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36,342,889 | The departure lounge was evacuated at about 12:00 BST because of a technical problem with one of the scanning machines.
Passengers have since been told they can return to get their luggage rechecked, but to expect some delays.
An airport spokesman said there was no threat to passenger safety.
Officials said the problem was spotted "within a matter of minutes", but that a re-screening process was "necessary in order to ensure security compliance".
Six flights were delayed for up to two hours due to the removal and re-screening of passengers.
The cause of the airport scanner failure is being investigated. | Up to 1,000 passengers were barred from boarding flights at Liverpool John Lennon Airport because of a security incident. |
35,188,563 | Flash floods, tornadoes and now snow have destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and snarled transport links.
The National Weather Service has issued tornado warnings for Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
The governors of Missouri, Oklahoma, and New Mexico have declared states of emergency.
In Illinois, three adults and two children were swept away in their car by the flood waters. In Texas, at least 11 people were killed by powerful tornadoes with winds of up to 200 miles an hour (300kph).
Hundreds of homes in Texas were reduced to rubble and cars were blown off the road. Five people died in their cars on a highway passing the city of Garland. Pedro Barineau of the local police said they had no chance.
"There were sirens that were going off, I mean multiple times and in multiple areas, notifying people of a tornado. However, people on the highway that were driving through they had no idea that the sirens were going off and the tornado was on them in a matter of seconds," he said.
The winds in the state have scattered mangled cars and other debris for miles. Churches have been destroyed and trees toppled across a 64km (40 mile) area.
"It is total devastation," said Mr Barineau. "It is a very difficult time to be struck by such a horrible storm, the day after Christmas."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his office had declared Dallas County and three nearby counties a disaster area. He also warned people to be wary of snow in western parts of the state and of rivers spilling their banks.
Parts of New Mexico, where a state-wide emergency has been declared, are expecting up to 2ft (60cm) of snow. The New Mexico city of Roswell recorded 12.3 inches of snow on Sunday - an area record for a single day.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency on Sunday in anticipation of blizzard conditions and an ice storm.
The bad weather forced the cancellation of nearly 1,500 flights on Sunday, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. About half of the cancelled flights were in Dallas, a major US flight hub.
While extreme weather in the US around Christmas is not unknown, meteorologists say that unseasonably high temperatures in some areas contributed to the severity of the storms.
The forecast for the eastern US is for high temperatures to continue - Washington DC pushed close to 70F (21C) on Sunday. | At least 43 people have been killed over the past five days by severe storms across southern and western parts of the United States. |
37,338,652 | The Girdleness Outfall Scheme was designed to address the sanitary requirements of the growing city.
The new system had to discharge tens of millions of gallons of waste material every day.
The series of photos are from a Scottish Water employee. They show workers, and different stages of the construction.
The construction included the blasting of about 40,000 tonnes of rock in order to create a trench for pipelines.
Bob Nicoll, of Scottish Water in Aberdeen, said: "I've had the pictures for the last 15 or 16 years.
"They were part of some old archive stuff due to be thrown out but I felt they needed rescued from that as they show an amazing part of the city's industrial history.
"I stored them at a pumping station in Aberdeen and one day was showing one of my colleagues from Scottish Water the pictures. He suggested we put them out on social media for people to see.
"It's amazing to see the work that went into building the sewer over 100 years ago and I'm pleased I saved the pictures from the rubbish tip." | Photos of the construction of a major sewer system in Aberdeen in 1901 have been released. |
35,167,430 | Official figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government showed 97 people sleeping rough in the city in 2015 - up from 41 in 2014.
An extra 20 beds have also been made available for rough sleepers through the charity St Mungo's Broadway.
The council said it hoped to open one of the buildings from January.
Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson described the "significant increase in homelessness and rough sleepers" as a "growing challenge" and said: "We need to do everything we can to address the problem."
He set up a rough sleeping task group to work with police, charities and other partners to identify buildings which can be used as night shelters while secure longer term accommodation is found.
Adam Rees, regional director for St Mungo's Broadway and chair of the task group, said: "We are committed to bring people off the streets as quickly as possible and sort out safe, secure, sustainable accommodation and support."
A petition calling on Bristol City Council to follow the lead of Manchester City Council and open up empty council buildings as overnight shelters for the city's rough sleepers has been created by Bristol student Elisha Hindley-Cupper.
More than 12,600 people have signed it in a month. | Four empty buildings identified as suitable to house homeless people over winter could soon be ready for use, Bristol City Council said. |
27,063,796 | The European Commission has confirmed that the White Rose carbon capture and storage (CCS) project is in line to win the cash (equivalent to about £250m).
The gas will be siphoned off from a new coal-fired power station and stored in undersea rock formations.
Climate scientists believe CCS has a key role to play in reducing future CO2 emissions.
Building large-scale demonstration plants that capture carbon from coal or gas and secure it in permanent storage sites has not been easy.
In 2012, the European Union was unable to find a single project to fund when it attempted to spur the development of the technology.
Undeterred, the EU Commission again asked governments to submit written proposals on CCS and, according to officials, the UK has nominated the White Rose project.
As it is the only eligible plan to have been put forward, it is expected that a grant of 300m euros will now be forthcoming in June.
"The UK has confirmed the White Rose CCS project," said an EU spokesman.
"The project will hence be considered for an award expected by mid-2014. If awarded, this project could boost the local economy and create jobs when they are most needed."
The White Rose CCS project will involve the construction of a new, coal-powered plant next to the existing Drax facility near Selby, in Yorkshire.
Drax is in the process of converting from coal to biomass, and by 2016 is expecting to generate half its power from wood pellets.
White Rose will provide electricity to over 630,000 homes but 90% of the CO2 emissions from the plant will be captured, amounting to two million tonnes per year.
The gas will then be transported through National Grid's proposed pipeline to be permanently stored under the North Sea.
Last year, the UK government selected White Rose and another facility at Peterhead in Scotland as the preferred options to receive development funding of £100m.
The EU decision has been welcomed by Liberal Democrat MEP and environment spokesman, Chris Davies.
"This is a huge win for Britain that could secure millions of pounds of EU funding to support the country's first carbon capture power station, and perhaps the first in Europe," he said.
"It marks a major political commitment by the government to ensure that we can keep using fossil fuels but without contributing to the problem of global warming."
The imminent EU backing for the White Rose project was also welcomed by researchers in the field who said that it would be critical in getting the plant up and running.
"It's very good news for the UK and EU," said Dr Vivian Scott, from the University of Edinburgh.
"The money is conditional on the project being delivered; you have to deliver a project that injects the relevant quantity of CO2."
Climate scientists meeting in Berlin earlier this week endorsed the technology as an important element of containing emissions of carbon over the next 100 years.
The IPCC says that if the world wants to limit temperatures rises and continue using coal and oil, then the CO2 has to be stripped out and buried.
"CCS technologies could reduce the lifecycle of greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel power plants," says the report, which also stresses many of the downsides of the technology, including worries about the long-term integrity and safety of CO2 storage.
Europe was once seen as a leader in developing the CCS technology but the costs have proved challenging. It is estimated that adding CCS to a power plant could increase the cost of electricity by between 50-100%.
The EU had hoped that the development of an emissions trading scheme across the Union would have provided the incentive to develop CCS.
In theory, installations could sell credits for the carbon that they sequestered in the emissions market. However, the collapse in the price of carbon has meant that progress with CCS has been very slow.
The technology is being developed a bit more smoothly in the US and Canada where the boom in unconventional oil means there is a big market for CO2, which can be used in extraction techniques that recover hard-to-reach deposits.
The Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan is due to open this year. Another major plant, the Texas Clean Energy Project, is being held up by a lack of skilled construction workers in the region according to backers.
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc. | A UK project to capture CO2 and bury it under the North Sea looks set to receive a 300m-euro boost from the EU. |
39,772,099 | Recent data collected from air quality monitoring stations in five places across the country show Lumbini is highly polluted.
The warnings have come amid expanding industrialisation near the sacred site.
It is already located in a pollution hotspot on the Gangetic plains.
For the month of January, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Lumbini, in southwest Nepal, was measured at 173.035 micrograms per cubic metre.
The reading for the neighbouring town of Chitwan was 113.32 and the capital, Kathmandu, which is known for its high pollution levels, was at 109.82.
The World Health Organization (WHO) safe limit for the pollutant is 25 micrograms per cubic metre and the Nepal government has set the national standard at 40.
Scientific studies have also highlighted the increasing levels of pollution in and around the historic site.
"The combined effect of trans-boundary transport from the pollution rich Indo-Gangetic Plain region and trapped local industrial pollution due to temperature inversion is responsible for severe winter pollution," says a study done by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in collaboration with the WHO.
"For other seasons, local emissions are largely responsible for bad air quality."
It found that levels of PM 2.5 fine particles, which can enter human blood vessels, were more than 10 times above the WHO safe limit.
Another study conducted by the IUCN and UNESCO found that the pollution had begun to threaten the Lumbini World Heritage site.
"The expansion of the carbon emission industries within the Lumbini Protected Zone has caused several problems such as threats to biodiversity, health hazards to local residents, archaeological properties, social and cultural values."
A IUCN study on three monuments of the historic site concluded that the sacred garden - the core place - was polluted by air dispersed gaseous and solid compounds.
"On the samples of the Ashoka pillar (that was established in 249 BC by Emperor Ashoka to mark the birthplace of Buddha) gypsum, calcite, dolomite and magnesite are present in the form of fine powder that deposits on the surface," says the report authored by Italian archaeologist Constantino Meucci of the University of Rome, Italy.
"All compounds are part of the cement production cycle."
A government body had designated 15km aerial distance from the north east and west boundary of the historic site as the Lumbini Protected Zone.
Adjoining the LPZ is an expanding industrial corridor that has cement, steel, paper and noodle factories and brick kilns.
Several of these factories are well within the LPZ and environmentalists say that is in clear violation of the government regulation.
Tourists and monks visiting the site have told the BBC they felt uneasy while breathing in the air.
"At times I have difficulty in breathing properly and I have to cough," said Monk Vivekananda who runs an international meditation centre in Lumbini.
He and a few others were meditating with their face masks on nearby the Mayadevi temple that marks the exact spot where Gautam Buddha was born more than 2,600 years ago.
"We had at our meditation centre certain [people] who have had asthma conditions and during their stay here in Lumbini, it has badly affected them," he told the BBC.
"In at least three cases, [they] had to cut their retreat short and go back because they could not tolerate the conditions here anymore."
Health workers in the area said the conditions were getting worse.
"When the wind brings more pollution, we see many monks meditating here with their masks on," said Shankar Gautam, who has just retired after working as a health official for 30 years.
"Studies have shown that in the past 10 years the number of people with lung related diseases has gone up.
"The dust coming in here has also led to a huge increase in skin-related diseases."
A major pilgrimage for Buddhists, Lumbini is also a major tourist destination.
Last year it saw one million visitors and the government plans to develop it as a global tourism destination.
"My feeling at this time is that it is more polluted than seven or eight years ago," said Nguyen Duy Nhan, a Vietnamese tourist.
"I can see a lot of dust on the leaves and trees on the way we were coming in here."
His friend Victor Vlodovych nodded in agreement and said: "Maybe if I stay longer it will affect [me] a lot, I can feel that there is a lot of construction and manufacturing around [this place]."
Factory operators say they are reasonably far away from the sacred site.
"Yes certainly this is very near to the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha," admitted Ajay Ajad, a manager with the biggest cement factory in the area.
"Obviously cement factories emit some dust but we are at a reasonably safe distance and therefore the deposition of our dust particles on the sacred site is minimised.
He says dust is not a problem confined to Lumbini: "It is all over Nepal and even at places where there are no cement factories."
Government officials are aware of the problem.
"Based on recent data, we know that Lumbini is more polluted than Kathmandu," said Shankar Prasad Poudel, chief of the air pollution measurement section at the environment department.
"We plan to detect the sources of the pollution using a drone in the near future and hopefully this will help minimise the problem." | The historic site of Buddha's birthplace in Nepal faces a serious threat from air pollution, scientists and officials have warned. |
33,757,212 | Amnesty says it has found evidence that police killings were often illegal, with officers shooting suspects who had surrendered or had been wounded.
There has been no response so far from Brazil's military police.
Police unions earlier said the number of officers killed was also very high.
In Rio de Janeiro alone, 114 police were killed in 2014, according to the civilian police union Sindpol.
8,466
deaths from police intervention in Rio de Janeiro state, 2004-15
79% of victims in 2010-13 were black
75% of victims aged 15-29
114 police officers killed in 2014, police unions say
Police officers have in the past denied being "trigger happy", saying they act in self defence when they come under fire from drug dealers in Rio's sprawling favelas.
In a report published a year before Rio is due to host the 2016 Olympic Games, Amnesty said police were decimating a significant part of a generation of poor, young, black men.
According to statistics released by Amnesty, nearly 16% of the total homicides registered in the city in the last five years took place at the hands of on-duty police officers.
In 2012 more than 50% of homicide victims were aged between 15 and 29, and 77% of them were black, the figures suggest.
Amnesty also said that incidents of police killings were rarely investigated and those responsible did not often face justice.
But the prosecutor's office in Rio de Janeiro state told BBC Brasil that 587 police officers were accused and brought to justice between 2010 and 2015.
Atila Roque, director at Amnesty International Brazil, said the country's strategy to tackle its drugs and violence problem was "backfiring miserably and leaving behind a trail of suffering and devastation".
The pressure group says military police across Rio de Janeiro have regularly used unnecessary and excessive force during security operations in the city's poor neighbourhoods.
Maria de Fatima Silva's son was killed in a police raid in Rio's Pavao-Pavaozinho favela in April 2014.
The case of Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira, a professional dancer, triggered clashes between the police and residents outraged by his death.
It is still being investigated but Ms Silva fears his case will eventually get shelved, so she has started her own private investigation.
She told BBC Brasil's Luis Kawaguti that witnesses were afraid to testify after allegedly being threatened.
She said support from campaign groups had given her the courage to fight for justice for her son. | Campaign group Amnesty International says Brazil's military police have been responsible for more than 1,500 deaths in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the last five years. |
28,872,196 | The US book chain is marketing the device as the "first-ever full-featured Android tablet optimised for reading", based on its inclusion of pre-installed Nook apps and homescreen shortcuts.
However, its screen is lower resolution than Kobo's Android-powered Arc 7HD.
One analyst said it would be an "uphill struggle" to sell the new device.
"There is growing consumer apathy to this growing class of low-cost tablets," said Ben Wood, from the tech consultancy CCS Insight.
"Although there is the Nook angle on this, it goes into the melting pot with numerous other tablets that will appear in this price point as we run up to Christmas.
"Amazon has pretty much locked out the market in reading-focused tablets anyway, the only thing I'd applaud here is the fact that Barnes & Noble has gone to Samsung, which can give it scale and quality."
The advantage that the 7in (17.8cm)-screened Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook has over Amazon's Fire tablets is that it can easily access the Google Play marketplace. Amazon's tablet uses a proprietary store with fewer apps available.
Costing $179 (£107), the new Nook is also cheaper than the Kindle Fire HDX and Kobo Arc 7HD.
However with only 216 pixels per inch, text will appear less sharp on its screen. Likewise, magazines and movies sold from the included Nook Newsstand and Nook Video apps will present less detail than similar purchases on either the two other Android machines or Apple's bestselling iPad Mini, which also has its own dedicated ebook store.
Even so, one market watcher said the tie-up still made business sense. Samsung should benefit from the exposure of having its machine promoted in Barnes & Noble's stores and website, while the retailer gets to cut its costs after posting a $47m (£28.2m) net loss for its last financial year.
"It's very hard to make money out of mobile devices," said Ian Fogg, from the IHS consultancy.
"But by having this partnership, Barnes & Noble can have its own content and services pre-installed so that they are not just front-of-mind but also front-of-eyes for consumers.
"If it wants to get its apps used on other people's devices it has to persuade people to install them instead of a Kindle app or another competitor - that visibility is very important."
At the moment the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is only available in the US.
Barnes and Noble will continue to sell e-ink readers, including the Nook GlowLight, which was launched in the UK earlier this month. | Barnes & Noble has unveiled a customised version of an existing Samsung tablet as a replacement for the Nook HD+, which it manufactured itself. |
11,480,267 | The man, named in Pakistan as Abdul Jabbar, died in the north west of the country in September.
Newsnight spoke to a "a trusted, senior security source" overseas who said Jabbar intended to lead a group called the Islamic Army of Great Britain.
Whitehall officials have declined to comment on the BBC's report.
Europe plot
The programme also said the security source confirmed that Jabbar was a British citizen with a British wife. He was living in the Jhelum area of Punjab in Pakistan.
According to Newsnight, intelligence agencies monitored a meeting of 300 militants three months ago in the Ambarshaga area of North Waziristan, attended by Jabbar and militants from the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
The source said that Jabbar was put forward as the leader of the new terrorist group, which was tasked with preparing Mumbai-style commando attacks against targets in Britain, France and Germany.
Details of the plot first emerged in the US media, and the suspicions were confirmed by security sources to the BBC last month.
The revelations saw the US, UK, Sweden and Japan issue updated advice to citizens travelling in Europe to warn of the possibility of terror attacks there.
Newsnight's source said the intelligence led to the drone attacks on 8 September, in which Jabbar and three other militants were killed.
Analysts say the US is the only force capable of deploying drone aircraft in the region but the American military does not routinely confirm such operations.
Western intelligence sources have said the plan in Europe was for small teams of militants to seize and kill hostages
They were to model their mission on the bloody attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai on 26 November 2008, which left 166 people dead.
Ten gunmen attacked buildings including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, the city's historic Victoria Terminus train station, and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House, during the three-day siege.
All but one were killed. | A British terror suspect killed in a drone attack was being groomed to head an al-Qaeda splinter group in the UK, the BBC's Newsnight has learnt. |
29,158,556 | A questionnaire filled in by 1,048 young people attending a TV debate in Glasgow found 97% of them thought fees was the most important issue to them.
But the economy (94%), currency (88%), welfare (88%) and pensions (84%) also scored highly.
About 7,500 first time voters attended the BBC's Big Big Debate special.
They were asked to fill in the six-question form ahead of the SSE Hydro arena recording which is to be broadcast on BBC One Scotland at 21:00.
Just over one thousand young people responded with their views on what issues were important to them; where they get their news about the referendum and whether they were likely to go to the ballot box on Thursday, 18 September.
For the first time in the UK, 16 and 17-year-olds in Scotland - the majority of whom attend high school - can vote.
Along with the rest of the electorate in Scotland, they will be asked the "Yes/No" question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
Dr Jan Eichhorn, from Edinburgh University's School of Social and Political Science, said he was not surprised students saw tuition fees as the most important issue.
He explained: "Tuition fees for a lot of young people are obviously the thing that is most relevant to them, just like for the older part of the population, pensions would be regarded as more important.
"But there's a tendency they'll tick things they think are really important in the debate but might not necessarily move them to 'yes' or 'no'."
Dr Eichhorn conducted two surveys of 1,000 young adults and their parents in 2013 and 2014.
The high ranking of the less likely young people's topics of pensions and welfare was also found in his own research.
Most students who responded to the questionnaire, which was web based and conducted over the last 10 days, said they got their information about the referendum from TV, social media, friends and family.
The six multiple choice questions on the web form asked students the following....
The questionnaire was sent to students who attended the debate.
It was filled in anonymously over the past 10 days.
It did not ask about voting intentions.
Dr Eichhorn said students typically use social media to find links to other websites - something which he says has an "enabling effect" on the young adult.
The academic added: "This means there's less of them just following one newspaper.
"We know nearly all the newspapers favour one side or the other, so the young people are now much more likely to use multiple news sources.
"Social media for most of them is a gateway to other sources - not a news source in itself."
Responses to BBC Scotland's online questionnaire also suggested that 88% of students were highly likely to vote.
However, a third of respondents said they still felt only partially informed about the referendum issues.
Dr Eichhorn commented: "I've seen them discuss the referendum in school groups and they're not making these decisions on a whim.
"I think they sometimes get really offended when people say they'll just follow their parents or follow what their teachers said.
"Students have quite a complex understanding - the key thing about how the majority of people are thinking about this is in terms of what will happen to Scotland after independence.
"Is it going to be a better or worse Scotland rather than 'I am very Scottish and therefore I will vote like that'.
"They understand that doing well includes not just good business, but a functioning welfare system."
The questionnaire also found that 76% of respondents would not be swayed by a declaration of voting intent by their favourite celebrities.
Dr Eichhorn said a great deal of student engagement was down to the role schools had played.
He added: "Where schools do engage interest goes up, self-confidence goes up - schools have played a really important role which doesn't normally happen in general elections because of age."
However, the data, collated by the BBC news website, suggested that 29% of respondents said they never gained any information in their classroom environment.
As BBC Scotland reported last month, Dr Eichhorn said this could be due to the highly sensitive nature of the independence referendum. | Tuition fees is a key issue for 16 and 17-year-olds as they consider what way they should vote in next week's Scottish independence referendum. |
36,787,828 | The UK government said it would lay regulations in parliament on Thursday which will devolve some of the powers to MSPs from 5 September.
It means when the parliament sits again after recess, MSPs will be able to create new benefits in devolved areas.
They will also be able to top-up existing payments such as Universal Credit, tax credits and Child Benefit.
The new powers mean Scotland can make changes to the timings of payments for Universal Credit and alter employment support as well.
The move was agreed in the Scotland Act 2016 which was passed in March.
SNP ministers are currently scheduled to bring forward a Social Security Bill, which will establish a new welfare agency for Scotland, during the 2016-17 parliamentary session.
Analysis by BBC Scotland's home affairs correspondent Reevel Alderson
At the moment the Scottish government has limited powers over welfare. They are:
The new benefits for Holyrood will not be introduced immediately. When MSPs return to work they will begin the process of legislating for the new powers. So it will take a while before it all comes to fruition. Once there is legislation, they will be able to change:
Scottish Secretary David Mundell, said: "The transfer of a range of welfare powers is a key milestone in giving the Scottish parliament the ability, for the first time, to legislate on benefits and create a welfare system tailored to local needs.
"This includes the ability to create entirely new welfare benefits - a very significant new power - and I look forward to seeing how the Scottish government will use this."
He added: "Crucially, these powers are being transferred while maintaining for people in Scotland the benefits of being part of a United Kingdom. Scotland has two governments, each with different but complementary responsibilities, and it is vital that we continue to work closely together in the national interest."
Other new powers coming to Holyrood will mean that from 21 August, the Scottish government will be able to appoint a member of the board at the communications watchdog Ofcom.
MSPs will assume control over income tax rates and bands in Scotland from 1 April 2017, with Scottish ministers becoming responsible for Air Passenger Duty in April 2018.
Keith Brown, the Scottish government's Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, said the Scotland Act was the most "substantial change" to the powers of the parliament since devolution.
"While we are already working to use these powers as quickly as possible to improve people's lives in Scotland, we are well aware of the scale of this task and our top priority is the safe and secure transfer of these powers to ensure anyone in receipt of benefits receives the right payment at the right time," he said.
"We have already committed to extending winter fuel payments to families with severely disabled children and reform assessments for disability benefits.
"While the Scotland Act does not go as far as we would wish, we will always use all the powers available to us in the best interests of Scotland."
Bill Scott from Inclusion Scotland said the changes could make a big difference to the poorest people in Scotland.
He told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Child benefit top-up would be a real boost to families that have been really hard hit, and that includes families with disabled children.
"There is real destitution in Scotland now, with people going without the basic necessities - to eat, to keep a roof over their head, to clothe themselves and heat their homes. Without that, we're going to see families literally on the streets - third world-type poverty in Scotland." | MSPs will take some responsibility for welfare for the first time when Holyrood returns from its summer break. |
22,364,608 | The film, starring Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, has its UK premiere on Thursday in central London.
Britain's Benedict Cumberbatch stars as villain John Harrison, described as a "one-man weapon of mass destruction".
The eagerly awaited follow-up to director JJ Abrams' 2009 series "reboot" will be released on 9 May.
Here are excerpts from the reviews it has received so far.
Director JJ Abrams has followed up his sensational 2009 Star Trek reboot with a sparkling 3D sequel.
Abrams also maintains the glistening visuals of his earlier film; Into Darkness is slathered in so much lens flare it looks like a Kylie Minogue video. And the flashes of crackling, knowing comedy have been retained, punctuating the shuddering fight scenes and chase sequences that are the very currency of the action blockbuster.
People are unlikely to charge out of the cinema with quite the same level of glee as they did in 2009; but this is certainly an astute, exhilarating concoction.
Read More
The revived Star Trek films are shaping up to be the opposite of Christopher Nolan's Batman tales in that they're light on bleakness and attitude. There are enough gags (Simon Pegg is fun again as Scotty) and wit (the tension between Kirk and Spock is winning) between darker bouts of space fighting and ship-saving to keep the mood airy and unpretentious.
It's compulsory for blockbuster villains to be British of course, and Cumberbatch runs with an imperial theatrical haughtiness rather than trying to bury it.
His bad guy is distinctly human, if a little two-dimensional, and he succeeds in showing real ice running through his veins and bringing some weight to a cast that generally offers more geniality than gravitas.
Read More
Cumberbatch's Harrison may be dressed for a GQ cover but he is, in essence, a one-man army.
It is a testament to the power of his performance that, although his early appearances are greeted with the most over-the-top Evil Musical Motifs imaginable, he manages to make Harrison ambiguous and chilling throughout.
If this is Abrams' final frontier, he has left Star Trek in a good place, both in the fictional universe and as a franchise. In some sense, the title is misleading.
Into Darkness is a blast, fun, funny, spectacular and exhilarating. The rule of great even-numbered Trek movies continues.
Read More
Mostly, this is fantastic fun: a two-hours-plus blockbuster that doesn't bog down in exposition or sag in the middle. There are reversals and rug-pulls galore, most of them executed with whiplash skill.
Trouble is, at a certain point peril-fatigue starts to creep in, putting the story (like the overtaxed Enterprise) at the risk of burning out.
What's more, this wild, plot-driven ride has a tendency to leave character moments on the back seat. Often, minor figures first time out remain minor figures, some of them left out in the rain until the narrative calls for them to make a reappearance.
But man of the match is, of course, Abrams. His aim with Into Darkness was to mint a standalone adventure, one that welcomed total Trek neophytes at the door. Mission accomplished - there's buried treasure here for long-term fans, but this is a franchise flick that demands fanboy foreknowledge far less than it does slack jaws and high stamina.
Read More | Sci-fi sequel Star Trek Into Darkness has received positive reviews from the British press ahead of its opening in the UK and Ireland next week. |
36,570,077 | The 41-year-old was part of the successful European team that overcame the United States in 2014.
However, the recurrence of a wrist problem has put him out of contention for this year's Ryder Cup at Hazeltine in Minnesota, starting on 30 September.
"There's been plenty guys played Ryder Cup in their 40s," the Scot said.
"Who knows? I might have the best years ahead of me once I change my swing and I'm injury free."
Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, will host the 2018 Ryder Cup and Gallacher, who has had surgery on his left wrist, hopes to be back playing later this year.
He aims to change his swing during his absence from competitive action.
"I'm going to use this time off to the maximum," Gallacher told BBC Scotland. "I'm going to come back stronger and a bit fitter.
"I'm raring to go just now. I can't wait to get back into the clubs. I'm really looking forward to it.
"The full year for the Ryder Cup, you hope you're in the top 50 so you can play in all the majors."
For this year's event, Europe captain Darren Clarke has selected Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn and Paul Lawrie as well as Ian Poulter as vice-captains.
"I think there's going to be a few more rookies in it, yeah definitely," said Gallacher.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I don't think that really matters. They're all on form and he [Clarke] has always got three picks as well that he can add a bit of experience in if guys don't make it.
"The guys have got there on merit. We'll be up for the case, no bother.
"You've got Matt Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan. There's a lot of guys knocking on the door for these spots.
"Then you've got the likes of Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood, who you would want in your team, I would think.
"Poulter's not going to be there now, but he's going to be a vice-captain, which will be a fantastic addition to the team room.
"There is scope for him to put guys that are experienced in there as well. I think you need a bit of both." | Stephen Gallacher hopes to return to Europe's Ryder Cup team in 2018 after a wrist injury put him out of contention for this year's event. |
33,722,688 | For a country that has been largely left to its own fate, the sudden spike in international interest in Zimbabwe did not come from the high unemployment figures, the food shortages, the state persecution of vendors, the lack of medicines, the lack of cash - but from a lion named "Cecil" by conservationists.
Cecil was killed by a US dentist fond of hunting, who was once fined for killing a bear in his own country outside the permitted hunting area.
The lion's death has not registered much with the locals - and for most Zimbabweans the name is more associated with the British imperialist diamond digger Cecil John Rhodes, serving as a reminder that the country once bore the name Rhodesia.
Indeed for the Zimbabwe press this explains "the saturation coverage on the demise of his namesake", and they have been reminding us that tourism and hunting are "mired in elitism".
As names go, it was a curious choice for a Zimbabwean lion - it would be like Asmara Zoo calling a lion Benito in a not so subtle nod to Mussolini, Eritrea's Italian coloniser.
Those hoping not to offend in future may wish to clear lion names with a relevant ministry.
One hundred years ago the colonisers were wiping out animals as a kind of rite of passage throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
"Safari cool" was popularised by the 26th US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and American writer Ernest Hemingway, before hunting as conservation became acceptable.
Licensed to kill: When hunting is not poaching
In this new century folk are a bit more sentimental, and scientists studying the lions in their habitat are making us sensitive to the fact that growing human populations are decreasing the living space of beasts.
In reality though, the lion is caught between the rock of his ever-shrinking jungle and the hard place that is legalised hunting.
Hunting brings in $616m (£395m) into South Africa's national coffers every year and trophy hunting is permitted all year round in Zimbabwe - and a brief web search will tell you how much you can expect to spend on bagging a warthog, a hyena, a giraffe, an elephant or a lion.
Hunting, and to a large extend, conservation, remains a "white man's game" throughout southern Africa.
The professional hunters are often white Zimbabweans, white South Africans or white Zambians who, in turn are visited by other white folk with huge disposable income - like the cricketer Glen McGrath or the former Spanish King Juan Carlos - or the American dentist from Minnesota who paid $50,000 to kill Cecil.
When the local press call the hunting culture "elitist", they may be referring to these visitors who ghost in on chartered flights from South Africa, live in lodges far from the locals, kill wild game and head back to their Western capitals to await the delivery of their severed heads.
It is impossible for some of us to understand the thrill for the hunter, or why hunting remains so attractive to some men and some women - the dentist has been pictured with dead leopards too, and there are photographs of a graceful giraffe bloodied on the floor with some hunter standing over it.
The late US conservationist Edward Abbey once wrote: "Whenever I see a photograph of some sportsman grinning over his kill, I am always impressed by the striking moral and aesthetic superiority of the dead animal to the live one."
35,000
Max estimated lion population
12,000
Max lion population in southern Africa
665 Approx number of 'trophy' lions killed for export from Africa per year
49 Lion 'trophies' exported from Zimbabwe in 2013
0.29% Contribution to GDP of Zimbabwe from trophy hunting
17% Of Zimbabwe's land given to trophy hunting
Despite the divided trenches of "to hunt" or "not to hunt", money is the bottom line.
The vast sums of money involved will have had a double-edged impact on Zimbabwe's struggling economy.
Just how much of the cash is ending up in the national coffers or helping conservation efforts is unknown, but it is also true that a scramble to own game ranches has been at play now for some time amongst Zimbabwe's powerful.
The first lady herself was accused of allegedly displacing farm workers to make way for wild animals as she tried to turn the land into a game ranch. A court order has halted the evictions, which government has denied were linked to Grace Mugabe.
Even the two men brought before the courts over this incident provide us with a microcosm of Zimbabwe's new reality after its land reform, with a black landowner, who is yet to be charged, and his white ranger, who has pleaded not guilty to aiding the rich dentist.
The prosecutors believe it was a crime - a lion was shot with a bow and arrow after being lured out of its protected zone, only to die 40 hours later from a bullet, and all the while wearing a GPS collar which ought to have made it immune to a hunter's fancy.
The most notorious lion in Zimbabwe was one that once roamed villages in Kariba eating people at sunset.
The villagers ironically called the man eater "Maswera Sei", meaning "How was your day?"
Because he was too old, the lion hunted humans, the easiest prey of all.
With the wrath of social media, the dentist may be feeling like a hunted animal himself, but unlike Cecil - he lives to hunt again. | Zimbabweans feel somewhat bemused by the attention the world is giving to the killing of a lion, writes the film-maker and columnist Farai Sevenzo. |
36,511,238 | Mr Osborne said it would cost tens of thousands of jobs, lower the value of homes and put the tourism industry in Wales at risk.
On a visit to north Wales, the Chancellor also said the UK had a bright future inside a reformed EU.
Leave campaigner Boris Johnson said Wales gave more money to the EU than it received in return.
The group Economists for Brexit, has argued leaving the EU would boost the UK economy.
But Mr Osborne said: "As we continue to grow our economy, Wales has a great future with 24,100 jobs expected to be created if we remain in the EU."
He also reiterated analysis suggesting a Leave vote on 23 June would cause unemployment in Wales to rise by around 24,000 over two years, while youth unemployment would rise by 3,000.
The impact of the shock from leaving the EU and the free trade single market, could be equivalent to a £2bn reduction to the size of the Welsh economy by 2018, Mr Osborne said.
It would mean house prices are £20,000 lower by 2018 than if the UK votes to Remain, assuming that prices would otherwise have grown in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecasts, he added.
However, former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable has previously said a price fall would be good for affordability and economic balance.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Good Morning Wales, Boris Johnson said: "Britain has done very well trading around the world in the last few years. We've seen our share of exports to the EU go down, and amazingly it is other countries who have done better than us at exporting into the single market despite our membership of it.
"Wales gets money from the EU but that is UK money. Wales contributes far more to the EU than it gets back. We only get back about half of what we put in to this thing and that goes for Wales as well."
The Chancellor said: "From tourism, to manufacturing and agriculture, Wales benefits from trade with the EU, but all of that would be at risk if we vote to leave.
"Every credible independent voice agrees that if the UK votes to leave the EU there would be a profound economic shock that would threaten jobs, livelihoods and living standards here in Wales."
Current figures, he said, show 130,000 people are employed in the tourism industry in Wales and EU tourists in Wales spent £206m in 2014, over half of all international visitor spend.
Wales exported £5.8bn worth of goods to the EU in 2014 which was 43% of total goods exports, Mr Osborne added.
And he said in the last five years Wales has benefited from 96 investment projects from the EU, creating or protecting 16,000 jobs, and equating to almost one third of all foreign investment projects in Wales in that time. | Leaving the EU would have a "profound economic shock" on Wales, the Chancellor George Osborne has warned. |
24,292,615 | The report by the UN's climate panel details the physical evidence behind climate change.
On the ground, in the air, in the oceans, global warming is "unequivocal", it explained.
It adds that a pause in warming over the past 15 years is too short to reflect long-term trends.
The panel warns that continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all aspects of the climate system.
To contain these changes will require "substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions".
After a week of intense negotiations in the Swedish capital, the summary for policymakers on the physical science of global warming has finally been released.
The first part of an IPCC trilogy, due over the next 12 months, this dense, 36-page document is considered the most comprehensive statement on our understanding of the mechanics of a warming planet.
It states baldly that, since the 1950s, many of the observed changes in the climate system are "unprecedented over decades to millennia".
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Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth's surface, and warmer than any period since 1850, and probably warmer than any time in the past 1,400 years.
"Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and that concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased," said Qin Dahe, co-chair of IPCC working group one, who produced the report.
Speaking at a news conference in the Swedish capital, Prof Thomas Stocker, another co-chair, said that climate change "challenges the two primary resources of humans and ecosystems, land and water. In short, it threatens our planet, our only home".
Since 1950, the report's authors say, humanity is clearly responsible for more than half of the observed increase in temperatures.
But a so-called pause in the increase in temperatures in the period since 1998 is downplayed in the report. The scientists point out that this period began with a very hot El Nino year.
"Trends based on short records are very sensitive to the beginning and end dates and do not in general reflect long-term climate trends," the report says.
Prof Stocker, added: "I'm afraid there is not a lot of public literature that allows us to delve deeper at the required depth of this emerging scientific question.
"For example, there are not sufficient observations of the uptake of heat, particularly into the deep ocean, that would be one of the possible mechanisms to explain this warming hiatus."
"Likewise we have insufficient data to adequately assess the forcing over the last 10-15 years to establish a relationship between the causes of the warming."
However, the report does alter a key figure from the 2007 study. The temperature range given for a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere, called equilibrium climate sensitivity, was 2.0C to 4.5C in that report.
In the latest document, the range has been changed to 1.5C to 4.5C. The scientists say this reflects improved understanding, better temperature records and new estimates for the factors driving up temperatures.
In its own words, the IPCC is there "to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts".
The offspring of two UN bodies, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, it has issued four heavyweight assessment reports to date on the state of the climate.
These are commissioned by the governments of 195 countries, essentially the entire world. These reports are critical in informing the climate policies adopted by these governments.
The IPCC itself is a small organisation, run from Geneva with a full time staff of 12. All the scientists who are involved with it do so on a voluntary basis.
In the summary for policymakers, the scientists say the rise in ocean waters will proceed at a faster rate than we have experienced over the past 40 years. Global mean sea level rise for 2081−2100, the document says, is projected to be between 26cm (at the low end) and 82cm (at the high end), depending on the greenhouse emissions path this century.
The scientists say ocean warming dominates the increase in energy stored in the climate system, accounting for 90% of energy accumulated between 1971 and 2010.
For the future, the report states that warming is projected to continue under all scenarios. Model simulations indicate that global surface temperature change by the end of the 21st Century is likely to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, relative to 1850.
Prof Sir Brian Hoskins, from Imperial College London, told BBC News: "We are performing a very dangerous experiment with our planet, and I don't want my grandchildren to suffer the consequences of that experiment."
Follow Matt on Twitter. | A landmark report says scientists are 95% certain that humans are the "dominant cause" of global warming since the 1950s. |
32,587,330 | Eloise Parry, 21, from Shrewsbury, took tablets which police believe included dinitrophenol, known as DNP.
The warning was initially prompted by France after a Frenchman was left critically ill having taken weight loss pills containing the toxic pesticide.
Interpol said the products were being made in "clandestine laboratories".
Miss Parry, who was a student at Glyndwr University, died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 12 April and her mother, Fiona, has warned others to avoid the chemical.
Interpol has raised the alarm with forces in 190 countries after French authorities raised concerns about DNP last October and following an investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency earlier this year.
In the Orange Notice, a public safety warning that Interpol issues, DNP was described as an "imminent threat" to consumers.
Online distributors have tried to mask its supply from customs and police officers by labelling it as the yellow spice turmeric because it looks similar, Interpol said.
A statement from the Interpol said: "Although usually sold in yellow powder or capsule form, DNP is also available as a cream.
"In addition to being produced in clandestine laboratories with no hygiene regulations, without specialist manufacturing knowledge the producers also expose consumers to an increased chance of overdose." | A global alert has been issued by Interpol over the "serious and imminent threat" of online diet pills which claimed the life of a Shropshire woman. |
35,517,910 | The 25 year-old from Merthyr Tydfil beat her British -78kg rival Gemma Gibbons in the head-to-head in France.
Powell's first Grand Slam medal will give her a further rankings boost over Gibbons as she bids to be Team GB's sole -78kg representative at the Rio Olympics in August.
Scotland's Sally Conway also won bronze in the -70kg class.
Conway, 29, did not have to fight her last two rounds because of opponent injury and disqualification. | Commonwealth champion Natalie Powell has won bronze at judo's Paris Grand Slam. |
25,234,991 | Students occupied part of Bramber House in support of Tuesday's national strike by lecturers and administrative staff.
The university said it took the action because protests had been characterised by "violence and intimidation".
The students said the measures were "draconian" and those involved in the sit-in left peacefully on Wednesday.
About 30 people entered the building on 25 November to support the national strike by university staff over a 1% pay offer and call for an end to the privatising of some support services at Sussex.
On Thursday scores of students held a demonstration on the campus at Falmer calling for the five suspended students to be reinstated.
In a statement on their Facebook site, they said: "Clearly, they have singled out five students for their involvement in a movement of students and staff fighting for a more democratic university.
"Draconian suspensions are not democratic.
"Management are scared by staff and students protesting for a more democratic university."
A seven-week protest at Bramber House led to clashes with police and bailiffs in April.
The university's registrar, John Duffy, said: "We fully support students' rights to protest lawfully. There have been regular demonstrations on a range of issues that have passed off peacefully.
"But the university has been very clear that we will not tolerate any violence, intimidation or serious disruption. Unfortunately, we have seen all three of these kinds of behaviour once more take place in connection with the recent occupation and subsequent events."
He said there had been three "disruptive occupations" on the campus since February 2013, signifying a "persistent pattern".
He added: "This week we sought and were given a court order that made it clear that the occupiers had no right to be there. The occupiers did not attend court to defend their actions.
"But in the circumstances of this persistent disruption, we feel we need to go further to ensure there is no repeat of the appalling behaviour that has characterised these events." | Five students have been suspended from the University of Sussex for leading the occupation of a building in protest over the working conditions of staff. |
29,818,298 | Welsh have conceded 352 points in those eight games, an average of 44 per game.
Asked if he regretted his move, Weepu, who suffered a stroke at the start of the year, said: "Not at all.
"After the stroke, I was grateful for the opportunity and hopefully I can contribute a bit more before the end of the season."
Following the 31-year-old's stroke, 71-time capped Weepu joined the Premiership new boys in the summer from Super 15 side Auckland Blues, having found his opportunities limited in Southern Hemisphere rugby.
Weepu said even with the thrashings the Premiership's bottom club have received each week, the spirit is still high in the training camp in Richmond.
"It's not that difficult (losing each week), we just need to tweak a few things, be better in a few areas we've been having issues with," he said.
"Other than that the boys are a good group of lads, the coaches are great staff and I can't complain much. The losses are the only thing letting us down. Other than that the spirit is still within the team. Everyone is still getting on."
Weepu, who will miss this weekend's LV= Cup game against Bath with an ankle injury, admitted he has found it tougher than he expected but that he has settled well into life in Richmond - where he lives above a cafe with Australian flanker Lachlan McCaffrey.
"I've been in a situation before where a team is constantly losing and you just have keep working," he added. "Hopefully we'll start getting the results we want.
"It won't happen overnight, this is a new squad and we are still getting used to each other's style of play." | New Zealand World Cup-winning scrum-half Piri Weepu says he does not regret his move to London Welsh, despite eight successive losses in all competitions. |
33,951,995 | The American signal crayfish had been found in the River Gaunless, a tributary of the River Wear, the Wear Rivers Trust (WRT) said.
They were "effectively eating machines" which would damage the river's ecosystem, it said.
Project officer Steve Hudson urged river users to check and dry equipment to stop them spreading.
"This could be very damaging for the watercourse," he said.
"The American signal crayfish have a ferocious appetite and also damage the river banks through burrowing.
"They could have made their way here in a multitude of ways, and it is difficult to pinpoint the source, whether it be flown in on birds or ducks, carried in on vehicles, via anglers' waders or canoeists' paddles."
The species came from America in 1976 and has become widespread, carrying a disease which is endangering the native white-clawed crayfish. | A "highly invasive" alien species of crayfish has been discovered in a County Durham river. |
21,604,568 | The Malaysian billionaire has already insisted upon a colour change from blue to red, as well as a new club crest.
"We will think about it when we know the final result of this season," he said about using Cardiff Dragons.
I can assure all supporters that we will not be changing our name from Cardiff City Football Club
"Then we will think what's the best way to brand it."
In an exclusive interview for the BBC's Sport Wales programme broadcast on Thursday at 19:00 GMT, Tan acknowledged rumours that had recently emerged over the use of Cardiff Dragons but added: "We haven't discussed this. I've not really thought about this in detail.
"But when we get there we'll make a decision. And when we make a decision we will convey it to everyone."
In the wake of his initial statements to BBC Wales about the club, Tan moved to reassure fans that the club's official name would not change.
In a club website statement, Tan said: "I can assure all supporters that we will not be changing our name from Cardiff City Football Club, a club I am very proud to be a part of.
"Our name is our identity and remains at our core.
"I would not want any of our supporters to be concerned that this change would be made, hoping that this personal commitment from myself removes any fears.
"I believe the colour change is positive and will bring good tidings to Cardiff City Football Club.
"At this point of time, no decision has been made to change the club crest for the next season.
"For the present day, all I would ask is that we all join together, continuing your excellent support at what is a critical juncture in our season.
"Our collective aim is to back Malky Mackay and his team as they work hard to bring us all success.
"Working together we can achieve great things in the name of Cardiff City Football Club."
Tan, who has an estimated wealth of $1.3bn, wants Cardiff to maximise all possible revenue and marketing opportunities in Asia.
After buying more than 35% of the club's shares for £6m in 2010, the 61-year-old Malaysian threatened to withdraw his support in June unless the club agreed to ditch its traditional blue home shirts in favour of red ones.
The new colours were accepted, so too a new badge as a Welsh dragon replaced the bluebird, and further investment followed.
In an interview with BBC Wales' Sport Wales programme, he justified the "controversial decision" of the club's colours, and stressed he is prepared to and intends to make more changes.
"A few were upset, but like in any business if we get 80% or 75% of the customers happy, with 20-25% not happy, that's fine," he said.
"If they don't want to come to support our business, that's fine. We need the majority."
He added: "I believe the change is for the better.
"And if you put in a lot of money, surely you have the right to make a call on some things you believe will make it better.
"If you don't have a say, why the hell do you want to put in so much money?"
After years of financial instability, Cardiff were on the brink of administration before Tan's takeover as part of a Malaysian consortium.
The club continues to struggle financially, recording losses of £13.6m in the year up to the end of May 2012, with an overall recorded debt of £83.1m.
The accounts also show that the debt to Langston, the company represented by ex-City owner Sam Hammam, is put at £19.2m, with a one-off payment of £5m due if City reach the Premier League while the debt is outstanding.
Tan said that resolving this debt is a priority for the club, and again called on Langston to renegotiate to a "fair level" and then convert the "unsecured" loan into equity.
If that happens, Tan said he is willing to turn the £63m loan he has given to the club into equity.
"Their loan is not secured," he said. "If anything happens to the club, Langston will get nothing. So I will convert [my loan] if we can resolve with Langston.
"And if Sam Hammam loves Cardiff as he claims he does, he should come and sit down and then we'll find a solution."
Having failed in the Championship play-offs three years in a row, Cardiff are in a stronger position than ever to reach the Premier League.
They have an eight-point lead with 13 games remaining, but Tan said he would not walk away if promotion was not secured.
"If the fans welcome me, I can stay for a long time," he said, promising a further £25m to manager Malky Mackay for new players should they go up.
"But if I find they are not welcoming and rude, then maybe I will find a new buyer and go off. But if I were to sell, I'd make sure I would leave it in good hands."
A section of Cardiff fans continue to oppose Tan's colour change. A protest was held at the end of the last home game to Brighton - which Tan attended - when free red scarves were handed out.
Tan referred to the dissenting voices as "a bunch of mostly young kids" and argued a change was long overdue.
"Have they achieved any success under this Bluebirds brand?," he asked "So why do we hold onto something that hasn't achieved much success?"
Watch Sport Wales, BBC Two Wales, Thursday 28 February (19:00 GMT) for an exclusive, all-access look at Vincent Tan's business empire | Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has said that promotion to the Premier League could trigger further "rebranding" and did not rule out using the name Cardiff Dragons. |
25,416,779 | We've created a list of popular activities with helpful tips, links and information to get you started.
Browse our fully-inclusive collection and get inspired to try something new today:
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Want to know about an activity that isn't listed here? Get in touch with us via twitter or email [email protected]. | No matter what your fitness ability or interest, there is an activity out there for you. |
36,769,180 | Rachel Parish produced the only individual gold of the final day, as she won the women's double trap event.
Matt Coward-Holley pipped Kneale for the men's double trap bronze, with the results also securing the team gold.
Parish, a 2006 Commonwealth gold medallist, and Coward-Holley's results meant gold for the mixed team.
"The medals in individual and team events demonstrates the strength in depth we are developing across the system and gives us great momentum heading into the Olympic Games in Rio," British Shooting performance director Steven Seligmann said. | Britain won three shooting golds and a bronze at the European Championships in Italy, though Olympics-bound Tim Kneale missed out on a medal. |
32,074,494 | Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said the Tories had delivered rising employment and income tax cuts.
He claimed they were the "true party of Wales", saying Labour "always put Scotland first".
The campaign was launched in Gower, one of the Conservatives' target seats for the election on 7 May.
Since winning eight Welsh seats in the 2010 election, the Conservatives say they have put together a plan for the Welsh economy that includes commitments to electrify railway lines in south Wales and open a prison in Wrexham.
Mr Crabb called on voters to make 2015 the year "Wales lets go of Labour".
He said Labour leader Ed Miliband would need a "piggy back from Alex Salmond" of the SNP to get into Downing Street and accused him of being more at home in leafy parts of north London than the south Wales valleys.
It had taken the coalition government to make progress on projects that had been discussed for years, such as rail electrification, Mr Crabb said.
Labour had treated Wales like a "hereditary fiefdom", he added.
Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies criticised the record of Labour's Welsh government.
"Week in, week out we see what Welsh Labour are doing to communities in Wales in health, education and local government," he said. | The Conservatives have defended their record in power at the launch of their general election campaign in Wales. |
35,803,521 | Volunteers who used this approach were 25% more likely to remain abstinent half a year from the date that they give up than smokers who tried to gradually wean themselves off instead.
The NHS says that picking a convenient date to quit is important.
Make a promise, set a date and stick to it, it advises.
And sticking to the "not a drag" rule can really help too.
"Whenever you find yourself in difficulty say to yourself, 'I will not have even a single drag' and stick with this until the cravings pass," the service says.
And it recommends seeing a GP to get professional support and advice to give up smoking.
In the British Heart Foundation-funded study, nearly 700 UK volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two groups - a gradual quit group or an immediate quit group.
All of the participants were also offered advice and support and access to nicotine patches and replacement therapy, like nicotine gum or mouth spray - services which are available for free on the NHS.
After six months, 15.5% of the participants in the gradual-cessation group were abstinent compared with 22% in the abrupt-cessation group.
Lead researcher Dr Nicola Lindson-Hawley, from Oxford University, said: "The difference in quit attempts seemed to arise because people struggled to cut down. It provided them with an extra thing to do, which may have put them off quitting altogether."
Even though more people in the study said they preferred the idea of quitting gradually than abruptly, individuals were still more likely to stop for good in the abrupt group.
Dr Lindson-Hawley said that it was still better to cut down on cigarettes than do nothing at all. | People who want to quit smoking are more likely to succeed if they go "cold turkey" by stopping abruptly, a study in Annals of Internal Medicine shows. |
35,994,660 | The 10ft (3m) statue was sculpted by "diehard fan" Chandrasekaran, out of a single piece of black granite.
Mr Chandrasekaran said he had tried to donate the statue to Jackson's family and install it in Neverland Ranch, but had been unable to do so.
The BBC was unable to independently verify that the family did not respond to the offer of the gift.
The statue was unveiled at the city's Vels University by film star Prabhu Deva, famous in India for his Jackson inspired dance moves.
Mr Chandrasekaran told the BBC that the 3.5 tonne statue was made by six sculptors who took 45 days to chisel it out of a single piece of rock.
He added that the sculptors repeatedly watched Jackson's Beat It music video to get his posture correct, and studied "thousands" of photographs to get his features correct. | A statue of the late pop star Michael Jackson has been installed in the southern Indian city of Chennai. |
36,239,350 | The Spiders won the first-leg 3-1, and Clyde found the hope they were looking for with a Scott Linton penalty in the first half at Hampden.
The hosts played the better football, with teenage midfielder Liam Brown outstanding.
They were also helped by Clyde being reduced to 10 men with Michael Bolochoweckyj's second-half dismissal.
The task for Barry Ferguson's Clyde was clear enough, but their play initially seemed cluttered and heavy footed.
It might have been understandable that a two-goal lead from the first leg allowed Queen's Park to perform with a sense of freedom.
The home side were composed and slick in their passing, with so much of their play shaped and cajoled by the excellent Brown. The 17-year-old, whose jersey seemed several sizes too big but whose ability and assurance allowed him to command all of those around him, was irrepressible.
Gus MacPherson's side attacked with measured intent and created several scares in the Clyde penalty area. The visitors' tall, strong but occasionally plodding in their movement of the ball, were obliged to use their wits just to stay in the tie.
By not panicking, they found the means to assert themselves. When Steven Brisbane slung a cross into the Queen's Park penalty area, John Gemmell steered a header towards goal and the ball landed on the roof of the net.
And, from another Gemmell header, Ryan McGeever handled.
From the resulting penalty kick, Linton stroked the ball into the corner of the net. Queen's Park still had a goal lead in their favour, though, and they were not unnerved.
The second half began in the same manner as the first, with the home side playing with verve and confidence. Brisbane had to scoop the ball over almost from the goal-line after David Galt crossed for Paul Woods.
There was intricacy in the way that Vincent Berry, Brown and Woods all moved the ball around, but Clyde could be bluntly effective. Jordan Kirkpatrick saw a shot from distance saved, while substitute David Gormley's volley was tipped over by Queen's Park keeper William Muir.
In between those efforts, though, Bolochoweckyj was dismissed, receiving his second yellow card for a foul on Galt.
Clyde continued to be game, and sent Marvin Andrews on to play up front but they could not create another clear chance, and Queen's Park earned the result that took them up into the third tier after a seven-year absence.
Match ends, Queen's Park 0, Clyde 1.
Second Half ends, Queen's Park 0, Clyde 1.
Joe Bradley (Queen's Park) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Scott Linton (Clyde).
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by John Gibson.
Attempt saved. Joe Bradley (Queen's Park) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner.
Corner, Clyde. Conceded by Gavin Mitchell.
Gavin Mitchell (Queen's Park) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by David Gormley (Clyde).
Substitution, Clyde. Marvin Andrews replaces Steven Brisbane.
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Steven Brisbane.
Attempt saved. Conor McVey (Queen's Park) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the bottom right corner.
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Chris Smith.
Substitution, Queen's Park. Conor McVey replaces David Galt.
Corner, Clyde. Conceded by William Muir.
Attempt saved. David Gormley (Clyde) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Substitution, Clyde. Jamie Watson replaces Sean Higgins.
David Gormley (Clyde) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sean Burns (Queen's Park).
Sean Higgins (Clyde) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Joe Bradley (Queen's Park) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Sean Higgins (Clyde).
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Scott McLaughlin.
Substitution, Queen's Park. Joe Bradley replaces Paul Woods.
Second yellow card to Michael Bolochoweckyj (Clyde) for a bad foul.
David Galt (Queen's Park) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Michael Bolochoweckyj (Clyde).
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Steven Brisbane.
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Ross Millen.
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Steven Brisbane.
Substitution, Clyde. David Gormley replaces David Marsh.
Attempt saved. Jordan Kirkpatrick (Clyde) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner.
Craig McLeish (Queen's Park) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Steven Brisbane (Clyde).
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Ross Millen.
Corner, Queen's Park. Conceded by Michael Bolochoweckyj.
Vincent Berry (Queen's Park) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by David Marsh (Clyde).
Paul Woods (Queen's Park) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Steven Brisbane (Clyde). | Queen's Park slipped to defeat by Clyde but still managed to win on aggregate and gain promotion to League One. |
38,229,719 | A record £347m was made available for the last four-year cycle, with Paralympic sports receiving a 43% rise.
The result was unprecedented success for GB's teams at the Rio Games, with the Olympics yielding 67 medals and the Paralympics a stunning 147.
Funds are raised via the National Lottery and taxation.
Sports minister Tracey Crouch says any "uncertainty" around future funding amid a decline in the number of National Lottery players will be offset by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
"UK Sport may need to make decisions based on conservative assumptions of Lottery income," she added.
"This could impact the number of sports and the number of athletes that could be supported between now and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
"The department will provide additional funding to allow Team GB and ParalympicsGB to be properly supported in Tokyo."
With the £274.5m of National Lottery money allocated to Olympic sports came a comprehensive list of medal targets from UK Sport.
It said its decisions are not based solely on past performances, rather realistic medal opportunities in Tokyo.
Rowing was rewarded for a successful London 2012 with £32.6m of funding for 2016 - the highest amount in the last cycle.
It won three golds and two silver medals in Rio, but fell one short of its minimum medal target of six.
It was one of only two sports that failed to live up to expectations, with GB's modern pentathletes failing to win a medal after being set a target of one.
Cycling was the second-highest funded sport following London with £30.6m, and it exceeded UK Sport's goals for Rio by winning 12 medals - six of them gold - to beat the maximum target of 10 it was set.
ParalympicsGB was challenged by UK Sport to win one medal more than the 120 it collected in London, and far surpassed that goal in Rio.
Athletics was the biggest beneficiary in the Paralympic sports with their funding increased by more than £4m last time, while swimming and cycling were also boosted following London 2012.
A DCMS spokesperson added: "Our athletes made the nation proud in Rio with incredible performances that led to Team GB and ParalympicsGB finishing second in the medal tables.
"Our approach to elite sport is world class and we are committed to keeping up this momentum and supporting our athletes all the way to Tokyo.
"That is why it is our intention to underwrite lottery funding for UK Sport to ensure levels of investment are maintained in the run up to the Games in 2020."
From just £5m per year before the 1996 Games in Atlanta, where GB won one gold and 15 medals in total, UK Sport's Olympic spending rose to £54m by the 2000 Games in Sydney, where Britain won 11 golds and 28 medals in total to leap to 10th on the medal table.
By the 2012 Games in London, where Britain came third in the medal table with 65, that amount had climbed to £264m.
Between 2013 and 2017, almost £350m in public funds will have been spent on Olympic and Paralympic sports.
Gymnastics, given nothing at all before Atlanta, received £5.9m for Sydney and £14.6m in the last cycle.
In Rio, Max Whitlock became Britain's first Olympic champion, winning two gold medals; his team-mates delivered another silver and three bronzes.
However, the men's and women's handball teams, who finished last in their groups in 2012, had their £2.92m funding to support elite athletes cut completely.
Sporting governing bodies have also been warned by UK Sport and Sport England they must bring in more women or lose public funding.
Under the new 'Code for Sports Governance', organisations must adhere to "gold standards" of transparency, accountability and financial integrity.
The code sets out a target of at least 30% gender diversity on boards.
The new code applies to governing bodies who ask for UK government and National Lottery funding from April 2017. | Britain's Olympic and Paralympic sports will find out at 14:00 GMT on Friday how much funding they will receive from UK Sport for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. |
32,221,531 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
8 April 2015 Last updated at 14:45 BST
The stuntman showed off his fantastic flying skills over the mountains of Chile, in South America.
Watch the clip to see whether he hits his two metre wide target... | Check out this high-speed airborne stunt from wingsuit daredevil extraordinaire, Sebastian Alvarez. |
34,188,889 | Cobblers chairman Cardoza has been in the process of selling the club to an Indian consortium since June.
The consortium's identity has still yet to be revealed, and the work to Sixfields' East Stand has stalled.
"It's badly timed - let's hope it doesn't have an impact," said Cardoza.
"The reason people are having their protest, the prospective owners are here to sort all these problems out. The fact they are protesting could work against us."
The London-based consortium are looking to buy both the football club and land around the Sixfields ground.
In 2013, Northampton Borough Council agreed to loan the club up to £12m to allow them to redevelop the stadium, including the addition of a housing scheme and local retail development.
However, Cardoza, who had been "unbelievably" supportive during his tenure, revealed that the reason the East Stand's redevelopment has stalled is because of issues surrounding the contractors.
"People want to know why we're in this position - it's because the contractors went bust and there's bits and pieces swirling around that, that's it really," he told BBC Radio Northampton.
"My father and I have spent an enormous amount of money making sure when these problems happen, that the football club would be protected, the loan gets paid back and the stand will get built - it will happen. Unfortunately it's taking longer than we hoped."
And Cardoza tried to allay fears over the takeover, having already released a statement saying that the takeover's due diligence process was close to completion.
"The takeover is still going ahead," he said. "I'm scratching my head a little bit about why people are asking for more information on that. I did say a month ago it may take another month.
"We're very close to the deal happening or not, whatever the case may be."
But Andy Clarke from the Supporters' Trust says Cardoza needs to do more for the fans, some of whom are using #wewantanswers on Twitter.
"There is a problem with the absolutely getting no answers to any questions," said Clarke.
"Clearly, contractual issues with the East Stand are very difficult, but there are other questions that have emerged that aren't so difficult that could really help.
"One of the problems we've got is that David Cardoza says, and I quite believe him, that he's in a difficult position as he doesn't know where it is, but he's the only one that knows anything.
"Deep down it's a fact that Chris Wilder, the club, the staff and the fans need to have a bit of a clearer view of the future. If David Cardoza can't give us those answers, I think it's down to him to give us some comfort and give us a feeling that he's the guy in charge and that he's still taking the project forward." | Northampton Town fans are planning a peaceful protest before Saturday's League Two match against Oxford United over chairman David Cardoza's running of the club. |
39,139,220 | The share fall came after the company revealed that annual pre-tax profits had fallen 33% to £74.8m and said its chief executive, Andy Parker, would step down later this year.
Capita was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100, which slipped 0.55 points to 7382.35 at the close.
Merlin Entertainments fell 3% despite it reporting a rise in profits.
Merlin - which operates theme parks such as Legoland and Alton Towers - reported pre-tax profits of £277m for 2016, up from £250m a year earlier.
The weak pound had led to more European tourists visiting its UK sites, which also include Madame Tussauds.
In the FTSE 250, shares in Travis Perkins fell 6% after the building materials company said full-year profits had fallen by two-thirds.
Profits last year sank to £73m from £224m in 2015 after the company wrote down the value of its plumbing, heating and tile businesses by £235m.
But shares in aerospace and defence firm Cobham rose 13% despite it announcing plans for a £500m rights issue.
The news came as the company reported pre-tax losses of £847.9m, compared with £39.8m the year before, after a series of hefty asset writedowns.
On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.2% against the US dollar to $1.227 but rose 0.09% against the euro to 1.1666 euros. | The London market finished down from Wednesday's record high as shares in outsourcing group Capita slumped 9%. |
35,792,347 | Jack Muldoon slotted the home side ahead when Matt Rhead knocked down Terry Hawkridge's cross.
Half-time substitute McQuilkin fired a free-kick past Lincoln goalkeeper Paul Farman to draw the Harriers level.
The midfielder then headed in Harriers' 83rd-minute winner after Farman had parried Ben Whitfield's initial effort.
Colin Gordon's Harriers, who had lost their previous four games, stay bottom, 11 points adrift of safety with eight games to go.
Harriers boss Colin Gordon told BBC Hereford & Worcester:
"We are standing on the precipice, we know that. It's either going to happen or it's not but there is nothing to fear.
"You've got to be professional, do the job and be as tough as them and you've got to be brave. We controlled the game and showed we are a good team.
"I said to them at half time that I don't know what they fear. I believe in them absolutely, so why have they got this fear about them?" | James McQuilkin's brace saw bottom club Kidderminster Harriers come from behind for their first National League win in seven games at Lincoln City. |
34,080,393 | Robert Morton is the head of the East of England Ambulance Service.
It was fined £1.2m for failing to reach 75% of life-threatening emergencies within eight minutes in 2014, but exceeded that target this year.
Mr Morton said the only way to reduce pressure on "clearly overworked" staff was to recruit more people.
He took up his job on 24 August, having held similar posts in Northern Ireland and Australia.
The trust was heavily criticised in parliament in 2013 and board members and the chief executive later resigned.
Interim boss Dr Anthony Marsh was attacked for his salary package, but delivered a new fleet of ambulances and recruited more paramedics, leading to some petitioning for him to stay in post.
Mr Morton said his predecessor had taken the right decisions after years of low recruitment.
"I think we've pushed staff because of the targets to a point of fatigue," he said.
"We don't have enough people on the ground, we have issues around late finishes and staff are not getting meal breaks."
Unison official Tim Roberts said he hoped Mr Morton would also look at "workplace stress and enforced overtime which are causing experienced staff to leave".
The new chief executive said he needed to recruit additional staff, especially more paramedics. | Staff at an ambulance service have been pushed "to the point of fatigue" by targets, according to their new chief executive. |
32,300,431 | Only twice in the 15 years since the Championship was split into two divisions in 2000 has the title outcome proved a one-horse race.
"It's going to be close again," Chopra said, ahead of the Bears' opener at home to promoted Hampshire on Sunday.
"I think the standard in Division One will be even higher," he told BBC WM.
"It could be down to who starts well and can get on a roll. Fine margins can affect results. We started poorly last year. I personally was slow at the beginning of last season.
"Yorkshire were very strong last season, Sussex have recruited quite well, Durham can always be dangerous. And there's even the sides who have come up. Hampshire have got a strong batting line-up."
Chopra, now in his sixth season at Edgbaston, was part of the last Bears team to win the County Championship in 2012.
And, having taken over as skipper from the injured Jim Troughton midway through last season, initially in a temporary capacity, he is keen to add to the one trophy he has already lifted as Bears captain, the T20 Blast on home soil at Edgbaston last August.
"We're just looking to improve on what we did last year and be in contention again in all four formats," he added. "It's just about raising levels of intensity and out in the middle.
"We've got a pretty settled squad. It helps if you get good characters in the dressing room. We have a quiet confidence, but it means nothing now. It's where you are in September that counts. We've got a chance, but so have eight other sides."
Warwickshire are the only of the 18 counties who will not have had the benefit of a first-class fixture under their belts when the Championship season starts, this week's three-day meeting with the students of Durham MCCU having been deemed a non-first-class fixture.
But the Bears batsmen have used the time out in the middle well, opener Ian Westwood (unbeaten on 155), Sam Hain (85), Tim Ambrose (64), William Porterfield (59) and Laurie Evans 52 and Rikki Clarke (43) getting decent first-innings scores. | Warwickshire captain Varun Chopra believes that this season's County Championship title race could once again prove a close-run thing. |
31,495,099 | Rebels say they have taken most of Debaltseve, a transport hub, but the government says it is still holding its positions.
International observers tasked with monitoring the ceasefire have been unable to enter the town.
Ukraine's president described rebel attempts to take the town as a "cynical attack" on the ceasefire.
"Today the world must stop the aggressor," Petro Poroshenko said in a statement posted on his website.
"I call on the permanent members of the UN Security Council to prevent further violation of fundamental principles and rules of the UN and the unleashing of a full-scale war in the very centre of Europe."
Speaking on a visit to Hungary, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped the ceasefire agreements would be observed by both sides.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "fundamental" parts of the ceasefire were not being respected, referring to the Debaltseve fighting and withdrawal of heavy weapons.
Earlier, both sides failed to begin the withdrawal, despite a Monday deadline agreed in the truce.
The two sides were given until two days after the latest ceasefire came into effect to start the pullout.
The wealth of claim and counter-claim around Debaltseve speaks volumes. It's hard to confirm any of today's stories.
Controversy surrounds the fate of dozens of government troops - rebel sources say they surrendered, while the army contends they were captured after running out of ammunition during an ambush.
The rebels say Debaltseve is not covered by the ceasefire agreement reached last week in Minsk and continue to insist that it's an "internal" matter. Between April and July last year, the town was in rebel hands. It sits astride the railway line linking two rebel strongholds, Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukrainian TV has shown pictures of text messages sent to government soldiers in Debaltseve, allegedly from Russia. "Poroshenko and his generals have betrayed you," the messages read, referring to the Ukrainian president. "There's no need for you to die for them."
Why is conflict so violent?
Who benefits from ceasefire deal?
Explaining the conflict in maps
Sources in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said Debaltseve police station and railway station had been taken, and at least 80% of the city was under rebel control.
According to later reports, the city's military HQ - where many government troops are based - has also been surrounded.
DPR spokesman Eduard Basurin said government forces had stepped up their bombardment and were heading towards the rebel-held town of Lohvynove in an attempt to break through to Debaltseve.
He added that the rebels intended to withdraw heavy weapons from "quiet sectors" of the front line, but gave no time-frame.
The rebels said that up to 300 Ukrainian troops in Debaltseve had surrendered, and Russian TV showed footage of what it said were 72 captured soldiers. The Ukrainian government said a group had been taken prisoner after an ambush but denied large-scale surrenders.
The Ukrainian military said there was intense fighting in the streets and confirmed that the rebels were in control of parts of the city.
"Our troops are holding their positions, and they are well within their rights to return fire and hold the positions that they have held for several months," Interfax quoted spokesman Andriy Lysenko as saying.
A National Guard source in the area told the BBC that government forces had regained control of the supply route, enabling them to get food and medicine into the town and wounded soldiers out.
Meanwhile, Russia's LifeNews website reported that rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko had been lightly wounded in the leg during the fighting in Debaltseve and had been evacuated from the city.
Rebels have offered Ukrainian troops under siege there a safe corridor to leave.
Although Debaltseve has suffered weeks of artillery exchanges, correspondents say this is the first fierce fighting inside the town.
Most of Debaltseve's 25,000 population have been evacuated but about 7,000 civilians are still believed trapped by the fighting, according to Amnesty International.
The BBC's David Stern in Kiev says there is great concern about the humanitarian situation, with water now running out.
Minsk agreement: Key points
The ceasefire, which came into effect on Sunday, has been broadly observed but separatists insist the agreement does not apply in Debaltseve because they have the town almost surrounded.
Denis Pushilin, a spokesman for the Donetsk People's Republic, described Debaltseve as "internal territory" and said fighting for it was "a moral thing".
"We do not have the right [to stop fighting]," he told Reuters.
In the neighbouring Luhansk region, separatist leader Igor Plotnitsky said he had begun pulling back his tanks and artillery in line with the ceasefire agreement. His claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine's pro-Western government says Russia is supporting the separatists with troops and weapons, but the Kremlin has consistently denied this.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Germany, Ukraine and Russia discussed the crisis in an overnight phone call.
Germany said they had agreed "concrete measures" for observers to have greater access, but gave no details.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), who are charged with monitoring the ceasefire, have been trying to reach Debaltseve after being denied access by pro-Russian rebels on Sunday.
The withdrawal was due to start no later than the second day after the truce came into effect and be completed within two weeks, creating buffer zones 50-140km (30-85 miles) wide.
Officials say more than 5,400 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine in April, but the UN believes the actual death toll to be much higher.
5,486
people killed since conflict began in April 2014
12,972 wounded across eastern Ukraine
5.2 million people estimated to be living in conflict areas
978,482 internally displaced people within Ukraine, including 119,832 children | Fierce fighting is reported inside the key Ukrainian town of Debaltseve despite a ceasefire agreed last week. |
35,934,186 | The local health board has recruited its own doctors to run two former GP practices in Prestatyn and satellite sites in Meliden and Ffynnongroyw.
Healthy Prestatyn Iach will work with a similar service in Rhuddlan, where another GP contract has ended.
Staff include midwives, pharmacists, physiotherapists and diet specialists.
They will work alongside GPs at Rhuddlan, Prestatyn's Central Surgery - with its satellite surgeries in Meliden and Ffynnongroyw - and Seabank Surgery, also in Prestatyn.
The shake-up in the service was prompted by the three GP practices experiencing difficulties in recruiting new doctors.
Dr Chris Stockport from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) said: "This arrangement will mean that patients can be seen directly by the person most appropriate for their care needs, while also ensuring that GPs can devote their time to those patients who need to see a doctor.
"This is a pioneering model of primary care for BCUHB and the whole of Wales in terms of the scale on which it will be done.
"Elements of it have been used before in other parts of the UK but not for 23,000 people in one service."
The practices in Prestatyn will move to the former Ty Nant council offices from December after plans were approved this week. | A new primary health service starts in Denbighshire on Friday after three GP surgeries closed due to problems recruiting new doctors. |
32,841,385 | The theatre closed in March and had been expected to reopen in time of for the annual pantomime in December.
It was built on the site of the medieval St Leonard's Hospital and it was thought the hospital foundations had been destroyed.
However, archaeologist have found the medieval foundations intact beneath the main auditorium.
Ben Reeves, from York Archaeological Trust, said: "It is amazing that considering all the alterations to the theatre so much of the medieval hospital has survived under the stalls and elsewhere within the building.
"The remains are an exciting and important discovery for both archaeologists and the public."
St Leonard's Hospital was founded in the 13th Century but closed in the 1530s as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.
The Grade-II listed theatre was originally constructed amidst the hospital ruins in 1744.
It was enlarged in the 1760s and was refurbished in the Victorian style in the 1880s. A modernist glass extension was added in 1967.
The theatre said this year's pantomime would be held in a semi-permanent, purpose-built auditorium at the National Railway Museum (NRM).
All 13,500 people who have bought tickets will receive a letter offering them seats of a similar value for the production at the NRM.
The York Conservation Trust said the building would reopen in time for the spring 2016 season. | Significant archaeological discoveries have delayed the completion of a £4m refurbishment of York Theatre Royal. |
24,546,700 | Frank Stone, who died aged 91, was taken to Stalag Luft III in Zagan after his bomber crashed in Germany in 1940.
The 18-year-old RAF gunner was housed in hut 104, home to 76 airmen who attempted escape via a tunnel in 1944.
However, the alarm was raised before Mr Stone, who had helped dispose of soil from the tunnel, could join them.
During an interview with the BBC in 2009, Mr Stone, of Hathersage, Derbyshire, said the atmosphere on the night of the escape had been "electric".
"It was all very tense - but at 5 o'clock, a shot rang out and we knew they had been discovered."
Of the 76 who made their break for freedom using the tunnel, known as Harry, 50 were subsequently shot after being recaptured and only three men managed to get away successfully.
Mr Stone said: "It was very sad and we were advised not to make any further attempts to escape."
He was finally freed towards the end of the war.
His widow, Jane, said: "He gave lots of talks about the escape and always said he was doing it in memory of those 50.
"Frank could never understand why people where so interested in him but they were. We often had to put extra talks on so more people could come."
Stalag Luft III, which was 100 miles south-east of Berlin, held about 10,000 RAF crew at the height of its occupation.
In 1947, 18 soldiers who shot those who were recaptured were put before a military tribunal in Hamburg.
Thirteen of them were executed, while the rest received long prison sentences.
The story of the escape was made into a film in 1963, starring Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Donald Pleasence. | One of the few remaining survivors of a German prisoner of war camp immortalised in the film The Great Escape has died. |
31,300,833 | Treasury Minister David Gauke said HM Revenue and Customs had recouped £135m from tax dodgers after an investigation into the claims, dating back to 2005.
Labour wants to know why there has been just one UK prosecution as a result.
And MPs have said they will compel senior HSBC executives to appear before them to answer questions.
Former HSBC boss Stephen Green, who was made a trade minister in 2010, has come under pressure to say what he knew about the claims that Britain's biggest bank helped wealthy clients cheat the UK out of millions of pounds in tax.
The Commons Public Accounts Committee is to hold an inquiry into the allegations, saying that it will "order HSBC to give evidence if necessary".
The BBC's Panorama and other media organisations have seen thousands of accounts from HSBC's private bank in Switzerland leaked by a whistleblower in 2007.
The documents include details of almost 7,000 British clients - and many of the accounts were not declared to the taxman.
HMRC was given the leaked data in 2010 and has identified 1,100 people who had not paid their taxes. One tax evader has been prosecuted.
HSBC admitted that some individuals took advantage of bank secrecy to hold undeclared accounts, but it said it has now "fundamentally changed".
The opposition tabled an urgent question in the House of Commons which forced Mr Gauke to make a statement to MPs on HSBC.
Mr Gauke told MPs that HMRC had consistently used civil penalties as the most "cost-effective way" of collecting revenue and "changing behaviour" but he expected the number of prosecutions to increase significantly.
Addressing the House of Commons, Mr Gauke told MPs that HMRC had looked at 6,800 cases relating to HSBC, and found a number of duplications.
The cases left numbered 3,600, he said, of which 1,000 were investigated, while the remainder had "no case to answer".
He said that, as a result, HMRC recouped £135m "that would not previously have been raised".
"This is further evidence of progress made by this government in tackling tax evasion and indeed tax avoidance," he told MPs.
Mr Gauke said HMRC had received the data under "very strict conditions" which limited the department's use of it.
"Under these restrictions, HMRC has not been able to seek prosecution for other potential offences, such as money laundering," he added, but said French authorities had agreed to aid investigations.
In addition, new "international common reporting standards" would also play a role in tackling any further allegations of aiding tax avoidance, Mr Gauke added.
He confirmed there had been one prosecution as a result of the HSBC data, but said prosecutions were set to increase "five fold" over the lifetime of the Parliament.
But Labour's Shabana Mahmood accused the government of having "apparently failed to act" when it was made aware of the claims back in 2010.
She pressed Mr Gauke to say who saw the information, and what was done with it, as well as what communications there had been - if any - within government.
Ms Mahmood also demanded to know what information the government had sought from Lord Green about the claims of tax avoidance before he was made a minister.
Lord Green was made a Conservative peer and appointed to the government eight months after HMRC was given the leaked documents.
"Any failure to question Stephen Green before his appointment would be an inexplicable and inexcusable abdication of responsibility," she told the government.
Responding, Mr Gauke said: "There is no evidence to suggest he was involved in or complicit with tax evasion activities."
He told MPs that Lord Green - who was in his post until 2013 - had been "a very successful minister".
Launching an attack on the previous government's record on tackling tax evasion, he noted that much of the data related to the period between 2005 and 2007, when Labour was in power.
"If we are talking about complicity ... what about the city minister (now shadow chancellor) Ed Balls?
"The reality is it is this government that has consistently cleared up the mess that we inherited," he said.
Earlier, Labour leader Ed Miliband said the government had "serious questions to answer" over the HSBC tax claims.
"We cannot have a country where tax avoidance is allowed to carry on and where government just turns a blind eye," he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron said no government had done more to tackle tax evasion and "regressive" tax avoidance than his, pointing out that tax transparency was at the top of his G8 agenda.
For the Lib Dems, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the HSBC scandal demonstrated that tax avoidance was a "sophisticated global business", adding that tax evaders needed to feel "the full force of the law".
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, also weighed into the row, criticising HMRC for inaction against tax avoiders.
"You are left wondering, as you see the enormity of what has been going on, what it actually takes to bring a tax cheat to court," she told the BBC.
Watch Panorama: The Bank of Tax Cheats on February 9 at 20.30 GMT on BBC1. | The government has defended its record on dealing with tax evasion, amid reports that HSBC helped its wealthy clients to evade UK taxes. |
39,600,939 | Dyfed-Powys Police closed Graig Avenue after being called to a house at about 17:45 BST on Thursday the road has remained shut since then.
The 19-year-old woman has been taken to hospital with serious injuries and a 21-year-old man has been arrested.
Anyone who was in the area between 17:00 and 19:00 and witnessed the incident is asked to call 101. | A woman has been left in a critical condition following an incident in Llanelli. |
36,638,588 | Work and pensions spokesman Owen Smith and Shadow Welsh Secretary Nia Griffith followed Rhondda MP Chris Bryant, who resigned as shadow leader of the house.
Most of Labour's front bench has quit over Mr Corbyn's EU campaign efforts.
Mr Smith, who has ruled himself out of any leadership contest, said: "It breaks my heart to say I cannot see how he can continue as leader."
A string of front bench figures have stepped down amid dismay over what many saw as Mr Corbyn's half-hearted performance during the EU referendum campaign won by Leave.
The resignations on Monday followed a meeting at which Mr Corbyn was urged to step down.
Mr Smith said he feared the Labour party could split over the leadership issue.
"I went into this morning's meeting with Jeremy hoping not to resign, hoping that I was going to hear a plan to bring the party back together," he said.
"And I'm afraid I didn't hear that from him.
"I think we are at a moment where we desperately need a strong Labour party.
"It feels that the collision between the people who're seeking to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn and the people who are trying to stick in there in Jeremy Corbyn's team risks breaking the Labour party."
In her resignation statement, Ms Griffith said: "I made clear to Jeremy that I have always admired his commitment to the causes that matter to him, but last week's referendum result and the likelihood of an early general election mean that the party now requires new leadership.
"Jeremy has lost the confidence of the party, including many members who initially supported him, and he should now do the honourable thing and resign."
Ms Griffith's junior spokespeople on Wales - Susan Elan Jones and Gerald Jones - have stepped down with her.
The wave of resignations began following the sacking of Hilary Benn as shadow foreign minister on Sunday after Mr Benn told Mr Corbyn he had lost confidence in his ability to lead the Labour party.
Mr Corbyn has announced a new team, including Emily Thornberry as shadow foreign secretary and Diane Abbot moving to health, saying he regretted the resignations but pledged to stand in any new leadership contest.
Earlier on Monday, Caerphilly MP Wayne David quit the Labour front bench, saying Mr Corbyn was not "up to the job" in the wake of the EU referendum vote for Brexit.
Mr David held shadow briefs for Scotland, the Cabinet Office and political reform in the shadow justice team.
He said: "The feedback I've got from Labour party members and also from members of the public who have loyally voted Labour for many, many years is that they will not continue to vote Labour as long as Jeremy Corbyn is leader of the party.
"And we cannot bury our heads in our hand - we have to acknowledge that reality."
Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock has also resigned as an aide to shadow business minister Angela Eagle, citing Mr Corbyn's "half-hearted and lacklustre role" in the EU campaign.
Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds stepped down as an employment spokesman.
On Sunday, Mr Bryant was the first of the three Welsh MPs in the shadow cabinet to step down.
He told BBC Wales on Monday: "Last week we helped Jeremy hand the right in this country the biggest victory they've had for a century and shot to pieces one of our most important economic and financial policies, namely remaining in the European Union.
"I just think that means his position is now untenable.
"I said to Jeremy, I've tried my best to make this work but the truth is you did undermine our campaign in the European election and in the end people didn't know whether you wanted us to remain or leave.
"And I fear if we go into a general election - which may come in a matter of months now - that kind of ambivalence and poor campaigning will simply lead to the destruction of the Labour party."
Mr Bryant added that Labour was "not going to go back to what it was under Blair or Brown", but said the party needed "a leader who is convincing to the vast majority of voters in this country".
Three Welsh candidates who stood in last year's general election are signatories on a list of 57 from across England, Wales and Scotland who have called on Mr Corbyn to go.
Mary Wimbury, Mari Williams and Delyth Evans, who stood in Aberconwy, Cardiff North and Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire respectively, added their names to the letter.
It said: "We believe we must accept that we cannot achieve our shared ambitions for the future of the United Kingdom without a leader able to command the confidence of the country.
"That is why we believe that the Labour party must seek a change of leadership." | Two more Welsh members of Labour's Shadow Cabinet have resigned in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. |
36,101,028 | Politicians were asked about a series of issues on The Good Friday Agreement Generation in the televised debate.
The DUP, Sinn Féin, Ulster Unionists, SDLP, and Alliance were on the panel.
The hashtag #GFAGen trended on Twitter acro9ss the UK on Wednesday night as viewers gave their opinions on the debate.
There were several thousand tweets per hour using the hashtag.
Among those expressing their opinions was veteran political commentator Eamonn Mallie and it's fair to say he was more impressed with those asking the questions than he was with those answering them.
Indeed the performance of the young audience members drew lots of praise from Twitter users.
Others were unimpressed with some of the politicians taking part.
A number of those who took part in the debate also took to Twitter to describe their experiences:
The DUP, Sinn Féin, Ulster Unionists, SDLP, and Alliance were represented by Alastair Ross, Chris Hazzard, Doug Beattie, Daniel McCrossan and Naomi Long on the debate.
Jordan Armstrong of the TUV, Ellen Murray of the Green Party and David Jones of UKIP also featured on the programme.
Whether the first-time voters now know who they will be voting for on 5 May, remains to be seen.
The next major televised election debate will be the BBC leaders debate on 3 May. | It seems Wednesday night's BBC News NI debate for first-time voters caught the imagination of social media users. |
35,587,604 | She acted in Sir Peter Hall's 1974 film Akenfield about changing rural lives and the garden at her council house in Charsfield was a visitor attraction.
Mrs Cole was also an East Anglian Daily Times columnist and made regular appearances on BBC Radio Suffolk.
She died aged 80 on 8 January after a year-long battle with cancer.
Mrs Cole decided to open her garden to raise funds for charity after she appeared in Akenfield, despite her husband warning her "folks in the village" might think they were "getting a bit high and mighty".
Her son Ernie said the family "were so proud and astonished by everything she'd achieved and surprised at how many lives she'd touched".
"She would have loved this today - she always did enjoy a good funeral," he added.
The rural dean of Woodbridge Clare Sanders said: "She was a lady who moved with the times, yet remained rooted in Suffolk tradition."
A private funeral has already been held for the family. | Hundreds of people have attended a thanksgiving service for the Suffolk author, gardener and broadcaster Peggy Cole at St Mary's Church in Woodbridge. |
39,126,973 | The Edinburgh-based firm said it planned to treble its workforce to 30 by the end of this year.
It also plans to move into new headquarters in the Scottish capital, and open a London office.
ZoneFox offers security software to combat insider threats to businesses in the financial, pharma, gaming and other sectors.
Its clients include healthcare firm Craneware, Zenith Bank and Rockstar Games.
The funding round was led by angel investors Archangels, with backing from the Scottish Investment Bank and Borders-based investors TriCap.
ZoneFox chief executive Jamie Graves said: "Insider threats are a serious problem for global enterprise.
"Such is the sophistication of these attacks and the methods used by cyber-criminals, the human mind can no longer be expected to monitor and combat such threats alone.
"Having the funding and support of Archangels, the Scottish Investment Bank and TriCap will allow us to continue to grow and develop ground-breaking solutions that will protect businesses." | Cyber security software specialist ZoneFox is set to create new jobs after raising £3.6m through a funding round. |
36,917,114 | The Senegalese, 54, started her role at football's governing body last month.
She told BBC World Service: "I've covered almost all the emergency situations in the world, including Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Kosovo and Nigeria.
"I think my last 20 years have prepared me for this complex situation."
Samoura is the first woman to hold the position of secretary-general at Fifa.
She has replaced Jerome Valcke following the Frenchman's 12-year ban from all football-related activities after he was found guilty of misconduct.
Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter was suspended from all football activities for eight years in December following an ethics investigation.
Gianni Infantino was elected as Blatter's replacement in February this year and has promised to "work tirelessly to bring football back to Fifa and Fifa back to football".
Samoura said: "I'm aware of the challenges that I will be facing in this very moment within Fifa and we have already started this administration under of the leadership of the president of Fifa and put in place massive reforms."
Referencing her lack of footballing background, she added: "My background equips me to inject more diversity to make Fifa a more sustainable institution.
"I'm married to a former football player for 28 years who's also being a good advisor to me on a daily basis - but more importantly I have many, many friends among football players.
"[Cameroon legend] Roger Milla, who I met a few years back in Cameroon, we are in regular touch - and we have many other football players, especially the legends, who are in daily contact with me.
"More importantly, I have a deputy secretary-general - midfielder Zvonimir Boban - who played in the great days of AC Milan."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Fifa secretary-general Fatma Samoura says the years she spent working in war zones for the United Nations have prepared her for her new job. |
30,056,170 | In October, the Premiership team bought Coventry City Council's 50% stake in the stadium, and they have now acquired the remaining shareholding from the Alan Edward Higgs Charity.
The stadium's tenants Coventry City reportedly had an offer to buy the charity's shares turned down.
Wasps will play their first game at the Ricoh Arena against London Irish on Sunday, 21 December.
Coventry City will continue to play in the stadium after Wasps make the move from their current home at Adams Park in High Wycombe, 82 miles south of the Ricoh.
The North Stand of the arena will be renamed The Higgs Charity Stand, with Wasps saying that 50p from every ticket sold in the stand will go to the charity, which offers grants to communities around the city.
"We are looking forward to embedding ourselves in the region and helping promote rugby - something we have already committed to by making over 12,000 free tickets available to Coventry schools and rugby clubs," said Wasps chief executive Nick Eastwood.
"We recognise that this announcement might raise concerns amongst the fans of Coventry City Football Club.
"Wasps remain committed to building a long-term and mutually productive relationship with the club and its supporters." | Wasps have completed the full purchase of the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. |
26,259,956 | The court heard Mrs Brooks spoke to the former prime minister and passed on what he had said to James Murdoch, then News International executive chairman.
In an email, she said Mr Blair had said he was "available" to her, James and Rupert Murdoch as an "unofficial adviser", the Old Bailey heard.
Mrs Brooks denies any wrongdoing.
In the email, Mrs Brooks said Mr Blair had urged her to set up a "Hutton style" inquiry - a reference to the inquiry into the death of government weapons adviser Dr David Kelly.
She said Mr Blair's offer of further advice "needs to be between us".
The Hutton report exonerated Mr Blair and other officials over claims they exaggerated the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in a dossier of evidence.
Mrs Brooks sent the email on Monday 11 July 2011 - the day after the final edition of the News of the World had been published.
She resigned as News International's chief executive the following Friday, and was arrested on Sunday.
During the email exchange, she told Mr Murdoch there was no indication that the News of the World had suffered from a sales boycott on its final weekend.
Her email read: "I had an hour on the phone to Tony Blair.
"He said:
"1. Form an independent unit that has an outside junior counsel, Ken Macdonald [former director of public prosecutions], a great and good type, a serious forensic criminal barrister, internal counsel, proper fact checkers etc in it. Get them to investigate me and others and publish a Hutton-style report.
Read profiles of the defendants
"2. Publish part one of the report at same time as the police closes its inquiry and clear you and accept shortcomings and new solutions and process and part two when any trials are over.
"3. Keep strong and definitely sleeping pills. Need to have clear heads and remember no rash short-term solutions as they only give you long-term headaches.
"4. It will pass. Tough up.
"5. He is available for you, KRM [Rupert Murdoch] and me as an unofficial adviser but needs to be between us. He is sending more notes later."
Mr Blair's office issued a statement later, saying: "This was Mr Blair simply giving informal advice over the phone.
"He made it absolutely clear to Ms Brooks that, though he knew nothing personally about the facts of the case, in a situation as serious as this it was essential to have a fully transparent and independent process to get to the bottom of what had happened.
"That inquiry should be led by credible people, get all the facts out there and that if anything wrong were found there should be immediate action taken and the changes to the organisation made so that they could not happen again."
The defence case for Mrs Brooks is expected to start later this week.
She denies conspiracy to hack voicemails, conspiracy to make corrupt payments to public officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Mrs Brooks is one of seven defendants in the phone-hacking trial. They all deny the various charges. | Tony Blair gave advice to newspaper executive Rebekah Brooks on handling the phone-hacking scandal six days before her arrest, a court has heard. |
34,761,139 | Twenty years ago, even though he didn't know it, Duncan Jones was starting preparation for the biggest movie of his career so far.
In the mid 1990s Jones, an avid gamer, was immersed in the world of Azeroth in the first Warcraft real-time strategy game, Orcs and Humans.
Cut to 2015, and Jones - now an acclaimed film-maker - has spent almost three years working on the fantasy epic Warcraft: The Beginning that will hit cinemas in June 2016.
"They've been trying to make this film for a long time," he tells the BBC down the line from Los Angeles.
"When I came in I pitched what I thought it should be: essentially a war story where the story is told from both sides and both sides can be empathised with - and that is the film that we made."
The Warcraft movie has been in development since 2006 when it was first announced by the game developer Blizzard Entertainment. Jones came on board in 2013 after the departure of Sam Raimi who had previously been at the helm.
Jones - the son of David Bowie - and his British producer Stuart Fenegan had already been behind two well-received sci-fi films, cult indie hit Moon and time-travel thriller Source Code. But this $100m fantasy movie is by far their biggest project to date.
So why does Jones, 44, think Warcraft will buck the trend of disappointing video game adaptations for the big screen?
"Stuart and I are always looking for challenges!" he laughs.
"We are both very familiar with the track record of games to movies. I think the key is that we actually come from a generation of people who are games players.
"I'm a film maker who started on the Atari and then went onto the Commodore 64 and the Amiga. So I possibly have a different sensibility to people who didn't play games growing up.
"I'm looking at what makes it appeal to me on a story level and who are the characters I can empathise with.
"I don't think it's necessarily what the source material is - I think it's about the respect that you treat it with and how you find the core that makes it worth caring about."
The long-awaited trailer, which was released on 6 November, gives the first proper look at the vast realm of Azeroth and the arrival of fearsome Orc warriors fleeing their dying home. The cast includes Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper and Toby Kebbell.
At the beginning of 2015, Blizzard Entertainment announced that 100 million subscribers had played World of Warcraft over the game's lifetime.
Jones knows how passionate those fans can be and the pressure that brings.
"The gaming audience spends huge amounts of time in those worlds. They know them backwards and they have a unique perspective because not everyone does the same thing.
"So the challenge is to find a way to pull together those elements that means something to everyone."
But the director also knows he can't just rely on the support of hardcore gamers at the box office. Warcraft has to work for people who've never ventured into the world of online role-play.
"There's a huge fanbase for this game but it would be wrong to assume they are all going to turn up.
"There needs to be a broader audience. I don't think the film would be as good if you were filling it with in-jokes and storylines that assumed too much knowledge."
With the post-production work on Warcraft: The Beginning complete, Jones and Fenegan are turning their attention to a new film Mute, set 40 years in the future in a Berlin described as "a science fiction Casablanca".
The cast includes Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd and Moon star Sam Rockwell.
Jones says he is thrilled to be getting the project off the ground after 12 years of planning.
He points out that when he first met Rockwell, it was Mute - and not Moon - that he was originally pitching to make. "It's been a long time coming," he admits.
With his father having just announced a new album for 2016, it looks like next year will be a big one for Bowie and son. | As the first full trailer for next year's Warcraft film is released, director Duncan Jones explains why he thinks this video game-based movie won't be a let-down like so many before it. |
37,196,619 | Scientists said early work on a small number of samples proved very accurate.
Sticky clumps of the molecule are found in the brain cells of people with Parkinson's - and in those of some dementia sufferers.
A Parkinson's disease charity said the results were "hugely promising" but larger studies were now needed.
The study is published in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.
Using samples of spinal fluid from 38 patients, researchers looked for a protein molecule called alpha-synuclein using a highly-sensitive technique.
The molecule is found in healthy brains but it is only when the protein sticks together in lumps that it causes problems, making brain cells die or stopping them performing properly.
These sticky clumps are called Lewy bodies and are found in the brains of those with Parkinson's and those of some dementia patients.
In their tests, the Edinburgh researchers correctly identified 19 out of 20 samples from patients with Parkinson's and three samples from people who were thought to be at risk of the condition.
Healthy samples from 15 people were also correctly identified.
Dr Alison Green, from the University of Edinburgh, said the technique had already been used successfully to test for Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD), another degenerative brain condition.
"We hope that with further refinement, our approach will help to improve diagnosis for Parkinson's patients," she said.
She said scientists were interested in whether it could be used to identify people with Parkinson's, or those with a type of dementia caused by Lewy bodies, in the early stages of their illness.
"These people could then be given the opportunity to take part in trials of new medicines that may slow, or stop, the progression of the disease," she said.
She said the technique was not able to pick up other types of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease.
Dr Beckie Port, senior research communications officer at Parkinson's UK, said there was an urgent need for a simple and accurate test, and she called the research "hugely promising".
"Further research is needed to test more samples to see if the results continue to hold true, but this could be a significant development towards a future early diagnostic test for Parkinson's," she said. | A test of how sticky a protein molecule is could help diagnose the early stages of Parkinson's disease, a study from the University of Edinburgh suggests. |
40,909,547 | The group waved torches and chanted "White lives matter" as they marched through the Charlottesville university.
There were clashes with counter-protesters, while the local mayor condemned the march as racist and a "parade of hatred".
A larger "Unite the Right" rally is planned in the city on Saturday.
The protesters are angered at the planned removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee from Charlottesville. Lee commanded forces of the pro-slavery Confederacy in the US Civil War.
Protest organiser Jason Kessler, who has previously accused the town of "anti-white hatred", described the event as an "incredible moment for white people who've had it up to here and aren't going to take it anymore".
The New York Times and Washington Post reported that the crowd chanted "You will not replace us" and "Jew will not replace us" during the event.
Demonstrators held lit torches - which some observers described as a reference to the Ku Klux Klan - and chanted "blood and soil" and "one people, one nation, end immigration".
The rally was met by a smaller group of counter protesters who had surrounded the university's statue of Thomas Jefferson, holding a banner that read "VA Students Act Against White Supremacy".
The marchers were tightly organised. They gathered after dark at Nameless Park, where they lit their torches and formed into a line, which snaked out of the park and into the University of Virginia campus.
Almost entirely white and male, and in their twenties and thirties, they chanted "You will not replace us", "Blood and soil", and "Our streets".
They marched through the campus to the university's statue of Thomas Jefferson, where they were met by a small group of counter-protesters. One of the counter-protesters apparently sprayed pepper spray at the marchers and the two groups clashed violently. Police moved in and the marchers extinguished their torches, filling the hot air with acrid smoke.
"The heat here is nothing compared to what you're going to get in the ovens," shouted Robert Ray, a writer for white supremacist site Daily Stormer.
"I never thought I'd have to see this in America in my lifetime," said one of the counter-protesters, a student who did not want to be named.
The marchers slowly dissipated. Across the street, more than 500 people were packed into St Paul's Memorial Church, where they had heard readings from the Bible and the Quran and prayers for peace and unity in Charlottesville.
At the end, the congregation filed slowly out of a side door to avoid the white nationalists walking back down Main Street.
The protest was criticised by many local residents and politicians. Charlottesville mayor Mike Signer called the march "a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism and intolerance".
He wrote on Facebook: "Everyone has a right under the First Amendment to express their opinion peaceably, so here's mine: not only as the Mayor of Charlottesville, but as a UVA [University of Virginia] faculty member and alumnus, I am beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable display of visual intimidation on a college campus."
Charlottesville is considered a liberal college town - and 86% of the county voted for Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential elections.
However, the town has become a focal point for white nationalists after the city council voted to remove a statue of General Lee.
Some observers also argue that US President Donald Trump's election to the White House re-energised the far right across the US.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organisation, says that "Trump's run for office electrified the radical right, which saw in him a champion of the idea that America is fundamentally a white man's country."
Last month, Ku Klux Klan supporters staged a march in Virginia - but were outnumbered by counter-protesters. | Hundreds of US white nationalists have rallied at the University of Virginia, protesting against plans to remove a statue of a confederate general. |
38,234,579 | Kuenssberg became political editor last July and has been at the forefront of the corporation's Brexit coverage.
The judges said: "In a tumultuous year [Kuenssberg] rose to the challenge and made the story of Brexit her own."
The Guardian and BBC Panorama were named joint winners of investigation of the year for the Panama Papers scandal.
The Marie Colvin Award was given to Syrian citizen journalists reporting for the Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently group.
Abdalaziz Alhamza, one of the site's founders, picked up the award, saying: "Our work shows that we can fight arms with words, and that ultimately is the only way to defeat them, and Isis knows it."
The judges said of their decision: "Given what those people have done and the price they have paid, it would be odd to put anyone ahead of them."
Channel 4 journalist Waad Al-Kateab, currently trapped in Aleppo, Syria, won the foreign journalism prize, with judges praising her "sensitive, visceral reports" that showed "immense bravery".
Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford told the audience the journalism industry faced "a constant fight for survival".
He said: "The work on display helps explain why what we do is important - and why it should be cherished and encouraged.
"This event aims to bang the drum for the best of what we do as the British industry, which holds everyone else to account."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg has been named journalist of the year at the Press Gazette's British Journalism Awards. |
16,452,014 | The new definition will increase the number of people counted as rape victims in FBI statistics, but it will not change federal or state laws.
Lawmakers use those statistics to allocate resources for prevention and victim assistance.
Many US states have already adopted a wider definition of rape.
Previously, the FBI defined the crime of rape as "the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will".
The new definition removes the reference to females and says rape is "the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object" without the consent of the victim.
Also specified is "oral penetration by a sex organ of another person" without consent.
Vice-President Joe Biden, who raised the issue last July at a Cabinet meeting, called the change a victory for those "whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years".
"We can't solve it unless we know the full extent of it," Mr Biden said.
One in five women and one in 71 men have been raped at some point in the lives, according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control, which used a broader definition.
The US Congress approved $592m (£384m) this year to address violence against women. | The FBI has updated its definition of rape for the first time in 83 years, to include men and those who do not physically resist as victims. |
38,084,826 | Jeanette Parkinson was overpaid when she left Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust in 2012, an internal review found.
Ms Parkinson and other midwives were accused of colluding over evidence given to an inquiry into baby deaths.
Now former HR manager Roger Wilson, who signed off the deal, is being probed by the Care Quality Commission.
A spokeswoman for the trust said he was being investigated under the fit and proper person test.
This regulation, introduced in 2014, means that all people with director-level responsibility for the quality and safety of care, can be deemed unfit if they have been involved in "serious misconduct or mismanagement".
Ms Parkinson, a maternity risk manager, was one of the midwives caring for newborn Joshua Titcombe, who died at Barrow's Furness General hospital in Cumbria in November 2008.
He was one of 11 babies and one mother to die after being treated at the trust's hospitals over a nine-year period.
A later inquiry led by Dr Bill Kirkup found that a "lethal mix" of failures at the trust led to their "unnecessary" deaths between 2004 and 2013.
Last month it emerged that in 2012, Mr Wilson signed an exit deal for Ms Parkinson which allowed her to leave without an investigation into her performance.
At the time Mr Wilson, who now works at Warrington and Halton Hospitals Foundation Trust, told the Health Service Journal: "I would like to record that I strongly refute any allegation of impropriety on my part while employed at UHMB or at any other role that I have held in either public or private sectors." | An NHS boss is being investigated over an "irregular" redundancy deal for a midwife involved in baby death scandals. |
38,650,877 | "Finally we have a little more clarity re the British plans," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
Germany also wanted a "close and trusting relationship", he said.
The Czech Europe Minister, Tomas Prouza, tweeted: "UK's plan seems a bit ambitious".
"Trade as free as possible, full control on immigration... where is the give for all the take?" he asked.
The Italian daily La Repubblica commented: "Out of the EU, out of common market, out of everything. It appears that Theresa May's intention through negotiations with the EU at the end of March is 'a hard Brexit' - a very hard Brexit indeed."
BBC live coverage in full here.
May: UK must leave EU single market
One of the top EU officials, European Council president Donald Tusk, voiced regret but some relief too in a tweet: "Sad process, surrealistic times but at least more realistic announcement on #Brexit."
Belgian liberal Guy Verhofstadt, named as the European Parliament's lead negotiator on Brexit, warned that any deal for the UK would be worse than EU membership.
He said it was an "illusion" for Mrs May to suggest "that you can go out of the single market, that you can go out of the customs union and that you can cherry-pick, that you can have still a number of advantages - I think that will not happen".
Mrs May's mention of a possible alternative economic model for the UK was a "threat", he said, that could obstruct the negotiations.
Norway's Aftenposten daily said Mrs May's speech signalled "a clear rejection of a Norwegian-type involvement in the [EU] internal market".
Norway has very close ties to the EU - as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) it has open, tariff-free access to the EU single market, though Norwegian fisheries and agriculture are excluded.
The price for that advantage is high Norwegian contributions to the EU budget and automatic acceptance of most EU laws.
"Even though she rejects the term, it is indeed a hard Brexit," commented France's Le Figaro daily.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front (FN) in France praised Mrs May's speech.
FN vice-president Florian Philippot tweeted: "Bravo to T. May who respects her people with a 'clear and clean' Brexit. Sovereignty cannot be a half-measure. French independence soon!"
Michael Fuchs, a close conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accused Mrs May of "cherry-picking" in her speech, Sky News reported in a tweet.
EU politicians have stressed that they will not let the UK "cherry-pick" parts of its EU membership terms.
They insist that the single market's four freedoms - covering goods, services, capital and labour - cannot be diluted.
The Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad called Mrs May's speech "not just a bit of Brexit but the full whack".
"Bye bye EU... the unspoken, big threat from London is creating a tax paradise in front of the gates of Europe," it said.
Sweden's former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: "I regret the approach the UK government has taken.
"I think most of the EU would have preferred a closer relationship with the UK."
Sweden has long been one of the UK's closest allies in the EU. | Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit speech is being seen in Europe as the "hard" option of full UK withdrawal - and there is some relief that the British position is clearer now. |
31,077,935 | Tunisia were 1-0 up when they conceded a controversial penalty in the 91st minute and lost 2-1 after extra-time.
"The referee has made a huge error. It's an injustice," said Leekens. "The result was forced. I can't accept it."
The country's football chief Wadie Jary has resigned from the Confederation of African Football in protest.
Leekens added: "In all my 45 years in football, 15 as a player and 30 as a coach, I've never seen anything like it, the result was forced. I can't accept it."
It looked a harsh decision when Mauritian referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn pointed to the penalty spot in stoppage time, ruling that Ali Maaloul had fouled Ivan Bolado.
Javier Balboa slotted in the kick and he went on to score the winner with a free-kick from 25 yards in the 102nd minute.
"We played a good game, we've worked like mad men, we had a difficult first two weeks and we didn't deserve that," Leekens said after Saturday's match in Bata.
"If they had played better than us, then I would accept defeat but I can't in this fashion.
"My players gave everything and I am very proud. But I am very, very disappointed, not just for me but for Tunisia and my team. I think we deserved to go through but I wish Equatorial Guinea luck."
While many neutrals may sympathise with Tunisia over the penalty awarded against them, the squad's reaction has damaged their reputation.
The constant pushing and shoving between both teams that had been a feature of the match spilled over after Balboa converted the controversial spot-kick - within seconds, bottles of water were thrown from the Tunisian bench at their Equatorial Guinea counterparts.
The final whistle was met by uglier scenes as at least five North African players chased referee Seechur, who struggled to keep control and had to be protected by security officials as emotions spiralled out of control.
"There was a lot of anger because we were disappointed," Tunisia forward Wahbi Khazri told BBC Sport.
The referee is the boss on the pitch and if he says it's a penalty, it's a penalty
"It's a scandal. The referee won the match and killed the game. It's unacceptable. I think we deserved to win but the referee was better than us today.
"When I see things like that, I'm keen to go home. I think we're a long way from modern-day football in Africa."
Equatorial Guinea were angered by the post-match focus on the penalty, feeling that the achievement of the tournament outsiders should have been celebrated instead.
Ranked 118th in the world by Fifa, Equatorial Guinea - a team that was eliminated from the qualifying campaign last year after fielding an ineligible player - have used their reinstatement as hosts to great advantage.
Now a side that agreed to stage the finals in November, after original hosts Morocco pulled out, can claim to be among the best four sides in Africa.
"We are so happy to be in the semi-finals, and the key to our victory was passion," defender Rui told BBC Sport.
"The referee is the boss on the pitch and if he says it's a penalty, it's a penalty. I don't care about it."
Meanwhile, striker Luis Fabiani was keen to downplay the ugly scenes that marred the latter part of the game, as well as its denouement.
"It's a very emotional game," he told BBC Sport. "It happens in football but you leave it on the pitch."
The Confederation of African Football has told the BBC it will await the referee's report before responding to the behaviour of both teams.
Equatorial Guinea will play the winner of Sunday's quarter-final between Ghana and Guinea in Malabo on Thursday. | Coach Georges Leekens has described his Tunisia side's Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final defeat by Equatorial Guinea as "a shame for football". |
39,665,102 | The country has strict and controversial blasphemy laws - which human rights groups say are often used to unfairly target religious minorities or settle personal scores. Could this case prove a turning point?
Mashal Khan was a 26-year-old student of journalism at the Abdul Wali Khan University in the northern city of Mardan.
He described himself on Facebook as a humanist and his social media postings reveal a young man interested in promoting women's rights and opposing racism.
His room on the university campus was decorated with posters of Che Guevara and Karl Marx, as well as slogans such as "Freedom is the right of every individual".
On 13 April 2017 a mob of hundreds of students marched through the university campus chanting religious slogans as they searched for Mashal Khan.
It is not clear what exactly triggered their accusations of blasphemy. A Reuters report quoted a caretaker at the hostel as saying the previous day Mr Khan had been involved in a heated debate on religion with other students.
A friend of Mashal Khan's told the BBC that Mr Khan had previously been threatened and didn't feel able to express himself openly at university because of the hostile attitude towards him and his views from other students.
In a confession to police that was leaked to media outlets, one of the students accused of being part of the mob said he had long accused Mr Khan and two of his friends of "anti-Islamic views".
The suspect describes being called to a meeting on the morning of the attack to discuss Mr Khan's alleged blasphemy with other students and lecturers.
One of Mashal Khan's friends was also present at the meeting and was also accused of blasphemy.
In a statement to police he described reciting an Islamic statement of faith in front of his accusers, who then tried to force him to state that Mr Khan had committed blasphemy, but he refused.
Lecturer Ziaullah Hamdard told private Pakistani TV channel Geo News he tried to warn Mashal Khan the mob was looking for him. But they broke into his hostel and found him in his room.
Mobile phone videos show Mr Khan being beaten and stamped on. According to the post mortem he was also shot. One purported eyewitness wrote on Facebook that Mr Khan protested his innocence until his death and begged to be taken to hospital.
The hostel warden told the BBC how he tried to rescue Mr Khan by picking him up after he was shot to carry him to safety. But the mob grabbed hold and continued beating him, long after he was clearly dead.
A witness told the BBC the mob tried to burn his body, but police managed to retrieve it.
Over 20 people have been arrested, including a number of university employees. Leading figures of local branches of student political parties have also been linked to the mob attack.
Police say they are also searching for a man identified as a local councillor for Imran Khan's PTI political party. He is seen in a video, as the mob celebrates the killing, saying anyone who reveals who shot Mashal Khan is a "traitor".
Mashal Khan's friend has told police the university administration were "deadly against Mashal Khan" for openly criticising the running of the university in a recent TV interview. One suspect has suggested certain members of staff incited students against Marshal Khan.
University officials say they did everything in their power to save him and they are co-operating fully with the police inquiry.
Blasphemy is legally punishable by death in Pakistan. People have received the death penalty but so far the state has not executed anyone. A number of people accused of blasphemy have been murdered, however.
There is often strong support for harsh punishment of blasphemers. After Mashal Khan's murder it was reported that a cleric in his village refused to lead his funeral prayers and urged others not to attend them.
However, there has been widespread support for Mashal Khan amongst the wider Pakistani public. Many have posted pictures and quotes from Mashal Khan's social media pages in solidarity with him. A number of demonstrations calling for his killers to be punished have been held across the country.
Ever since Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was murdered by one of his bodyguards for trying to reform blasphemy laws in 2011, politicians have been reluctant to take a firm stance on the issue.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waited two days before issuing a strongly worded statement saying he was "shocked and saddened by the senseless display of mob justice".
Opposition politician Imran Khan was one of the first to condemn the murder and subsequently visited Mashal Khan's family to pay his condolences. On allegations that some of the attackers were affiliated to his party, he said those involved should be treated "with iron hands" regardless of political affiliation. "The entire nation is united on one point that it was a murder and everyone wants the convicts to be punished severely," he said.
Commentators, though, have pointed out that recently the government has been taking a hard-line position on blasphemy. Last month the prime minister called blasphemy "an unpardonable sin", while the Federal Investigation Agency took out newspaper adverts asking the public to inform them of anyone involved in blasphemous activities online.
Leading columnist Cyril Almeida says the authorities have inflamed passions in recent weeks, writing "the state itself has said there are blasphemers hiding among you, the people; find them!".
There has been a greater level of sympathy for Mashal Khan than for other victims accused of blasphemy partly because the police have made it clear there is no substance to the allegations against him.
Politicians and clerics have both talked of the need to prevent false blasphemy allegations. Cleric Mufti Naeem from the influential Jamia Binoria madrassa told reporters "blasphemy law is being misused in the country".
But there is less agreement on whether blasphemy laws should actually be changed. Much of the condemnation has revolved around the mob "taking the law into their own hands". Activist Jibran Nasir told the BBC "so far rage has been directed towards calling for tough punishment of the offenders - not reform".
Since Mashal Khan's death, there has been another killing. On Thursday, police arrested three women in north-east Pakistan for killing a Shia man accused of blasphemy in 2004 by a hard-line conservative group. He had recently returned to Pakistan from overseas to fight the case.
Mashal Khan's father told the BBC that he hoped for a strong government response, to ensure no other family experiences a similar tragedy. | The brutal mob killing of a university student who was accused of committing blasphemy has caused outrage in Pakistan. |
36,722,152 | But the research project that has seen Moorfields Hospital hand over retinal scans to DeepMind has already proved controversial - and, for me, it all feels rather close to home.
For the past 10 years, I have been a regular visitor to Moorfields, where I receive excellent treatment for a longstanding condition.
This includes having pictures taken of the back of my eye, and it seems likely that these photos may be among those handed to DeepMind.
This is for a project that aims to work out whether machine-learning technology can give doctors a better understanding of eye disease.
On hearing of this project, some privacy campaigners cried foul on the grounds that patients were not being asked if they wanted their data to be handed over.
But Google and Moorfields say that since the data was anonymised, they were not obliged by the information commissioner's rules to seek permission from patients.
Moorfields Hospital told me that any data collected from patients is assumed to be available to research projects undertaken by the hospital or its partners.
Patients can opt out - but that would mean withholding data from all projects, rather than just this one.
Now, I can imagine that some people who would be generally happy to see their data used in research will still be uneasy about it going to Google, whatever the guarantees of anonymity.
That does not apply to me. I have heard so much about the potential of big data to improve healthcare - and so little evidence that it is happening - that any privacy concerns are, for me, outweighed by impatience for progress.
But here is the irony. Moorfields may be good at sharing our data with Google - but sharing my data with the hospital or more widely across the health service is much harder.
At the weekend, I went for an eye test with the excellent optician who first spotted my condition and referred me to Moorfields.
The practice is fitted out with advanced equipment almost as good as that at the hospital, and my eyes were examined and photographed in all sorts of clever ways
There was a minor issue that the optician spotted and wanted a consultant to see at some stage.
But she then revealed that she was unable to simply email the photos to Moorfields, because the hospital's systems did not allow that.
She recommended that I take a picture of the scans on my phone and then show them to the consultant on my next visit.
This seemed bizarre to me, but I have since spoken to another optician who confirmed that this was the case across the NHS.
"If we are referring a patient we have to print out the scan and put in the post - or if it's urgent we fax it across," he told me.
"Of course, a fax is black and white, so not much use."
The problem, it seems, is inadequate and incompatible IT systems, coupled with an NHS still not really comfortable with email as a means of communication.
Concerns about privacy and security of email may also be an issue.
My problem with my eye scans may seem like an isolated incident, but many who work in the NHS agree that it is symptomatic of a wider cultural problem.
The collaboration between Moorfields Hospital and Google is just the kind of project that excites those who dream of an artificial intelligence revolution transforming healthcare.
But the more prosaic business of dragging health service IT into the 21st Century may be more important to patients in the short term. | It is a fascinating experiment that brings together Google's artificial intelligence division and one of the world's leading centres for the treatment of eye conditions. |
12,364,160 | The study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology by Edinburgh University researchers analysed 2005 data from over 400 English GP practices.
Children from higher income homes also appeared more likely to be diagnosed.
However, a leading allergy expert said that "inequality of access" to health care could be the reason.
The researchers looked at data on peanut allergies actually diagnosed by a doctor, rather than the actual incidence amongst a population.
The records of a total of nearly three million patients were examined.
Babies and younger boys were up to 30% more likely to be diagnosed with a peanut allergy than girls of the same age, a figure that confirms previous research into peanut allergies.
However, the gap in diagnoses between the sexes narrowed as the children grew up.
By the age of 15, girls and boys were being diagnosed at almost the same rates and by the age of 24 the figures were reversed, with more women being diagnosed than men.
A researcher from the university, Colin Simpson, said that other allergies had shown higher rates in boys than girls too.
The reason for the difference was, he said, still not clear: "There could be a link to the sex hormones, but we don't know for sure. The fact that at puberty there is a change could point to a link, but we need to do more work."
The results also showed that there were more diagnoses in those from higher income groups.
Patients in the highest income groups were almost twice as likely to be diagnosed as those from the lowest income homes. There were 0.7 diagnoses per 1,000 patients in the highest socio-economic group, compared with a diagnosis rate of 0.4 per 1,000 in the lowest.
This appears to confirm the common idea that peanut allergy affects those from the middle classes disproportionately.
But paediatric allergy expert Dr Adam Fox, from the Evelina Children's Hospital in London, said that this was not necessarily the case.
"It's interesting to see this difference but it does not mean that children from middle-class homes are more likely to have peanut allergies.
"It could be that those from more deprived backgrounds are not as good at getting their children diagnosed as those from the middle classes. We know that there is an inequality of access in health care."
Dr Fox said that more work should be done at looking at why the rates were different when comparing diagnoses from children in different income groups.
"Whatever the reason is, it's an interesting finding and we need to find out why these differences are showing up."
The overall numbers of people with a peanut allergy appeared much lower in this study, than in previous work measuring the amount of peanut allergies in the UK.
Previous studies have a reported prevalence rates as high as 18 per 1000 among children of primary school age. This study showed much lower prevalence rates - of just 2 per 1000.
Researcher Colin Simpson said that the rate was likely to be "somewhere between the two."
Dr Fox said that the difference in the rates could probably be explained by the different collection methods.
Unlike previous studies, this report measured only patients with allergies who had actually gone along to a see a GP and who had been diagnosed as having a peanut allergy.
Dr Fox said that some patients may also have been missed by the study if their allergy had been categorised in the GP records as a food allergy, rather than a peanut allergy. | Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with a peanut allergy than girls, research has found. |
40,047,892 | Young was out of contract at Torquay, who he joined from League Two side Plymouth in June 2014.
The 24-year-old has played in 87 league games for the Gulls, and won their player of the season award in 2016-17.
"Last season he got stronger and better with each game," player-manager Kevin Nicholson told the club website. | Torquay United midfielder Luke Young has signed a contract extension of undisclosed length to stay with the National League club. |
36,516,979 | So far it is advantage Wales in France after they won their opening match, while England were held by Russia in Marseille after conceding a late goal to draw.
But which of the Welsh heroes would make your starting XI? And which of Roy's boys would get in there?
Use our team selector to pick your best starting XI from the 46 players in both squads.
Who would get in a combined XI from the England and Wales squads? Pick your XI - and then share it with your friends using our team selector. | England and Wales meet in their crucial Group B match on Thursday - but who would make your combined starting XI from the two squads? |
32,911,084 | Tony Fontes loves diving the waters around Queensland's Whitsunday Islands.
In a career spanning three decades, the diving operator has introduced countless others to the magical underworld that is the Great Barrier Reef.
But he has also watched its decline.
The waters are now milkier and the coral quality poorer. Increasing attacks by crown-of-thorns starfish have left swathes of reef brown and lifeless.
"There'll always be reef but it's not what it once was," he told the BBC.
Like many others, he is waiting to hear if the reef - which gained World Heritage status in 1981 - will be listed as "in danger" by UN cultural agency Unesco.
The reef is one of more than 1,000 sites on Unesco's World Heritage List considered to be of such outstanding value that the world has an obligation to look after them.
Unesco believes the Australian site is worth saving because it contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, along with 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of molluscs.
But it is worried that threats to the reef's health - from overdevelopment, pollution and climate change - have reached a dangerous point.
The reef system has lost 50% of its coral in the past 30 years.
* The Great Barrier Reef includes 3,000 coral reefs and 600 islands
* It is the world's largest marine park
* It receives about two million tourists each year.
* The region contributes A$6bn ($4.6bn; £3bn) a year to the Australian economy
Q&A: World Heritage in Danger List
In pictures: Great Barrier Reef
Late on Friday, Unesco will receive a draft recommendation about whether to place the reef on its "in danger" list. A final decision will be made at a Unesco World Heritage Committee meeting in Germany in late June.
Few expect the international body to take this step - in part because of a flurry of activity by the Australian and Queensland governments to tighten development regulations along the Queensland coast, as well as heavy diplomatic lobbying by the Federal government.
An "in danger" listing would prove problematic for plans to open more coal mines in Queensland and proposals for more coal ports along its coast.
But environmentalists and scientists remain concerned about the reef's long-term fate.
Climate change, pollution, coastal development, fishing and dredging for shipping channels have wrought significant damage on the 348,000-sq km World Heritage Site, which stretches from the tip of Queensland to the city of Bundaberg.
There is no question the reef is in danger, says World Wildlife Fund Australia (WWF) marine programme manager, Richard Leck.
"If we'd lost 50% of the Taj Mahal, we wouldn't even question whether it was in danger," he told the BBC, referring to the loss of coral cover.
But WWF does not want the reef's heritage status changed.
"We know the impact that will have on Australia's international standing," says Mr Leck.
He says it would deliver a heavy blow to tourism and the coastal communities who rely on it.
Submissions to a 2014 Australian parliamentary inquiry into the reef back that view.
As the Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association explained: "It has taken a long time to build the brand that is the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef, and making the wrong decision could ruin that reputation."
State and federal governments have taken note of Unesco's scrutiny.
The Queensland government has pledged to forbid new dredge spoil - the sand, silt and rock dug out of the sea floor to create deeper ports - from being dumped in reef waters or on nearby wetlands.
There are also government plans to reduce pollution from fertilisers and pesticides used in coastal farming.
Just this week, the Queensland Government announced it would introduce laws limiting port development adjacent to the reef.
The federal government is so worried about a potential listing that officials from its Environment Department have spent A$100,000 travelling overseas to lobby World Heritage Committee members.
Officials have visited 19 of the 21 member countries of the World Heritage Committee in recent months in a bid to avoid a highly embarrassing "in danger" listing.
A spokesperson for Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt told the BBC the government makes "absolutely no apology" for defending the reef's reputation.
The government says also that more than A$2bn will be spent on the reef over the next decade.
"This is a significant investment and it's on top of the A$2.6bn we're spending to tackle climate change - one of the major long term threats to the reef," said the spokesperson.
Still, concerns remain that the flurry of government reports, plans and promises generated over the past few years will not be enough if the watchful eye of Unesco moves on.
And a lot of damage has already been done.
A 2012 study by the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences found the reef had lost half of its coral cover in less than 30 years.
A year before, there were reports of large-scale disease among fish and crabs in Gladstone harbour, one of the four major ports inside the world heritage area.
Simon Whittingham, from Gladstone Fish Markets, told the 2014 parliamentary committee that turtles, dolphins and dugongs were washing up dead.
"Fish kills were occurring throughout the harbour. Something was terribly wrong," he said.
But as politicians, scientists, and conservationists debate the reef's future and Australia awaits the World Heritage Committee's decision, the reef itself continues to quietly divulge its secrets.
Three years ago, the Catlin Seaview Survey photographed a large crop of coral 125m under water that had never been seen before.
"We don't even know when the deeper reef formed," survey executive director Richard Vevers says.
"There's a lot of the Great Barrier Reef that has never been explored," he adds. | Australia faces a dent to its reputation and a potentially devastating blow to its tourism industry should one of the country's most iconic natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef, be listed as "in danger" by the United Nations. |
39,245,136 | A late Jason Kerr strike condemned Livi to a 1-0 loss - their first in seven games.
Second-placed Alloa Athletic took advantage, beating Stenhousemuir 2-1 to reduce Livi's lead to seven points.
Airdrieonians won a thrilling clash with Albion Rovers 4-3, Brechin City beat Peterhead 1-0, while Stranraer and Queen's Park finished level at 1-1.
Greig Spence's late penalty snatched victory for the Wasps at Ochilview after Thomas Grant cancelled out Dylan Mackin's opener.
Sean McIntosh's 90th-minute goal secured all three points for Airdrieonians from a pulsating derby at Cliftonhill.
The visitors' Jack Leitch scored the only goal of the first half, but Ross Davidson equalised just after the break, only for Andy Ryan to restore the lead two minutes later.
The advantage did not last long as a Ryan Wallace penalty just after the hour mark levelled proceedings.
Iain Russell put the visitors back ahead after 76 minutes, but Wallace equalised again a minute before McIntosh's winner.
There was still time for Diamonds midfielder Kyle Hutton to be shown a red card, but the visitors secured a win that keeps them in fourth place above Brechin.
Andrew Jackson's 60th-minute goal earned Brechin victory at Peterhead.
Meanwhile, Craig Malcolm cancelled out Ross Millen's penalty before Ross Millen was sent off late on as Stranraer and Queen's Park shared the spoils. | Scottish League One leaders Livingston suffered a surprise home defeat to third-placed East Fife. |
37,891,986 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Smalling has been out with a foot injury since 23 October, while Shaw played in the Europa League defeat by Fenerbahce on Thursday.
Before the game, Mourinho said: "Smalling doesn't feel that he can play 100% with his pain. Shaw told me this morning that he was not able to play."
Afterwards, he added: "For the team, you have to do anything."
Listen to 5 live's Football Daily Podcast
Mourinho, serving a touchline ban, watched from the stand as two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and one from Paul Pogba helped United end a four-game run without a Premier League win.
"There is a difference between the brave, who want to play at any cost, and the ones for whom a little pain can make a difference," said the former Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss.
"If I were to speak with the many great football people of this team, they will say they played many times without being 100%.
"We have players on the pitch with problems. In every sport, how many times do you play and you're not 100%?"
United were also without two more defenders in Antonio Valencia, who has had arm surgery, and Eric Bailly, absent with a knee injury.
With four defenders missing, winger Ashley Young played at full-back and Phil Jones, who had been out since January with a knee injury, returned.
Mourinho praised the pair, saying he needs such players if he his to change the mindset at Old Trafford.
"It is not just the players, but the people that surround the players," said the Portuguese.
"Yes, it takes time, but with the help of people like Phil Jones, who was playing without having even trained, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney - with these people it will not be an impossible mission but a possible mission."
To add to Mourinho's selection problems, Ibrahimovic will miss the home game against Arsenal on 19 November after picking up a yellow card against Swansea.
Central defender Smalling, 26, and left-back Shaw, 21, have both been left out of the England squad for the World Cup qualifier against Scotland and the friendly against Spain.
"Chris has not played for quite a while. Luke played and had ongoing difficulties," Southgate explained on Monday.
"Our medical teams are very close, and we liaise closely. The decision with Luke to not play yesterday was a bit late and we are aware both players are carrying injuries."
On whether Mourinho was right to criticise the players, Southgate added: "It is a club matter and it is not for me to comment on in terms of players playing with injury."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho questioned Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw for missing the 3-1 win at Swansea. |
39,848,931 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Lucy Bronze headed the opener following a free-kick and crossed for Izzy Christiansen to crash home the second.
Lloyd's header capped a fine 14-minute spell to make it 3-0 by the break.
Charlie Wellings' goal gave Birmingham brief hope, but Jill Scott's fierce shot sealed City's victory in front of a competition-record crowd at Wembley.
The 2016 Women's Super League champions are now in possession of all three main domestic honours - the first team to do so since Arsenal Ladies in 2011.
Birmingham had knocked out holders Arsenal and 2015 champions Chelsea to make the final, but the 2012 winners never looked like repeating that feat on their first trip to Wembley in front of 35,271 fans.
Before 2014, Manchester City Women had never lifted a major trophy - but they are now closing in on a potential clean sweep of all four domestic honours in the space of nine months.
Having won the WSL and Continental Cup last year, they will hope to add the WSL Spring Series to their Women's FA Cup success.
Manchester City, who also reached the Champions League semi-finals in May, had never even played in the top flight when Birmingham won the FA Cup in 2012.
City's relentlessly aggressive pressing game and dominant defence laid the foundation for a ruthless victory which was as good as sealed by the interval.
Birmingham's inability to retain possession under persistent pressure led to them conceding territory and numerous free-kicks and corners, where City's set-piece superiority twice told in a one-sided first half.
Moments after a near-post corner almost brought an opening goal for Megan Campbell with a neat flicked effort, Bronze darted in to convert Campbell's inviting inswinging free-kick for a 1-0 lead.
Bronze then bustled Paige Williams out of possession and picked out Christiansen with a delightful cross.
City's preference to stretch play and attack down the flanks had meant that, despite being 2-0 up, Lloyd was a peripheral figure for the opening 30 minutes.
She had shown glimpses of her technical ability and vision but made her quality count when she rose above flapping Blues keeper Ann-Katrin Berger to head home another Campbell cross following a short corner.
City stayed in control despite facing an improved Blues side after the break, with the lively Nikita Parris having a shot tipped wide and Steph Houghton sending a header off target.
Birmingham were rewarded for their efforts through Wellings' curled effort, but Scott showed some nifty footwork to fire in a fourth goal after good work by substitute Toni Duggan.
Manchester City captain Houghton, who will also lead England at Euro 2017 this summer, described the FA Cup as "the one we were missing" after their final triumph.
"Credit to all the girls and all the staff, we've worked so hard," she told BBC Radio 5 live. "We've had a tireless schedule, but we were the best team on the day.
"The aim was to win as many trophies with this team as I could. To be captain of this club is unbelievable - but to win the FA Cup at Wembley, it's what dreams are made of."
Match ends, Birmingham City Ladies 1, Manchester City Women 4.
Second Half ends, Birmingham City Ladies 1, Manchester City Women 4.
Attempt missed. Georgia Stanway (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Carli Lloyd.
Attempt saved. Stephanie Houghton (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Aoife Mannion (Birmingham City Ladies) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Aoife Mannion (Birmingham City Ladies).
Carli Lloyd (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Offside, Manchester City Women. Carli Lloyd tries a through ball, but Toni Duggan is caught offside.
Jessica Carter (Birmingham City Ladies) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Abbie McManus (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jessica Carter (Birmingham City Ladies).
Substitution, Birmingham City Ladies. Abbey-Leigh Stringer replaces Paige Williams.
Foul by Jessica Carter (Birmingham City Ladies).
Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt blocked. Charlie Wellings (Birmingham City Ladies) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Corner, Manchester City Women. Conceded by Paige Williams.
Substitution, Birmingham City Ladies. Chloe Peplow replaces Andrine Hegerberg.
Lucy Bronze (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Kerys Harrop (Birmingham City Ladies).
Attempt missed. Ellen White (Birmingham City Ladies) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Jessica Carter with a cross.
Goal! Birmingham City Ladies 1, Manchester City Women 4. Jill Scott (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Toni Duggan.
Ann-Katrin Berger (Birmingham City Ladies) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Georgia Stanway (Manchester City Women).
Substitution, Manchester City Women. Abbie McManus replaces Megan Campbell.
Offside, Birmingham City Ladies. Kerys Harrop tries a through ball, but Paige Williams is caught offside.
Karen Bardsley (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ellen White (Birmingham City Ladies).
Attempt blocked. Ellie Brazil (Birmingham City Ladies) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jessica Carter.
Corner, Manchester City Women. Conceded by Meaghan Sargeant.
Goal! Birmingham City Ladies 1, Manchester City Women 3. Charlie Wellings (Birmingham City Ladies) left footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ellie Brazil.
Attempt missed. Stephanie Houghton (Manchester City Women) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Toni Duggan with a cross following a corner.
Corner, Manchester City Women. Conceded by Kerys Harrop.
Attempt missed. Stephanie Houghton (Manchester City Women) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Toni Duggan with a cross following a corner.
Substitution, Manchester City Women. Georgia Stanway replaces Nikita Parris.
Corner, Manchester City Women. Conceded by Ann-Katrin Berger.
Attempt saved. Toni Duggan (Manchester City Women) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Isobel Christiansen.
Attempt missed. Stephanie Houghton (Manchester City Women) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left from a direct free kick.
Foul by Aoife Mannion (Birmingham City Ladies).
Carli Lloyd (Manchester City Women) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Paige Williams (Birmingham City Ladies). | World Player of the Year Carli Lloyd was among the scorers as Manchester City cruised past Birmingham to win the Women's FA Cup for the first time. |
40,900,639 | More than one in 10 people aged between 25 and 34 used notes and coins no more than once a month last year, according to UK Finance.
The trade body for financial providers said nearly three million people rarely used cash.
But, across all age groups, cash remains the most popular way to pay.
The figures show that 6% of the UK's adult population used cash no more than once a month last year, but this increased to more than 10% for 25 to 34-year-olds. The proportion drops to 2% for 55 to 64-year-olds.
At the opposite end of the scale, 5% of the UK adult population (2.7 million people) relied almost entirely on cash to make their day-to-day payments during 2016, UK Finance said.
This was relatively evenly spread across different age groups. However, people with lower household incomes were far more likely to rely mainly on cash compared with their more affluent counterparts.
More than half of all consumers who relied predominantly on cash during 2016 had total household incomes of less than £15,000 per year.
Cash accounted for 44% of all payments made by consumers across the UK last year. | A tenth of young adults shun cash and rely instead on cards and digital payments for their day-to-day spending, figures suggest. |
38,156,003 | Yorkshire Water wants to create the new reservoir in Boston Park to replace two older ones in the grounds.
Friends of Boston Castle and Parklands said they were "gobsmacked" and concerned by the loss of green space.
Yorkshire Water said it would give £80,000 to improve the park plus 2.6 acres (10,500sqm) of old reservoir space nearby.
Boston Castle was built by Thomas, 3rd Earl of Effingham in 1775 and sits within 23 acres overlooking Rotherham and Sheffield.
More stories from Sheffield and South Yorkshire
A new reservoir is "urgently needed" to serve 20,000 Rotherham homes and a hospital as the old ones are at the end of their useful life, Yorkshire Water said.
Polly Hamilton of Rotherham Borough Council said Yorkshire Water had been "very generous" in offering to fund repairs and improvements.
She said: "There's some really good news here in that there's a gain in the amount of land available.
"Subject to planning approval we can get on with making these improvements as soon as possible."
The Friends group said they felt "miffed" and "dumbfounded" and would have liked to have been told in advance of the plans.
Ms Hamilton said they could be "excited" about "much-needed improvements" to the park and that they would be consulted over details.
Friends group chair Andrew Emery said £80,000 "would go a long way" to fund improvements including a cafe, children's playground and refurbishment of the Dell area.
The council is being asked to transfer about two acres (8,880sqm) of land to Yorkshire Water who would then need planning permission before they could build the reservoir.
In return, Yorkshire Water said it would release 2.6 acres (10,500sqm) of land back to the council although the local authority admitted it would be "less useful as recreational green space" because it is further from the castle and car park.
The council's cabinet is being advised to approve the plans when its meets on 12 December. | Plans for a new reservoir near an eighteenth-century castle in Rotherham have shocked residents. |
35,769,646 | World number 18 Ouseph, who reached the quarter-finals last year, lost 21-17 21-12 to India's Kidambi Srikanth.
Scot Gilmour, ranked 19 in the world, was beaten 21-17 21-17 by Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.
Mixed doubles pair Chris and Gabby Adcock beat Indonesia's Ronald Alexander and Melati Daeva Oktaviani.
The Adcocks saved set point in winning the first set 22-20 before taking the next 21-12 to go through at the Barclaycard Arena. | British number ones Ravij Ouseph and Kirsty Gilmour both lost in the first round of the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham. |
35,653,516 | She won the "excellence in fantasy film" prize for Mad Max: Fury Road.
Beavan, who previously won an Oscar in 1987, is also nominated for an Academy Award for her work on the Mad Max film.
Fry's comments on Beavan's choice of outfit after she won the best costume prize at the Baftas led to criticism on social media.
He told the audience at the ceremony: "Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to an awards ceremony dressed as a bag lady."
The former QI host, who had been presenting the show, later tweeted a picture of the pair and said she was a "dear friend" and had "got" the joke.
He has since left Twitter, saying the "fun is over".
If Beavan - who was presented with her award by British actress Kate Beckinsale - wins the Oscar this weekend, it would add to the statuette she was awarded for her work on period drama A Room with a View.
Jenny Eagan received the guild's contemporary film prize for Netflix drama Beasts of No Nation at the annual awards, while the "excellence in period film" award went to Paco Delgado for The Danish Girl.
Actress Cate Blanchett and director Quentin Tarantino were among the non-fashion designers recognised at Tuesday's event, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
Blanchett was given the Lacoste Spotlight Award, presented by costume designer Sandy Powell - with whom she worked on Carol, The Aviator and Cinderella.
Tarantino took home the distinguished collaborator award "in recognition of his creative partnerships with costume designers", the awards organisers said. His co-stars in The Hateful Eight, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh, presented the award.
Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who has worked on Wall Street, Basic Instinct and Behind the Candelabra, was awarded the career achievement award, with the distinguished service award given to Edwina Pellikka, "for her dedication to the craft and art of design".
Other awards went to Lou Eyrich for American Horror Story: Hotel, which won the outstanding contemporary television series award; Mirojnick for The Knick, for outstanding period television series; Michele Clapton for Game of Thrones, which won the outstanding fantasy television series award and Julie Vogel took home the excellence in short form design prize. | Jenny Beavan, who was the subject of Stephen Fry's "bag lady" remark at the Bafta film awards, has been honoured at the Costume Designers Guild Awards. |
36,478,976 | The men were watching a World Cup game in June 1994 when gunmen burst into the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, County Down, and opened fire.
Five others were wounded in the attack carried out by the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force.
No-one has ever been convicted of the attack.
Families of the victims have persistently accused the police of failing to properly investigate the killings, claiming they wanted to protect informers.
They have alleged there was collusion between some police officers and those who carried out the attack.
The men who died were Adrian Rogan 34, Malcolm Jenkinson, 53, Barney Greene, 87, Daniel McCreanor 59, Patrick O'Hare, 35, and Eamon Byrne, 39.
Mr Greene was one of the oldest people to be killed in the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Five years ago the previous police ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, published a report which said the police had not properly investigated the killings.
But his report said there was insufficient evidence of collusion between the police and the Ulster Volunteer Force.
The families took legal action and in December 2012 the report's findings were quashed.
Mr Hutchinson resigned shortly afterwards and his successor, Dr Michael Maguire, re-opened the investigation.
The families and their lawyers were briefed about the findings in Loughinisland on Wednesday.
Dr Maguire's report will contain thousands of words, but for the families of those killed and seriously injured in the Heights Bar, the focus will be on whether he uses just one word - collusion.
South Down MP, the SDLP's Margaret Ritchie, told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme: "We want to see Dr Maguire call it for what it is. It is collusion.
""But we also want him to say quite clearly, who did it, how many were involved in it, was there local involvement in this heinous crime?" | The police ombudsman is to rule on allegations of collusion between police and a loyalist gang that killed six Catholics 22 years ago. |
30,824,372 | Kevin Jorgeson, 30, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, are the first climbers to do so without aids, except for harnesses and ropes to prevent deadly falls.
They began their historic half-mile ascent on 27 December.
During the climb the pair slept in tents suspended from the mountain face.
The men did not give media interviews on completion of their challenge, but are expected to discuss the climb later.
Eric Jorgeson, Kevin Jorgeson's father, told local media his son had always been a climber and watching him fulfil a long-time dream had made him proud.
"He climbed everything he could think of. It made us nervous early on as parents, but we got used to it," he said.
He and his son had begun climbing the other routes to El Capitan's peak in California when Kevin was 15, making it a birthday tradition each year.
"I feel like the most proud person in the world right now," Mr Caldwell's sister, Sandy Van Nieuwenhuyzen, said.
During their climb up the notoriously difficult Dawn Wall route, both took rest days to wait for their skin to heal and used tape and even superglue to speed the process.
At one point it seemed unlikely that they would make it to the top, the BBC's Alastair Leithead at the foot of El Capitan reports.
The pair suffered bruising falls, when their grip slipped, and they would bounce off the mountain face.
Only their safety ropes saved them from further harm.
"As disappointing as this is, I'm learning new levels of patience, perseverance and desire,'' Jorgeson had posted online at one point.
"I'm not giving up. I will rest. I will try again. I will succeed."
How do they do it?
How do you climb a smooth rock face? | Two US climbers - who spent more than two weeks scaling the sheer face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park - have finally reached the summit of the 3,000ft (914m) rock. |
38,773,341 | The 19-year-old started his career with Kidderminster Harriers, where he played under Mariners head of recruitment Gary Whild, before joining Blues in January 2016.
He is yet to make his competitive debut for the Championship side.
A groin strain is likely to prevent him from featuring for Grimsby against Stevenage on Saturday.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page or visit our Premier League tracker here. | Grimsby Town have signed Birmingham City midfielder Luke Maxwell on loan until the end of the season. |
36,378,972 | The woman is appealing against the UK regulator's refusal to allow her to take her only child's eggs to a US clinic to be used with donor sperm.
Her daughter, who died five years ago, was said to have approved of the plan.
The mother lost a High Court case last year but was subsequently granted permission to challenge the decision.
The latest round of the case is being heard at the Court of Appeal in London, before a panel of three judges.
The UK fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said, in 2014, the daughter's eggs could not be released from storage in London because she had not given her full written consent before she had died, from bowel cancer at the age of 28.
But, in the latest legal proceedings, lawyers acting for the mother told the judges she wanted to fulfil her daughter's wishes to carry a child created from her frozen eggs and "raise that child".
Jenni Richards QC added the eggs would "simply be allowed to perish" if the court did not rule in her favour.
Meanwhile, Catherine Callaghan, appearing for the HFEA, said in a written argument before the court: "It is natural to feel sympathy for the appellants' loss and for their wish to keep their daughter's memory alive by trying to conceive a child using their daughter's eggs."
But it was not the court's role to decide whether it would have permitted the mother to undergo fertility treatment using her daughter's eggs.
Ms Callaghan added: "Rather its role is to determine whether Mr Justice Ouseley erred in concluding that the HFEA's statutory approvals committee acted lawfully and rationally in exercising its broad discretion to refuse to authorise export of the frozen eggs to a treatment centre in New York for use in the way proposed."
During earlier High Court proceedings in June 2015, the court was told her daughter was desperate to have children and had asked her mother to "carry my babies".
Lawyers acting for the mother and her 59-year-old husband told Mr Justice Ouseley the daughter would have been "devastated" if she had known her eggs could not be used.
But the judge ruled that the HFEA was entitled to find the daughter had not given "the required consent" and said there had been no breach of the family's human rights.
Although she consented for her eggs to be stored for use after her death, she did not fill in a separate form outlining how she wished them to be used.
He said he was dismissing the case "conscious of the additional distress which this will bring to the claimants, whose aim has been to honour their daughter's dying wish".
It was thought if the case had been successful her mother could have become the first person in the world to become pregnant using a dead daughter's eggs.
In February 2016, when seeking permission to appeal, her lawyers argued there was "clear evidence" of what the daughter wanted to happen to her eggs when she died.
Lord Justice Treacy said the case papers had left him doubtful as to whether there would be "sufficiently strong" reasons to allow the challenge to continue further.
But after hearing submissions in court, he concluded there was "an arguable case with a real prospect of success". | A 60-year-old woman who wants to use her late daughter's frozen eggs to give birth to her own grandchild is continuing her legal battle. |
33,624,215 | Large numbers of barrel bombs have reportedly been dropped on the area in the Qalamoun mountains north-west of Damascus, close to the Lebanese border.
Zabadani has been under attack for weeks by the Syrian army and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
It is the last significant town held by rebel forces in the Qalamoun region.
Its capture is seen as crucial to consolidating the government's control over the border zone between Lebanon and Syria.
The army and Hezbollah launched an offensive to drive the rebels out of Zabadani on 3 July. Earlier this week, they advanced deeper into the town after having besieged it from all sides.
Citing local sources, Mr de Mistura said in a statement late on Tuesday that the Syrian air force had been dropping barrel bombs - large cylindrical containers filled with explosives and shrapnel - on areas in and around Zabadani.
It has caused "unprecedented levels of destruction and many deaths among the civilian population," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
An alliance of Islamist and jihadist rebel groups had retaliated by firing rockets and heavy mortar shells on the villages of al-Foua and Kefraya, near the northern city of Idlib, where a large number of civilians were trapped, Mr de Mistura added.
"In both cases, civilians are tragically caught in the middle of the fighting."
Overnight, there were fierce clashes and air strikes in the Zabadani area, causing casualties on both sides, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday morning.
The Syrian state news agency, Sana, meanwhile reported that soldiers had destroyed a 70m (330ft) tunnel used by rebel fighters to smuggle supplies from Zabadani to nearby Madaya.
More than 230,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. Four million others have fled abroad to escape the fighting and more than seven million have been displaced internally.
Earlier this month, the head of the UN's refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, called it the "worst humanitarian crisis of our generation". | The UN envoy for Syria says Syrian government air strikes have caused "unprecedented levels of destruction" and death in the town of Zabadani. |
28,018,137 | The note, wrapped in a prison identity card, claimed inmates were forced to work 15 hours a day making clothes.
Karen Wisínska said she bought the trousers in Primark's Belfast store in June 2011 but had never worn them. She discovered the note just last week.
A Primark spokesperson said the firm has begun an immediate investigation.
The writer of the note claimed inmates were forced to work "like oxen" and were given food that would be considered unfit for animals.
It is not yet known if the allegations made in the note are genuine.
Mrs Wisínska, who lives in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, bought the trousers during a shopping trip to Belfast three years ago, but had never worn them because when she took them home, she found the zip was broken.
She put them into her wardrobe and did not take them out again until last week, when she was packing clothes for a holiday.
She said it was only at that point she discovered the note and the prison identity card inside a pocket of the trousers.
Mrs Wisínska said she knew it was some sort of plea for help because the letters SOS were written across the top, but she could not understand the rest of the writing.
She posted the pictures of the items on Facebook, and when she received rough English translations of the note, she said she was "in shock" and "felt sick".
She then contacted human rights campaigners at Amnesty International.
"I was shocked to find this note and card inside the trousers from Primark and even more shocked to discover that it appears to have been made under slave labour conditions in a Chinese prison," she said.
"I am only sorry that I did not discover the note when I first purchased the clothing - then I could have brought this scandal to light much earlier."
Amnesty's Northern Ireland programme director, Patrick Corrigan said: "It is a horrific tale.
"It's very difficult to know whether it's genuine, but the fear has to be that this is just the tip of the iceberg," Mr Corrigan added.
The note, translated into English, reads: "SOS! SOS! SOS! We are prisoners at Xiangnan jail in Hubei, China.
"For a long time, we have been producing clothing for export. We work for 15 hours each day. What we eat is even worse than food for pigs and dogs. The work we do is similar to (the hard work) that oxen and horses do.
"We urge the international community to denounce China for this inhumane act," the note said.
A Primark spokesperson said the firm has started an "immediate, detailed investigation" and would be contacting Mrs Wisínska.
In a statement to the BBC, the clothing retailer said: "These three-quarter crop trousers were last ordered by Primark in early 2009 and were last sold in Northern Ireland in October 2009.
"We find it very strange that this has come to light so recently, given that the trousers were on sale four years ago. We will be contacting the customer to obtain the trousers, so we can investigate how this occurred and whether there are issues which need to be looked into.
"Nine inspections of the supplier have been carried out by Primark's ethical standards team since 2009. To be clear, no prison or other forced labour of any kind was found during these inspections," the statement said.
The spokesperson added the firm "actively investigates all allegations of breaches of its code of conduct immediately to ensure the well-being of all workers in its supply chain".
Primark is among large clothing firms that have come under close scrutiny in recent years over how and where they source their products.
Concerns have been raised about the employment conditions of staff in developing countries who work to produce garments that are then sold cheaply in UK high street firms.
Last year, more than 1,100 people were killed and 2,500 were injured when the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed.
Primark was among the retailers that sourced clothes from the factory. The firms faced criticism for a lack of collective action to improve the working conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories.
To date, Primark said it has paid over $12m (£7m) in aid and compensation to support the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster.
In its statement to the BBC, the firm said: "Primark's code of conduct sets out the core principles that suppliers must follow to ensure products are made in good working conditions, that the people making them are treated decently and are paid a fair wage.
"Primark is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), and our code is based on the ETI base code. We inspect each factory to ensure it is meeting our code requirements and support the factory by providing guidance and training if issues are identified."
The retailed said it had carried out more than 2,000 factory inspections last year alone and employs a team of "over 45 professionals dedicated to maintaining the standards set out in its code".
On Monday, Primark also released a statement in response to an unrelated case when a separate note was allegedly found inside another of its garments.
At the time, the firm said: "We are currently investigating the origins of an additional label which has been found inside one of our dresses implying that the garment was produced under poor working conditions.
It added: "We have asked the customer who discovered the label to return the dress, which has not been available for sale since 2013, to us so we can fully investigate how the label became attached and whether there are issues which need to be looked into." | A shopper has claimed she found a "cry for help" note hidden inside a pair of trousers alleging slave labour conditions in a Chinese prison. |
39,175,123 | City beat Sunderland 2-0 on Sunday to move within eight points of the Blues, who visit West Ham on Monday.
Guardiola's side currently sit third in the table, but can move above second-placed Tottenham if they win their game in hand at Stoke on Wednesday.
"It's a pity that the distance between Chelsea is so big," said Guardiola.
"But that's true. We are there behind, of course, Chelsea because they are almost unstoppable."
The Premier League is one of three competitions Guardiola's side are still in with a chance of winning.
City face Middlesbrough in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday and Monaco in the Champions League last-16 second-leg the following Wednesday.
"I feel we are playing quite well and that's why we are getting results," added the Spaniard, 46.
"But now, of course, we are in a position when you arrive in March and April, every game if you win, you stay; if you lose, you are out.
"In the Premier League, in the cup, in the Champions League. The players know, we know, the club knows, if we are not able to win the next game we will be out."
Media playback is not supported on this device | Premier League leaders Chelsea are "almost unstoppable" and Manchester City must win every game to stay in the title race, says boss Pep Guardiola. |
38,873,823 | Co-ordinated early morning raids were carried out in 18 provinces, Anadolu News Agency reported, quoting anonymous security sources.
Most of those held are foreigners, among them 60 people taken into custody in the capital, Ankara, it said.
IS claimed responsibility for the New Year shooting attack on an Istanbul nightclub which left 39 people dead.
Last month police arrested an Uzbek national, Abdulkadir Masharipov, suspected of mounting the assault on revellers at the Reina nightclub.
More on the Reina nightclub attack:
Who is the Istanbul gun attack suspect?
Who were the victims?
A glamorous nightclub
In Sunday's operations, nine suspects who are alleged to have been planning a terrorist attack were held in the Aegean province of Izmir, Anadolu reported.
Many of the suspects were detained in provinces bordering Syria - 150 in southeastern Sanliurfa and 47 in the city of Gaziantep.
A total of 18 people - 14 of them foreigners, including 10 minors - were detained in and around Istanbul, after operations at 20 addresses in the city.
The Turkish military has been battling IS inside northern Syria while seeking to push back ethnic Kurds in the region too.
A fierce struggle for control of the town of al-Bab has been under way since December, four months after Turkey launched its incursion across the border.
The country has suffered a string of attacks blamed on IS in the past two years, but also been accused of failing to do enough to stop militants crossing its borders and establishing a presence in its own cities.
20 August 2016: Bomb attack on wedding party in Gaziantep kills at least 30 people, in an attack claimed by IS
28 June 2016: A gun and bomb attack on Ataturk airport in Istanbul kills 41 people, blamed on IS militants
19 March 2016: Suicide bomb kills four people in shopping street in Istanbul. IS blamed
12 January 2016: 12 Germans killed by IS bomber in tourist area of Istanbul
10 October 2015: More than 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station in Ankara; blamed on IS
20 July 2015: 34 people killed in bombing in Suruc, near Syrian border; IS blamed | Turkish police have detained 445 people suspected of links to the Islamic State group, state media say. |
39,548,579 | Vinales, 22, eased to victory after reigning champion Marc Marquez crashed out on lap four while leading the race.
Victory extends the Yamaha rider's championship lead, having also won the season opener in Qatar in March.
Crutchlow, who qualified in third, moved up to second but was passed by Valentino Rossi on lap 19 of 25.
Honda rider Crutchlow, 31, was unable to close down nine-time world champion Rossi in the final stages and had to settle for third on the podium.
Italian Rossi, 38, claimed his second straight podium of the season in his 350th grand prix start.
Jorge Lorenzo's struggles at new team Ducati continued as the 29-year-old three-time MotoGP champion crashed out on the first corner, following a disappointing 11th-placed finish in Qatar.
Vinales now has a maximum 50 points from two rounds, 14 points ahead of Yamaha team-mate Rossi.
Argentina MotoGP results:
1. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Yamaha 41:45.060
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 41:47.975
3. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 41:48.814
4. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Ducati 41:51.583
5. Johann Zarco (France) Yamaha 42:00.564
6. Jonas Folger (Germany) Yamaha 42:03.301
7. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 42:05.106
8. Scott Redding (Britain) Ducati 42:10.540
9. Jack Miller (Australia) Honda 42:10.725
10. Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) Ducati 42:11.463
World Championship standings:
1. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Yamaha 50 points
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 36
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 20
4. Scott Redding (Britain) Ducati 17
5. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 16
6. Jonas Folger (Germany) Yamaha 16
7. Jack Miller (Australia) Honda 15
8. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 13
9. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Ducati 13
10. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 11 | Britain's Cal Crutchlow finished third in Argentina as Spain's Maverick Vinales won his second consecutive MotoGP race this season. |
34,100,538 | At a memorial service, Mayor Mitch Landrieu recalled how residents had turned to each other for support.
Former President Bill Clinton later spoke at a concert in the city.
Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 2,000 people and displaced one million. It was the most expensive natural disaster in US history and caused destruction along the Gulf coast.
In New Orleans, the failure of the levee system left about 80% of the city under water.
Mayor Landrieu led a sombre tribute to the 83 unidentified victims whose bodies lie in mausoleums at the city's Hurricane Katrina Memorial.
"Though they are unnamed, they are not unclaimed because we claim them," he said.
"We saved each other," the mayor added. "New Orleans will be unbowed and unbroken."
Residents and community activists also gathered at the levee in the Lower Ninth Ward, where storm waters broke through and flooded the district.
At the scene: BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC correspondent
Today the sun shone brightly in New Orleans. A decade ago Hurricane Katrina brought havoc to these same skies.
The city's Lower Ninth Ward was hit the hardest - at a wreath laying ceremony for victims there, some found the memories too hard to bear. As a solitary trumpet played in honour of the dead, one woman wailed uncontrollably. Everyone felt her pain.
But New Orleans is famous for its party spirit - and the day was also about moving forward. Large parts of the city have been rebuilt. But as marching bands paraded past abandoned homes untouched since the storm sucked the humanity from them, many told me much more needs to be done.
Katrina stole lives and homes, but not the city's heartbeat. As the world looks on a decade later, people in New Orleans, and across the country's Gulf Coast, want to ensure they're never forgotten.
The Hurricane Station - the radio Katrina could not silence
After speeches, a parade took place through the neighbourhood, with some participants in colourful Mardi Gras dress.
"It is kind of bittersweet. We want to celebrate because we are still here, but a lot of people are not," said Lower Ninth Ward resident Natasha Green, 36.
"It is important to remember what we went through here."
Throughout the day, thousands took part in traditional musical parades through the city's streets.
Former President Clinton later spoke at a free concert at the city's Smoothie King Center.
He said the sheer magnitude of what had been accomplished in rebuilding the city should not be underestimated, but that more work needed to be done so that the lines that divided communities - such as race and wealth - could be erased.
A ceremony was also held at the Superdome arena that housed thousands of displaced people after the storm.
President Barack Obama visited the Lower Ninth Ward on Thursday, praising "the extraordinary resilience of this city and its people".
But although the city has largely recovered from the disaster, some - particularly from the African-American community - feel left behind.
Dwight McKenna, publisher of African-American newspaper the New Orleans Tribune, told the BBC that rebuilt public housing projects were now too expensive for many poor black people to move back to.
"The population of New Orleans... is 100,000 less black people than prior to Katrina. Black people have been left out of the recovery altogether," he said.
On Friday, another former President, George W Bush, visited New Orleans.
His administration was criticised at the time over its slow response and the issue remains a source of deep resentment in the city.
In a speech, he said he would never forget the images of "misery and ruin".
Neighbouring Mississippi was also marking the anniversary and on Saturday morning church bells rang out across coastal Hancock County.
In Biloxi, a memorial to Katrina's victims was held at a newly built Minor League Baseball park which will later host a concert. | Commemorations have taken place in the US city of New Orleans to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. |
20,410,288 | EDF Energy wants to build Sizewell C next to an existing plant near Leiston.
It would take nine years, with most workers housed on a new local 'campus'. EDF also wants to create two park and ride sites, intended for construction staff, near the A12.
A public consultation is being held ahead of any formal planning application.
It said the principle of building a third nuclear plant on the Suffolk coast, immediately to the north of Sizewell B, had been accepted by government.
EDF said about 25,000 'employment opportunities' would be created, with 5,600 workers on site at the peak of construction.
Up to 3,000 construction workers would be housed either on a site off the B1122 near Eastbridge or next to the Sizewell Sports and Social Club.
Angela Piearce, EDF's head of Sizewell C development, said the impact on traffic was "a big concern locally".
A park and ride site for workers approaching from the north would be at either Yoxford, Darsham or the A144 junction, while a southern site would be at Wickham Market, Woodbridge or Bredfield.
Suffolk County Council and local parish councils have called for a bypass around four villages on the A12, but EDF said that is not part of its proposals going into the consultation.
Ms Piearce added: "We are offering to build a bypass or widen the A12 at Farnham, but our initial studies show a new road around the other villages (Little Glemham, Marlesford and Stratford St Andrew) wouldn't be justified by the development."
Rail links would be improved with either a new terminal on the existing line at King George's Avenue, Leiston or a new extension to the line heading through main construction area.
A lorry park would be built on the A14 near Ipswich at either the Seven Hills junction or next to the existing Orwell Crossing Lorry Park.
EDF said it was "key" for local people to take part in the consultation and give their preferred options. | More than 5,000 people are expected to work on the construction of a nuclear power station in Suffolk at its peak. |
26,046,228 | Cognitive behavioural therapy is an officially recommended treatment, but is available to less than 10% of patients in the UK with schizophrenia.
A study published in the Lancet indicates CBT could help the many who refuse antipsychotic medication. Experts say larger trials are needed.
About four-in-10 patients benefit from taking antipsychotic medication.
But the drugs do not work for the majority and they cause side-effects such as type 2 diabetes and weight gain.
Up to half of patients with schizophrenia end up not taking the drugs.
The study looked at cognitive behaviour therapy in 74 people.
The therapy works by identifying an individual patient's problem - such as hearing voices, paranoid thinking or no longer going out of the house - and developing techniques to deal with them.
Prof Tony Morrison, director of the psychosis research unit at Greater Manchester West Mental Health Foundation Trust, said: "We found cognitive behavioural therapy did reduce symptoms and it also improved personal and social function and we demonstrated very comprehensively it is a safe and acceptable therapy."
CBT had a moderate effect which was roughly similar to the effect size of antipsychotics - although a head-to-head study directly comparing the two therapies have not been made.
Douglas Turkington, professor of psychiatry at Newcastle University, said: "One of our most interesting findings was that when given the option, most patients were agreeable to trying cognitive therapy."
He added that drugs and cognitive therapy combined were the best treatment.
But while nearly everyone will be offered drugs, only a small proportion have access to cognitive behaviour therapy.
Prof Robin Murray, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said: "Many patients don't like to take antipsychotics in the long term, this is not surprising as they have significant side-effects.
"So what to do for patients with continued psychotic symptoms who don't want to take antipsychotics?
"Until now little was done except lecture them on how silly this was, with the usual result that the patients would simply stop attending.
"This study suggests that there may be a better option and that offering CBT is better than just leaving such patients to languish." | Changing the way people think about and deal with schizophrenia is a moderately effective treatment, say researchers. |
35,538,235 | Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped sharply by another 2.3% to close at 15,713.39, adding to Tuesday's 5.4% tumble.
The index has lost more than 20% since mid-2015, meaning that it entered a bear market as investors lost their confidence.
Latest concerns have been fuelled by a strengthening of the yen, which is expected to hurt exports.
The worry is that the currency is seen as a safe haven in an insecure regional economic context. If the yen keeps appreciating, it could hurt companies' international competitiveness and cut into the export sector's profits.
Once again the financial sector took the full force of the storms in Tokyo. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial has lost 15% this week and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down 13%.
It's certainly true that the recent growing unease about the global economic outlook and the consequent financial market turbulence does have the potential to affect the banks more than many other sectors.
But has the sell-off in financial stocks been overdone?
Judging by the performance of the European markets so far on Wednesday, some investors do seem to think so.
Deutsche Bank, the focus of European anxiety managed to gain more than 10%, but then it is still down a lot from the New Year.
It leaves us with a great deal of uncomfortable uncertainty about where the financial world is heading. What we can say for sure is that the clouds that gathered during the financial crisis are still with us.
Over the past few days, the yen has been rising against the US dollar, despite the Bank of Japan's recent introduction of negative interest rates.
Japan's lenders were amongst the hardest hit as the negative rates are expected to squeeze their already tight profit margins.
The banks Sumitomo and Nomura lost 4% and 3.5% respectively, while Mitsubishi bank tumbled 7%.
"Asian markets have fallen once again, although without quite the same ferocity we saw in yesterday's bloodbath and there is some buying coming back into the equity markets," Chris Weston of IG markets said in a note.
In Australia, the ASX 200 lost 1.2% to close at 4,775.70 points, adding to the 2.8% decline of the previous day.
Shares continued to be weighed down by the dominant energy sector.
Bellwether stocks BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were down by 2.5% and 1.2% respectively as concerns about lower global commodity prices continued to affect the market.
Banking stocks were equally hard hit, with NAB, ANZ and Westpac all seeing significant falls.
The only lender of the big four to beat that trend was the Commonwealth Bank, which posted half-year results just before the market opened.
The bank posted a 4% gain in cash profit, although revenues slipped and loan impairment expenses increased.
Shares picked up and rose by 1.8%, a moderate gain given that the bank's shares have dropped more than 15% since the beginning of the year.
Markets in Hong Kong, China and South Korea remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. | Japanese shares have continued their slide, falling almost 7% in two days and entering bear market territory. |
37,490,396 | Media playback is not supported on this device
It follows a newspaper investigation claiming Allardyce offered advice on how to "get around" rules on transfers.
"I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm staggered at the misjudgement from a guy who said this was his dream job," former England skipper Shearer told BBC Radio 5 live.
Allardyce has apologised, saying he is "deeply disappointed" to lose his job.
The England role has become comical
Allardyce replaced former manager Roy Hodgson after England were knocked out of Euro 2016 at the last-16 stage by minnows Iceland.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Shearer, who scored 30 goals in 63 caps, said: "It's incredible and a catastrophic misjudgement by Sam and his advisers. I'm angry at the whole situation.
"I didn't think England could stoop any lower from what happened in the summer at the Euros. Now here we are, a laughing stock of world football."
He said he thought the England job "looks a poisoned chalice", adding: "It's a very, very difficult job, some would say the impossible job."
Another former England captain, Rio Ferdinand, told BT Sport that the "England role has become comical".
The ex-Manchester United defender added: "This was a man who was passionate about getting the job. He forced the FA to act. Naivety seems to be the word coming up. It's disappointing for English football."
Former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage said: "I've got a little bit of sympathy for him, but he gave the FA no choice. "England are a bit of shambles. First the Euros, now this. He will be devastated."
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Former FA chairman Greg Dyke, who stepped down from the role in the summer, told BBC Radio 4 that Allardyce had to go.
"If you want to be the England manager you have to be whiter than white and the Telegraph investigation shows he wasn't," said Dyke.
"The FA didn't have any option but to take the decision they did.
"This guy is being paid around £3m a year. Why was he grubbing around trying to find £400,000 from somewhere?
"If he hadn't agreed to go he would have been fired and I think rightly so."
Dyke added that Allardyce's predecessor Roy Hodgson had given the FA no such problems because he was "straight as a die".
Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp: "It's a sad day, sad for Sam as well. I'm sorry for what's happened. It's probably a lifetime dream of his to be England manager and to end so quickly is unbelievable really."
Ex-FA chairman David Bernstein: "His naivety is quite unbelievable. There's no question he brought the FA and football into disrepute. That's not acceptable. I have very little sympathy. I believe the FA is in need of serious reform as it's no coincidence these sorts of things keep happening."
Former England defender Danny Mills: "I don't think fans will be annoyed he is explaining how to get around rules, I think it is more that he was chasing money around the world when the focus should have been on the England job."
The Times chief football writer Henry Winter: "We have to take responsibility for our own careers and for Allardyce - as a 61-year-old guy who is an experienced individual in football - the alarm bells should have been ringing."
Daily Telegraph chief football writer Sam Wallace: "You never know what is going to get thrown at the FA - be it racist or homophobic tweets, Luis Suarez biting case - and they have to be whiter and whiter.
Independent chief sportswriter Ian Herbert: "The sums of money and avarice of it all is sickening. The sheer bare-faced grubbiness is just shocking."
Media playback is not supported on this device | England are the "laughing stock of world football" following the departure of manager Sam Allardyce after only 67 days, says Alan Shearer. |
40,242,690 | Middlesex's first Championship defeat since September 2015 brought to an end their unbeaten run of 21 games.
Dawid Malan (52) completed his half-century at Southport in helping to add 80 to the visitors' overnight score as Middlesex were bowled out for 236.
Lancashire then eased to their target of 108, reaching 111-2 in 30.2 overs.
On a day when Yorkshire briefly went top of Division One thanks to a narrow three-run win over Somerset at Taunton, Lancashire recovered from last week's Roses match defeat.
They are now fourth, 16 points off the top and 41 points clear of danger after recording only their second Championship win of the season, with over a session to spare - and, despite the loss of the entire second day to rain.
When Middlesex resumed their second innings on 156-6, hopes of avoiding defeat rested largely with Malan. But he was eighth man out, the second of two wickets for Ryan McLaren (3-48).
England limited-overs international Parry, playing in only his 16th first-class match at the age of 31, then finished Middlesex off to return figures of 5-45.
After removing Tim Murtagh, Parry picked up his fifth wicket, when he trapped Roland-Jones lbw for a very entertaining 31 off 32 balls - to complete his first 'five-for' in first-class cricket since his debut against Durham UCCE 10 years ago.
England Test opener Haseeb Hameed, who has shown a return to form in this match after a run of six successive failures, was still there at the end after a characteristically patient 38 from 81 balls, partnered by skipper Steven Croft on 34.
That followed a lively 22 from Liam Livingstone, who marked his call-up to England's squad for the three-match T20 series against South Africa in a three-ball sequence which saw him dropped at second slip by James Franklin and hit on the gloves by Toby Roland Jones before edging one behind.
Lancashire and Middlesex are both back in Championship action next Monday (19 June), when the Red Rose host third-placed Hampshire at Old Trafford and Middlesex, in sixth, face second-placed Yorkshire at Lord's.
Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"We faced a challenge after losing to Yorkshire and we've come through that brilliantly. The lads have put in a great team performance and defeated a team that haven't been beaten since 2015 so we're delighted with that.
"When you face your first loss of the season it's always a mental challenge. You have result pitches at out grounds but to beat a good team like Middlesex requires a lot of work.
"Ryan McLaren is looking really solid with the bat and hits great lengths with the ball so both his areas are in good nick and he's starting to really fire for us."
Middlesex captain James Franklin told BBC Radio London:
"The run had to come to an end at some point. And we were totally outplayed by Lancashire for two and a half days. We've seen over the first five games that we've played this season that the standard in this division keeps getting better so we've got to move with that
"That's the challenge for a team that's won the title. At the moment, the pack have well and truly caught up and we're not quite firing on all cylinders. We have to keep trying as hard as we can to dominate games and we've been dominated here by a team that has played better cricket.
"We were 50-60 runs light in the first innings and they were probably 50-60 runs over par and that was the difference. If we had been defending 200 or 220 obviously we would have been in a good shout of putting them under some serious pressure but that first innings was the real difference and we were never able to claw ourselves back." | Lancashire spinner Stephen Parry completed a first County Championship five-wicket haul to help beat reigning champions Middlesex by eight wickets. |
38,345,006 | The UN's Human Rights Office said it was receiving daily reports of rapes, killings and other abuses.
Human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein said the government approach was "counterproductive, even callous".
At least 86 Rohingya have been killed and more than 27,000 forced to flee military operations in Rakhine state.
The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the region but has denied reports of atrocities.
Most of the displaced Rohingya have fled across the border into Bangladesh.
Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?
"The repeated dismissal of the claims of serious human rights violations as fabrications, coupled with the failure to allow our independent monitors access to the worst affected areas in northern Rakhine, is highly insulting to the victims and an abdication of the government's obligations under international human rights law," Mr Hussein said in a statement.
"If the authorities have nothing to hide, then why is there such reluctance to grant us access? Given the continued failure to grant us access, we can only fear the worst."
A spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Adrian Edwards, said his colleagues in Bangladesh had heard accounts of abuses from Rohingya refugees. They included traumatised women and children who had witnessed the killing of family members.
He said the UNHCR could not verify the accounts but it was extremely concerned.
Independent journalists have not been allowed into northern Rakhine since armed militants attacked border posts in Maungdaw on 9 October, killing nine policemen.
The Myanmar government, which is led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced international criticism over the situation there.
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said new satellite images established a link between the military and the burning of Rohingya villages.
It said the images showed military trucks were active nearby when the village of Wa Peik was being burned in November.
The government would not comment on the HRW report but said a team had been sent to the affected villages and its findings were expected to be released at the end of January.
The estimated one million Muslim Rohingya are seen by many in mainly Buddhist Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship by the government despite many having lived there for generations.
Communal violence in Rakhine state in 2012 left scores dead and displaced more than 100,000 people, with many Rohingya still remaining in decrepit camps.
They face widespread discrimination and mistreatment.
Hundreds of thousands of undocumented Rohingya are estimated to live in Bangladesh, having left Myanmar over decades. | The UN has strongly criticised the government of Myanmar over its treatment of the minority Rohingya Muslim population. |
35,471,011 | The Scottish government was asked last week to look at the business case for the scheme at Tweedbank in the Borders.
MSP Christine Grahame asked Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop to look at the project's viability.
Scottish Borders Council said the building at the Borders Railway terminus had great economic potential.
A spokesperson said: "The Great Tapestry of Scotland is a joint project with the Scottish government and other Borders Railway blueprint partners.
"The government is committing £2.5m towards the project's delivery and the council agreed to spend up to £3.5m.
"The Great Tapestry of Scotland is part of the Borders Railway blueprint programme, which has the potential to invest over £10m in various projects and initiatives to promote and realise the full economic benefit of the railway."
The council said the tapestry centre would "help generate tourism and promote economic development" and could be a "vital tool" in showcasing other Borders attractions.
"During its construction, a number of local jobs will be provided, with around 17 posts established once the centre is operational," the spokesperson added.
"The proposed tapestry building will also be a flexible space for use for a range of other events to support tourism and economic development in the Borders.
"It is also expected that other visitor attractions will benefit to the tune of an extra 10,000 to 12,000 visitors a year as a result of the tapestry visitor centre."
The authority said that site clearance had recently started after the council approved the project in late 2014.
"As with any large project within the capital plan, it will be regularly reviewed to ensure that it represents value for money," the spokesperson concluded. | A council has said £6m plans for a home for the Great Tapestry of Scotland will be "regularly reviewed" to ensure they represent value for money. |
40,476,825 | Worshippers leaving the Arrahma mosque in Avignon were approached by two hooded suspects at about 22:30 local time (21:30 GMT) on Sunday.
The suspects, carrying a handgun and a shotgun, arrived in a Renault Clio before opening fire on the crowd, La Provence newspaper reports.
Police said they were not treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Four people were wounded outside the mosque and a family of four - including a seven-year-old girl - also suffered injuries from shrapnel while in their apartment, located some 50 metres away, La Provence said, citing a source.
Two of the eight wounded were hospitalised, according to the source, who also said that worshippers leaving the mosque had not been the intended target.
The Avignon attack is not being treated as a terrorist incident, the prosecutor's office said. Laure Chabaud, a district magistrate, said that the incident was likely to be the result of a dispute between youths.
On Thursday, a man was arrested after trying to drive a car into a crowd in front of a mosque in the Paris suburb of Creteil. No-one was injured in the incident.
France remains on alert amid heightened security following a deadly attack on Paris police in April and a series of terrorist incidents in recent years. | Eight people have been injured in a shooting outside a mosque in southern France, officials have confirmed. |
34,340,233 | She was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architect's Royal Gold Medal for her lifetime's work in September - an award, approved by the Queen, she said meant a lot to her.
She was born in Baghdad in 1950 and moved to the UK in the early 1970s where she trained at the Architectural Association in London.
BBC News looks back at some of Dame Zaha's award-winning designs.
Dame Zaha first gained public recognition by winning a competition to design The Peak Leisure Club in Hong Kong in 1983. Despite it winning, it was never built.
Her first major design to be constructed was made from reinforced concrete and set within a factory complex in Germany in 1993.
She described it as an abstract design and an extension of the lines in the adjacent farmland and vineyards.
Dame Zaha said the national museum built in 2009 was inspired by the movement of rivers and streams, as it is located by the River Tiber.
The interconnecting shapes of the concrete walls also serve to stabilise the building, which is built on land susceptible to earthquakes.
"I love the London Aquatics Centre because it's near where I live," Dame Zaha said. It was designed for the London 2012 Olympic Games and the roof resembles a wave, dipping higher and lower above the racing pool and diving pit.
During the Olympics it contained 17,500 seats, but most of these have been removed to make it cheaper to heat for everyday use.
The 2012 centre in Azerbaijan connecting three buildings - a library, museum and concert hall - was notable for being a complex, fluid space.
Its unusual design was based on the contours of a mountain range, she said.
Dame Zaha, who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004, continues to innovate and was particularly praised for her design of the Guangzhou Opera House in China in 2010. The building was inspired by the River Pearl which it overlooks.
She appeared in the BBC Woman's Hour power list in 2013 and is the first woman to be awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal. | Celebrated London-based architect Dame Zaha Hadid was regarded as the world's leading female architect. |
24,775,178 | The authority has referred the conduct of a senior officer who was the focus of a recent disciplinary investigation to police after taking legal advice.
It is currently probing the tendering process of a £5m fleet contract and the authorisation of a £500,000 payment to a senior officer.
Suspended chief executive Phil Halsall left the authority on 24 October.
A Lancashire County Council (LCC) spokesman said: "In the light of external legal advice, a number of issues arising from the recent disciplinary investigation into the conduct of a senior officer have now been referred to Lancashire Constabulary.
"The council will not be commenting further at this time."
Det Ch Supt Clive Tattum said: "The Constabulary has received a referral from Lancashire County Council which outlines concerns in relation to a number of financial irregularities.
By Arif AnsariPolitical editor, North West
One inquiry has been exchanged for another. Lancashire County Council accepted Phil Halsall's resignation and dropped the official disciplinary inquiry being conducted by a barrister.
But the council has now passed its concerns to Lancashire Constabulary.
The allegations appear to stem from the decision to create One Connect Ltd (OCL), a joint venture between the council and BT to run some services.
In particular, concern has focused around the decision to award a contract to OCL to run the county council's fleet of vehicles, a contract cancelled by the incoming Labour administration.
Another issue is the payment of more than £500,000 in bonuses to the former chief executive of OCL, David McElhinney, who remains in charge of a similar venture between BT and Liverpool City Council.
Mr Halsall has always denied doing anything wrong and his supporters believe the complaints are politically motivated.
Geoff Driver, the Conservative Leader at the time, believes there should be an inquiry to prove nothing untoward took place.
The immediate question is whether Lancashire Constabulary decide there are enough grounds to continue with a full investigation or whether to drop it.
"We are at the very early stages of investigations into these matters and so it would be inappropriate to comment any further for the moment."
Mr Halsall left the authority by "mutual consent".
He has denied any wrongdoing and his supporters believe the complaints are politically motivated.
He had been suspended on full pay in August pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation into the tendering of the fleet vehicle contract.
The deal to run the council's fleet services was agreed in April by the former Conservative administration which was led by Geoff Driver.
It was awarded to BT but the decision was called in by county councillors and put on hold. The council's in-house provider continued to provide the services.
The contract was revoked on 15 August with immediate effect by current LCC leader Labour councillor Jennifer Mein.
It was awarded to BT and One Connect Ltd, a partnership between BT and the council.
LCC is also conducting a separate investigation into the authorisation of the payment of more than £500,000 to David McElhinney who resigned in August.
He received two separate payments that Ms Mein and the council treasurer said they were unaware of.
Mr McElhinney ran One Connect Ltd, which was contracted to run various council services.
Jo Turton is continuing as the interim chief executive and a decision on who will take over the role permanently will be made in due course, the authority said. | Police are to investigate allegations of financial irregularity at Lancashire County Council. |
36,802,887 | A private funeral service was held earlier for close family and friends in her West Yorkshire constituency.
People applauded and threw flowers as the cortege passed slowly through Heckmondwike and Batley.
Mrs Cox's widower Brendan Cox took to social media earlier to express what he thought her reaction would have been to the terrorist attack in Nice.
Live updates and tributes on Jo Cox's funeral
Crowds pay respects to Jo Cox MP
Mrs Cox's family said it had been "overwhelmed and touched by the love and support people have shown us".
In a statement released earlier this week, relatives said: "Knowing that so many people share both our grief and our determination to take forward Jo's legacy is a source of great strength at what otherwise feels like a very bleak time.
"Now, particularly for the children, we have decided that Jo's funeral will be a very small and private family affair.
"Anybody from the local community who would like to pay their respects is welcome to gather along the areas outlined as we make this last journey.
"Following this we would ask everyone to respect our privacy to enable us to grieve and rebuild as a family."
Posters appeared around Batley before the funeral featuring a quote from her maiden speech to the House of Commons - "Far more unites us than divides us".
The mother of two young children died on 16 June after she was attacked outside the library in the village of Birstall.
Her killing provoked a wave of shock worldwide and a memorial fund set up by Jo's husband and friends has raised nearly £1.5m for organisations she supported.
Mrs Cox had only been an MP for just over a year, having been elected for the Batley and Spen constituency where she grew up, in last year's general election.
Mourners carried white roses - the symbol of Yorkshire - as the funeral cortege passed through the towns of Heckmondwike and Batley.
The flag at Batley Town Hall is also flying at half-mast as a mark of respect.
An inquest in Mrs Cox's death was opened and adjourned last month after hearing she died from multiple stab and gunshot wounds.
Thomas Mair, 52, has appeared at the Old Bailey in central London charged with murdering Mrs Cox. He is also charged with grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was remanded in custody and is due to go on trial in November. | Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to MP Jo Cox who was shot and stabbed to death last month. |
30,395,975 | Public Health England said it was discussing a range of options on extending use of the branding to help people eat more healthily.
Products would have to meet agreed standards on fat, sugar and salt.
Currently the five-a-day logo can be used only on food or drink that is 100% fruit or vegetable.
Fewer than one in three adults and one in 10 children in the UK eat the recommended five portions a day.
The figures come from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which does take into account "composite" foods - homemade recipe dishes, ready meals and other manufactured products that contain fruit and vegetables alongside other ingredients.
Now government nutritionists are meeting with academics and food industry experts to decide if rules on the five-a-day logo scheme can be relaxed to include healthy foods that are currently excluded.
This could for example include a salad with some seeds or nuts as a garnish, which would help people meet their five-a-day target.
No decision has yet been made on what foods would make the grade - but about 350 categories of foods are being looked at, including pizza, vegetable lasagne, soup, and low fat baked beans.
A briefing paper states that products would have to meet agreed standards on saturated fat, added sugars and salt.
It also suggests that the foods should contain at least half a portion, but that could contain a combination of different fruit and vegetables.
One option under consideration is using the existing "traffic light" warning system for sugar, fat and salt content as a guide to which healthy foods could receive the official five-a-day branding.
This in itself is problematic as research by Public Health England found that just 2% of foods would qualify if only those with green labelling were included.
Extending this to amber foods could see a quarter of all composite foods meeting the criteria for the five-a-day logo, including some Indian and Chinese ready meals.
An official said that no decision had been made, but that they had been looking at a cross-section of common food products in order to decide what would be appropriate.
Any extension to the scheme could not be implemented until next summer at the earliest as officials await recommendations from Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition on healthy levels of daily sugar intake.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: "The possible extension of the five-a-day logo to include composite foods [which is a product with more than one ingredient, one of which is a fruit or a vegetable] is one of a range of options that we are considering.
"However we have not decided on the criteria to use to extend the scheme to include composite foods and we also want to help people to reduce their intake of added sugar, saturated fat and salt overall." | The government is considering adding its "five-a-day" logo to ready meals and tinned foods that contain fruit and vegetables. |
40,099,085 | Lisa Bridgett, from Gwynedd, was hit by a steel nut, which severed a finger and passed through the phone before lodging in her nose.
The explosion after a concert by US singer Ariana Grande killed 22 people and left 116 in hospital.
Mrs Bridgett's family said she is comfortable, but needs more treatment.
About 50 people are still being treated for injuries at eight hospitals, including 17 people in critical care.
A total of 14 people remain in custody as part of the investigation into how Salman Abedi carried out the suicide attack on 22 May.
Mrs Bridgett, who lives on the LlÅ·n Peninsula, had been at the concert with her daughter and her daughter's friend.
Her husband Steve said her phone probably slowed down the nut and said she felt "very lucky to be alive".
She had surgery the day after the attack, and needed further operations for a fractured ankle and a large wound on her thigh.
She left hospital on Tuesday and a family spokesman said she is "comfortable and recovering well, but will have to return for further treatment". | A woman believed to have been saved by her mobile phone in the Manchester arena bombing has been released from hospital, nine days after the attack. |
35,880,731 | The future of the festival had been in doubt following two blasts at Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station.
But BIFFF has now tweeted: "Let horror only be on screen! The festival will take place starting next week."
The festival will open on 29 March as planned with a screening of Lily James and Sam Riley comedy horror Pride And Prejudice And Zombies.
BIFFF's main venue, the Bozar Centre For Fine Arts, is close to Brussels' main train station and 20 minutes walk from Maalbeek station.
The centre also posted a message on its website featuring the Belgian flag saying: "Bozar, as an arts centre that is open to everyone, attaches great importance to its fundamental values, that's why we are open since this morning. A big welcome."
Speaking before the announcement, BIFFF festival director Guy Delmote told Screen Daily if the festival had to be cancelled this year it would face an uncertain future.
"It could be the end of the festival, if we stop," he said. "If it doesn't happen this year it is going to be hard, [given] all the money we've spent already."
A number of cinemas and cultural buildings were closed on Tuesday after the attacks as the city went into lockdown.
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium remained closed on Wednesday, as was the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Royal Museums for Art and History.
The Comic Museum is one of those that is open. | Brussels' International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) is to go ahead despite Tuesday's terror attacks. |
37,029,915 | Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor died at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire on Tuesday after suddenly becoming ill on his Abbeystead Estate.
The duke's fortune was estimated at $10.8bn (£8.3bn) by Forbes magazine, making him the world's 68th richest person and the UK's third.
A friend of the Royal Family, he became the sixth Duke of Westminster in 1979.
He had four children including his only son, Hugh Grosvenor, 25, who is heir to the dukedom and also Prince George's youngest godfather.
Giving news of the duke's death, a spokeswoman said: "His family are all aware and they ask for privacy and understanding at this very difficult time.
"No further comment will be made for the time being but further information will follow in due course."
A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said officers were called at about 17:00 BST on Tuesday and made aware of the death of a 64-year-old man at Royal Preston Hospital.
"He was airlifted to hospital after he had been taken ill whilst walking in the Trough of Bowland. There are no suspicious circumstances and a file will be passed to the coroner," she added.
Among properties across the UK, he owned 190 acres in Belgravia, an area near to Buckingham Palace, and one of London's most expensive districts.
The sudden death of billionaire landowner and philanthropist the Duke of Westminster means his 25-year-old son Hugh has now inherited an estate worth £9bn.
Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, previously known by the honorary title Earl Grosvenor, works as an account manager for Bio-bean, a green technology company.
In January 2012 the duke threw a lavish 21st birthday party for 800 guests - dress code "black tie and neon" - which has been estimated at costing £5m.
Who is the new Duke of Westminster?
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that Her Majesty the Queen is aware of the news about the Duke of Westminster.
"A private message of condolence is being sent by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh."
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were "deeply shocked and greatly saddened" by the sudden death of their friend the Duke of Westminster, a Clarence House spokeswoman said.
The Grosvenor family accrued much of their London wealth through the marriage of Sir Thomas Grosvenor to the heiress Mary Davies in 1677.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography she brought Grosvenor "the estates which would become the cornerstone of the family's later wealth".
The estates were described as Ebury farm, east of Chelsea, and a large holding between Tyburn Brook and Park Lane in central London. Today these are part of the wealthy Belgravia and Mayfair districts.
The country seat Eaton Hall in Cheshire has been home to the Grosvenor family since the 15th century.
The duke was born in Omagh and spent his early years in Northern Ireland.
He was educated at Harrow School, where he gained two O-levels, but once said that "academic studies came very low down on the list of priorities... games were very much my first priority".
The duke even had trials at Fulham FC, but his father is said to have disapproved of football as a career choice for an aristocrat.
Source: Forbes
He later worked on ranches in Australia and Canada before serving an informal apprenticeship in property management.
The duke abandoned his dream of a career as a soldier in 1973 on becoming trustee of the Grosvenor Estate aged 27, but signed up to the Territorial Army and in 1994 was made an OBE for his work in the volunteer force.
The duke was known for his strong views, and was an advocate of change in the Lords.
He quit the Conservative Party in 1993 after it proposed the Bill on Leasehold Reform, which would have had a huge effect on his massive London landholdings.
He also paid thousands to some of his workers to help them meet the poll tax, introduced by Margaret Thatcher, which he described as "insufferable".
The duke also insisted that he would "rather not have been born wealthy", and once said his life would have been easier if he had sold his estate to live in the Bahamas.
However, he went on to say that he could not do that because it "would not be responsible".
In 2000, he revealed he had suffered a nervous breakdown and that he had been overcome with depression in 1998, following the pressures of running his businesses and making 500 public appearances a year.
The Grosvenor Estate is an international property portfolio, which manages assets of £11.8bn in more than 70 cities.
These include:
Source: Grosvenor.com
The duke credited himself with using his wealth responsibly and gave financial support to both rural and inner-city areas with links to his estate.
The Westminster Foundation, which manages the estate's charitable giving, has donated to more than 1,500 charitable organisations since 1974. The Duke was also president of the Royal National Institute of Blind People for 25 years and president of the St John Ambulance for 10 years.
In an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 1995, the duke's favourite track was Albatross by Fleetwood Mac and his luxury item was a telescope. | Billionaire landowner and philanthropist the Duke of Westminster has died aged 64, his family said. |
35,699,396 | Reports from the UK Airprox Board reveal the incidents happened between 11 April and 4 October 2015.
In one incident a drone passed within 25m (82ft) of a Boeing 777 near London Heathrow Airport.
Pilots union Balpa wants the government and safety regulator to back research into how serious a strike could be.
The incident at Heathrow was one of 12 that were given an "A" rating by the independent board, meaning there was "a serious risk of collision". It is the most serious risk rating out of five.
Other incidents given the most serious rating include a drone coming within 20m (66ft) of a Embraer 170 jet on its approach to London City Airport above the Houses of Parliament on 13 September.
On the same day, a Boeing 737 had a near miss with a drone shortly after take-off from Stansted Airport in Essex.
Regulations set by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) prohibits unmanned aircraft from flying within 50m (164ft) of any vessel, vehicle or structure that is not in the control of the person in charge of the aircraft.
The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) wants the Department for Transport and the CAA to back research into the possible consequences of a collision with a passenger jet.
Former RAF and British Airways pilot Steve Landells warned that a drone hitting an airliner could result in an uncontrolled engine failure or a smashed cockpit windscreen.
Mr Landells, Balpa's flight safety specialist, said there was a large amount of data on the effects of bird strikes on planes, but he said specific drone research was needed because "birds don't have a big lump of lithium battery in them".
Analysis
By Richard Westcott, BBC transport correspondent
Many pilots think it's a matter of time before one actually strikes a plane, yet no-one has any real idea what would happen if it did.
Balpa says it is possible a drone could smash the windscreen, showering the crew with glass, or even cause an uncontrolled engine fire which could bring down the aircraft.
In 2009, an airliner lost both engines coming out of New York after it hit a flock of geese. It was only the skill of the pilot, gliding the aircraft down in an emergency landing on the Hudson River, that saved everyone's life.
Balpa says a drone strike could be even worse, because they have powerful lithium batteries on board that could start an engine fire. It's now asking the government and the safety regulator to help pay for tests to see just how serious a drone strike might be.
Philippa Oldham, from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said the consequences of a drone hitting an airliner would depend on a number of factors such as the size and speed of the drone and the location of the collision.
"The impact potentially could be anything from nothing to a destruction of an engine," she said.
People who fly drones close to planes could be convicted of endangering the safety of an aircraft, which has a maximum prison sentence of five years, the CAA said.
A spokesman for the regulator urged drone users to understand that the UK has "one of the busiest areas of airspace in the world".
A Department for Transport spokesperson said public safety was "our first priority" and it is working closely with the CAA and airline operators to "improve our understanding and knowledge this emerging technology".
Drones fitted with cameras must not be flown:
Source: Civil Aviation Authority | Pilots are calling for research into what would happen if a drone hit an airliner, after 23 near-misses around UK airports in six months last year. |
18,792,282 | Arriving in the capital Vientiane from Vietnam, she met Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.
The US is spending $9m this year on helping clean up unexploded ordnance left over from the Vietnam War in Laos.
Mrs Clinton will then head to Cambodia for an Asean meeting.
The US dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War and unexploded bombs are still affecting lives and agriculture in the South East Asian nation.
The last top US diplomat to visit Laos was John Foster Dulles in 1955.
The US and Laos also "agreed to improve and further facilitate the accounting operations for American personnel still missing from the Indochina War era", said a statement released following Mrs Clinton's meeting with Mr Thongsing.
The two sides also discusssed Laos' pending entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Mrs Clinton visited a Buddhist temple and a prosthetic centre funded by the US, the Associated Press reports.
Another key item on her agenda, reports say, is the controversial Mekong River dam, which critics say would have a major impact on the environment and millions of lives.
The $3.8bn (£2.4bn) hydro-electric dam project at Xayaburi has caused tension among Mekong region countries - Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
In April, a multi-billion dollar contract was signed for a Thai company, CH Karnchang, to build the dam.
The Lao government has pledged not to go ahead with the project until environmental issues have been resolved.
However, activists say work on the project has already begun, with reports and photographs emerging of construction vehicles in the area.
Mrs Clinton's trip is part of a tour of Asia which analysts say signals the United States' growing interest in the region.
"My trip reflects a strategic priority of American foreign policy today," she told reporters in Mongolia earlier this week.
"After 10 years in which we focused a great deal of attention on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is making substantially increased investments - diplomatic, economic, strategic and otherwise - in this part of the world. It's what we call our pivot toward Asia."
At the Asean regional forum later this week in the Cambodian capital, where she will join counterparts from the 10-nation bloc and other Asian countries, including China, tension in the South China Sea is expected to top the agenda.
Mrs Clinton had earlier urged progress on a code of conduct for resolving conflict in the disputed waters between China and several South East Asian nations. | Hillary Clinton has become the first US secretary of state to visit Laos in 57 years, on a trip focusing on economic ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War. |
35,625,110 | Lee Booth started a petition after one his daughters was deemed too old for the vaccine. It attracted 900 names.
Support grew after a Kent couple shared harrowing pictures of their daughter Faye Burdett who died this month.
It is now the most-signed online petition in parliamentary history.
Mr Booth, 44, from Gateshead, said he was "speechless and overwhelmed" and the response had been phenomenal.
The father-of-two said: "The number of signatures has just skyrocketed. The government cannot now ignore the biggest petition ever."
His petition calls for vaccination of all children up to at least the age of 11.
And because the petition has gained more than 100,000 signatures, a debate is now guaranteed to be held in parliament.
Two-year-old Faye, from Maidstone, died on Valentine's Day after an 11-day battle with the infection.
Her family shared a picture of her covered in a rash and lying in a hospital bed just before she died.
Faye's parents, Jenny and Neil, shared the picture to raise awareness of the disease. They also said the response had been overwhelming.
And ex-England rugby captain Matt Dawson revealed how his two-year-old son Sam had meningitis W135, ending up hooked up to machines in hospital before he recovered and returned home.
A vaccine to protect against meningitis B is available on the NHS for babies aged two months, followed by a second dose at four months and a booster at 12 months.
Parents who wish to have older children vaccinated must pay privately, but there is a worldwide shortage of the vaccine and stocks are low.
It is hoped there will be increased stocks in the UK by the summer.
The NHS programme is unaffected by the shortage. | A man who set up a petition for all children to have the meningitis B vaccine has said he is overwhelmed by the response after more than 640,000 people signed it. |
36,332,034 | The protest closed the London museum on the opening day of the Sunken Cities exhibition, about two lost Egyptian cities buried under the sea.
Greenpeace said BP are using the "spectacular" show to clean up "the polluting realities of its business."
BP declined to comment on the protest.
However, the oil company said it was "proud" of the show.
Greenpeace said its activists were rebranding the exhibition "Sinking cities" to highlight climate change.
They unfurled banners bearing the names of places affected by flooding, such as New Orleans, Manila and the Maldives as well as Boscastle and Hebden Bridge.
A spokesman said: "We're here today taking a stand because of the irony of an oil company sponsoring an exhibition whose name practically spells out impacts of climate change. What were they thinking?"
Activist Elena Polisano said BP was "responsible for one of the worst oil spills in history" and was committed to digging up and burning more fossil fuels.
She said: "We know that the deal between the British Museum and BP is currently being negotiated inside and we're asking the museum to drop BP."
A spokesman for the museum said it had been temporarily closed for safety reasons, and it hoped to be able to reopen shortly.
A BP spokesman: "BP has a long history as a major supporter of arts and culture in the UK and we are proud to have partnered the British Museum for 20 years, supporting significant exhibitions such as the new Sunken Cities exhibition." | Greenpeace activists have scaled the British Museum in protest at BP's sponsorship of an exhibition it claims diverts attention from its "polluting" practices. |
34,658,051 | Dr Alessandro Teppa is one of the first EU doctors to face disciplinary action over language skills following a change in the law in 2014.
His suspension will last at least nine months, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) has ruled.
Another medic - a Polish doctor who failed language tests three times - has been allowed to work under supervision.
Dr Teppa qualified in 1998 in Italy and was granted a licence to practise in the UK in 2012.
He failed an English assessment two years later and was put under an interim suspension order that year.
In a document, the tribunal panel said the standard of his English was currently "insufficient to support safe and effective medical practice in this country".
He told the panel he had since been taking English language lessons at his home in Italy.
He must return for a further hearing in the next nine months.
The medical regulator for the UK - the General Medical Council (GMC) - agreed with the decision.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, added: "This doctor should not be able to practise in the UK again until he can demonstrate he is able to communicate effectively."
A separate case involved a second doctor, Dr Tomasz Fryzlewicz, who qualified in Poland and has held a licence to practise in the UK for the last nine years.
He failed English language assessments in October 2014, December 2014 and again in February 2015.
The panel ruled he must only work under direct supervision for the next year and must pass an English language assessment within 12 months.
But the chief executive of the GMC said there should have been tougher sanctions.
Mr Dickson added: "We are disappointed that the MPTS panel did not suspend Dr Fryzlewicz as we had requested but we are satisfied that the panel has placed sufficient conditions on his clinical practice to make sure that patients will be protected."
Dr Fryzlewicz was previously employed as a heart specialist at various hospitals, including the Royal Stoke University Hospital, the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex and the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.
Some colleagues who worked with Dr Fryzlewicz said they weren't always sure he understood what they said.
Dr Simon Woldman, clinical director of specialised cardiology at Barts NHS Trust told the tribunal: "When I spoke to Dr Fryzlewicz, I was never really sure that he had understood the instructions he was being given...
"When Dr Fryzlewicz spoke, you had to concentrate quite hard to understand what he was saying."
Other colleagues and patients wrote to the panel in support of the doctor's command of English.
New powers allowing the medical regulator to check doctors' English language skills came into force in June 2014.
Previously only doctors from outside Europe could have their language skills tested by the General Medical Council (GMC).
The risk of a doctor not being fluent in English was highlighted by a lethal mistake made by Dr Daniel Ubani, a German doctor doing an out-of-hours shift who gave a lethal dose of a painkiller to patient David Gray in 2008.
As a German citizen the doctor was able to register to work in the UK without passing a language test. | An Italian doctor has been suspended from practising medicine in the UK after failing English language tests. |
34,862,132 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The undefeated former world super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion says he could not face getting down to his fighting weight.
"Losing the weight and getting punched in the head - nope, don't fancy it. I've done my bit," said the 43-year-old Welshman.
But Calzaghe is keen to become a manager and has applied for a licence.
"Promoting is a no-no - that's hard work. Training is a full-time job, but I don't have time to do that full-time," he said in an interview for the BBC Sport Wales programme.
"But managing is something I'll be good at. I was self-managed for a lot of my career as well so I know both sides. That will be perfect for me."
Calzaghe reigned as a world champion for more than 11 years, and quit the ring with a glittering record of 46 wins from 46 fights.
That career is the subject of a new feature-length documentary called "Mr Calzaghe" which goes on general release on 23 November.
"It looks at my career, my relationships with my father Enzo and my sons. It was quite emotional for me watching it," he added.
"It crams 25 years into 90 minutes - it's surreal."
Calzaghe hopes the film shows the importance of his family played in his success and the role "people that support you even when you're down" had when he was still an active fighter.
That is a role Calzaghe himself wants to fulfil now that his eldest son Joe Jr, who is 21 years old, has decided to take up boxing.
"I never really really pushed my boys into boxing but I guess it's in the blood," he said.
"I don't mind as long as he takes it seriously and he's happy.
"I can see he's got the dedication then I encourage him. Because there's a lot of pressure on him anyway because of who is father is, so I just say be yourself and just have fun and do your best."
Calzaghe stands alone as the most successful boxer to come out of Wales.
He announced his retirement after comfortably outpointing Hall-of-Fame boxer Roy Jones Jnr in Madison Square Gardens in 2008.
The Welshman says he knew before that fight that he would not step into the ring again.
"Before the Roy Jones fight I knew I was going to retire because I couldn't train, my hands had gone and the hunger had gone," he said.
"If you know you're just fighting for the money and you're not fighting for the championship you're going to lose, so I thought 'it's time for me to quit'."
He regrets the fact that Jones has continued to fight - and is attempting to fight for a title in Russia against Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli in Russia in December.
"Roy Jones Jr should have retired a while back," added Calzaghe.
"He was one of the best fighters pound-for pound and that's what I say about it's not nice to see fighters still fighting when they shouldn't be."
Current IBF world featherweight champion Lee Selby from Barry has impressed Calzaghe.
Selby, 28, took the crown from Evgeny Gradovich in May this year, but surprised the former super-middleweight champion by choosing to make his first defence in America.
That turned out to be a tough points win over Fernando Montiel.
"Having just won the title and to just jump straight into the States that's a wake-up call," said Calzaghe.
"And that's a tough division he's in, so I think he should take it gradually. I've been impressed; he had to dig deep in that last fight. He didn't fight his best, but a win's a win and that's all that matters."
Calzaghe was also impressed with the latest performance by former world light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly.
The Caerphilly fighter lost on points to former world champion Andrzej Fonfara, but gave a gutsy display despite of suffering a facial injury.
"It's a fight he could have won," said Calzaghe. "He showed that he's got a massive heart, a lot of courage.
"If he hadn't have broken his nose in the seventh round he could have won the fight just if he'd used his boxing skills a bit more.
"And if they have a rematch I think he'll win."
Watch Joe Calzaghe's interview with Steffan Garrero on Sport Wales, 19:00 GMT, BBC Two Wales on Friday 20 November. | Joe Calzaghe says he has never been tempted to come out of retirement since hanging up his boxing gloves in 2009. |
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