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40,399,192 | Here are some of the things we spotted along the way.
When 100,000 people sang "boink", Craig David was all over it.
The star celebrated his improbable, but amazing, career resurgence by throwing a huge party on the Pyramid Stage, full of his greatest hits (and quite a few other people's too).
Afterwards, fans said Craig should have been given Glastonbury's coveted Sunday afternoon "legend's slot".
But sadly that will never happen... He chills on Sunday.
There might have been extra security at Glastonbury this year, but the police weren't about to let that dampen the spirits.
If anything, the boys and girls in blue were determined to keep the Glastonbury spirit alive and kicking.
There was also this business with the mounted police and a false horse's head. The stuff of nightmares.
On Wednesday, as temperatures reached 34C, we sat on the hill opposite the Park Stage when, all of a sudden, everyone broke into a spontaneous round of applause. Five minutes later, it happened again. And again.
It took us about half an hour to work out that, every time, they were celebrating the sun disappearing behind a cloud.
"I've done myself an injury," said Dua Lipa, as she limped into the BBC compound after a performance at the John Peel stage that was as packed with hits as it was people.
"I've mashed my tailbone," she grimaced. "It was already bruised after I fell off a jet ski. Then I went on stage and danced like I'd never danced before. All sorts of crazy stuff. Now I can barely walk."
Get well soon, Dua!
One reveller had a very creative solution to their bad hair day.
In 1998, when the Foo Fighters played their first ever Glastonbury, half of the audience walked away to watch England v Colombia in the World Cup - a match where David Beckham scored one of England's two goals.
Fast forward 19 years, and the band headline the Pyramid Stage with Beckham watching from the sidelines.
That makes the score 1-1. But what happens next?
It wasn't just Beckham watching from the sidelines. We spotted Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and Game of Thrones star Kit Harington hanging out at the festival.
We also spotted Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne and off-duty musicians Chris Martin and Rita Ora who, judging by her Instagram, arrived in a helicopter.
Most surprising of all was Bradley Cooper - who turned up on the Pyramid Stage and played guitar (albeit silently) while filming a sequence for the upcoming remake of A Star Is Born.
He then introduced a set by country singer Kris Kristoffersen, who starred in the 1976 version of the film alongside Barbra Streisand.
We had the privilege of watching up-and-coming pop star Sigrid soundcheck for a live session on BBC Radio 1. As you can see above, her acoustic rendition of Don't Kill My Vibe was nothing short of stunning.
Unfortunately, when it came to the broadcast, the Norwegian was interrupted by Jools Holland and his Big Band, who launched into a thunderous set on the nearby Pyramid Stage.
Sigrid persevered; eyes screwed tight, delivering a delicate and heartfelt performance against the boogie woogie barrage.
"That was weird," she told us afterwards. "I could hear the whole show behind me. I really had to concentrate. Thank goodness I had headphones!"
Everywhere you went, the chant broke out: "Ohhhh, Jeremy Corbyn." We heard it between bands, we heard it in the healing field, we even heard it at the silent disco.
But most of all, we heard it during his appearance on the Pyramid Stage. The Labour leader delivered a well-received speech - but he forgot the one thing he was supposed to do: Introduce US hip-hop band Run The Jewels onto the stage.
Speaking to the BBC afterwards, they didn't seem to mind.
"He said a lot of things that resonated with the common man," said Killer Mike. "I was very impressed. Old G can talk."
"I can see all of you!" shouted Katy Perry to the hordes who came to see her at the Pyramid Stage. "Even that security guard in the neon, way in the back by that blue flag with the X."
That would be the Saltire, Katy. The flag of Scotland.
Mind you, how many of you know the flag of Katy's home state, California? (It's got a grizzly bear on it, FYI).
Dave Grohl's signature DG-335 Gibson guitar will set you back about £4,500 - but you can play Glastonbury after a visit to your grocer, as we discovered when we met Finnish musician Vicky O'Neon.
"Hey, mumzy, look at your boy now," beamed Stormzy, as he surveyed the massive crowd who turned up for his set on The Other Stage.
They included one Katherine Perry, who told the rapper she had "delayed the helicopter" to catch his set.
"[I'm] just a massive fan," she added on Snapchat.
After posing for photographs with the star backstage, Stormzy took to Twitter to express his disbelief at how the whole night went down.
"So happy right now, thank you to every single person that came and saw me," he wrote.
"Chris Martin came to speak to me after. What an inspiration. And Katy Perry came as well! What a dream. We thank God."
Then, apropos of nothing, he added, "Before I forget, Dynamo is the greatest magician on the planet."
Whatever you say, Stormzy.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Mud-free and musically diverse, this year's Glastonbury was one of the best in recent memory. |
40,368,678 | British and Scottish Swimming called it "clearly unacceptable behaviour".
"It is with much regret that I was found to be driving under the influence of alcohol," said the 24-year-old, who trains at Stirling University.
"Not only have I let myself, my family and team-mates down, I have put others at risk and I am profoundly sorry."
In May 2014, the former Warrender Baths Club swimmer was arrested in Florida - where he was attending the state university - for urinating on a police car.
Later that year, Edinburgh-born Wallace became widely known for his yell of "for freedom" when he set a British record to win the 400m individual medley for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
He said at the time it was a "spur-of-the-moment thing", inspired by the film Braveheart, and nothing to do with the vote on Scottish independence that was soon to follow.
Wallace was part of the GB men's 4x200m silver medal-winning relay team at last year's Olympics in Rio.
In a statement, the Scot said: "I recognise that I am in a position of influence and this type of behaviour is not acceptable in any way, shape or form.
"I am now looking to rebuild trust in everyone who has supported me and put their faith in me, and will do whatever it takes to come through this a better, stronger person.
"I am deeply sorry."
British Swimming and Scottish Swimming say Wallace is banned from all national programmes until 12 September.
The organisations say he has also signed "a letter of intent outlining his commitment to work with the necessary support systems provided and reaffirming his responsibility to British Swimming, Scottish Swimming and the University of Stirling as an athlete".
British Swimming national performance director Chris Spice and Scottish Swimming director of performance Ally Whike said: "We can confirm that Dan Wallace has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. This is clearly unacceptable behaviour from Dan and we are disappointed by his actions.
"Dan has publicly acknowledged the seriousness of his mistake and is accepting of the consequences that must follow. Together, we will now support him through this difficult period to try to get this young and talented man back on track." | Olympic swimmer Dan Wallace has been suspended from the British and Scottish swimming programmes for three months after admitting to drink-driving. |
32,431,208 | Carmarthenshire's planning committee was due to consider six applications to develop several hundred new houses.
But head of planning Eifion Bowen said the Welsh government has been asked to "call in" the application.
The Welsh government said the move had been taken to give ministers more time to consider the requests for call in.
The plans also include leisure facilities and a new Welsh-medium primary school. | A major regeneration project for the area around Burry Port harbour has been put on hold, following intervention by the Welsh government. |
12,094,360 | Traditionally these were arranged by the two families and the weight of social pressure ensured divorces hardly ever happened.
But as it grows wealthier, so India's old taboos are being challenged, and the chances of this year's newly-weds staying together for the rest of their lives are slimmer than ever.
"There has been a huge change, a drastic change and divorce rates are increasing," Dr Geetanjali Sharma, a marriage counsellor working in Gurgaon, a wealthy Delhi satellite city, told the BBC.
"There's been a 100% increase in divorce rates in the past five years alone."
Most of those splitting up are members of India's thriving, urban middle class whose lives have been transformed by India's boom, and whose aspirations are radically different to those of their parents and grandparents.
Nowhere represents those changes better than Gurgaon, which only two decades ago was little more than a village.
Its buffalos and mustard fields have now made way for shopping malls, coffee shops and multi-national IT companies. A state-of-the-art metro line connecting Gurgaon with Delhi, 25km (16 miles) away, was only recently opened.
And while millions of Indians might aspire to live in Gurgaon's high-rise apartment blocks, they are, according to Dr Sharma, populated by many unhappy couples.
The pressures of the modern workplace make a bigger difference, she thinks, than whether it was a traditional arranged marriage, or a so-called "love marriage".
"I feel people are concentrating more on the careers and less on their personal lives," she said.
"I also feel they lack patience and tolerance. They don't want to put more efforts into a relationship to fix the issues, and they feel that escapism is the solution."
India still has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world, with about one in 1,000 marriages collapsing, according to recent studies.
But the courts are now seeing so many new cases that the government has proposed making divorce easier and faster, in line with other countries.
As things stand, contested divorces can drag on for years.
Delhi High Court is the only place where Mohit, who works for a successful IT firm, now gets to meet his wife.
They fell in love as teenagers, married in their early 20s and separated three years ago when she walked out.
While he awaits a final court settlement, Mohit (who did not want his surname to be made public) has been left contemplating what went wrong and why.
"I was way too young to realise that being in love and being married are slightly different - in fact humongously different," he told me.
"We used to fight about pretty much everything, you know. Let's say that the first fight we had was pretty early, as in just after we got back from our honeymoon."
Mohit puts the failure down to a culture clash between the old India and the new.
For a start, he says, his mother-in-law disapproved of their marriage, and his family also interfered.
He admits that sometimes he too found it hard to accept that his wife had her own career.
"Today the Indian male, as opposed to earlier, is a very complex entity. We want our wives to be really progressive, modern, so to say, which is why we married them in the first place," he said.
"But at the same time we still want our wives to cook food for us. We want our wives to be there when we get back home."
Swarupa (who also did not want her full name revealed) finalised her divorce in December.
She too left her husband - which she says is only possible for women who are financially independent or who have the support of their parents. In the past this would have been more or less unthinkable.
Swarupa believes that divorce has certainly become more socially acceptable in India, but there are still problems.
"Personally, I don't feel scared to tell people that I am a divorced person but stigmas are still there and it comes out in very odd places," she said.
"I've been house-hunting near my ex-husband's [home], but you know it is very difficult to get a house because people are very sceptical about giving it to a single woman."
It seems inevitable that the divorce rate is going to continue to rise - which is good news for some.
Vivek Pahwa, for example, runs a Mumbai-based matchmaking website for divorcees called Secondshaadi.com.
He claims to get as many as 4,000 new customers every month.
"Ours is a relatively young website, but in the three years since we have started, I have seen a remarkable shift in people's perceptions about divorce," he says. "It is not only limited to metros like Delhi and Mumbai. Business is good." | It is wedding season in India, the time of year when astrologers say the omens are best for a long and successful marriage. |
35,948,868 | John O'Sullivan was denied in the first half by the reactions of Rovers goalkeeper Remi Matthews, before Andy Butler headed over in reply.
Doncaster then went close as Andy Williams intercepted a poor back pass only to fire over the crossbar.
Clarke punished Doncaster's wastefulness, volleying home with 13 minutes left to play.
The result keeps Bury well-clear of relegation danger, but Doncaster are eight points from safety, having failed to win a league game since 2 January.
Bury manager David Flitcroft told BBC Radio Manchester:
Media playback is not supported on this device
"The goal was immaculate. He creates chances for himself, but the rest of the players had to work hard for the clean sheet.
"It's a massive clean sheet. You don't play against a Darren Ferguson team that lies down.
"We had to withstand a lot of pressure, but we expected that.
"We said to the players before the game, to get a zero, we're going to have to work incredibly hard." | Doncaster's survival hopes in League One suffered a cruel blow as Leon Clarke scored a late winner for Bury. |
26,952,716 | This is the full statement to the inquests read by his sister, Sara Williams:
Kevin Daniel Williams was my brother. He was 15 when he died at Hillsborough.
I make this statement at the request of the coroner to provide background information about Kevin and who he was.
I make this statement from my own memories, but also things I have been told over the years. I was only nine when Kev died.
This statement is made on behalf of all of our family and friends who knew and loved Kevin, but in particular for my Mum, Anne who would have been making this statement but for losing her battle with cancer in April 2013.
She would have loved to be standing here telling you all about Kevin and his cheeky ways.
Profiles of all those who died
Kevin was born on 27 May, 1973, the middle of three children. We lived in our family home in Formby. There was my Mum, Anne, Dad, Steve, Michael my eldest brother, Kevin and me. Michael was two years older than Kevin and Kevin was six years older than me.
My Mum had two brothers, Danny and Christopher. Kevin got on well with both of them, and Christopher was only a few years older than Kevin.
My Dad has a sister, Penny, who Kevin really liked, especially as she was the one who got him into football and who first got him tickets to go to the game.
Formby was a fairly close-knit community, and everyone knows everyone else and nowhere was that more apparent than at Kev's funeral. Everybody was affected by his untimely death.
I can remember seeing what seemed like thousands of people crammed into the small church at Our Lady's in Formby.
"Kevin, or 'our Kev' as I always knew him, was mad about football, but crazy for Liverpool Football Club.
He had pictures cut out of magazines on his wall of all his favourite players: John Barnes, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish. He used to go on about football all the time.
Our aunty, Penny, took him to the matches and he loved it. When he was about 13, he went with Michael, our older brother, to the home games and used to tell me how great it was to actually stand in the Kop.
He got a season ticket and started to go to games with his friends Andy Duncan and Stuart Thompson. Andy was his good friend from school and Stuart only lived a couple of doors down from us, and he, too, died at Hillsborough.
Our Kev used to look after me a lot, especially on a Saturday night when Mum and Dad would go out. He and his best friend, Lawrence, or his girlfriend, Esther, would babysit me. They used to arrange parties and other friends from Kev's school would come. I loved it.
Mum and Dad didn't mind them doing this as Kev would always make sure the place was cleared up in time for Mum and Dad getting home.
I really looked up to our Kev and I wanted to go wherever he went and hang around with him. Most older brothers would get fed up with a little sister following them everywhere, but Kev didn't mind me tagging along.
He was really laid back and I thought he was really clever, as he did dead well at school. I took an interest in football because I knew he liked it and I begged him to take me to the match with him. I was, of course, too young to go with him.
Kev's sense of humour was one of his most endearing qualities. I can hear his laughter still. He was always the joker. He did really seem to make people laugh. He would take the mickey out of himself a lot and was really fun to be around.
Kev was really into music. He was heavily influenced by our Dad, who he used to call John Lennon, as he had long hair, a beard and played the guitar all the time.
Kev was dead serious about his music. He loved Genesis and Pink Floyd.
He was a lively, intelligent and caring son. He was always willing to help anyone, especially older people. When his granddad had a leg amputated, Kevin was only 13.
For a year, every Saturday morning he would catch the train to Ainsdale where his granddad lived and do all of his shopping for him. The two of them used to talk about football for an hour or so whilst Kev span his granddad in circles in his wheelchair.
His granddad was grief stricken after Kev's death and died two years later.
Kev went to Formby High School and was popular with the pupils and teachers alike. He was naturally clever and my Mum told me that he was determined that he would go to university.
Kev's death was a great tragedy for the school and it gave us great comfort that they held a football match every year in his honour. My Mum would often present the trophy, and last year she was not able to.
The day after my Mum died, my daughter, Lena, was getting up and dressed for school. I didn't think she would go in that day but she insisted that she would as she had been asked to present Kev's trophy and it was what Kev and my Mum would have wanted.
There is also a memorial stone for Kev at the school, again providing comfort for me when I attended the same school and now my daughter, Lena, who attends.
Kev was really close to my Mum, and it would be absolutely no surprise to me if the word 'Mum' was his last.
He used to do stuff for her around the house and it was a regular event on a Saturday night when Mum and Dad were going out that Kev would take my Mum's curlers out and put them away for her.
My Mum fought hard over the years to get the truth uncovered about what happened at Hillsborough, and it is only now that I have children of my own that I understand the relentless determination that came so naturally to her because of the love that she had for Kevin. | A schoolboy from Liverpool, Kevin Daniel Williams travelled by train with friends Andrew Duncan, Thomas Nickson and Gregory Fagen, all of whom survived. |
36,884,757 | Firefighters are telling people living near Smugglers Way to close their doors and windows to avoid inhaling smoke.
About 80 firefighters are tackling the blaze, which comes five days after a previous fire at the site.
Station manager Darren Levett said: "The fire is very visible and is producing a lot of smoke which can be seen for miles around." | A recycling centre in Wandsworth has gone up in flames for the second time in a week. |
40,711,341 | Currently gay men have to wait 12 months after their last sexual activity to give blood, while sex workers are barred from donating.
England and Scotland are relaxing the rules so both groups can donate three-months after their last sex act.
The Welsh Government has said it will carefully consider advice on whether to follow suit.
Officials in Cardiff will work with the Welsh Blood Service to consider recommendations in a UK report, which have led to the rule changes in England and Scotland.
The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs - which advises UK health departments - made the recommendations after concluding new testing systems were accurate and donors were good at following the rules.
All blood that is donated in the UK undergoes a mandatory test for Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, plus a couple of other viruses.
The committee said men who have sex with men should be able to give blood three months after their last sexual activity instead of 12. Sex workers, who are banned from giving blood, should also be subject to the same three-month rule.
The UK government is also considering relaxing the rules for people who have undergone acupuncture, piercing, tattooing and endoscopies, and for those with a history of non-prescribed injecting drug use.
But these also need changes to current EU legislation.
The changes in Scotland take effect in November, and in early 2018 in England.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We will now be working closely with the Welsh Blood Service to carefully consider the new recommendations and the implementation of changes to blood donor section criteria." | Blood donation rules for gay men and sex workers could be relaxed in Wales, the Welsh Government has said. |
33,705,261 | NFF president Amaju Pinnick said on the body's website: "We keenly desire to partner with the DFB (German Football Federation) and the German League.
"We are requesting support for our development programmes for women's football, referees and coaches.
"The NFF is doing a lot in the area of development of the game in Nigeria."
Pinnick added: "Germany is not only the reigning champions of the world in football, it is also a very strong economic power."
There has already been a meeting between NFF officials and and Germany's ambassador to Nigeria, Dietmar Kreusel to discuss the proposals.
Nigeria, once the powerhouse of African football, have endured a tough few years in international competition.
Ranked 10th globally in 2006, they are now 57th in the Fifa world rankings - their lowest since 1999.
In last year's World Cup they reached the round of 16 for the first time since 1998 before losing to France.
After winning the African Nations Cup in 2013, they failed to qualify for this year's finals in Equatorial Guinea.
"Our checks have shown that the Bundesliga is the top model League in the universe," NFF vice-president Shehu Dikko said.
"We have had discussions with the CEO of the Bundesliga, and our plan involves sending some of our club managers to Germany to go and see how it is done in that country." | Nigeria are seeking to forge closer links with Germany to try to revive the country's soccer fortunes and help the national team's development. |
26,729,131 | They told the New York Times the agency would "end its systematic collection of data about Americans' calling habits".
Phone records would instead remain with telecoms companies, only to be accessed by government when needed.
It follows widespread anger at home and abroad after leaks revealed the full extent of US surveillance operations.
The documents - leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden - revealed that the US collects massive amounts of electronic data from communications of private individuals around the world, and has spied on foreign leaders.
In a speech in January, President Obama said it was necessary for the US to continue collecting large amounts of data, but that civil liberties must be respected.
He said the current system, in which the NSA collects the details of the times, numbers and durations of phone calls, known as metadata, would come to an end.
According to the New York Times report, he told the US justice department and intelligence officials to come up with a plan by 28 March.
Under the new proposal, officials say surveillance "would require phone companies to swiftly provide records in a technologically compatible data format, including making available, on a continuing basis, data about any new calls placed or received after the order is received".
The phone companies would not be required to hold on to the data for longer than they normally would, the New York Times says.
The NSA currently holds information for five years, whereas telecoms companies are required by federal regulation to retain customer records for 18 months.
How the US spy scandal unravelled
Profile: Edward Snowden
UK 'complacent' over spying leaks
The new proposal "would retain a judicial role in determining whether the standard of suspicion was met for a particular phone number before the NSA could obtain associated records", the newspaper adds.
The Obama administration plans to renew the current NSA programme for at least another 90 days until Congress passes the new legislation.
New legislation has also been developed separately by leaders of the House intelligence committee that would allow the NSA to issue subpoenas for specific phone records without prior judicial approval, the New York Times reports.
The New York Times report does not provide information on possible changes to the NSA's surveillance of phone records from other countries.
In January, President Obama offered assurances to non-Americans, saying people around the world "should know that the United States is not spying on ordinary people who don't threaten our national security".
It was revealed last year that the US had spied on friendly foreign leaders, including on the personal mobile of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But President Obama has defended the use of data, saying it had protected against terrorist attacks at home and abroad, and insisted nothing he had seen indicated US intelligence operations had sought to break the law.
Edward Snowden, who was behind the leaked the information, is wanted in the US for espionage and is now living in exile in Russia.
Civil liberties groups see him as a hero for exposing what they see as official intrusions into private lives, but many Americans believe he has endangered American lives. | President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to end bulk collection of US phone records by the National Security Agency (NSA), senior officials say. |
36,223,918 | The brother confessed to mixing pesticide into the sweets after a family dispute, police told the BBC.
However correspondents say there is confusion over what happened, because two other people have also told police that they poisoned the sweets.
The contaminated sweets had affected over 70 people in Punjab province.
Among those who died were 11 members of the same family who had bought the laddoos - ball-shaped sweets popular at special occasions - to celebrate the birth of a son.
Acting district police officer Ramiz Bokhari told the BBC that the 18-year-old brother of shop owner Tariq Mahmood had admitted to mixing pesticides in the sweets.
"He told police his elder brother used to beat and abuse him," Mr Bokhari said, adding that the teenager had done it "in anger and revenge".
However, the owner of a nearby pesticide shop also told police that he poisoned the laddoos following a dispute he had with the sweet-shop owner. A worker at the sweet shop told police he had mixed in the pesticides by mistake.
Correspondents say the three conflicting statements have raised questions about police tactics and the value of confessions.
Rights groups have previously accused the Pakistani authorities of forcing confessions from suspects. | Pakistani police say the brother of a sweet-shop owner poisoned a batch of sweets that killed more than 30 people last month. |
40,520,245 | The Kremlin says they will have "a fully-fledged, sit-down meeting" which will touch upon a number of pressing foreign policy issues, including Syria and Ukraine.
The meeting has been preceded by months of speculation about a "bromance" between Mr Putin and Mr Trump, fuelled by alleged Russian interference in last year's US election and rumours that Russia strongly favoured Mr Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
BBC Monitoring looks at what the two leaders have had to say about each other in recent years.
Vladimir Putin has been fairly guarded about his views on Donald Trump. His most recent comment on his US counterpart was June, where he described Trump as "direct and open" person, who has a "fresh view".
17 December 2015: "He is a very colourful person, talented, without any doubt. It is not our business to determine his merits, that is up to US voters, but he is the absolute leader in the presidential race."
27 October 2016: "He has chosen a method to get through to voters' hearts… He behaves extravagantly of course, we see this, but I think there's a reason for this. He represents the part of US society that's tired of having the elite in power for decades."
9 November 2016: "I'd like to congratulate the American people on the completion of the electoral cycle and Mr Donald Trump on his victory in this election... Russia is ready and wants to restore fully-fledged relations with the USA."
4 December 2016: "He could achieve success in business, which suggests that he's a smart man. And if he's a smart man, that means that he'll fully and quickly enough realise this different level of responsibility. We expect that he will act with this perspective in mind."
1 June 2017: "He can't be put in the same category as traditional politicians. I see great advantages because he's a person with a fresh view… Some people like him, some don't."
During his presidential election campaign, Mr Trump spoke favourably of Mr Putin, saying that he "would possibly have a good relationship" with the Russian leader. However, in recent months his rhetoric towards Mr Putin has become noticeably more reserved.
28 April 2016: "I think he said some really nice things. He called me a genius. He said: 'Trump's a genius.' Okay. So, you know, that's nice… He has been very nice to me."
28 July 2016: "I don't think he has any respect for Clinton. I think he respects me. I think it would be great to get along with him."
7 September 2016: "The man has very strong control over a country... It's a very different system and I don't happen to like the system but certainly, in that system, he's been a leader far more than our president has been a leader."
27 January 2017: "I don't know the gentleman [Mr Putin]. I hope we have a fantastic relationship. That's possible, and it's also possible that we won't… We'll see what happens."
19 March 2017: "Don't know him but certainly he is a tough cookie. I don't know how he is doing for Russia; we are going to find out one day."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring onTwitter. | Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet US President Donald Trump for the first time this week on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. |
32,956,050 | It is the latest development in a plan to rescue the airport, bought by the Welsh government for £52m in 2013.
Flybe said the 10-year agreement with Cardiff Airport had created 50 new jobs, including flight crew.
Two planes will be based at the site in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan, and flights to Belfast, Dusseldorf, Geneva and Jersey will be increased.
New routes between Cardiff and Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro, Glasgow, Munich, Milan and Paris were previously announced. | Budget airline Flybe has announced it will set up a new base at Cardiff. |
40,607,306 | Reports say that the killings happened last week when a Cameroonian paramilitary unit was enforcing a $300 (£230) fishing levy.
Nigerian Interior Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau accused Cameroon of breaching an agreement to protect its citizens.
The Cameroonian government is yet to comment.
Cameroon took control of oil-rich Bakassi in 2008 after an International Court of Justice ruling, ending years of border skirmishes.
Survivors of the attack have been arriving back in Nigeria with injuries, reports the BBC's Naziru Mikailu in the capital, Abuja.
Nigeria's lower house of parliament resolved that it will investigate the reports in view of the 2005 Green Tea agreement between the two countries, to protect the citizens of the ceded areas from harm.
A five-year UN-backed transition period was put in place exempting the area's residents, many of them Nigerian fishermen, from paying tax.
Nigeria earlier this week summoned the Cameroonian ambassador to lodge a formal protest note.
• Cameroon based its claim of sovereignty on maps dating back to the colonial era
• It was administered by Nigeria from independence in 1960 until 2008
• Nigeria and Cameroon nearly went to war over Bakassi in 1981 and bloody clashes claimed 34 lives in 1994
• In 2002, the International Court of Justice ruled in Cameroon's favour
• 14 August 2006: Nigerian troops withdrew but the area remained under Nigerian administration
• 14 August 2008: Nigeria fully ceded the territory to Cameroon
• 15 August 2013: Cameroon took over full sovereignty and a tax-free exemption for residents came to an end | Nigeria's parliament is investigating reports that 97 fishermen have been killed in the Bakassi peninsula, which the country ceded to Cameroon. |
32,301,368 | Items worth hundreds of thousands of pounds were taken from the Light Touch Clinic in Church Street between 21:00 BST on Sunday and 07:30 on Monday.
Dr Natalie Blakely, who founded the clinic, said: "I am completely gutted. All of our machinery is gone.
"The machinery is specialist stuff and in the wrong hands is dangerous."
She said she discovered the burglary when she arrived at the clinic on Monday morning.
"The whole of the retail space was cleared out. TVs were ripped off the walls," she added.
Appealing on Facebook, filmed in the empty clinic, Dr Blakely appealed for anyone who found the stolen equipment to come forward.
Det Con Heather Francis, from Surrey Police, said: "This is a significant loss for a local business - both in terms of the valuable equipment and stock which was stolen and the potential impact on further earnings." | The owner of a cosmetic medicine clinic in Weybridge has warned of the dangers of using specialist equipment that was stolen over the weekend. |
32,733,033 | "We talk to a lot of bosses and there has been uncertainty whether it's for the election or the referendum," said Mr Carney on the BBC's Today programme.
Analysts fear businesses may delay making investments while there is uncertainty over Britain's future in the EU.
David Cameron has promised a vote on whether the UK stays in the EU by 2017.
"[Businesses] have not yet acted on that uncertainty," he said. "Or to put it another way, they are continuing to invest and they are continuing to hire."
But he added that it was in everybody's interests to resolve the uncertainty.
Companies may also be investing less in technology than they otherwise would do as a result of the wide pool of available workers.
Older people willing to work and workers seeking more hours added 500,000 to the labour force over the last two years, said Mr Carney.
Migrant labour also expanded the workforce, but its impact was only a tenth of the size according to Mr Carney.
Mr Carney told the BBC's Today programme that he would "really dampen down" the argument that foreign workers were to blame for lower productivity.
As the number of jobseekers falls, attention will turn to productivity, he added.
"Now that spare capacity is being used up," said Mr Carney. "For the economy to move forward, it's going to be a story of increased productivity.
"We think that it's going to start to pick up over the next few years."
Analysis: Jonty Bloom, BBC Business Correspondent
British productivity is awful and has been for years.
Take computerised lathes, hi-tech equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy. You might think that British and German workers with such a piece of kit would make the same number of widgets or car parts or whatever.
But they don't. Experts tell me there are two main reasons. German workers are more highly trained, so get more out of the machine. The second is that when it breaks down or needs reprogramming, they can do it themselves. British workers turn off the lathe and wait for an expert to come and fix it.
Just one example of a much wider problem that explains why a German, French or US worker can produce as much as a British one and still take every Friday off.
The UK's level of productivity per worker fell during the global economic crisis.
"This is one of the great costs of the financial crisis," said Mr Carney. "What you have in economies after a financial crisis is a sharp drop in productivity… There is a huge opportunity cost."
Productivity levels have taken longer to recover than expected.
"We have been successively disappointed with the productivity performance of the UK," Mr Carney told the BBC.
"[Productivity] matters in terms of the speed limit for the economy and for when we should raise interest rates," said Mr Carney. "We think the most likely path for interest rates is up."
Mr Carney warned on Wednesday that "persistent headwinds continued to weigh on the UK economy", which would mean more gradual increases in interest rates than had previously been the case.
Inflation was 0% in March for a second month, well below the Bank's 2% target.
Carney said that the UK might fall into deflation next month, but inflation was expected to pick up, notably towards the end of the year.
"Our aim is not just to get the inflation rate back to 2% but to keep it there," said Mr Carney. "In order to get it there and keep it there, there will be limited and gradual increase in interest rates over the next few years." | Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said that the UK should hold its EU referendum "as soon as necessary". |
40,072,980 | Aaron Ramsey scored the winner at Wembley - three years after doing so against Hull to win the competition for manager Arsene Wenger.
It meant an upbeat end to the campaign for the Frenchman, who afterwards refused to say whether he would manage the club beyond the end of his contract, which expires in June.
Who stood out as the Gunners won? BBC Sport's Chris Bevan marks the players.
His selection ahead of Petr Cech was one of Arsene Wenger's big calls. Should have done better with Diego Costa's goal but his late save to deny the Spain international from close range justified his selection on its own.
Did you know: Ospina made the most saves he has had to make in an FA Cup match this season - four.
Inexperience showed when he was caught out by Costa in the first half but he held his nerve when Chelsea were piling on the pressure after half-time.
Did you know: Holding made seven clearances, the same number as Mertesacker.
Seen as Arsenal's weakest link because of his lack of game time but was a rock at the back. Dominated in the air and made some vital blocks.
Did you know: Mertesacker started his first game for Arsenal in 392 days.
Tackled tenaciously and also used the ball well. Helped Mertesacker marshal the defence and the players in front of him.
Won his personal battle with Marcos Alonso down his flank. Got forward well and was unlucky not to score at the end.
Did you know: Bellerin completed 82% of his passes and had one shot on target.
Helped Arsenal take control of midfield with his willingness to get forward, and also showed discipline defensively. His header after a trademark run into the area made him the match-winner at Wembley again, just as in the 2014 FA Cup final.
Did you know: Ramsey's scored two goals in his last three FA Cup final appearances, with both of them winners (also v Hull in 2014).
His best performance in an Arsenal shirt. No rash tackles and his pestering and pressing meant Chelsea struggled to find their feet in the game.
Did you know: The Swiss midfielder made 73 passes, 64 of them finding a team-mate.
More defensively minded than Bellerin and was being stretched by Victor Moses until the Chelsea player was sent off.
Helped Arsenal run the show in the first half and dug in to do a shift defensively too. Crisp and creative with his passing.
Did you know: Ozil hit the woodwork for the first time in a game in any competition this season.
His movement and awareness made him a constant threat, especially when he cut in off the left flank. He handballed before scoring Arsenal's first goal but his tenacity to charge down a clearance by N'Golo Kante summed up that side of his day.
Did you know: Sanchez has been involved in 45 goals in 51 appearances for Arsenal this season (30 goals, 15 assists).
Unlucky not to score with a header but his selfless running was a big reason Arsenal were so dangerous for so much of the game. Like Ramsey, was unlucky to hit the post.
Did you know: Welbeck was the most fouled player of the game - three times.
Olivier Giroud (for Welbeck, 78 minutes) - 8: Had only been on the pitch for 38 seconds before setting up the winner. Some impact.
Francis Coquelin (for Oxlade-Chamberlain, 82 minutes) - 6: Booked almost as soon as he arrived on the pitch but helped shore things up.
Mohamed Elneny (for Sanchez, 90+2 minutes): Had no time to earn a mark.
No chance with either of the goals and denied Danny Welbeck in a one-on-one.
Did you know: The Belgian 'keeper has registered just three clean sheets in his last 11 games for Chelsea in all competitions.
Another player who had his hands full because of the gaps between Chelsea's back three and their midfield. Battled, as usual, but was given a testing afternoon by Welbeck.
Was never really exposed but Arsenal's constant pressing meant he had no time to use the ball.
Did you know: The Brazilian made three headed clearances, more than any other Chelsea player.
Had a busy afternoon, with nothing to show for it. Made two goalline clearances, including one superb flick to deny Mesut Ozil.
His red card came just as he was becoming more of a threat. Dive or not, he will surely regret his decision to go down so easily in the box when already on a yellow card.
Did you know: Moses became the fifth player to be sent off in an FA Cup final (the others are Chris Smalling in 2016, Pablo Zabaleta in 2013, Jose-Antonio Reyes in 2005 and Kevin Moran in 1985).
Typically energetic but he and Nemanja Matic never looked like giving Chelsea a platform in midfield.
Overrun at times in the early stages, which was not his fault. Sloppy in possession, which was down to him.
Did you know: Central midfielder Matic didn't make a single tackle in the game.
Struggled to impose himself on Hector Bellerin when he went forward but solid enough at the back.
Did you know: The wingback made four interceptions in the game, more than any other player.
Tried his best to make things happen in the first half and his side's greatest threat, but wasted Chelsea's best chance before the break with a wild finish when well placed. Went closer with a more measured shot after the break.
Had few chances to run at the Arsenal defence before the break. Came into the game more after half-time but could not make a difference and his chance to shine all but disappeared when Moses was sent off.
Did you know: The winger created four goalscoring chances for team-mates - more than any other player in the final.
Had been shackled by Per Mertesacker for much of the game but still got his goal and went close to grabbing a second.
Did you know: Costa netted his 22nd goal of the season for Chelsea in all competitions.
Cesc Fabregas (for Matic, 61 minutes) - 5: Unable to impose himself in midfield, or on the match.
Did you know: Despite playing only 29 minutes, Fabregas made 29 passes, more than Nemanja Matic made in his 61 minutes on the pitch (28).
Willian (for Pedro, 72 minutes) - 6: Lively but did not get a sight of goal.
Michy Batshuayi (for Costa, 87 minutes): No time to earn a mark. | Arsenal won the FA Cup for a record 13th time and eased the disappointment of missing out on next season's Champions League by beating 10-man Chelsea in a gripping final. |
40,345,438 | Mr Coyne said he was "deeply disappointed, but not surprised" by his dismissal, which he says he was notified of by email.
He was suspended in April after accusations of bringing Unite into disrepute.
Mr Coyne said he would appeal against the decision.
Mr Coyne said he faced seven charges at a disciplinary hearing but three were thrown out before it got under way and three more were dismissed in the final hearing.
The seventh charge, he said, related to an alleged technical data breach, which was claimed to have damaged the relationship between Unite and the Labour Party.
"This preposterous trumped-up charge has been used to indict me - even though the returning officer from Electoral Reform Services had already ruled that there was no breach of the rules," Mr Coyne added.
During the proceedings, he said "no complaint was raised" about the way he carried out the role in the 16 years he held it.
But, he says he was told union rules required his role to be "the general secretary's representative in the region".
"It was implied that, because of the way I criticised Len McCluskey during the campaign, I could not fulfil that role," he added.
"It was always clear to me that the charges were nothing more than a stitch-up. My real 'crime' was having the audacity to challenge Mr McCluskey in the General Secretary election that he called unnecessarily," he added.
"It is a public warning to any member of Unite's staff who is thinking of challenging the way the McCluskey gang run the union: step out of line and you will be out of a job. Political dissent is not tolerated inside Unite."
A spokesman for the union said: "The decision is subject to a right of appeal to Unite's executive council, and the union will be offering no further comment on the matter." | Gerard Coyne, who lost the Unite leadership battle to Len McCluskey - has been sacked as the union's West Midlands regional secretary. |
35,483,727 | Silva, 23, scored for Bolton as they came from 2-0 down in the final 10 minutes to earn a point at Wolves.
Bolton are bottom of the Championship table and are winless on their travels in the league so far this season.
"I believe our team play good in a very difficult league. We have good players and I believe in them," he said.
The Arsenal loanee believes Bolton can move up the league given the capability of their squad but stressed the importance of winning their next match at home to Rotherham.
The Trotters are £172.9m in debt, owe HM Revenue & Customs £2.2m and are currently under a transfer embargo.
"We need to work hard to enjoy the game and pass with confidence because we have a good team and I think in the league we can be better in the table," he added.
"We know the [Rotherham] game is very important. Our team need to believe so we can play good, win and take the three points home." | Bolton Wanderers striker Wellington Silva says keeping faith in the team's ability can help them avoid Championship relegation. |
35,107,291 | The 25-year-old centre will stay with the west Wales region until 2018 after signing at Parc y Scarlets last week.
That followed the Welsh Rugby Union withdrawing their offer when the regions "upped the ante" during talks.
"I would have preferred to have been on an NDC but things didn't quite work," Williams told BBC Wales Sport.
"But but the most important thing is that I'm staying with the Scarlets."
Williams has been on an NDC - which sees the WRU pay 60% of the wages - since March, but the union's controlling interest in the player will end in the summer of 2016.
Their offer was withdrawn amid an accusations of a bidding war for the player among Wales' regions.
WRU chairman Gareth Davies explained at the time: "some of the regions started upping the ante, as it were."
Williams is currently sidelined with a knee injury, but says he was flattered by the offers.
"It's great to have interest from other clubs, but I've said all along that I wanted to stay and they sorted it out in the end, so I'm happy everything has worked out," added Williams.
"Everything happened quite quickly.
"With the injury it was a little bit worrying, but I'm just happy everything's sorted so I can just focus on my rehab."
Williams is in his second season as Scarlets vice-captain, but has not played since Wales' 28-25 World Cup win over England at Twickenham.
"I'm on track, I don't want to push things too much. I want to make sure it's right first but I've given myself a goal of playing before the end of the season,"
"But if it's not right, I'll leave it."
Williams though is looking forward to next season and playing in midfield with Jonathan Davies who will return to Scarlets from Clermont Auvergne in the summer.
"Jon is a world class player and he's proven that in the last couple of years,"
"He'll be a massive player for us next year so I'm looking forward to playing with him again," added Williams. | Wales international Scott Williams says he would have preferred to renew his national dual contract (NDC) than sign a conventional deal with the Scarlets. |
35,871,345 | Fire crews were called to the garage, in Ayr Road, at 12:58. They worked with police to clear the area after discovering the presence of acetylene.
Local residents have been advised to keep their windows closed because tyres are on fire and thick black smoke is affecting neighbouring properties.
No-one has been injured in the fire. | A fire at a garage in Irvine has prompted emergency services to evacuate the surrounding area amid fears about smoke and harmful chemicals. |
40,169,560 | Rhyl's Ysgol Mair Roman Catholic primary and the adjacent Blessed Edward Jones Catholic high will now be subject to formal notices to close from August 2019.
The plan is to open a new Catholic school for three to 16-year-olds on the site the following month.
Of 108 responses to a consultation, 98 were in favour.
Some parents felt the money should be spent on upgrading the two existing schools rather than replacing them.
But it was estimated that Ysgol Mair needs more than £400,000 spent on it and £1.3m on Blessed Edward Jones School.
Denbighshire council said those costs represented the minimum amount of work required to maintain the schools, and would not "enhance the learning environment".
Concerns had also been raised about the decline in the number of pupils attending Blessed Edward Jones, especially since the opening of the new Rhyl High School.
The council said it was aware of the impact and the new model would offer a different choice for parents.
Schools inspectors Estyn said both schools had projected deficit budgets for the next two years, adding that the proposals had "not considered well enough how the new school will be supported financially in its first few years of operation as low cohorts move, in particular, through the secondary phase of the school".
But the authority said the financial position would be carefully reviewed based on pupil numbers. | Plans for a new £24m school complex in Denbighshire have been approved by the council. |
38,320,561 | The HM Inspectorate of Probation report said the new system is putting the public at "undue risk".
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) took over monitoring medium and low-risk offenders in 2014.
MTCnovo, the firm running the London CRC which inspectors called the "worst area", said it has made "significant progress" since the inspection.
The Chief Inspector of Probation Dame Glenys Stacey said probation services in London had deteriorated in the last two years.
MTCnovo is the largest of the 21 companies set up when probation services were split between the National Probation Service and CRCs.
It supervises 28,750 offenders across north London.
The report blamed a combination of unmanageable caseloads, inexperienced officers, poor oversight and a lack of senior management focus and control.
The assessment of risk of harm posed to others, and subsequent planning, was not carried out well enough in more than half of the cases inspected, it said.
This is the most scathing assessment yet of the impact of the government's probation reforms, which were driven through at speed by Chris Grayling when he was Justice Secretary.
Although there were flaws with offender supervision in London under the previous system, the changes appear to have made matters worse.
At the heart of the problems is a lack of staff. Vacancies are running at 20%, there are high levels of sickness and too many inexperienced probation officers. Some are overseeing as many as 900 cases - no wonder some offenders slip through the net.
However, Liz Truss, the new Justice Secretary, has recognised the problems and is reviewing the entire probation system - as well as the contracts signed off by her predecessor but one.
In one case a man with a long history of offending was recalled to prison following an allegation of domestic abuse, before being re-released subject to post-sentence supervision.
"There was no assessment in place of the risk of future domestic abuse and no flag on the database identifying him as a domestic abuse perpetrator," the report said, adding: "It was not clear where he was currently living and whether or not he was living with a partner."
Dame Glenys said: "Services are now well below what people rightly expect, and the city is more at risk as a result."
The government was carrying out a comprehensive review of the probation system, Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said.
Helga Swidenbank, director of probation at MTCnovo, said the company had already introduced a plan which addressed the recommendations made in the report.
She added only 40 cases were inspected, just 0.13%, of London CRC's caseload. | A new probation system has lost some offenders while others have not been seen for months, a report has found. |
35,157,753 | Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.12% at 18,895.01 points.
A strong yen against the dollar is not good for Japan's big exporters as it makes their products more expensive to buy overseas.
Toshiba shares were down more than 7% on Tuesday after sinking 10% on Monday ahead of an expected announcement about job cuts.
After Japan's stock market closed on Monday, the electronics giant said it would cut 6,800 jobs at its consumer electronics division. The numbers were worse than expected.
It also said it would report a record annual loss of 550bn yen ($4.53bn) and that more jobs would be lost from other sectors.
Also adding to investor worries, oil prices have fallen to levels not seen since 2004.
Brent crude sank to $36.05 a barrel - its weakest since July 2004 - before recovering slightly.
Oil prices have fallen sharply since last year, when they reached $115 per barrel, because of global oversupply on the market.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index was higher, up 0.21% at 5,119.70 in mid morning trade.
Iron ore prices rose again overnight - to $40.46 a tonne. The commodity is Australia's biggest export.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was flat, down just 0.02% at 3,641.65, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng also little changed, up just 0.01% at 21,798.22.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was down 0.24% at 1,975.96. | Japan's shares were down on Tuesday as the yen continued to hold strong against the US dollar. |
39,233,754 | Opener Najeeb Tarakai hit 90 in India as Afghanistan made 184-8 with Barry McCarthy taking 4-33.
Ireland were 65-2 after 6.1 overs when rain halted play and they were set a revised target of 111 in 11 overs.
The Irish were undone by Rashid Khan's 5-3 in two overs and managed just 93-9 with Paul Stirling top-scoring on 34.
Afghanistan won Wednesday's opener by six wickets and a formidable total of 184 set them on course to clinch a series win.
Tarakai's 90 came off 79 balls while Mohammad Nabi (34) and Karim Janat (20) also added quick runs.
Ireland were in good shape on 65-2 when the covers came on and they would have levelled the series if no further play had been possible.
But they came back out and the fall of captain William Porterfield for 22)triggered a collapse with seven wickets falling for a mere 14 runs.
"It was frustrating when the rain came down," said Porterfield.
"We had momentum before it, and it was quite a long break which meant we didn't have the full 20 overs to play with.
"It was always going to be difficult needing to score 40 odd off four-and-a-bit overs."
The teams return to the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground for the final T20 on Sunday before five ODIs and an Intercontinental Cup game at the same venue. | Ireland were beaten by 17 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method as Afghanistan secured a 2-0 lead in the three-game T20 series. |
38,767,565 | The man is in a life-threatening condition after being hit by a Vauxhall car in Winchester Road, shortly after 07:30 GMT.
A police car attending subsequently collided with a Fiat. No one was hurt.
Winchester Road was closed throughout the morning between Shirley High Street and St James Road.
Bus passenger Katie Oakley said: "I heard a loud bang, then a female police officer got out of the car to see if the lady in the other car was OK.
"The lady looked quite shaken up so the officer was supporting her and told her to wait in one of the nearby houses.
"Then an unmarked police car and a couple of police motorbikes showed up to look at the damage. The road was closed and we were told to leave the bus."
A police spokeswoman said: "A car responding to the initial crash was involved in a minor collision - there were no injuries." | A police car attending a crash in Southampton in which a man was seriously injured was involved in a second collision in the same road. |
36,819,764 | Players can visit St Peter's and St John's in Carmarthen for free items in the augmented reality game.
Pokemon Go launched in the UK on Thursday and uses a smartphone's GPS location and real-world maps to track players as they move around.
Rev Sulin Milne said: "Church... needs to be a celebration and fun and Pokemon can be fun, so bring it on."
The purpose of the game is to use a smartphone to catch Pokemon.
Players look at the phone screen and the game superimposes the creatures on top of the real world view, captured using the camera.
Pokestops are typically landmarks or buildings. There are also gyms, real-life locations where players meet to battle each other.
Rev Milne said: "Pokemon is bringing in people, so the church can throw its doors open and get people to come in and make people feel that the church is a building they can access and is there for them.
"I came out today after a service and saw these two lads and thought 'I bet I know what you're doing'.
"It's a fun way of engaging with a number of people. It was lovely to see those young lads coming across to this church.
"It's a useful way of starting a conversation - it's nice to see people having fun in a church building." | Two churches in Carmarthenshire are among those who have joined the Pokemon Go phenomenon by becoming Pokestops. |
33,390,129 | Images of the little terns at Gronant Dunes, near Prestatyn, are being gathered for an exhibition to showcase the birds.
There are 136 breeding pairs on the beach, the last remaining colony in Wales.
They return each April from Africa to nest in the dunes on the Dee estuary.
Volunteers cover shifts between 04:00-22:00 BST to protect them from predators.
Denbighshire Countryside Service is working with professional photographer David Woodfall from Denbigh to record their lives for a future exhibition. | A rare glimpse of the nesting habits of a colony of one of the UK's rarest seabirds is being captured on camera on a Denbighshire beach. |
29,225,310 | The action plan is aimed at multinational companies that shrink their tax bills by shifting their profits from one country to another.
Firms including Starbucks, Amazon and Google have been accused of pursuing such strategies.
They have all said they operate within the law.
The OECD says 44 nations making up 90% of the world economy favour its plan.
Announcing the proposals, the OECD's head of tax, Pascal Saint-Amans, told journalists in Paris that they would "change the rules of the game" by making sure companies paid taxes in the country where profits were generated.
At present, firms can exploit agreements intended to avoid double taxation of profits by using them to obtain double tax deductions instead.
They also use internal billing procedures to ensure that profits are registered in countries where corporate tax levels are lower.
Under the OECD plan, a country-by-country model would require firms to declare their revenue, profit, staffing and tax paid in each jurisdiction.
The measures will go before finance ministers at the next meeting of G20 nations in Australia this weekend.
Richard Collier, tax partner at PwC said the changes would have a big impact on global firms.
"The scale and scope of change surpasses what many people had anticipated at the outset.
"The big worry for businesses is that different tax authorities will require different information, which could add to the administrative and cost burden for businesses."
Anton Hume, at accountants BDO, said the measures could result in companies moving away from tax havens: "It may mean that a lot of activities are onshored again." | Moves to tackle corporate tax avoidance on a global scale have been unveiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). |
28,062,950 | The 24-year-old will sign a three-year deal at Carrow Road with the option of a further 12 months.
He had completed his Carrow Road medical earlier in the week, as reported by BBC Radio Norfolk.
Lafferty scored 11 times last season for the Serie B champions and had a spell at Swiss club Sion in 2012.
He started his career at Burnley, where he netted 10 goals in 83 league games, before a £3m move to Rangers in 2008.
The Enniskillen-born forward was on target nine times in 37 appearances for Northern Ireland and played 137 times during four years at Rangers, scoring 38 goals.
"Norwich is a team that wants to get promoted back to the Premier League at the first opportunity, so I'm excited to come here and start playing football for a team like this," he told the club website.
"I've played in the Championship before and I've played against Norwich, and the things I noticed about the club were the fans and the football they played.
"Speaking to the gaffer, everything he said and everything he wants me to do, it's good to have someone like that believing in me. I can't wait to get started."
Lafferty becomes Norwich boss Neil Adams's second signing since suffering relegation from the Premier League last season, with striker Lewis Grabban having joined from Bournemouth. | Norwich City will complete the signing of Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty from Palermo for an undisclosed fee on 1 July. |
35,531,519 | These pancakes are the best healthy spin on the classic sugar and lemon pancakes! Each pancake is just bursting with flavour - the richness from the cardamom works so well with the zestiness from the lemon and sweetness from the honey.
The drizzle is made with more lemon zest, honey and coconut oil to create the most perfect contrast in flavours! They're so delicious, you can enjoy them throughout the year too, not just on pancake day - they would make the best breakfast or sweet dessert!
Method
This blend of oats, almonds and flax makes each pancake brilliantly thick with a perfectly warm, squishy middle - just like good American pancakes. Topped with fresh blueberries, walnut pieces, sliced banana, strawberries and a little extra maple syrup they are just divine and they literally just melt in your mouth!
They're super healthy too so now you can enjoy this awesome day of sweet indulgence without worrying about the consequences! The oats and almonds also mean they're perfectly filling, so you really can't eat a hundred - although considering how good they taste I'm sure you'll want to!
Method
Follow Ella on Twitter and Instagram for more simple healthy recipes! | In honour of Pancake Day, BodyPositive friend, blogger and foodie, Ella Woodward, brings you these delicious pancake recipes packed with healthy, energy boosting ingredients! |
35,593,848 | Nathan Smith's goal gave the Gulls a 1-0 win at Macclesfield Town and booked a quarter-final trip to Bognor Regis.
However, the Gulls slipped to 12 points from safety in the National League after Boreham Wood won at Braintree.
"We can do that, it's on for us because we've got games coming thick and fast," Gulls manager Nicholson told BBC Devon.
"I keep saying it, but one good week is all we need to get ourselves right back in the mix.
"We've got three games in hand on most of those teams now, so we go out there, we put the work rate in like this, we can go to Boreham on Saturday confident and go there to try and win the game."
Torquay reached the semi-finals of the FA Trophy last season before being knocked out by Wrexham, and Nicholson says his side are capable of making the final this year.
"This season, fifth bottom and finishing the season at Wembley and we'll go away for a great summer," he added.
"That's the target, that's what I've told them, that's all that we need to concentrate on, but we have to do it one game at a time.
"I've been a professional for nearly 20 years and I've been fortunate enough to play there twice, which is twice more than most, and I'm very grateful.
"But it's an experience that these lads have got to earn, they've earned it so far, they're still in the hat." | Torquay boss Kevin Nicholson feels they can ease their relegation worries with one good week of results, after making the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy. |
40,817,932 | Passenger Sharon Davies, 45, from Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff, was travelling along the R509 in Derby, Rustenburg, when the crash happened.
Three other family members including two children were injured after the driver appeared to lose control of the car, police said.
But Ms Davies was trapped inside and pronounced dead at the scene.
Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, of South African police, said her family had been informed and his officers were investigating the crash.
Ms Davies and her family were en-route to visit relatives in Botswana, he added.
The Foreign Office said: "We are assisting the family of a British woman following a road accident in South Africa. Our staff are in contact with the South African police." | A woman has died and three people have been injured after a car crashed and rolled off the road in South Africa. |
36,247,289 | Arthur Budovsky had pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering.
The online facility, shut down in 2013, had operated out of Costa Rica.
Prosecutors in New York said many of its clients had been cybercriminals who had sought to move funds anonymously.
Two other men involved in the business were sentenced to shorter jail terms.
Two more people will be sentenced on 13 May.
The authorities are still trying to locate a further two suspects.
Liberty Reserve had advertised itself as the internet's "oldest, safest and most popular payment processor... serving millions all around [the] world".
Users had to provide a name, date of birth and an email address - but prosecutors said fake credentials had been accepted.
Account holders "converted" their cash into one of the company's digital currencies, following which an "instantaneous" transfer was made and the sum converted back into real-world cash.
For this, the company charged up to $2.99 (£1.98) per transaction.
The US Justice Department said the scheme had been used to process 78 million transactions with a combined value of $8bn (£5.5bn) - many of which were related to hiding the proceeds of credit card theft, identity fraud, hack attacks and Ponzi scam investment schemes.
"Liberty Reserve founder Arthur Budovsky ran a digital currency empire built expressly to facilitate money laundering on a massive scale for criminals around the globe," said Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara.
"Despite all his efforts to evade prosecution, including taking his operations offshore and renouncing his citizenship, Budovsky has now been held to account for his brazen violations of US criminal laws."
As part of his plea, Budovsky admitted to laundering between $250m and $550m of criminal proceeds related to US-based Liberty Reserve accounts.
In addition to the jail time, the 42 year old was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and forfeit $122m of company funds. | The founder of the digital currency service Liberty Reserve has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. |
33,824,084 | Since he won BBC Young Musician last year, the 19-year-old has become a student at the Royal College of Music, and has been getting a taste of life as a concert pianist.
"I've been exceedingly busy since," says Bartlett, reflecting on the BBC prize he won after wooing the judges with Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
In the past year, he has completed engagements at St John's Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall - all opportunities, Bartlett believes, which came directly from the exposure generated by his Young Musician triumph.
"It's so great that BBC Young Musician is broadcast on BBC Four," says Bartlett. "So many people can tune in."
Despite his youth, Bartlett is a seasoned competition pianist, having won a string of prizes in his teens.
It became clear to him around the age of 13 that he wanted to pursue a career as a professional pianist - putting to bed ideas of an alternative career path as a marine biologist.
"I was very interested in physics and maths at different points," says Bartlett, "but music was always something I loved.
"It was only when I really believed in myself - believed that I could do it - that I realised I wanted to do it.
"It was when I had that self-confidence that I realised my biggest dream was to play concerts."
Winning prizes has helped Bartlett cement that self-belief, but competitions, he says, are "a tricky subject", and must be approached with an open mind.
"There are so many benefits from competitions," he explains. "Unfortunately, there are some disadvantages too."
"Competitions are so subjective. You have to have the attitude of doing them, not because of winning, but doing them for the music.
"I have won a few competitions, but there are many that I haven't won. You just can't get discouraged," he says. "You really have to just carry on going throughout, whatever happens."
Right now, Bartlett is making the final preparations for his first Proms appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, where he will perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
"Gershwin himself said the piece is a melting pot of all the crazy energy that's in New York - and it really is," says Bartlett.
"There are so many different styles, so many influences - it's just such an amazing work to perform. There's that element of spontaneity that sometimes you don't get with classical music."
Bartlett believes that "spark" comes from Gershwin being a jazz musician, as well as a classical performer. Rhapsody in Blue "was originally kind of improvised", he explains. "Even in the first concert, Gershwin still had things written in the score like 'when I nod the orchestra comes in'. He only wrote the piano part down after he had done the premiere, which is just totally unheard of now."
'Feeling comfortable'
As he builds his repertoire, Bartlett no longer has the luxury of focusing on one piece at a time. His performance schedule means he might start working on a piece eight-months in advance, even if he only spends half-an-hour a day on it.
The important thing, he says, is to "walk on stage and feel comfortable you know the piece inside out, top to bottom - that's when you give a good performance".
The pianist is conscious he is still developing as a musician, so spends a lot of time working on both his sound and technique. And being among other young musicians at the Royal College of Music is a big part of his development, allowing him to exchange ideas as he lays the groundwork for his career in music.
But Bartlett insists he doesn't have a big plan, he just wants to keep enjoying playing the piano.
"Just do the best that you can, work as hard as you can, but also have as much fun as you can," he says.
"Enjoy every moment, because you really never know where life is going to take you."
Martin James Bartlett performs Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 9 August, 2015. | Pianist Martin James Bartlett makes his Proms debut on Sunday after a whirlwind year that has seen him perform at some of the UK's highest-profile concert halls. |
39,605,169 | Lincoln's win earlier in the day meant Rovers could not catch them in the race for the title, but it failed to curb their effort.
Rovers had a handful of chances before they took a deserved 25th-minute lead, Michael Ihiekwe providing the through ball for Norwood to fire the ball past goalkeeper Chris Cheetham.
The home side wrapped it up at the start of the second half with two quick-fire goals, Norwood doubling his tally with a delightful lob inside the first minute for his 14th goal of the season, before Jennings curled a third into the top corner in the 50th minute.
Rovers defender Lee Vaughan was withdrawn injured on a stretcher following a challenge by Spencer Myers, who reduced the arrears in the 61st minute after a neat knock-down by Andrai Jones.
But, the hosts restored their three-goal advantage 10 minutes later when James Wallace provided the pass for Jennings to slide the ball under Cheetham.
Match report supplied by the Press Association. | James Norwood and Connor Jennings both struck twice as Tranmere guaranteed the runners-up spot in the National League with a routine victory over relegated Southport. |
34,060,117 | Final details are still being worked out, but the companies said the deal had "compelling strategic logic" and boosted their market position.
Paddy Power shareholders would own 52% of the combined business, with Betfair investors owning the remaining 48%.
The combined business would have annual revenues of some £1.1bn.
"Discussions remain ongoing regarding the other terms of the possible merger," a statement said on Wednesday.
The new group would be the UK online market leader with a 16% share, according to industry data, passing a merged Ladbrokes/Coral on 14%, as well as William Hill and the privately owned Bet365.
Shares in Betfair soared 17% to £30.60 on Wednesday, while Paddy Power jumped more than 18% in Dublin.
If the deal goes ahead, Breon Corcoran, boss of Betfair, would become chief executive of the combined group, while his counterpart at Paddy Power, Andy McCue, would become chief operating officer.
The combined company plans to retain the "distinctive and complementary" Betfair and Paddy Power brands in Europe.
Mr Corcoran said: "We fundamentally believe this industry is all about scale. By putting together two distinct but phenomenally strong brands, we'll have a market leading position in the UK, Ireland, Australia and in the United States."
Cormac McCarthy, Paddy Power's chief financial officer, said the combination was an "attractive opportunity".
"The scale and capability is unsurpassed and would leave us in a much better place to compete in our current markets, where competition is intense," he said.
Given the complementary nature of the two companies, he was confident that any competition concerns could be overcome.
Paddy Power was founded in 1988, when three Irish bookmakers merged. It has 350 betting shops and is the third-largest online bookmaker.
Betfair, in contrast, is offering a marketplace - or betting exchange - that lets customers bypass the need for a traditional bookmaker.
Based on their closing prices on Tuesday, Betfair was worth £2.4bn and Dublin-listed Paddy Power was worth €3.4bn (£2.5bn).
Shareholders in Paddy Power would receive a special dividend of €80m.
There has been a flurry of merger activity in the gambling sector in recent months.
In July, online gambling firm 888 Holdings won a takeover battle for rival Bwin.party in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about £898m.
The two companies had been in discussions since the middle of May.
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral also recently sealed a £2.3bn merger. | Betfair and Paddy Power are set to merge in a £5bn deal that would create one of the world's biggest online betting and gaming companies. |
40,889,804 | Almost 80 tech start-up companies have received £60m from Finance Wales in the past 10 years.
But Cardiff Start, a network with 2,500 members, said support was "often not fit for purpose".
The Welsh Government said it offered a range of "tailored initiatives".
A report by Tech Nation earlier this year said Wales had the fastest growing digital economy outside London.
Finance Wales, the Welsh Government's venture capital body, has awarded £20m entry investments to 78 companies, with a further £40m given as follow-on investment.
Individual funding can range from £1,000 to £5m, via avenues including its Technology Seed Fund and Wales Business Fund.
But Neil Cocker, Cardiff Start co-founder, has called for a greater awareness of how the digital industry operates.
He said tech start-ups usually operate by different economic models than more traditional businesses, and the usual approaches "simply aren't relevant or helpful".
"Most of our start-ups never fulfil their potential because of the lack of relevant funding and advice," he said.
"We sometimes even hear how the start-up founder feels they're actually further behind than if they'd spent the time without the support.
"It's important to note that this is not the fault of Wales or of Welsh Government - we don't have the right pool of experience on which to draw.
"But it does point to the fact that Welsh Government should listen more closely to those who are at the coalface, and help them gain access to the people who can really help them."
App developer Stephen Milburn, who helps head Cardiff Start, said tech start-ups were struggling to make their first million once they get off the ground.
He said the Welsh Government needed to take a long-term view when backing companies, because "the value and return ratio is different" compared to "bricks and mortar" businesses.
Both believe Wales could promote itself better to venture capitalists if it "brands" its success stories.
Mr Cocker added: "Scotland are very good at promoting their successes, and everyone in tech knows that Skyscanner and Rockstar Games, for example, are from Scotland. But outside of Wales it is little known that GoCompare was a Welsh start-up."
Steve Smith, Finance Wales' director for technology venture investments, said it had "a dedicated technology investment team who work with technology ventures at a range of growth stages".
"Our portfolio has a number of examples of companies that have progressed from a seed-funded start-up to multi-million pound investment round involving a syndicate of venture capitalists," he said.
He added that the range of funding and infrastructure "has helped tech starts in Wales flourish but also attracted companies and founders to relocate here from across the border".
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said the tech sector in Wales was growing 32% faster than the economy as a whole, and was worth more than £8.5bn to the Welsh economy, with about 3,500 businesses employing more than 40,000 people.
Mr Skates said the Welsh Government was "proactively supporting innovative businesses through tailored initiatives", such as its Digital Development Fund, and has "actively supported emerging workspaces" including Welsh ICE, TechHub Swansea and Tramshed Tech.
"We recognise that tech companies operate differently and can have different requirements for government support," he said.
"We remain committed to a programme of support that is focused on driving further growth in the sector and ensuring Welsh tech businesses are given every opportunity to thrive." | Technology start-ups face a lack of relevant funding and advice in Wales when they begin to "scale up" into "large, successful" firms, a business network has said. |
37,891,711 | How so?
In the first place advisers close to both of them tend to emphasise that some of the more controversial policies they have advocated - such as Donald Trump's suggestion he will renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement, or Hillary Clinton's that she backed a no-fly zone in Syria - are actually less radical than they appear and would involve "more of the same" rather than dramatic change.
While Republicans lambast President Barack Obama for "abandoning" global leadership, and some suggest Hillary Clinton would be more interventionist, in truth whoever is elected will seek to avoid any repetition of what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These were hugely expensive, enduring military commitments that many Americans feel they can ill afford now.
"The United States is going through an interesting period here," Leon Panetta, the former Defence Secretary and Director of Central Intelligence told the BBC, "and there's no question that there is a certain exhaustion about having confronted all of these challenges during that period and the price we paid. It's reflected not just in the Democratic party but in the Republican party as well."
On free trade also it may be that the choice between Clinton and Trump is not quite as radical as it first appears.
While Mrs Clinton is an ardent advocate of free trade deals, the left of her party has joined the Republicans in arguing that a new treaty signed earlier this year (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) should not be ratified and questioned the need also for a future pact with Europe.
"Separate the bill of particulars from Trump the person," says Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute about free trade, burden sharing among Nato allies or military cuts, "and the reality is, these complaints make sense, and Congress has the constitutional and political power to do something about it."
The likelihood that neither candidate could obtain a clean sweep, winning the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, means they are likely to be limited in their ability to deliver much of their platform.
If, as polls suggest is likely, Mrs Clinton wins the presidency but the Republicans retain the majority in the House, then many predict partisan fighting and gridlock even more bitter than that which has characterised President Obama's second term.
So it's quite likely that either presidential candidate's trade policy could get stymied in Congress.
Talking about Mr Trump's platform on trade to Carlos Gimenez, the Republican mayor of Miami, a city highly dependent on foreign commerce, he said to me: "The good thing about America is that we don't have kings… we have a division of power", noting that Florida's US senators and representatives would protect its interests in Washington.
As for suggestions from the stump by his party's nominee that the US might raise tariffs on some cheap foreign goods or products where American jobs had been outsourced abroad, Mr Gimenez said that erecting such barriers "really doesn't work", adding, "we do need free trade".
That, though, is a viewpoint from a particularly cosmopolitan city and what does seem to be happening, as a long-term trend, is that the US is growing less interested in its global leadership role, as well as in advancing free trade deals, while growing more preoccupied with its domestic policies and divisions.
Mr Panetta told us of his concerns about the US rowing back from its global leadership.
"The United States hoped that others would step up to the plate," he said, referring to the Obama years, but "it didn't happen, and our national security became challenged as a result of that.
"That's something the American people now understand that if the United States does not provide that leadership unfortunately no-one else will."
While Mr Panetta and much of the Washington foreign policy establishment would see Ms Clinton as a far better bet, in terms of exerting a positive role in world affairs, her freedom of action will be limited by new great power realities as well as domestic political constraints.
In recent months Russia has filled the void in Syria, while bolstering ties with a host of other Middle East states.
China, too, is not only catching up fast with the US economically, but is preparing diplomatically and militarily to shut America out of sensitive regions like the South China Sea.
This sense that the US may be slipping in the world of power politics has prompted Mr Trump to suggest higher defence spending and tougher trade policies towards China.
The two candidates present a curious paradox here - with him proposing to spend more on a military he would use less, while Mrs Clinton suggests a more active role for forces continuing to run down under the current administration's plans.
Neither candidate, though, can address frankly the relative change in the international order that results from countries like China or Russia spending heavily on their forces and having a greater will to use them.
Indeed a presidential election, full as it is of paeans to the country's greatness, may be the worst time to discuss the growing limits on its power in a world the foreign policy wonks describe as increasingly "multi-polar".
Seen that way, Mr Trump's insistence that he will not commit the country to more foreign wars, or the suggestion by Mrs Clinton's advisers that her Syria policy would not involve major escalation can be seen as a kind of continuity.
President Obama after all was proud, as he put it, to have brought US soldiers home from two wars and to have placed strict limits on America's involvement in Libya and Syria.
Mark Urban is diplomatic and defence editor for BBC Newsnight. You can follow him on Twitter and read more from him on his blog.
Who is ahead in the polls?
45%
Hillary Clinton
45%
Donald Trump
Last updated November 4, 2016
Who will win? Play our game to make your call | America will likely emerge from the presidential election with a foreign policy that continues the recent trend of avoiding major foreign conflicts in order to focus on domestic issues - something you would hardly guess from the radically different foreign policy platforms of the two presidential candidates. |
37,324,924 | Pat Hickey, along with Irishman Kevin Mallon, is one of 10 defendants facing a number of charges as part of an investigation into an alleged ticketing scam.
The judge ordered that the passports of Mr Hickey and Mr Mallon be retained.
It is expected that it could be up to a year and a half before a court case takes place.
Mr Hickey, was the most senior Olympic official in Ireland before his dramatic arrest in a Rio hotel room on 17 August.
He spent time in the maximum security Bangu 10 prison before being released and placed under house arrest on 30 August.
Under the ruling, Mr Hickey and Mr Mallon will be returned to jail if they breach any of the conditions imposed on them by the court in Rio de Janeiro.
Following his arrest, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said he had stood down temporarily from his roles.
Two other Irishmen are also facing charges or are being sought by police.
Kevin Mallon, a Dublin-based director of THG Sports, is also facing charges in relation to the alleged ticketing scam.
On Friday, police in Brazil said an arrest warrant was being sought for Martin Burke, the sports director of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI). | Ireland's top Olympic official Pat Hickey has been formally charged by a judge in Brazil. |
30,860,010 | Mr Miliband was "highly intelligent" and a "good debater", the peer told BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.
There have been suggestions that David Cameron's chances of winning in May depend on squeezing the UKIP vote.
But Lord Patten said Mr Farage "is probably a balloon which is deflating".
His comments come in a week in which Mr Cameron vowed not take part in TV debates ahead of the general election unless the Green Party is also included.
At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Miliband called Mr Cameron's refusal to take part a "pathetic excuse".
Lord Patten told the BBC: "I wouldn't be worried about the Farage factor; I'd be much more worried about the platform it gives Ed Miliband."
He said he was concerned that during the election campaign the Labour leader "might come across a lot better" than the press says he is.
Mr Miliband, Mr Farage and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have urged broadcasters to press ahead with televised debates before the 7 May poll even if Mr Cameron refuses to take part. The three leaders have also written to the prime minister saying it would be "unacceptable" for him to refuse to appear.
But at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron said Mr Miliband was "chickening" out of facing the Greens and all "national parties" must be represented.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Cameron was unwilling to do anything that gives Nigel Farage a boost.
He had long decided the debates at the 2010 election had sucked the life out of the campaign and given a boost to his opponents, our political editor said in a blog entry.
Under plans put forward by the BBC, Sky News, ITV and Channel 4 in October, the pre-election live TV debates would include the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP.
Mr Cameron would take on Mr Miliband head-to-head in one debate, another would feature Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Lib Dem leader Mr Clegg, and a third would also include UKIP's Mr Farage.
On the Week in Westminster, Lord Patten said Mr Cameron should not have taken part in televised leaders' debates before the last election, because "once you start doing them, they are very difficult to stop".
UKIP secured two by-election victories over the Conservatives - in Clacton and Rochester and Strood - last year.
Responding to Lord Patten's view of the threat from Mr Farage, a UKIP spokesman said the opinion polls suggested the party's popularity "wouldn't descend any time soon".
Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said the TV debates could go ahead if the Greens were included.
He told the Times there was "still time for this all to be organised and I think it will".
"What people would appreciate is a common sense debate between either the two guys who could be prime minister or everybody who is standing nationally."
The Week in Westminster is on Radio 4 at 11:00 GMT | The Tories should be much more worried about Labour leader Ed Miliband than UKIP's Nigel Farage during the general election campaign, former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Patten has said. |
38,562,048 | In tests on mice, alcohol activated the brain signals that tell the body to eat more food.
The UK researchers, who report their findings in the journal Nature Communications, believe the same is probably true in humans.
It would explain why many people say they eat more when they have had a few drinks.
Rather than loss of restraint, it is a neuronal response, the Francis Crick Institute team says.
The mice were given generous doses of alcohol for three days - a dose being equivalent to around 18 units or a bottle-and-a-half of wine for a person.
The alcohol caused increased activity in neurons called AGRP. These are the neurons that are fired when the body experiences starvation.
The mice ate more than normal too.
When the researchers repeated the experiment but blocked the neurons with a drug, the mice did not eat as much which, the researchers say, suggests that AGRP neurons are responsible for the alcohol-induced eating.
Alcohol itself contains lots of calories. A large glass of wine, for example, can contain as many as a doughnut.
The study authors, Denis Burdakov and colleagues, say understanding how alcohol changes the body and our behaviour could help with managing obesity.
Around two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese.
Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, from Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said people should be made aware of the impact alcohol can have on how much they eat and what they eat, along with the associated health risks.
"Alcohol is responsible for over 60 illnesses and conditions on its own, and drinkers place themselves at even greater risk when their drinking is combined with over-eating: especially because when people drink they are more likely to make less healthy food choices.
"Alcohol and obesity cause 90% of liver deaths and alcohol is twice as toxic to the liver in very obese patients."
Follow Michelle on Twitter | Alcohol switches the brain into starvation mode, increasing hunger and appetite, scientists have discovered. |
39,509,659 | In her first competition since UK Sport axed all funding for British Weightlifting, the 18-year-old lifted 100kg in the 'snatch' phase and 124kg in the subsequent 'clean and jerk' stage.
Her combined total of 224kg saw her miss out on an overall medal by 1kg.
"I'm buzzing with that performance," she told BBC Sport.
"It was my first competition since the Rio Olympics and there's lots of new faces and older lifters out there so to come out here and lift as I did is really encouraging."
Anastasiia Romanova (243kg) of Russia took the overall European -69kg title at the event in Split, Croatia, with Ukrainian Mariya Khlyan and Belarus lifter Anastasiya Mikhalenka both awarded silver medals for totalling 225kg's.
In her first competition since suffering a stress fracture in her back in December, GB's Emily Godley finished eighth in the same category with a combined total of 209kgs.
On Sunday Britain's Sarah Davies finished fifth in the women's -63kg division.
Sonny Webster (-94kg) and Owen Boxall (-105kg) will compete on Friday. | Olympic weightlifter Rebekah Tiler claimed silver in the snatch and finished fourth overall in the -69kg division at the European Championships. |
35,072,298 | 11 December 2015 Last updated at 12:49 GMT
The US President's wife joins American comedian Jay Pharoah in a new video encouraging pupils to go to college.
The pair were filmed at the White House, rapping about the reasons young people should continue their education.
Check out the video.
Courtesy of College Humor | Michelle Obama's no stranger to dancing, but now she's had a go at rapping too. |
33,729,727 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
31 July 2015 Last updated at 07:20 BST
Jose Mourinho's Blues finished eight points ahead of second-placed Manchester City last season, with Arsenal third and Manchester United fourth.
But Shearer says the Gunners need to sign a striker, United still have "work to do", and believes City's new £49m signing Raheem Sterling is not worth the amount of money he cost.
Gary Lineker and Match of the Day return to BBC One on Saturday 8 August, marking the start of the new Premier League season. | Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer expects champions Chelsea to improve on last season, but predicts a "tight" race for the title in the new campaign. |
37,454,186 | Former North Wales Police Supt Gordon Anglesea, 78, of Old Colwyn, denies sexually abusing two teenage boys in the 1980s.
Retired policeman John Kelly helped Mr Anglesea set up the attendance centre for "tearaway" teenage boys.
He told Mold Crown Court the boys would be lined and "inspected by Anglesea".
Mr Anglesea was in charge of the attendance centre while Mr Kelly, who previously lived next door to Mr Anglesea, was second in command.
During a police interview in 2014, Mr Kelly said a typical session at the centre started with a "military-style parade" where the boys were lined up and "inspected by Anglesea".
Mr Kelly told the court he would sometimes visit Bryn Alyn and Bryn Estyn care homes when boys absconded, but it was procedure to issue cautions at a police station rather than at the homes.
Asked in court if Mr Anglesea ever issued cautions at the homes, he replied: "On the odd occasion."
However, the court heard how in his police statement, he said: "I am aware that Gordon Anglesea on a very regular basis visited Bryn Estyn and Bryn Alyn and conducted cautions at the premises," adding: it became "almost became the norm".
During the prosecution opening of the trial, the court was told boys at the attendance centre would be made to do gym and drill parade sessions and woodwork classes on Saturday afternoons.
Mr Anglesea would then inspect the parade and make youngsters do naked sit-ups and squat thrusts.
But Mr Kelly said he saw no evidence of abuse at the centre.
The court heard that at the time Mr Anglesea was said to have committed the offences between September 1982 and September 1983, his five-year-old daughter died.
Defence barrister Tania Griffiths QC said: "She died on May 10, 1983.
"At the time he was said to be abusing somebody, his little girl was seriously ill. He spent a lot of time with Elizabeth and the family as they approached the end."
Mr Anglesea denies two allegations of indecent assault and one serious sexual assault on one boy, and the indecent assault of another.
The trial continues. | A police chief accused of sexually assaulting boys, subjected teenagers to military-style parades at an attendance centre he ran, a court has heard. |
34,974,120 | The singer's 'Wonderful Crazy Night' show will be the first music concert at the city's Meadowbank Stadium since 2007.
At least 18,500 tickets will go on sale on Friday for the show on Saturday 25 June. The Foo Fighters, Kaiser Chiefs and Prince have played at Meadowbank.
He is also playing in Exeter, Henley, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool and Oxford next summer.
Sir Elton said: "The simple truth is I want to spend more time with my family, and I am only too aware of just how precious the time ahead is.
"My sons are growing up so quickly; their early years are just flying by and I want to be there with them.
"So these concerts will give me the chance to thank the Scottish audiences who have been so faithful to me over these many decades.
"We cannot get to everyone, but I am going to try. Edinburgh has always been a very special place for me to play.
"I did my first ever truly solo show at the Playhouse back in 1976, and it also just happens to be where my guitarist and Music Director Davey Johnstone is from, so it's a very special city for me and the band."
David Milne, chairman of Edinburgh Leisure said: "Meadowbank Stadium has a rich history hosting a myriad of sporting events over the years including the 1970s and '86 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay and also various music greats including the Foo Fighters, Kaiser Chiefs and Prince.
"It's an honour that Sir Elton John has chosen Meadowbank as the Scottish location for his 2016 tour and a rare opportunity for his Scottish fans to catch this legendary musician in such an iconic venue."
Richard Lewis, Edinburgh city council's convener of culture and sport, said: "We are absolutely delighted that Sir Elton John has chosen Meadowbank Stadium to host this concert.
"It's a real coup for both Meadowbank and Edinburgh to have one of the world's greatest music stars come to Scotland's capital city.
"I'm sure his legion of fans and the Edinburgh public will all agree this concert is the perfect way to kick start the festival scene and will really get the summer party in the Capital started." | Sir Elton John has announced he will perform in Edinburgh next year. |
40,904,132 | The 19-year-old was sitting on a bench in Regent Road at the bottom of Calton Hill, when a man in a grey minibus or people carrier drove up at about 05:45 on Thursday.
She accepted a lift believing the vehicle was a taxi, and was sexually assaulted inside it.
The vehicle was then driven to the top of Easter Road where she got out.
She was then helped by a taxi driver on Montrose Terrace at about 06:15.
Det Insp Kevin Harkins, of Police Scotland, said: "This man has preyed on a vulnerable young woman and this was an extremely frightening ordeal for her. She is now receiving support from specially trained officers.
"I am very grateful to the taxi driver who helped her and thanks to him and the victim, we have a good description of the vehicle and the offender.
"This was a serious sexual assault and we are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen the vehicle in the city centre in the early hours of Thursday morning, or may recognise it or the driver."
The man is white, in his late 30s or early 40s, of large build, 5ft 10in with a large nose and short dark hair. He was wearing a light blue or grey polo shirt and light denim jeans.
The vehicle may have been a VW Transporter. | A teenager has been sexually assaulted in a vehicle which she got into thinking it was a taxi in Edinburgh. |
35,831,345 | The place is swarming with media. Television hosts from Pakistan's numerous political talk shows are jostling for their "exclusive" interviews.
The media frenzy is met by heightened security around the house: recently installed barbed wire, CCTV cameras and iron gates. A full body search is conducted before visitors are allowed in.
The place serves as the headquarters of a breakaway group from Karachi's biggest political party, the MQM.
It is a risky gamble and seemingly the first organised attempt in more than two decades to take on Altaf Hussain, the MQM's founding leader who has lived in self-imposed exile in London for the last 24 years.
Mr Hussain is a maverick politician who has encouraged a personality cult to build up around him.
He maintains a firm grip over the party, and through it, on Pakistan's financial capital.
Over the years, potential dissenters have been eliminated - sometimes physically, opponents allege, although the MQM has always denied allegations of murder.
The man leading the latest rebellion is Mustafa Kamal, the party's former elected mayor of Karachi. Posters displayed at the main gate of his camp office declare him "a ray of hope".
"We have been inundated with phone calls and messages of support. The response has been overwhelming," he says as he sits down with me after a hectic day of back-to-back meetings and television interviews.
It is around midnight, but far from being exhausted he appears driven and energised.
"This city and this country have suffered enough bloodshed because of the greed and disloyalty of one man playing with its fate from London.
"We are here to say: enough is enough. Karachi and Pakistan deserve better," he says.
What is MQM?
1984: Founded as the party of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India at the time of the 1947 partition, known as Muhajir
1988: Wins all seats in Karachi, becoming Pakistan's third largest party
1992: Party chief Altaf Hussain leaves country after an arrest warrant is issued in a murder case; army claims to have busted "torture cells" used by MQM activists to punish opponents
2004: Emerges as major ally of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf
2009: Under a 2009 amnesty in Pakistan 72 cases are dropped against Altaf Hussain, including 31 allegations of murder
2014: London police raid the home of Altaf Hussain, who still controls the party, and investigate claims of money laundering and murder
Karachi is Pakistan's most diverse, multi-ethnic, economic engine.
The MQM has dominated the city's politics for three decades because of its support in the densely populated working class neighbourhoods of Urdu-speaking Muhajirs, descendants of Muslims who migrated from India when Pakistan was created in 1947.
Mustafa Kamal was once a blue-eyed supporter of Mr Hussain. He was handpicked by the party leader to become elected mayor of Karachi from 2005-2010.
Young, dynamic and some say hot-headed, he was an MQM senator and a central leader of the party when he resigned in 2013 and quietly left the country.
He later ended up in Dubai, working for one of Pakistan's largest property developers, Bahria Town.
His return on 3 March appeared sudden, but well-choreographed. He says it was "a call of conscience" but critics suspect the initiative is backed by the Pakistani army.
The country's main intelligence agency, the ISI, has a track record of interfering in Pakistan's domestic politics, rigging elections, orchestrating party splits and sponsoring political alliances.
Since they burst onto the national scene, Mr Kamal and his group of dissidents have attacked their former boss in London for his alleged links with the Indian intelligence agency, RAW.
They have denounced what they say is his flip-flop approach to policy, his threats and abuse towards the army and his alleged incitement to violence against opponents.
None of the allegations are particularly shocking or revealing.
The more serious ones, that the party bosses received funding from Indian intelligence, have been in the public domain for quite some time but are yet to be proven in a court of law.
"The allegation has been used repeatedly as a stick to beat us with and to paint us as unpatriotic," says Dr Farooq Sattar, a senior MQM leader.
"And yet, despite the continuous media trial, people have continued to vote for us."
MQM insiders accept that there has been persist frustration within the senior ranks about the way party affairs have been managed from London.
There, Mr Hussain has been under pressure from the British authorities, facing a variety of allegations - all of which he denies - including an investigation into money laundering.
Separately, British officials are investigating the murder of a senior MQM leader, Dr Imran Farooq, who was stabbed to death in London in 2010.
Some claimed that his death was a politically motivated killing because at the time, Dr Farooq was reportedly planning to break away from Mr Hussain and start his own party.
Party insiders say the legal challenges, increased scrutiny of the party's finances and a lifestyle of indulgence has taken a big toll on Mr Hussain's health.
But despite battling on multiple fronts, his appeal and the vote bank has stayed intact. In fact, in December 2015, the MQM won the local government election with a huge margin in Karachi and other urban areas of Sindh province.
"We are not a perfect party," concedes an MQM member of parliament. "There's much we would like to change about ourselves. But it has to come from within. External attempts to force reform will fail."
For now, the party has decided to play it cool in the face of the latest challenge, calling it "a storm in a tea-cup". Instead, it is focusing its energies on a waste collection drive on the streets of Karachi.
As for Mr Kamal, it is unclear how he intends to take his campaign beyond the television talk shows. He says he is not in a rush.
Pakistan's next elections are not due for another two years. Mr Kamal says he intends to use that time and space to organise his as-yet unnamed new party and to reach out to all Pakistanis.
His first real test of popular support will come when he leaves the secure confines of his camp office and ventures out on the streets of the city where Altaf Hussain, despite all his problems, still enjoys a significant loyal following. | Outside a house in an affluent seaside neighbourhood of Karachi, several satellite trucks are parked in a row. |
32,948,199 | The Welshman, 28, boxed beautifully at times and left the champion chasing shadows for sustained periods.
A clash of heads opened a nasty cut over Gradovich's right eye in the seventh and the doctor called the fight off in the following round.
Londoner Kevin Mitchell was stopped in the 10th round of his WBC lightweight fight by champion Jorge Linares.
Mitchell, 30, put up an incredibly game performance and floored Linares in the fifth round. But by the 10th Mitchell could hardly see out of his left eye and after he was battered to the canvas, the referee called the fight off.
As for Selby, he will be earmarked for great things, having made a seasoned and unbeaten opponent look ordinary at times.
Selby established his jab early and also landed with a peach of an uppercut in the opening round, although Gradovich did get through with a couple of right hands.
Selby boxed beautifully off the back foot in the second, repeatedly landing with left hooks before slipping out of range, and a pattern had been set.
Gradovich, who glories in the moniker 'The Russian Mexican', continued to barrel forward in the fourth and continued to be picked off on the counter, although the champion did have a bit more success in the fifth.
But Gradovich, making the fifth defence of his title, was back to chasing shadows in the sixth, during which Selby rocked him with a couple of right crosses and almost took his legs from underneath him with a right over the top.
Selby shipped a couple of rights from the champion in the seventh but also opened up a nasty cut over Gradovich's right eye. And the fight was called off seconds into the eighth, after the doctor deemed him unfit to continue.
Because it was an accidental head-butt the judges were called upon, and they awarded Selby the fight unanimously, 79-73, 80-72, 79-73.
Selby is the third Welshman to win a featherweight world title, after the great Howard Winstone and Steve Robinson, and the 12th Welsh world champion in all.
The former British, European and Commonwealth champion now has 21 wins and one defeat, that one loss an insignificant four-round fight in 2009.
Mitchell will feel down but also tremendously proud. His promising career was almost derailed by alcohol addiction but he had won six fights since rejoining old amateur trainer Tony Sims in 2013, the last five inside the distance.
Linares came into the fight having won seven straight, including five knockouts, but had also been stopped three times in a 41-fight professional career.
The opening round was a tense affair but Linares, who looked huge for a lightweight, probably did enough to nick it courtesy of a late flurry.
Linares, a wily three-weight world champion, also came alive towards the end of the second, impressing the judges with some eye-catching combinations.
East Londoner Mitchell, spurred on by the strains of West Ham anthem 'Bubbles', probably did enough to win the third. And the fight opened up towards the end of the fourth, during which both men sustained cuts after a clash of heads.
But Mitchell really came alive in the fifth, flooring Linares with a right-left combination. Linares was up at the count of eight but it was a 10-8 round in the bag for the challenger, who now had a baying crowd right behind him.
The sixth was difficult to score although Mitchell looked to have won the seventh.
His face was a mess by the end of a tight eighth with his right eye almost shut and the cut over his left bleeding profusely. But he seemed to have no problems seeing in the ninth, landing with some more snappy counters.
Linares finally got to Mitchell in the 10th. By the middle of the round the challenger was struggling to see past a grotesquely swollen left eye and he was battered to the ground.
But when the Englishman got to his feet the referee took one look at his face and waved the fight off, a decision that drew no complaints from Mitchell.
Elsewhere on a packed undercard, Wiltshire's Nick Blackwell caused an upset by stopping London's John Ryder in the seventh round and securing the vacant British middleweight title.
Ryder, 26, appeared to be in control of proceedings before a flurry of blows stopped him in his tracks and the referee deemed him unable to continue.
It was third time lucky for Blackwell, 24, who lost British title challenges against Martin Murray and Billy Joe Saunders in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
In a contender for fight of the night, Scott Cardle claimed the vacant British lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Welshman Craig Evans.
The pair almost ended up in a fight at Thursday's news conference and their actual match was a bloody affair, with Cardle's greater class telling in the end.
The 25-year-old Cardle, a stablemate of Scott Quigg, Anthony Crolla and the Smith clan at Joe Gallagher's gym in Bolton, is now unbeaten in 18 pro fights.
In a thrilling match for the Commonwealth light-welterweight title, champion Dave Ryan recovered from two knockdowns to stop Essex fighter John Wayne Hibbert in the ninth round. Derby's Ryan also outpointed Hibbert in 2013.
Wales' former light-heavyweight world champion Nathan Cleverly returned to action with a 24-second knockout of Czech journeyman Tomas Man. | Lee Selby produced a superb performance to beat Russia's Evgeny Gradovich and claim the IBF featherweight title. |
36,043,455 | They claim the holders of the copyright are not entitled to charge for the use of We Shall Overcome, which was sung by supporters of Martin Luther King Jr's campaign against institutional racism.
The song has a long history and can be traced back to a 19th Century hymn.
It was later used by the labour movement in the early 20th Century.
We Shall Overcome was taken up as a rally cry and was sung at the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama, led by Martin Luther King.
The song was popularised in the 1960s by folk musician Pete Seeger and others, which led it to be copyrighted as a "derivative work".
Seeger's arrangement has since been performed by many artists, including Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
The current dispute arose when a California-based group called the We Shall Overcome Foundation sought permission to include the song in a documentary.
New York-based publishers the Richmond Organisation and Ludlow Music Inc refused the request and threatened it with a financial penalty if it violated the copyright.
Lawyers from Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman have now taken up the case, claiming that licensing fees for We Shall Overcome have been "unlawfully demanded and extracted".
The same law firm previously argued for Happy Birthday to enter the public domain, a case that led to a judge's ruling that its lyrics could be used without the payment of royalties. | A song that became an anthem of the US civil rights movement should be free for all to perform, say lawyers seeking to end its copyright protection. |
35,469,409 | The now Independent MEP was replaced as the UKIP general election candidate for Folkestone and Hythe after the claims were published in The Sun newspaper.
Ms Atkinson and her assistant Christine Hewitt were expelled from the party following a disciplinary hearing,
She said she was "delighted" to have been cleared by Kent Police.
"It has been a truly terrible time and I have learnt a major lesson about the value of integrity in my working relationships," she said.
A spokesman for Kent Police said: "Following an allegation of fraud, a woman who was interviewed has been informed that there will be no further action against her.
"Inquiries in the allegation continue."
In March, The Sun published a secret recording which claimed to show Ms Hewitt asking the manager of a restaurant in Margate for an invoice for a higher sum than the bill she had received. | South East MEP Janice Atkinson will face no criminal action over allegations that a member of her staff tried to arrange a false meal receipt. |
32,051,974 | John McKno is accused of abusing two boys at the former Kesgrave Hall boarding school in Suffolk in the late 1980s.
Mr McKno, of Alby Hill, Alby, Norfolk is also charged with assaulting a boy at the former Beam College in Great Torrington, in the 1970s.
The 69-year-old is due before Ipswich Magistrates' Court on 14 April.
The alleged offences relate to boys under the ages of 14 and 16.
It is understood Mr McKno, who was first arrested last May, worked at Kesgrave Hall but was not a teacher.
Two other men who were questioned and bailed as part of Operation Garford have since died.
One died of natural causes while the other, a 62-year-old man from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was found dead on a railway line near his home town days after his arrest in April last year.
The latter had also been questioned by National Crime Agency detectives on suspicion of indecently assaulting a boy aged 13 or 14 in the north Wales care system. | A man has been charged with 16 sexual assaults against three children at schools in Suffolk and Devon. |
38,887,987 | Worcester's 53-38 win at Cardiff Arms Park was their first away victory in any competition in 11 months.
But Gold warns that this Saturday's home Premiership test against champions Saracens will be much tougher.
"If we don't sharpen up our defence, it could be a very long day for us," the Warriors director of rugby, 49, said.
"To go away and get 50 points anywhere has got to be good. But Saracens won't give you the opportunities to score 50 points against them."
Warriors will be returning to Premiership action for the first time in over a month, since their 55-19 defeat at Gloucester.
And they will be bottom by the time the game with Sarries kicks off, if 12th-placed Bristol pick up two points or more from Friday night's home fixture against seventh-placed Harlequins.
Saracens may have all of their eight England Six Nations squad players missing at Sixways this weekend - hooker Jamie George, lock Maro Itoje, the Vunipola brothers, stand-off Owen Farrell, wing Chris Ashton, full-back Alex Goode and injured lock George Kruis.
But Worcester are without centre Ben Te'o, scorer of England's late match-winning try against France, and are still without skipper GJ Van Velze, full-back Chris Pennell and hooker Niall Annett, while winger Dean Hammond pulled his hamstring in Cardiff.
They did have the tonic of scrum-half Francois Hougaard scoring a try on his first start of the season after injury, but Gold remains realistic.
"It could be a long while before we get the type of performance which would be satisfactory," Gold told BBC Hereford & Worcester. "We've got a lot of work to do, but at least it's on the back of a win.
"It wasn't Cardiff's full-strength side but you've still got to go out and beat them. Every little bit of confidence will help. But it's not all going to follow into place immediately. Why should everything change after just five days?
"We have nine very big games to go and we need to keep improving. The guys have no doubt about their magnitude of the task, but we now need the Warriors fans to come out in their droves this weekend." | New Worcester Warriors boss Gary Gold has warned his team not get carried away after scoring eight tries in their Anglo-Welsh Cup win over Cardiff Blues. |
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Experts from Queen Mary, University of London, mapped those they thought were most at risk of type 2 diabetes.
They said it was "startling" how similar the results were to Victorian reformist Charles Booth's poverty maps.
Type 2 diabetes is strongly linked with poverty and South Asian ethnicity, both of which are common in east London.
The project's aim was to help local authorities and NHS services tackle poor health by directing efforts where they are most needed.
Although the study examined the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham, the same technique could be applied anywhere in the country, and to other diseases.
Unlike the Booth maps, which were based on observation, this study used the electronic records of more than half a million people taken from GP surgeries in the area.
About 10% of the adult population are categorised as at a high-risk of developing diabetes, however the map showed "hotspots" where up to 17% of adults were in this category.
Further analysis showed that these areas were associated with poverty and were the same areas highlighted in Booth's maps which were made in 1898-99.
Douglas Noble, a public health doctor and lecturer at Queen Mary who led the study, said: "It was no surprise to see that diabetes risk is high in areas where poverty was high.
"What was surprising was that some of these pockets of deprivation and ill-health have persisted for over 100 years.
"But unlike in Booth's time, we now know how diseases like diabetes can be prevented."
Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary health care at Queen Mary, said: "This study, which concentrates on three of the 'Olympic boroughs', highlights the dire need for a major and lasting Olympic legacy to improve health and longevity in east London." | Researchers aiming to improve the health of east Londoners have found poverty and ill health have persisted there for more than 100 years. |
34,865,976 | The Bastard Executioner, made at Dragon International Studios near Pontyclun, Rhondda Cynon Taff, has been ditched after a slump in viewers.
The Welsh government said this series and others such as Da Vinci's Demons showed Wales had the UK's "biggest creative industries base outside of London".
It has not yet been screened in the UK.
Series creator Kurt Sutter took out an advert in TV trade press to announce the end of the series.
The Hollywood Reporter said Sutter sent an email to the Welsh-based cast and crew, praising them for their commitment and enthusiasm.
The 14th Century period drama premiered in the US in September.
Earlier this year the Welsh government supported Fox Television 21 as the company secured a long-term lease for the studios.
The Hollywood Reporter said the programme "lost more than half of its audience through its first six weeks on the air, falling from 4 million combined weekly viewers for its September 15 premiere to just 1.9 million for episode six." | A TV drama made in Wales for American network FX has been cancelled after its first series. |
33,563,153 | The review could result in a price cap being imposed on the postal operator.
The regulator said the inquiry will examine the "efficient and financially sustainable provision" of the UK's universal postal service.
The universal service is the Royal Mail's commitment to deliver to all of the UK for the same price.
Shares fell closed down 3.5%, or 18.5p, to 508.5p.
The company is worth about £5bn and the shares are up 14% since its float in October 2013.
Ofcom, which first announced the review last month, is concerned at the reduction in competition in parts of the letters and parcels markets.
The letter delivery service arm of Whistl and parcel firm City Link both folded in recent months.
The collapse of the letter service run by Whistl, formerly known as TNT, left Royal Mail with no national competitor in this market.
Ofcom said it will also consider Royal Mail's position in the parcels market and "assess the company's potential ability to set wholesale prices in a way that might harm competition".
The regulator said it could roll back some of the commercial flexibility given to Royal Mail in 2012, which included the ability to raise prices.
In May Royal Mail reported pre-tax profits of £400m for the year to 29 March, down from £1.66bn for the previous 12 months.
Royal Mail said it would participate fully in Ofcom's review.
"We will be highlighting the need for a consistent approach to regulation. Ofcom's existing framework, put in place in 2012 was to have provided certainty for seven years," the company said.
"Royal Mail believes it has used the commercial freedoms granted by Ofcom in a responsible and appropriate manner to help secure the financial sustainability of the universal service in the face of significant ongoing change across the postal market."
Ofcom's review is expected to be completed next year. | Shares in Royal Mail fell on Friday after Ofcom confirmed the scope of a review into the company's operations. |
33,784,302 | Penzance Town Council spent triple its £20k budget on the town's 2014 charter celebrations - including the unsuccessful record attempt.
An independent investigation has found the council "lacked financial control", with cheques signed without approval.
The council has agreed to implement all recommendations.
The independent report, seen by the BBC, highlighted that in February 2014, three months before the "Pirate Day on the Prom", a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid for £31,750 had not been applied for because it clashed with another, separate council HLF bid.
It also reveals that one councillor had "freely acknowledged" he knew he was signing cheques on behalf of the council for amounts that had not been approved.
- a lack of financial controls
- information kept from councillors
- financial procedures ignored
- an abdication of responsibility
- a divided council
Councillor Jack Dixon told the inquiry he knew this was wrong but wanted to protect the council from being sued for non-payment, saying "that was how things were done".
Mayor David Nesbesnuick said: "I think it's very clear [over the failed lottery bid] that there was plenty of time to do something about it.
"As a body we have been found to be complacent and negligent in performing our responsibilities to ensure that pubic money is properly spent.
"This failure, which goes back years, remained hidden because of a culture of secrecy and lack of transparency."
- report to be placed in public domain
- role of Town Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer to be separated
- improved financial scrutiny through model governance
- Standing Orders and Financial Regulations to be made fit for purpose
The report states that there was a culture of council officers keeping information from councillors.
The council has released a statement stating that town clerk Simon Glasson has left his post by mutual consent. | A council that spent more than £50,000 on a pirate fancy dress world record attempt had budgeted for lottery money it had not applied for. |
36,783,207 | Strathallan councillor Tom Gray said the campsite could be an "ongoing success" if festival organisers could "get on top of indiscipline".
Witnesses reported fights and illicit drug use in the campsite area.
DF Concerts said it cared about "each and every music fan that passes through our gates."
Two teenagers died at this year's event and police are investigating the rape of an 18-year-old.
Police Scotland said 429 crimes were reported at the Perthshire festival, compared with 414 last year.
Officers made 54 arrests, compared with 57 in 2015.
Commentators on social media sites, including Tintheparktruth on Facebook, have raised concerns over anti-social behaviour, with reports of first-aid volunteers and stewards being threatened.
DF Concerts has previously denied claims that posts critical of the festival have been deleted from the T in the Park Facebook page.
Mr Gray, who is convener of Perth and Kinross Council's development management committee, said: "Some sort of organised set-up in the campsites seems to be required, or certainly more visible policing of them might help.
"At the same time, when you have a gang of youths who decide to throw things at a police van, then there is another problem, a general problem of misbehaviour, that seems to be drawn into T in the Park.
"Somebody who can look after the campsites and can put their finger on what makes them function well, rather than badly, would help.
"If they could do that and get on top of the indiscipline, then there's no reason why the site can't be an ongoing success."
Mr Gray praised improvements made to the festival's transport plan, which was heavily criticised in 2015.
He said: "This year it really was night and day, it was so different.
"The bus park was a great success. I even went along on Saturday night to try it myself and it was wonderful."
A DF Concerts and Events spokeswoman said its priority over the last 23 years had been "to bring the best musical acts from around the world" in a "fun and safe setting" for fans.
She added: "We care about each and every music fan that passes through our gates and the entire festival team is devastated by the tragedies that took place on Thursday night.
"We aim to do everything we can to ensure fan safety by working closely in partnership with Police Scotland and the event stewarding companies to ensure a proactive approach is taken to identifying and dealing with crime.
"This will be at the forefront of our debrief process for this year's event." | An improved T in the Park campsite set-up with a more visible police presence is needed to allay public fears over safety, it has been claimed. |
33,131,596 | The benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 48 points, or 0.51%, at 6736.92.
Miner Fresnillo lost early gains and is now down 0.4%. EasyJet, is down 2.21%. Rival International Consolidated Airlines Group is also lower by 1.45%.
European markets suffered more than London, with Germany's Dax down 1.2% and Paris's Cac down 1%.
Earlier, Asian markets were also depressed by the Greek debt situation.
On the currency markets, the pound was down 0.21% against the dollar at $1.5528 and was flat against the euro at €1.3820. | (Noon): London's leading shares remain lower as lack of certainty about Greece's debt repayments weighs down confidence. |
38,967,136 | Scarborough Council approved the £572,000 Coast Protection grant for "urgent work" at Flat Cliffs near Filey.
The area is expected to suffer from severe coastal erosion over the next 20 years.
It is hoped the works will "buy more time" for residents, the council said.
Sole access to Flats Cliffs is by one road through Primrose Valley holiday village.
More on this story and others from BBC Yorkshire
The council said the action, together with "soft engineering" defences at the foot of the cliff, meant the houses would not be lost until nearer 2037.
Without it the residents would be forced to leave imminently.
"If no intervention is taken, [coastal erosion] will lead to imminent loss of the sole access road to Flat Cliffs," the council said.
"This would in effect 'write-off' the coastal community with immediate effect, rather than in 20 years when the onset of direct property loss is expected."
The project, to be led by Scarborough Borough Council working with Flat Cliffs Residents' Association, Yorkshire Water, Natural England and the Environment Agency, will start immediately and is planned to be finished by next winter. | More than £500,000 will be spent shoring up the only access road to a small North Yorkshire cliff-top hamlet at risk of coastal erosion. |
35,813,744 | The abuse allegedly took place 40 years ago, and the man's repeated attempts to get help from the Church resulted in "frustration and failure", child protection expert Ian Elliott said.
His report said "very senior" church figures were reportedly told of abuse.
The Church accepted the recommendations of the "deeply uncomfortable" report.
The man has already received an "unreserved apology" and a "financial settlement", the Church added.
Only a summary, conclusions and recommendations have been published, but the BBC has seen a copy of the full report.
The independent report by Mr Elliott said the claims made by the man - referred to as Survivor B, or just B - were "credible" and contained a "tragic catalogue of exploitation and harm".
"The many attempts made by B to secure help from the Church within which he had grown up resulted in frustration and failure," the report said.
"This increased his sense of anger at what had happened to him. He felt ignored."
The report calls it "deeply disturbing" that many people to whom Survivor B told about the abuse now have no memory of it.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, B alleged that a clergyman tried to rape him in London when he was 16. Two years later he claims he told another clergyman what had happened during confession and he began an inappropriate relationship with him.
"It was entirely wrong of him to use the confession in that way and to lead me into a kind of romantic kind of liaison, arising directly out of my rape story," he said.
"I was a confused, damaged, fairly bewildered young person and looking for help."
B's allegations of abuse were against three people - two "very senior" members of the Church hierarchy and one person outside the Church.
BBC News understands that one of the alleged abusers was the Reverend Garth Moore, a senior canon lawyer and vicar of St Mary Abchurch in the City of London. He died in 1990, aged 84.
Mr Moore is said to have groomed the victim and plied with him alcohol before abusing him when he was 16 at a flat in London.
Another clergyman carried out sexual activity that the report describes as "inappropriate" when the victim was 18, directly after hearing his confession. This alleged perpetrator was later promoted.
Bishop of Crediton Sarah Mullally said the abuse had "clearly devastated" the victim's life.
"I apologise profusely for the failings of the Church towards him, and for the horrific abuse he suffered," she said.
"It has taken him years of heartache and distress to get his story heard and believed by those in authority and it is clear he has been failed in many ways over a long period of time.
"We should have been swifter to listen, to believe and to act. This report is deeply uncomfortable for the Church of England."
She said the Archbishop of Canterbury had seen the report's recommendations and would ensure they were implemented "as quickly as possible".
The recommendations include training for people who "may receive a disclosure of abuse", and detailed recording of all abuse allegations. | The Church of England has promised to change the way it handles sexual abuse claims after a report into alleged abuse of a young man by clergymen. |
38,903,692 | Researchers found 70% of the rhino's genetic diversity had been wiped out over the past 200 years due to hunting and loss of habitat.
This means the small number left would be vulnerable to the same diseases.
Prof Mike Bruford said moving bulls to new parks to boost diversity could help combat this "unfolding catastrophe".
From a population in the 1970s of almost 70,000, there are now about 5,000 black rhinos in the wild - the World Wildlife Fund lists the animal as critically endangered.
The animal now only survives in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
Working with colleagues from universities in South Africa, Kenya, Copenhagen and Chester, Cardiff's team compared the genes of living and dead rhinos by visiting museums and herds in the wild.
They found that 44 of 64 genetic lineages no longer exist, which poses a threat to the future of the animal.
Prof Bruford, from Cardiff University's School of Biosciences, said: "The magnitude of this loss in genetic diversity really did surprise us - we did not expect it to be so profound. If you don't have genetic diversity, you can't evolve.
"The new genetic data we have collected will allow us to identify populations of priority for conservation, giving us a better chance of preventing the species from total extinction.
"You could bring a new bull in or swap bulls between parks - you know they're not related so you're bringing fresh genes into the park."
Other suggestions to help conserve the black rhino includes moving animals together to make it cheaper to protect the dwindling population.
The research 'Extinctions, genetic erosion and conservation options for the black rhinoceros' has been published in Scientific Reports. | A new approach is needed to help save the black rhinoceros from extinction, a study involving Cardiff University scientists has found. |
38,992,012 | Former All Black Jono Gibbes and ex-Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel will join the coaching staff for next season.
The appointments signal the departure of current coaches Doak and Clarke.
"I do feel sorry for them after the time and effort they've put in," Ferris said, "Neil has given 24 years' service and a lot of people forget that".
Ferris told BBC Sport NI that he believes the timing of the high-profile signings will appease supporters who were disgruntled watching the team lose nine out of 13 matches prior to last week's Pro12 win over Edinburgh.
"There was a lot of speculation about who would be going and coming and inside the camp, the word coming out was that things were a little bit unsettled.
"This has been bubbling away and I'm pretty confident that Neil and Allen knew for the last three or four months that they weren't going to be part of Les Kiss' bigger picture.
"Naming the new coaches so early, with a good bit of the season to go, seems like taking the pressure off because the players haven't been performing.
"Sometimes you need new faces, new voices, new ideas, and maybe it will be a masterstroke and these guys will bring Ulster Rugby forward because for me, since 2012, the team has been going backwards.
"But it's important to remember that someone like Neil Doak was involved when we got to a Heineken Cup final in 2012 and a league final at the RDS in 2013. People forget that very very quickly when the team is not doing so well."
Ferris said some supporters are confused over the coaching staff's job titles, leading to mis-interpretation about Doak's role.
"His title is head coach but he's not really - Les Kiss is the head coach even though his title is Director of Rugby.
"Les does 75 per cent of the coaching on the pitch.
"Not everyone understands that and because of it, a lot of press and fans have got on Doak's back."
Gibbes, 40, will arrive at Kingspan Stadium with a stellar CV as a player and coach.
He is currently forwards coach at Clermont Auvergne and previously helped Leinster to three Heineken Cups in an impressive coaching career.
Ferris stated: "he is a real hard-edged forwards coach, an All Black, and I think he will be tremendous".
"There needs to be a harder edge brought to this forward pack and he will be very good.
"Dwayne Peel was a bit left-field, I didn't expect that, because he only retired a couple of years ago.
"He obviously wasn't on Pat Lam's radar at Bristol for next season and perhaps Ulster thought someone new coming in would bring a bit of fresh blood.
"He's not long out of the game so he is a little bit unknown, with not a lot of experience.
"Having world-class coaches like Jono and Les will make the players better and hopefully help the team win trophies." | Stephen Ferris is excited about the new coaching ticket at Ulster Rugby but says the service given by Neil Doak and Allen Clarke should not be forgotten. |
36,112,137 | To counteract the effects of weightlessness, he will use a harness to keep him on the running belt.
He will run the standard 42km (26.2mi) distance, starting at the the same time as other competitors on 24 April.
"I'm really looking forward to this - it's a great challenge," said Major Peake.
"I'm quite glad that this is happening later on in the mission so I've had plenty of time to get used to the T2 treadmill."
Elastic straps over the shoulders and round the waist will keep Major Peake in contact with the running belt of the treadmill, located in the station's Tranquility Node.
The straps are designed to generate the foot force necessary to give astronauts' bones and muscles a workout in weightlessness.
He said: "One of the biggest challenges is the harness system. Obviously, my bodyweight has to be firmly attached to the treadmill by this harness, and that can rub on the shoulders and around the waist."
Major Peake said he had already run some half-marathons on the ISS treadmill and longer distances.
The Chichester-born astronaut ran the London Marathon in 1999, finishing in three hours, 18 minutes and 50 seconds.
But he will not try to beat that time as his medical team wants to ensure he is perfectly healthy for his return to Earth in June.
The ISS is circling the Earth at a relative velocity of 28,800km/h (17,900mph), so Major Peake is likely to cover about 100,000km (60,000mi) during his run.
He said he did not think he would be setting any personal bests, but said he would aim to complete the course in under four hours.
Major Peake will start running at the same time as the other runners: 10:00 GMT on 24 April.
Follow Paul on Twitter. | UK astronaut Tim Peake is preparing to run the distance of the London Marathon on a treadmill in the International Space Station (ISS). |
30,493,708 | Erick Maina, 15, who was originally from Kenya, was found hanged in Fazakerley, Liverpool, on 15 November.
James Coleman, 18, of Buckfast Close, Netherton, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after previously admitting racially aggravated criminal damage.
A 17-year-old boy, who had admitted the same offence, was last week given a 10-month detention order.
Comments about Erick and a swastika were found near Maricourt School in Maghull and in a nearby park.
CCTV at the school captured Coleman and the 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, at the scene.
They were also seen buying white paint and a paint brush at a local supermarket.
When police found paint-stained items of clothing at the teenager's home, he and Coleman were arrested. | A teenager who admitted painting racist graffiti at a school after a student's death has been detained for two years. |
39,140,420 | Alankrita Shrivastava was recently informed in a letter - badly-worded and full of spelling mistakes - that her film was being denied a censor certificate for being too "lady-oriended [oriented]" with "contanious [continuous] sexual scenes".
The Central Board of Film Certification also complained that the film "has abusive words, audio pornography [meaning phone sex], and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society [implying it could hurt Muslim religious sentiments]".
This effectively means that the film, which stars talented actresses like Konkona Sen Sharma and Ratna Pathak Shah, cannot be screened in Indian cinemas.
The film about four women from small town India had its world premiere in Tokyo a few months ago and since then has won several awards at film festivals globally.
Earlier this week, it had two showings at the Glasgow Film Festival. Both were sold out and the film won the Audience Award, the only prize handed out.
It's also been shown in Stockholm, Cairo and Estonia and in coming weeks will travel to festivals in Miami, Amsterdam, Paris and London.
So why has the censor board got its knickers in a twist over it?
"Because the censors are not comfortable with the alternate point of view, they are afraid of the female point of view," Ms Shrivastava told me on the phone from Glasgow.
"They are used to viewing life from a male point of view, the popular gaze is male, stalking is love, Eve-teasing is courtship.
"My film is from the point of view of four women, their dreams and fears."
The film's trailer is delightful and gives a glimpse into the worlds of its women protagonists: A burka-clad college student who wants to be Britney Spears, a beautician who loves being photographed so much that she takes selfies even while having sex, a mother of three who yearns to be treated like an individual and not just a baby-producing machine, and a widow in her fifties who saucily fantasises about a much younger man.
"The women live in a small town, with their small dreams, they have very suffocating and restricted lives and the film is about how they fulfil their dreams," Ms Shrivastava says.
The title uses the idea of lipstick hidden under a burka as a metaphor for hidden dreams and a pulsating desire to break free even when restricted.
Film censorship in India has always been quite erratic but the censor board has faced increasing criticism in recent years from the film industry, which accuses it of being irrational, making decisions on an ad hoc basis and being in conflict with India's changing society.
The board is often in the news for demanding that filmmakers edit out scenes involving sex and violence, swear words or even a kiss.
Ms Shrivastava says the censor board is trying to "silence her voice".
"The Central Board of Film Certification is outdated and illogical. Its members have no idea about gender issues and gender politics," she says.
"Are you saying only the male point of view is relevant? It's 2017, why should women be silenced?"
She says she is now "determined" to fight the censors.
"India is a robust and vibrant democracy. I'm going to appeal against the censor decision. I'm a very hopeful, optimistic person, so I'm sure the film will be released in India soon." | The director of an award-winning Indian film is fighting film censors to ensure that Lipstick Under My Burkha gets released in the country. |
38,387,177 | The £300m re-signalling project will improve travel, Network Rail said.
The work will affect Cardiff and Valleys services and mainline travel between Newport and Bridgend, until 2 January. Replacement bus services will run from 27 December.
The project will see a new platform eight open at Cardiff Central station.
Network Rail said an "army" of staff would be working around the clock over the festive period to "deliver a bigger and better railway for passengers".
It has also warned motorists there will be temporary road closures at five level crossings west of Cardiff as part of the project.
Llantrisant West, St Fagans, St George's, Pontsarn and Pencoed level crossings will all be closed for a short period to test the new signalling equipment.
Arriva Trains Wales said the signalling work would make services "more robust" and the new platform would "give them more flexibility". | Rail services will be disrupted across south Wales for several days from Christmas Eve evening due to modernisation work. |
24,863,637 | The Smiler at Alton Towers was shut on Saturday after the guide wheels hit riders in the face and shoulder as it went up an incline.
A spokeswoman for the park said they had been working with designers to review and replace elements connected to part of the ride affected.
She said the £18m ride opened at 10:30 GMT on Thursday after safety checks.
"In line with our operational procedures, the ride was closed following the incident at the weekend and we have been working with the designers to review and replace all of the elements connected to this part of the ride," she said.
"We remain committed to ensuring that all of our rides meet the highest standards in all areas and we are sorry for any disappointment caused by The Smiler's recent unavailability."
The ride opened in May and includes a drop of 30m (98ft) and 14 loops.
Its closure follows another incident on 21 July when 48 people had to be rescued.
It closed again in August for five days due to a "technical issue". | A roller coaster has reopened five days after wheels fell off and hit four people in the front carriage. |
38,236,852 | MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee are investigating the government's handling of a crackdown on student visa fraud.
And after ministers lost a major test case, the committee chair Yvette Cooper has called on the Home Secretary Amber Rudd to explain "as a matter of urgency" how a backlog of cases will be handled.
Bangladeshi student Sharif Majumder, who was one of tens of thousands accused of having faked a mandatory English language test, won his challenge after the Home Office could not produce crucial evidence.
Mr Majumder was caught up in a crackdown triggered by a Panorama investigation that showed mass cheating at two test centres approved to stage an exam called the Test of English for International Communication or TOEIC.
Undercover footage showed entire classrooms of registered candidates standing aside so their written and oral tests could be done by paid cheats who spoke better English.
The answers were recorded on computer and sent to be marked in the US by a company called ETS, which failed to detect the same voices appearing numerous times under different names.
In a multiple-choice paper, an invigilator was secretly filmed reading out the answers to those sitting the test.
Until the BBC exposed these abuses in 2014, foreign students could use a TOEIC pass to show they had the required standard of English to qualify for a visa.
When the then Home Secretary Theresa May was shown the BBC's footage, she said: "'What Panorama has uncovered is extremely important. It's very shocking and I want to do something about it."
The TOEIC was dropped from the list of exams recognised for visa applications and a criminal investigation was launched.
On Tuesday this week four people who featured in the Panorama programme were convicted of immigration offences and sentenced to between three and eight years in prison.
A fifth person, Chowdhury Baker Habib, pleaded guilty, admitting he had sat the test for others "30 to 40 times".
We can now also report that four other people who were also exposed by Panorama were convicted in May.
Jurors heard evidence that inspectors found spreadsheets with the names of more than 1,000 candidates whose TOEIC exams were faked at the two test centres where the BBC filmed.
In the months after Panorama was broadcast, the government spread the net much more widely to catch others who had obtained visas by deception.
The Home Office and ETS agreed that voice recognition techniques would be used to analyse the database of oral exams submitted electronically from 96 UK test centres.
If ETS computers detected the same voice appearing twice or more, it could indicate cheating.
The electronic result had to be verified by two separate human ETS analysts.
A test result could only be declared "invalid" if the computer and human assessments matched.
ETS subsequently gave the Home Office a list of more than 33,000 TOEIC tests it said were invalid, and declared a further 22,000 were "questionable".
In response, the Home Office curtailed or refused the visas of thousands of students. More than 4,600 people were deported or left Britain.
Sharif Majumder was among those who were accused of cheating and told to leave.
After arriving in Britain in 2005, he had gained a series of qualifications including several passes with distinction in English courses.
In 2012 he sat a TOEIC exam - at a test centre which did not feature in the BBC investigation - in order to extend his visa to study an MBA at the University of West London.
When, in July 2014, he returned to the UK after a trip home, he was stopped at immigration and told he was suspected of cheating.
"I was shattered. I was almost crying," he told the BBC. "At one point I thought they would actually return me back home with the next flight."
He said he eventually persuaded airport immigration officials that he was a genuine student.
Mr Majumder, who vehemently denies cheating, then appealed against the Home Office's decision.
He tried to obtain the voice-matching files that were said to prove he had cheated, but the Home Office and ETS did not hand them over.
Things came to a head in earlier this year when the cases of Mr Majumder and another student, Ihsan Qadir, came to an immigration appeal tribunal.
A forensic voice recognition expert, Dr Philip Harrison, gave evidence that the ETS database of alleged voice matchings could contain mistakes called "false positives" - an incorrect finding that a student had cheated.
If true, this could seriously undermine the Home Office's evidence against Mr Majumder and others accused of cheating.
The president of the Upper Appellate of the Immigration Tribunal, Mr Justice McCloskey, noted that Dr Harrison's evidence contained "a litany of criticisms of the ETS voice recognition testing systems, both automated and human" that he accepted in full.
It also emerged that ETS had refused to provide Mr Majumder's test recording to either the Home Office or the tribunal.
"Almost remarkably, ETS provided no evidence, directly or indirectly to this tribunal," Judge McCloskey noted. "Its refusal to provide the voice recordings of these two appellants in particular is mildly astonishing."
He concluded that the court found Mr Majumder and the other appellant to be "truthful and reliable witnesses" and "the clear winners" in their appeals.
This was a very significant judgement with implications for thousands of other cases, though Judge McCloskey pointed out that each appeal would be sensitive to the facts.
The Home Office was given leave to appeal. But in a landmark judgement last month, the Court of Appeal said that the Home Office's case was "fundamentally misconceived".
In April, following the immigration tribunal, the Home Affairs Select Committee began an inquiry into the government's handling of the English testing allegations.
In June the then Immigration Minister James Brokenshire wrote to the committee: "The investigation into the abuse of ETS English language testing in 2014 revealed systemic cheating which was indicative of an extremely serious, large-scale, organised fraud and was a significant attempt to undermine immigration control."
And the chief operating officer of UK Visas and Immigration, Mike Wells, told the committee: "If an individual wishes to obtain their voice recording then they should approach ETS." He said that ETS had released some voice recordings, but that they had not been required in most cases.
"The courts have consistently found that our standard evidence is sufficient to satisfy the presumption of fraud and therefore that it is not necessary to routinely obtain individual voice recordings to establish this," he wrote in August.
He also said that an independent forensic audio expert had "confirmed that the ETS analysis process was robust and suitably cautious being much more likely to produce false negatives than false positives".
Whatever the true level of fraud in the system, the Home Office now faces a legal headache.
It is already facing some 300 judicial reviews of decisions to cancel students' visas.
Its counsel told the Court of Appeal that the Home Office was minded to concede in some of these cases. But there remains the problem of how to conduct any new appeals from students who have already been deported.
Last week the chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Yvette Cooper, wrote to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd asking her to reveal "as a matter of urgency" what action she intended to take.
"The committee has previously raised concerns regarding the response of the Home Office to the revelation of widespread fraud in the English language testing system. We note that the Home Office recently conceded a key test case and has indicated that it may concede more. People's lives are on hold while awaiting judgement in their cases," Ms Cooper said.
Meanwhile, Mr Majumder - who has spent £30,000 on his legal battle - said the Home Office's actions had deterred genuine students from coming to Britain.
"I think the way they have been treating the TOEIC victims - not giving them the right to challenge the decision and without producing any evidence - is hugely damaging the reputation that Britain has to international students. They think they are not welcome here any more." | The Home Office faces potential legal action from thousands of non-EU students who were deported or told to leave Britain for allegedly using deception in visa applications. |
36,912,730 | The boy, who attends Mayfield School in Torquay, Devon, had travelled on a privately-operated minibus with his classmates.
But the non-verbal child did not leave the bus at the school site, as the Torquay Herald Express reported.
Torbay Council said it had launched an investigation as soon as it became aware of the "traumatic" incident.
After the morning school run the minibus returned to Paignton where it was parked until 14:30 BST.
When a bus driver got on to return for the afternoon school run, the boy was found to have been on it all day.
Torbay Council confirmed the incident had happened on 27 April.
A spokeswoman said: "As soon as we became aware of this very serious incident we started a full investigation with all concerned so we can fully understand how this happened.
"We supported the family at what must be a traumatic time for them and their son and have been keeping them informed throughout this investigation.
"We will ensure that we act on all the recommendations that come out of this investigation, which is still ongoing."
The BBC tried to contact the school but no-one was available to comment. | An inquiry has been launched after a seven-year-old boy with severe learning difficulties was left on a school bus. |
33,992,641 | In a memo to officials at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) on 8 September, 1987, the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Ken Bloomfield, had made reference to Ian Paisley paying rates.
It noted that the DUP leader had paid the rates due on his Belfast manse and his office following a threat to refer the case to the Enforcement of Judgments Office.
In an earlier report, dated 20 August, 1987, Mr Bloomfield, now Sir Ken, reported that the DUP deputy leader, and now first minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson, had been summoned to court the following month in respect of non-payment of motor tax.
"If he declines to pay any penalties which the court may impose, it is possible he could be committed to prison," the official commented.
Mr Bloomfield also noted that 14 of the 26 local councils in Northern Ireland were currently displaying "Ulster Says No" banners. | The extent of unionist civil disobedience in 1987 in protest against the Anglo-Irish Agreement has been revealed in this year's releases from the Public Record Office. |
30,791,672 | Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakraborty had called in police in September to quell a protest on campus over the attack.
What began as anger over the assault in August snowballed into fury over what was seen as a disproportionate response by the authorities.
Students had said they would not return to class unless Mr Chakraborty quit.
They boycotted classes, held meetings and staged a referendum in which they voted against Mr Chakraborty.
Earlier this month, 15 students went on hunger strike demanding his resignation. At least three of them were admitted to hospital.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the news of Mr Chakraborty's resignation to the students on Monday evening.
"I spoke to the vice-chancellor and he informed me that an unrest is going on and he doesn't want the academic atmosphere to get vitiated further. He wants peace and so he is resigning," Ms Banerjee said.
"I want a peaceful environment to prevail in the university. There must be a conducive environment for education. I was concerned about the future of the youth and students. No academic activity was happening for the past four months."
The female student was attacked on campus on 28 August. Two Jadavpur students have been held in connection with the incident.
Dozens of students were injured when Mr Chakraborty called in police in September. The students said they were peaceful and accused the authorities of brutality.
Mr Chakraborty had defended the police action, saying he had asked them to rescue him and other staff members after they were surrounded by students for several hours. | The top official of Calcutta's Jadavpur University has resigned following a four-month boycott of classes by students sparked by a sexual assault. |
39,575,264 | Two windows of the house in Tarragon Park were smashed at 02:20 BST.
The one-year-old baby was not in the cot at the time because of illness, and the parents had taken the child into their own bed, said Sgt John Hamilton.
"These reckless actions could have caused serious injury had this not been the case," he said.
The family are originally from Poland.
Police said they were treating the attack as a hate crime. | A brick thrown through the window of a family home in Antrim, which landed in a baby's cot, could have caused "serious injury", police have said. |
40,340,331 | The five-year "translocation" scheme involves transferring six week-old chicks from sustainable populations in Scotland to Poole Harbour, Dorset.
It is being led by the Birds of Poole Harbour, Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Wildlife Windows charities.
Ospreys historically bred across all of the UK but populations "drastically declined" in the Middle Ages.
The birds of prey are annual visitors to Poole Harbour as they migrate between their winter-homes in West Africa and breeding grounds in Scotland and at Rutland Water in the east Midlands.
Over the past eight years, efforts by the RSPB in Poole Harbour to encourage the birds to stay and breed have proved unsuccessful.
Roy Dennis and Tim Mackrill, of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, said translocation was the "next logical step".
Once collected the chicks will be held in large holding pens in Poole for up to three weeks, before being released at the end of July and provided with fresh fish on artificial nests.
They will then migrate to West Africa in August before hopefully returning to Poole.
However, they are not expected to start breeding there until 2020 at the earliest.
Similar work has also taken place in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland. | A project that aims to restore osprey to their former breeding grounds in the south of England will begin in July. |
25,655,576 | A review has been carried out in Rotherham after MPs criticised authorities for "letting down" victims.
Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board said the progress made was "remarkable" and its findings were largely positive.
But it said the role and structure of the CSE team needed to be reviewed before it became "subsumed in a mountain of referrals and casework".
The CSE team was set up by Rotherham Council, South Yorkshire Police and other agencies in October 2012 after an investigation by The Times newspaper claimed authorities were aware of extensive and co-ordinated abuse of girls in Rotherham.
Last year MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee said the council's response to CSE had been "inexcusably slow" and that police had "let down" victims of grooming.
Stephen Ashley, chair of Rotherham's Safeguarding Children Board and author of the report, said the team was set up with "enthusiasm, speed and minimal bureaucratic barriers" and staff were "committed" and well-trained.
But he said: "There was no evidence of a structured tasking and coordinating process within the team and this may result in a fragmented approach to work, with the team accepting more and more referrals and responsibility until they become over capacity to response to the priorities."
A number of recommendations have been made including the appointment of a manager to oversee the team, "greater clarity" over its role, and a move away from its current base at Maltby Police Station.
Last year Rotherham Council announced a public inquiry would be held to examine its handling of CSE cases from 1997 to the present. | A team tackling child sexual exploitation is in danger of becoming "swamped", a report has claimed. |
40,171,836 | Harrop plans to appeal against a High Court winding-up order, issued on Monday, to push ahead with a deal with All Eight Sports Management.
"If this is enforced and A8 pull out, creditors stand no chance of getting their money," he told BBC Radio Derby.
However, Ilkeston FC Supporters Group has indicated it will try to set up a new club.
An hour before the hearing at the High Court in Liverpool began, Harrop announced an "agreement in principle" had been reached with All Eight Sports Management.
However, his plea for more time to settle a £14,438 debt owed to an office equipment hire firm was rejected by the court.
"Should this [the takeover] go through, all the creditors will get sorted out," Harrop said after the ruling.
"I tried to make the judge see that but the barrister from the other side argued that if a judgement wasn't made, it wouldn't get sorted out.
"I think it's a case of the proposed new owners of the club making some representation to the other side's lawyers."
Harrop, who bought the Robins in March 2015, believes the current club can avoid a similar fate to predecessors Ilkeston Town, who were liquidated in 2010.
"The new owners have realised the creditors out there need to be satisfied and that actually is the cost of the club to them," he added.
"They clearly stated that as soon as they take over they will meet the existing creditors and come to an arrangement with them."
Duncan Payne, chairman of the Ilkeston FC Supporters Group, told BBC Radio Derby they would discuss taking over the lease of the New Manor Ground.
He said: "We believe passionately that, given what has happened twice in the past seven years, the football club is best left in the hands of people who really care about Ilkeston, the community and its football.
"Any town of this size, with the supporter base that we've got and the facilities the New Manor Ground has, is going to attract a lot of interest.
"The future is, in my opinion, going to be bright." | Ilkeston chairman Nigel Harrop insists a pending takeover could yet save the Northern League club from liquidation. |
19,749,030 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Chelsea captain Terry was given a four-match ban and fined £220,000 for racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand.
But Barton says the FA should be "embarrassed", claiming there is a major discrepancy between the 12-match suspension he received for violent conduct and Terry's penalty.
It's gone on far too long. It should never have been allowed to drag on for a year
"What an absolute farce," tweeted Barton, who is on loan with Marseille.
Barton, who played in the Premier League match last October in which Terry abused Ferdinand, was handed his ban following QPR's game at Manchester City on the final day of last season.
The midfielder was sent off for an off-the-ball incident with City striker Carlos Tevez before clashing with City players Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany as he left the pitch.
Barton, 30, said that by the "FA's perverse reckoning" he would have "got less of a ban for racially abusing the Man City players than tickling them like I did". He added: "In what circumstances can that be right?"
A number of other high-profile footballers and managers - past and present - have commented on the Terry case, which ended on Thursday following a four-day hearing at Wembley Stadium.
Former England captain Gary Lineker also questioned the length of Terry's ban.
The ex-striker, who now presents Match of the Day, wrote on Twitter: "The FA find John Terry guilty and give him a four-match ban and 220K fine. Just one game more than a regular red card?"
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Jose Mourinho, Terry's former manager at Chelsea, insisted the defender is "not a racist".
"He's not racist, that's 100%," the Real Madrid coach told CNN. "Probably he had a racist comment or attitude against an opponent. Sometimes in football we do things the wrong way.
"If he had that reaction he should pay but please don't say he's a racist."
Terry has 14 days to decide whether to appeal against his punishment, which will only come into effect once the outcome of any appeal is known.
Former England manager Graham Taylor hopes the 31-year-old centre-half accepts the FA's decision.
"Having sat on these panels and made judgements myself, I know those people will have come to their conclusion in an honest and proper manner," said Taylor. "They will have had legal advice.
"Whether John and Chelsea accept is it up to them, but I think it might be in everyone's interest to put it to bed."
Former FA executive director David Davies believes the case should have been resolved sooner than it has been.
"It's gone on far too long. It should never have been allowed to drag on for a year," he told BBC Sport. "I hope lessons have been learned from it, not just by those concerned, but also by the FA."
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MP Damian Collins says the ban presents Terry with an opportunity to acknowledge what he did was "wrong".
"He admitted making the remarks," Collins said. "It is unacceptable for a player to make such remarks, so it was hard for the FA to come to any other decision.
"John Terry is still a relatively young man. He's got a chance to move on from this and be a role model again. He has to build his own bridges with black players, who were very upset by what happened."
Kick it Out's Lord Ouseley believes the game has to move on now that the case has been concluded.
He told BBC Radio 5 live's Richard Bacon: "This is not about recriminations. It's about how football moves forward from here after it has spent 11 months going through the wringer.
"People are trying to make the game a better place to be. Seven million people play on a regular basis and we want them to play in an atmosphere of no abuse."
Before the hearing began, Terry announced he was quitting international football. The former England captain, who earned 78 caps, claimed the FA's decision to charge him had made his position "untenable". | QPR midfielder Joey Barton has called the Football Association's punishment of John Terry a "shambles". |
29,937,536 | In the old days, someone stealing a credit card - a pickpocket, say, would have just enough time before the card was cancelled to be able to buy a few high value things, stuff easily resold and turned to cash. A huge pain for everyone concerned, certainly, but it was a small crime: a couple of grand at most.
But in recent years, we've heard of websites, and store-based retailers, falling victim to hackers and losing lists of millions of credit card numbers.
Not the physical cards: simply the numbers. And here was the thing. How did the hackers turn their successful data breach into cold hard cash?
This is an important question, because as organised crime expert Misha Glenny, points out, the liberation of millions of credit card numbers has far outstripped the day-to-day robbery of one card at a time.
So how do they do it? How do hackers turn their success in the virtual world into money in the physical one?
The answer, it turns out, involves a remarkable level of international organisation, the coming together for a single project of gangs of criminals, mutually untrusting and anonymous, and the smuggling of huge amounts of cash across borders.
Here's how one heist worked. In late 2012, a group of hackers, so far uncaught, but probably in the Ukraine, broke into a credit card processing system used by Bank Muscat, a large bank in the Middle East.
There they were able to discover the numbers of some prepaid credit cards issued by Bank Muscat, remove the credit limit from the cards, and change their Pin numbers.
Then it gets complicated.
Armed with the numbers usually found on the magnetic stripe on the back of these cards, the hackers were able to go online to various websites dedicated to criminal activity.
Like any online job board, they could use these services to recruit teams of low-level street criminals, smugglers, and money launderers, to come together for this one project.
These sites are like any legitimate website offering freelancers' services: people are reviewed and rated, and their reputations made or ruined by the way they execute their criminal plans.
And so, with teams organised around the world, the hackers were able to send them the mag stripe information.
Credit card making hardware is easy to buy online, as are blank credit cards, so the gangs could make their own cards from the data provided.
And then, on the day of the operation, with the hackers still logged into the computer system and able to watch everything that was going on - making sure they weren't being ripped off themselves - they distributed the Pin numbers and the gangs went to work, walking the streets of their cities and withdrawing money from every ATM they could find.
Keeping their agreed percentage, they passed the money on to other teams, who, in turn, laundered and smuggled it back to the masterminds.
In all, gangs in 26 countries had simultaneously withdrawn $40m (£25m) in more than 36,000 ATM withdrawals.
A magnificent crime - but also one that suggests the way that businesses, legitimate this time, might evolve in the future.
As businesses in the developed, post-industrial world, move from physical manufacturing to the creation of digital goods, or to providing services worldwide, there is less and less need to gather people together in one place, or to keep them together once the job has been done.
The future of work seems to be increasingly one of ad hoc groups of freelancers coalescing around a single project, doing the job, rating each other, and then dispersing for the next opportunity.
And it's this sort of organisation that this new generation of cybercriminals have perfected.
So, while we must study these groups in order to catch them, we could also study them to find out how they work.
And while we hope that they don't profit from their crimes, we, in the end, just might.
Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley is being broadcast on the BBC News Channel, BBC World News and iPlayer. See schedule information here. | It takes a surprising amount of planning and co-ordination to pull off a major hi-tech heist. |
35,830,250 | However, beyond the fanfare of the visit and after months of high-level meetings, there are still several important issues holding the countries back from re-establishing full ties.
The embargo was Washington's reaction to the confiscation of American assets after the 1959 revolution. It has been a point of constant tension between the countries. Cuba has said lifting the embargo is necessary in order to stabilise ties. However, this is out of President Obama's hands as it requires approval from the Republican-controlled US Congress, where there is a great deal of opposition to lifting the embargo before Cuba makes significant moves towards greater democratisation.
The US has insisted that it would like to see significant improvement to Cuba's human rights record and an end to the jailing of political dissidents. But Cuba says it sees human rights in a different way and points to the provision of universal health care and education as examples of the way it protects the rights of its citizens.
The US also wants Cuba to move away from its one party system of government but Cuba says it wants recognition for what it sees as its single-party "participatory democracy".
In 1966 the US implemented the Cuban Adjustment Act, which gives Cubans a unique fast track to permanent residency in the US. Cuba says this is a vestige of the Cold War that needs to end and has requested the removal of the law several times, due to lives lost at sea and human-smuggling. It has also argued that US migration policies have been used as a political weapon against the revolution.
Havana and Washington have been unable to reach an agreement on the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, which gained notoriety following the 9/11 attacks when the US built a detention centre there for terror suspects. The base covers 45 sq miles and has been leased from Cuba since 1903, after the US helped it gain independence from Spain. It was leased for $4,085 a year and according to Fidel Castro the cheques, which Cuba considered an insult, have not been cashed since the revolution.
Havana has demanded the return of the territory on several occasions. As recently as 2015, President Raul Castro said the return of the "illegally occupied" territory would be "indispensable" in any normalisation of ties with the US. The US has never hinted at any plans to close the naval base.
Raul Castro has strongly criticised Radio and TV Marti, the Miami-based US financed broadcaster, calling it a major impediment to a full normalisation. Cuba jams the signals of the broadcasts but Radio Marti, in particular, reaches listeners on the island with its 24-hour news broadcasts. The US maintains that the broadcasts offer Cubans access to news and information they are deprived of because of the tight controls the Cuban authorities keep on the media.
Cuba has also criticised Washington's opposition to the Socialist government in Venezuela as a major problem, describing it as interference in the domestic affairs of one of its major allies. And the US sees Cuba's ties with other left-leaning Latin American governments, for example Bolivia, as another key stumbling block.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | President Obama's visit to Cuba is being seen as a significant step towards the full normalisation of relations between the US and Cuba after decades of hostility. |
30,074,385 | Philip Spence, 33, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in October of three counts of attempted murder.
Spence attacked the sisters from the United Arab Emirates at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch on 6 April.
He hit one of his victims with such force that she lost part of her brain and can no longer speak.
Spence, from Harlesden in north-west London, had admitted the attack, but denied attempted murder.
He hit one of his victims, Ohoud Al-Najjar, 34, with such force her skull split open as her nine-year-old nephew cowered under the sheets beside her.
She survived the attack but was left with just 5% brain function, lost sight in one eye and can no longer speak.
Her sisters Khulood, 36, and Fatima, 31, were both left with life threatening injuries and still require medical treatment.
In victim impact statements read to the court, Fatima Al-Najjar said the injuries to Ohoud had left her with a "living dead sister".
Sentencing him to life with a minimum term of 18 years, Judge Anthony Leonard QC said: "It is nothing short of a miracle combined with the finest medical attention that led to Ohoud surviving the attack.
"You used deliberate and gratuitous violence over what was needed to carry out the robbery."
"The ferocity of that attack was such you left one woman so badly injured she will never walk again unaided."
Earlier, prosecutor Simon Mayo QC said: "Spence's intention, as the jury concluded, was to kill them."
He fled the scene with a suitcase containing iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones. He dumped the claw hammer just outside the hotel in Marble Arch, the court heard.
Mr Mayo said CCTV footage captured Spence on a bus as he examined the stolen items.
"Bearing in mind that less than an hour earlier he had carried out a vicious and sustained attack with a hammer on three defenceless women, his concern appears to have been the profit that he might make from his awful crime, rather than the plight of his unfortunate victims," the prosecutor said.
Judge Leonard said it was relevant that Spence carried out his attack in front of Khulood's three children, aged seven, 10 and 12.
"It is impossible to say what long-term affect this incident will have on the children," the judge said.
"Hardened police officers and paramedics who attended the scene said what they saw was horrendous and the worst they had seen across their careers.
"I'm sure you represent a significant risk to the public of serious harm."
Following the sentencing, Det Ch Insp Andy Chalmers said: "The level of violence Spence chose to use was extraordinary and completely unnecessary for him to steal, as he had set out to do that night."
Spence has 37 convictions for 62 offences going back to 1993 including theft, drug offences, grievous bodily harm, robbery and burglary.
In October, he was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary during the attack.
Neofitos "Thomas" Efremi, 57, from Islington, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.
He was sentenced to 14 years and told he would serve half of his term before being released on licence.
James Moss, 34, of Hanley Road, north London, who pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods, was sentenced to 21 months, suspended for two years. | A man who bludgeoned three sisters with a claw hammer in a London hotel while their children slept alongside them has been jailed for a minimum of 18 years. |
40,357,796 | Dywedodd Tesco mai'r bwriad yw ffurfio un ganolfan yn Dundee yn Yr Alban, a bydd 250 o swyddi yn cael eu creu yno.
Yn ôl undeb USDAW mae staff y ganolfan yng Nghaerdydd wedi cael gwybod am y cynllun ac fe fydd y ganolfan yn ardal Y Mynydd Bychan yn cau'r flwyddyn nesaf.
Dywedodd Tesco bod yn rhaid iddyn nhw sicrhau bod y busnes yn "gynaliadwy ac yn gost-effeithiol".
Dywedodd swyddog rhanbarthol USDAW, Nick Ireland: "Mae staff canolfan alwadau Tesco Caerdydd, yn amlwg, wedi cael cryn sioc - maent yn cael mwy o wybodaeth gan reolwyr y prynhawn 'ma.
"Mae cynrychiolwyr a swyddogion ar ran yr undeb yn cefnogi aelodau yn ystod y cyfnod anodd hwn.
"Mae hwn yn amlwg yn newyddion drwg iawn i aelodau a bydd cau'r ganolfan yn cael effaith ehangach ar dde Cymru.
"Ein blaenoriaeth yw cadw cymaint â phosib o aelodau mewn gwaith, naill ai gyda Tesco neu gyda chyflogwyr lleol eraill a byddwn yn sicrhau'r cytundeb gorau posib i'n haelodau."
Dywedodd hefyd y bydd yr undeb yn cynnal trafodaethau ymgynghorol gyda Tesco er mwyn edrych ar yr achos busnes dros gau'r ganolfan.
Dywedoddy Prif Weinidog Carwyn Jones ei fod wedi mynegi ei bryderon am y newyddion wrth brif weithredwr Tesco, Matt Davies: "Mae fy meddyliau gyda'r gweithlu a'r unigolion fydd yn dioddef yn sgil hyn hyn, a'u teuluoedd, sydd ddim yn gwybod beth yw eu dyfodol o ran ble fyddan nhw'n gweithio.
"Fe bwysleisiais wrth y prif weithredwr yr angen am becyn gweddus a hael i'r gweithwyr.
"Fe gynigiais unrhyw help y gall y Llywodraeth ei gynnig, ac wrth gwrs, bydd yna help ar gael i'r rhai sydd wedi eu heffeithio gan y cau."
Dywedodd arweinydd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig, Andrew RT Davies, sy'n cynrychioli'r rhanbarth lle mae'r ganolfan, ei bod yn arwydd nad yw strategaeth Llafur ar swyddi yn gweithio
"Yn gymharol ddiweddar y cawsom y newyddion fod cwmni Barclays yn cau y ganolfan forgais yn Llanisien ac fe gollodd 180 o bobol eu gwaith," meddai.
"O bosib dyma'r golled unigol fwyaf o ran swyddi yng Nghymru ers 2009."
Dywedodd Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru, Alun Cairns, ei fod yn bryderus am y cyhoeddiad.
"Rwy'n derbyn diweddariadau cyson gan y cwmni ac yn ymrwymedig i weithio gydag asiantaethau perthnasol, awdurdodau lleol a Llywodraeth Cymru er mwyn darparu cymaint o gefnogaeth â phosib," meddai.
Ar ran Plaid Cymru, mae llefarydd y blaid ar economi a chyllid, Adam Price wedi gofyn a oes modd cael gwybod a yw cwmni Tesco wedi cael cymorth ariannol i symud i'r Alban neu a yw hwn yn benderfyniad sy'n torri costau.
Ychwanegodd: "Bydd yn rhaid i bob gweithiwr sy'n colli ei swydd gael cefnogaeth lawn gan Lywodraeth Cymru a San Steffan." | Mae archfarchnad Tesco wedi cadarnhau y bydd 1,100 o swyddi yn cael eu colli yn ei chanolfan alwadau yng Nghaerdydd. |
36,745,839 | Reading Borough Council said it had written to Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR) demanding action following complaints from residents.
People in Cardiff Road had complained of trains parked in sidings with engines idling.
GWR has previously said the introduction of electric trains in 2019 will reduce the problem.
An online petition set up by residents living close to the GWR depot complained about "low-frequency noise" from trains idling in the early hours of the morning.
The council said it has warned GWR and Network Rail it could face an abatement notice.
Deputy council leader Tony Page said the responses form the companies had so far been "inadequate".
"The council is fully supportive of the huge benefits the realignment of rail lines in and around Reading has brought.
"By the same token, the concerns local residents have [about] noise and air pollution are very real and the council is lobbied on these issues regularly.
"We hope that escalating local concerns to senior management will prove more effective."
Earlier this year, GWR said the noise was within safe levels and it had changed the way it operated trains on the sidings.
Jonathan Dart, chairman of the Bell Tower Community Association, said he warmly welcomed the council's announcement to "put an end to the nuisance being caused to the residents of Cardiff Road".
However, he criticised the time it took the authority to investigate the issue.
"It took nine months and a press campaign for the council to release an officer's report stating that being in part of Cardiff Road at 03:29 was akin to being backstage at the Reading Festival," he said. | Noise and air pollution from a new rail depot in Reading could prompt legal action, it has been warned. |
38,605,465 | Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders have been making progress on key issues since talks in Geneva began on Monday.
Earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a deal on reunifying the island was "very close" but cautioned against hopes of a "quick" fix.
The island's communities have been split since 1974.
Key stumbling blocks to reaching a deal include the return of property to tens of thousands of Cypriots who fled their homes in 1974, and the question of whether any Turkish troops will remain in northern Cyprus after reunification.
Turkey still has 30,000 troops stationed in the island's north, whose presence Greece opposes.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said discussions were "at a critical juncture" and that technical experts would now hold talks.
Reports say the plan is for their meetings to begin on 18 January, with a focus on thorny security issues.
Property: What should happen to the properties that Greek Cypriots had to abandon in 1974? Should they get the right to take their old homes back, or be compensated - and if so by how much?
Security: How can the security of the Turkish Cypriots be guaranteed if Turkey's estimated 30,000 troops leave? Greek Cypriots see them as an occupying force, so should some stay or should Turkey retain the right to intervene? Who would act as a guarantor of the deal? The EU, of which Cyprus is already a member, or the UK, which has two military bases on the island?
Power and the role of the EU: There is talk of a rotating presidency, but how would that work? And could a Turkish Cypriot president really represent the country from time-to-time at EU summits?
Territory: How much more territory should Greek Cypriots gain to reflect the fact that they make up the majority of the island's population? UN peacekeeping forces estimate that 165,000 Greek Cypriots fled or were expelled from the north, and 45,000 Turkish Cypriots from the south, although the parties to the conflict say the figures are higher.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said himself, Mr Cavusoglu and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson - who represent Cyprus's security guarantors - could meet again on 23 January.
The end goal is for the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to share power in a two-state federation. Any deal would have to win the support of both Cypriot communities in separate referendums.
The talks look set to continue for some weeks, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Landale, who is in Geneva. | Cyprus peace talks will soon continue at the expert level, the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers say. |
38,014,012 | It is why he was such an effective advocate for Leave during the referendum. And it is why the prime minister will use him to sell the Brexit deal when eventually it is struck.
So it will have come as no surprise to Mr Johnson to have attracted the attention this week of the actor Ewan McGregor - even if he might not have appreciated why.
The star of Trainspotting and Star Wars, who has one million Twitter followers, used his social media account to criticise the foreign secretary for offering "an impossible Brexit vision".
The cause of Mr McGregor's ire was Mr Johnson's interview with a Czech newspaper in which he suggested the UK might leave the EU customs union. This might not sound too controversial until you realise that doing that after Brexit is not actually government policy.
Downing Street has deliberately kept its options open, leading some MPs to think that staying in the customs union will be part of a transitional period before full Brexit. Mr Johnson also claimed the free movement of people was not a fundamental EU freedom, even though it was set out in the Treaty of Rome.
To some Conservative MPs, this is Boris being Boris: speaking truth clumsily and causing unnecessary offence. To others, it is Mr Johnson deliberately pushing the boundaries, trying to nudge Downing Street down a path that he and other Brexiteers wish to travel.
Either way, the interview gave the prime minister's opponents a big stick with which to beat her at question time in the House of Commons. One MP said that Theresa May will not have liked that and pointed out that at no time did she refer to Mr Johnson or praise him during her replies.
But one Downing Street source said: "If you were to sit down with the PM tonight for a whisky, she would not tell you that Boris Johnson is a problem. Her big problem is getting Whitehall to deliver what she wants."
There are some around the prime minister, however, who do not mind Mr Johnson taking some flak for the complexities and contradictions that leaving the EU will entail. This week the Dutch Finance Minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, told Newsnight that Mr Johnson was saying things that are "intellectually impossible".
The Italian economic development minister Carlo Calenda accused Mr Johnson of being "insulting" for suggesting that Italy should support a trade deal with the UK to avoid losing sales in Prosecco sparkling wine. One source said: "Boris is like a cut-off, absorbing some of the noise that would otherwise come our way."
That may be but it might still a problem for No 10 if the foreign secretary is unnecessarily picking fights with the EU when he should be building bridges. Some EU diplomats say his chummy way of addressing them in a few mangled words of their language can be patronising rather than engaging.
Few think he has much influence over the Brexit process. He has also upset some of his counterparts, the most important being Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany. This has not gone unnoticed in Whitehall.
Other government officials are more positive. They say Mr Johnson is popular in the Foreign Office in the way his predecessors were not. The junior staff like the way he says hello to them. The senior staff empathise with his curious intellect and linguistic hunger. And they like the way he takes his briefs seriously and masters the detail quickly.
The problem, some say, is that Mr Johnson is bored. He is being kept on a tight leash by Downing Street. No big interviews allowed, no big speeches planned, just endless "grip and grins" with visiting politicians and "get to know you" goodwill trips abroad. There are only so many times you can say that Britain will be engaged with the world post-Brexit.
So the hunt is on for a role for the foreign secretary, a focus for his energy. One idea doing the rounds is for Mr Johnson to throw himself into shaping the thinking, as much as he can, of the incoming Trump administration.
There is, the argument goes, a vacuum in much of the president-elect's foreign policy and it will be up others to fill that gap.
Others doubt the foreign secretary has been in his post long enough to have a settled world view that he can pass on to Mr Trump. What is Mr Johnson's real strategic view, they ask, on Russia, the Middle East and global trade?
Yet, astonishing as it may seem, in a short while Mr Johnson will be one of Europe's longer-serving foreign secretaries. By the end of next May, France, Germany and Italy will almost certainly have new foreign ministers who will be working alongside an equally new American secretary of state.
Despite that, some officials note that Mr Johnson has yet to be tested by a big foreign policy crisis, such as the Russian incursion into Ukraine. Will he have the clout to get Britain into the room, to shape the policy, to impose his will on a fast moving event?
That, they say, will be the time to judge the foreign secretary rather than blaming him personally for the failure of the whole government thus far to agree a strategy on Brexit. | Boris Johnson is one of those few politicians whose notoriety gives their utterances a wider audience than Westminster. |
19,423,147 | The picture of her genome is as accurate as that of modern day human genomes, and shows she had brown eyes, hair and skin.
The research in Science also sheds new light on the genetic differences between modern humans and their closest extinct relatives.
The cave dweller, a Denisovan, was a cousin of the Neanderthals.
Both groups of ancient humans died out about 30,000 years ago, but have left their mark in the gene pool of modern people.
The Denisovans have mysterious origins. They appear to have left little behind for palaeontologists save a tiny finger bone and a wisdom tooth found in Siberia's Denisova cave in 2010.
Though some researchers have proposed a possible link between the Denisovans and human fossils from China that have previously been difficult to classify.
A Russian scientist sent a fragment of the bone from Siberia to a team led by Svante Paabo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
He thought it might belong to an early modern human, but the results came as a surprise.
DNA analysis revealed a human who was neither a Neanderthal nor a modern human but the first of a new group of ancient humans.
Dr Paabo's team has now sequenced the genome of the Denisovan in much greater depth, using a new technique for studying ancient DNA.
The quality of the genome sequence is similar to that seen in genome studies of modern day humans.
"This is an extinct genome sequence of unprecedented accuracy," said Dr Matthias Meyer, the chief researcher on the study.
"For most of the genome we can even determine the differences between the two sets of chromosomes that the Denisovan girl inherited from her mother and father."
The scientists compared the girl's genome with that of Neanderthals and 11 modern humans from around the world.
This allowed them to catalogue the gene changes that make modern humans different from the two groups of extinct humans that were their closest relatives.
They include changes to only a single DNA letter in several genes involved in the wiring of the brain and nervous system, as well as those that affect the eye and the skin.
Dr Paabo said further investigation of changes in genes involved in connecting up the brain will be exciting to pursue.
He told BBC News: "To me the most exciting thing is having a good genome from our very closest extinct relatives which we can now compare ourselves to.
"It's a catalogue of what makes everyone on the planet unique compared with our closest extinct relatives."
The most detailed genetic analysis yet of the Denisovans also confirms that they bred with the ancestors of some people alive today, the researchers said.
It shows that about 3% of the genes of people living today in Papua New Guinea come from Denisovans, with a trace of their DNA lingering in the Han and Dai people from mainland China.
The genetic variation of Denisovans was very low, suggesting that although they were found in large parts of Asia their population remained small. | The DNA of a cave girl who lived about 80,000 years ago has been analysed in remarkable detail. |
35,669,018 | Mr Issoufou took 48% of the vote, with jailed opposition leader Hama Amadou on 18%, official preliminary results say.
The run-off vote between the two candidates is scheduled for 20 March.
Mr Amadou is currently behind bars accused of trafficking babies, a charge he strongly denies.
President Issoufou is running for a second term.
The run-up to the vote was marred by accusations of repression and a row over identification documents.
The authorities announced that roughly 1.5 million people without ID papers would be able to cast their ballots by having witnesses vouch for them, in a move that was condemned by opposition leaders.
Niger is rich in natural resources, including uranium and oil, but is one of the poorest countries on Earth, ranking last in the UN Human Development Index.
Niger is seen as an important ally of Western powers in the fight against militant Islamists in the fragile Sahara region.
However, the country is far from stable. Corruption, food shortages and porous borders remain serious problems. | Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou has failed to secure an outright majority in Sunday's elections, taking the contest into a second round. |
29,246,741 | The St Andrews-based club has 2,400 global members who were entitled to vote and more than three-quarters took part in the ballot.
Of those that voted, 85% were in favour of change.
"This is an important and positive day in the history of the R&A Golf Club," said chief executive Peter Dawson.
"The R&A has served the sport of golf well for 260 years and I am confident that the club will continue to do so in future with the support of all its members, both women and men."
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Dawson added that the vote would take immediate effect and a "significant" initial number of women would be fast-tracked to membership in the coming months to avoid the long waiting list.
Founded in 1754, the Royal and Ancient's members play on the St Andrews links course regarded as the "home of golf".
Before Thursday's vote, women could play on the course, on Scotland's east coast, but they were not allowed in the clubhouse and had no significant part in the sport's rulemaking arm, the R&A.
That body, separated from the club 10 years ago, controls golf around the world apart from in the United States and Mexico.
A statement from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) backed the results of the ballot.
"The LPGA is happy to hear that the members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews have voted to include female members," it said.
"This decision is certainly a step in the right direction and one that better captures the current diversity and inclusiveness of our great game."
Sports Minister Helen Grant has also supported the move.
"I am pleased that the members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews have voted in favour of admitting women members," she said.
"This is positive news for the sport and I hope we will now see other golf clubs that still have outdated same sex policies follow suit. With golf in the next Olympics there is a huge opportunity for the sport to grow and this sends out the right inclusive message that golf is for everyone."
Three Open venues currently have male-only membership - Muirfield in East Lothian, Royal St George's in Sandwich, Kent, and Royal Troon in South Ayrshire, which has separate men's and women's clubs.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is set to review its Muirfield membership rules in September, while Royal St George's said this year it was "considering its position".
In 2012, the Augusta National Club in the United States, which hosts the Masters, admitted two women members for the first time in its 80-year history. | The Royal and Ancient Golf Club has voted in favour of allowing women members for the first time in its 260-year history. |
40,946,700 | "There are plenty more fish in the sea." "Time is a healer." "They weren't good enough for you anyway."
"He wasn't worth £200,000 a week..." Yes, we are talking about football heartbreak.
It is feeling you get when your club sell your favourite player, leaving you crying into your family-size tub of ice cream while taking the scissors to your football shirt with said player's name on the back.
This may sound familiar to Swansea City fans this week, who will be inconsolable having learned their illustrious playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson has agreed to move to Everton for £45m.
Losing Philippe Coutinho would be a pretty big blow for the Liverpool faithful too, with the Brazilian midfielder looking increasingly likely to join Barcelona.
Should that deal go ahead, expect tears...
With this in mind, we asked you which of your club's transfers hurt you the most. | If you have ever experienced heartbreak, you will recognise the phrases. |
40,365,106 | At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 8.5 points, or 0.11%, at 7,439.29.
Shares in Royal Dutch Shell and rival BP closed slightly up after struggling earlier in the day as oil traded above $45 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the price of Brent crude oil had fallen to $44.35 a barrel, its lowest since November, although it recovered to $45.61 on Thursday.
Oil prices have been dragged lower by excess supplies on the global market, despite the efforts of the Opec producers' cartel to limit output in order to push prices higher.
Pharmaceuticals firm Shire was the top riser in the FTSE 100, up 3.7%, after the European Medicines Agency validated its marketing authorisation application for Veyvondi, which treats an inherited bleeding disorder called von Willebrand disease.
Outside the FTSE 100, shares in Imagination Technologies jumped 16% after the company put itself up for sale.
Imagination is in dispute with its largest customer, Apple, after the US tech giant announced earlier this year that it planned to stop using Imagination's technology in its products.
On the currency markets, the pound slipped 0.1% against the dollar to $1.2658 and was up 0.08% against the euro at 1.1355 euros. | Shares in oil companies weighed on the UK stock market as crude prices remained under pressure. |
18,049,002 | The aircraft is understood to have gone down near the summit of Ben More near Crianlarich around 12:00 BST Saturday.
Central Scotland Police said neither man had been identified and inquiries were at a very early stage.
Ben More is a Munro 1,174m (3,852ft) in height. In 1973 four people died when a British European Airways passenger plane crashed into the mountain. | Two men have died in a microlight plane crash at a mountain range in Stirlingshire. |
34,683,472 | All four were sacked, while another member of staff was fired for transporting 173kg of marijuana in an official vehicle.
The five cases happened between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2015, the report said.
The UN report does not include information on any criminal charges brought against the former staff.
The four staff sacked for possession of child pornography were dismissed under "misuse of United Nations information and communications technology", the report said.
The report details disciplinary actions for misconduct and criminal behaviour involving the UN secretariat's 41,000 staff. It does not specify where the former staff were stationed, or when they were dismissed.
Any cases involving criminal conduct were referred to authorities in the staff member's country, a spokesman for the UN, Farhan Haq, said on Friday.
"While the United Nations can and does follow up with member states, the national authorities concerned have the sole prerogative in determining what, if any, investigations or proceedings are initiated against the individuals," he said.
He said those authorities would decide whether to provide any further information to the UN.
The report also listed other cases of misconduct and the actions taken. A staff member who stored pornography involving adults was disciplined with demotion and a ban on promotion for two years.
Another, responsible for security screening at an airport, had their employment terminated after taking $2,200 (£1,440) from the luggage of a passenger on a UN flight.
The report details a number of dismissals relating to a staff protest at a peacekeeping mission, in which one UN staff member "disarmed a military officer".
Others at the same protest "improperly restricted" movement of people and vehicles, "intimidated and/or physically assaulted" people, damaged a UN vehicle, and allowed journalists on-site without authorisation, the report said. | Four United Nations staff shared child pornography on work email accounts, an internal report from the agency said. |
40,237,813 | He told the Sunday Mirror: "This is still on. Absolutely."
Labour will set out its own programme for government as an amendment to the Queen's Speech, focusing on austerity and a "jobs-first Brexit," he says.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr he will call on MPs from all other parties to back his policies instead of Mrs May's.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry told Sky News Labour are "absolutely on our toes" to set up an alternative minority government if Mrs May's government falls apart, accusing the Conservative PM of "squatting in Downing Street".
Mrs May is seeking a loose "confidence and supply" arrangement with the DUP's 10 MPs that would allow her to press ahead with a minority government, after losing her Commons majority in Thursday's general election.
The Conservatives could command a majority with the support of the DUP if they manage to to do a deal with the Northern Irish party.
Labour gained 30 seats in Thursday's general election to take its total to 262 seats, but the Conservatives remain the largest party in Parliament with 318 seats. This is more than the total of Labour, Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green Party. The number needed for a majority is 326.
This would give the Tories the numbers to pass a Queen's Speech on Monday 19 June, which will set out their legislative agenda.
But shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he believes there is a majority in Parliament to maintain the winter fuel allowance and "triple lock" state pension guarantee, two policies the Conservatives proposed changing in their manifesto.
He told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "I believe the DUP is in favour of scrapping the bedroom tax. There's a whole range of issues like that where we think there'll be a majority in Parliament."
Jeremy Corbyn said he did not think Mrs May had any credibility and it was "unclear" what kind of programme the Conservatives would be able to put forward.
He said there was a "possibility" of voting down the Queen's Speech and Labour were going to "push all the way" to achieve that.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, he said Labour would put down a "substantial amendment to the Queen's speech" based on the main policies in its general election manifesto, with an emphasis on Brexit, young people, and austerity.
He said the Brexit content of that amendment would be about negotiating as quickly as possible a "jobs-first Brexit".
Mr Corbyn said his party was "quite ready and able to put forward a serious programme of government", which he said "obviously has massive support in this country."
He also said he believed that the Great Repeal Bill - the Conservative plan to copy across all EU laws into UK law - would now become "history" - and that there would be "something different" in a few weeks' time.
He told Andrew Marr he thought it was quite possible there could be an election later this year, or early next year, which he thought "might be a good thing."
"We can't go on with a period of great instability" he said, adding that the Labour Party was ready to fight another election campaign.
On Brexit, Mr Corbyn said he wanted "tariff-free access to the European market" and to maintain membership of key European agencies, as well as European Convention on Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights but he confirmed he would press ahead with leaving the EU if he became prime minister.
He also suggested he was ready to build bridges with some of the Labour MPs who have opposed his leadership.
Asked if Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna - both of whom had been reported to be planning leadership bids if Labour lost seats in the general election - could come back to the front bench, Mr Corbyn said: "I am the most generous person in the world."
Ms Cooper, who was defeated by Mr Corbyn in the 2015 Labour leadership contest, said the Parliamentary party had "changed a lot" since last year's EU referendum and was now fully behind Mr Corbyn.
"We all need to pull together to take on Theresa May and take on the Tories," she told Sky News.
She did not rule out accepting a job in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet, but said she did not want to be "presumptuous".
She said the Conservatives' planned deal with the DUP was "dodgy" and "unsustainable" - and Theresa May's position was "not remotely tenable" because she lacked the skills to hold together a minority government, which has to be more open and collegiate.
She said Labour had to be ready for another election "at any time" and warned the party not to "rest on its laurels," saying it had to work on how to win back more seats from the Conservatives.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday, Chris Leslie, Labour MP for Nottingham East, refused to say whether he thought Mr Corbyn was a credible prime minister.
He said: "We shouldn't pretend that this is a famous victory. It's good as far as it's gone, but it's not going to be good enough."
He said the party had missed an "open goal" in failing to win a majority.
"You've got to convince them of your credibility and that you can move from protesting about the government to being in government," he said.
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning | Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he can "still be prime minister" as he aims to thwart Theresa May's attempt to run a minority government. |
39,693,849 | Hardy has been a massive hit with parents watching with their children. Evans said he was "honoured" to be the next guest on "such a special show".
"I hope families have as much fun watching as I had reading," he said.
The Avengers actor will read Even Superheroes Have Bad Days.
The book by Shelly Becker and Eda Kaban shows children how to cope when they are feeling overwhelmed by their feelings.
Evans will tell the tale of how they can channel their energies like superheroes.
The news has had a positive reaction from fans on Twitter.
Paul Bullock†| Captain America star Chris Evans is following in the footsteps of Tom Hardy and has signed up to read a bedtime story on CBeebies. |
38,427,395 | Allan Strachan was reported missing at 00:20 on Thursday after breaching the terms of his licence while on home leave from HMP Castle Huntly.
The 34-year-old is thought to have connections in the Springburn and Castlemilk areas of Glasgow.
Strachan is described as bald, stocky, clean shaven and 6ft 3in tall.
Police Scotland said anyone who sees him should not approach him and contact them on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. | Police have warned members of the public not to approach a man who has absconded from an open prison near Dundee. |
39,501,499 | It was looking at a complaint by some of the ANC top executives that Jacob Zuma had failed to consult them over reshuffling his cabinet.
After considering the complaint, the ANC has decided not to press for Mr Zuma to resign, a party official said.
Mr Zuma has been under growing pressure since sacking respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
That led to South Africa's credit rating being cut to junk status putting more pressure on a troubled economy.
Mr Gordhan was dropped as part of a major cabinet reshuffle which left some in the ANC leadership questioning whether Mr Zuma should remain as president.
Key ANC allies, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the main trades union federation Cosatu, joined in the calls for him to go.
But the party's National Working Committee (NWC), discussing the cabinet reshuffle, has given the president its backing.
President Jacob Zuma must be breathing a sigh of relief today following the acceptance of his explanation for his controversial sacking of the finance minister.
He certainly has crossed the first hurdle in his mission to stay in the job.
Newspaper headlines are describing him as the Teflon Don because of his survival skills. But this does not mean that he is completely off the hook.
Opposition parties, together with some in his own governing alliance, are planning mass action through public protests and are still demanding for him to resign.
The speaker of parliament is considering recalling a joint sitting for a vote of no confidence put forward by the Democratic Alliance.
The Economic Freedom Fighters went to court asking permission for his impeachment. However for now, Mr Zuma remains president of the country and leader of Africa's oldest liberation movement.
The committee accepted that the dismissal came because of the "irretrievable breakdown" of Mr Gordhan's relationship with the president, the ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told a news conference in Johannesburg.
Mr Mantashe praised new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, saying that he "is going to do a good job".
Mr Zuma has been cleared by the NWC of the charge that he reshuffled the cabinet without consultation.
He is said to have briefed top ANC officials in December of his decision to dismiss Mr Gordhan, but the leaders persuaded him to delay the sacking.
The NWC is the ANC's second most important decision-making body, the first being the party's integrity committee.
It now remains to be seen how the integrity committee will proceed from this point, the BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says.
What is significant with this situation is that it is the first time key ANC's allies publicly turned on Mr Zuma, our correspondent adds.
At his press conference on Wednesday, Mr Mantashe lashed out at the SACP and Cosatu for speaking to the media about ANC's internal affairs.
He accused the two allies of betraying the ANC's confidence when they went public with disagreements over the reshuffle list. | South Africa's embattled president has been backed by a major decision-making body within the ruling ANC. |
40,680,004 | The German industrial giant will also halt deliveries of power generation equipment to Russian state-controlled customers for the "time being".
Siemens said it had received "credible information" that its turbines had been diverted from the original destination.
It said this breaches EU sanctions against Russia.
The four gas turbines in question had been delivered for a project in Taman, southern Russia in 2016.
However, Siemens said the equipment had since been locally modified and shifted to Crimea which it said breached EU sanctions Russia introduced in 2014 following over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Siemens will exit the Interautimatika joint venture, in which holds a 46% stake, with the rest owned by Russian state-owned businesses TPE and Rostec.
The German company said it would continue to pursue criminal charges "against the responsible individuals" at TPE.
The Reuters news agency reported on Friday that the Kremlin had declined to comment, saying it was a matter for Siemens and its Russian partners.
However, the affair threatens to strain relations between Germany and Russia. Last week, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the the delivery to Crimea was "remarkable and completely unacceptable".
Germany's ambassador to Russia, Rudiger von Fritsch, said: "There are all grounds to believe that if what has happened is true, Siemens was seriously deceived, and it was a violation of a contract, a serious blow to trust and a very serious blow to investments in Russia."
On Friday, Siemens announced that it had also terminated a licence granted to a Russian company to manufacture equipment for power plants. It said it was "reviewing all potential collaboration between its subsidiaries and other entities around the world with regard to deliveries to Russia".
Siemens added that new gas power projects in Russia would only be carried out through companies it controls, ensuring "Siemens-controlled delivery and installation" overseen by its own personnel. | Siemens will withdraw from a Russian joint venture after discovering that four of its gas turbines were illegally shipped to Crimea. |
35,908,925 | The court said a "stability clause" was problematic as future governments would not be able to alter the agreement.
Critics had argued the deal on Mediterranean gas reserves was too generous to the companies involved.
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz called the court's ruling an "unfortunate decision".
He said it would hurt Israel's economy, energy security and tax revenues.
The Supreme Court suspended its ruling for a year, however, giving parliament a chance to amend the agreement before it is cancelled.
Israel's discovery of major natural gas fields has in recent years raised hopes that it could become not only energy independent, but also a significant regional gas exporter.
Prime Minister and Economy Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared personally in court last month to defend the long-delayed deal with US firm Noble Energy, Israel's Delek Group and other firms.
The consortium had reportedly agreed to spend $1.5bn (£1bn) over the next two years on the development of the Leviathan gas field, discovered in 2010 and one of largest in the eastern Mediterranean.
A government commitment not to change gas industry regulations until 2025 was conditional on that investment, Reuters reports.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog praised the court's decision as "correct and courageous". | Israel's top court has struck down a major offshore gas deal between the government and a US-Israeli consortium. |
33,347,904 | The young journalist lives apart from her parents, and is one of a growing number bucking the trend in Egypt where girls rarely leave the family home before marriage.
"I have to achieve my goals regardless of what people are saying. I chose to live separately from my brother, who also lives in Cairo, to find more time for writing and reading," she said.
"The rest of my family live in El- Arish, North Sinai, and there are no suitable career opportunities for me there."
Her room does not have a dressing table, but the walls are filled with images of political activists and freedom slogans.
"My mother accepted that I wanted to live independently because she is a social activist, but she's got problems with my uncle telling her that it is not acceptable for me to live alone and that it might tarnish my reputation".
The growing phenomenon can be traced back to the calls for change that accompanied the revolution in early 2011.
"Egyptian women participated in demonstrations demanding rights for the whole of society," said Nehad Abul Qomsan, director of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights.
"That broke their isolation and made them bolder in asserting personal rights."
She said for young girls, leaving home is a gradual process because they have been so conditioned by society frowning on it.
"The path to independence generally begins when girls come to major cities to study and then see that life isn't as scary as was described to them," she said.
One such home-leaver is Minah al-Sharqawy. She has been studying mass communications in Cairo and does not intend to return to her family in Upper Egypt after she gets her degree.
"I chose to be less noticeable by living in an apartment block where there are lots of doctors' clinics and companies. Girls who live on their own are more likely to attract harassers and be followed home."
"Independence gives you more responsibilities than freedom. My advice to girls is not to go independent without your parents' approval," she concluded.
But some young girls see their parents' attitudes as inconsistent.
"Parents can't accept their daughters living alone in the same neighbourhood, and yet they would accept their daughter living alone if she went abroad for study," said one NGO worker, "A", who did not want to reveal her identity in case her family rebuked her for saying so.
Currently in her 20s, she returned to the family home after more than one-and-a-half years of living independently.
"Living anywhere in Egypt, people watch a girl's every move," she said. "They monitor when she leaves and what time she returns, who she is hanging out with, her clothes and whether she is made up.
"Even complete strangers, in such instances, become guardians of morality and make themselves the girls' custodian in the absence of her parents," she added.
"The gulf between the females from my generation and my mother's generation seems to be getting bigger. Women from their generation still hold traditional expectations for women."
Because of this, few young girls harbouring wishes to leave home broach the subject with their parents.
"Most Egyptian girls discuss their desire to live separately from their families with each other, but only 35% raise the issue with their mother or father," says Dr Olfat Allam, a consultant psychotherapist.
But Dr Allam warns about what she calls a "fake" life of independence, where a girl lives on her own but still needs financial support from her family.
In some cases though, girls make a point of taking on both burdens.
"I am proud to be living independently," says Mai Abdulghani, a translator. "I have never asked my father for financial assistance and I have dealt with all the problems that have arisen on my own."
Despite wearing a veil and being religiously devout, Mai says she has still experienced many difficulties with landlords.
"They treated us like their private property or children who could be controlled and had to obey them," she said.
"For instance, they want details about where we go, who we are meeting, what time we plan on coming home and who visits the apartment - even if the visitors are female".
Even when a girl's family is around, though, the risks can be the same.
Shaimaa lives a 20-minute walk from her parents' house. Despite this, she says she was being stalked by a neighbour.
"I bought a large dog and his behaviour stopped," she says.
"I am stricter with myself now that I live alone than my parents were with me when I lived with them. For instance, I will only allow a couple of female friends to visit me in my apartment occasionally and I always get home before 21:00 because otherwise my neighbours will talk.
"For any girl who wants to live alone, I advise her to get a dog!" | After carefully checking she was not being followed, Yara locked the gate to her building on a narrow lane in Cairo and headed to her rented flat. |
33,363,725 | The 22-year-old was a free agent after being released by Middlesbrough.
Williams spent time on loan at the Iron last season, scoring two goals in six appearances and also had loan spells with both Coventry and Peterborough.
"I knew what a good group it was and it's a club that's going places. Hopefully I can add to that," he told the club website.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | League One side Scunthorpe United have signed forward Luke Williams on a three-year deal. |
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