSG exploration and production "will no longer be a core business", AGL announced on Thursday.
The company will abandon projects in the states of Queensland and New South Wales, absorbing an expected pre-tax write off of A$795m ($570m; £391m).
Gas exploration across Australia has pitted miners against farmers.
Those opposed to CSG say mining could contaminate groundwater and lead to environmental catastrophes, claims the industry rejects.
Anti-CSG campaign group Lock the Gate welcomed AGL's announcement, calling CSG a "dead-end industry".
"This is fantastic and long-overdue news for the embattled Gloucester community, which has struggled for years to stop this project," Lock the Gate spokesperson Steve Phillips said in a statement.
"This is a marginal industry with no long-term security, but massive long-term risks to water resources and local communities."
AGL will continue to extract gas from its existing mines at Camden, just outside Sydney, until 2023. | One of Australia's largest energy firms is winding down its coal seam gas (CSG) operations, citing volatile commodity prices and long development times. |
33,782,896 | The police said the operation was in place in the Melvin Road area on Tuesday night.
Army bomb experts are at the scene.
Police have apologised for any inconvenience. | A security operation is under way in Strabane, County Tyrone. |
36,468,019 | The 79-year-old's condition was "nothing to worry about", she added.
A statement by the San Raffaele hospital in Milan said the hospitalisation was necessary after what it called a "cardiac deficiency".
Mr Berlusconi was Italy's prime minister four times, but has since been convicted for tax fraud and bribery.
The leader of Forza Italia, who had a pacemaker implanted in a hospital in the US when he was 70, would undergo tests "in the next few days", the hospital statement said. | Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been taken to hospital with a heart problem, according to a spokeswoman for his party. |
33,525,802 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
14 July 2015 Last updated at 13:35 BST
The Royal College of Surgeons claim it is necessary because so many kids have teeth that are rotting.
Experts say a lack of proper brushing is often to blame.
So, how do you make sure you brush your teeth properly?
Newsround got Dentist Ben Atkins, from the British Dental Health Foundation, to explain. | A big group of doctors say children should be supervised until they're 14 when brushing their teeth. |
39,243,861 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Craig Fulton's side have taken control of Pool A after two goals from Johnny McKee helped them to all three points.
Ireland are the highest ranked team in the tournament and a top-three finish would be enough to qualify for the World League semi-finals in the summer.
The hosts face Austria tomorrow before finishing their pool campaign against Italy on Tuesday.
Jeremy Duncan, Shane O'Donoghue, Lee Cole, Matthew Nelson, Conor Harte, Matthew Bell and Ben Walker were the other Irish goal scorers at Stormont.
After Duncan gave the home side an early lead, Ukraine drew level with a penalty corner by Andrii Koshelenko but Ireland dominated the rest of the game and led 5-1 at half-time.
Nelson scored the only goal of the third quarter before Harte, Bell and Walker all netted in final quarter and Ukraine scored a late consolation when Sergii Diachuk converted a penalty stroke. | Ireland have made a winning start to the World League 2 competition in Belfast after a 9-2 win over Ukraine. |
38,231,502 | Greater Manchester Police said the incident was one of 14 arrests made in connection with the game.
There were also reports of fans setting off fireworks on Greater Manchester's tram network.
The match at the Etihad finished 1-1 with City progressing to the knock-out stages and Celtic going out of Europe.
Superintendent Craig Thompson said the game passed "largely without incident".
About 30 people were ejected from the stadium - mostly away supporters for sitting in the home end. | A Celtic fan was arrested for throwing a hamburger at a police horse before the Scottish club's Champions League fixture at Manchester City on Tuesday. |
16,230,898 | If you have any questions about the BBC's boxing coverage please first consult our main FAQs page. | Details of forthcoming fights will appear here. |
35,311,498 | Starting in north east Wales, Stephen Crabb and Lord Maude's visits include Airbus in Broughton and Wrexham-based financial services company DTCC.
Mr Crabb said he wanted to "showcase our country to the world", and show how the UK government could help companies.
Foreign investment created over 5,000 Welsh jobs in 2015, ministers said.
"Last year 4,000 Welsh companies took their first steps into export, and this year we are already up to 3000," Mr Crabb said as the tour began on Thursday.
"I urge those companies considering exporting to go on the Exporting is Great website or come to the first ever Exporting is Great roadshow in Wales, which kicks off next month."
Lord Maude added: "It has been inspiring seeing the enthusiasm for exporting here in Wales, and hearing the success that can be achieved when companies start to expand overseas.
"With exports approaching £3bn each year in Wales alone, there is clearly demand out there for UK products and services."
On Friday, Lord Maude will be in Deeside, visiting Toyota's engine plant and medical supplies firm ConvaTec, where he will meet the Welsh government's Economy Minister Edwina Hart.
UK Trade and Investment, the government department responsible for encouraging investment by overseas firms, works with the Welsh government to bring projects to Wales.
On Wednesday, Mrs Hart announced plans for up to 44 events in 16 countries to raise Wales' trade and tourism profile in 2016-17. | The Welsh secretary and the UK trade minister have begun a two-day tour of successful firms in Wales, as part of a drive to boost exports. |
37,793,590 | The brother of accused David Naylor attributed the remark to him in a statement read to the trial jury.
Fisherman's Friends vocalist Trevor Grills, 54, and Paul McMullen, 44, died after a steel door collapsed at G Live in Guildford on 9 February 2013.
Mr Naylor, 57, denies two charges of manslaughter by gross negligence.
In a character witness statement read out at Guildford Crown Court, his brother Jonathan said on hearing of the tragedy Mr Naylor, director of Express Hi-Fold Doors Ltd, had tears in his eyes.
Mr Naylor's barrister Adrian Darbishire read five statements in support of his client.
The trial continues. | A man accused of causing the deaths of a shanty group singer and their promoter said "I wish it had been me", a court has heard. |
36,164,533 | He is one of two 16-year olds from western Germany who were arrested after the 16 April attack.
Three people were wounded, one seriously, in the bombing.
Authorities also say the boy previously threatened to break the neck of another student, who was Jewish.
The head of the police in the north-western city of Essen, Frank Richter, called the attack "religiously motivated terror by the Islamist scene" and said both boys had links to Islamist groups in the region.
A third person was arrested but was later released.
The bomb damaged part of the temple building and blew out some of the windows. It exploded after a wedding party and the people who were injured had been guests.
Mr Richter also said it was likely there would be more arrests, and that the boys had "partially admitted" their involvement in the attack.
A North Rhine Westphalia state representative, Gregor Golland, said it was clear that the anti-extremism programme "had not worked".
He said: "These programmes must be substantially intensified, and we need a register of people of interest who are under 16, which is common in other states." | Authorities in Germany say a teenager who is suspected of bombing a Sikh temple earlier this month had been in a violence prevention programme aimed at Islamic extremists. |
36,065,460 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Yannick Bolasie headed Palace ahead at Wembley when Damien Delaney flicked on Yohan Cabaye's early corner.
Watford, who lost midfielder Etienne Capoue to injury early in the semi-final, levelled when Troy Deeney nodded home Jose Manuel Jurado's corner.
Palace sealed a first FA Cup final appearance for 26 years when Connor Wickham met Pape Souare's cross.
Next month's final is a repeat of the 1990 showcase when Palace and United were involved in a thrilling 3-3 draw before the Red Devils ran out 1-0 winners in the replay.
Relive Palace's victory over Watford at Wembley
Palace manager Alan Pardew greeted the final whistle by punching the air in celebration after a well deserved win which justified his decision to rest several first-team players in the 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Few Palace fans could have dreamt their team would reach an FA Cup final when Pardew took charge 15 months ago with the Eagles in the Premier League relegation zone.
He triggered a revival and secured a top-10 finish last season and has now steered them to within one win of major silverware.
Palace carved out the better chances - Bolasie's power and Wilfried Zaha's boundless energy putting Watford's over-worked defence under pressure.
At the other end, Palace produced a resolute and stubborn defensive performance.
In the first half Damien Delaney collapsed to the ground after taking the full brunt of Jurado's powerful shot. It was typical of their bodies-on-the-line attitude.
The previous time Palace played at Wembley, Bolasie did not make it onto the pitch as his side beat Watford in the 2013 Championship play-off final.
On Sunday, the 26-year-old, who was playing non-league for Rushden & Diamonds seven and a half years ago, made up for lost time at the national stadium.
Watford's defenders struggled to deal with his pace - Miguel Britos fortunate to escape after Bolasie skipped past him only for Costel Pantilimon to make an excellent save.
Bolasie has now scored in his last two games for his club after failing to score in the previous 12.
Watford had knocked out holders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the quarter-finals yet this was one hurdle too many for Quique Sanchez Flores' side.
They allowed Palace to score their quickest goal of the season, poor marking letting in Bolasie to head home from almost point-blank range.
Deeney had been fed a diet of scraps before getting the better of Scott Dann to level from another corner.
Yet Watford were on level terms for just six minutes as Wickham proved too much for Nathan Ake to place Souare's delicious cross beyond the reach of Pantilimon.
Watford will point to the 29th minute loss of Capoue, who was distraught as he was carried off on a stretcher after tangling with Bolasie. However, they managed just two shots on target in front of owner Gino Pozzo.
Flores has done a fine job keeping Watford out of relegation trouble yet the Spaniard's job is reportedly under threat after three league wins in 2016.
This performance is unlikely to do little to quash the speculation about his future.
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew: "We've let the fans down a little bit at home games this year but today we had out strongest team and it showed.
"I've only played that team about eight times and the team was in total control of this game in my opinion.
"We talked at half-time about the Everton game yesterday that it changed and we needed to go up a level. Ironically Watford had five or 10 minutes where they bossed the game.
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"But to boss the game for 80 minutes, which I think we did, is a tribute to the players.
Palace winger Yannick Bolasie, speaking to Palace TV: "Obviously I'm delighted for myself, but more importantly I'm delighted for us as a team - I think we deserved nothing less.
"For the fans especially, the way this season's been a bit of a rollercoaster, it's great to get into the final. A lovely thing for our manager as well, because he's stuck with us and all of our players."
Palace forward Connor Wickham, speaking to Palace TV: "It's one of them one-in-a-lifetime occasions that you can't put into words.
"I think the goal that they got was my fault, so I felt like I owed it to the team. My header was well placed and the keeper couldn't get it and that got us back in front."
Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores: "Everyone is disappointed but we need to be realistic. No one expected us to be in the semi-final.
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"When we started the season the main target was to stay in the Premier League. That's the most important thing for Watford. We need reasons to be happy, to be positive. I don't see why we have to be negative.
"We were competitive and created chances. But we did not expect to concede with the first play. But Crystal Palace have a great team and a great manager, and congratulations to them."
Pardew returns to Newcastle United next Saturday (15:00 BST) with his Palace side looking to deliver a blow to his old club's chances of staying up.
Watford host relegated Aston Villa on the same day (15:00 BST) looking for a first top-flight home win since 23 January.
Match ends, Crystal Palace 2, Watford 1.
Second Half ends, Crystal Palace 2, Watford 1.
Foul by Mario Suárez (Watford).
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Adlène Guédioura (Watford) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jurado.
Attempt missed. Adlène Guédioura (Watford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Troy Deeney (Watford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Troy Deeney (Watford).
Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Troy Deeney (Watford).
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Emmanuel Adebayor.
Substitution, Crystal Palace. Emmanuel Adebayor replaces Connor Wickham.
Offside, Crystal Palace. Wayne Hennessey tries a through ball, but Wilfried Zaha is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Jurado (Watford) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ikechi Anya with a headed pass.
Corner, Watford. Conceded by Damien Delaney.
Substitution, Watford. Ikechi Anya replaces Nyom.
Attempt missed. Odion Ighalo (Watford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Troy Deeney with a headed pass.
Substitution, Crystal Palace. Bakary Sako replaces Jason Puncheon.
Mario Suárez (Watford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Mario Suárez (Watford).
Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Connor Wickham (Crystal Palace) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt blocked. Connor Wickham (Crystal Palace) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Corner, Watford. Conceded by Scott Dann.
Attempt saved. Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jason Puncheon.
Foul by Troy Deeney (Watford).
Damien Delaney (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Crystal Palace. James McArthur replaces Yannick Bolasie.
Miguel Britos (Watford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Damien Delaney (Crystal Palace).
Foul by Mario Suárez (Watford).
Connor Wickham (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Odion Ighalo (Watford) because of an injury.
Odion Ighalo (Watford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Scott Dann (Crystal Palace).
Foul by Ben Watson (Watford).
Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt blocked. Mario Suárez (Watford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jurado. | Crystal Palace will meet Manchester United in the FA Cup final on 21 May after a hard-fought win over Watford. |
38,865,547 | The 25-year-old midfielder bundled the ball in at the third attempt after a dramatic goalmouth scramble, sending the home support delirious.
The Lions had emerged from the tunnel rueing not taking a first-half lead as Will Hatfield had a goal-bound shot clawed away by Graham Stack. Instead, James Constable capitalised at the other end and rifled in a shot to put the away side in front.
Substitute Sam Muggleton missed a gilt-edged chance for Eastleigh in the second half, blazing wide from close range following an accurate cross by Sam Matthews, and it proved costly.
Match report supplied by the Press Association
Match ends, Guiseley 1, Eastleigh 1.
Second Half ends, Guiseley 1, Eastleigh 1.
Goal! Guiseley 1, Eastleigh 1. Jake Lawlor (Guiseley).
Substitution, Eastleigh. Ayo Obileye replaces Ben Close.
Sam Matthews (Eastleigh) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Substitution, Guiseley. Adam Boyes replaces Michael Rankine.
Substitution, Guiseley. Jordan Preston replaces Derek Asamoah.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Ben Strevens replaces James Constable.
Substitution, Eastleigh. Sam Muggleton replaces Chinua Cole.
Second Half begins Guiseley 0, Eastleigh 1.
First Half ends, Guiseley 0, Eastleigh 1.
Goal! Guiseley 0, Eastleigh 1. James Constable (Eastleigh).
Jake Cassidy (Guiseley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Adam Dugdale (Eastleigh) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Jake Lawlor grabbed Guiseley a glorious equaliser six minutes into stoppage time to salvage a draw against Eastleigh at Nethermoor Park. |
37,365,029 | Beyake Keita-Ann, 21, was injured following a disturbance between two groups in Attock Park, Rufford Street, at about 20:00 BST on 23 August.
West Yorkshire Police said he died from serious head injuries on Tuesday evening.
Officers said six men arrested on suspicion of wounding with intent remained on bail. | A murder inquiry has been launched after a man hurt in an assault in Bradford died from his injuries. |
38,043,123 | Former Russian sports minister Vitaly Smirnov, head of Russia's anti-doping commission, said it has never conducted a state-sponsored doping programme.
Wada pushed for a complete ban on Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee decided instead to leave the decision to individual sports federations.
It came after an independent report found evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping in Russia in the lead up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
At Sunday's foundation board meeting in Glasgow, Wada announced that the second part of the independent report, compiled by Professor Richard McLaren, is to be released on 9 December.
Sir Craig Reedie, who has been re-elected as Wada president for a second three-year term, said he was confident Wada was "making progress" with Russia.
"The facts are that the McLaren commission indicated that there had been breaches of the code involving the Moscow lab and the ministry of sport," said the 75-year-old Scot.
"To that extent, that's the scale of the issue we have to deal with. I'm really, really keen to move forward. We need to have Russia compliant."
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Wada also announced proposals to seek greater powers to impose sanctions, as well as a new whistleblower programme aimed at protecting and encouraging athletes or officials who seek to highlight doping.
"What we started today was a roadmap on compliance," added Reedie.
"People have been saying to us that non-serious compliance needs non-serious sanctions - and that serious non-compliance needs serious sanctions.
"There is quite clearly a feeling within the athlete community that this should be done. There is much work to be done. It will take massive consultation before we get to the finished article."
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The body said at its board meeting in Glasgow that people are still at risk from cyber-hackers who are trying to access athletes' medical records.
A hacking group known as Fancy Bears has been releasing records of therapeutic use exemptions, which allow athletes to use otherwise-banned drugs because of a verified medical need. | World Anti-Doping Agency officials have urged Russia to admit to state-sponsored doping in a bid to regain the rest of the sporting world's trust. |
22,806,941 | It is hard to imagine he had Kei Yamomoto in mind.
Kei is the Japanese husband of Marianne Bailey, a 35-year-old former senior designer for Yamaha, who now runs her own design firm. She is pregnant with Kei's baby, but her husband could be deported at any time.
They are just one of the thousands of families said to be prevented from living together in the UK because, on paper, Marianne does not earn enough to satisfy immigration officials.
"I'm giving birth in July," she says. "But they could take away my husband at any time - just pick him up."
Rules that came into force a year ago mean any British citizen who wants to sponsor their non-European spouse's visa must be able to show they earn at least £18,600 a year, rising to £22,400 to sponsor a child.
The consequence for some has been an enforced and painful separation.
"How am I supposed to bond with my son?" asks one father. "I've only seen him twice since he was born. He's got a tooth coming through, he's turning around in his bed and I'm missing all these big events in his life."
Douglas Shillinglaw lives in Kent, 3,000 miles away from his wife and six-month-old son Ethan in Lagos, Nigeria.
Immigration officials say the £17,000 profit he made as a self-employed mortgage broker last year is not enough for him to sponsor his wife's visa.
He says he has already spent £2,000 appealing against the decision.
If an applicant wants to use their savings, rather than income, to show they have enough money to satisfy the new rules, they need £62,500.
"I'm just an ordinary person. I don't have those kind of savings." Douglas says.
"It seems like if you're middle class and you've got loads of money, then you can come in. They've got it totally wrong."
But financially better off people, like Marianne, have found themselves in a similar situation.
As well as her design company, she is a part-time university lecturer and an inventor with 20 patents to her name. She owns a number of properties and has a substantial Japanese pension, all of which, she says, takes her "well over" the £18,600 threshold.
But loopholes in the way officials assess an applicant's finances mean that three of her four sources of income are not counted. Her husband Kei faces deportation and would not be able to return to the UK for at least nine months.
"You have to have £62,500 savings in your bank account for six months before they'll count it. So even if we sold our house we wouldn't be in time for the birth," she says.
"I can't cope with a baby on my own."
A group of MPs and peers has been hearing stories like Marianne's for the last six months as it has looked into the effect on family life of the coalition government's new approach.
"These new rules are keeping hard-working, ordinary families apart," said Virendra Sharma, the group's vice-chairman.
He added: "I and others like me would not have been able to come to the UK to join my family if these rules had been in place then."
Ruth Grove-White, from the Migrants' Rights Network, who worked on the report, added: "Being able to start a family in your own country should not be subject to the amount of money you make."
The group points to the government's own estimate that - because of the new rules - almost 18,000 British people will be exiled from the UK if they want to live with their family.
Ministers say they want people to come to Britain who can add to the UK's economic wellbeing and that they are reversing the policies of the previous government.
"Importing economic dependency on the state is unacceptable," the then immigration minister Damian Green has said.
The income thresholds have been set at a level officials believe mean families would receive no income-related welfare benefits.
One of those kept out of his native England by the new rules, 43-year-old John Cobb, has lived in Texas for the last four years.
His American wife Hayley earns more than $30,000 (£19,285) a year working for investment bank JP Morgan Chase.
But because she is the breadwinner and John works part-time at night while he looks after their baby son in the day, he cannot sponsor Hayley's visa and they are prevented from returning to the UK.
Only the earnings of the British sponsor are counted, so Hayley's income and the fact she could likely get a transfer to JP Morgan in England is irrelevant.
"If you fall in love with someone from a different country, it's tough," John says. "Especially when there's children involved, it's really hard."
They want nine-month-old Ryan to go to school and grow up in England with his cousins and half-sister. John is applying for jobs in the UK but knows if he is successful it would mean a painful separation from his wife and child until he meets the new criteria.
Last month Home Office ministers welcomed a fall in the number of people coming to the UK.
It was a major election promise and the numbers speak for themselves: 81,000 fewer people coming into the country this year than last. The number of people coming in on family visas is also down 16%.
London-born labourer John says he has no problem with the government's aims.
"Immigration is a problem that has to be tackled," he says. "But when they're stopping British citizens in legitimate marriages coming in, they need to work it out and change these rules."
A Home Office spokesman said: "Our family rules have been designed to make sure that those coming to the UK to join their spouse or partner will not become a burden on the taxpayer and will be well enough supported to integrate effectively.
"High-value migrants would not be refused because their British spouse or partner was not employed.
"They can meet the income threshold by having cash savings of £62,500 or through their own private income, for example from investments. We have also introduced greater flexibility for those holding investments to liquidate them into cash in order to meet the rules." | "We need to know that you're not going to be living off benefits from day one of arriving here," the immigration minister said last year as he announced new rules to cut the number of people coming to Britain. |
35,890,148 | Clyde Campbell died in his bed on 23 February 2014. Inverness Sheriff Court heard the cause was cot death.
His mother Amanda Hardie, 30, who now lives in East Kilbride, has pleaded guilty to neglecting him and exposing him to unnecessary suffering.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood deferred sentence for a background report.
The court heard that medical enquiries established "no clinical basis" to link the neglect to Clyde's death.
Hardie pleaded guilty to wilfully ill-treating, abandoning, neglecting and exposing the child to unnecessary suffering or injury in her flat in Inverness between 1 October 2013 and 23 February 2014.
The charge went on to say she left him for prolonged periods and in particular during the hours of darkness whilst unattended and without adult supervision.
The court was told that Hardie often left Clyde in the flat when she went out to work at an Inverness nightclub until the early hours, or was seeing her boyfriend.
Fiscal Roderick Urquhart gave details of days leading up to Clyde's death, including the weekend of 15 and 16 February.
He said: "A neighbour states that over that weekend, while the accused was out at work, she passed the accused's flat in the evening and heard Clyde Campbell crying and repeatedly asking for his mum. She knocked on the door, but no-one answered and the crying stopped.
"On 19 February, Hardie found Clyde in the kitchen with a bottle of cleaning fluid, some of which had been spilt on his clothing. She took him to the Accident and Emergency Department of Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, to be checked. There was no indication he had swallowed the cleaning fluid and he was discharged."
Mr Urquhart also told of occasions when Hardie made no arrangements for childcare.
The fiscal said there had been concern about Clyde later in the day of 23 February and neighbours went round to the flat.
He said: "One of them saw that Clyde was lying lifeless in his bed and he contacted the emergency services. He struggled to perform CPR until ambulance staff arrived a short time later and they formally confirmed the child was dead at 15:11.
"Realising that something had happened, another neighbour contacted Hardie via Facebook and told her she had to return home as something was wrong."
Hardie was at her boyfriend's home at the time.
She eventually picked up the message and later told police there was no babysitter looking after Clyde. | A woman whose two-year-old son was found dead at a flat in Inverness has admitted to neglecting the boy over a five-month period. |
40,121,294 | Paul Brown, 52, of Motherwell, died in an accident on the motorway in August 2015.
Graeme Brett, 35, of Glasgow, had maintained a not guilty plea throughout a four-day trial at Dumfries Sheriff Court.
A jury returned a verdict of not proven on the charge.
Mr Brett had denied driving carelessly, failing to maintain a proper lookout ahead and crashing into the back of a lorry.
The court was told that the two men had been window fitting in Carlisle and had been heading north to Motherwell where Mr Brown lived when the accident occurred.
Mr Brett had told the police: "Paul wanted to get home that day and we had left early." | A van driver has been acquitted in court of causing the death of a workmate by careless driving on the A74(M) near Lockerbie. |
28,838,939 | 18 August 2014 Last updated at 14:27 BST
The children were from a poor neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Jamaican sprinter was in Brazil for a race, but visited Copacabana Beach to throw some shapes. | Olympic champion Usain Bolt danced the samba with a group children on Saturday. |
38,484,024 | Reigan Knight and Liam Phillips, both 17, were killed when the Ford Escort they were passengers in crashed in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, as it was being followed by police on 27 December.
Reigan's family said he was an "amazing son who had so much potential".
"There is now a space in our family that can never be filled," Liam's family said.
On Friday, about 300 people attended a candlelit beach vigil for the two boys, with many launching sky lanterns in their memory.
Reigan's family said they could not "describe the agonising pain and heartbreak we are experiencing now".
"The thought of going through life without you is unbearable. You were such a kind, charming, loving, confident, handsome, well-mannered young man who was such a character," they added.
Liam's family said he would be "dearly missed by all that knew and loved him".
A 16-year-old from Great Wakering has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving and will next appear in court later this month.
A 17-year-old boy from Shoebury, who was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs, has been released on bail.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has started an investigation into the crash. | Tributes have been paid to two teenage boys who died in a car crash two days after Christmas. |
32,179,122 | It will be two months since his last competitive action when he ends a voluntary leave of absence by teeing off at the Masters next week.
This isn't the usual story of recovery from injury, it is a return from a much deeper malaise. Furthermore he is embarking on it on the most high-profile of stages.
Wherever he plays, Woods finds himself the centre of attention but this is magnified to a potentially uncomfortable intensity at the Masters. It's one of those golf tournaments that genuinely transcends.
An embarrassing lack of form prompted Woods, who has four Masters titles among his 14 majors, to take the break that is about to end.
It is now more than a year since the 39-year-old had surgery to alleviate debilitating back trouble and as he embarked on his 2015 season, Woods spoke of his delight at being pain free and able to practise at will.
Yet his game was all over the place. He shot his worst professional round with an 82 when he missed the cut at Phoenix.
A week later his back seized up and he couldn't get his legs to generate any power through the hitting zone when he made a miserable start at Torrey Pines. He hobbled off after just 11 holes.
That was on 5 February; he had managed just 47 holes before it was time to go back into hiding.
Chris DiMarco, the man Woods beat the last time he won the Masters back in 2005, told Golf Channel viewers he thought that injury was just an excuse to get off the course.
"He was embarrassed to be out there," DiMarco said, dismissing Woods' claim that misfiring glutes had forced him to quit. "He wasn't doing anything good, and I think there was something wrong and he couldn't take care of it."
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Woods had been trying to bed in a new swing under the tutelage of bio-mechanics expert Chris Como. The idea was to find an action that wouldn't hurt his increasingly fragile frame.
But it came at a cost. Woods lost his short game to an astonishing degree.
Faced by routine chips, there was no guarantee that he would even hit the green, never mind send his ball anywhere near the hole. Chips were chunked short or bladed long.
Once the game's most reliable figure around the greens, Woods had seemingly fallen victim to the psychological curse of the yips.
It's a condition that many coaches believe incurable. Woods' former tutor Hank Haney contends that you have to learn new ways to play the game, eliminating use of the shots that are contaminated by this mental/physical curse.
That pragmatic policy will be hard to accomplish at Augusta, a hugely demanding course that puts a high premium on short-game accuracy and imagination.
Woods played a practice round there last Tuesday and is reported to have shot a two-over-par 74 that contained some rather iffy chips. The greens will be much more treacherous once they hit tournament speed.
The first time he faces one of those shots at next week's Masters, the four-time champion's nerve will be tested like never before.
Ten years ago DiMarco was on the receiving end of the extraordinary curling chip-in for birdie on the 16th that helped force a play-off won by Woods.
That was the former world number one at the height of his powers, someone who could seemingly summon golfing genius whenever it was required.
But those days are long gone. Woods is now ranked 104 in the world and as DiMarco observed: "This is a make‐or‐break week for him.
"I thought when I played with him he had the greatest mind ever and he was the strongest mind I've ever seen, but it's getting mental.
"If it doesn't get fixed, I don't know if he can overcome it."
By announcing his return in these circumstances, Woods has ensured he will dominate the agenda in the build-up to the year's first major.
It will be fascinating to see whether he sticks to his usual mantra of saying he's only there to try to win or whether he concedes that his expectation levels have to be somewhat lowered.
That might be the most sensible course of action but it would be counter to Woods' career philosophy.
Either way his return provides another boost to a tournament that was already being eagerly anticipated with world number one Rory McIlroy seeking completion of a career grand slam.
As England's Ian Poulter tweeted: "Was it ever really in doubt....Best show on earth just got better."
But the big question is how much better is Woods' golf game following a two-month absence? We and he will only find out once his bid for a fifth Masters title begins on Thursday.
You can listen to coverage of the Masters on BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra; watch live coverage of the final two rounds on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Red Button and highlights of rounds on Friday. Follow live updates on BBC Sport Online from 9-12 April. | Tiger Woods has embarked on countless comebacks but this one will surely be the most demanding. |
35,710,221 | Margaret, not her real name, said she was sent in 1971 to the now-defunct Aston Hall Hospital, in Aston-on-Trent, and "tied and drugged for treatment".
When it was raised in Parliament, the prime minister said it was "vital that the full facts are considered".
The Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) said it was investigating the historical allegations of abuse.
Complaints had been made against the mental health hospital more than 20 years ago, but it is unclear whether any action was taken.
Now several patients, who were treated there as children more than 45 years ago, have come forward to say they were abused.
Margaret, who is now 57, said she received "treatment" from the doctor in charge, Dr Kenneth Milner, who died in the mid-1970s.
"He just looked at me and he said 'no tea tonight, treatment'," she said.
"The nurse got a bandage and tied my hands together. The nurse left, a mask was put over my face and a fluid was dripped and then I went unconscious.
"It was the most terrifying thing that any child could go through.
"Who could do that? What were they getting out of it? Why? What did I do so bad to deserve that?"
Margaret said she managed to secure a copy of her file from the hospital records which remain, but they did not appear to include any details of her treatment.
But there was a letter from a relative to hospital managers more than 20 years later that said it had had an impact on her life since.
Derby North MP Amanda Solloway raised the issue of the "alleged experiments" at Aston Hall during Prime Minister's Questions.
David Cameron said: "She (Amanda Solloway) is absolutely right to raise this matter; they are very serious allegations and it is vital that the full facts are considered". | A woman has said she was "experimented on" when she was 11 years old at a Derbyshire hospital. |
34,650,026 | Paton, 28, changed his plea on the first day of evidence and admitted punching Lukasz Zaluska on the head in Byres Road on 20 October 2014.
In his defence Mr Paton's lawyer said he was provoked by abuse and there was no injury to the victim.
A charge that accused him of a further assault on the goalkeeper was dropped.
Mr Paton was previously fined four weeks wages by his club.
The player said he regretted what had happened.
The sheriff said the charge to which Paton pleaded guilty was significantly less serious than the original indictment.
During evidence at Glasgow Sheriff Court, ex-Celtic and Dundee United player Mark Wilson said his former team-mate Mr Zaluska had thought Paton was a Rangers fan.
Mr Wilson told the court Mr Zaluska said he hated all Rangers fans and wanted to kill them.
After Mr Zaluska left Ashton Lane with Mr Wilson and went on to Byres Road, Paton punched the former Celtic goalkeeper on the head, causing him to slide down the side of a taxi.
Paton then walked away from the incident and a short time later Zaluska was found unconscious and bleeding on the ground in Ashton Lane.
Paton, from Paisley had been accused of repeatedly hitting Mr Zaluska and causing injury but the Crown amended the charge.
He admitted punching Mr Zaluska on the head.
Sheriff Andrew Normand fined him £500 and told Paton: "It is clear this is an incident which you regret".
Defence lawyer Billy Lavelle said: "Mr Paton faced substantial provocation from the other gentleman."
He said that it did not justify his client's actions but "perhaps gives a background" and that on that day he "felt he couldn't take any more of the abuse".
The solicitor advocate said: "He has never denied that, the question was whether there was a second incident, which he did not accept."
Paton declined to comment as he left the court. | Dundee United midfielder Paul Paton has been fined £500 after pleading guilty to hitting a former Celtic goalkeeper after a night out in Glasgow last year. |
35,616,172 | Channel 4 News claimed that some bills were not included in local spending returns during the poll, which was won by Conservative MP Robert Jenrick.
However, Nottinghamshire Police said the alleged offence would need to have been prosecuted within 12 months.
The Conservatives say all spending was recorded in accordance with the law.
Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police Chris Eyre has written an open letter to Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping explaining his position.
He wrote: "The purpose of this limit [12 months] is to ensure finality in elections and as such no proceedings could be brought in this case.
"I hope this reassures you of the current legislative framework and the powers available to the police in a case such as this."
Channel 4 News said it had obtained hotel bills that suggested the Conservatives broke electoral rules in the Newark, Clacton and Rochester & Strood by-elections, the first of which the Conservatives won and the other two it lost to UKIP.
Campaign spending in by-elections is limited to £100,000 for each party.
But Channel 4 News political correspondent Michael Crick said he had uncovered £56,866.75 of undeclared hotel bills in Rochester, which would have taken the party £53,659.83 over the £100,000 limit.
The programme found bills totalling £26,786.14 in Clacton, which would have taken the party £10,835.36 over the limit, and receipts totalling £10,459.30 in Newark, which would mean an overspend of £6,650.28.
Robert Jenrick, who won the Newark contest, told BBC News he was "very confident" his election expenses were compiled "in complete compliance with the law".
"The allegations that were on Channel 4 News are, as far as I can see, completely unfounded," he added.
Mr Tipping, who was previously Labour MP for Sherwood, had written to Mr Eyre to "remind" him of the "seriousness and importance of considering the matters closely".
In his response, Mr Eyre said he had discussed the matter with the Crown Prosecution Service and other police forces where similar allegations have been made.
The primary offence for police to consider would have been "making a false declaration as to election expenses", contrary to the Representation of the People Act 1983.
However, this offence would need to have been prosecuted within the 12-month statutory limit.
Mr Eyre noted there have been recent cases that "demonstrate attempts to circumvent" legislation by way of common law, such as conspiracy to defraud, but these "have been held to be an abuse of process and as such have been discharged". | Police say it is too late for them to investigate accusations of overspending by the Conservative Party during the 2014 Newark by-election. |
39,261,328 | Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat from El Paso, and Will Hurd, a Republican from San Antonio, had their flights from Texas to Washington DC cancelled due to heavy snow in the capital.
The two men, who did not know one another well, decided to share a car and make the 30-hour drive.
They livestreamed much of the trip on Periscope and Facebook Live.
O'Rourke called it "the longest bi-national congressional live town hall in the history of the United States".
They used the time to interact with their constituents and share their views on hot button political issues, from immigration (both men live along the US-Mexico border) to the terrorist threat posed by the so-called Islamic State (Hurd is a former CIA analyst.)
It wasn't all high-level policy debates. The men sang along to Willie Nelson, The Clash and Buddy Holly, and made several stops for coffee, burritos and donuts.
Votes in DC were scheduled for 630pm Wednesday night. The men left San Antonio at 7am on Tuesday and stopped in Nashville at 3am the next morning, after a day spent on the road and on camera.
"The last couple hours were tough," O'Rourke told the audience.
"You stuck with us, kept us company, suggested songs for the playlist, gave us some good questions. Settled the pie v cake dispute," he said, referring to a battle of dessert supremacy that ignited a lively debate.
While travelling, they received phone calls from current and former members of congress, including House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore, and retired Majority leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle.
The current elected officials who called in were asked to talk about a programme they were working on in Congress - and who they would choose as a bipartisan road-trip buddy.
"Joe Kennedy would be a good one - he'd have some good Kennedy family history and is a great guy," said Republican Randy Webber.
Though O'Rourke and Hurd both oppose President Trump's plan to build a wall along the Texas-Mexico border, they differ on several key issues.
"Beto likes to get the tank down close to E before we fill up," Hurd, who had a more conservative petrol policy, told viewers.
O'Rourke also prefers to drive without stopping, while Hurd favours more pit stops.
"Will wanted to stop at every school house along the way," and engage the students, O'Rourke said, but school schedules and their tight timeline made such a request impossible.
"It would have been fun, man!" Hurd insisted.
The men were not above stunts to boost their ratings - or ease the monotony of the road.
"We're at 600 live views," O'Rourke said on Wednesday morning. "We peaked early at 750 when Will was doing 20 push-ups in the Pilot gas station parking lot in cowboy boots."
As the day went on, viewership grew to as many as 4,000 viewers, helped by interviews the men gave to news programmes and shares on social media. They attracted comments from India, the UK and Philippines.
With three hours and thirty minutes left before votes in the House, their GPS showed them three hours away from Capitol Hill - but they would be driving through Washington during rush hour.
At 5:51pm local time, they arrived in front of the Capitol building, having reached their destination ahead of schedule and together.
"We always talk about the things that divide us, when we could be talking about the things that unite us," Hurd said during the trip.
"Even if we do disagree, we don't have to be disagreeable," | When a winter storm threatened their travel plans, two Texas Congressman embarked on a buddy trip for the ages. |
31,776,458 | The Foxes - seven points off safety - barely troubled Hull, who were reduced to 10 men in the 72nd minute when Tom Huddlestone was shown a second yellow.
The best chances fell to Hull striker Nikica Jelavic, who headed over from six yards and scuffed a shot from a similar distance.
Abel Hernandez also had a fierce shot saved by Foxes keeper Mark Schwarzer.
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That chance came in the closing minutes when the Tigers were down to 10 men after Huddlestone was dismissed by referee Jon Moss for a foul on Jamie Vardy.
It did not change the complexion of the match as Hull continued to look comfortable at the back thanks to the leadership and organisation of centre-back Michael Dawson.
His backline and the rest of the team look far more assured than they did back in December when they were in 19th place - two wins and only one defeat in their last six games suggest they have turned a corner.
They had only conceded four goals in the previous five, and against a Foxes side who had managed a mere four goals in their last six league outings, the likelihood was that Hull would improve upon that stat.
The only time they looked like conceding was when Leicester striker Andrej Kramaric failed by a fraction to get his boot on the end of a Riyad Mahrez cross in the first half.
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They also created chances of their own, with top scorer Jelavic twice going close.
Hull's top scorer this season should have done better with his first opportunity, when he failed to get a good connection on a lay-off from Ahmed Elmohamady, and after the break when he headed over from close range.
The Croat did manage to put the ball in the net but Foxes keeper Schwarzer was judged to have been fouled by striker Dame N'Doye in the lead-up. Substitute Abel Hernandez also forced a good low save from Schwarzer with just a few minutes remaining.
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson said this was a must-win game for his side. That chance has now gone - they cannot afford many more slip-ups.
Hull manager Steve Bruce:
"I've got no problem with Huddlestone's two yellow cards, but is every challenge now a yellow if you mis-time it?
"It got a bit angry towards the end, but for me the referee booked my two centre-backs for (fair) challenges.
"There's a raging debate about Chelsea in midweek and if we're not careful...I saw everyone surround Alex for a red card for his challenge.
"There wasn't a nasty challenge in the game yet we've had five yellow cards and a sending off. I never saw that coming."
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson:
"We've got 10 games left, six at home and we probably need to win five. Today's game shows how tough it can be.
"We are in the same sort of position as before. We have six games at home so our home form has to be drastically improved to give us the best chance.
"Today I think the players expected to get three points, so it is disappointing to come away with one.
"To get the three we needed to be more committed to our attacking play." | Bottom side Leicester City's predicament worsened as they were held to a goalless draw by 10-man Hull. |
35,631,049 | The new midwife-led unit - the first phase of £5.3m of works at Llandrindod Wells Memorial Hospital - is expected to be finished by April.
Improvements include a new birthing pool.
Health Minister Mark Drakeford, who will visit the site on Monday, said it would provide "modern facilities" and a "first-rate patient environment".
During the development, it will be "business as usual" for patients, with the hospital "fully operational", the Welsh government said.
Chair of Powys Teaching Health Board, Prof Vivienne Harpwood, said: "This development is very welcome. It is so important that mothers and babies throughout Powys have access to the best possible care in a modern midwife-led unit."
Work on further improvements to the hospital building, including to the roof, will begin in May. | A £1.7m birthing centre will be built at a Powys hospital as part of major refurbishments. |
39,835,784 | The 28-year-old 2013 World Triathlon Series champion had not raced on the World Cup circuit since 2011.
Stanford, from Wales, led for much of the Chengdu Triathlon World Cup as she clinched gold while Germany's Laura Lindemann won silver and Kirsten Kasper of the USA won bronze.
Meanwhile, in the men's event, Australia's Matthew Hauser won gold.
Hauser's compatriot Luke Willian took bronze while Azerbaijan's Rostislav Pevtsov won silver.
Britain's Sophie Coldwell finished 17 seconds behind Stanford in sixth while compatriots Jessica Learmonth and Lucy Hall came 11th and 12th respectively. In the men's event, Britons Gordon Benson and Ben Dijkstra came 19th and 20th respectively.
The event was the first semi-final and final format of the year consisting of two events held over two days.
In Saturday's semi-final, athletes took part in a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run, with the men's field having three rounds where the top nine qualified. This was followed by the next top three fastest times to complete the 30 competitors in Sunday's final.
The top 14 women from two semi-final heats along with the next two fastest finishers created a field of 30 qualifiers for their final. | British triathlete Non Stanford has won the first World Cup of her career with victory in China. |
33,956,560 | Until 1932 Thailand had been ruled by an absolute monarchy, with the king exercising power over the judiciary, the appointment of government officials and over state policy.
The idea of kingship had been developed over centuries from the Buddhist concept of a dhammaraja, a just king acting in accordance with the 10 dhamma virtues like integrity and self-restraint, and the Hindu concept of an all-powerful god-king.
But the pressures of the modern, globalised world intruded in 1932 when a group of soldiers and intellectuals overthrew the absolute monarchy and imposed a constitution limiting the powers of King Prajadhipok, on the throne at the time.
Unable to accept these limitations he abdicated in 1935 and lived the rest of his life in exile.
Bhumibol's elder brother, Ananda Mahidol, was next in line, but their mother insisted they stay away from the volatile political climate in Thailand and they were brought up in Switzerland.
As a result there was no sitting king until the family returned after World War Two in 1945 and it was not clear then what kind of monarchy might be re-established.
Following the still unexplained shooting to death of King Ananda on 9 June 1946, that task fell to the 18 year-old Bhumibol.
Thailand was divided then between progressive politicians and ambitious military men who preferred a weaker monarchy, or perhaps no monarchy at all, and members of the royal aristocracy who were determined to rebuild a political system with the monarchy at its heart.
The royalists relied on the young Bhumibol for this plan, and over the next 40 years it succeeded.
Until the mid 1950s the king's position was still too insecure for him to challenge the then-military strongman Phibul Songkram, who had also ruled during the war. He was not even allowed to travel freely outside Bangkok.
But the other royal princes helped build up his public profile by emphasising his role as the protector of the Buddhist faith, restoring royal rituals like the replacement of sacred cloths at the most important temples, or presiding over the annual ploughing ceremony in the main royal square in Bangkok.
Thai society is still a deeply religious and spiritual one, and those royal roles have been central to upholding King Bhumibol's image as a man who embodies dhamma virtues.
The king proved skilled at behaving in a manner which reinforced that image. Today the sacred aspect of the monarchy is an important source of its popularity.
From the mid-1950s on, the king travelled widely, and took an active interest in rural development projects.
How effective his interventions really were is difficult to gauge, given the swirl of royalist propaganda, but they certainly established him as a caring ruler who was working hard for his people.
His visits to rural areas, where he would often chat to the farmers prostrated in front of him, contrasted with the apparently uncaring attitude of corrupt local government officials.
Today the monarch is expected to be involved in the country's development, and substantial resources have been devoted to promoting King Bhumibol's philosophy of a "sufficiency economy" - a focus on balanced development that stresses environmental and social responsibilities as much as conventional measures of economic progress.
From the mid 1960s, when central government authority was challenged in the countryside by a communist rebellion, the king's visits helped rebuff the influence of the insurgents.
King Bhumibol became an essential figure in the fight by the Thai military and its US-backers against communism, although his role became more controversial in the savage anti-leftist coup of 1976, in which dozens of students were brutally killed by the security forces and royal-backed militias, and thousands forced to flee to seek sanctuary with the Communist Party.
But the legacy of this anti-communist role is a monarchy which is still seen as central to upholding the authority of the state throughout the country.
Throughout his reign King Bhumibol worked with a series of military-dominated administrations, prompting accusations that he was more comfortable with authoritarian than democratically-elected regimes.
Certainly he established close relationships with three long-standing military rulers, Sarit Thanarat 1957-63, Thanom Kittikachorn 1963-73 and Prem Tinsulanonda 1980-89, giving them the legitimacy of royal backing in return for the armed forces' unwavering support for the monarchy. The king also enjoyed handling and using military weapons, and often wore his own military uniform.
Royalists explain this, and the king's inevitable endorsement of every coup d'etat, as him accepting his limited constitutional powers - that he could not play an overt political role, and had to go along with whichever regime prevailed in Thailand.
Critics, though, believe he shared the disdain for elected politicians held by many of Thailand's traditional elite, as money-grubbing, classless opportunists.
In interviews the king referred to politics as something unseemly with which he did not want to be associated.
But the deep polarisation of Thai society at the end of his reign, and the widespread belief that the palace had taken sides against the successful electoral machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, gave rise to a perception of the monarchy as hostile to untrammelled democracy.
One other side of Bhumibol's role was often talked about during his reign, as a mediator at times of crisis. Officially he could not intervene. But on two occasions, in 1973 and 1992, when bloody clashes between troops and protestors had taken place on the streets of Bangkok, he is credited with defusing the situation and allowing a compromise to be settled.
In 1973 he decided to allow protesting students to shelter inside his palace, undermining then dictator Thanom and forcing him into exile.
This allowed the formation of Thailand's first democratic government since the 1940s, although this brief period ended tragically in the violence and repression of 1976.
In 1992 the king mediated again, summoning a military-backed prime minister and the leader of the protest movement, and allowing video of them prostrating themselves before him to be broadcast. Following this, Thailand had enjoyed its longest period of democracy, up to the coup of 2006.
There is debate about how decisive the king's role was in these crises, but the incidents allowed him to be portrayed as the ultimate arbiter of disputes.
Another "intervention" in April 2006 saw the king ordering the country's top courts to rule on whether an election won by Thaksin Shinawatra should be annulled.
Ostensibly he was rebutting calls from anti-Thaksin protesters to appoint a prime minister himself, something he said was beyond his power. But the judges took the hint, and annulled the election on the grounds of fairly minor irregularities, which then led to the September coup of that year.
Royalists in Thailand often compare the powers of the monarch to those described by the historian Walter Bagehot for British kings and queens: the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to warn.
But King Bhumibol, viewed as semi-divine by much of the population, clearly had more than that; what former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun has described as his "reserve power or moral authority", something that can be hugely influential, but only if used sparingly.
The strictures of the lèse-majesté law make any open discussion of King Bhumibol's role and legacy impossible inside Thailand.
Thailand's lese majeste laws explained
No true measure of his popularity or influence is possible in this environment. But outside the country arguments have been made that challenge the official view of a wise, benevolent and adored king who held his country together at times of crises.
Some of these argue that the king was a central player in undermining democracy, others that he was more of a pawn used by conservative forces.
One point on which critics and supporters do agree is that the project started in 1946 to restore the status of the monarchy in Thailand succeeded largely because it was centred on the young king.
Whatever the truth behind the gushing praise for his personality and achievements, he played all the various roles ascribed to him, of the caring but restrained king, the renaissance king keen on arts, music and handicrafts, the religious king steeped in Buddhist ritual, extremely well.
Thailand's modern monarchy is one built almost entirely around one man. And that will make it difficult to sustain after his death. | King Bhumibol Adulyadej's pivotal role in modern Thailand's development tends to obscure the fact that when he acceded to the throne in 1946, the status of the monarchy was not secure, and the young king himself was unprepared to take on the job. |
40,277,745 | Currently, 428 hydroelectric dams are planned, with 140 already built or under construction.
Researchers warn that this could affect the dynamics of the complex river system and put thousands of unique species at risk.
The study is published in the journal Nature.
"The world is going to lose the most diverse wetland on the planet," said lead author Prof Edgargo Latrubesse, from the University of Texas at Austin, US.
The Amazon basin covers more than 6.1 million sq km, and is the largest and most complex river system on the planet.
It has become a key area for hydroelectric dam construction.
But this study suggests that the push for renewable energy along the Amazon's waterways could lead to profound problems.
The international team of researchers who carried out the research is particularly concerned about any disruption to the natural movement of sediment in the rivers.
This sediment provides a vital source of nutrients for wildlife in the Amazon's wetlands. It also affects the way the waterways meander and flow.
“[The sediment is] how the rivers work, how they move, how they regenerate new land, and how they keep refreshing the ecosystems," said Prof Latrubesse.
The Texas researcher said that at present environmental assessments were being carried out for each dam in isolation, looking at their impact on the local area. But he argued a wider approach was needed for the Amazon.
"The problem is nobody is assessing the whole package: the cascade of effects the dams produce on the whole system."
The researchers have highlighted the Madeira, Maranon and Ucayali rivers - all tributaries of the Amazon River - as areas of great concern.
These rivers are home to many unique species, and the scientists say these would be under threat if even a fraction of the planned dams go ahead.
Prof Latrubesse said: “All of these rivers hold huge diversity, with many species that are endemic.
“Thousands of species could be affected, maybe even go extinct.“
The researchers warn that any damage could be irreversible, and they say any risks must be considered before the dams are allowed to go ahead.
Follow Rebecca on Twitter | The Amazon basin could suffer significant and irreversible damage if an extensive dam building programme goes ahead, scientists say. |
38,234,877 | The pair, then 10 and 11, were sentenced to an indeterminate period in custody with a minimum of five years following the attacks in the Doncaster village of Edlington.
The victims were nine and 11 years old.
A court order at the time granted the brothers anonymity until both are 18.
The application will be heard at the High Court in London on Thursday.
As the younger of the two brothers approaches his 18th birthday, lawyers acting for the pair are seeking an injunction to extend their anonymity indefinitely.
The brothers have appealed to remain anonymous in adulthood claiming that to identify them would breach various sections of the Human Rights Act.
In April 2009, the victims were lured away from a park to a secluded spot by the brothers who promised to show them a toad.
They were subjected to a 90-minute assault of violence and sexual humiliation which drew comparisons with the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.
The victims were throttled, hit with bricks, made to eat nettles, stripped and forced to sexually abuse each other.
The older boy had a sink dropped on his head, while the younger boy had a sharp stick rammed into his arm and cigarettes pushed into the wound.
Parts of the attack were recorded on a mobile phone.
The Daily Mail has reported the brothers have now both been released and given new names.
When they were sentenced, Judge Justice Keith at Sheffield Crown Court said they had committed the "prolonged, sadistic" crimes for no other reason than they got "a real kick out of hurting and humiliating" their victims.
The brothers had moved to Edlington just three weeks before the attack to live with foster parents.
Their victims were led to a "den" hidden from public view, where some of their injuries were inflicted, then another site beneath a ravine where an old sink was used to inflict serious head injuries on the 11-year-old.
Following the attack, the nine-year-old staggered covered in blood to a nearby house to raise the alarm.
The 11-year-old was later discovered unconscious in the nearby wood.
In 2012, a probe by Doncaster Safeguarding Children Board into the attack was branded a failure by then education secretary Michael Gove.
Nine agencies involved with the family missed 31 opportunities to intervene and the assault was said to be not only predictable, but entirely preventable.
Doncaster Council took disciplinary action against five members of staff and one former employee and offered "an unqualified apology" for the failings.
The judge heard the boys had a "toxic home life" of "routine aggression, violence and chaos".
One watched gory Saw movies and was familiar with Chucky films and pornography DVDs.
He smoked cannabis from the age of nine and drank cider.
At sentencing, the victims' parents and the Sheffield Star newspaper asked the judge to allow them to be identified.
This move was opposed by the defendants, the secure units in which they were being held, the police and Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council - and the judge refused to lift the reporting restriction.
He said: "The case has been regarded as raising important issues about the way children from dysfunctional families can go off the rails and about the lack of intervention at critical stages by the local authority social services department and other child protection agencies."
But he said that allowing identification could lead to problems for the brothers, their secure units and the brothers' family. | A judge will be asked to give indefinite anonymity to two brothers who tortured two young boys in a bout of "prolonged, sadistic violence" in 2009. |
40,733,804 | The Nottingham-born 25-year-old, who can fill a variety of positions on the right flank, has agreed a four-year deal at the City Ground.
He joined the Clarets from Chesterfield for £550,000 in July 2015 and made 29 appearances, five of them last season.
Forest start the new Championship campaign with a home game against promoted Millwall on Friday, 4 August.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Nottingham Forest have signed versatile Tendayi Darikwa from Burnley for an undisclosed fee. |
40,376,176 | The 22-year-old will complete his move to Bloomfield Road on 1 July after his deal with Bolton expires.
Clayton joined Wanderers from Crewe in 2014 and played 13 games last season as they won promotion to the Championship.
"I knew a few people here and I thought it was important for my development to come and work with people that I know," he told the Blackpool website.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Blackpool have signed Bolton forward Max Clayton on a two-year contract, with an option for a further 12 months. |
35,422,019 | Jonathan Rouse was convicted of five historical sexual offences at Warwick Crown Court in November.
His original two-year prison sentence suspended for two years was "unduly lenient", said Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP.
Rouse, of Leamington Spa, was sentenced to three years' immediate custody.
He had been found guilty of raping a girl between October 1980 and January 1984.
Rouse, of Heathcote Road, Whitnash, was also convicted of four indecent assaults on another girl in 1980 and 1981.
Updates on this story and more from Warwickshire | A 49-year-old man who raped a girl when he was 14 has been jailed after the Court of Appeal overturned his suspended sentence. |
37,579,477 | Sean Clerkin, 55, tried to enter an event where then-Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was giving a speech.
He attempted to push past members of staff and repeatedly fell to the ground, alleging he had been assaulted.
Clerkin was found guilty of breach of the peace after a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court. He later said he would be appealing against the conviction.
The court heard from Callum Munro, 24, who was the organiser for Scottish Labour when the incident happened on 1 April last year.
He said Mr Balls was giving a speech when Clerkin appeared in the building with two acquaintances.
Mr Munro said Clerkin became "blustery" and demanded to be able to go into the private event, and said that he had a right to attend.
The court was told Clerkin then "shouted for the best part of an hour" before attempting to push past Mr Munro to get into the room.
The witness also said that Clerkin "feigned" falling over and claimed he had been assaulted.
Footage of the incident later appeared on YouTube, the court was told.
Sheriff Tony Kelly fined first offender Clerkin, from Barrhead, £1,000 for the offence.
Clerkin is a veteran anti-austerity campaigner best known for chasing former Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray into a sandwich shop in 2011, and for his protests as part of the pro-independence Scottish Resistance group.
At the start of the trial, defence lawyer John Flanagan made a motion that the sheriff should recuse himself because his brother is a Labour MSP.
But Sheriff Kelly told him: "I'm struggling to see what gives rise to the conflict."
Clerkin and co-accused Piers Doughty-Brown, 56, had faced a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on 16 May last year at the Scottish Labour offices on Bath Street, Glasgow, when Jim Murphy announced his resignation as leader.
But both were found not proven on that charge. | A protestor has been fined £1,000 for gate crashing a Labour event at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. |
38,085,147 | Researchers have studied the records of pioneering explorers, including Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton.
The study suggests that Antarctic sea-ice is much less sensitive to climate change than the Arctic, which has declined dramatically.
The research has been published in The Cryosphere journal.
A century ago Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton were among those who ventured into completely uncharted territory.
They were the bravest explorers of their age. At the time, their voyages brought a totally new understanding of the Antarctic landscape. And now their records are giving scientists new data on the impacts of climate change.
Some data collected by whaling vessels suggests the extent of Antarctic summer (December, January, February, March) sea-ice was significantly higher during the 1950s, before a steep decline returned it to around six million square kilometres (average across the four months) in recent decades.
But the log books of the "heroic explorers" show that over the long term, the amount of ice has changed very little. It has merely ebbed and flowed.
Dr Jonathan Day of the University of Reading who led the study says his analysis indicates that the extent of Antarctic summer sea-ice is at most 14% smaller now than during the early 1900s.
"The Antarctic sea-ice a hundred years ago was fairly similar to what it is today. That is not much if you contrast this with the Arctic which has lost 26% of its extent," he told BBC News.
Dr Day says his results suggest the climate of Antarctica may have fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th Century, swinging between decades of high ice cover and decades of low cover, rather than a steady downward trend.
"We know that sea-ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years, since satellite observations began. Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new.
"If ice levels were as low a century ago as estimated in this research, then a similar increase may have occurred between then and the middle of the century, when previous studies suggest ice levels were far higher."
Captain Scott died along with his team in 1912 after missing out on being the first to reach the South Pole by a matter of weeks. Shackleton's ship sank after becoming trapped in ice in 1915 as he and his crew attempted the first ever cross-Antarctic trek.
Scott and Shackleton went to the Antarctic in search of glory - but a century on - their ultimate legacy will be to have helped scientists learn more about climate change.
Follow Pallab on Twitter | Log books from the early Antarctic expeditions indicate that the area of summer sea-ice around the continent has barely changed in size in a century. |
31,684,282 | Abdul Rahman Kabiri told the BBC that new avalanches 40m (130ft) high have inundated new areas n the north-eastern province.
President Ashraf Ghani said on Saturday that at least 286 people have died throughout the country in recent days.
The fatalities have all been due to snow or flooding, officials say.
Most of the deaths however are in the Panjshir Valley, where it is feared people remain trapped in the snow.
Some progress in the relief effort has been made - a long stretch of road up the Panjshir Valley has been opened by bulldozers and other machinery.
In places the bodies of victims including women and children have been unearthed.
Officials say the worst-hit place, Paryan, remains unreachable.
The air force is dropping food parcels to seven badly-affected villages and have continued to rescue marooned people not just in Panjshir but in several other provinces where there have been casualties.
Afghanistan has begun three days of national mourning for the victims.
President Ghani has cancelled a trip to Iran because of what he described as a national tragedy.
Avalanches are relatively common in northern Afghanistan, with dozens dying in major incidents in 2010 and 2012.
But Panjshir province is reported not to have seen avalanches on this level for three decades. | Huge new avalanches have hit Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, closing off areas that were already difficult to reach, the provincial governor says. |
39,076,191 | Students would be able to get a degree in two years rather than three - and save a year's living costs.
But universities would be able to charge students the price of three years of tuition fees for these accelerated two year courses.
This would make annual fees in England higher than many US state universities.
Universities Minister Jo Johnson told university leaders such flexibility would make courses more attractive for mature students and disadvantaged youngsters who might be put off by a full three year degree.
Mr Johnson said that charging three years' fees for a two-year course was fair - as this was not a dilution of quality.
"It's not fewer credits, or lower quality of provision, it's the same standard, the same quality, but in a compressed period of time and that involves an increase in resources, which needs to be recognised in the fee structure," said the minister, speaking after a speech to university leaders in London.
"There are clear advantages for the student," he said, such as saving a year's living costs and allowing them to get into employment more quickly.
But the UCU lecturers' union warned that the main beneficiaries would be private, for-profit providers, who could adopt a "pile 'em high and teach 'em cheap" approach.
The Russell Group of leading universities said this would need "careful consideration" so that these shorter course "don't negatively affect student learning or compromise the overall undergraduate experience".
But Universities UK said it would be "a good thing" if regulations over tuition fee limit could be changed to allow such flexibility.
Labour's Gordon Marsden said: "Is it yet another example of their using their new higher education legislation as a Trojan Horse to let tuition fees rip?"
There have been attempts to promote shorter courses in the past - but there has been little financial incentive for universities to run fast-track degrees if the amount they received in fees was also reduced.
Concerns have also been expressed about a two-tier university system - with better-off students able to pay for a full three-year experience.
The proposals, likely to be introduced by 2020, would allow universities to sign students up for a two-year degree and receive the same fee income as a three-year course.
The government has announced a fee increase to £9,250 per year - and then annual increases in line with inflation - which will push a three year course above £28,000.
The shorter course would see this divided over two years - but missing the third year would mean that students and their parents would face lower costs in accommodation and living expenses.
This also reflects concerns about the lack of "contact time" for some university courses - with some students only receiving a few hours a week of seminars and lectures and long holidays in the summer and at Christmas.
A shorter time in university would allow students to begin working at an earlier stage and repay their loan debts.
Mr Johnson said that this would not mean any "flight" from the traditional three-year degree, but would provide an alternative for those wanting a different approach from a traditional three year residential degree.
"Take from example, someone who is in their mid to late twenties, who didn't go to university, who has already been in the workforce but wants an opportunity to retrain and acquire a level of skills they haven't got," the minister said.
"They don't want to spend three years studying and want a faster pace of learning than the classic three year model would allow."
Mr Johnson also announced plans for universities to reveal more detailed information about the attainment levels of different groups - such as ethnic minorities and disadvantaged youngsters.
There are also plans to make it easier for students to move between universities or courses. | Universities in England will be able to charge more than £14,000 per year for a fast-track two year degree, under plans from the government. |
40,143,320 | Halep, 25, is viewed as one of the favourites after winning the Madrid Open and reaching the Rome Open final.
Ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland was stunned 6-2 6-1 by French world number 43 Alize Cornet.
In the men's draw, Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka beat Fabio Fognini 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 6-2 to reach the last 16.
Halep to meet Suarez Navarro in last 16
Halep initially threatened to cruise past Kasatkina as she won the opening set in 30 minutes, only for the 20-year-old Russian to fight back in the second.
Trailing 3-1, Kasatkina won the next four games to move 5-3 ahead before Halep regained control to progress on her fourth match point.
"I played really well at the beginning," Halep said.
"She was coming back really strongly and I think my energy went a bit down. She's a really tough opponent."
Carla Suarez Navarro, the Spanish 21st seed, set up a meeting with Halep with a 6-4 6-4 win over 14th seed Elena Vesnina of Russia.
Former Wimbledon finalist Radwanska, 28, failed to win any of her seven service games as Cornet ensured there will be a French woman in the quarter-finals for the first time since Marion Bartoli in 2011.
Cornet, 27, meets compatriot Caroline Garcia for a place in the last eight.
Garcia needed more than two and a half hours to win 6-4 4-6 9-7 against Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei, who beat British number one Johanna Konta in the first round.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki resumed her match against 18-year-old American Catherine Bellis after rain stopped play on Friday night, the Dane going to complete a 6-2 2-6 6-3 win.
Wawrinka, 32, is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year as he looks to emulate his 2015 triumph.
The Swiss third seed looked in danger of doing that in the opening set against Fognini, but the Italian 28th seed failed to serve out and then lost a one-sided tie-break.
Fognini, 30, had won two of his three matches against top-five opponents this year, beating then fourth-ranked Kei Nishikori in Miami and world number one Andy Murray in Rome.
But he capitulated after losing the first set to Wawrinka, failing to take a game in the second as he served up five double faults and produced several wayward forehands.
Fognini saved two match points at 5-2 in the third, before the Swiss fired down an unreturnable serve on the third.
"It was a very good first set and I was a bit hesitant, but after that I relaxed," Wawrinka said.
"I am playing very well at the moment but we all know how that can go in a Grand Slam. Each game gets more difficult."
Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic eased to a 6-1 6-3 6-3 victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez. | Romanian third seed Simona Halep sealed her place in the French Open fourth round with a 6-0 7-5 win over Russia's Daria Kasatkina. |
35,001,377 | The agency was particularly critical of the Saudi defence minister.
Officials in Berlin reacted after the Saudi government reportedly complained about the BND's frank assessment.
"The published assessment does not reflect the position of the German government," a spokesman said.
Saudi Arabia was an important partner "in a crisis-ridden world" and had great significance "especially on the way to peace in Syria", the spokesman insisted.
Anyone seeking a regional solution needed constructive relations with the Saudis, who were supporting rebel groups in the fight against the militant Islamist State (IS) group, he added.
The BND briefing, which emerged in German media, assessed changes in Saudi foreign policy since King Salman took power in January, including its military intervention in neighbouring Yemen and its decision to ramp up support for rebels in Syria. Saudi policies in Lebanon, Bahrain, Iraq were also cited.
"What was previously a cautious diplomatic stance of the elder leaders in the royal family is being replaced by an impulsive policy of intervention," the briefing said, adding that the Saudis were losing faith in the United States as a guarantor of regional peace.
It also singled out the king's son and defence minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom it suspected of holding ambitions of securing the royal succession.
Relations between Germany and the Saudis have become tense in recent years, analysts say, because of Berlin's decision to tighten restrictions on arms contracts and to speak out on human rights.
The German coalition government agreed this week to take part in a supporting role in the fight against IS militants in Syria.
A vote in the Bundestag on Friday is expected to back the mission, which involves Tornado reconnaissance aircraft, a naval frigate and a 1,200-strong force. | The German government has publicly rebuked its own foreign intelligence agency after the BND suggested that Saudi Arabia's foreign policy was becoming more "impulsive". |
39,947,883 | The murals will be created from original works by top Scottish artists Jack Vettriano, John Byrne and Rachel Maclean.
They will all be more than 50ft (16m) high.
The work to create the murals will be carried out this month and will be showcased in a BBC programme in June.
John Byrne, who is an old friend of the Big Yin, painted a portrait of him in the 1970s, but his latest work is the veteran comedian as he is now.
The artist said Connolly was "a phenomenon" and a "one-off".
His portrait will be transferred to a wall end in Osborne Street in the city centre.
Vettriano said he was "a huge fan" of Connolly, who has been a major star for more than 40 years and will be 75 in November.
His painting from the comedian's World Tour of Scotland series in 1994, features a wind-blown Billy on a storm-lashed coast near John O'Groats.
It will be showcased in Dixon Street.
Rachel Maclean, who is currently representing Scotland in the Venice Biennale, said: "I think there is a kind of responsibility representing Billy because he is so well-known.
"He is this kind of national treasure within Scotland."
Her digital print shows Connolly in a specially-created outfit, replete with motifs from his career such as 'mini bike parked in bum' epaulettes, a sporran with an 'aged' nose sprouting hair and make-up reflecting his famous 'pale blue Scotsman' joke.
It will go up in the Gallowgate.
The BBC programme - Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime - will be shown on BBC One Scotland in early June.
It will show clips of highlights from his career and the comedian talking to the artists about life, work, comedy and inspiration.
Connolly said he was delighted with all three original artworks.
He said: "I'm probably more famous for being a Glaswegian than anything else I've actually done.
"It's been great to have been home to take part in this and a real privilege to be part of these artists' work."
Pauline Law, the programme's executive producer, said: "The project is a tribute to a man, who is an international star and national treasure but who still remains in touch with his Glaswegian roots.
"He is renowned for his comedy and way with words but we thought it might also be fitting to celebrate his visual and artistic heritage."
She added: "What comes through loud and clear from the project and the programme is that Billy's early years in Glasgow fuelled a lot of his comedy, his appreciation of art and his outlook on life."
When finished, the portraits will be part of Glasgow council's City Centre Mural Trail.
After the programme's transmission, the original artworks will be showcased at the People's Palace, alongside excerpts from the documentary. | Three huge murals are to be put up in Glasgow city centre as a tribute to comedian Billy Connolly, who will be 75 this year. |
26,746,169 | The craft was expected to dock with the station six hours after its launch from Kazakhstan early on Wednesday morning.
However, a 24-second engine thruster burn required to change its orbit path failed to work as planned.
The crew are not said to be in any danger. The joint mission comes amid high tension between the US and Russia.
The two governments have been exchanging terse rhetoric after Russia's annexation of Crimea this month.
However, co-operation on the space programme has continued, a legacy of the thaw in relations that accompanied the end of the Cold War.
At a press conference before the flight, the astronauts said they would treat dinners aboard the space station "as an opportunity to come together as friends in the kitchen and look each other in the eye".
The Soyuz booster rocket, carrying Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and American Steve Swanson, blasted off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
However, shortly before the craft was due to dock with the space station, officials reported that an engine that was meant to guide the manoeuvre had not operated "as planned".
Oleg Ostapenko, the head of the Roscosmos Russian space agency, said that the problem had been caused by a failure of the ship's orientation system.
"The crew have taken off their spacesuits and are continuing their flight normally," he said.
The astronauts are now aiming to dock with the space station at the next best opportunity - likely to be 23:58 GMT on Thursday.
The crew have reverted to a two-day approach, used by Russian flights to the space station until 2012. This involves orbiting Earth 34 times.
The shorter, six-hour approach - orbiting Earth only four times - was introduced last year.
The US relies on Russia to fly its astronauts to the space station since it retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011.
The space station - an orbiting laboratory high above Earth - is operated by 15 nations. It currently has a crew of three.
The arrival of the three astronauts aboard the Soyuz rocket will bring staff levels back to normal. | A rocket carrying US and Russian astronauts to the International Space Station has had to delay docking for almost two days because of a glitch. |
37,807,524 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Miller turned the ball home from close range after Ross Lafayette's cross from the left fell to him eight minutes from time, having earlier been denied by a low save from Will Norris.
Dover almost took an early lead through Lafayette, who ran on to Mitch Walker's long clearance and fired a shot which was deflected just wide.
Cambridge grew into the game and saw Uche Ikpeazu thump the crossbar with an effort following Piero Mingoia's cross, before Max Clark fired just over from 25 yards.
Their pressure paid off seven minutes before the interval when Luke Berry's shot was spilled by Walker and the ball fell to Mingoia, who turned home from close range.
Ikpeazu should have sealed the game after 72 minutes but blazed over after being played in by Mingoia following a quick breakaway and the Us were made to rue the miss when Miller struck late on.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Cambridge United 1, Dover Athletic 1.
Second Half ends, Cambridge United 1, Dover Athletic 1.
Corner, Cambridge United. Conceded by Richard Orlu.
Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United) hits the right post with a header from the centre of the box.
Attempt saved. Piero Mingoia (Cambridge United) header from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt missed. Ross Lafayette (Dover Athletic) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right.
Substitution, Cambridge United. Joe Pigott replaces James Dunne.
Goal! Cambridge United 1, Dover Athletic 1. Ricky Miller (Dover Athletic) right footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner.
Foul by Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United).
Jack Parkinson (Dover Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Medy Elito (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ricky Miller (Dover Athletic).
Sam Magri (Dover Athletic) is shown the yellow card.
Medy Elito (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sam Magri (Dover Athletic).
Dangerous play by Luke Berry (Cambridge United).
Chris Kinnear (Dover Athletic) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Dover Athletic. Richard Orlu replaces Aswad Thomas.
Substitution, Dover Athletic. Moses Emmanuel replaces Ricky Modeste.
Attempt missed. Ross Lafayette (Dover Athletic) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt missed. Uche Ikpeazu (Cambridge United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is too high.
Ricky Modeste (Dover Athletic) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Brad Halliday (Cambridge United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Ricky Modeste (Dover Athletic).
Attempt blocked. Luke Berry (Cambridge United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Cambridge United. Medy Elito replaces Harrison Dunk.
Substitution, Cambridge United. Ben Williamson replaces Max Clark.
Aswad Thomas (Dover Athletic) is shown the yellow card.
Piero Mingoia (Cambridge United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Aswad Thomas (Dover Athletic).
Brad Halliday (Cambridge United) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Ricky Modeste (Dover Athletic).
Attempt blocked. Jim Stevenson (Dover Athletic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Foul by Max Clark (Cambridge United).
Ricky Miller (Dover Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. James Dunne (Cambridge United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Attempt missed. Mark Roberts (Cambridge United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high.
Hand ball by Aswad Thomas (Dover Athletic).
Corner, Cambridge United. Conceded by Aswad Thomas.
Corner, Dover Athletic. Conceded by Will Norris. | Ricky Miller grabbed a late equaliser as National League side Dover earned an FA Cup replay with a draw at Cambridge. |
37,884,835 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Broad, 30, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2007, credits the selectors, who he believes are more patient than in the 1970s or 80s.
He says things were different when his dad Chris made his Test debut in 1984.
"I feel very fortunate I've played in an era where selectors have looked after players," Broad told BBC Sport.
"They almost pick characters and techniques that they feel will succeed at international cricket."
Broad struggled on his debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo, conceding 95 runs for one wicket, but has since gone on to take 360 Test wickets at an average of 28.48.
"There's no doubt if I was a bowler in the 70s or 80s there's a huge chance I'd have played two or three Test matches," he said.
Broad, like his father, was predominantly a batsman until the age of 17, when he says he "grew a foot in a year" and within two and a half years was bowling for England.
"It was quite a quick rise and I did a lot of my learning playing international cricket, which is quite a tough thing to do," added the Nottinghamshire right-armer.
"My first 15 to 20 Tests I was almost fourth seamer with Freddie Flintoff in the side, thrown the ball when nothing was happening - trying to make something happen.
"When you become more experienced in the team you get given the responsibility to bowl at the better times, bowl with the new ball, and that makes a big difference."
Broad praised the role of England's leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson, 34, in his own rise to the top.
Anderson, who has taken 463 wickets since making his Test debut in 2003, is set to join the squad before the first Test in Rajkot following a shoulder injury.
"There is no way I would be sat here without Jimmy Anderson, because every bowler needs a partner that you feed off," said Broad.
"The amount I have learned from him. The amount of spells I've taken wickets that I've owed to him, where he has created pressure at the other end.
"There is no doubt the partnership has gone from strength to strength in the past five years and he has become a friend for life as well.
"I owe a huge amount to Jimmy and hopefully I have got a few more years learning off him. We have always talked and tried to learn off each other, but we have never had that competiveness against each other."
Find out how to get into cricket with our inclusive guide.
Broad will be "extremely proud" to win his 100th cap but is keen to play down his own achievements this week, instead focusing on the first Test against India.
"It's going to be an exciting week," he added. "It's a huge game. We all know how important it is to start well in India.
"I'm only 30 and it's another game really. I've got a lot of things to achieve. I want to play for a lot more Test matches." | Stuart Broad is set to win his 100th Test cap when England face India this week, but says he would not have been so fortunate bowling in a bygone era. |
39,302,289 | 17 March 2017 Last updated at 09:31 GMT
It's usually thought to be safe to view lava flows close up but explosions like this one are unpredictable.
Here's volcano expert Dougal Jerram to explain what happened. | Mount Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes. |
23,378,158 | Stourhead in Wiltshire is the South West's most visited trust property, while the pantheon across the lake is one of its most important features.
According to the trust the listed building has a leaking roof and cracked steps and is in urgent need of repairs.
Mike MacCormack, from the trust, said Stourhead's "iconic views would not be the same if the pantheon wasn't there".
Modelled on the pantheon in Rome, by architect Henry Flitcroft, it was carefully placed in the landscape along with 20 other buildings and structures. The last time work was carried out on the pantheon was in the 1980s when its dome and interior was restored.
Now cash from the Sita Trust, a charitable organisation which distributes donations from the waste management firm Sita UK, will be used to repair the building. | One of the most photographed National Trust sites in the country is be given a £260,000 charity grant. |
27,055,494 | Seamus Daly lived "under the radar" near the Irish border before he was arrested at a retail centre car park in Newry, County Down, prosecutors said.
It was confirmed charges were brought based on a review of available evidence rather than any new material.
Mr Daly was refused bail at a hearing on Wednesday.
The case against him centres on telephone analysis allegedly linking him to the outrage.
A former business associate who said he spoke to him on a mobile believed to have been used by the bomb team is a "pivotal" prosecution witness, a judge was told.
Mr Daly faces 29 counts of murder over the August 1998 Real IRA attack.
The 43-year-old bricklayer, originally from Culloville, County Monaghan, but now residing in Jonesborough, County Armagh, also faces counts of causing the explosion in Omagh and possession of a bomb in the County Tyrone market town with intent to endanger life or property.
He is further charged with conspiring to cause an explosion and having explosives with intent in connection with a separate dissident republican bomb plot in Lisburn, County Antrim, in April that year.
No one has ever been convicted in connection with the massacre at Omagh.
But Mr Daly, who has a previous conviction in the Republic of Ireland for IRA membership, has already been found liable for the bombing in a landmark civil action taken by victims' families.
The court heard that a man named Denis O'Connor claims Daly phoned him on the day of the attack using a mobile suspected of having travelled into Omagh on the bomb run.
Cell-site analysis also allegedly links him to the earlier bomb incident at Lisburn involving a similar modus operandi and warnings.
Asked by the judge if any of the information was new, prosecution counsel confirmed it was already known to police.
She contended, however, that there had been difficulties in locating Mr Daly before he was detained on 7 April.
He gave police a false name - believed to be that of his brother - and incorrect address.
Opposing bail, the lawyer said the chance to arrest him only emerged when he left his home.
"Police believe he has been residing in that address, almost keeping under the radar," she said.
Questioned on how long detectives had been looking for him, she replied: "Police would say in the region of five years."
Throughout four days of interviews Mr Daly made no comment to all questions.
In a pre-prepared statement, he denied being a member of the IRA or any involvement in either the Lisburn attempted bombing or the attack on Omagh, whose 29 victims included the mother of unborn twins.
Defence counsel argued that the case against his client is too weak for criminal charges.
"There's been no additional evidence in 14 years," he said.
"It has been undoubtedly analysed and undoubtedly conclusions reached (previously) that there was insufficient evidence. Nothing has changed from that."
Rejecting any suggestion that the accused had been evading the authorities, the barrister said he has been in Northern Ireland for nearly three years.
"He's just been living a normal family life at that location," he added.
However, the judge said the prosecution had established a reasonable suspicion against Mr Daly.
He said he was refusing bail due to the twin risks the accused may commit other serious offences or flee. | An Irish republican accused of murdering 29 people in the Omagh bomb atrocity was sought by police for five years, Belfast High Court has heard. |
37,965,305 | The 31-year-old opened the scoring from the spot but missed another penalty after the break when his effort came off both post and keeper Andris Vanins.
Arturs Zjuzins equalised with a low strike before William Carvalho headed the Portuguese back in front.
Ronaldo's volley made it 3-1 and Bruno Alves headed in a late fourth.
Portugal now have nine points but remain in second behind leaders Switzerland, who moved to 12 points with a 2-0 win over Faroe Islands.
Match ends, Portugal 4, Latvia 1.
Second Half ends, Portugal 4, Latvia 1.
Corner, Latvia. Conceded by Bruno Alves.
Goal! Portugal 4, Latvia 1. Bruno Alves (Portugal) header from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Raphael Guerreiro following a corner.
Corner, Portugal. Conceded by Kaspars Gorkss.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) hits the bar with a header from very close range. Assisted by Ricardo Quaresma with a cross.
Attempt missed. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) right footed shot from very close range misses to the right. Assisted by Renato Sanches.
Substitution, Portugal. Renato Sanches replaces André Gomes.
Substitution, Latvia. Vladislavs Gutkovskis replaces Artjoms Rudnevs.
André Gomes (Portugal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Artjoms Rudnevs (Latvia).
Goal! Portugal 3, Latvia 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Ricardo Quaresma with a cross.
Attempt blocked. João Cancelo (Portugal) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by André Gomes.
Attempt blocked. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by José Fonte.
André Silva (Portugal) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Gints Freimanis (Latvia).
Corner, Portugal. Conceded by Vitalijs Maksimenko.
Attempt blocked. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ricardo Quaresma.
Corner, Latvia. Conceded by José Fonte.
Attempt missed. Olegs Laizans (Latvia) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Igors Tarasovs following a set piece situation.
Foul by André Silva (Portugal).
Igors Tarasovs (Latvia) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Gelson Martins (Portugal) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by André Silva with a headed pass.
Substitution, Latvia. Aleksejs Visnakovs replaces Glebs Kluskins.
Offside, Latvia. Arturs Zjuzins tries a through ball, but Artjoms Rudnevs is caught offside.
Vladislavs Gabovs (Latvia) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Gelson Martins (Portugal) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Vladislavs Gabovs (Latvia).
Corner, Portugal. Conceded by Vitalijs Maksimenko.
André Silva (Portugal) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Igors Tarasovs (Latvia).
João Cancelo (Portugal) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Vitalijs Maksimenko (Latvia).
Substitution, Portugal. Gelson Martins replaces João Mário.
Offside, Latvia. Vladislavs Gabovs tries a through ball, but Artjoms Rudnevs is caught offside.
Goal! Portugal 2, Latvia 1. William Carvalho (Portugal) header from very close range to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ricardo Quaresma with a cross.
Hand ball by André Gomes (Portugal).
Goal! Portugal 1, Latvia 1. Arturs Zjuzins (Latvia) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner.
Attempt blocked. Artjoms Rudnevs (Latvia) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Gints Freimanis with a cross.
André Gomes (Portugal) wins a free kick on the right wing. | Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and missed a penalty as Portugal defeated Latvia in a World Cup Group B qualifier. |
39,067,153 | Now young Welsh centre Jack Roberts is making his own mark in the game.
The 25-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season with English Premiership side Leicester, scoring one try in 17 appearances .
"I've really enjoyed the year and it's been good to get out there and get games week to week," said the Scarlets youth product, who joined Tigers from Rotherham in 2014.
"My rugby's progressed this year. It's probably the toughest league in the world in terms of competition and every game is tough."
Born in Bangor but raised in Pwllheli in north Wales, Roberts has been given his chance this season because of injuries to Tuilagi and Toomua.
Roberts has seized his opportunities and has also sought guidance from Tuilagi and Toomua as well as that of Tigers head coach, former New Zealand centre Aaron Mauger.
"I try and learn as much as I can," Roberts told BBC Wales Sport.
"I was lucky enough to play with Manu for a few games and I really enjoyed that.
"I've learnt a lot off him and Matt Toomua is around the training ground and I can pick his brains when I want.
"If I can learn a little bit off them then I'll be better for it.
"Then you've got Aaron Mauger, who was a world class centre himself.
"Mauger has been a massive help for me. He's looked at my game and looked at ways for me to keep improving.
"He's put a lot of faith and trust in me and played me in big games when he probably had opportunities to play other people.
"I'm very grateful he's put his trust in me and I think I've repaid that trust he's put in me."
Having made a breakthrough at Tigers this season, Roberts will leave Welford Road and the English Premiership at the end of the current season.
Roberts will return to Wales, having signed for Cardiff Blues.
"The main driving force behind the move was to play back in Wales," said Roberts, who studied at Cardiff University.
"When you're playing in Wales you are in the limelight a bit more and I enjoyed living in Cardiff when I was a student.
"I've not played regional rugby and I'm really looking forward to that.
"Cardiff Blues are a club who are going in the right direction and it's an exciting place to be at the moment," Roberts said.
"They're playing some good rugby and have some good young coaches and they're building a really good squad. I'm excited to get started."
Roberts will compete with the likes of Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Garyn Smith and Harri Millard for a starting centre spot for the Blues next season.
"All top clubs, whether it be Leicester or Cardiff, are always going to have strength in depth," Roberts said.
"It will be tough competition but I don't think it gets much tougher than Leicester having to compete for a place.
"If you approach it in the right way it can help you become a better player. You can push each other to better things."
Roberts has represented Wales at Under-16 level and was also in the Under-18 squad.
Moving back to Wales means Roberts will not have to rely on a wildcard selection for the senior national side.
"Growing up in Pwllheli it's what I've always dreamt about doing," Roberts added.
"But that's not really at the forefront of my mind. I'm just looking to go to Cardiff and try and get in the team and play regularly every week.
"We'll see what comes of that."
Should Roberts make it into the senior side, he will follow in the footsteps of friend and former Scarlets colleague George North.
And Roberts says the Northampton Saints wing, raised in Anglesey, is an inspiration for young players in north Wales.
"I've known George since I was about 10 years old and we played age group rugby together in north Wales," Roberts said.
"We then moved down to Llandovery College at the same time. He's a friend and I speak to him to quite often.
"To have someone like George that youngsters can look up to and try and replicate is great for young lads up in north Wales." | Wales wing George North is a longstanding friend while England centre Manu Tuilagi and Australian international Matt Toomua are Leicester Tigers team-mates. |
40,646,135 | A yellow "be aware" weather warning has been issued by the Met Office from 05:00 to 22:00 BST.
The forecaster said "scattered" storms and downpours would move north across Wales in the morning.
A lightning strike on a Gwynedd pub in the early hours of Wednesday morning caused a fire to a chimney stack.
Crews were called to the Peniarth Arms in Bryncrug, near Tywyn, and the fire was put out at 03:30 BST. North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said there were no injuries.
The Met Office said about 30mm (1.2in) of rain could fall in an hour causing a "chance" of localised flooding while lightning and hail could lead to disruption of power networks.
The storms will ease in the south but could break out again in north east Wales in the afternoon, it added.
A yellow warning is the lowest level, rising in severity through amber to red for the most severe weather. | "Severe" thunderstorms could affect power supplies in parts of Wales as a second day of weather warnings comes into force. |
39,285,416 | Welshman Congerton has previously worked as a coach with Liverpool and the Welsh FA.
He was technical director at Hamburg and, most recently, sporting director at Sunderland.
"It is a huge honour and I can't wait to get started in making my contribution to such a fantastic institution," he told Celtic's website.
"In recent years there has been some great work done at the club in the recruitment and development of some high-quality playing talent. I am really looking forward to adding my experience in this area and ensuring that we continue this high level of achievement."
Brendan Rodgers' Celtic are top of the Scottish Premiership and need two more wins to secure the championship, which would be a sixth consecutive title success.
The club say Congerton, who worked with Rodgers when the Northern Irishman coached at Chelsea, will head up recruitment of players and the scouting network, domestically and abroad.
"Player recruitment is such a crucial function of the club and we are delighted to welcome Lee to Celtic to oversee this area," said chief executive Peter Lawwell.
"Given the importance of this appointment we have gone through a thorough process and taken our time to identify the right person.
"Lee was the outstanding candidate for this position and we are sure he will deliver real impact and benefit to the club." | Celtic have appointed former Chelsea head of scouting Lee Congerton as their new head of recruitment. |
21,907,031 | More than 240 people were killed when insulation foam caught fire and spread toxic fumes through the packed venue in the southern town of Santa Maria.
Police said the blaze started when the singer of a band held a firework close to the ceiling, which then caught fire.
The singer, the band's producer, the club's owners, and fire officials will be charged with negligent homicide.
A police report published on Friday said dozens of eyewitnesses reported seeing the singer on stage holding the firework which triggered the blaze.
'Grotesque'
Attempts by the singer and a security guard to extinguish the fire failed when the extinguisher they used did not work, the witnesses described.
Many said that the security guards at the Kiss nightclub at first tried to stop people from leaving the club.
The fact that the club only had one door was described by the investigators compiling the report as a "grotesque safety failure". Escape routes and lighting in the club were also found to be inadequate.
The club was found to be overcrowded. Eyewitnesses reporting more than 1,000 revellers packed into the venue, which had a licence for fewer than 800.
All of the 241 victims were found to have died of asphyxiation as toxic fumes from the insulation foam quickly spread through the club. Police believe that five of those killed were people who had gone into the club to try to rescue others.
More than 600 people were injured.
The fire, and the lack of safety precautions at the venue, have prompted widespread concern about Brazil's ability to host major sporting events in the next four years.
The 2014 World Cup is set to be played in 12 Brazilian cities, while the 2016 Olympics are to take place in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil's Congress is set to revise legislation in an attempt to strengthen safety regulations ahead of the World Cup. | Sixteen people will face criminal charges in connection with a deadly fire at a Brazil nightclub in January. |
34,965,375 | Irish lost 15-33 against Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday - their fifth defeat in five Premiership matches.
The result saw The Exiles drop to the bottom of the table after also winless Newcastle drew against Sale.
"We don't want to go back to the club and become too negative in what we're trying to do," Coventry told BBC Sport.
Irish scored two tries through teenage centre Johnny Williams in the second match of the London Double Header.
Media playback is not supported on this device
But, Wasps scored four of their own to secure a bonus-point victory and their first away Premiership win of the season.
"We just have to hold our course," Coventry added, who took over team management in the summer.
"The competition is about winning and getting points to move up the ladder and we need to get rid of that duck obviously.
"We'll be striving to do that in a positive manner. We're still competing with some of the better clubs in the competition, that's where we aspire to be.
"We've just got to get over that hurdle, which is difficult when you're losing confidence.
"But, I'm sure when we put in a good performance that confidence will come back." | London Irish head coach Tom Coventry says his side must "hold their course" as they continue to search for a first Premiership win of the season. |
36,770,233 | The 25-year-old Swede says his experience persuaded him to move to Tynecastle after leaving Lyngby.
"I had some other options, but Hearts was my number one all the time," said the goalkeeper.
"The last time I was here, I felt really good. When I was living in Glasgow, everything was perfect."
Noring has played little first-team football at his last three clubs - Bodo/Glimt in Norway, Heerenveen in the Netherlands and then Lyngby in Denmark.
But he has been brought in by head coach Robbie Neilson to challenge Jack Hamilton, the 22-year-old who recently received his first call-up to the senior Scotland squad, for a starting place with Hearts.
And, after a successful trial, he signed just in time to travel to Malta for the second qualifying round of the Europa League against Birkirkara on Thursday.
"The way I'm playing as a keeper, it suits me playing in Scotland," said Noring. "Playing physical suits me well.
"That was the main reason I wanted to come back, because the country suits me and the people are very kind. And the football is very good too."
Noring was with Trelleborgs when he had loan spells with both Malmo and Celtic, where Fraser Forster and Lukasz Zaluska stood between him and a starting place three years ago.
"It was the first time I moved abroad," he recalled. "You get to know yourself a little bit more and the training at Celtic was a step up. So you learn a lot.
"Fraser was there and Lukasz was number two, so it was a good learning experience to be there.
"I like the mentality of the people. They are very open-minded and helpful and easy to work with.
"Everyone is straight on about what they think of things. If you are doing something good, they will say it, but if you are doing something bad, they will say it also. I like that mentality." | Hearts signing Viktor Noring fell in love with Scottish football while on loan to Celtic despite never making it into the first team. |
40,597,941 | Fewer than one in ten adults in England and Wales now take drugs, according to the Home Office, but drug-related deaths have risen sharply.
The strategy will target psychoactive substances, performance-enhancing drugs and the misuse of prescribed medicines.
Drugs charities praised the strategy's focus on recovery, but raised concerns that budget cuts could affect delivery.
The strategy applies across England, with some elements spreading to Wales and Scotland.
New psychoactive substances (NPS), formerly known as legal highs, mimic the effects of other drugs, such as cannabis.
Last year, laws were introduced to criminalise the production, distribution, sale and supply of them, but they continue to fall into the hands of users.
Chemsex - using drugs as part of sexual activity - often involves crystal methamphetamine, GHB/GBL and mephedrone.
Government studies show the practice increases health risks, both mentally and physically, including aiding the spread of blood-borne infections and viruses.
It comes as the number of drug deaths in England and Wales increased by 10.3% to 2,479 in 2015, following rises of 14.9% in 2014 and 19.6% in 2013.
Home Office statistics show the number of adults aged between 16 and 59 who take drugs is at now at 8% - a 2.5% drop from 10 years ago.
In December 2010, with Home Office priorities centred on police reform and immigration, the last government drug strategy felt like a box-ticking exercise. Just 25 pages long, it contained little detail or original thinking and just one paragraph on the problem that was later to engulf prisons, legal highs.
The theme of the last strategy was supporting people to live a "drug-free life". It emphasised the need for "abstinence" and said too many users were reliant on drug-substitute treatments such as methadone.
The 2017 strategy makes no mention of abstinence or limiting methadone use, but it sets more demanding and wide-ranging measurements of treatment success.
At double the length of the previous document, there is a sense that the Home Office is more focused on the issue than before, prompted perhaps by the recent rise in drug deaths and the need to prevent a new generation of drug users sparking a fresh crime-wave.
The strategy includes:
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who will chair a new cross-government drug strategy board, said she was "determined to confront the scale of this issue".
The chief executive of the drug treatment campaign Collective Voice, Paul Hayes, welcomed the fact that recovery was being put "at the heart" of the government's response.
While also welcoming the shift in the government's focus, Harry Shapiro, director of online advice service DrugWise, said he was concerned about a lack of funding.
"It has shifted from the 2010 strategy [when] there was an emphasis that recovery from addiction was just about abstinence," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"Anyone working in the sector knew that that wasn't the case, because if you are going to recover, you have got to have something to recover to.
"The government has recognised that more needs to be done in that area, but it all has to be delivered at a local level and local authorities are struggling with budgets, drug services are suffering from cuts."
Ron Hogg, the Police and Crime and Victims Commissioner in County Durham, said he agreed with a focus on helping users recover, but said it was "shameful" the strategy did not look into decriminalising drugs.
He said that in Portugal - where drugs were decriminalised 12 years ago - drug use, drug-related deaths and the number of people injecting had all fallen.
Home Office Minister Sarah Newton said she had looked at arguments for decriminalisation, but added: "When you look at all the other available evidence, we just don't agree."
The National Police Chiefs' Council's lead for drugs, Commander Simon Bray said police "will play our part" in delivering the plan. | So-called legal highs and chemsex drugs will be targeted in a government move aimed at cutting illicit drug use. |
36,071,737 | The 41 survivors say they were transferred to another vessel when it sank in the middle of the night.
They said that up to 500 people died, but coastguards in the region have been unable to confirm their accounts.
Numbers of migrants making the dangerous sea route from Libya to Italy have surged this year.
The survivors, from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Egypt, spoke to the BBC from the southern Greek city of Kalamata, where they are being held after their rescue.
According to the group, about 240 migrants left the Libyan port city of Tobruk heading for Italy.
"My wife and my baby drowned in front of me," is the first thing Muaz from Ethiopia tells me, before insisting that at least 500 others died.
"Two hundred and forty of us set off from Libya but then the traffickers made us get on to a bigger wooden boat around 30m in length that already had at least 300 people in it," said Abdul Kadir, a Somali.
"I was one of the few who managed to swim back to the smaller boat," added Muaz.
Migrants recount harrowing crossing
Once out in the Mediterranean, they said they were transferred to a larger boat already packed with more than 300 people, which then capsized.
The survivors were then picked up by a cargo ship, whose crew told the BBC that the migrants initially refused to be handed over to the Greek coastguard as they were determined to get to Italy.
A Somali woman living in Egypt told the BBC Somali service that three of her relatives, whom she had not heard from since they set out for Europe on Thursday, had died.
The presidents of both Somalia and the self-declared Republic of Somaliland offered their condolences over the incident. The Somali embassy in Cairo put the death toll at almost 400.
But the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has cast doubt, tweeting that the information hundreds had died appeared "inaccurate".
The fact that the boat capsized at night in open sea may well have contributed to the lack of clear information available, correspondents say.
9,600
migrants crossed the Mediterranean to Italy in March 2016
26,460
arrived in Greece from Turkey
In March 2015:
2,283 made the sea crossing to Italy
7,875 made journey from Turkey to Greece
In a separate incident, six bodies were recovered and 108 migrants rescued when a rubber dinghy sank off the coast of Libya, according to the organisation SOS Mediterranean.
The boat was partially deflated, taking on water and its engine was out of use, the rescue group said.
The number of migrants arriving in Italy from Libya has surged recently - about 6,000 made the journey alone over a three-day period last week, the International Organisation for Migration said.
The deaths come on the eve of the first anniversary of the sinking of a migrant boat in the waters between Libya and Lampedusa in which up to 800 people may have drowned.
About 180,000 people have attempted to reach Europe by sea this year, with nearly 800 lives lost, the UN says. | Hundreds of migrants drowned when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean, survivors have told the BBC - although there is no official confirmation. |
35,814,358 | The girls, who were 13 and 14 at the time, deny murdering 39-year-old Angela Wrightson at her home in Hartlepool in December 2014.
She was found in her blood-spattered living room with more than 100 injuries.
Leeds Crown Court heard the girls left Miss Wrightson with a fractured skull.
The older of the girls told the court Miss Wrightson was waving her arms about in the air as they attacked her.
In cross-examination, prosecutor Nicholas Campbell QC asked the girl, who is now 15: "What was she doing to protect herself?"
The girl, giving evidence via video-link, answered: "Waving her arms about in the air."
Mr Campbell continued: "And why was she waving her arms about?"
She answered: "Because we were kicking her in her head."
The court has heard the two girls went to Miss Wrightson's house on the evening of 8 December 2014 to drink cider.
The jury of eight women and four men heard that the girls left the house during the night and returned in the early hours of the following day.
The older girl told the court she wanted to go back to see if Miss Wrightson was all right.
She said the victim's face was bleeding and agreed with Mr Campbell that her scalp was cut open, adding: "When I walked in I just thought she was going to be how she was but there was loads of blood."
The girl told the court that she did not think Miss Wrightson needed help when the pair left the house for the final time at about 04:00.
She said: "I can't remember if she was bleeding or not, she was just touching her head."
Both girls admit being present at the time the injuries were inflicted.
The older girl admits that she struck Miss Wrightson but the younger girl, who is now 14, denies playing any part in the assault.
Both deny murder.
The trial continues. | Two teenage girls continued to kick a vulnerable woman in the head despite her attempts to defend herself, a court has been told. |
39,782,168 | Joel Monaghan's try put Tigers ahead, but Mamo went over twice to put Giants in front.
Castleford levelled the scores with tries from Greg Minikin and Greg Eden either side of Mamo's third score.
A Danny Brough penalty and drop-goal restored Giants' lead after Paul McShane's penalty for Tigers, but Jesse Sene-Lefao's late try won it for Cas.
Both sides played out much of the final 10 minutes with 12 men, with Castleford's Jake Webster shown a yellow card for a professional foul, before Brough was also sent to the sin-bin for a tackle below the knees.
Castleford's fight-back came despite missing three players to international duty with England, and ended a four-game losing streak at Huddersfield, who were also without England winger Jermaine McGillvary.
But Tigers will have concerns over half-back Rangi Chase, who was taken off with an apparent shoulder injury late in the first half.
Daryl Powell's side are now three points clear of Hull FC at the top of the Super League table, while Huddersfield stay 10th, three points outside the top eight places.
Huddersfield head coach Rick Stone told BBC Radio Leeds:
"It was a real good performance, a real good effort, I'm very disappointed not to get the points tonight.
"Usually what goes around comes around and if you put that sort of effort in you get a result.
"Tonight it didn't come our way but if we keep preparing ourselves and playing like that, good things will happen for us."
Castleford head coach Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Leeds:
"It was good old-fashioned, heart, guts, determination and finding a way to win when it looks like the opposition's just got a little bit too much for you.
"When you get put under pressure and then you lose Rangi Chase, then it makes it hard work.
"I thought Jake Mamo was superb for them tonight, that's the best I've seen him play and he really caused us a lot of trouble.
"They dug in and came after us, and for us to win that, it's the first tight game we've won this year really so I'm obviously really pleased."
Huddersfield: Mamo; McIntosh, Murphy, Mellor, Ormsby; Brough, Wood; Ikahihifo, Leeming, Wakeman, Roberts, Ferguson, Hinchcliffe.
Replacements: O'Brien, Rapira, Smith, Clough.
Castleford: Eden; Minikin, Webster, Sheehan, Monaghan; Chase, McShane; Lynch, Milner, Millington, Sene-Lefao, Foster, Massey.
Replacements: Holmes, Moors, Cook, Springer. | Super League leaders Castleford fought back to beat Huddersfield despite Jake Mamo's first-half hat-trick. |
37,248,902 | It is understood the scheme would offer people flying into the airport the chance to jump the queue for about £5.
The FastTrack service would be the first of its kind in Scotland.
It comes after chief executive Gordon Dewar wrote to then Home Secretary Theresa May to raise concerns about cuts to the UK Border Force.
In an open letter to Mrs May in July, before she became Prime Minister, he said Edinburgh airport was preparing for its "busiest summer ever".
But he warned that queues at passport control could hit unprecedented levels following "very serious" staffing cuts.
The airport already offers passengers the opportunity to pay £4.49 to use a priority security lane for departures.
The new FastTrack passport control scheme for arriving passengers is a joint venture with the UK Border Force.
Similar services are already offered at Gatwick and Heathrow airports.
A spokesman for Edinburgh airport said it was likely to be trialled in the "near future".
"This new service will offer choice to people flying into Edinburgh Airport," he added.
"We look forward to being able to offer our overseas passengers and returning UK-based passengers an even smoother arrival into Scotland."
The Home Office confirmed that the Border Force was "working closely" on the project.
A spokeswoman said it would "allow business travellers and those on tight schedules to make the most of their stay with the shortest possible wait".
She added: "Working with airport operators, Border Force is committed to providing an excellent service to all passengers arriving in the UK." | Passengers arriving at Edinburgh airport could pay to skip passport queues, under new plans to ease congestion. |
33,345,359 | Nivolumab was one of the drugs labelled a "milestone" therapy at a major cancer conference last month.
It has been approved for lung cancer through the UK's Early Access to Medicines Scheme and has been given an EU license for melanoma.
The drug has been shown to stop skin and lung cancers from progressing, in clinical trials.
The immune system is a powerful defence against infection. However, there are many "brakes" built in to stop the system attacking its own tissues.
Cancer - which is a corrupted version of healthy tissue - can take advantage of these brakes to evade assault from the immune system.
Nivolumab takes the brakes off.
One trial of nivolumab, alongside an already approved medicine ipilimumab, stopped melanoma advancing for nearly a year in 58% of patients.
A separate trial in lung cancer showed the drug more than doubled survival times in some patients.
The treatment has now been allowed in the UK for both skin and lung cancers.
Gill Nuttall, from Melanoma UK, said: "There has been an alarming rise in the number of cases of melanoma in the UK over recent years.
"Today's news is therefore very welcome as it provides more options for patients and the potential of better, longer survival." | A pioneering cancer drug that harnesses the power of the immune system has been approved for use in the UK. |
38,059,592 | Neilson was furious at the tackle, which came late in the 3-3 draw at New Douglas Park, and went to see referee Steven MacLean after the game.
Crawford was booked for the incident, but Neilson believed it should have been dealt with more harshly.
"I thought it was a terrible tackle and there's no place for it," Neilson said.
"We're lucky Jamie wasn't seriously injured.
"The referee's not called it the way I thought it should be. I asked him his opinion on it and he said at the time he didn't think it was, but we've reviewed it on the video and it wasn't great.
"He's one of our key players and teams target him, we know that and he has to take the hits. When the hits go overboard, it's up to the referee to protect the players."
Neilson was relieved that his side managed to battle back from being 3-1 down in the second half to secure a point, thanks to Callum Paterson's goal with four minutes remaining.
The Hearts manager was frustrated with the way his side fell behind, though, having opened the scoring through Walker.
Hamilton struck back with a Crawford free-kick and a Rakish Bingham double after the interval.
Walker reduced the deficit with a penalty after Dan Seaborne was judged to have fouled Don Cowie.
"We showed great spirit to come back, but we shouldn't be coming places and scoring three goals and only coming away with a point," Neilson told BBC Scotland.
Hamilton player-manager Martin Canning was frustrated that his side could not protect a two-goal lead, leaving them just one point above bottom side Dundee.
"It's the same old story, but we performed reasonably well," Canning said. "To go a goal down, they showed character to come back and then to go 3-1 up. I wouldn't expect us to lose points from there.
"That's what I've just said to the players, we can't keep saying we're performing well but not winning games, because there will come a point this season when we're not performing well. We need to pick up points when we're playing well."
Canning, though, had no complaints about the penalty awarded against Seaborne, even though the defender looked to have lost his footing.
"It looked like Dan Seaborne slipped, and when you slip in the box and bring somebody down you concede a penalty," he said.
"On first viewing I wouldn't have any complaints, he's slipped over and impeded Don Cowie and the referee decided its a penalty." | Hearts manager Robbie Neilson said that Jamie Walker was fortunate not to be badly injured after a challenge from Hamilton's Ali Crawford. |
38,224,304 | A number of homes and businesses in Clady were flooded after the storm last December.
An initial study has been carried out to replace a damaged floodwall and flood-banks.
But David Porter of the Rivers Agency said progressing that work was now subject to "the availability of funds".
"We are carrying out a study to see whether any works are viable, i.e. affordable, to increase the standard of protection," he told BBC Radio Foyle.
"That will be a longer terms project because of its scale, and also because of the availability of funds."
Mr Porter said there were "many competing priorities" for funding.
Mr Porter said people who live in at-risk areas must take measures to protect themselves from flooding.
Last month a couple in their 60s who have been living in a caravan since their Clady home flooded last year said they are fearful of repeat flooding this winter.
Eugene and Mary McShane' home on Urney Road was damaged by about 5ft of water on 5 December 2015.
The record rainfall caused the rivers Mourne, Finn and Derg to burst their banks. | A county Tyrone village devastated by Storm Desmond may not get new flood defences because of a lack of funds. |
37,129,709 | Public sector net borrowing was in surplus by £1bn for the month, less than the £1.2bn seen a year earlier.
July is typically a month of surplus for the public finances, because of revenues from corporation tax.
For the financial year to date, public borrowing was 11.3% lower than a year earlier.
For the April-to-July period, the total was £23.7bn, £3bn less than the same period in 2015.
Total public sector net debt at the end of July was £1,604.2bn, equivalent to 82.9% of GDP. That was £35.3bn more than in July 2015.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said July was the second month in a row in which the debt had fallen as a percentage of GDP. In June, it was 84% of GDP.
That indicated that GDP was currently increasing year-on-year faster than net debt, although the ONS stressed that care should be taken when inferring trends from only two months' data.
The ONS said its bulletin presented the latest fiscal position of the public sector as at 31 July 2016 and so included the first post-EU referendum data.
However, it added that estimates for the latest period always contained a substantial forecast element and so any post-referendum impact might not become clear for some time.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said: "With the public finances in surplus in July, our economy starts from a position of strength to face any economic turbulence following the vote to leave the EU.
"As we keep working to cut the deficit, we are well-placed to handle any challenges and seize the opportunities as our economy adjusts. We are determined to build on our economic strengths to ensure Britain is a country that works for everyone."
The UK's new Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has indicated that he will take a more gradual approach to deficit reduction and will not be bound by the targets of his predecessor, George Osborne.
His own policies should become clearer when he presents his Autumn Statement, due before the end of the year.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European Economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "The UK's vote to leave the European Union clearly put the fiscal targets for 2016-17 and beyond out of reach.
"Even before the Brexit vote, the plan to get [public sector net borrowing] down to £55.5bn in 2016-17 from £74.9bn in 2015-16 had looked challenging, while ex-Chancellor George Osborne's target of a budget surplus in 2019-20 was widely seen as hugely optimistic."
Mr Archer added: "The public finances look poised to take a serious hit from probable significantly weakened economic activity after the Brexit vote, taking a toll on tax receipts in particular. It also seems probable that unemployment will rise, while any slowdown in the housing market will hit Stamp Duty receipts."
Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: "Fixing the public finances remains a major challenge, and is likely to be an increasingly uphill task if economic growth slows in the coming months.
"If the economy does weaken, the UK will struggle to generate sufficient tax receipts needed to make meaningful progress in reducing the deficit.
"More needs to be done to strengthen the UK's tax base. The government should use the extra fiscal headroom from abandoning the 2020 target to support firms looking to invest, and deliver on major infrastructure projects that will boost jobs and growth." | The UK government had a smaller budget surplus than expected in July, the first calendar month since the Brexit vote. |
30,320,914 | It is packed with technical explanations and is careful to avoid apportioning blame to any one party. So what does the report mean?
This will create all the headlines, but it was self-evident long before the report of the FIA's accident panel concluded that Bianchi "did not slow sufficiently to avoid losing control".
The section of track at which he crashed was under double waved yellow flags - the most extreme form of caution signal before a safety car is deployed.
This signal means slow down and be prepared to stop - a requirement with which Bianchi clearly had not complied, at what is one of the most demanding corners on the calendar, taken at more than 100mph even in the wet.
He had slowed a little but, as race director Charlie Whiting said a week after the crash, "it's a matter of degree".
But that is not to say Bianchi was doing anything out of the ordinary. It is in the nature of F1 for people to push things to the limit, whether it be drivers or teams.
It was normal practice for a driver to slow down in such situations only enough for them to have showed they had slowed down should they be questioned later. There was no definition of how much they should do so.
It was behaviour that had become acceptable, in that it passed without comment from officials. In hindsight, that was a mistake - hence the introduction of the 'virtual safety car' for next season.
The VSC will take such decisions out of a the drivers' hands and include systems in the car to slow it down to a specified speed in such situations.
According to what had become normal and accepted practice, no. As the report put it, race officials behaved in a manner "consistent with the regulations and their interpretation following 384 incidents in the preceding eight years".
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In a situation where a car had gone off the track but could be recovered in a relatively short period of time, a double waved yellow at the scene of the incident was considered sufficient.
It should be remembered that less than two minutes had elapsed between Adrian Sutil's crash and Bianchi's on the very next lap - the two had been racing against each other at the time - and in that period the tractor vehicle that Bianchi hit had picked up Sutil's Sauber and had almost made it behind the barrier again.
Had Bianchi gone off just a few seconds later, he would have hit only the barrier.
In hindsight, it seems a terrible idea for a recovery crane that weighed 6.5 tonnes to be on the track side of the barriers during a wet race on a fast corner with cars at close to racing speeds.
Looking back, no-one would disagree with that. But the fact is that despite Martin Brundle narrowly missing such a vehicle in a similar incident at Suzuka 20 years ago, few people thought anything of this until after Bianchi's crash.
Now, though, this point has been accepted. And when cranes are required, the new virtual safety car will be put into action.
In the aftermath of the Bianchi accident, there were suggestions that two things might have helped: some form of skirting around the crane to prevent cars submerging beneath them; or forward head protection on the cars, which has been the subject of research in recent years.
But the report concluded: "It is not feasible to mitigate the injuries Bianchi suffered by either enclosing the driver's cockpit, or fitting skirts to the crane.
"Neither approach is practical due to the very large forces involved in the accident between a 700kg car striking a 6500kg crane at a speed of 126kph.
"There is simply insufficient impact structure on a F1 car to absorb the energy of such an impact without either destroying the driver's survival cell, or generating non-survivable decelerations."
Given that the rear roll-bar structure, designed to protect the driver's head in the event of the car landing upside down, was destroyed in the accident, it is hard to argue with this conclusion.
The report mentions that Bianchi was pressing both brake and accelerator as the car was leaving the track and crossing the run-off area.
What is supposed to happen in such situations is that the fail-safe system over-rides the throttle and cuts the engine.
This did not happen in Bianchi's car, the report says, because of a clash with the settings of the brake-by-wire system.
But the report makes it clear that the panel found it impossible to establish whether this had any material effect on the speed of Bianchi's impact.
The detail of this situation - and what is behind the report - is where many people not conversant with F1 technology may get a bit lost.
Brake-by-wire systems were introduced this season as a result of the complexities of the new hybrid engines.
Part of the energy required for the hybrid systems to work comes from the rear brakes, and the complexities of this process mean that conventional hydraulic braking systems can no longer be used on the rear axle.
The systems require electronically controlled rear brakes, whereby there is no physical connection between the brake pedal and the brakes themselves.
Instead, computers interpret how the driver presses the brake pedal as a demand for a specific amount of braking. Electronics then work out how best to split that demand between the brakes themselves and the systems recovering kinetic energy from the rear axle.
The fail-safe system is part of the standard electronic control unit supplied to the teams by the FIA, but how its parameters are set is down to the teams.
And this is an immensely complicated area because the ability to operate brake and throttle at the same time is an integral part of how drivers control the car on corner entry - in many ways, it defines how fast they can go.
In short, just because the fail-safe system did not work in these specific circumstances does not mean Marussia did anything wrong, or broke any rules - and the report's authors were careful to avoid saying that it did.
However, as a result of lessons learned from the Bianchi crash, the FIA is for next year to define more specific boundaries on the amount the teams can alter these parameters.
The report was compiled by a highly expert group including former Mercedes and Ferrari team bosses Ross Brawn and Stefano Domenicali and two respected ex-F1 drivers. It is clear that they felt there was no single cause.
Instead, the report says Bianchi's terrible injuries are the result of an unfortunate set of circumstances, including the difficult conditions, the speed he was going and the presence of a recovery vehicle on track.
The ratification of the decision to drop the controversial award of double points at the final race of the season was expected.
But it lost its headline-making impact because of two other key decisions - the introduction of a minimum age for F1 drivers for 2016 and the surprise return of the Korean Grand Prix, albeit unconfirmed and the extension of the calendar to 21 races.
Cynics will look at the delay in the introduction of a minimum age until 2016 and smile - because next year Max Verstappen is to make his F1 debut with Toro Rosso at the age of 17.
So by the time the rule comes in, the Dutchman will comply, which he would not do next year.
It is Verstappen's promotion that has led to this rule being introduced, if not the Dutchman himself.
The teenager is clearly very talented - although it remains unknown whether he is actually ready for F1.
But there has been concern about a number of aspects of his promotion - specifically whether anyone of that age has the maturity to handle the world's most demanding motorsport; and also about what it says about F1 itself that a kid who could not drive himself on the road to race meetings this season could be signed to take part in them next.
Given that Red Bull had promoted Verstappen when there was no rule forbidding it, the FIA could hardly apply that rule in retrospect. So they have applied it at the soonest possible opportunity.
Years of experience in F1 teach one to expect the unexpected, but it seems pretty safe in this case to say that the return of the unloved race in Mokpo is highly unlikely.
Its addition to the calendar on Wednesday caught the teams by surprise, but they were quick to point out that its date - just a week before the Spanish Grand Prix, producing some almost impossible logistics - meant something must be up.
Insiders say the explanation is simple.
Next year, the rules say that the number of engines drivers can use in a season is to be cut from five to four. But that presupposes there are no more than 20 races.
The rules say each driver will be allowed five engines "if the number of events in the championship, as originally scheduled, exceeds 20".
The key phrase being "as originally scheduled".
The calendar announced on Wednesday is the "confirmed" schedule. Yet one of the 21 races on it - Korea - is "to be confirmed".
So, now the Korean Grand Prix is on the calendar, teams can use five engines again in 2015. And that does not change even if the race drops off at a later date.
Meanwhile, at least one engine manufacturer has been pushing to keep the limit on engines at five for next season, because of the complexity of the engines, reliability problems suffered in 2014 and the need of Mercedes' rivals to push development to try to close the gap to the new world champions.
Putting a fantasy race on the calendar, that no-one believes will happen, only to withdraw it at a later date is a painless way of ensuring this happens without the usual arguments over rules, a cynic would say.
Knowing all that, do you think there will be a Korean Grand Prix next year? | Formula 1's governing body has published its report into the accident during this year's Japanese Grand Prix that left Jules Bianchi with severe head injuries. |
38,831,131 | Media playback is not supported on this device
With the clock red, Murphy crashed through under the posts to punish the hosts, who had been on top.
The Scots, without a tournament win since 2010, led 15-10 at half-time thanks to two Jade Konkel tries.
Sene Naoupu, Alison Miller and Lindsay Peat also touched down as the visitors earned a bonus point.
Scotland also pick up a bonus point following a hugely improved display but will be bitterly disappointed not to have ended their long losing streak in this competition.
Sarah Law and Helen Nelson both missed straightforward kicks and much of the second half was played in Irish territory.
Scotland were ahead inside five minutes when Louise McMillan broke clear and was held at the line, with player-of-the-match Konkel forcing her way over for the opening try which was converted by Law.
Ireland responded immediately, hemming the hosts in their 22 and Naoupu ploughed in at the corner after Scotland coughed up possession.
With the Scots toiling in the scrum, Irish captain Paula Fitzpatrick fumbled what should have been a simple score but Miller soon added a second score with the home defence stretched.
Konkel, Scotland's only full-time player, again powered her way through a gap from close range, with Law this time pushing the conversion from right in front of the posts wide, only to make amends with a sweetly-struck penalty soon after.
Scotland were down to 14 early in the second half, with Lindsey Smith guilty of a line-out tackle in the air, and Ireland took advantage when Peat raced in to score.
For the third time, Nora Stapleton failed to convert from a difficult angle.
Scotland then put together some impressive sequences, with replacement scrum-half Jenny Maxwell injecting fresh pace in the Cumbernauld rain.
Two great breaks, from Lisa Thomson and Chloe Rollie, cut the Irish defence to ribbons but the hosts could not capitalise on their pressure, with Law and Nelson failing to land penalties.
With the clock into 79 minutes, Ireland kicked a penalty into the corner and kept their composure from the line-out, despite being held up on the line a couple of times, for Murphy to break Scottish hearts, with Stapleton adding the extras.
Scotland: Chloe Rollie, Megan Gaffney, Lisa Thomson, Lisa Martin (capt), Rhona Lloyd, Helen Nelson, Sarah Law; Tracey Balmer, Rachel Malcolm, Lindsey Smith, Emma Wassell, Deborah McCormack, Karen Dunbar, Louise McMillan, Jade Konkel.
Replacements: Lucy Park, Heather Lockhart, Katie Dougan, Sarah Bonar, Jemma Forsyth, Jenny Maxwell, Lauren Harris, Eilidh Sinclair.
Ireland: Mairead Coyne; Niamh Kavanagh, Jenny Murphy, Sene Naoupu, Alison Miller; Nora Stapleton, Ailsa Hughes; Lindsay Peat, Leah Lyons, Ailis Egan, Orla Fitzsimons, Marie Louise Reilly, Ciara Griffin, Claire Molloy, Paula Fitzpatrick (capt).
Replacements: Jennie Finlay, Ilse van Staden, Ciara O'Connor, Elaine Anthony, Nichola Fryday, Mary Healy, Claire McLaughlin, Eimear Considine.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Beatrice Benvenuti (Italy) Graham Cooper (Australia)
Television Match Official: Jon Mason (Wales) | Ireland opened their Women's Six Nations campaign with a hard-fought victory over Scotland thanks to a last-gasp try from Jenny Murphy. |
34,920,726 | Powerhouse Fitness, which has nine stores across the UK, was acquired by Germany-based Sport-Tiedje Group for an undisclosed sum.
Sport-Tiedje currently runs 30 home fitness equipment stores in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.
The company said it would retain the Powerhouse brand name and staff.
Powerhouse Fitness, which is the trading name of Laidir Leisure Ltd, was founded by David Webster in 1980 and opened its first store in Glasgow in 1987.
It now has outlets in London, Glasgow, Nottingham, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Leeds.
In the financial year to June, the company had a turnover of £22m.
Sport-Tiedje chief executive Christian Grau said: "Our company philosophy is to offer our customers the best product for them with the best service and at the best price-performance ratio and we will continue to do this in the UK." | A Glasgow-based fitness equipment supplier has been bought by one of Europe's biggest specialist retailers. |
35,189,867 | "I don't know about you, but it only takes two words to make me smile," David Cameron told the party faithful at this year's Tory conference.
"Exit poll."
It had, the prime minister told them, been a night of extraordinary advances, and "as dawn rose, a new light - a bluer light - fell across our isles".
Not only did the Conservatives gain an outright majority - their first in more than 20 years - but they picked up seats in parts of the country that had long been held by Labour, bringing 74 new Conservative MPs to Parliament.
So how did they do it? Some have attributed the party's gains in the North of England to Chancellor George Osborne's Northern Powerhouse strategy.
"It's a great time to be a Tory in the North," Chris Green, the new Conservative MP for Bolton West, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.
"Economic recovery, so many other positive things going on, and especially for a town like Bolton, with a proud manufacturing history, and the chancellor and the prime minister talking about the Northern Powerhouse so much, I think goes down very well. Now it's about making the vision of that powerhouse a reality."
The Conservative brand is still toxic in many parts of Northern England - and Mr Osborne has been accused of cynically using the Northern Powerhouse as a cover for big cuts to local government funding.
But the plan is not just about money - it is about devolving decision-making, on things like health and transport, from Whitehall to closer to where the cash is spent, under the leadership of an elected mayor.
And it is Labour council leaders who are working with the chancellor to deliver this vision - and a Labour politician, former transport secretary Lord Adonis, who has been given the task of overseeing the infrastructure projects that will be crucial to its success.
Indeed, some of the most sceptical noises about the Northern Powerhouse have come from Conservatives, wary of extra layers of government that will potentially be dominated by their political opponents.
"When new models of local government are seen to be imposed on areas, even if more carrot than stick is used, there the danger lurks," Will Wragg, the new Conservative MP for Hazel Grove, in Greater Manchester, told MPs.
Veteran backbencher Graham Brady, who used to be the only Conservative MP in Greater Manchester, says: "I think at the moment we simply have to wait and see.
"We have to hope, of course, that we end up with a mayor in Greater Manchester who is a sensible, moderate individual who will try and bring the city together rather than being divisive. If that happens then it could be a real step forward and I live in hope.
"But I would have liked to have seen some safeguards that sadly aren't there."
Another Northern Conservative MP was far more critical, telling me, on condition of anonymity, that the Northern Powerhouse was a vanity project and a piece of rhetoric.
As such, they said, it might as well be the hot air that drives the pistons in Manchester's museums.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine - who led government efforts to regenerate Liverpool in the wake of the Toxteth riots in the 1980s and now advises the government on devolution - admits the party has got some persuading to do.
"When I was first involved in active politics, we ran all those cities," he says.
"There's no doubt the Conservative Party has not found it easy to articulate its philosophy and its policies. I was often asked when I was in Liverpool why do you bother, there are no votes for us there.
"First of all it was right to bother. And secondly, if you are seen to be bothering in areas which are not traditionally your heartlands, it influences the judgment of people on a much wider constituency basis, often way away from the actually affected areas."
It is difficult to gauge how much impact the Northern Powerhouse actually had at the ballot box in May - a poll by Comres, for the BBC, found two thirds of voters in the North of England had never heard of it.
But its hard hat-wearing architect, George Osborne, now has his eyes on a different election - the one to choose a successor to David Cameron, which is set to happen before 2020. Could he do it?
"There will be a leadership campaign. I don't know who's going to enter and I don't certainly know who's going to win," says Lord Heseltine.
"But I know one thing about the Conservative Party. It is the most successful political force in the history of democracy. It has held power longer than any other equivalent anywhere in the world.
"They have a nose for power and winning it. I doubt if it will desert them." | It was the speech he never imagined he would make, after an election win no one had predicted. |
24,033,966 | The remarkably preserved fossils of two "duelling" dinosaurs frozen in a death clinch could fetch up to $10m.
But scientists want the opportunity to examine the specimens of the tyrannosaur, which appears to have bitten off more than it could chew.
Details of the discovery, from Montana, US, were discussed at the British Science Festival in Newcastle.
The large arms and thin head of this most complete tyrannosaur ever discovered suggest it is a new species, called Nanotyrannus, living alongside and related to T. rex.
The observations were made by Dr Phil Manning of Manchester University.
Some 65 to 67 million years ago, in an area that now lies the middle of Montana, T. rex was the top predator of the ecosystem. Dr Manning has just returned from an excavation of a new T. rex skeleton that he is preparing for a museum in Leiden, the Netherlands.
Fossil fragments of T. rex are found throughout the rocks called the "Hell Creek Formation" in Montana, but never before has an entire tyrannosaur skeleton been found.
Only two T. rex skeletons that are more than half complete have been ever been recovered. The Fields Museum in Chicago has the most complete T. rex, at 85% of a skeleton, which was bought at auction for a record sum, and the Black Hills Museum in South Dakota has a 65% complete T. rex.
There has been great excitement, therefore, over the recent excavation of an entire and complete tyrannosaur predator from the Hell Creek Formation. More than that, it was found forever frozen in a linked death clasp with its prey, a complete Triceratops.
Dr Phil Manning from the University of Manchester explained at the British Science Festival in Newcastle how new observations show a tooth from the tyrannosaur embedded between the neck vertebrae of the Triceratops, while the skull of the tyrannosaur appears to have been shattered by a blow from the Triceratops.
"It was a bad day for both of them" quipped Dr Manning. "These animals could have been fighting on the banks of a river. They both became mortally injured." They were then rapidly buried and preserved as fossils.
But there is more to this remarkable death duelling pair than the preservation of their last moments as entire skeletons. The preservation also solves a longstanding scientific question.
In 1988, a similar skull bone from a predatory dinosaur was identified as a distinct species, which was then named Nanotyrannus, but the identification from one skull fossil was not widely accepted, with many suggesting that this was simply a young T. rex.
The dispute over whether a second large predator lived alongside T. Rex has rumbled on over the last decades, but Dr Manning's observations of the new entire skeleton help resolve the issue.
T. rex has some notable distinctive features, one of which is its very small arms. Dr Phil Manning has just returned from a visit to inspect the new specimen from Montana, and described its very large fore arms. Despite being about half the body size of an adult T. rex the arms of Nanotyrannus are noticeably larger than those of T. rex.
Nanotyrannus is characterised by Dr Manning as having its own ecological niche, with a long swan-like neck, relatively large fore arms, and a narrower gracile skull. "If you think of the savannah of Africa today, the lion is taking down the big prey and the cheetah is maybe taking down the small prey. Maybe we are looking at the cheetah of the Cretaceous here: we've got similar niche partitioning of the ecosystem that existed 65 to 67 million years ago".
"When you have a big predator, like T. rex, it means that you have a healthy established ecosystem. So it's not surprising to find a more complex system in place at the end of the Cretaceous" Dr Manning explained.
Dr David Norman of the University of Cambridge was not involved in the study. He commented to the BBC "A really nice skull has been described previously, and looks rather low and long compared to a classic T. rex skull, which led to the suggestion of Nanotyrannus.
"If this new specimen has larger forelimbs and a gracile skull on a more slender swan-like neck, it provides plausible reasons to substantiate the idea that this is a new genus."
The remarkable specimen was discovered on private land by an independent fossil collector, and is now being offered for sale by auction. It is expected to fetch as much as $10m dollars when it goes under the hammer in November.
The scientific community demands that original research material like this sample be deposited in accessible museum collections if the description or discoveries of new species or genus are to be accepted, to allow observations to be verified and studied openly by others.
The auction of the Nanotyrannus - Triceratops pair may yet stymie the acceptance of Nanotyrannus as a new species. If it goes to a private collection it will no longer be available to science, and the unique observations made thus far will never be subject to peer-scrutiny.
The whole issue of the commercialisation of fossil discovery is raising concerns among palaeontologists and other scientists, and may hinder future discovery, they say.
Discussing the issue, Dr Norman commented: "This is the most distasteful part of it. Ever since the T. rex was sold to the Fields Museum in Chicago for $8m, the commercial value of fossils has been hyped.
"This spiralling effect means that more and more scientifically important objects risk being removed from the community for scientific study. They fall into private hands because they become objects d'art.
"It destroys the whole ethos of the availability of specimens. These fossils were left by Nature, shouldn't they be available to be appreciated and studied by everybody, rather than falling into private hands?
"There are national issues about how fossils are sold and valued that vary from country to country. It is becoming a minefield now that fossils can have a high value, and makes it a curatorial nightmare for museums." | Rare dinosaur remains could be forever lost to the scientific community when they go under the hammer in November. |
39,906,986 | She said she had been "personally engaged" in the efforts to restore devolution.
Mrs May was speaking while on a brief visit to Northern Ireland at the Balmoral Show in County Antrim on Saturday.
She is visiting all parts of the UK before next month's general election.
In April, a new deadline of 29 June was set for Northern Ireland politicians to restore a power-sharing executive following its collapse in January.
It allows for more talks between Stormont's political parties and the British and Irish governments after the general election on 8 June.
The prime minister was asked about criticism that she had not been involved enough in resolving the deadlock, but she said she had been in contact with Sinn Féin's northern leader Michelle O'Neill and Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster in the run up to Easter.
The prime minister said it was important the parties "come together and come to an agreement that can enable that devolved administration to be re-established".
"After the general election, there will be several weeks until the end of the June for those parties to come together and see a resolution," she added.
"We all want to see devolved administration restored in Northern Ireland."
While at Balmoral, Mrs May was asked a number of questions by the assembled media.
She insisted Friday's cyber-attack, which disrupted NHS organisations in England and Scotland, had not just affected the UK and Europol had described it as "unprecedented".
Mrs May said the government had put £2bn into its cyber security strategy and set up the National Cyber Security Centre, which has been advising organisations in the public sector like the NHS.
She was also asked about the potential prosecutions of soldiers over their involvement in Bloody Sunday.
She said prosecutors in such cases would "make those decisions independently".
Legacy issues from the Troubles had to be dealt with in a "fair and proportionate way", she added.
The prime minister was also asked how the border situation in Ireland would be resolved post-Brexit.
Mrs May reiterated that she wanted "no return to the borders of the past and no hard border". and there was "goodwill on all sides" to resolve the issues.
"Brexit is an opportunity for the UK but of course we have got to make sure we resolve the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland," she added.
The prime minister was accompanied on her visit by the Secretary of State James Brokenshire and four of the Conservative Party's seven candidates standing in Northern Ireland.
The Conservatives received about 1% of the vote in Northern Ireland in the last general election. | Northern Ireland politicians must "come together" to form an agreement over a return to power-sharing, Prime Minister Theresa May has said. |
35,690,616 | Maintenance work was disrupted after the dam was briefly seized by militants from so-called Islamic State in 2014.
If the dam burst, floodwaters could kill 1.47 million Iraqis living along the River Tigris, the embassy said.
Iraq's prime minister has said precautions are being taken, but that such a scenario is "highly unlikely".
The dam, Iraq's largest has suffered from structural flaws since its completion in 1984, with the water constantly eating away at the soluble gypsum base on which it is built.
To counter the erosion, engineers need to drill holes in the gypsum and fill them with a cement grout mixture six days a week.
IS only controlled the dam for 11 days, but many of the people working at the dam did not return after it was recaptured and regular maintenance did not resume.
The statement issued by the US embassy on Sunday it had "no specific information that indicates when a breach might occur" in the Mosul Dam.
"But out of an abundance of caution, we would like to underscore that prompt evacuation offers the most effective tool to save event of a breach," it added. "Proper preparation could save many lives."
Some models estimate that Mosul, which has been controlled by IS since June 2014, could be inundated by as much as 21m (70ft) of water within one to four hours of a catastrophic breach.
The embassy also published a factsheet that said approximately 500,000 to 1.47 million Iraqis living along the River Tigris in areas at highest risk probably would not survive unless the 482km (300-mile) long flood zone was evacuated.
It recommended that Mosul residents would need to move at least 6km (3.5 miles) from the banks of the Tigris and avoid all rivers and riverbeds feeding into it.
Residents of Tikrit, which would be hit between 24 and 48 hours later, probably could reach safety by moving at least 5km from the riverbank, while those in the central city of Samarra would need to be 6.5km away, according to the factsheet.
Some parts of the capital Baghdad, including the international airport, would also be flooded, with standing water likely to remain for weeks to months.
Much of the territory projected to be damaged by a dam breach is contested or controlled by IS, which the embassy said would likely mean a directed evacuation was unlikely and that some people might not be able to escape.
The embassy said it welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's commitment to undertake all necessary measures to finalise and implement a contract with the Italian engineering firm Trevi Group in order to address the structural integrity of Mosul Dam.
Some 450 Italian troops will be deployed to protect the dam during the urgent repair work, which is expected to take 18 months.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter also said on Monday that Iraqi government forces would lead the coming battle for Mosul, and that the coalition expected to provide types of support that were offered during the offensive on Ramadi last year but were not needed, such as logistics and bridging. | The US embassy in Baghdad has warned the risk of the Mosul Dam collapsing is "serious and unprecedented" and has urged people to be ready to evacuate. |
38,351,556 | Brian Croxton, 77, died in hospital after the incident outside the Brass Band Club in Royton, Oldham, on the night of 8 December.
The 23-year-old is also accused of failing to stop and failing to report a collision.
She was released on bail, police said.
Paying tribute to Mr Croxton, his family said he was president of the club for more than 10 years and "his life revolved" around it.
Sgt Lee Westhead, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "We made an arrest yesterday in the Royton area and have also seized a car for forensic examination.
"The investigation is still very much ongoing and my team is still keen to speak to people who were on Sandy Lane on the night of the collision, or anyone with any information." | A woman was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving after a former brass band club president died in a suspected hit-and-run crash. |
32,941,060 | Federal prosecutors said Ross Ulbricht's website, hosted on the hidden "dark web", sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs anonymously.
The 31-year-old was found guilty in New York of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.
The site was shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ulbricht.
In February he was convicted of operating the site for nearly three years from 2011.
The Silk Road took its name from the historic trade routes spanning Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.
It achieved notoriety through media reports and online chatter. But users could only access the site through Tor - a system that lets people use the web without revealing who they are or which country they are in.
Tor was created by the US government to help provide activists with anonymity but is now often used to mask illegal transactions.
Illegal drugs such as heroin could be bought on the Silk Road using the virtual currency Bitcoin, which is also hard to monitor, but the site also offered other products such as hacking equipment and stolen passports.
Court documents from the FBI said the site had just under a million registered users, but investigators said they did not know how many were active.
How FBI closed in on suspect Ross Ulbricht
Sentencing Ulbricht - who has two college degrees - District Judge Katherine Forrest said he was "no better a person than any other drug dealer".
She said the site had been his "carefully planned life's work".
"There must be no doubt that lawlessness will not be tolerated," she added.
Ulbricht had expressed remorse and had written to the judge begging to not receive a life sentence.
"I know you must take away my middle years," he wrote, "but please leave me my old age."
Before the sentence was announced, Ulbricht told the judge he was not greedy.
"I've essentially ruined my life and broken the hearts of every member of my family and my closest friends,'' he said. "I'm not a self-centred sociopathic person that was trying to express some inner badness. I do love freedom. It's been devastating to lose it.''
But the judge said the sentence would show copycats there are "very serious consequences".
Ulbricht's lawyer said he was "disappointed tremendously''.
The Silk Road was only accessible on the dark web, a part of the internet that requires specialist software to access.
Users of the site used online currency Bitcoin to purchase drugs such as heroin, cocaine and LSD.
Prosecutors say that six people who died from overdoses bought drugs via the site and that such untraceable deals earned Ulbricht at least $18m.
In the months leading up to Ulbricht's arrest at a public library in San Francisco in 2013, investigators undertook a painstaking process of piecing together his digital footprint, according to court documents.
The search started with work from "Agent-1" who went through pages dating back to January 2011.
He found a post titled "Anonymous market online?", in which a user nicknamed Altoid started publicising the Silk Road.
Records found the blog had been set up by an anonymous user who had hidden their location. But Altoid also appeared in a discussion site about virtual currency, bitcointalk.org.
Months later, in October, Altoid appeared again - but made a slip-up. In a post seeking an IT expert with knowledge of Bitcoin, he asked people to contact him via [email protected]. | The founder of online illegal drug marketplace the Silk Road has been sentenced to life in prison in the US. |
40,836,650 | Previously-bagged flour was left strewn across the southbound carriageway in a collision between a lorry and a car towing a caravan at about 04:30 BST.
One lane remains closed between junctions 14 and 15 in Gloucestershire amid a clean-up operation.
Highways England said work to clear the flour, debris and fuel spillage will be completed overnight.
Avon and Somerset Police said there were no reports of serious injury.
Jack Tappin, from Highways England, said the articulated lorry "ended on its side in lanes one and two" following the collision, damaging a safety barrier,
Motorists have been advised that one lane will remain closed between junction 14 and junction 15 overnight. | Up to 24 tonnes of flour and 200 litres of diesel have been spilt across the M5 in a crash. |
33,035,980 | The victim was injured after a Volkswagen (VW) car in front of him stopped abruptly, forcing him to brake on Wash Lane, Bury, at 00:30 BST, police said.
Both drivers got out and the driver of the VW hit the victim's car with an axe and then his arm before he drove off.
The 35-year-old victim's injuries are not life-threatening, police said.
He is being treated in hospital.
Det Con Keith Holt said he was "appalled by the level of violence used" in the attack.
"This must have been terrifying for the man and his friends in the car," he said.
The suspect is white, of slim build, in his mid to late 20s, and wore a grey top, police said.
Det Con Holt appealed for witnesses and a female passenger seen in the silver VW to contact the force.
She is described as white, in her 20s with long hair. | A driver has been struck with an axe in a "horrific" road rage attack in Greater Manchester. |
35,520,719 | The move, scheduled for 2017, is aimed at producing a convergence of engine performance after two seasons of domination by Mercedes.
But Newey told Reuters it will lead to a "spending frenzy" and will mean "the gaps get bigger not smaller."
He described notions that performance would equalise as "quaint".
The engine manufacturers and governing body the FIA have agreed the move after two years of arguments about the previous system of development restrictions.
This was based on a series of 'tokens' ascribed to various parts of the engine on the basis of their influence on performance.
The number of development tokens manufacturers could use reduced from year to year.
But senior figures decided the system was flawed and will remove it, pending official ratification by the FIA's legislative process.
Newey said: "If you look back on the original technical working group meetings and minutes from 2012-13, the agreement at that point was that the engines would be frozen but teams that were behind would still be allowed to keep developing.
"That's not happened."
He added that the amount of money being spent by the big manufacturers were "eye watering" and said that Renault, from which Red Bull get an engine, "aren't prepared to spend that sort of money".
Renault has just re-entered F1 for this season with its own team but are continuing to supply Red Bull with engines, which will be badged as Tag Heuer. Renault insists it will allocate a sufficient budget to win - and have targeted regular podiums within three years.
Newey also questioned a system that he said allowed the car companies to supply engines to customer teams that were not as competitive as the ones they use themselves.
"It's very curious to me that we have this set of regulations where the manufacturer has to supply the same hardware to other teams, but it's no under no obligation to supply the same software and therefore the same performance," said Newey.
"Nobody is complaining about this because the customer teams can't complain because their contract doesn't allow them to."
He said Renault were an exception: "They have always given the same power units in every sense of the word, including software, to their customer teams as their works teams."
Red Bull and Renault won four consecutive drivers' and constructors' titles together from 2010-13 under the previous engine formula, for 2.4-litre naturally aspirated V8s.
But Renault have struggled since the new turbo hybrid V6 engines were introduced alongside fuel limits in 2014.
Red Bull and Renault fell out through 2015 but patched up their relationship after the team were unable to secure engines from Mercedes, Ferrari or Honda.
Red Bull have only a one-year contract with Renault to use the re-branded engine but Newey said it was "an option" for the two to continue working together beyond this season.
He added: "The problem of course is that if Renault are not able to compete with the spend and development race then we are put in a position where neither they nor us can be fully competitive." | Plans to remove restrictions on engine development will make Formula 1 less competitive, says Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey. |
30,328,080 | Called the Creator CI20, the board has a more powerful processor than the Pi, more memory and more onboard storage.
For its graphics, it uses a version of the Imagination chip that is also found inside Apple's iPad tablet.
The small computer enters a growing and competitive market, with the Raspberry Pi already having sold almost four millions units.
The CI20 will cost £50 ($65) and can be ordered now, though the first units will not be dispatched to customers until January 2015.
As a chip designer, Hertfordshire-based Imagination is better known for drawing up the plans and specifications for processors that are used to handle graphics in Apple gadgets as well as phones from many other manufacturers.
With the CI20, Imagination is entering a market that is crowded with small form-factor, barebones computers that are being used by hobbyists and others for small embedded computing projects.
Anyone looking to buy a small computer can choose from the Raspberry Pi, the BeagleBone Black, Arduino Uno and Intel's Galileo and NUC devices.
Like its rivals, the CI20 can run many different versions of the open source operating system Linux and it can also run the latest edition of Google's Android mobile operating system.
It also has built-in wi-fi and Bluetooth for wireless data connections. By contrast, the BeagleBone Black and Raspberry Pi B+ devices have only Ethernet connectors built in.
Tony King-Smith, a spokesman for Imagination, said the CI20 was aimed at people who wanted a "high-performance" board for their development projects.
Writing on the Bit-Tech reviews site, Gareth Halfacree said there was no doubt that the CI20 was seeking to take part of the market that the Pi currently dominates.
However, he wondered, if the high price and "uncommon instruction set architecture" would limit its appeal.
One expert who has had time to test the kit also had doubts about its potential.
"There will be a modicum of pick-up, especially for people trying to develop for Android it could be a very useful low-cost device to have," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.
"But do I think it will make much wider impact? The answer is no.
"It just doesn't have the momentum that the Raspberry Pi has.
"The Pi was seen as a good cause and had backing from various corporations, the media and even government departments that gave it a good word because of the educational potential it had.
"The Creator CI20 is just a product, the Raspberry Pi is a movement." | British chip designer Imagination has produced a barebones computer to compete with the Raspberry Pi. |
40,117,451 | The index rose 23.82 points to 7,543.77.
Bus and rail operator First Group saw its share price tumble 5% on Thursday after giving a cautious trading outlook.
It was the biggest loser on the FTSE 250, despite reporting a 23% rise in pre-tax profits to £207m for the year to the end of March.
The FTSE 250 closed up 38.45 points at 20,010.62.
Amongst FTSE 100 companies, Bookmaker Paddy Power led the risers, up 4.34% at £84.20. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was the biggest faller, down 6.45% at 190p.
At the start of the day, Barclays had topped the FTSE 100's list of gainers after announcing that it had sold off a bigger stake than expected in its African unit.
However, by lunchtime it had fallen back and closed just 0.5% higher on the day.
The share sale brought in £2.2bn for Barclays and reduces its stake in Barclays Africa to about 15% as the bank refocuses on the UK and US markets.
On the currency markets, the pound was 0.04% lower against the dollar at $1.28850 but up 0.25% against the euro at 1.1498 euros. | The FTSE 100 finished Thursday higher, but not at a new record. |
35,326,462 | But the 25-year-old believes an ankle injury has hit her chances of winning a world title in Seoul in March.
"I'm working on things that are going to make a big difference at the World Championships," said Christie.
"But the injury has taken me back. I'd have serious disbelief if [I won the world title] now."
Christie was crowned overall European Short Track Speed Skating Champion in Dordrecht last year and is favourite to win honours this time round from 22-24 January in Sochi - where she suffered Winter Olympics disappointment in 2014.
However, with the World Championships in Seoul coming less than two months later she is hoping to peak for that competition instead.
"Obviously I want to retain at least one if not all of my [European] titles but the tactics at the Europeans won't necessarily bring success at Worlds," she said.
"I've never really gone in as a favourite for anything. It's making me feel really confident that everyone believes in me.
"But the peak for this year are the Worlds, so I maybe have to take a step back from what I'm good at in Sochi and do the things that are going to make me do well at the World Championships."
Christie is playing down her chances of attaining her goal of world success after she damaged ankle ligaments and tendons in training last summer.
Despite that, she has still managed to win three World Cup medals this season as well as post a personal best time in training.
"Before the injury I was saying I wanted to be world champion and I believed I could," she said.
"But it's been almost like starting my season again.
"The first week back on the ice I thought there's no way I'll even be able to win medals again.
"I still have pain now but it's a lot better than it was and once I've finished the season I can rehab it properly and next year it won't be a problem." | Great Britain speed skater Elise Christie hopes to use January's European Championships in Sochi to hone her challenge for a world title. |
30,730,515 | Clarence Edwards, 26, was found outside the RBase club on Charles Street in the early hours of Sunday.
He was taken to hospital but died later of his injuries.
Four other men, two aged 22, and two aged 26 and 37, have been bailed pending further enquiries.
Mr Edwards was jailed for his role in the 2011 death of John Lee Barrett.
One of 12 men jailed over that death, he was convicted of violent disorder and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in March 2013. | A fifth man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a man who was stabbed to death outside a Manchester nightclub. |
36,751,079 | These accounts cover travel, staff and office costs.
The new bill caps spending at $200,000 (£154,381) and reduces it further if the former president has made over $400,000 in a year.
The bill's authors said most ex-presidents did not need support from taxpayers since they make millions in book deals and speaking fees.
"Upon leaving office, most presidents go on to make millions of dollars and are not in need of taxpayer subsidies," said the authors of the bill, Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, in a joint statement.
In 2014 US taxpayers covered $3.5m in expenses for the four living US presidents.
This included $1.3m for George W. Bush and $950,000 for Bill Clinton both of which were mostly for office costs.
Under the new plan, that allowance would be cut by a dollar for every dollar of outside income above $400,000.
The changes do not affect costs for security.
The bill also sets pensions for presidents at $200,000 a year and $100,000 for spouses if they outlive the former president.
The bill cleared a voice vote (where representatives literally say 'yes' or 'no') in the House of Representatives and has been sent to President Obama to sign. | On Friday the US congress voted to place limits on expense accounts allotted to former presidents. |
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