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40,174,267 | Peltier has agreed a two-year extension and Hoilett has signed a one-year deal.
"I've enjoyed my time here up until now and hopefully I enjoy it even more next season. I'm delighted to extend my stay here," Peltier said.
The Bluebirds are poised to sell Declan John and Craig Noone, but have signed goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
Peltier says manager Neil Warnock was his main motivation for staying.
"You can see what he has done since he came in and he wants to have a good go at it next season," Peltier said of Warnock.
"That was a massive influence on me putting pen to paper as I've bought in to what he wants to do.
"I'm definitely looking forward to getting going again."
Winger Hoilett signed as a free agent in October, 2016. | Cardiff City have agreed new contracts with defender Lee Peltier and forward Junior Hoilett. |
36,516,456 | They replace injured Leicestershire wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien and Stuart Thompson, who will miss both matches for personal reasons.
O'Brien is set to be out of action for four to six weeks after sustaining a grade-two tear of his left calf.
The first match will be held on Thursday, with the second on Saturday.
O'Brien suffered his injury while batting against Warwickshire last week.
Anderson has been in prolific run-scoring form for his club Merrion, and he is joined by his Leinster Lightning colleague Sorensen, The Hills' seam-bowling all-rounder.
"John and Max were unlucky to miss out in the original squad selection," said Ireland head coach John Bracewell.
"John's been in superb form this season, scoring heavily in domestic and inter-provincial cricket. The injuries to Andrew Balbirnie and Niall give him an opportunity to come into the squad and if selected, I'm certain he'll perform well.
"Max bowled excellently in the win against Scotland A last week, taking six wickets in the game. He impressed me with the pace and the bounce he generated.
"It's clear he's recovered well from his recent illness and injury and it's good to have him back firing on all cylinders."
Ireland squad: William Porterfield (Warwickshire, capt), George Dockrell (Leinster Lightning), Ed Joyce (Sussex), Tim Murtagh (Middlesex), Andrew McBrine (North-West Warriors), Barry McCarthy (Durham/Leinster Lightning), Kevin O'Brien (Leinster Lightning/Leicestershire), John Anderson (Merrion/Leinster), Stuart Poynter (Durham), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Max Sorensen (The Hills/Leinster), Gary Wilson (Surrey) | John Anderson and Max Sorensen have been called into the Ireland squad for this week's one-day international series against Sri Lanka at Malahide. |
28,189,480 | It expects to make an operating profit of 7.2 trillion won ($7.1bn; £4.2bn) in the April-to-June period, down from 9.5 trillion won a year ago.
Its operating profit has now fallen for three straight quarters.
Samsung is the world's biggest maker of mobile phones and the handset division accounts for the bulk of its profits.
The South Korean firm said it "witnessed a slowdown in the overall smartphone market growth and saw increased competition in the Chinese and some European markets" during the period.
Meanwhile, a stronger Korean currency also hurt Samsung's earnings during the period.
The Korean won rose more than 11% against the US dollar and nearly 7% against the euro between July 2013 and end of June this year.
A strengthening currency hurts profits of firms such as Samsung - which rely heavily on exports - when they repatriate their foreign earnings.
Samsung's growth in recent years has been powered mainly by its mobile phone division.
The success of its Galaxy range of smartphones, coupled with a growing global demand for such gadgets, saw it displace Nokia as the world's biggest mobile phone maker in 2012.
However, the pace of growth of the smartphone market has been slowing down and the competition in the sector has also increased, forcing manufacturers to cut costs of their devices in an attempt to attract consumers.
Analysts said that profit margins in the sector are likely to fall even further.
"The golden era of high-end smartphones is clearly over. Those were the handsets that helped firms such as Samsung make healthy profit margins," Ajay Sunder, a vice president specialising in the telecoms sector with consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, told the BBC.
"Now it is all about high-volume and low-margin handsets. And on that front the competition is getting fiercer with each passing day."
Various other smartphone makers including China's Xiaomi, Huawei and ZTE have been increasing their market share steadily.
Mr Sunder said that given the slowing growth and increased competition in the smartphone market, Samsung needed to look at boosting its presence in other sectors if it wanted to sustain high growth rates.
"Its over-dependence on the mobile phone division needs to go," he said.
For its part, Samsung has said it "cautiously expects a more positive outlook in the third quarter". | Samsung Electronics has forecast a 25% drop in profit for the second quarter due to a slowdown in the smartphone market and a strong Korean currency. |
38,847,275 | The Kiwi described the Irish as one of the best teams in world rugby.
And he feels a nervous energy among his squad ahead of the Six Nations opener in the Scottish capital.
"It's an exciting start," said Cotter of the visitors, who have won 14 of the 17 meetings between the sides since the beginning of the Six Nations in 2000.
"Ireland have just beaten the All Blacks, they've beaten Australia and South Africa. These are not one-off results. Consistently, they're a good team. So, we get the chance to measure ourselves against them.
"I can feel a nervousness within the group. They know it's a big game. They're ready to roll their sleeves up and have a go. I think being a little bit nervous means you're sharper and more on edge. You need that. You need to be wary of the opposition - especially against these guys."
Cotter sprang a bit of a surprise when replacing John Barclay with Josh Strauss in his back row. Barclay had started nine of the last 10 Tests under Cotter including all five in last season's Six Nations.
Strauss has only one Six Nations start to his name - the win over France in Edinburgh last year - but his form for Glasgow was the deciding factor. Strauss has been a big ball-carrying presence for the Warriors, particularly in some pressure games in Europe.
"It's great to see players pushing hard for selection," said Cotter. "Josh, since November, has really kicked on. It's great to have those choices, because we'll need everybody for this competition.
"The guys have a vision for the Six Nations, there's no doubt about that. Whatever vision you have determines your behaviour. These guys are working hard to get better. That's the only way you can approach it. There are no guarantees in sport, we know that. But that desire we've seen for the last two seasons is still there.
"We need to be sharp. We need to be able to adapt. They'll have plays we haven't seen and we need to adapt to them. We've worked through the head and heart stuff that builds performances. You can't just have the heart and no head. You can't have it the other way around, either. It's about a fine balance, being smart, preparing well."
Scotland are without their first-choice props, Alasdair Dickinson and WP Nel, and go with the inexperienced but highly promising Allan Dell and Zander Fagerson. They have only once won their opening match of the Six Nations - against France in 2006 - and to break that cycle of failure they are going to have to overcome a side that have just come through one of the most successful years in their history.
Ireland's depth is impressive. They have lost Johnny Sexton but replaced him with Paddy Jackson, who played fly-half when Ireland beat the Wallabies in the autumn.
"He's obviously a proven 10 at international level, but may not be thinking so fondly of the last international game he played at Murrayfield," said Cotter.
That was a reference to the 2013 loss to the Scots when Jackson was picked at fly-half and had a game to forget. Cotter said that Jackson has done a lot of growing up since then.
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Ireland have lost Jared Payne, a hugely important part of their midfield but their centres on Saturday - Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose - are the most exciting midfield partnership since Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy.
Donnacha Ryan, a colossus against the All Blacks, has been left out of the 23. Jordi Murphy played openside that night - and scored - and Josh van der Flier played in the position when Ireland beat Australia a few weeks later. Sean O'Brien, a series-winning Lion and scorer of two tries the last time he played against Scotland at Murrayfield, takes over on Saturday. They have options that most teams do not have.
"Ireland move you around," added Cotter. "They play a great game of chess. Strong up front, a good kicking game, they turn you around in channels, try to make you exit poorly and then attack from line-out. The idea is not to give them what they want. It's up to us. There is a bit of stress out there. We have to function and play under that stress.
"The trap is that every year that Scotland get talked up. We're realistic. We know which teams are ranked ahead of us, we know what the rugby hierarchy is at the moment. It's up to us to change that." | Scotland head coach Vern Cotter says his team are ready to "roll their sleeves up and have a go" at Ireland on Saturday at Murrayfield. |
34,896,125 | Charles Michel added that universities, schools and the metro would remain closed on Monday.
Brussels has been on lockdown all weekend, amid a manhunt for suspected Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam.
Islamic State militants, some of whom were from Brussels, killed 130 people in Paris on 13 November.
Follow the latest live developments
Abdeslam: Suspect 'meant to blow himself up'
Interview transcript: 'My brothers were manipulated, not radicalised'
Police in France have issued a fresh appeal to identify one of the Paris attackers, who was killed at the national stadium.
Mr Michel told reporters in Brussels on Sunday that the authorities fear "an attack similar to the one in Paris, with several individuals who could also possibly launch several attacks at the same time in multiple locations."
Earlier, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the danger to Belgium was not tied to Abdeslam alone.
"The threat is broader than the one suspected terrorist," he told Flemish broadcaster VRT.
Soldiers joined police officers on patrols in Brussels over the weekend. Many public spaces in the usually bustling capital were deserted, as people heeded official warnings to avoid crowds. | Brussels will stay on the highest level of terror alert because of the "serious and imminent" threat of Paris-style attacks, Belgium's prime minister says. |
31,125,442 | CCTV captured in Bartley Green, Birmingham, shows the victim being pulled into the road opposite her driveway.
West Midlands Police said she suffered a fractured finger and "significant bruising".
A 25-year-old man from Weoley Castle was arrested on suspicion of robbery.
He was released on police bail on Tuesday pending further inquiries, the force said.
The woman had parked outside her home in Kitwell Lane and left the keys in the ignition, police said.
In the footage, a man can be seen entering the car, causing the victim to run towards it.
She can be seen opening the driver's side door before the vehicle moves off, dragging her along with it.
Police said the car was recovered on 30 January, the day after the recording was made.
They said the car was being forensically examined and appealed for any witnesses to come forward. | A man has been arrested after footage of an apparent "carjack", which saw a woman dragged alongside her own car, was released. |
38,932,671 | A late drop goal from Tiernan O'Halloran broke the deadlock in a tight contest on 77 minutes.
Craig Ronaldson then hammered over a long range penalty to seal the victory.
Blues had led at half-time 13-7 but at one stage were in front 13-0, with Gareth Anscombe scoring two penalties and converting Nick Williams' try.
Williams' try owed a debt to centre Willis Halaholo, who had only started in that position following the late withdrawal of Steve Shingler. Halaholo powered his way past several Connacht defenders, before Williams completed the score.
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However, the visitors showed resolve to get back into things and created a fine opening for Matt Healy to go over the gain line, with JP Cooney adding a tough conversion.
Cooney slotted over two penalties in the second half - the second from a huge distance - as an entertaining contest became level at 13-13.
The visitors looked the more likely victors and carved Blues apart with five minutes remaining, but Healy could not hold onto the ball as he looked likely to score.
Jack Carty then missed with a drop goal attempt, but O'Halloran made no mistake two minutes later to edge Connacht ahead.
Ronaldson's penalty from almost halfway then rubber-stamped the victory for the Pro12 champions.
Cardiff Blues coach Danny Wilson told Clwb Rygbi: "I am very frustrated.
"In the second half we didn't manage to score with the little possession we had and the if I am honest, we had to do a lot of defending.
"Connacht were excellent over the ball and we couldn't get enough tempo into the game.
"We have to look hard at ourselves. It is not good enough to lose at home, especially in a game we should have at least drawn.
"Our defending at the end was poor and now to do anything, we need to win our next three games, in my opinion."
Cardiff Blues: Matthew Morgan; Blaine Scully, Rey Lee-Lo, Steve Shingler, Rhun Williams; Gareth Anscombe, Lloyd Williams (captain); Rhys Gill, Kristian Dacey, Anton Peikrishvili, Jarrad Hoeata, James Down, Macauley Cook, Josh Navidi, Nick Williams
Replacements: Matthew Rees, Marc Thomas, Scott Andrews, Seb Davies, Sion Bennett, Tomos Williams, Willis Halaholo, Tom James
Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran, Niyi Adeolokun, Stacey Ili, Craig Ronaldson, Matt Healy, Jack Carty, John Cooney; Denis Buckley, Tom McCartney, JP Cooney, Quinn Roux, James Cannon, Sean O'Brien, Jake Heenan, John Muldoon (captain)
Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Ronan Loughney, John Andress, Naulia Dawai, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Caolin Blade, Tom Farrell, Danie Poolman | Connacht came from behind to beat Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park to complete a Pro12 double over the Welsh region thanks to some composed kicking. |
37,643,544 | The offences by Paul Aiton, Colin Best, Stuart Flanagan, Ben Pomeroy and John Williams date back to the 2011 National Rugby League season.
Aiton, 31, currently plays in Super League with Catalans Dragons.
An NRL statement said the players "bore no significant fault in the breaches" and the bans have "now expired" owing to the length of the investigation.
A total of 17 players have now been sanctioned following the investigation by the Australian Anti-Doping Authority (Asada).
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Five former Cronulla Sharks players have been given 12-month backdated bans for breaching anti-doping rules. |
38,925,215 | Azhar, 31, became ODI skipper after the 2015 World Cup, and led the side to 12 wins and 18 defeats in the format.
He will be replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, 29, who already leads the Twenty20 side.
Pakistan next visit West Indies at the end of March to play two T20 games, three ODIs and three Tests.
They currently sit eighth in the International Cricket Council's ODI team rankings, but are only three points above West Indies - and only the top eight teams on the cut-off date of 30 September 2017 will automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup.
Though he is set to continue in the side as a batsman, Azhar will be suspended for the first ODI of the West Indies series after he was punished for a slow over-rate in Australia.
Veteran batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, who continues to captain the Test side, will turn 43 soon after the Caribbean tour ends in May.
In December 2015, Azhar offered to resign over the presence at a training camp of pace bowler Mohammad Amir - who has since returned to international cricket after being jailed and banned for five years for his part in a spot-fixing scandal - but the Pakistan Cricket Board rejected his offer to quit. | Batsman Azhar Ali has stepped down as Pakistan's one-day international captain following their 4-1 series defeat by Australia last month. |
26,199,300 | Fire crews were called to Rowan Court in Barry at 01:00 GMT.
Heavy rain and strong winds hit Wales on Saturday forcing more travel disruption with several roads flooded.
It comes as engineers battled to restore power to thousands of homes without electricity in mid and north Wales.
ScottishPower said it hoped to have customers reconnected by midnight.
Two flood warnings and 19 alerts have been issued by Natural Resources Wales.
As fresh storms move in, the Welsh government said it was waiting to hear if funding would be available from the UK government to help businesses.
It follow the prime minister's "no penny pinching" pledge on flood relief.
The Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" alert of downpours stretching across south, west and mid Wales on Saturday.
There could be between 5 and 10mm of rain within an hour, with the risk of localised flooding.
Two flood warnings were in place on Saturday afternoon.
Warnings for the Conwy valley and the River Wye at Monmouth were stood down.
And a yellow alert for ice is in place from Saturday evening into Sunday morning.
An alert for high winds across south and west Wales was later stood down but not before 17 people were evacuated from their flats in Barry after part of the roof was blown off in storms overnight.
There were no reports of any injuries but the flats were said to have been been badly damaged by the wind and flooding.
Joanne Curtis, whose 86-year-old mother's flat was drenched overnight, said: "The main damage is in the two bedrooms - water coming through the ceiling.
"The bed's totally saturated. The carpet's saturated.
"It's coming through where the lights are, through the electrics, so all the electricity's turned off at the moment."
And in Cardiff, James Roberts, 25, and his father had a lucky escape when a tree hit their house.
"We were both in bed when we heard a large part of a tree crash on to our house," he said.
"We're a bit shaken, but grateful we came to no harm. We can't see any structural damage but it's too dangerous for us to go outside.
"It came crashing down from about 40 feet. We thought we were safe on a hill, but not from wind."
Bad weather also caused travel disruption on Saturday morning:
On Friday, it was confirmed that the storms on Wednesday had claimed the life of a Gwynedd man.
Bob Thomas, 77, died in hospital after sustaining head injuries at his home near Caernarfon.
He had been with his wife in their garden at Caeathro moving hens when a tree fell and hit him.
High winds across north and mid Wales through Friday meant work to restore power supplies to thousands of properties was hampered.
On Saturday evening ScottishPower said engineers were still working to restore power to 2,800 homes.
Earlier, Guy Jefferson, network operations director for ScottishPower, said nearly 3,000 customers were still cut off after Wednesday's storm and a further 1,000 lost power on Friday night in north Wales after "another bad night".
He told BBC Radio Wales: "There's pockets [without power] right across north Wales, but the main areas are Gwynedd, around Aberystwyth, Newtown and across to Dee valley where we have most of our customers off."
He said engineers were out at "first light" and the company hoped to restore power for most by Saturday evening, although he warned it may be a "struggle" to reconnect those who were cut off on Friday.
He apologised to customers for the inconvenience and thanked them for their patience, adding: "In one day, on Wednesday in north Wales, we had the equivalent of one year's worth of overhead line falls."
The power company has now offered to meet the cost of buying meals for those affected since Wednesday's storms.
It said it would pay up to ??30 per person a day, if they retained their receipts.
Tony Fuse in Gellilydan, near Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, is just one of those who spent 30 hours without power.
"It was my partner's birthday you see, and there was a power cut which started at about 3:45pm on Wednesday," he explained.
"We had intended to have a takeaway and a quiet night in at home, we had arranged for the little one to go over to stay with his grandma for the evening.
"We spent ages driving around trying to find somewhere open. It was pitch black and a lot of trees had fallen down, which made driving quite tricky."
But while for some the clear up is under way, others are still counting the cost of the storms - especially businesses.
The Welsh government said it was now waiting to see whether funding would be made available by the UK government to ease that financial pain.
David Cameron has said businesses hit by the floods in England will be able to claim 100% tax relief on business rates for three months.
They will also be able to defer their tax payment.
The Welsh government will be eligible for a share of any extra funding that is released by the Treasury.
But if the money spent in England comes from the financial reserves of Whitehall departments, then Wales will not qualify for more cash. | Seventeen people have been evacuated from flats in the Vale of Glamorgan after the roof was damaged in strong winds overnight. |
30,408,935 | The Save Fenton Town Hall action group moved in on 9 November after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) put it on the market for £500,000.
They argued a sale of the building could put at risk a World War One memorial inside.
The group had been due in court earlier after being served an MoJ eviction notice.
Fenton resident Jane Jones, whose great grandfather is one of 498 names listed on the memorial as one of those who died in World War One, said: "We've achieved what we wanted to by bringing the Ministry of Justice to the table, now we're saving the taxpayer money by not going to court."
The MoJ said a covenant would make sure the memorial would be preserved.
The protesters wanted the building, which was also once a magistrates' court, to be used for exhibitions, meetings and businesses. | Campaigners who occupied a former town hall to try to stop it being sold have called off their month-long action. |
25,929,644 | Here are some of the main methods and principles in use.
In recent years the Environment Agency has used a range of temporary or "demountable" flood barriers to provide additional protection to flood-prone areas.
Lightweight sectional metal barriers are relatively inexpensive and can be placed in various configurations and removed completely when waters recede.
Frame barriers consist of rigid frames holding an impermeable membrane and use the weight of the floodwater itself to hold the barrier in place.
Temporary barriers can also be added to existing permanent flood defences, such as raised embankments, increasing the level of protection.
Natural flood management offers a sustainable approach to managing floods and is intended to complement traditional "hard engineering" techniques, such as flood barrier and concrete walls.
These schemes rely on a combination of small-scale interventions with the aim of reducing the speed of the flow of converging water before it reaches larger rivers.
Natural flood defence features include small barriers in ditches and fields, or notches cut into embankments, all of which divert the water into open land.
Letting pools form outside the main channel of the river means the water is temporarily removed from the main flow reducing the power of the floodwaters.
Trees can also help defend against floods. Planting more trees catches rainfall and helps take water from the soil - although the Environment Agency says large areas must be reforested to make a real difference.
Felled trees can also be laid across streams in wooded areas and help push unusually high waters into surrounding woodlands, although such schemes need very careful planning and management.
BBC iWonder: Find out what human activities are making floods more likely
Sustainable drainage is a concept often applied to towns and cities which are especially prone to flash flooding after sudden heavy rain.
In urban areas, large areas of concrete and tarmac, as well as the roofs of buildings, are impermeable to water. Rain is channelled straight into drainage systems which can quickly become overwhelmed.
In the UK, the Flood Act of 2010 obliges builders to landscape developments so that water from roofs and driveways seeps into open ground rather than rushing into the water system.
Sustainable drainage guidelines suggest that impermeable surfaces should be replaced with permeable material, allowing rainwater to drain into the ground - a process known as infiltration.
Large "detention basins" can also be built to collect rainwater and hold it, managing the volume of water entering urban rivers, while ponds offer further water-holding capacity.
Farmers in Somerset claim a lack of river dredging worsened the impact of the flooding that hit the region in January 2014.
But the issue of whether rivers should be dredged is not clear cut.
The Environment Agency says that while dredging can improve general land drainage, it cannot prevent rivers from flooding, due to the huge volumes of water involved during major floods.
The basic aim of dredging is to remove silt - a sedimentary material made of fine sand, clay and small-sized particles of rock - from the river's bed, therefore increasing its capacity to carry water downstream.
The process usually involves an excavator, or vacuum pump, mounted on a barge or on the riverbank, to remove silt from the river.
The process is costly, sometimes harmful to the environment, and can weaken riverbanks as well as the foundations of bridges and weirs, the Environment Agency says.
After a major flood, large volumes of silt may accumulate in slow-flowing areas and the river may need to be dredged again. | As parts of the UK again deal with severe flooding after a winter storm, questions are being asked about how flooding can be prevented or alleviated. |
35,622,712 | A woman in her 30s was assaulted in the Glen Road area in the early hours of Friday.
Three men were arrested following the attack.
Two men aged 18 and 23 were charged and are to appear in court in Belfast on Monday. A 22-year-old man was released unconditionally on Friday evening. | Two men have been charged with rape over an alleged attack on a woman in west Belfast. |
29,520,077 | The web firm was alerted to the breach by security experts seeking computers vulnerable to the recently discovered Shellshock bug.
Shellshock is a flaw found in many widely used versions of the Unix operating system.
Although the Yahoo servers were vulnerable to Shellshock it said attackers used a different vulnerability to get at the machines.
In a statement, Yahoo said that early on 6 October it isolated several servers that it had been informed were vulnerable to compromise via Shellshock.
They were identified as being vulnerable by security researchers scanning servers around the net seeking those running software susceptible to Shellshock. If exploited, the Shellshock bug would allow attackers to run commands as if they were in control of that machine.
"After investigating the situation fully, it turns out that the servers were in fact not affected directly by Shellshock, but by a minor bug in a parsing script," said Yahoo in a statement.
The vulnerable servers were used by Yahoo to provide live sports updates and news feeds to users.
Added Yahoo: "After a comprehensive investigation, we have found no evidence that user information was affected by this incident."
In a separate statement released to the Hacker News wire Alex Stamos, security chief at Yahoo, said: "This flaw was specific to a small number of machines and has been fixed, and we have added this pattern to our code scanners to catch future issues."
Millions of machines are believed to be vulnerable to Shellshock and security firms have found some cybercrime groups using it to take over machines they then organise into a single network that can be used to send out spam or to carry out other attacks. | Yahoo has said no user data was lost when hackers breached its servers. |
22,546,490 | However, a remarkable project is under way that is already changing lives, and it is one of which the city government, keen to put Rio on the map as Latin America's first smart city, should take note.
The project, co-ordinated by Unicef in collaboration with local non-government organisation CEDAPS (Centro de Promocao da Saude) has local teenagers digitally mapping five favelas in order to highlight some of the challenges for those living there.
Teenagers take aerial shots of their neighbourhood using digital cameras sitting in old bottles which are launched via kites - a common toy for children living in the favelas.
They then use GPS-enabled smartphones to take pictures of specific danger points - such as rubbish heaps, which can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying dengue fever.
The data is uploaded to a website and added to an online map.
It is proving an effective way of getting changes made.
A nursery school that once balanced precariously near the edge of a sheer drop now has a balcony, many of the steepest steps in the favela have had railings fitted and recycling bins dot the area to discourage residents from stockpiling rubbish.
Ives Rocha, who managed the project, thinks it is a fantastic example of what smart cities should really be about.
He has been invited to discuss the project at the mayor's office and hopes that the map can be included on a hi-tech one that sits in the city's operations centre.
The operations centre is the heart of Rio's bid to become a smart city.
Opened by Mayor Eduardo Paes in 2010, it is, like the favela project, using cameras to better understand the city.
It boasts an 80m wall on which are streamed video feeds from 900 cameras around the city.
A plasma screen shows a Google Earth view of the city while a satellite map feeds in weather data that is connected directly to sirens in the favelas that will alert inhabitants when flooding is predicted.
Fifty operators from 30 different city agencies - all dressed in matching white boiler suits - monitor the city in real-time.
They can act quickly if disaster strikes, diverting traffic if an accident occurs, alerting the correct people if a sewer pipe bursts or set off the sirens if heavy flooding threatens. The media sit in a room above the operation centre to react quickly if something happens.
The uniform is intended to make people from hitherto separate agencies feel that they are part of one city, explained Pedro Junqueira, chief executive of the centre.
Coupled with the banks of computers and big screens, it also makes them look like they are engaged in a Nasa-style project
But Mr Junqueira admits that currently the centre is using only about 15% of its processing power.
It has led some to question how smart the centre really is.
"I wonder whether it is more a showcase for the mayor to show that the city is prepared for the World Cup and the Olympics. It looks impressive to have a mission control, Nasa-style, but all that is coming into it, from what I can tell, is video feeds," said Anthony Townsend, director of the US Institute of the Future and author of Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for A New Utopia.
"IBM's weather modelling system is fairly novel but the rest is just a lot of spin."
Mr Junqueira admits that the centre is only just beginning to get smart and that the next stage will be to "build a new room" where analysts will start crunching the data.
"For now it is more about monitoring and reacting as fast as possible and trying to find some correlations, so if something happens, what happens after it?" he said.
Already the data has revealed some interesting statistics, such as the fact that the majority of motorcycle accidents in the city happen between 17:00 and 19:00 on Fridays.
Having that information could lead directly to policy change, said Mr Junqueira.
"Maybe we will say that, on Friday afternoons motorcycles can't go in particular streets, for example."
Rio hit the headlines earlier this summer when protesters took to the streets to voice their concerns about a range of issues, from how much was being spent on the stadiums that will showcase the forthcoming World Cup and Olympics to the price of bus fares.
Such unrest was a long way from the mayor's vision of a smart city but ironically the camera feeds from the operation centre - which are also available to view online - soared in popularity.
"During the demos many people wanted to see how they were going and they went to look at the camera views and there were no images - it seemed as if the cameras in those areas where the protesters were had been turned off," said author and blogger Julia Michaels, who has lived in Rio for the past 20 years.
Mr Junqueira is quick to deny that the cameras were switched off, saying that the system was simply unable to cope with demand.
"Some people thought that they were shut down but when everyone wanted to look at the same picture there were some technical difficulties. Cameras went down but this was only for a short time," he said.
But for Ms Michaels the fact that the cameras didn't work when citizens needed them represents a disconnect between what the government is trying to achieve and what citizens actually want.
"It is emblematic of what it is like to install a hi-tech system in a place where there is still so much else to do," she said.
The operations centre is attempting to engage citizens.
It has just formed a partnership with Waze, a community-based traffic app that collates real-time traffic information. It was first used during the Pope's visit and was extremely successful in alerting people to which roads were closed, said Mr Juanquira.
And next month the centre will host its first hackathon.
But there remains a vast gap between the government and the citizens, thinks Miguel Lago.
He is one of the founders of Meu Rio, a technology platform that offers ordinary people an interactive platform to campaign about the issues that matter to them.
One of its recent successes has been to prevent the demolition of a school that sits within the world-famous Maracana football stadium complex.
"The government wanted to knock it down as part of its World Cup and Olympic plans, either to make a parking lot or possibly a training ground for athletes," said Mr Lago.
"The parents were given no warning and so one of them decided to use our platform to campaign against it."
Taking inspiration from the city-wide cameras that feed information into the operations centre, the group decided to set up their own camera to monitor the school.
People were invited to become guardians and watch the webcam images online 24 hours a day, alerting everyone involved via text message if a demolition team began work.
The campaign attracted 20,000 followers, garnered a lot of press coverage and recently heard that, for now at least, the school is safe.
It is a reminder that smart technologies need to work both ways.
"These tools can be used to control citizens but we need also to use them to allow citizens to control government," said Mr Lago.
As part of its urban transformation, Bogota now boasts a metro-style bus system.
It retrofitted the buses so that the doors opened like a metro, raised the pavements to make it easier to get on and redesigned the ticket booths.
Bogota is also applying some radical thinking to town planning. It is home to the BD Bacata, the world's first crowdfunded skyscraper.
Meanwhile architect Winka Dubbledon has been asked to reimagine housing in the city and is currently considering putting homes in the business district.
"1.7 million people commute there but only 259,000 live there," she said.
Her plan is to create ecological housing and revitalise the rivers to create both a space to work and live.
As Rio carves its own path to smartness, other Latin American countries are taking a different, less technology-led approach.
Ex-Mayor of Bogota Enrique Penalosa is now a regular speaker at smart city conferences around the world, arguing that the first priority for cities looking to future-proof themselves is to deal with the traffic that blights them.
At one event he envisioned a new American city with thousands of miles of greenways and pedestrian walkways.
"Cities are only a means to a way a life and whatever we do over the next 40 years will determine the quality of life for millions. I am convinced that we need radically new designs... that can lead us to more sustainable cities where people will lead much happier lives," he said.
Urbanist and architect Teddy Cruz thinks that Rio would do well to look at how Colombia has transformed its cities.
"This wasn't about the new, it was about altering and adapting - common-sense urbanisation," he said.
"It isn't all about sexy buildings or symbols of progress. In reality Rio could be losing its sense of true intelligence which is already embedded in the city." | Rio de Janeiro's famously chaotic favelas are as much a landmark of the city as the Christ statue or Sugarloaf Mountain but few would see them as the natural home to smart technologies. |
39,556,804 | Shares in Avio began trading on the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday and jumped more than 8% before falling back.
The firm, which launches satellites into low orbit, says it is raising funds to help it expand.
The satellite industry was worth $208bn in 2015, according to industry figures.
Cinven owns 81% of Avio, with a 14% stake held by Italian government-controlled defence group Leonardo-Finmeccanica.
Avio boss Giulio Ranzo told the BBC he expected demand to grow as satellites become used for new purposes.
They are most commonly used for mobile phone communications and navigation systems, but new applications were "coming to market", he said.
"One of them is the ability to deliver internet services from space, anywhere across the globe, be it in a desert or the middle of an ocean," Mr Ranzo said.
"Another is to provide very accurate, high resolution images of the earth, allowing us to follow forestry, vegetation and climate change - which will be so important to monitor the health of our planet."
Most of the investment in space launch companies has come from private venture capital firms.
US-based SpaceX, perhaps the best known operator, has raised more than $1bn from investors. The company, headed by entrepreneur Elon Musk, launches satellites and space cargo flights but also has its sights set on space tourism.
Avio shares began trading on Monday at 13.88 euros (£11.83).
The company, Europe's biggest satellite launch firm, has annual revenues of 280 million euros with an order book worth 900 million.
According to a study by Leoni Corporate Advisors, around 2,600 satellites will be launched in 2016-2020, twice as many as between 2010 and 2015. | An Italian rocket launch firm, dubbed Europe's answer to SpaceX, has become the first company of its kind to list its shares. |
39,293,909 | Inside in the warmth, Brian Gaffney, a guitar-playing singer from County Kerry entertains with a selection of Irish ballads.
It is winter in America - a time for collars up and heads down.
That is especially the case if you are one of the estimated 11 million illegal or undocumented immigrants, up to 50,000 of whom are Irish.
Brian Gaffney, was himself once undocumented, so he knows what the current 'illegals' are going through.
"Everybody is very nervous now," he said.
"I know people in this situation and my heart goes out to them.
"Things had been very lax for years, when nobody was chasing anybody, but now all of a sudden there's the uncertainty and the decisions since the new Trump administration came in."
Several Irish heads-of-government have raised with several American presidents the plight of the undocumented immigrants, but never with any resolution.
Niall Stanage, a Northern Irish-born journalist, does not see that changing any time soon.
"I have much doubt that the Irish will get special privileges," he says.
"If that were the case there would be an understandable outcry from the governments of Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador - nations that have many more illegal immigrants here.
"And I've never been persuaded what the argument for a special Irish deal is."
With a new and very different president in the White House "putting America first", there is also a growing sense that, in spite what might be said publicly, the plight of the undocumented is not as important a matter for the Irish as it once was.
"The issue of Irish immigration is still there but I think this Trump administration faces other issues, particularly tax, investment.
"Its relationship with the EU is going to be crucial for Ireland's relationship with America going forward," says Suzanne Lynch, the Washington correspondent for the Irish Times.
This week, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has been told by several senior congressmen and senators that the Trump administration may not get around to dealing with immigration for at least a year because of other priorities, including healthcare and taxation.
Congressman Joseph Crowley represents New York and has family connections with Armagh, Cavan and Louth.
He is the Democrat caucus chairman, and therefore an important man, and he can see light at the end of the tunnel for the 'illegals'.
"I do ultimately see this being resolved in a comprehensive way, not in a piecemeal way," he said.
"Not by any one group pitted against another - that's not the way we ought to approach it.
"We should do this in a holistic way and take care if all those who are facing an uncertain future in an undocumented state."
All of which means it will still be some time before the Irish or other illegal immigrants can emerge from the shadows into the sunlight of legality and the warmth of the American nations and its institutions. | The snow is falling outside the Dubliner pub in the centre of Washington DC, not far from the Capitol Building with its huge dome. |
38,009,539 | Speaking at an international conference in Vietnam, Prince William said there was "much to be proud of" when it came to efforts to halt illegal poaching.
But he said the "brutality" of poachers and crime gangs was still escalating.
He called on the UK to pass a total ban on the domestic ivory trade, as has been done by China and the US.
While the international trade in ivory has been banned since 1989, it is still possible to sell antique ivory in the UK as long as it was carved before 1947.
The duke urged the UK government to push ahead with a total ban on the trade, in a bid to protect elephants.
"China has already signalled a total ban, the USA has instituted one, and other nations, including the United Kingdom, are considering it," he told the conference on illegal wildlife trade in Hanoi.
"We know now what previous generations did not - ivory treated as a commodity is the fuel of extinction.
"Ivory is not something to be desired and when removed from an elephant it is not beautiful.
"So, the question is: why are we still trading it? We need governments to send a clear signal that trading in ivory is abhorrent."
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokeswoman said the UK was doing "more than ever before" to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.
Prince William is on a two-day official visit to Vietnam to highlight the damage the illegal trade in wildlife has on some of the world's most iconic animals.
"We know that we aren't moving fast enough to keep up with the crisis. Rhinos, elephants, pangolins, lions, they are still being killed in horrifying numbers," he told the conference.
"While we've made progress, the truth is we are still falling behind. A betting man would still bet on extinction."
He said the "organised crime syndicates we are up against are much more agile than we are".
"We are getting cleverer, but we need to admit that they are getting much cleverer as well," the duke added.
"Their brutality continues to escalate, with many more rangers killed since we gathered in London two years ago."
In 2014, the UK hosted a summit in London to bring leaders and key figures together from around the world to focus on tackling the issue.
It resulted in the signing of the so-called London Declaration, strengthening a commitments to stop the illegal wildlife trade. | Endangered animals are being killed in "horrifying numbers" and efforts to tackle the crisis must be accelerated, the Duke of Cambridge has said. |
37,175,637 | 24 August 2016 Last updated at 15:55 BST
The diving duo bagged themselves two gold medals in the men's synchronised 3 metre springboard and Jack even got a silver in the men's single springboard.
Now they are back home and we invited them to the Newsround office to ask them some of your questions!
Check out the video to find out a little more about Jack and Chris. | Jack Laugher and Chris Mears did pretty well for themselves and Team GB at the 2016 Olympic Games. |
33,274,415 | Addresses in Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire, Essex, Surrey and Counties Tyrone and Down were raided by police and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers.
A spokesman said computers, mobile phones and cash were seized during the raids.
The nine men and one woman have been questioned and released on bail until November.
Two men and a woman were arrested in Cambridge and a man was arrested in Runnymede, Surrey.
One man was arrested in Basildon in Essex and two men were arrested in Yorkshire - one in Bradford and one in Hull.
Three men were arrested in Northern Ireland - two at addresses in County Tyrone and the third was arrested in County Down.
HMRC officials were supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Cambridgeshire Police and Surrey Police. | Ten people have been arrested in a suspected £4m VAT and money laundering fraud linked to the transport industry. |
33,729,756 | The embattled Sydney Swans player also received strong support on Friday from a growing number of business leaders, including billionaire James Packer.
Goodes, an Indigenous Australian, has been plagued by booing while on the field, which his supporters say is prompted by racism.
The footballer is now taking time off from the sport.
Some fans have defended the booing, saying it is not racist but simply because they do not like Goodes as a player.
The Australian Football League (AFL) Players' Association and team skippers released a statement on Friday expressing their distaste for the constant booing of Goodes this year, especially during last Sunday's clash at Perth's Subiaco Oval.
The statement - being described as an unprecedented show of support for one player - called on fans to celebrate Australia's diversity and keep the game free of prejudice.
"Enjoy the game, celebrate the success but don't boo, jeer or taunt players because of who they are or what they stand for," it said.
About 150 community, political and business groups also issued a statement supporting Goodes and calling for an end to racism in sport, reported Australian Associated Press.
The organisations, which include schools, unions and several indigenous advocacy groups, said Goodes should be commended for displaying his culture on the football field and for taking a "courageous stance" against racism.
Separately, one of Australia's wealthiest and most influential businessmen, Crown chairman James Packer, said on Friday he was "ashamed" by the whole affair.
Speaking in Melbourne at a Crown function in support of indigenous employment programs, Mr Packer said Goodes should be treated with more respect.
"He's a great Australian. He won Australian of the Year, I think he's an amazing role model," Mr Packer said, local media reported.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott also urged fans to treat Goodes with respect.
"Certainly the last thing we want in Australia is anything, anything at all, that smacks of racism," Mr Abbott told Radio 2SM. | The captains of all 18 Australian Rules football clubs have called on fans to stop booing football star Adam Goodes. |
36,315,414 | Self-employed roofer Matthew Green, 26, went missing from his Sittingbourne home in Kent in April 2010.
Pauline and Jim Green said they believed he was found by Spanish street pastors amid concerns for his welfare.
Kent Police said "confidentiality and data protection matters" prevented them from giving any further information.
A statement said they were unable to give "the circumstances of how Mr Green was located, or the exact country in which he was located."
Mr and Mrs Green said all they wanted to do was speak to their son, but data protection laws prevented them from any direct contact.
They were told earlier this month that his name and fingerprints were matched to someone missing in the UK.
"We were lost for words," Mr Green said.
"I so much want to see him... I want to tell him that I love him. I want to tell him that we've missed him desperately," Mrs Green said.
She added that she had written a letter to her son, but the British Consulate was unable to tell her whether it had been passed to him.
"At least if we knew he'd got the letter, we'd know it would be down to him to contact us, but we don't even know that.
"We don't know if he's vulnerable. If he is, then we're his next of kin.
"Is he able to make his own decisions, and if he's not then we should be able to override that," she said.
Mr Green said if their son did not want to see them they would understand, but they just needed contact in the first instance.
"This is just the beginning of the next fight. We will not give up," the couple said.
Kent Police said it had "closed its missing person inquiry as of 16 May 2016". | The parents of a man found alive six years after he disappeared have said their joy turned to frustration after they were told they could not see him. |
30,900,095 | The Tory minister was giving evidence to the Treasury select committee which is examining the Smith Commission plan.
Mr Osborne said it would be up to Scotland to decide whether to vary future tax rates and therefore spark "competition".
He added that Holyrood would bear the consequences of using its new powers.
On Thursday the draft Scotland Bill is due to be published.
That represents the next stage in a process to send more powers across the border.
During the Scottish independence referendum campaign, the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats vowed to give greater responsibility to Holyrood if voters said "No".
On 18 September, the electorate decided 55% to 45% against change.
Lord Smith, who headed the devolution commission, recommended that control over income tax would be shared between the UK and Scottish parliaments.
But within this framework, MSPs would have the power to freely set the rates of income tax and the thresholds of Scottish taxpayers.
Mr Osborne was asked whether that move could lead to "tax competition".
He told the committee: "Ultimately that is a decision primarily for the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish government as to whether they pursue that or not.
"I think it is quite interesting that off the back of the changes we announced at the Autumn Statement to stamp duty that then led to the Scottish government saying it would revisit its proposals on stamp duty.
"You could say that that is a bit of tax competition in action."
The committee quizzed the chancellor in detail about the Smith Commission principle that there there should be no "detriment" to either Scotland or the rest of the UK in regard to tax receipts and spending.
Mr Osborne explained to committee chairman Andrew Tyrie: "The no detriment principle is around the adjustments to the block grant connected with the loss or additional tax revenues that come from the first round effects and potentially behavioural effects.
"But I think it is important, and I think this is fundamental to what everyone is trying to establish here with this further devolution, that people live with consequences of their actions."
He explained that "no detriment" principle should not try be used to "compensate" for "not very clever economic decisions."
Mr Osborne said that deciding on what was "not clever economic decisions" would form part of negotiations between the future UK government and Scottish governments.
He also believed it was important to have a robust and independent fiscal analysis of the public finances in Scotland.
Mr Osborne covered a number of issues during his evidence session, including;
The Chancellor has indicated that Scottish MPs would be restricted from voting on some elements of the UK budget under Conservative plans for "English votes for English laws."
George Osborne told MPs that this would be particularly important if Scottish members "held the balance of power" after May's general election.
His comments are at odds - his opponents argue - with what is contained in the Smith Commission on further devolution for Scotland which states that "MPs representing constituencies across the whole of the UK will continue to decide the UK's Budget including Income Tax."
Under the Smith Commission a new 'Scotland Bill' would enable the Scottish Parliament to set income tax rates and thresholds.
Giving evidence to the Treasury select committee Mr Osborne denied there was a "disagreement" with the Smith recommendations.
He said it would be wrong to exclude Scottish MPs from deciding elements of the Budget which affected the whole of the UK but would be "unfair" if Scottish MPs decided elements of income tax which did not affect Scotland.
Mr Osborne said he did not want to "pre-empt" proposals on English votes for English laws, which he said would be published shortly but added: "I do think they will have to apply to areas connected with the Budget." | Chancellor George Osborne has told MPs that new powers being handed to Scotland could result in a UK-wide competition over tax rates. |
34,811,073 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The Lanarkshire fighter won lightweight gold at last summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and is unbeaten in five bouts since turning professional.
"That's kind of what we're looking at, but it's a long way away yet, and we just need to take it one fight at a time," Flynn told BBC Scotland.
"The pro game is a lot tougher than the amateurs; you need to be tough and resilient so it takes years to build."
Victory over Northern Ireland's Joe Fitzpatrick in the lightweight final at Glasgow 2014 thrust Flynn into the limelight, and his transition into the professional ranks has been smooth so far.
Tougher tests await down the line however, and Flynn stresses the importance of a gradual progression towards those bigger fights.
"We are not looking to rush everything. My manager knows how he wants to build me. I'm happy, I've got my trust in him and I know how we're doing it.
"We've got a solid foundation, and it's just a matter of time now.
Flynn's next fight is in Glasgow on 13 December against an as yet unnamed opponent. The bout will be six rounds, and the Scot's team will look to gradually increase the rounds over his next few fights before progressing to 12-round matches.
"I'm just focusing on learning about pro boxing, building up techniques, building up experience," said Flynn.
"Callum Smith just won his British title and that was after three years of [professional] boxing. That's when you're kind of looking at a British title.
"I'm only 22, I'm only a baby so we're going to build slowly and surely."
As well as catapulting him into the public eye, Flynn's gold medal success at Glasgow 2014 has given him belief that he can make his mark in the professional game.
"The gold tells you you've got something special," he added.
"It helps with everything. The gold helps you with your fan-base. It puts the public eye on you. It can add pressure on to you, but at the same time, you want to be in the public eye, you want to get your career up there.
"I've been saying from when I was wee, continually in the gym, 'I'm going to be champion of the world'.
"I believe that is what's going to happen. How long I don't know, but at the end of the day I know what I want. I'm not in here to be second best." | Charlie Flynn says he wants to capture a British title within two years. |
19,109,309 | Los Angeles police and rescue crews surrounded the fomer Hannah Montana star's house in Hollywood on Wednesday, while helicopters circled the property.
But they soon discovered there was no one in the building.
Police say the incident may have been part of a trend of prank calls, which has been dubbed "swatting".
Swatting is when an anonymous call is made to get a team of police to storm a building or an innocent person's home.
Police told ABC News that such incidents were on the rise - even though false calls to emergency services are a crime in California.
An investigation is underway into the incident at Cyrus's home.
Police said they were tracking the caller. If found, the person will be prosecuted, and could face up to a year in jail.
Cyrus, the 19-year old actress and singer, is the daughter of American country star, Billy Ray Cyrus - who had a worldwide hit with Achy Breaky Heart in 1992.
She gained worldwide fame when she was cast as Miley Stewart, the lead role in Disney's Hannah Montana.
In 2010, Cyrus was ranked number thirteen on Forbes' Celebrity 100. | Armed police stormed pop star Miley Cyrus's house in the US, after receiving an emergency call about a possible kidnapping and shooting. |
31,480,573 | The woman in her 80s was in one of two vehicles involved in the crash at about 12:15 GMT.
The Great North Air Ambulance said paramedics treated her at the scene but she died before she could be taken to hospital. It is not yet known if anyone else was injured in the crash.
The northbound A1 at the Newton on the Moor and Longframlington junction was closed for four hours.
A spokesman for the air ambulance said: "The crew from the helicopter transfused blood and performed surgical procedures at the roadside but sadly her injuries were too severe and she died a short time later.
"Our thoughts are with her family." | A woman has been killed in a collision on the A1 in Northumberland. |
38,169,084 | Gemma Bagshaw, who was heavily pregnant at the time, and husband Ben have lived in a rented flat since last October.
They were among four families who had been unable to return to their homes after the the 33ft (10m) deep hole appeared in Fontmell Close, St Albans.
It will be the first time their son Finley, who was born a week after the sinkhole appeared, has been home.
The one-year-old looked on as St Albans mayor Frances Leonard cut a ribbon to mark the reopening of the cul-de-sac.
His father Ben said it will be "lovely" to be home together for Christmas.
Following the collapse in the early hours of 1 October, families in more than 50 homes were left without power, water or sanitation before temporary solutions were provided for the majority.
The Bagshaws were evacuated on the night and left the house, with heavily pregnant Mrs Bagshaw clutching her hospital bag.
Finley was born a week later and for the past year they have been renting a flat with the cost covered by their insurance.
"It was just really shocking, we were both on edge, my wife was almost ready to have her first baby and we'd suddenly just seen the road collapse around us," Mr Bagshaw said.
"The fact we've got [back] in December is going to be a real big win for us and it's going to be a lovely first Christmas at home for the new baby - it's going to be like a new house to us."
Fontmell Close is on the site of a former claypit, and mine workings have been blamed for the road's collapse.
The hole was filled with 48 lorry-loads of foamed concrete but before permanent repairs could be carried out, investigators had to ensure there was no further cause for concern.
Richard Knight from Hertsfordshire County Council said: "This probably is one of the safest roads in Hertfordshire now because we've done 40-odd bore holes to make sure what is under the road.
"We coordinated with all the utility companies to make sure everything was done properly but quickly." | A family who were evacuated from their home when a sinkhole opened up outside have finally returned 14 months later. |
26,514,797 | Ukraine's interim government, the EU and the US have condemned the move as "illegal".
A copy of the 16 March ballot paper - released by the Crimean parliament - appears to give voters two choices: to join Russia immediately or gain greater autonomy within Ukraine.
See the document below to find out more:
The ballot paper is in three languages. Russian, Ukranian and Crimean Tatar - the language of the indigenous Tatar community of Crimea. The opening sentences explain that the ballot paper is for use in the referendum on the future of the Crimea set for 16 March.
Voters are directed to check one of two boxes corresponding to two questions. The first asks: do you support reunifying Crimea with Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation?
The second question asked is: Do you support the restoration of the 1992 Crimean constitution and the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?
(The wording "restoring the 1992 constitution" does not make it clear whether this refers to the original version of the constitution, declaring Crimea an independent state, or the later amended version, in which Crimea was an autonomous republic within Ukraine).
The ballot paper carries a warning in all three languages that choosing both available options makes it invalid.
There is also a referendum website that carries a mechanism to vote online. | Pro-Moscow authorities on the Crimean peninsula are holding a referendum on whether the region should secede from Ukraine and join Russia. |
25,704,498 | The number of road deaths this month is already the same as the toll for the whole of January last year.
Environment Minister Mark H Durkan will meet members of the Northern Ireland Road Safety Forum on Tuesday.
The meeting has been organised after a senior police officer said NI was facing a "road safety emergency".
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Durkan said: "I will be looking at agencies and looking to hear from agencies as to what they feel they can do to promote road safety even further.
"All of these agencies do work hard to do so, and ultimately I think it's important that the message goes out - while government is keen and will do everything it can to improve road safety, ultimately responsibility lies with road users as well."
At a press conference on Saturday, PSNI Supt David Moore said: "We've had someone dying on our roads every 48 hours in the early days of 2014.
"That's a month's worth of carnage in a little over a week and five families torn apart."
A 58-year-old man died in a collision with a car in south Armagh on Friday.
On the same day, a 22-year-old Dunmurry man was killed after the stolen car he was driving was involved in a collision with a van on the outskirts of south Belfast.
Supt Moore said that Northern Ireland's road safety new year resolution was "broken already".
"Five deaths already is far too much and we need the collective efforts of everyone in Northern Ireland to bring this to an end now."
In Armagh on Sunday, Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin has used Masses to urge parishioners to take extra care on the roads.
"We all have a responsibility to exercise care and attention on the roads," he said.
"If all of us made a late new year's resolution to improve our use of the roads, whether that be as drivers, pedestrians or cyclists, then some families will be spared the terrible anguish of losing a loved one this year." | The minister responsible for road safety in Northern Ireland has called an urgent meeting after five fatalities in the first 10 days of the new year. |
34,549,270 | But not everybody approves.
A quick scroll through the comments below YouTube star Nabiilabee's videos soon reveals an audience deeply divided.
"Love this and you are so beautiful!" gushes a young fan.
However alongside the many messages of adoration left for the Birmingham fashion graduate, who uploads video tutorials about how to style the hijab and wear make-up, are some furious critics.
For although the 21-year-old insists that all her guidance has modesty at its heart and describes herself as a religious woman, for many Muslims the Koran's instruction that women should not "display" their beauty outside of the home is unequivocal.
"What kind of man would allow his wife or daughter to be on YouTube showing her beauty to random men?" storms one angry commenter.
"You are causing people to sin when you show them how to style their scarf."
Alongside names like Dina Tokio, Ruba Zai and Amina, Nabiilabee, a practising British Muslim, is high-profile in the world of so-called Hijabi YouTubers.
A quick YouTube search for "hijab tutorials" brings up more than 100,000 individual videos, but Nabiila claims to be one of the genre's founders - uploading her first tutorial at the age of 16.
She has certainly built a strong brand, with 150,000 followers on YouTube, 228,000 on Instagram and more than 400,000 Facebook members currently liking her official page.
"I've been doing this for so long I'm OK when it comes to hate comments," Nabiilabee told BBC Radio 1 in a documentary called High Street Hijabis.
"I feel like everybody gets a bit of hate but when it comes to Hijabi YouTubers you get a bit more. It gets quite personal."
Many of her fiercest critics are men.
Nabiila dedicates entire videos to responding to questions from her audience - about Islam in general as well as beauty - and also addresses the personal criticism. In one such video she asked the men who take issue with her why they were watching hijab tutorials in the first place.
"I feel like I've been helping people wear a scarf," she said.
"It's helped me to keep my scarf on and be better each day because I'm a role model. I know a lot of people do take me as that and do copy what I do - we're helping each other."
However it's not just men who are cautious about the Hijabi fashion genre.
"Hijab is not a fashion accessory or a headdress. It is an act of worship and obedience to God's command," wrote Fatima Barkatulla, a London-based lecturer in Islamic thought, on Facebook.
"And we worship and obey God on his terms, not our terms."
Ms Barkatulla added that while she understands the "good intentions" of hijab fashion vloggers and designers, they need to act responsibly.
At the Elstree Liberal Synagogue in Hertfordshire, the 12-year-old members of the congregation preparing for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony are never far from their smartphones.
They take weekend classes for up to a year before the big event, a Jewish coming of age ritual which includes learning about Jewish beliefs and reciting sections of the Torah in Hebrew in front of their family and friends.
At first their tutor, Rabbi Pete Tobias, was less than enthusiastic about their fondness for phones.
"There was one point a couple of years back where we had a box and they had to hand their phones in before they came into class because they were permanently playing with them," he says.
"Now I think it's a challenge for me to make sure they're paying enough attention for them not to need to be fiddling with their phones."
The youngsters themselves are wary of discussing Judaism online. One says: "You don't know who is reading your message."
But for others it is a useful font of knowledge.
"At the moment we're studying Judaism and everyone is asking me questions - I'm the only Jew in my class," says one young student about their secondary school.
"We looked at some YouTube videos in class and they are actually useful - but they do leave out little things. They get the gist of it right."
Another pre-teen admits to using Google to keep tabs on her teachers: "At school if I don't believe it I'll look it up," she tells me, adding that the search engine's language translation tool, Google Translate, has been valuable in learning Hebrew.
"Sometimes it gets it wrong," she adds. "But it is helpful."
Another student has learned a surprising lesson in ethics from Call of Duty, a violent shoot-up game that is definitely not aimed at 12-year-olds.
"You kill a lot of people in shooter games," he says.
"It shows the message when you're older, say there's a war and they need you, you'd be like, 'no, I played Call of Duty when I was younger and killed a lot of people and didn't like it.'"
Malath Abbas, a Dundee-based computer games designer, goes even further.
While the psychological effects of video gaming often cause fierce debate, for Mr Abbas, who practices the Baha'i faith, the very act of losing yourself in a virtual world has an important spiritual quality and enables a mindfulness that is also central to his religion.
"Most people associate video games with guns and shooting and mindless entertainment, whereas I've been a player and creator for a number of years now," he says.
"I see another side to it and I definitely see a space for spirituality within that.
"If something engages you, you tend to be really pulled into the experience and I find it allows for an interesting space within my mind to mediate and be mindful.
"I would call that spirituality."
Hear more at BBC Radio 2's Faith in the World Week. | From the young Muslim YouTubers teaching fashion and beauty to women who must remain modest, to the art of mindful computer gaming and the Jewish students using Google Translate to learn Hebrew - lots of young people are looking online for ways to embrace both their religion and their interests. |
36,879,831 | Yahoo will be combined with AOL, another faded internet star, which Verizon bought last year.
The deal does not include Yahoo's valuable stake in Chinese firm Alibaba.
The price tag for the deal is well below the $44bn Microsoft offered for Yahoo in 2008 or the $125bn it was worth during the dot.com boom.
Verizon said the deal for Yahoo's core internet business, which has more than a billion active users a month, would make it a global mobile media company.
The end of Yahoo: Why Verizon spent big
Yahoo Timeline
Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo, said: "Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL."
In an email to staff, Ms Mayer said she was "planning to stay", adding: "I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you. It's important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter."
However, the takeover, which is due to be completed in early 2017, raises questions about whether the Yahoo brand could disappear.
"That's the big open-ended question: what are they going to do with the brands?" said Michael Goodman, a director at Strategy Analytics.
While this is a sad day for Yahoo - as big as Facebook and Google in its prime - it raises interesting questions about its new owner. What are Verizon's ambitions?
Beyond the talk of becoming a global media company, Verizon chief executive Lowell McAdams wants a larger share of the booming digital advertising pie. And he thinks this deal will help him.
As a leading US mobile phone network, Verizon already had a wealth of data from smartphone users that it could mine.
Its purchase of AOL a year ago for its programmatic advertising technology allowed it to leverage that more effectively. Yahoo, meanwhile, has struggled to build its mobile advertising business. Its appeal is that it has content.
With Yahoo, Verizon gains the internet company's 600 million monthly active mobile users, as well as its email service, Yahoo Finance, and Tumblr, which is popular among millennials.
So is Verizon ready to take on the likes of Google and Facebook? In 2015, these two tech behemoths claimed the largest share of the digital ad market. Whether or not Verizon can challenge that remains to be seen - but that's certainly the idea.
AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong said the deal was about "unleashing Yahoo's full potential", and creating a major player in mobile media.
Together AOL and Yahoo will have more than 25 brands, including Yahoo Mail, Flickr and Tumblr as well as AOL's Huffington Post and Techcrunch news sites.
Ms Mayer, who took the helm at Yahoo in 2012, has made little progress in returning the company to profit.
Last week the firm reported a $440m loss in the second quarter, but said the board had made "great progress on strategic alternatives". | US internet firm Yahoo is being acquired by American telecoms giant Verizon Communications for nearly $5bn (£3.8bn) in cash. |
40,765,772 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The Lionesses secured a semi-final against hosts Netherlands as they finally overcame Les Bleues, who had beaten them in the past three major tournaments.
The result means England are now the highest-ranked team left in the competition following Denmark's shock victory over Germany, the winners of the past six European Championships.
Striker Jodie Taylor was England's match-winner, clipping in on the hour for her fifth goal in three Euros matches after being set up by the excellent Lucy Bronze.
It leaves the Arsenal forward on course to win the Golden Boot as no other player has scored more than twice so far.
England hung on after Taylor scored, with injured goalkeeper Karen Bardsley being replaced by Siobhan Chamberlain, as France created several goalmouth scrambles.
The only blemish on an otherwise historic night was a yellow card for Jill Scott, who will now miss the semi-final.
The result ensured boss Mark Sampson created his own history by becoming the first England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey in 1968 to reach consecutive semi-finals at major tournaments, having also guided his team to third place at the 2015 World Cup.
And if England beat Netherlands in Enschede on Thursday, Sampson will become only the third senior England manager, after Ramsey in 1966 and his own predecessor Hope Powell in 2009, to lead the national side to a major final.
England's poor record against France extended back to 1974 but, perhaps more significantly, they had failed to win in five previous meetings since Sampson took over as manager, throwing away a lead at the SheBelieves Cup in March, when Les Bleues scored a 95th-minute winner.
But without the scorer of the winner that night, suspended captain Wendie Renard, France could not find an equaliser as England produced some last-gasp defending.
It will have been a huge relief for Sampson, as the coach had risked embarrassment with his pre-match comment that England did not need to be at their best to beat France, who have failed to reach a major tournament semi-final in their past four attempts.
But in the final analysis, England will feel that judgement was correct, and they should have more to offer when they face the Netherlands, having beaten them 1-0 in a friendly last November.
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Having rested players for their final group match against Portugal, England returned to their strongest team, which had earned wins in the first two games.
Bronze and Jordan Nobbs proved England's strongest partnership again down the right side, helped by the threat of Taylor, who is one goal shy of equalling the European Championship record held by former German striker Inka Grings.
It was from that avenue that the winner originated.
The dangerous Bronze had already waltzed through the France defence in the first half, and, after an hour, her endless energy nicked the ball in midfield before feeding Taylor, who made no mistake from a narrowing angle.
Manchester City right-back Bronze played a telling part in England finishing third at the 2015 World Cup, scoring a winner in the second-round victory over Norway and against hosts Canada in the last eight.
Having won the European Under-19 Championship with England, plus several trophies with her club, she is inspiring the national side to greater heights in the Netherlands.
England struggled to get into their rhythm in the first half against the French, who had 10 Champions League winners in their squad compared with the two in Sampson's team.
Anchored by the excellent Amandine Henry, and with Camille Abily adding guile further forward, France looked more dangerous, with striker Marie-Laure Delie wasting a good opening early on.
England's frustration got the better of Scott, who dived in on Henry to receive a second yellow card of the tournament, but they improved when they got the ball forward more quickly.
That tactic led to Taylor's goal, but they had to defend in numbers as France poured forward for an equaliser.
As they showed against Spain, England combined clinical attacking with brilliant defending, with Jade Moore pulling off some superb blocks.
Substitute keeper Chamberlain was tested several times, but looked assured before England celebrated wildly at the final whistle.
England manager Mark Sampson on BBC Radio 5 live: "I'm proud of them. They work so hard and are desperate to improve. All those qualities were apparent tonight. This was a tough game against an excellent French team. They're one of the best in the world for a reason.
"It's a huge result for us because this is a French team that beat the USA to win the SheBelieves Cup. They came in as one of the favourites and are full of Champions League winners. It's a big result and I'm very, very proud."
England captain Steph Houghton on BBC Radio 5 live: "I'm delighted. You could tell by the celebrations how much it meant. We knew it would be tough but it showed what we're about - we put out bodies on the line for that win.
"The character and determination were unbelievable. I knew they weren't going to break us down.
"It means everything. We're experienced in big games and we know we can dig results out and we're looking forward to a semi-final against the Netherlands."
England substitute keeper Siobhan Chamberlain, who replaced the injured Karen Bardsley, said: "It was a fantastic display from front to back. Everyone was commanding their areas.
"The Netherlands are unbeaten for a reason. A lot of their players we know from the Women's Super League. We'll go and work on the game plan to try to win."
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Match ends, England 1, France 0.
Second Half ends, England 1, France 0.
Foul by Eugénie Le Sommer (France).
Millie Bright (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Clarisse Le Bihan (France) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jessica Houara with a cross.
Corner, England. Conceded by Sarah Bouhaddi.
Claire Lavogez (France) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jade Moore (England).
Foul by Claire Lavogez (France).
Jade Moore (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, France. Clarisse Le Bihan replaces Marie-Laure Delie.
Attempt missed. Amandine Henry (France) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Claire Lavogez from a direct free kick.
Claire Lavogez (France) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Jade Moore (England).
Foul by Marie-Laure Delie (France).
Stephanie Houghton (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, England. Conceded by Sakina Karchaoui.
Attempt missed. Claire Lavogez (France) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Griedge Mbock Bathy.
Attempt blocked. Amandine Henry (France) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Laura Georges (France) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Eugénie Le Sommer (France) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Lucy Bronze (England).
Griedge Mbock Bathy (France) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Griedge Mbock Bathy (France).
Jodie Taylor (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Millie Bright (England) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Jill Scott with a headed pass following a corner.
Corner, England. Conceded by Sakina Karchaoui.
Marie-Laure Delie (France) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Stephanie Houghton (England).
Substitution, France. Claire Lavogez replaces Camille Abily.
Attempt missed. Élodie Thomis (France) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Marie-Laure Delie.
Substitution, England. Siobhan Chamberlain replaces Karen Bardsley because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Karen Bardsley (England) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Jordan Nobbs (England) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
Attempt saved. Jodie Taylor (England) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Jordan Nobbs.
Attempt blocked. Amandine Henry (France) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Eugénie Le Sommer.
Onema Grace Geyoro (France) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Jill Scott (England).
Delay over. They are ready to continue. | England beat France for the first time in 43 years to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2017 on a night of high tension in Deventer. |
39,927,017 | Dr Julie McAdam was giving was giving evidence at the trial of Steven Kirkwood at the High Court in Glasgow.
Mr Kirkwood is accused murdering Mr O'Hanlon, 45, at HK Autotek, Stevenston, Ayrshire, on 25 July.
He denies the charge and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of a knife.
The 44 year old has also lodged a special defence of self-defence.
The jury was told that Mr O'Hanlon was 6ft and weighed 17st 3lbs.
Dr McAdam said: "He had a bodybuilder's physique."
She told prosecutor Richard Goddard that the fatal wound to Mr O'Hanlon's abdomen cut two major blood vessels to the legs.
She said the injuries could have been caused by one knife, but she could not rule that more than one knife had been used.
Police casualty surgeon Dr Gary Walker told the jury that Mr Kirkwood had a number of bruises and scratches on him when he examined him on 25 July.
Mr Goddard said: "These are non-specific and general injuries with no medical intervention required," and Dr Walker said: "Yes."
The GP confirmed that there were no injuries to the palms of his hands.
The court was told that Mr Kirkwood claims that Mr O'Hanlon struck him with a pick axe handle during a struggle.
Mr Fairlie told the court: "Our findings do not assist in addressing whether Michael O'Hanlon struck Steven Kirkland with the pick axe handle, or not."
The court had earlier heard that Mr Kirkwood and Mr O'Hanlon had exchanged abusive texts in the days prior to his death.
Mr O'Hanlon and his friend Forbes Cowan had gone to the garage to meet Mr Kirkwood.
Earlier, witnesses told of a struggle between Mr O'Hanlon and Mr Kirkwood.
The trial before judge Lady Rae continues. | A pathologist has told a murder trial that former Mr Scotland bodybuilding champion Michael O'Hanlon died from massive blood loss. |
36,853,861 | The man, in his 70s, was clocked driving at high speed on the M55 towards Blackpool on Monday evening.
Police said a patrol car signalled for him to stop but he came off the motorway and pulled into a Tesco car park at Clifton Retail Park.
He told police he "knew they were there" but needed the toilet. He has been reported for speeding.
Lancashire Police said: "We followed him and signalled for him to stop at junction four. He didn't stop - but didn't speed off either - and turned towards Tesco.
"We again signalled for him to stop and caught up with him at the retail park.
"He told us he knew we were there but was desperate for the toilet so didn't stop."
Sir Alex Ferguson was found not guilty of illegally driving on a motorway hard shoulder in 1999 after he told a court he was rushing to get to a lavatory.
Magistrates agreed with the then Manchester United manager's defence that it was an "emergency," and cleared him.
Bury Magistrates' Court was told he had been suffering from severe diarrhoea while driving on the M602, in Eccles, Greater Manchester. | A motorist caught driving at 115mph failed to stop for police because he was "desperate for the toilet". |
34,918,381 | The blazes have destroyed homes and at least 13 people have been hospitalised, with five in a critical condition, according to local media.
Firefighters worked through the night to contain a major blaze which tore through 900 sq km (347 sq miles) of land north of Adelaide.
The SA Country Fire Service warned the fires could continue for several days.
One person was found dead on a property near Pinery, while a second was located in a car near the Hamley Bridge area, Premier Jay Weatherill told local media.
"This has been a devastating few hours for large parts of the state and unfortunately there is some time to go until we have the fire fronts under control.
"Our thoughts turn to those people affected and those volunteers working through the night to protect us," he said.
Extra fire crews were travelling from interstate to help battle the fires. | At least two people have died in fires raging across northern areas of South Australia (SA) state. |
20,824,368 | Harvey, 32, joined the club as first-team coach in 2008 and replaced Tony Gervaise as manager in February 2010.
She guided Arsenal to three consecutive league titles, two Continental Cups and one FA Women's Cup.
"I've had a wonderful four-and-a-half years and would like to thank everyone at the club for the fantastic support," she told the club's website.
"A special thanks must go to (general manager) Vic Akers for giving me the opportunity to manage this special club.
"It was always going to be a huge challenge taking over from such a legendary figure in the women's game but I've learnt so much from Vic and can't thank him enough for all that he's done for me." | Arsenal Ladies manager Laura Harvey will leave in January to take over at American side Seattle Reign. |
30,488,504 | Martin Surl said the force would look smaller in the future with changes being brought in ahead of expected budget cuts.
A single neighbourhood command is to replace six existing policing areas.
PCSOs will start to be deployed beyond their own neighbourhood policing area if they are the nearest resource.
Mr Surl, who unveiled the changes, said: "I have to say that when I took office some aspects of the constabulary were not in a great shape in Gloucestershire.
"Now, the organisation is far more stable than it was. Even though the financial picture is tricky, we know where we are and our books balance.
"I'm not worried about it unduly. So I think we have managed to consolidate some of the gains we've made and can look forward to the future".
Chief Constable Suzette Davenport said: "We need to improve public satisfaction and confidence in our force and ensure we can deliver the quality service we aspire to provide.
"A new way of working is a crucial means for us to deliver this aspiration."
The first changes, which were announced following a two-year review of the force's operating methods, are expected to take place early in the new year. | Gloucestershire's Police and Crime Commissioner has announced the biggest re-organisation of policing in the county in 40 years. |
18,670,282 | Its
report on the impact of 20% funding cuts to police in England and Wales by 2015
said the Met Police, Devon and Cornwall and Lincolnshire were at risk.
There would be 5,800 fewer front-line officers across the 43 forces, it said.
Ministers said the "vast majority" were "rising to the challenge of reducing budgets while protecting services".
Among the HMIC predictions:
Neither the Met nor Cheshire could provide detailed figures of how the cuts would affect their front lines.
By Danny ShawHome affairs correspondent, BBC News
The HMIC's comments about the Met, Devon and Cornwall and Lincolnshire serve as a warning that the police service to the public will be damaged unless each force puts effective plans in place for the further cuts they must make.
The Met's position is the most serious. The government cutbacks were initially cushioned by Boris Johnson's determination to maintain police numbers in election year and money from the Olympics.
Once the Games are over cuts already planned will bite and the force will have to identify a further £233m of savings.
Add to this low levels of public satisfaction in the force; relatively high crime rates; poor performance on anti-social behaviour and a new leadership team and it's clear why the watchdog is so concerned.
One source said the Met was near the "cliff edge". Although it has denied that 8,000 jobs will go, as has been rumoured, it's hard to see how costs can be reduced without substantially shrinking the workforce.
Policing Minister Nick Herbert insisted the proportion of officers on the front line was increasing.
"The number of neighbourhood officers has gone up, crime is down, victim satisfaction is improving and the response to emergency calls is being maintained," he said.
"While there are particular challenges in three forces, we know that the vast majority are rising to the challenge of reducing budgets while protecting service to the public."
HMIC said the Metropolitan Police did not have any plans in place to make savings of £233m and this was of "particular concern".
In a statement, the Met said that it had delivered budget savings of £201m in 2011/12 and planned to deliver £537m by 2015.
But it said it recognised more savings were needed and was "committed to making reductions by considering how we do things differently and prioritising our service to communities".
The report also said plans had been put forward to close 260 front counters in police stations, but that forces planned to open 140 other locations where police would be based in buildings such as supermarkets.
In Devon and Cornwall, the report found there was a £2m budget shortfall, and raised concerns about crime levels. Between December 2010 and December 2011 crime rose by 3%.
HMIC said that because the force had cut costs before 2010, it had found it more difficult than some other forces to find the extra savings required by the spending review.
As a result, plans to balance their books relied to a significant extent on making savings quickly by cutting police officer and staff numbers.
Lincolnshire Police needed to save £21 million between March 2011 and March 2015, but by spring 2012 had only planned how to save 85% of this, and so had more work to do, HMIC said.
In a statement, Lincolshire Police said "relentless efficiency drives and partnership with the private sector" had "seen the leanest force in the country become even leaner".
"However, there remains a budget gap (of over £3m a year) in the years ahead and very limited means remaining to close that gap," it said.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said HMIC's report showed police had "been able to continue to reduce crime and increase public confidence in policing" over the first three years of the cuts.
But it said maintaining performance would become more difficult.
Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever told the BBC that the headlines from the report were "disturbing".
"When I travel around the country speaking to police officers at open meetings, they're already expressing their concerns about the fall in police numbers - the stretch they're actually experiencing and the fears they have for public safety," he said.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that the police cuts detailed in the HMIC report were "deeply irresponsible".
"Our view was that the police budget could sustain a reduction of about 12% over a course of a Parliament," she said. "Instead, by going too far and too fast, the government is putting police services at risk - putting communities at risk."
Official
Home Office figures released in January
showed that the number of police officers in England and Wales had fallen to its lowest level for a decade.
There were 135,838 police officers in September 2011 - 6,012 (4.2%) compared to 141,850 a year earlier. | Three police forces may not be able to provide a "sufficiently efficient or effective service" in the future, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has said. |
35,733,733 | The hosts went ahead after 24 seconds when Blair Henderson got on the end of Michael McKenna's cross before slotting in from close range.
Stirling went close but Moses Olanrewaju's effort was superbly blocked by Johnny Fairbairn.
Brian Martin was sent off after handling in the area but Stirling were unable to equalise, with Sean Dickson missing from the spot. | Stirling missed a penalty in stoppage time as 10-man Berwick held on to win. |
29,751,229 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
23 October 2014 Last updated at 23:52 BST
The girl had suffered a fractured skull and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
BBC News NI's Gordon Adair reports. | A 24-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with the attempted murder of a two-year-old child in County Armagh. |
23,088,204 | The ruling came after Switzerland informed the court that Mr Barcenas had transferred money from Swiss accounts to banks in the US and Uruguay.
In light of the revelations, prosecutors argued that the politician was a flight risk.
Mr Barcenas and his wife deny charges of tax evasion.
The couple are suspected of falsifying documents on their tax statements between 2002 and 2006.
Mr Barcenas is also accused of keeping up to 48m euros (£41m) in secret Swiss bank accounts. Prosecutors allege that some of the funds stem from illegal party donations or kickbacks.
But the ex-treasurer has denied this, saying that all of the money was made through overseas investments, real estate and art dealings.
High Court Judge Pablo Ruz handed down his decision after Mr Barcenas and his wife had been called in to testify on Thursday.
Dozens of people heckled the couple outside the court, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reports.
In March, prosecutors discovered what they described as unusual transactions of more than 600,000 euros over a five-year period relating to bank accounts held by Mr Barcena's wife, Rosalia Iglesias.
She has admitted that she was neither working nor receiving a steady income during that period.
The case is part of a broader investigation into claims of alleged illegal financing of the PP. The party, which is led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has rejected the allegations.
Mr Barcenas resigned as party treasurer in 2009 after being implicated in the slush fund case, which has become known as the Gurtel scandal. | A judge has ordered that Luis Barcenas, the ex-treasurer of Spain's governing Popular Party (PP), be held without bail until his corruption trial starts. |
24,166,109 | Collingwood, 37, lifted Durham's third title in six years after their eight-wicket win against Nottinghamshire, with fit-again Cook in attendance.
Cook handed responsibilities to coaches Jon Lewis and Neil Killeen while undergoing recovery.
"All the players wanted to do it for Geoff," Collingwood told BBC Sport.
"When you lose someone people have got to put their hand up and everyone around the club did and kept fighting.
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"We won the title for a third year in 21, it's a great record for a coach who has been around Durham so long."
Collingwood's return to county cricket after an illustrious England career last term led to his appointment as captain toward the back end of the campaign - and a run of five wins from the last six matches.
That form was continued into the current season, with victory against Notts their fifth in succession and 10th in the championship, and adds club honours to the World Twenty20 title he collected as England skipper in 2010.
"It's very, very satisfying," Collingwood said.
"The county season is very gruelling, there's a lot of travel for which you need a lot of fitness."
Following the departure of senior professionals such as Liam Plunkett, Ian Blackwell and Michael Di Venuto last term, Durham were not expected to trouble the title contenders in 2013.
However, a youthful squad, peppered with senior professionals such as Collingwood and Graham Onions, has been potent with bat and ball and sealed the Championship with a game to spare.
The campaign began with the club going cap in hand to the county council for financial help. I don't have enough fingers to count how many national newspaper and website writers wrote them off.
In early August they were easily beaten at Lord's by Middlesex and captain Paul Collingwood had to issue a 'don't panic' warning.
The team pressed on and, with the dressing room galvanised, Durham have been simply breathtaking over the last five weeks.
They have now won a club-record five games in a row and could become the first side to win 11 in a season since the two-division split in 2000.
You can single out many players for praise, but ultimately it has been a team effort and every one of them deserves to celebrate this one to the full.
"For such a young group of lads to win the Championship it really does put us in good stead for the future.
"A lot of decisions that are made here at the club are made for the next five to 10 years, and for the guys to respond and take responsibility on like they have over the whole season really does put us in good stead."
This season's success is likely to bring an end to the Durham careers of several players from the 2013 squad, with Mitch Claydon already confirmed to leave, and uncertainty regarding the future of Steve Harmison and Will Smith.
"In many ways that's probably the real regret of the season. The financial situation at the club means we have to lose a lot of players and players we don't want to lose, players who have put their hands up at the right times and put in big performances for us," Collingwood continued.
"They've been absolutely magnificent for this club and they've been driven by their own personal pride in many ways.
"I do take my hats off to the guys who keep fighting for Durham and knowing that its probably going to be their last year for them.
"We've still got a strong core of good young players that are going to drive us on for the next 10 years.
"As long as we keep hold of them and as long as they have the ambition, which I am sure they will, this club will be safe and well." | Durham captain Paul Collingwood says Geoff Cook's absence from first-team affairs after a heart attack in June galvanised their Championship success. |
25,739,820 | West Ham complained to the Premier League after Fulham manager Rene Meulensteen said midfielder Morrison wanted to sign for them.
The 20-year-old has responded to the "frustrating" reports.
"I always try to keep my focus on the next game and show people with my performances that I want to do well for West Ham United," he said.
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Morrison, who has 18 months left on his contract, worked with Meulensteen when the Dutchman was a coach at Manchester United.
It had also been suggested that he had threatened to go on strike but West Ham denied those claims, insisting the player has trained this week following his recent groin injury.
Morrison told West Ham's website: "I've been working really hard over the past few weeks to get back to full fitness after missing a couple of recent games with a groin injury.
"I'm feeling fine now and I'm hoping to be involved in Saturday's important game with Newcastle and then the Capital One Cup semi-final with Manchester City on Tuesday."
West Ham are unhappy after Meulensteen said: "Yes, I think he does want to come [to Craven Cottage]."
The Premier League has not confirmed receipt of any official complaint.
After watching Fulham beat Norwich 3-0 in their FA Cup third-round replay on Tuesday, Meulensteen - who took over from sacked compatriot Martin Jol in December - confirmed his interest in signing England Under-21 international Morrison.
"We have put in a bid that has been knocked back," he said. "He would add pace, power, unpredictability and a real attacking threat."
Meulensteen said it was too early to tell whether any deal can be struck before the transfer window closes at the end of January.
"We got knocked back, it got rejected, and so we need to review it and move on," he said.
"I've explained how I think about the situation [to the Fulham board], so we'll have to wait and see what happens."
Meulensteen said in his press conference on Thursday that he would not speak further about potential targets.
"I am not going to make any comments on (transfers) because it is going to get me into trouble," he added.
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"It is wiser at this moment in time that we are not going to comment on anything that is happening in regards to any transfer news or speculation.
"Things are in hand with the club, with (chief executive) Alistair Mackintosh."
West Ham's complaint is likely to surround Premier League ruling T.8 concerning "statements made publicly by or on behalf of a club expressing interest in acquiring the registration of a contract player".
If the Premier League deems Fulham to be in breach of the rules, the club could face a reprimand or fine.
It is also possible the case could be referred to the Football Association.
Morrison has scored five times in 20 appearances since moving to Upton Park from Old Trafford in January 2012. | Ravel Morrison has insisted he is fully committed to West Ham despite claims that he wants to move to Fulham. |
22,614,522 | The surprise discovery may point to a new way of tackling this increasingly hard-to-treat infection, the US study authors from Yeshiva University say in Nature Communications.
An estimated 650,000 people worldwide have multidrug-resistant TB.
Studies are now needed to see if a treatment that works using the same action as vitamin C would be useful as a TB drug in humans.
In the laboratory studies, vitamin C appeared to be acting as a "reducing agent" - something that triggers the production of of reactive oxygen species called free radicals. These free radicals killed off the TB, even drug resistant forms that are untreatable with conventional antibiotics such as isoniazid.
Lead investigator Dr William Jacobs, professor of microbiology and immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, said: "We have only been able to demonstrate this in a test tube, and we don't know if it will work in humans and in animals.
"This would be a great study to consider because we have strains of tuberculosis that we don't have drugs for, and I know that in the laboratory we can kill those strains with vitamin C.
"It also helps that we know vitamin C is inexpensive, widely available and very safe to use. At the very least, this work shows us a new mechanism that we can exploit to attack TB."
It might be that vitamin C could be used alongside TB drugs. Alternatively, scientists could create new TB drugs that work by generating a big burst of free radicals.
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, has many important functions in the body, including protecting cells and keeping them healthy.
Good natural sources of the vitamin include oranges, blackcurrants and broccoli and most people get all they need from their diet.
Dr Ibrahim Abubakar, head of TB at Public Health England, said: "We welcome any new research which will widen our understanding of how to treat TB. While the findings of this study appear promising, further research to confirm the observations would be essential before Vitamin C can be used to supplement TB treatment." | Vitamin C can kill multidrug-resistant TB in the lab, scientists have found. |
37,440,818 | The funding for Welsh higher education was being top-sliced to pay for the grant.
Many of those grant payments were eventually ending up in Welsh universities' coffers anyway, via Welsh students studying here.
But their main concern was the cash going over the border to pay fees at English universities.
The latest figures indicate that the Welsh Government contributes nearly £90m to fees at universities in other parts of the UK.
From the universities' perspective that is money lost to Welsh higher education.
MONEY LEAVING WALES
From September 2012, the money has followed the student. To cushion Welsh students from rises in fees at colleges across the country, the Welsh Government agreed to give every student a grant of £5,100 to help them - wherever they chose to study.
But to the universities here, it has meant a brain drain and money crossing the border - nearly £90m is estimated for this new academic year to be leaving Wales with the student.
University of West of England in Bristol received the most outside Wales - worth £6.7m in tuition fee grants in 2014-15.
The education secretary has said recently she still wants student support to be "portable for Welsh students anywhere in the UK".
The government argues that universities' income overall has increased - boosted by a significant number of English students and their fees at Welsh universities.
There is still a net inflow of students coming into Wales - it meant at the start of September, 2,410 more students had chosen to study in Wales from England than those from Wales who travelled in the other direction.
This boosts the coffers of Welsh universities. In total for 2014-15 the Welsh higher education sector had an income of £1.43bn.
More than half of this came from tuition fees and education contracts.
Research income brought another 15%.
The Welsh Government has given the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) nearly £132.5m to fund universities for this year.
From this, £21.1m might need to be re-allocated if the tuition fee grant demands are bigger than expected.
Which leaves about £112m from HEFCW to fund universities for the core of their work.
So where is the money going? We know of the £1.38bn spent in 2014-15, about 58% went on academic and other staff costs.
Welsh universities have said the tuition fee grants - set to cost £258m in 2016/17 - could be better spent helping poor students.
Prof Gareth Rees, of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods (Wiserd) said the cost of higher education would increase over time - with fees in England likely to follow suit.
"If it's the case that the amount of money coming in from English students coming to Welsh universities remains sufficiently large that the subsidy - what would be an increasing subsidy to a Welsh student - offsets it then it may well be that the policy would be sustainable," he said.
"My personal view is that the policy of the Welsh Government is not sustainable in the longer term and those inflationary pressures would be one aspect, but obviously there are other aspects too that I think make it a very difficult policy to sustain."
Widening access
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams also wants to make sure students from poorer backgrounds are not put off going to university.
"We want to make sure that those who wish to go on to university are able to," she said on Tuesday.
For students from families with household incomes of less than £20,000 a year, it should mean under the proposals they would qualify for the maximum grant of more than £9,000 - an equivalent of earning the National Living Wage.
Fewer pupils from poorer parts of Wales get to university.
Entry rates are broken down across the UK into constituencies and analysis shows they are lower in more disadvantaged areas.
In Wales, the entry rate range is from just under 18% of 18-year-olds in Aberavon, to just over 48% in Cardiff North.
The organisation representing universities has called for a means-tested grant up to post-graduate level as the way forward, with tuition fee grants targeted to help those that need them most.
Prof Colin Riordan, chairman of Universities Wales, said it was "fair to students and their families," giving the help with living costs now.
He said it would also provide support for part-time and post-graduate students.
At times, the Welsh Government has been impatient with academics' complaints about funding.
Earlier this month, Ms Williams suggested that universities should not focus as much on financial issues and should be more active in their communities and in driving forward national economic and social priorities.
Some of her predecessors were more blunt in expressing their view of the return Wales gets for millions invested in its higher education institutions.
But since the Diamond review started its work in 2014, politicians and university bosses, some of whom have been on the Diamond panel, have looked to the report for answers.
Prof Riordan said it would take time for the recommendations to be brought in but despite financial challenges, universities would find ways to manage in the mean time.
"If the recommendations are implemented, then I feel it will be sustainable future for universities," he added. | Soon after the Welsh Government started paying out grants towards Welsh students' university fees, vice chancellors raised concerns. |
38,426,674 | A 16-year-old was shot in both legs on 18 December and was taken to hospital.
It happened in Aitnamona Crescent at 20:50 GMT.
Police continue to appeal for information from anyone who knows anything about the attack. | A 42-year-old arrested over a paramilitary-style attack in west Belfast has been released unconditionally. |
30,143,605 | The five-year-old's parents fled with their ill son after disagreeing with doctors in Southampton and he has since been granted NHS treatment in Prague.
John Hemming MP said he had written to Portsmouth City Council and the NHS trust asking about their intentions.
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust told the BBC it was no longer responsible for his care.
Mr Hemming said he wanted a promise that the family would not be gagged if legal action was taken.
A trust spokesman said: "Ashya King is no longer under the care of clinicians in Southampton and UHS is no longer responsible for his care, so the trust would have no involvement with any decisions made about the family in the event of a return to the UK."
He said Ashya became a patient of Motol University Hospital when he arrived in Prague on 8 September and added he was now under the care of a Spanish consultant.
"The only body with oversight of the safeguarding and welfare of Ashya is Portsmouth City Council and its safeguarding children board," he added.
The council has yet to comment.
NHS England, which is funding his treatment, said it has no plans to take legal action.
Mr Hemming, Liberal Democrat for Birmingham Yardley, was contacted by the Kings' own MP Mike Hancock, independent for Portsmouth South, due to his experience in dealing with cases of this type.
He said Ashya's parents Brett and Naghemeh were concerned the authorities could take legal action if they believed brain tumour patient Ashya was not receiving the appropriate treatment back in the UK and could seek an injunction stopping them from speaking out.
Mr Hemming added: "The family has been protected by publicity. This would stop everything happening in secret.
"It is the family's decision when they would return, but we are looking for some reassurances."
He said he sent the letter last week but had yet to receive a reply from the council or the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
Speaking earlier from their holiday home in Spain, Mr King told ITV: "If they ever try to take Ashya away that would kill us.
"Till things are established with what's going to happen with Ashya, we feel too scared to return."
They said Ashya was "improving each day" and was able to walk with support, whereas previously "it was almost like we were carrying him". | An MP has sought assurances on what action UK authorities may take if cancer patient Ashya King returns home. |
21,733,665 | The 66-year-old, who was voted into power in 1988, has already said this seventh term will be his final period as head of the organisation.
Hayatou, who was applauded by delegates at the Caf congress in Marrakech, also received a special certificate from Fifa to commemorate his silver jubilee on its executive committee.
Ivorian Jacques Anouma wanted to oppose Hayatou at the elections, but a rule change prevented him from doing so. His attempt to overturn the decision to disqualify non-executive members from the election was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
Hayatou used his re-election to make reference to Anouma's challenge.
"The presidents of the federations approved an amendment preventing a few of them from participating in the race for the Caf presidency, which now permits only those who have held positions of responsibility within the institution to run for presidency," Hayatou told delegates.
"The conduct of the Executive Committee along with the members of national associations during this case was exemplary. The principle of sovereignty of the General Assembly was recognised by the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
Hayatou, the son of a sultan from the northern city of Garoua, represented Cameroon at basketball and middle-distance running.
He is the fifth Caf president and by far the longest serving. | Cameroonian Issa Hayatou has been re-elected unopposed as Confederation of African Football (Caf) president for a final four-year term in office. |
39,551,731 | The world number 16 won 6-4 2-6 6-1 to secure the ninth title of her career.
Pavlyuchenkova, 25, took the opening set with the only break and, after Kerber levelled, raced into a 5-0 lead in the deciding set before winning in one hour and 55 minutes.
Germany's Kerber is yet to win a title in 2017.
Meanwhile, two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka has announced she will return to the WTA Tour in July, seven months after giving birth to her first child.
The 27-year-old former world number one, who has not played since retiring from the French Open in May last year, announced her pregnancy in July.
The Belarusian has used the hashtag "don't call it a comeback" on social media. | Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova shocked world number one Angelique Kerber to win her fourth Monterrey Open title in Mexico. |
37,735,645 | Hamilton was 0.291 seconds slower than Rosberg, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo splitting the Mercedes.
Rosberg heads Hamilton by 33 points in the championship with 100 still available in the remaining four races.
Hamilton badly needs to win in Austin in Sunday to revive his rapidly faltering hopes of retaining his title.
Final practice is at 16:00 BST on Saturday, with qualifying at 19:00.
The world champion was fastest in first practice, in which he was impressive in setting a rapid initial pace and maintaining an advantage throughout as Rosberg closed in.
Hamilton looked quick in the first stages of second practice, lapping within 0.3secs of Rosberg on the first runs, despite using the slower medium tyre while the German was on the soft.
But his qualifying simulation run on the super-soft tyre did not go as well.
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However, Hamilton was evenly matched with Rosberg on the race-simulation runs in the second part of the session, when Ricciardo was marginally faster than both Mercedes drivers on the super-soft tyres.
"Ricciardo has had a great day," said team principal Christian Horner. "His short-run pace has been very strong, his long-run pace has been strong.
"Mercedes are favourites going into the grand prix but if we can get within 0.1secs or so we can put a bit of pressure on in the race."
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest, ahead of Ricciardo's team-mate Max Verstappen and the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were eighth and ninth, ahead of Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who made a mistake on his flying lap.
The Finn incurred the wrath of both Alonso and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat, who both felt he was obstructive on track at various points of the session.
Renault's Jolyon Palmer, fighting for his future in F1, had a spin and managed 17th fastest time, five places and 0.2secs behind team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
US Grand Prix Second practice
US Grand Prix coverage details | Lewis Hamilton was only third fastest in second practice at the US Grand Prix as Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg set the pace. |
35,697,476 | The card allows passengers to make bookings from home and avoid queuing at stations.
At present it can only be used on four routes in the central belt.
ScotRail is also in discussion with other operators to pave the way for the smartcard to be used on other transport systems including buses and ferries.
By the end of the summer the smartcard system will be available on on all of ScotRail's 28 routes.
The company is hoping that by 2019, 60% of rail journeys in Scotland will be ticketless.
A ScotRail spokeswoman said: "Our customers tell us that one of the biggest hassles they face when travelling is having to queue up for a ticket either before or after they get on the train.
"By the end of the summer, season ticket holders the length and breadth of Scotland will be able to buy their season tickets at home or at one of our at-station ticket machines, load them up onto their smartcard and then just tap and go." | Train operator ScotRail has announced plans to to expand its smartcard system for all season ticket holders across every route in Scotland. |
37,269,025 | The 30-year-old Briton's lap of two minutes 19.265 seconds was 0.998secs quicker than Italy's seven-time champion Valentino Rossi.
"I took the risk at the right time," said Crutchlow.
He became Britain's first MotoGP winner since Barry Sheene in 1981 with victory in the Czech Republic last month.
"I think tomorrow in a dry race we can be competitive and I'll do my best to battle at the front," added Crutchlow, who clinched top spot for the third time in his career in wet conditions with seven minutes remaining in the qualifying session.
"I really appreciate the reception I've had, and it's so nice to see so many people here to watch what we consider to be the best sport in the world."
Maverick Vinales was third, while Crutchlow's compatriot Scott Redding qualified seventh, as championship leader Marc Marquez came in fifth, 1.514 seconds off the pace.
1. Cal Crutchlow (GB) Honda 2 minutes 19.265 seconds
2. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha +0.998
3. Maverick Vinales (Spa) Suzuki +1.249
4. Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda +1.447
5. Marc Marquez (Spa) Honda +1.514
6. Eugene Laverty (Irl) Ducati +1.556
7. Scott Redding (GB) +1.809
8. Andrea Iannone (Ita) Ducati +2.181
9. Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha +2.422
10. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Ducati +3.155
Click here for full list of qualifying results
1. Marc Marquez (Spa) Honda 197 points
2. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 144
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha 138
4. Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 109
5. Maverick Vinales (Spa) Suzuki 100
6. Andrea Iannone (Ita) Ducati 96
7. Pol Espargaro (Spa) Yamaha 81
8. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Ducati 79
9. Hector Barbera (Spa) Ducati 76
10. Cal Crutchlow (GB) Honda 66 | Cal Crutchlow took pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone less than two weeks after his maiden MotoGP win. |
39,202,754 | But we're not quite there yet. It should become clearer in the coming weeks if the Scottish government are going to push for another vote on independence.
If they do, it's widely accepted they will need to obtain permission from Westminster - under Section 30 of the Scotland Act.
That's what happened in 2014 when David Cameron and Alex Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement.
It's clear the UK government doesn't want another referendum. It argues the question has already been asked; Scotland has already answered.
But what happens if the Scottish Parliament disagrees? (The SNP may be a minority government at Holyrood, but they will almost certainly get the backing of the Greens to pass legislation backing another referendum).
Sources say the UK government hasn't decided exactly what it will do if Nicola Sturgeon does call for a Section 30 order.
It will depend on what the request is.
Ministers in London are least likely to agree to an unconditional request to permanently transfer the power to hold a referendum. As one member of the government pointed out to me, that wasn't agreed by the Smith Commission on powers, which followed the 2014 vote.
What could be more palatable - emphasis on could - is a conditional transfer of the power.
Sources say there could be a negotiation process to iron out details, like the question voters will be asked and when. It could be lengthy.
But even then, Mrs May will have a lot to weigh up.
Some in the SNP - among them Mr Salmond - believe indyref2 would take place in Autumn 2018.
But that could well be a crunch period in the Brexit process, as UK ministers are focussed on trying to get a trade deal with Europe.
"It's the dominant issue for the UK government for the foreseeable future in a sense," says Professor Nicola McEwan from the Centre of Constitutional Change.
"We don't know how long the process of Brexit will take.
"Of course there is the triggering of Article 50, kick-starting a two-year negotiation process, but then there is a transition and there is an implementation. All of that will be huge."
In other words, ministers in London will have a lot of their plate already.
That pressure has led some to speculate permission for Holyrood to hold another independence vote could be conditional.
For example, the PM could grant the power to Holyrood as long as the referendum is held after Brexit talks are complete.
It could be argued that waiting until after Brexit would allow the Scottish people to decide their future knowing the details of any deal with the EU.
"The system is pretty overstretched [dealing with Brexit]", says the Conservative MP Bernard Jenkins. "The idea of agreeing to another referendum of independence in Scotland on top of all this just seems to me completely inconceivable. I don't think the prime minister would agree to that."
And there's the argument Scotland has already had its say on independence.
The Scottish Conservatives argue there's no appetite to reopen the debate - and they question whether the mandate for another vote exists. The SNP is adamant its does - pointing to their manifesto which says Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will is grounds for Holyrood to have the right to hold another referendum. But if the Conservatives think there's no mandate or public desire - could they just say no?
One of the considerations in answering that will be how rejecting Holyrood's request would be perceived in Scotland. What would the reaction be to the UK government - which of course has just one MP from a Scottish seat - rejecting a formal request from the Scottish Parliament?
"I think if the Scottish Parliament has voted for a referendum then it should get one," says the SNP MP Stephen Gethins, the party's Europe spokesman. "Don't forget, the Tories got their worst election result in Scotland since 1865 - it would be a very difficult basis for them to reject any approach."
The question in the headline won't be answered until when - or if - the UK government receives a request from ministers in Edinburgh.
The answer is unlikely to be straightforward. | Theresa May's speech to the Scottish Conservative conference last week - on the benefits of being part of the UK - sounded in part like a referendum campaign pitch. |
40,301,464 | The 20-year-old, who has featured four times for City's first team, spent last season on loan at Dutch club FC Twente.
The Kosovo international scored five times in 27 appearances for the top-flight side and becomes Ipswich's fourth new arrival of the summer.
He follows the signings of Joe Garner, Emyr Huws and Tom Adeyemi, while Jordan Spence extended his stay at the club.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Championship side Ipswich Town have signed Manchester City winger Bersant Celina on a season-long loan deal. |
30,521,673 | Sir Stephen House said that his personal view was that the police should be examining the potential for using body cameras.
But he said the public would need to be consulted before any changes.
Sir Stephen was speaking at the launch of a campaign to highlight the increase in domestic abuse at Christmas.
He said that the evidence in domestic abuse cases had to be strong.
In north east Scotland, officers already routinely wear body cameras, as they were used under the former Grampian Police service.
However, Sir Stephen emphasised that there would have to be a debate led by the Scottish Police Authority before they were introduced elsewhere, to ensure that the Scottish public were "comfortable" with officers wearing them as a matter of routine.
He added: "What we want to see is more use of the evidence that they produce."
He added that Police Scotland wanted to work towards using digital evidence, "so we can actually just play the tape - what did the police see at the scene, what actually happened, what can we see, what can we hear".
The festive period is a peak time for incidents of domestic abuse and Sir Stephen said children were particularly vulnerable.
Police Scotland was called to more than 42,000 domestic incidents between 1 April and 16 December this year and children were at home in one third of those cases.
Sir Stephen believes that hundreds of children across Scotland would witness domestic abuse in the home this Christmas.
"The biggest victims of domestic abuse are often the smallest", he said.
"Children are often the unacknowledged victims of domestic abuse, yet for them the effects can be lifelong and devastating."
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson was also at the campaign launch.
He emphasised the government's commitment to tackling domestic violence and supporting victims.
"All aspects of our criminal justice system now see this as a priority, and that's why the message is a very clear one - domestic violence will not be tolerated in Scottish society", he said. | Scotland's Chief Constable has said officers wearing body cameras could help improve the quality of evidence when cases are brought to court. |
24,129,442 | Former US Navy reservist Aaron Alexis, 34, had been treated for paranoia, hearing voices and sleeplessness, the Associated Press reported.
The military contractor had a valid pass for Washington Navy Yard, where the attack unfolded, authorities said.
Alexis was shot and killed by police during Monday's assault.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel acknowledged "there were a lot of red flags" in Alexis's background that had been missed in the security clearance process which ultimately resulted in his having access to the secure building where he undertook the attack.
"Why they didn't get picked up, why they didn't get incorporated into the clearance process, what he was doing, those are all legitimate questions that we're going to be dealing with," he told reporters.
He said he had ordered the Pentagon to conduct a wide-ranging review of the physical security at all US defence installations across the world and of the security clearance process.
"Where there are gaps, we will close them," he said. "Where there are inadequacies, we will address them. And where there are failures, we will correct them."
Alexis reportedly approached the US Department of Veterans Affairs in August to seek psychological help.
It has also emerged that last month he called police from a hotel in the US state of Rhode Island to say he kept hearing voices.
By Mark MardellNorth America editor
According to a Newport police report, he told officers he believed people were following him and "sending vibrations into his body".
Alexis said he had twice moved hotels to evade his pursuers, who he believed were using "some sort of microwave machine" to stop him from sleeping.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has ordered a physical security review of all Navy and Marine Corps installations, a Navy official told the BBC.
On Tuesday, the US capital remained in a state of shock and mourning.
Defence Secretary Hagel laid a wreath at US Navy Memorial Plaza in honour of the Navy Yard victims.
The attack took place on Monday morning at Building 197, headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, which builds and maintains ships and submarines for the Navy.
Profile: Aaron Alexis
Witnesses said the gunman sprayed bullets in a hallway and fired from a balcony down on to workers in an atrium at the heavily secured installation in the US capital.
The attack only ended when police stormed the building and shot him dead.
Alexis was armed with a shotgun legally purchased in Virginia, as well as a handgun authorities say he may have taken from a guard inside the naval complex.
Previous reports suggested he had used an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. But officials said on Tuesday that although the weapon had been found at the scene, it was neither carried nor used by the gunman.
In addition to the 12 shot and killed, three people - a police officer and two female civilians - received gunshot wounds, but all were expected to survive. Five others were treated for minor injuries.
On Tuesday, authorities said they believed Alexis had acted alone and that all victims - ranging in age from 46 to 73 - had been identified.
As an employee of an IT contractor, Alexis apparently had a card granting him access to the building - even though he had had several run-ins with the law and had been discharged from the Navy under a cloud, authorities said.
"It really is hard to believe that someone with a record as chequered as this man could conceivably get, you know, clearance... to be able to get on the base," Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray told CNN.
Alexis left the Navy as a petty officer 3rd class, after serving full-time in the naval reserve from 2007-11, under a general discharge, a status that suggests misconduct.
Profiles of the victims
He had been cited for insubordination, disorderly behaviour and excessive absences from work at least eight times during his Navy career, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
According to media reports, Alexis was a Buddhist convert who had had previous gun-related brushes with the law.
On Tuesday, his employer, an IT contractor called The Experts, said the military should have made his record known.
"Anything that suggests criminal problems or mental health issues, that would be a flag. We would not have hired him," Thomas Hoshko, chief executive officer of firm, told the Washington Post.
The company confirmed Alexis had worked since July at six different military installations and had only been at the Navy Yard for a few days before the shooting. | The man who killed 12 people at a Washington DC Navy installation had received treatment for mental health issues, US media report. |
34,581,945 | The announcement by India's Tata Steel that it plans to sell its UK steel business, putting thousands of jobs at risk, is the latest blow to an industry which has seen a succession of job cuts.
At the start of this year, Tata, which currently employs 15,000 in the UK, announced plans for 1,050 job cuts, on top of the 1,200 it axed in October 2015 and the 720 it cut last summer.
Other firms have played their part in what amounts to an industry-wide cull. In October, Thailand's SSI announced it was closing down its Redcar works with the loss of 2,200 jobs, then parts of Caparo Industries' steel operations went into administration putting 1,700 jobs potentially at risk.
The steel industry says it has been hit by a combination of factors: high UK energy prices, the extra cost of climate change policies, and competition from China - there have been allegations that Chinese steel is being sold in the UK at unrealistically low prices.
So what's the truth of it all - just why are significant parts of Britain's steel industry in such trouble?
Demand for steel worldwide has not returned to the levels seen before the financial crisis. As many countries, and particularly China, are seeing weak growth, global demand will remain sluggish - falling 1.7% in 2015 and up by just 0.7% this year.
Global steel prices have fallen sharply. Meanwhile, China's own economic slowdown has led its producers to look for export markets as their home demand stalls.
As a result, UK imports of Chinese steel have increased dramatically. In 2014 the UK imported 687,000 tonnes of steel from China, up from 303,000 tonnes in 2013.
It is true that the UK's steel imports from the rest of the EU are much higher than this, they were 4.7 million tonnes in 2014, but crucially China is selling its steel at much lower prices.
Steel imports into the UK from the rest of the EU cost on average 897 euros a tonne in 2014, while Chinese steel imports were just 583 euros a tonne, says the EU's statistics agency, Eurostat. This has led to accusations that China is selling at unfairly low prices.
High UK energy costs for energy-intensive businesses like steel production are also a factor, says the industry, added to by the extra cost of climate change policies. And government policies to compensate producers for these extra costs have been too slow, says the industry body UK Steel.
EU rules also restrict how much support governments can give to particular industries. Member states may not use public funds to rescue failing steelmakers. However, EU countries are allowed to boost steel firms' global competitiveness - for instance by funding research and development or helping with high energy bills.
Almost 18,000 people are employed in the steel sector, and some experts say that up to one in four of these jobs could be at risk over the next few years.
The confirmation earlier this year by Tata of 1,050 job losses comes on top of the 1,200 jobs it axed last October and the 720 jobs it cut in July.
Also in October, the country's second-largest steel producer, Thai firm SSI, said its Redcar works on Teesside, would go into liquidation with the loss of 2,200 jobs.
At the same time, Caparo Industries went into partial administration, putting 1,700 jobs at potential risk.
The industry blames cheap Chinese imports for a collapse in steel prices.
It is certainly true that China's dramatic economic growth since liberalisation started in 1979 has been one of the key drivers in the global steel market.
It is now the world's biggest steel producer, accounting for around 822 million tonnes a year. The UK, which produces almost 12 million tonnes a year, is a minor player in terms of absolute output, but has sought to specialise in high-quality, high-value steel products.
With China's market slowing, their producers have been looking for export markets, such as the EU.
This has led to accusations of unfair competition, that Chinese producers are "dumping" steel products on overseas markets - that is not just selling them cheaply, taking advantage of their lower production costs, but actually selling them at a loss.
In 2015, the EU imposed anti-dumping duties for six months on some steel imports from China and Taiwan. The EU and China have already clashed over the alleged dumping of products such as wine, solar panel and steel pipes.
Steel itself is vital for just about everything we use. Whether it is buildings, clothes, chemical, cars, lamps or drinks cans - all depend on it at some point.
The industry has seen significant automation and computerisation and is not as labour-intensive as it used to be.
About 18,000 people are directly employed in the steel industry. With a total UK workforce of 31 million this is just one in 1,700 jobs.
However, if the industry was to shrink further there will be an impact in other allied sectors - steel processors, distributors, scrap metal dealers, metal traders and other metal product manufacturers.
Many argue that this is not just a crisis for the steel sector, but one affecting UK manufacturing in general, which accounts for roughly 10% of UK economic output.
The industry is clear what it needs: lower business rates, a relaxation of carbon emissions targets for heavy manufacturers, more compensation for high energy prices, and a commitment that British steel is used in major construction projects.
The government held a steel summit in Rotherham last October to discuss what could be done.
It says it has already taken "clear action" to help the industry, "through cutting energy costs, taking action on imports, government procurement and EU emissions regulations, meeting key steel industry asks."
But UK Steel says it still needs to do more.
"We need much further action taking place to tackle the imports, the flood of Chinese steel into the UK and the European economy. We need to see government and the European Commission tackling that head on and quickly," says Gareth Stace, director of UK Steel.
"Ministers can also do more by reforming business rates to exclude some of the penalties steel companies and others face if they invest in plant and machinery," says Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation.
"Alongside this, the UK has one of the highest electricity costs for the energy intensive industries in Europe because of hindering domestic policy. We need to see a level playing field with our European competitors to ensure a positive future for the steel sector," he says.
Business Minister, Anna Soubry, said on Radio 4's Today programme that the government was determined to ensure that Port Talbot continues to make steel.
Despite this, some gloomily predict that steel production itself - as opposed to specialised rolling and milling of already-manufactured steel - faces a bleak future in the UK, and that the number employed in the industry will continue to fall, possibly to as low as 13,000 within a few years.
The world faces a huge oversupply of steel - currently only two-thirds of the steel being produced is actually being used.
Tata itself says that "trading conditions in the UK and Europe have rapidly deteriorated" recently, due to the global oversupply of steel, a "significant" increase exports into Europe, high manufacturing costs, continued weakness in UK demand for steel and a volatile currency.
Energy intensive businesses, like steelmakers, also face higher electricity prices in the UK than they do in many of the Britain's European neighbours - and the industry has been calling for urgent action on this. | Over the past few months, one part of the UK economy, the steel industry, has been grabbing the news headlines, but for all the wrong reasons. |
36,166,459 | Jalal Uddin, 64, died in hospital after being found with a serious head injury in Rochdale in February.
On Thursday, a 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and a 24-year-old man was held over alleged terrorism funding.
A third man, 21, was also bailed after being re-arrested.
He had previously been questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
Mr Uddin was found in South Street in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, a few streets away from the Jalalia Jaamé Mosque, where it is understood he was a qari, or Koran reader.
A 31-year-old man arrested in February on suspicion of murder has been released without charge and eliminated from inquiries and a 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder has been bailed until 1 June.
Mohammed Syeedy, 26, of Ramsey Street, Rochdale, has been charged with murder and is due to appear at Manchester Crown Court on 22 August. | Three men who were being questioned in connection with the death of a prominent Koran reader have been bailed pending further police inquiries. |
40,475,257 | Isgrove, 24, spent time on loan with the Tykes in 2015-16 and scored in the play-off final as they won promotion to the Championship.
Boss Paul Heckingbottom told the club website: "Lloyd is a great lad and we are all glad to see him back here.
"Once we knew there was a possibility of this deal happening, it was a no brainer."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Barnsley have signed winger Lloyd Isgrove on a three-year deal after he was released by Southampton. |
38,206,920 | Men who took up running and stuck with it had more "healthy swimmers", according to the research in the journal Reproduction.
The boost was only temporary, and began to wane within a month if the men stopped their treadmill training.
Experts say it is important to strike the right balance because too much exercise can harm sperm production.
Studies have shown that participation in competitive sports, like cycling, can lower sperm quality.
Keep your testicles cool - avoid tight underwear and hot baths
Avoid sexually transmitted infections
Stop smoking
Cut down on alcohol
Stay slim
Get some exercise, but not too much!
All of the 261 men enrolled in the recent trial were healthy and did not have any fertility problems as far as they could tell. They had normal sperm counts and healthy-looking sperm and led fairly sedentary lives.
The men were allocated to one of four programmes:
Exercise training appeared to boost sperm quantity and quality, with moderate exercise coming top.
Men in all three exercise groups lost weight and saw improvements in their sperm test results compared with the men who did no exercise over the 24-week trial period.
The researchers say at least part of the benefit may come from shedding excess weight - all three exercise groups lost some body fat.
Experts already know obesity can lower a man's fertility. A third of the men in each study group were overweight.
What is not clear is whether the boost from exercise translates to better fertility. That is something the researchers plan to explore in the lab by checking if training-induced changes affect the fertilising potential of sperm.
Lead researcher Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki said: "Our results show that doing exercise can be a simple, cheap and effective strategy for improving sperm quality in sedentary men.
"However, it's important to acknowledge that the reason some men can't have children isn't just based on their sperm count. Male infertility problems can be complex and changing lifestyles might not solve these cases easily."
Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield and spokesman for the British Fertility Society, said: "We have a very poor understanding of how physical exercise affects male fertility and sperm quality, but it is a question commonly asked by men wishing to improve their chances of having a child."
He said there probably was a level of exercise that is optimum for male fertility, but recommended that men check with their GP before embarking on anything too strenuous.
UK guidelines recommend that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as cycling or fast walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running, every week. | Doing at least half an hour of exercise three times a week may boost men's sperm count, say scientists. |
38,773,084 | Ali Hassan, 22, Abdul Hussain, 25, and Bader Nokhas, 25, were said to be driving "stupidly" on London's North Circular in Enfield in December 2013.
Hassan's Vauxhall Astra crashed into a Subaru Impreza, which careered out of control into a lorry.
Jawad Qureshi, 28, and his passengers Toheed Rubani, 34, and Haider Qureshi, 28, died in the crash.
Hassan, of Stonebridge, London; Hussain, of Edgware, London; and Nokhas, of Stanmore, Middlesex, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to careless driving.
On Friday, they were each jailed for nine months and disqualified from driving for 19 months.
The court heard the convicted men were, on average, all speeding up to 18mph over the limit.
Witness Ben Sheybany described the way they were "chasing each other" as "stupid".
Judge Noel Lucas said: "Playing games on a public highway is simply not to be tolerated."
He said the crash could only be described as "horrific" and had a "dramatic" ripple effect on the lives of the grieving families. | Three men involved in the deaths of another three people after a "cat and mouse" car chase have been jailed. |
32,166,814 | Under the deal, Iran will reduce its uranium enrichment capacity in exchange for phased sanctions relief.
US President Barack Obama said a "historic understanding" had been reached with Iran.
The world powers and Iran now aim to draft a comprehensive nuclear accord by 30 June.
The framework agreement was announced by the European Union and Iran after eight days of negotiations in Lausanne.
The talks between the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany - and Iran at Lausanne's Beau-Rivage Palace hotel continued beyond the original self-imposed deadline of 31 March.
After a missed deadline and two exhausting nights of negotiations Iran and the six world powers presented their framework as a major achievement.
The EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, read out a joint statement outlining the main points, including a reduction in the number of Iran's operating centrifuges, changes to its nuclear facilities, and a promise to lift sanctions if these steps are verified.
This is an unwritten understanding, not a formal agreement, and it lays the foundation for very tough negotiations on the details.
But for now its architects are celebrating a hard won, potentially historic, achievement.
Iran denies Western claims it is trying to build a nuclear weapon. It entered negotiations in order to see sanctions lifted.
According to a US factsheet issued after the talks, the outline deal includes the following conditions:
Mr Obama said the deal's implementation would be closely watched. "If Iran cheats, the world will know it," he said, adding that the deal was based not on trust but on "unprecedented verification".
He said the framework agreement had come after "months of tough, principled diplomacy", and that it was "a good deal".
Mr Obama's statement was broadcast live by Iranian broadcaster IRINN - a very rare move in Iran, where TV channels are controlled by the state - and there were celebrations in the streets of the capital, Tehran, over the breakthrough.
Some Iranians took "selfies" with their TV sets to mark the occasion.
In a BBC interview, US Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a point he was tempted to walk away from negotiations but added "the bottom line is we worked through it".
The draft deal was hailed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said he believed it would "contribute to peace and stability in the region".
"It will respect Iran's needs and rights while providing assurances to the international community that its nuclear activities will remain exclusively peaceful."
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced the deal at a news conference alongside the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif , saying that a "decisive step" had been achieved.
Negotiators would now start "drafting the text" of the plan "guided by the solutions", she added.
Mr Zarif, meanwhile, said the full nuclear deal would be "something actually very innovative" as Iran would be able to sell enriched uranium in the international fuel market.
Russia welcomed the deal as recognition of "Iran's unconditional right to a peaceful nuclear programme", while French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters: "It's a positive step, but at the same time there are still questions and details that need to be resolved."
But Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu told President Obama in a phone call that a deal based on the agreed framework would threaten the survival of Israel.
For his part, President Obama told Mr Netanyahu the deal "in no way diminishes our concerns with respect to Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and threats towards Israel," the White House said.
The deal has also been criticised by members of the US Congress who want US lawmakers to have the right to review any final agreement.
US House Speaker John Boehner said the deal represented an "alarming departure" from Mr Obama's original goals and that Congress should review the deal before sanctions on Iran were lifted. | An outline agreement on the future shape of Iran's nuclear programme has been reached after marathon talks with six major powers in Switzerland. |
39,865,860 | Reports in Italy say the Chinese-backed Serie A club are prepared to offer Conte £250,000 a week if he leaves Chelsea after one season.
Pioli was sacked on Tuesday after six months as head coach.
The 51-year-old replaced Frank de Boer in November, signing a contract until the end of June 2018.
Former Italy boss Conte, 47, also managed Inter's rivals Juventus from 2011 to 2014.
With three matches remaining, Inter are seventh in Serie A, three points adrift of AC Milan and the final qualifying spot for the Europa League, and are winless in seven league games.
Youth team coach Stefano Vecchi will take charge of the first team for the rest of the season.
Pioli was Inter's ninth manager since Jose Mourinho left in 2010.
A club statement read: "Inter thanks Stefano and his team for the dedication and hard work carried out at the club over the last six months in what has proven to be a difficult season.
"The club will begin planning now for the next season." | Inter Milan have refused to comment on reports they are planning to offer Chelsea boss Antonio Conte a deal to replace the sacked Stefano Pioli. |
37,430,455 | The Scottish government plans to scrap some "unit assessments" which are marked by teachers before pupils sit their exams.
Instead final exams will be strengthened and externally marked coursework in some subjects will also contribute to students' grades.
National 5 courses will be altered next year and Higher courses in 2018.
Under the government's plans, some exams may now form 100% of the final mark. In other cases, the externally marked coursework may make up a significant proportion.
The move comes after Education Secretary John Swinney told teachers he was "absolutely committed" to reducing their workload earlier this year.
Announcing the planned changes to the qualifications, he said the proposals would significantly reduce teacher workload, bureaucracy and over-assessment.
He added: "They will ensure that teachers in Scotland have more time to teach in the classroom and make the significant contribution they can to reducing the attainment gap, delivering excellence and equity in Scotland's schools and maintaining the credibility and integrity of our qualifications."
The proposals have been given a cautious welcome by unions which have called for changes to deal with what they say is the excessive workload and bureaucracy associated with the qualifications.
Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) have been on a partial work-to-rule over the issue.
Its general secretary, Larry Flanagan, said news of the government's plans would be welcomed by teachers, pupils and parents.
"Since the introduction of new national qualifications, pupils and teachers have been placed under an excessive and unnecessary assessment burden during the senior phase of secondary, leading finally to EIS industrial action," he said.
"The agreement to remove mandatory unit assessments as a requirement from all National 5 and Higher courses is a victory both for common sense and for that campaign of action, carried out by EIS members in secondary schools across Scotland."
However Seamus Searson, the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), said the changes should happened during this academic year.
The "direction of travel" was welcome, he added, but the government should also consider making changes to the National 4 qualification.
"At the moment National 4 is wholly managed and assessed, to the bureaucratic SQA specifications, by the teacher in the classroom.
"The SSTA view is the workload should be reduced and the inclusion of a externally assessment or exam."
The National 5 qualification was introduced in the 2013-14 school year and is broadly equivalent to a credit in a Standard Grade or a good pass in an old O Grade.
Changes to Highers started to be phased in the following year.
Mr Swinney said the changes were in line with the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence.
He added: "I now intend to take the proposals to the Curriculum for Excellence management board as the appropriate body to discuss the details and agree their implementation."
Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: "It has taken far too long for this to happen but I warmly welcome the announcement to remove unit assessments.
"It was perfectly clear that they provided very little educational benefit yet, at the same time, added significantly to teacher workload.
"Their removal should allow teachers to concentrate more on coursework and on preparation for SQA examinations. That has to be a good thing and will be welcomed by teachers, pupils and parents."
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: "Any move to reduce workloads on our teachers is a welcome one, but this is a big climbdown by John Swinney who had previously said this could not be done without compromising the integrity of the National exams.
"It is a pity the teaching unions have had to threaten industrial action to get the government to listen to them. The truth, though, is that teachers will continue to be burdened by heavy workloads as long as the SNP continue to cut education budgets." | Major changes are to be made to new school qualifications in a bid to cut teachers' workload. |
32,124,251 | The US Department of Justice (DoJ) alleges that Shaun Bridges stole more than $800,000 (£540,000) in Bitcoin.
His colleague, Carl Force, has also been charged with money laundering and wire fraud.
Best known for selling illegal drugs, Silk Road was closed in 2013 following raids by the FBI and other agencies.
The man accused of running the site, Ross Ulbricht, was convicted in February, and prosecutors argued that he had earned about $18m in Bitcoin from the operation.
Mr Force, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), served as an undercover agent during the investigation into the Silk Road.
One of his tasks involved communicating with Ulbricht, known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts."
The DoJ alleges that "without authority", Mr Force "developed additional online personas and engaged in a broad range of illegal activities calculated to bring him personal financial gain".
"In doing so, the complaint alleges, Force used fake online personas, and engaged in complex Bitcoin transactions to steal from the government and the targets of the investigation.
"In one such transaction, Force allegedly sold information about the government's investigation to the target of the investigation."
The 46-year-old is charged with wire fraud, theft of government property, money laundering and conflict of interest.
Shaun Bridges, who worked for the US Secret Service, is charged with wire fraud and money laundering.
The DoJ alleges that he transferred more than $800,000 in Bitcoin into an account at MtGox, a Japanese digital currency exchange that filed for bankruptcy in February.
"He then allegedly wired funds into one of his personal investment accounts in the United States mere days before he sought a $2.1m seizure warrant for Mt. Gox's accounts," the DoJ says.
Both men appeared in a San Francisco court on Monday. | Two former US special agents have been charged with stealing large amounts of digital currency while investigating the notorious Silk Road marketplace. |
32,232,012 | Hassan Munshi and Talha Asmal, both 17 and from Dewsbury, are thought to be trying to join Islamic State after flying from Manchester to Turkey on 31 March.
A statement released on behalf of their families said they were "devastated".
Farooq Yunus, from the Zakaria Mosque in Savile Town, Dewsbury, said the "whole system" had failed the boys.
West Yorkshire Police is investigating their disappearance.
Mr Yunus told Radio BBC 5 live: "I think we have failed. Not just the people in here... the council, the police, the community."
In a statement the boys' families said: "Our number one priority is to get Hassan and Talha back home with their families and we implore anyone who may have any information whatsoever to get in contact with the police.
"Naturally, we are in a state of profound shock and are trying to come to terms with the predicament we find ourselves in and we hope and pray that no other family finds itself in our situation.
"These were just two ordinary Yorkshire lads who enjoyed the things that all young people enjoy at their age - both Hassan and Talha had a promising future, as an apprentice and an A-level student respectively, and we are praying they will be back with us soon and are able to realise that future."
Hassan's brother, Hammaad Munshi, was arrested in 2006 at the age of 16 after police found a guide to making napalm on his computer.
He became the youngest person to be convicted under the Terrorism Act. | Photographs of two "ordinary Yorkshire lads" feared to have travelled to Syria have been issued by their families. |
39,964,644 | Mae llawer o sylw wedi cael ei roi i'r ffeinal rhwng Juventus a Real Madrid tra bod proffil y tîm cenedlaethol wedi cynyddu wedi pencampwriaeth Euro 2016.
Un digwyddiad pwysig arall yn y byd pêl-droed yng Nghymru eleni yw pen-blwydd Uwch Gynghrair Cymru yn 25 oed.
Yn 1992, daeth Cynghrair Cymru fel yr oedd hi i fodolaeth dan arweiniad cyn-ysgrifennydd Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru (CBDC), y diweddar Alun Evans.
Ar y pryd roedd statws Cymru fel gwlad annibynnol dan oruchwyliaeth FIFA dan fygythiad, gan fod y prif glybiau yng Nghymru yn chwarae pêl-droed yn Lloegr.
Felly beth sydd wedi newid dros y chwarter canrif?
Un peth amlwg sydd wedi aros yn debyg yw maint y torfeydd sy'n dod i wylio'r gemau. Yn 1992 roedd cyfartaledd torf mewn gêm yn 236 i gymharu gyda 306 y tymor diwethaf.
Mae ysgrifennydd presennol Uwch Gynghrair Cymru yn teimlo bod "safon y gemau ddim yn denu'r dorf maen nhw yn ei haeddu".
"Heb os, mae safon y chwarae a chyflwr y meysydd wedi gwella yn y 25 mlynedd," meddai Gwyn Derfel.
"Mae'r gynghrair yn llawer mwy proffesiynol ac mae 'na werth masnachol i'r gynghrair bellach".
Dywedodd bod hyn yn rhannol oherwydd cyflwyno trwydded ddomestig CBDC yn 2005-06, sy'n rhestru meini prawf llym sy'n rhaid i glwb eu cyrraedd os ydyn nhw am gystadlu yn yr Uwch Gynghrair.
Dim ond pedwar o'r timau wnaeth sefydlu'r gynghrair sy'n dal i gystadlu ynddi heddiw - Bangor, Y Drenewydd, Cei Connah ac Aberystwyth.
Mae'r gweddill naill ai wedi diflannu neu'n chwarae yng nghynghreiriau is y pyramid pêl-droed - yn eu plith mae Cwmbrân, enillwyr cyntaf y gynghrair, sydd bellach yng nghynghrair lleol Sir Fynwy.
Cafodd nifer y timau yn y gynghrair ei gwtogi o 20 i 12 yn 2010, gyda'r bwriad o geisio gwella safon y gystadleuaeth.
Yn ôl Mr Derfel mae'r newid wedi gweithio, ond ychwanegodd bod "63% o bobl a holwyd mewn holiadur yn dweud bod elfen o fod yn or-gyfarwydd â'r timau".
Un sydd wedi bod ynghlwm â'r gynghrair fel rheolwr a gwyliwr yw Glyn Griffiths.
Roedd yn rheolwr ar Dreffynnon rhwng 1992 a 1997, ac fe lwyddodd i gadw'r clwb yn yr Uwch Gynghrair tan 1996.
"Dwi ddim yn credu bod gwell chwaraewyr yn chwarae yn y gynghrair heddiw ond bod perfformiadau'r timau yn well i beth oedd 'na nôl yn y 90au," meddai.
Dywedodd bod yr honiad bod torfeydd yn fach gan fod dim digon o chwaraewyr lleol yn chwarae yn y timau yn ei "wylltio".
"Mi ddweda' i hyn, os ydy chwaraewr lleol ddigon da i chwarae i'w dîm yna digon teg", meddai.
"Mae hon yn gynghrair genedlaethol a phrif gynghrair Cymru. Dim cynghrair leol ydy hi. Mae rhaid denu'r chwaraewyr gorau i gystadlu yn y gynghrair."
Ychwanegodd mai'r ffordd i glybiau ddenu mwy o sylw ydy drwy "wneud mwy o ymdrech yn lleol i farchnata ac i werthu syniad eu clwb".
"Mae ddigon hawdd sefydlu academies i'r chwaraewyr gorau, ond beth am y chwaraewyr ifanc lleol hynny sydd ddim digon da i chwarae i'r academies?
"Mae rhaid cofio am y rheiny a pheidio eu 'sgubo i'r ochr... Mewn degawdau i ddod mi fydd presenoldeb y bobl ifanc hynny yn y dorf yn cefnogi'r tîm yn llawn mor bwysig", meddai.
Ers ei sefydlu mae 39 o glybiau wedi cystadlu yn y gynghrair.
Un clwb fydd nôl yn Uwch Gynghrair Cymru tymor nesaf fydd Y Barri, wnaeth ennill y gystadleuaeth ar saith achlysur hyd at 2003, cyn iddyn nhw wynebu problemau ariannol.
Mae eu cadeirydd, Eric Thomas, wedi bod yn cadw llygaid ar y gynghrair o'r tu allan.
"Mae nifer o glybiau'r de yn hapus i chwarae un safon o dan yr Uwch Gynghrair, ond nid y Barri," meddai.
"Dwi wedi bod yn cadw llygaid ar y gynghrair ers blynyddoedd ac wedi gweld ei datblygiad hi yn y blynyddoedd diweddar.
"Mae'n deimlad anhygoel bod 'nôl... Roedden ni fel pwyllgor wedi gosod cynllun pum mlynedd i sicrhau dyrchafiad, mi oedden ni'n agos y llynedd ac wedi llwyddo eleni, blwyddyn ynghynt na'r disgwyl".
Uchelgais Y Barri yw cystadlu unwaith eto ar lefel Ewropeaidd, a chyn hir fe fydd y clybiau sydd wedi cyrraedd yn lefel honno yn darganfod pwy fydd eu gwrthwynebwyr ar y cyfandir.
Ond fe fydd rhaid i'r Seintiau Newydd chwarae yng Nghynghrair y Pencampwyr heb eu rheolwr Craig Harrison, sydd wedi gadael i gymryd yr awenau yn Hartlepool. Y Bala, Cei Connah a Bangor fydd yn cynrychioli Cymru yng Nghynghrair Europa.
Mae Gwyn Derfel yn ffyddiog bydd un o'r clybiau yn mynd gam ymhellach eleni yn Ewrop.
"Mae perfformiadau clybiau Cymru ar y llwyfan Ewropeaidd yn gwella.
"Ein prif her fel cynghrair at y dyfodol yw cael mwy o sylw drwyddi draw yn y cyfryngau torfol, wnaiff gynorthwyo i gynyddu'r torfeydd.
"Dwi'n falch o ddweud hefyd bod ein cytundeb gyda S4C i ddarlledu 29 o gemau byw drwy'r tymor yn parhau, sydd eto yn hwb i'r clybiau gan eu bod nhw'n gallu manteisio o'r arian darlledu er mwyn datblygu.
"Er bod un tymor wedi dod i ben gyda rownd derfynol yng Nghaerdydd, dydy gwaith ysgrifennydd cynghrair debyg i hon byth yn stopio, a dwi'n edrych ymlaen at y tymor nesa' yn barod". | Nos Sadwrn bydd Caerdydd yn llwyfannu un o'r gemau mwyaf yng nghalendr pêl-droed y byd i goroni blwyddyn fythgofiadwy i'r gamp yng Nghymru. |
35,132,277 | He will next play Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney, who beat him last month.
Anderson's compatriot Peter Wright also progressed to the second round, defeating Keegan Brown 3-0.
Huntly's John Henderson plays Norwich's Darren Webster in Friday afternoon's session and Scot Robert Thornton takes on Alan Norris on Monday night.
Anderson won his first world title in January in a dramatic final against Phil Taylor and he will compete with 71 other players for the £1.5m in prize money. | Gary Anderson began the defence of his PDC World Championship title with a 3-0 win over Englishman Andy Boulton at London's Alexandra Palace on Thursday. |
40,763,096 | The Brazilian was passed fit to take part in final practice despite going to hospital after feeling dizzy and unwell in Friday's second practice session.
He was released from hospital and spent the night at his hotel, but suffered more problems in final practice.
Di Resta, 31, has not driven the 2017 car and not raced in F1 since 2013.
A statement from Williams said: "The team supports Felipe's decision and the team will work with him to ensure he makes a full recovery, with a view to a return to the race track for the Belgian Grand Prix."
The team did not give any further details on Massa's illness.
In final practice, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was comfortably fastest as Mercedes driver and title rival Lewis Hamilton struggled.
Vettel was 0.475 seconds quicker than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and 0.897secs clear of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, with Hamilton down in fourth.
Hamilton has won in Hungary five times in 10 years but the car lacked balance and grip on Friday and the drivers appeared to be struggling with the same problems on Saturday.
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Hamilton was locking wheels and running wide and his fastest lap was a massive 1.417 seconds slower than Vettel, who leads the Briton by one point.
The margin from Vettel back to Bottas of nearly a second is a lifetime in F1 and augurs badly for Mercedes' hopes this weekend.
And as so often when Mercedes struggle in this way, Bottas was making better of it than Hamilton - just as he did in Russia and Monaco earlier this season.
All are low-grip tracks with slow corners. Hamilton tends to overcommit the front end, causing problems with the tyres, while Bottas drives within the limit of grip.
In fact, the race appears to be falling into Ferrari's lap, after Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull, which was fastest in both sessions on Friday, stopped out on track early on with an engine hydraulics system failure.
Ricciardo ended up eighth quickest, his team-mate Max Verstappen who was not on his pace on Friday fourth and 1.177secs off Vettel's pace.
McLaren are showing encouraging form - Stoffel Vandoorne was an excellent sixth and Fernando Alonso ninth.
On this track that exposes their Honda engine's lack of power less than many others, they appear to be competing for the honour of best of the rest outside the top three with Renault, for whom Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest. Hulkenberg has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for an unauthorised gearbox change.
The German's team-mate Jolyon Palmer, who had a torrid day on Friday crashing twice, was 10th, less than 0.3secs behind. | Felipe Massa has been forced to withdraw from the Hungarian Grand Prix because of illness and will be replaced by Scot Paul di Resta. |
39,936,440 | The A484 Llanelli link road will be closed overnight between the Berwick and Trostre roundabouts for a month.
Work will start for on Wednesday and will take place between 20:00 BST and 06:00 on week nights only.
It will be carried out in phases, allowing access to business premises either direct or via diversion routes. | Night-time road closures are due to begin as contractors prepare to carry out resurfacing works in Carmarthenshire. |
39,545,840 | The teenager was walking in Brodick Street, near Glenconner Park in Royston, at about 21:25 on Saturday when he was assaulted by an unknown suspect or suspects.
He was taken by ambulance to Glasgow Royal Infirmary where he was treated before being released.
Detectives said the attack appeared to be "totally unprovoked".
Det Con Martin Smith, of Maryhill CID, said: "We believe that there was a large-scale disturbance in Royston Road prior to the assault taking place and that the area would have been busy with pedestrians and passing motorists.
"As such, I'd like to speak to anyone who witnessed either the assault or disturbance."
He said door-to-door inquiries were being carried out and CCTV footage was being checked to establish the full circumstances of the incident. | A 17-year-old was taken to hospital with a head injury after being attacked in Glasgow. |
35,004,894 | HMP North Wales, which is due to open in February 2017, will house 2,000 inmates, making it the UK's largest.
The initial salary, which is dependant on the weekly number of hours worked, ranges from £20,545 to £22,823.
Newly appointed prison officers will initially be given work at a nearby jail to gain experience.
More officers and support staff will be taken on in the coming year.
The National Offender Management Service application form says: "Working in a prison isn't for everyone.
"But if you're one of the few with the right blend of qualities, it's a secure and very rewarding career." | People who want to work as a prison officer in Wrexham's new £212m super-prison are being invited to apply for one of 80 roles. |
35,467,103 | The 25-year-old has 13 goals in 23 appearances for Lokomotiv this season and has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with the Goodison Park club.
"We're delighted as Oumar is a player we've been following for a long time," Toffees boss Roberto Martinez said.
"He brings a real hunger and desire to be successful into what is already a strong squad."
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Everton's top target was Dynamo Kiev's Andriy Yarmolenko but their move for the Ukraine forward was unsuccessful.
Niasse joins after forward Steven Naismith left Everton for Norwich and winger Aiden McGeady departed the club in a loan deal to Sheffield Wednesday.
"I started to watch Everton more since the beginning of October because I had heard about their interest," said Niasse.
"I was interested to see how they play. If you see players who are aged 20 or 21 and see them perform like that, you know you have a good coach."
Listen:How former Reading striker Ibrahima Sonko kick-started Niasse's career by paying for his plane ticket to Europe.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Everton have signed Senegal forward Oumar Niasse from Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow in a £13.5m deal. |
30,523,505 | Ashley Talbot, 15, was struck by the bus driven by PE teacher Chris Brooks at Maesteg School, Bridgend county, on 10 December.
The hearing at Aberdare Coroner's Court was told that a police and health and safety investigation surrounding the incident is continuing.
The hearing was adjourned until a review on 9 April 2015.
A second pupil, 13, was also injured in the incident but did not need hospital treatment.
In a tribute released after his death, Ashley's family said he was taken from them in a "tragic accident".
They described him as a "typical teenager, a practical joker with a wicked infectious laugh".
Pupils at the school also paid tribute to a "good friend" and said the gap he had left could never be filled.
The school said it was co-operating with the police investigation and counselling had been offered to students.
PE teacher Chris Brooks, who was driving the minibus, said after the incident: "All my thoughts, wishes and prayers are with Ashley's family." | A coroner's hearing into the death of a teenager who was hit by a school minibus has been opened and adjourned. |
33,212,949 | Mr Modi did stretches, bends and breathing exercises with 35,000 school children, bureaucrats and soldiers.
Security was tight in the city with thousands of police and paramilitary deployed for Sunday morning's event.
Millions of others are expected to do yoga at similar events planned in hundreds of Indian cities and towns.
Mr Modi, a yoga enthusiast who says he practises the ancient Indian art daily, lobbied the United Nations to declare 21 June International Yoga Day.
Thousands of colourful mats were laid out on Rajpath - King's Avenue - where the main event was held.
Officials had earlier said the prime minister will attend the event and address the gathering, but not do yoga.
But Mr Modi surprised participants by joining in with the exercises.
Modi enlists yoga for 'brand India'
Authorities said 35,000 people attended the 35-minute yoga session on Rajpath, aimed at setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest yoga class at a single venue.
Guinness officials said they would announce the results in a few hours.
Yoga was also being performed on the Siachen glacier and the high seas, the defence ministry said.
The day is also being celebrated around the world and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj says "tens of millions" will do yoga on Sunday.
Ms Swaraj herself will be in New York where she will attend the celebrations with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In Times Square, 30,000 people are expected to do yoga.
But the day, being billed as one to promote "harmony and peace", has hit a controversial note with some Muslim organisations saying yoga is essentially a Hindu religious practice and is against Islam.
Many others say Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist government has an agenda in promoting the ancient Indian discipline.
However, the authorities deny the charge - they say participation in the yoga day is not mandatory and reports that Muslims are opposed to yoga are exaggerated.
Are you taking part in the first ever International Yoga Day? We would like to see your pictures from one of the many events taking place around the world. You can send your photos and videos to [email protected] or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international) number. Alternatively you can send pictures via our WhatsApp number +44 (0)7525 900971. Or you can upload here.
Read the terms and conditions. | India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led thousands in a mass yoga programme in the capital, Delhi, on the first ever International Yoga Day. |
36,938,284 | Some spent more than three hours trapped in the ride's cages on Sunday.
Clive Robinson, from London Fire Brigade, said: "It was slow work as we needed to access each cage on the ride individually."
London Wonderground, where the ride is based, said it was being investigated for a "technical fault".
Twitter user Dannorthover, who had to be rescued from the ride, tweeted: "Finally back to earth. Thank you london fire brigade for the #cherrypicker".
Two fire engines and two "cherry picker" ladders were sent to the scene, where engineers worked on the ride, which has capsules that swing around a central pillar.
Mr Robinson said: "While everyone was very relieved to be back on the ground, everyone had been very calm."
The brigade, which had been called shortly before 18:00 GMT, said there were no injuries.
The Starflyer fairground ride, part of the Southbank's Centre's London Wonderground playground, stands 60 metres high.
London Wonderground tweeted on Sunday: "This evening the Starflyer which shares our site experienced a technical fault.
"Everyone on the ride has been evacuated safely and the company who manage the ride for Southbank Centre are investigating the fault."
The Southbank Centre said it was grateful to firefighters for assisting those trapped, adding: "We will work with the owners of the ride to investigate the cause of the fault".
The ride will remain closed while investigations continue into why the ride got stuck, the centre said.
The Starflyer ride has featured at London Wonderground in previous years and has also appeared at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. | Fire crews have rescued 19 people - six of them children - who were suspended in a fairground ride 20 metres (65ft) above London's South Bank. |
23,099,881 | Prime Minister David Cameron made the announcement as he visited UK troops in Camp Bastion on Armed Forces Day.
The memorial will be paid for from fines imposed on banks that rigged inter-bank interest rates, he said.
Hundreds of celebrations are planned across the UK to celebrate the fifth national Armed Forces Day.
The day started with a volley of gun blasts at Nottingham Castle.
Armed Forces Day recognises the contribution made by service personnel past and present. Members of all three services take part.
Speaking from Britain's main base in Afghanistan, Mr Cameron said: "I think Armed Forces Day is an opportunity for the whole nation to say a very big thank you, but also to say how proud we are of our armed forces and everything they do for us.
"I can announce today we will be taking more money off the Libor fines and putting it into the military charities - including building a permanent memorial at the Staffordshire arboretum, so that we can always remember, and future generations can remember, those that fell and died here in Afghanistan."
The prime minister later flew to the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, for talks with President Asif Ali Zardari.
The number of UK service personnel to have died since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001 is 444.
The existing memorial in Camp Bastion, which Mr Cameron visited during his time at the base, will be dismantled as troops leave next year and as much of it as possible will be used in the arboretum.
The memorial, which will receive funding of £300,000, will be built over the next 18 months and dedicated once combat operations in Afghanistan have ended.
The National Memorial Arboretum, near Lichfield, hosts more than 250 different memorials, including a number to the armed forces.
Mr Cameron also announced how an additional £2.5m from fines levied on banks for attempting to manipulate the Libor interest rate would be spent on helping the armed forces community.
The Warrior Programme for Veterans and Families will receive just over £930,000 to further their efforts to support veterans moving into civilian life. The Veterans Council Headquarters will get £500,000 to create a one-stop shop for the military community to access mental health, health and social care services. Veterans Aid has been awarded £160,000 to expand its substance abuse and mental health treatment programmes.
10:47 A Feu de joie (gun salute) from Nottingham Castle opened the day, followed by a parade through the city and a fly-past by the Red Arrows
11:00 A Typhoon fly-past took place across the city centre
13:00 The Royal Air Force Falcons Parachute Display team made a landing on the Victoria Embankment
13.50 The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial flights featuring a Dakota, Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane begins at the Embankment
17:40 The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery perform a Musical Drive on the Embankment
During his visit Mr Cameron ate breakfast with British troops and was briefed about recent operations in Helmand, using a tactical map laid out in a sandpit.
He also took the controls of a bomb disposal robot, steering a Wheelbarrow robot using a remote control, and mimicked the action of launching a Desert Hawk 3 drone as he held the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Asked about efforts by the US to start talking to the Taliban, the prime minister said it was important to pursue a political solution - as well as a security solution - in Afghanistan.
At a joint press conference with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai later Mr Cameron said the two nations had a "shared commitment to a strong partnership beyond 2014".
The prime minister said the British contribution in Afghanistan after 2014 would be an officer training academy. Combat troops, he said, would continue to leave the country, with none by the end of 2014.
Mr Cameron then flew on to Pakistan, but spoke of the relationship between the neighbouring countries while still in Afghanistan: "We have a very clear view which is that it's in Pakistan's short, medium and long-term interest to have a secure, stable and prosperous Afghanistan with which they have a good and strong relationship."
In the UK, this year's main Armed Forces Day event kicked off with a tri-service parade from Nottingham's castle to the Old Market Square, where a drumhead service will be attended by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
The Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, will fly over and, at the service's conclusion, current and historic craft from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will also fly past - including the RAF's latest multi-role fast jet, the Typhoon.
There will be Royal Navy and Royal Marines displays on the River Trent, and members of the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team will land on Victoria Embankment.
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery will close the day in Nottingham.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband said the party would give military veterans guaranteed "special provision" in the health service and change the NHS constitution to enshrine those rights.
He tweeted: "Armed Forces Day is a day when we rightly commemorate the sacrifices, past & present, that our servicemen & women make to protect us." | A permanent memorial to British service personnel who died in Afghanistan is to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. |
38,611,601 | With the SNP a minority government, Mr Mackay needs support for his plans from at least one opposition party.
He said talks with the Lib Dems and the Greens had shown there was "room for manoeuvre" to strike a deal.
Both of those parties have warned that the government will have to make concessions to win them over.
Detailed discussions have been ongoing since Mr Mackay outlined his budget proposals in December.
With a deal with the Conservatives or Labour unlikely, the Lib Dems and Greens have emerged as the favourites to reach an agreement, and the finance secretary said there were "constructive" and "positive" talks ongoing.
Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie told BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday that the SNP needs to "give some ground" and "move some way towards some other party" if it is to win backing for the budget.
He highlighted "astonishing cuts to local government services", and has also been critical of Mr Mackay's "standstill income tax policy".
And after the pair clashed over tax during a meeting of the finance committee on Wednesday, Mr Harvie said it would be "a huge missed opportunity" if the government were to "dig in their heels and insist on a no-change tax policy now that they have the power, and the political support, for real change".
Meanwhile Mr Rennie underlined during first minister's questions that "the Scottish government has no majority for its budget".
He highlighted a £90m cut to college funding, while claiming that the government's plans for a schools attainment fund were "£70m short of what is required".
Nicola Sturgeon responded: "We will continue to discuss with Willie Rennie and others their suggestions for amendments to the draft budget."
Mr Mackay told BBC Scotland that he was "engaging constructively and positively with other parties".
He said he would "not necessarily" find common ground with the Conservatives or Labour, but noted that "particular discussions with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are showing there is room for manoeuvre".
He said: "I'm positive about getting a budget through the Scottish Parliament.
"I've made it clear the government wants to deliver our tax position as was set out in the manifesto, that commanded the support of the people.
"But the budget isn't settled until the very end of the process, so I'll continue to engage on all matters in relation to the budget."
Asked about how the positions of opposition parties, Mr Mackay said: "The Lib Dems have set out a position around education and mental health, and those are the kind of areas you would expect me to discuss with them to ensure we can reach a position they can support.
"The Greens are looking for a number of things, and they've made their public position clear around taxation. But they also recognise that the government has a mandate and a manifesto which we want to fulfil, and they're looking for a different position."
Mr Mackay noted that the government "want to adhere as close to the manifesto as possible" on tax, but added: "None of these matters are absolutely closed."
He will give evidence to the finance committee on his spending plans on Monday, after which the committee will consider its report on the draft budget.
A series of votes will then follow through February, with a separate vote on the tax proposals prior to the final budget vote at the end of the month.
The Lib Dems have pulled into pole position to be the party which strikes a budget deal with Derek Mackay.
Patrick Harvie, with one eye on the tax vote which will precede the final budget vote, has set his stall out very firmly on that front. When launching the Green manifesto last year, he outlined "progressive taxation" as the number one policy he would look to have implemented.
But Mr Mackay doesn't want to compromise on tax. He sees his position as well-balanced, and moreover endorsed by the public in last May's election.
It's possible there may also be an element of distrust in the Greens - SNP members are unlikely to have forgotten that they scuppered the 2009 budget after a last-minute change of heart.
Tax is also a big issue for Willie Rennie - but it is not necessarily top of his shopping list.
During first minister's questions, he more or less named his price - cash for education, with some funding for mental health thrown in, could win those crucial Lib Dem votes (or, at the very least, abstentions).
The looming council elections have a role to play too, with neither party wanting to look like they are giving in too easily to the government, particularly in terms of funding for local services,
There's a long way to go in the talks yet - but a deal is looking more and more likely. | Scottish Finance Secretary Derek Mackay says he is "positive" about winning support for his budget from opposition MSPs. |
35,690,884 | The 29-year-old, who moved to Pompey on a free transfer from Crawley in June 2014, initially rejoined the Red Devils on a 28-day deal in February.
Former Exeter and Peterborough keeper Jones has made four appearances and kept one clean sheet since returning to the Checkatrade.com Stadium.
Crawley sit 17th in the table after 33 games and host Newport on Tuesday. | Portsmouth goalkeeper Paul Jones has extended his loan stay with League Two rivals Crawley until 27 March. |
37,335,544 | Her speech has been widely criticised by the prime minister, the opposition and Muslim community leaders.
It echoed her controversial 1996 speech in which she warned that Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians".
Ms Hanson said she would not apologise for trying to "preserve our way of life".
According the latest government statistics, 2.2% of Australians list their religion as Islam, compared to 61.1% Christian.
The two fastest growing descriptions are atheist and agnostic - officially described as "no religion" - and Hinduism.
But Ms Hanson, who leads the anti-immigration One Nation party, said Australians would eventually be forced to live under Islamic religious law, or Sharia, unless changes were made.
"Islam cannot have a significant presence in Australia if we are to live in an open, secular and cohesive society," she said.
"We have seen the destruction it is causing around the world."
She also said she wanted a ban on the burqa and to stop the construction of new mosques.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who will be relying on the support of the four One Nation senators to pass legislation, distanced himself from the highly controversial speech.
"Senator Hanson knows I do not agree with her views on migration," he told The Australian newspaper.
"Australia is the world's most successful multicultural society and the foundation of that success is mutual respect."
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale, who led his party's senators out of the chamber in protest of Ms Hanson's speech, said racism "has no place in parliament but that is what we have just heard from Senator Hanson," he said on Twitter.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon, whose parents are European migrants, told Sky News Australia he found the speech "heartbreaking".
"We're an open and inclusive country and Pauline Hanson is wrong when she says Islam and democracy aren't compatible," he said.
Former prime minister John Howard argued Ms Hanson's supporters were not racists or bigots and did not vote for her because of their views on immigration
"They voted for her because they're unhappy with the mainstream political parties," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Ali Kadri, the Islamic Council of Queensland's spokesman, drew a parallel between Senator Hanson and al-Qaeda.
"Before it became a terrorist organisation, it preached an ideology of hatred," he said.
"Unfortunately Pauline Hanson and people like Donald Trump and others are taking the West towards that path as well, and that path only leads towards the destruction of nations and people and we've seen that in the Middle East."
Ms Hanson was unapologetic when she returned to parliament on Thursday.
"Why do you stand here and criticise me for standing up to preserve our way of life that we have peace and cohesion on our streets?" she asked reporters.
"I will not apologise to you, I will not apologise to anyone. I do believe that a lot of other politicians do support what I say." | Pauline Hanson has refused to apologise for her maiden speech to the Australian senate, in which she said the country was being "swamped by Muslims". |
40,886,169 | The US is thought to have dropped the 89cm-long (3ft) device during WW2.
It was found by workers building a car park at the site where a four-decade-long decommissioning process is under way.
Tens of thousands of residents had to evacuate the area after a reactor meltdown in 2011 following an earthquake and tsunami.
The incident at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) site was the world's most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
No-one died directly in the meltdown but three former Tepco executives are facing trial on charges of negligence because of deaths related to the area's evacuation.
Tepco said construction work was immediately suspended after the object was found and a temporary exclusion zone put in place while bomb disposal experts were deployed.
It is not uncommon for unexploded WW2 devices to be found in Japan over 70 years on from the end of the war.
The Fukushima area was previously home to a Japanese military base. | A suspected unexploded bomb has been found at the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. |
37,508,235 | Some boxes or "TV sticks" support software add-ons that can stream subscription movies, sport and TV channels over the internet for free.
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) said about half of its current investigations concerned the devices.
It said boxes configured to receive premium content for free were illegal.
The statements were made in the annual crime report of the government's intellectual property office (IPO).
Kodi is free software, built by volunteers, that is designed to bring videos, music, games and photographs together in one easy-to-use application.
Some shops sell set-top boxes and TV sticks known as Kodi boxes, preloaded with the software.
The developers behind Kodi say their software does not contain any content of its own and is designed to play legally owned media or content "freely available" on the internet.
However, the software can be modified with third-party add-ons that provide access to pirated copies of films and TV series, or provide free access to subscription television channels.
"Streaming boxes have steadily increased in popularity in recent years," said Ernesto van der Sar, from the news site Torrent Freak.
"Most use the entirely legal Kodi software, but some are augmented with illegal third-party add-ons.
"They are seen as convenient, as the set-top box format is ideal for the living room.
"Nowadays people often prefer to stream pirated content instead of using traditional torrent sites.
"They see streaming as more convenient and less cumbersome than downloading."
Fact said set-top boxes configured to receive premium content for free were "an emerging threat to the audiovisual industry".
"This is becoming an epidemic," Kieron Sharp, director general of Fact, told the BBC.
"If you are not paying for Sky, BT or one of the pay-TV providers for your subscription channels, you are clearly in possession of an illegal box."
The IPO said the increased availability of such devices presented a "significant challenge".
"We are aware that set-top boxes, while perfectly legal in their own right, are frequently adapted by criminals to illegally receive TV channels protected by intellectual property rights," a spokesman told the BBC.
"The government is working with its partners in industry and with police forces across the country to target criminals looking to profit from this activity.
"We are also working closely with our international partners to target the cross-border infrastructure that underpins illegal streaming."
In August, an investigation by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (Pipcu) led to the arrest of three men who are accused of retransmitting subscription television channels online.
Some traders sell so-called "fully-loaded Kodi boxes", which are preloaded with third-party add-ons that can access pirated content. These are currently the subject of a legal case.
The developers behind Kodi have said they do not support "piracy add-ons" and have criticised those who advertise "fully-loaded" set-top boxes for sale.
The group said it would maintain a "neutral stance on what users do with their own software", but would battle those using the Kodi trademark to sell a "fully-loaded Kodi box".
Discussions about "pirated content" and add-ons that provide access are removed from its message board. | Tackling the use of Kodi and other set-top box software to stream pirated videos is now the top priority for rights-holders, a report says. |
38,385,797 | Tyler Perkins, 18, attacked the hedgehog, which later died, in his garden in Croft Street, Ipswich, on 9 September.
Magistrates in the town found Perkins, who did not attend the hearing, guilty of inflicting "unnecessary suffering" to the animal.
He is due to be sentenced on 3 January.
The court heard a statement from RSPCA investigating officer Jason Finch, who said Perkins told him he "wasn't really thinking" during the attack.
He said Perkins had a drink problem, felt remorse and wished the incident never happened.
The attack was in a town which has been identified as a hot spot for hedgehogs and where work is ongoing by Suffolk Wildlife Trust to protect the species.
Speaking outside the court, RSPCA inspector Natalie Bartle said: "It was an act of senseless cruelty towards this hedgehog.
"We all know that the hedgehog population is currently on the decline, seriously on the decline in fact.
"Hedgehogs need to be looked after, not treated with cruelty." | A teenager hit a hedgehog with a brick, stabbed it with a knife and then threw it over a neighbour's fence, a court has heard. |
32,883,299 | There had been 27 attacks so far this year, compared with 26 for the whole of last year, Unicef said in a statement.
Three-quarters of the attacks were carried out by female bombers, some as young as seven, it added.
Militant Islamist group Boko Haram is waging an insurgency in Nigeria.
BBC Nigeria analyst Naziru Mikailu says Boko Haram may be increasingly resorting to suicide attacks, following its loss of territory to regional forces.
Nigeria's army said in March that it had recaptured all cities and towns from the group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants fighting for a global caliphate.
Unicef said it did not believe that the girls carried out the bombings willingly.
"Children are not instigating these suicide attacks; they are used intentionally by adults in the most horrific way," it said. "They are first and foremost victims - not perpetrators."
Some of the girls had been abducted and were being exploited by militants who knew that they were less likely to be checked when entering target areas such as busy markets or bus stations, the statement added.
Our correspondent says there is suspicion that some girls are duped into being bombers, thinking they are carrying parcels when they are, in fact, explosives.
More than 15,500 people have been killed during the six-year insurgency.
About 1.5 million people have been displaced and hundreds more abducted by Boko Haram.
Earlier this month, the military rescued nearly 300 women and children who were being held by the group in its forest hideout in north-eastern Nigeria.
Among those still being held captive are 219 girls who were taken from their boarding school in Chibok town in April 2014, sparking global outrage. | The UN children's agency says there has been an "alarming" increase in the number of suicide attacks in northern Nigeria, with many of them involving women and children. |
38,488,399 | The 22-year-old had a spell on loan in the National League at Southport last term, making four appearances.
"I'm glad I had that experience with Southport, so I know what to expect," he told the club website.
Giles is the second player signed by Aldershot under the Boost The Budget scheme which allows fans to contribute to the first-team budget.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Aldershot Town have signed winger Jonny Giles on loan from Oxford United for the rest of the season. |
39,105,783 | Fe wnaeth AS Arfon, Hywel Williams gyhoeddi nos Lun y bydd Shiromini Satkunarajah, 20, yn cael ei rhyddhau o ganolfan gadw Yarls Wood.
Roedd Mr Williams wedi codi'r mater yn Nhŷ'r Cyffredin ddydd Llun.
Roedd Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Bangor, yr Athro John Hughes, hefyd wedi galw ar y Swyddfa Gartref i ailystyried alltudio Ms Satkunarajah cyn iddi gwblhau ei hastudiaethau.
Cafodd Ms Satkunarajah, ei harestio ddydd Iau diwethaf ar ôl i'r awdurdodau wrthod ei chais am loches.
Mae dros 86,000 o bobl arwyddo deiseb i geisio ei hatal rhag cael ei hanfon yn ôl i'w mamwlad.
Ond dywedodd Mr Williams ar wefan Twitter nos Lun: "Falch o gyhoeddi heno fod fy etholwraig Shiromini Satkunarajah wedi ei rhyddhau ac ni fydd yn cael ei halltudio yfory. Diolch bawb am y gefnogaeth."
Yn gynharach, dywedodd Mr Williams ar lawr Tŷ'r Cyffredin: "Mae hi wedi dilyn y rheolau mewnfudo i'r llythyren, ond pan alwodd i orsaf heddlu Caernarfon yr wythnos ddiwethaf fe gafodd ei harestio, ei chadw yn y celloedd am dridiau a'i throsglwyddo i Yarls Wood.
"Rwyf wedi cysylltu â'r Gweinidog Mewnfudo sawl tro i ofyn iddo ddefnyddio doethineb yn yr achos yma, sydd â chefnogaeth eang gan gynnwys gan rai o aelodau'r Tŷ.
"Hyd yma nid yw wedi fy ateb. Mae hi i fod i adael yfory."
Cafodd Ms Satkunarajah, ei geni yn Sri Lanka ond mae wedi byw ym Mhrydain ers wyth mlynedd ac ar fin gorffen ei chwrs mewn peirianneg electroneg.
Cyn y datblygiadau diweddaraf, roedd disgwyl iddi adael Prydain fore Mawrth.
Daeth Miss Satkunarajah i Brydain yn 2009 fel rhywun oedd yn dibynnu ar ei thad oedd wedi dod yma gyda fisa.
Fe wnaeth ei thad farw yn 2011 ond fe gafodd hi a'i mam aros tra ei bod yn cwblhau ei haddysg yn yr ysgol ac yn dechrau ei chwrs yn y brifysgol.
Cafodd ceisiadau pellach i aros eu gwrthod ond roedd ganddi hawl i aros tra roedd hi'n apelio.
Dydd Iau cafodd wybod bod ei chais am loches wedi ei wrthod.
Yn ôl Iestyn Pierce, pennaeth adran beirianneg Electronig a Thrydanol Prifysgol Bangor mae'n fyfyrwraig "abl iawn a diwyd" fyddai yn debygol o gael gradd dosbarth cyntaf.
"Pe byddai yn cael graddio byddai yn aelod gwerthfawr o'r gweithlu mewn pwnc lle mae prinder byd eang." | Mae myfyrwraig ym Mhrifysgol Bangor oedd yn wynebu cael ei halltudio i Sri Lanka wedi cael gwybod gan y Swyddfa Gartref y bydd yn cael aros yn y DU, yn ôl ei Haelod Seneddol. |
34,787,176 | The 30-year-old came through the south-west London club's academy and has made 248 appearances for Quins since his debut in 2005, scoring 79 tries.
Brown first featured for England in 2007 and has won a total of 43 caps.
"I feel fit and strong. Over the coming years I will be playing at my peak," he told the club website.
Harlequins have not disclosed the length of Brown's new deal but say he will have been at the club for "well over 15 years" by the time it expires, having joined their academy set-up in 2002.
Brown won the Amlin Challenge Cup with Quins in 2011 and the Premiership title in 2012 - and hopes to bring further silverware to the Twickenham Stoop.
"With the experience I have gained by playing international rugby it will give me every opportunity to achieve the personal goals I have set for myself - to win trophies for Quins, continue to play for England and hopefully be part of the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour," he said.
Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea described Brown as "the epitome" of what the club stands for.
"I have watched him become one of the great full-backs of world rugby," said the Irishman.
"He maintains the highest of standards off the pitch and will play at the highest level for many years. We are all delighted he wants to commit to his only club for what will be, in all likelihood, the remainder of his career."
Brown played in all of England's matches at the 2015 World Cup, which they exited at the pool stage, but said this week that the "trust has gone" from the squad following leaks from the dressing room. | England full-back Mike Brown has committed his future to Harlequins after signing a new contract with the Premiership club. |
32,551,028 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Table tennis proved his calling. After being pipped to Paralympic gold at London 2012 he won the world title last year and is committed to going down in history not as a disabled person, just a "great athlete".
To find out how to get into table tennis, take a look at our dedicated page.
Alternatively try the British Table Tennis Association for the Disabled to find out what they have to offer. | Despite being born with arthrogryposis - a condition that limits movement in all four of his limbs - Will Bayley was "brought up on all sports". |
38,178,137 | Football's world governing body Fifa also requested that all players wear black armbands in remembrance.
Nineteen players and coaching staff were among the 71 who died when the Brazilian's team plane crashed.
The team was heading to Colombia for the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the biggest game in the club's history.
Periods of silence will also be held before next week's Champions League and Europa League matches.
Similar tributes were held before all four of the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Three players - defender Alan Luciano Ruschel, reserve goalkeeper Jackson Ragnar Follmann and centre-back Helio Hermito Zampier Neto - were among the six survivors
Of the survivors, Ruschel and Neto were said to be in critical but stable conditions, with the former having had spinal surgery. Follmann has had his leg amputated and could lose his other foot.
Colombian authorities say evidence is growing that the plane crashed because it ran out of fuel as it tried to land.
Club director Cecilio Hans said the club would "rebuild from scratch" in memory of those who had died.
Arsenal's Brazilian defender Gabriel paid tribute to his late friend Caio Junior, the Chapecoense coach, after his team's quarter-final defeat by Southampton in the EFL Cup.
The 26-year-old said he was "very close friends" with the coach, the backroom staff and two of the players.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"This is really hard to take. It is something we never imagine will happen with us or a close friend," he said.
"The minimum I can do is send my condolences to all their families and wish that they can carry on.
"I ask for strength for this team that enchanted Brazilian football, a group that five years ago was in the fourth division and surprised everybody.
"We only have good memories to keep in our hearts from this team and the friends I made through football."
Chapecoense were in the Brazilian fourth tier in 2009, but had recently made themselves a national force before their run in South American football's secondary continental competition - the equivalent of the Europa League.
Three of Brazil's leading clubs have said they will offer players to Chapecoense. | A minute's silence will be held before every football match this weekend in memory of the Chapecoense players and staff who died on Monday. |
36,822,836 | The emergency services were called to the scene on the A494 at Bethel, between Bala and Corwen, at around 12.20 BST.
A North Wales Police spokesman said: "Sadly the motorcyclist involved in the collision has passed away."
Police are appealing for witnesses. | A motorcyclist has died following a collision with two vehicles in Gwynedd on Sunday. |
34,565,831 | North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said its former patient records setup was labour intensive and in need of replacement.
The new £7m computerised system means patient details will be accessible on screen to all health professionals.
It has been two years in the planning, and comes into effect on Monday.
Lynne Hodgson, from the trust, said "a massive amount of training has taken place" but they were "still expecting some teething problems".
"We're just asking at this time that patients and relatives bear with us while the new system is bedding in," she added. | Patients on Teesside are being asked to bear with the health trust while a new electronic records system comes online. |
34,071,065 | Video technology trials in matches were put back at least 12 months by the game's lawmakers in February.
But Wenger, whose side had a goal controversially ruled out for offside in Monday's 0-0 draw with Liverpool, said: "I'm convinced that video technology will come into football.
"The next step will be to help the offside rule."
The Frenchman, who takes his team to Newcastle for a 12:45 BST kick-off on Saturday, added: "You want justice and the right decisions to be made. The sooner it comes in the better. If it was tomorrow morning you would have my signature."
Replays showed that Wales international Aaron Ramsey was onside when he struck against Liverpool at Emirates Stadium.
The 24-year-old has suggested football should follow rugby's lead on video technology, saying: "You see on the screens, they go up there for 20 seconds and they get the decision right in the end and football can learn something from that."
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Centre-backs Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny missed the Liverpool game, through illness and a back injury respectively, with Calum Chambers and Gabriel starting against Liverpool.
Wenger admitted that he may once again be without his first-choice pairing, with Mertesacker still suffering from his illness and Koscielny set for a fitness test on Wednesday.
"The less likely to be fit is Mertesacker," said Wenger. "I would like them to be available but that is part of the season and you cannot complain about it.
In more positive news on the injury front for Arsenal, striker Danny Welbeck is nearing a return following a knee injury and midfielder Jack Wilshere, who suffered a hairline fracture to his right ankle in training on 1 August, is not far behind
"Danny Welbeck is progressing well," revealed Wenger. "He should be available after the international break if all goes well.
"Jack Wilshere is maybe one week behind Welbeck. After the international break he can certainly come back into full training."
The transfer window closes at 18:00 BST on Tuesday, 1 September but Wenger admitted that the club are not currently close to making any signings.
"I am always confident that a last-minute solution is available because of the way the transfer market has been moving in the last four or five days," he said. "But at the moment I can't promise that.
"We work hard and I have a team around me who work day and night to find solutions but at the moment we are not close to signing anybody."
Arsenal have failed to score in both of their home games this season, with Monday's stalemate coming after an opening-weekend 2-0 defeat by West Ham.
They did score twice in their only victory so far - at Crystal Palace - but Wenger feels his side are not yet at peak fitness.
"Maybe we are not firing on all cylinders at the moment and not everybody is ready physically," he added.
"By definition, the finishing is cyclical - finishing qualities come and go and you do not always know why.
"At home at the moment, we want it so much that we try to force it. But teams come and defend very deep when we are at home and it is more difficult to open the defence." | Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes video technology will be used in games to assist the offside rule. |
36,539,650 | Paul Mansfield, 28, of no fixed address, denied the charges but was found guilty at Preston Crown Court and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Police said he befriended the "clearly intoxicated and vulnerable" victims, promising to help them.
The two attacks took place in 2014, the second while he was on bail for rape.
Police said Mansfield befriended a 20-year-old homeless woman and promised to give her somewhere safe to stay in the early hours of 17 June.
He took her to a flat on Charnley Road in the resort but when the victim tried to go to sleep, Mansfield raped her, biting her neck and striking her face during the attack.
She managed to escape and ran to Blackpool police station to report the attack.
Mansfield struck a second time on 9 September when he befriended a woman, 21, from Glasgow on a night out in the resort, said police.
She had become separated from her boyfriend after an argument, said police, and Mansfield offered to take her back to her hotel in a taxi.
Police said they ended up on Loftus Avenue where he dragged her down an alley and attempted to rape her.
She managed to push him off and run away, said police.
Lancashire Constabulary's Det Con Lisa Wainwright said Mansfield was a "dangerous sexual predator" who targeted his victims when they were intoxicated.
She said it was disturbing that he used the guise of befriending them when he had "clear intentions of assaulting them to satisfy his own sexual urges".
Mansfield was also found guilty of two sexual assaults and supplying Class A drugs, for which he was sentenced to two years to run concurrently. | A "dangerous sexual predator" who raped a woman and attempted to rape another in separate attacks in Blackpool has been jailed. |
30,298,375 | The spaces will be delivered at five sites over two phases between 2017 and 2027.
A report to councillors said there are currently seven pitches for travellers in the region.
The approval comes after an independent planning inspector concluded in October the council's draft plan was suitable, subject to a few changes.
Land at Old Damson Lane, Solihull, which was originally down for 11 pitches, will now receive 13 over both phases.
The 31 new travellers' pitches:
Six pitches will be created at The Warren, Bickenhill Lane, Marston Green, and four at The Uplands, Dickens Heath Road, Shirley, during phase one.
In phase two, six pitches will be created at The Haven, Catherine-de-Barnes Lane, Bickenhill and two at Canal View in Salter Street, Earlswood.
The report said: "As in most other areas of the country, there is a shortage of authorised Gypsy and traveller sites in Solihull to meet identified need.
"This leads to unauthorised developments and encampments and results in uncertainty for both the settled population and the Gypsy and traveller community.
"It is also well recognised that Gypsies and travellers are amongst the most socially excluded groups in society and research has consistently confirmed the link between the lack of good quality sites and poor health and education outcomes."
There were 11 objections to the original plans and three objections to the modified scheme, Solihull Council said. | Plans for 31 new travellers' pitches in Solihull have been approved by council leaders. |
38,072,135 | The unnamed heir discovered the glittering hoard in a variety of inventive locations, including under piles of linen and in the bathroom.
"There were 5,000 gold pieces, two bars of 12kg and 37 ingots of 1kg," auctioneer Nicolas Fierfort told AFP.
The treasure is worth an estimated €3.5m ($3.7m; £3m).
Mr Fierfort said he had visited the house in Evreux, Normandy, to value furniture the new owner was selling.
He said he totally overlooked the gold, which was "extremely well hidden".
The coins and gold bars only came to light when the house's new owner started moving things around.
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First, he found a tin box of coins screwed to the underside of some furniture.
Then came more, carefully concealed in a box meant for a bottle of whisky.
Finally, the man unearthed a staggering pile of gold bars and ingots.
"At that point he called his solicitor to make an inventory," Mr Fierfort said.
According to certificates found in the deceased's estate, the gold was legally purchased in the 1950s and 1960s.
It has already been sold on to buyers in France and overseas.
However, local newspaper La Depeche, which first reported the story, said the golden hello may come with a sting.
The finder will be liable for 45% inheritance tax and, if the original owner did not declare his or her assets, a further three years of back taxes. | A Frenchman who inherited a large house from a relative has found an astonishing 100kg (220lb) haul of gold hidden under the furniture. |
36,369,326 | Three-year-old Missouri and six-week-old son Jefferson are being cared for at the charity's centre in Drumoak.
Centre manger Graeme Innes said: "Missouri had a rather round tummy when she arrived in our care and gave birth to the adorable Jefferson in April.
"We're surprised we haven't had any interest yet and we're hoping we can find this sweet pair a loving home."
Missouri's owner could no longer care for her.
Anyone who can offer Missouri and Jefferson a new home is asked to contact the Scottish SPCA's Aberdeenshire centre on 03000 999 999. | The Scottish SPCA is seeking a new home for a Shetland pony and her foal in Aberdeenshire. |
40,679,563 | National Grid wants to bury overhead power lines along a five-mile (8km) stretch of the county near the villages of Martinstown and Winterbourne Abbas.
The proposals include removing about 20 pylons, the firm said.
The preferred route of the underground cables was designed to avoid properties and known archaeology, it added.
Removing the overhead lines, constructed between 1965 and 1969, would reduce their visual impact on the AONB, National Grid said.
Previous options to screen or camouflage pylons were dropped following a public consultation as it was deemed they "would not have sufficient impact", the firm added.
People have been invited to have their say on the proposals at Winterbourne Valley CE VA First School in Dorchester on Saturday.
Subject to planning approval, work would start next year and take up to three years to complete - including the removal of the existing line.
Dorset's AONB was designated in 1959 covers just over 40% of the county, from Lyme Regis to Poole Harbour and inland as far as Blandford Forum. | Plans to remove a section of overhead pylons in Dorset's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) have opened to public consultation. |
34,570,844 | Eclipsed is a hard-hitting drama about women captured and raped by a Liberian rebel officer.
The sell-out play marked the 12 Years a Slave and Star Wars star's stage debut when opening earlier this year.
Gurira, who plays Michonne in huge TV hit The Walking Dead, is the award-winning writer of four plays.
BBC Entertainment Live: News updates
Eclipsed is considered notable as a rare production written by a woman to get a spot on Broadway.
There has been only one other this current season, an adaptation of Emile Zola's horror story Therese Raquin, written by the British playwright Helen Edmundson.
Eclipsed also stands out for dealing with the difficult subject matter of rape in Africa.
The last play to cover the issue was Ruined in 2009, although it was controversially not granted a Broadway run despite its success.
Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the off-Broadway Public Theatre, where Eclipsed is currently running, told the New York Times he hoped its main stage run would "break a barrier that will stay broken".
"It's an incredibly emotional play and by the end very deeply touching and harrowing, and yet Danai has written it so beautifully it ultimately feels life-affirming, about how women in horrible circumstances are able to find their own agency."
Zimbabwean-American Gurira's other plays are In the Continuum, The Convert and Familiar, which also deal with female identity and race.
Nyong'o, who was born in Mexico and raised in Kenya, became an overnight star with her performance in 12 Years a Slave, winning last year's best supporting actress Academy Award.
They are part of an ethnically diverse production team which African-American producer Stephen Byrd says is also rare.
"There's a market out there that has not really been addressed with plays that can draw a cross-section of people to theatre," Byrd said.
"It's going to be an interesting season, and it's very healthy for Broadway."
Eclipsed finishes at the Public Theatre on 29 November and begins previews at Broadway's John Golden Theatre on 23 February, Hollywood Reporter said.
Its official opening will be on 6 March. | Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o is to star on Broadway in Eclipsed, a play written by Walking Dead actress Danai Gurira, according to reports. |
19,454,562 | Writing in the UK's Observer newspaper, he accused the former leaders of lying about weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraq military campaign had made the world more unstable "than any other conflict in history", he said.
Mr Blair responded by saying "this is the same argument we have had many times with nothing new to say".
Earlier this week, Archbishop Tutu, a veteran peace campaigner who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his campaign against apartheid, pulled out of a leadership summit in Johannesburg because he refused to share a platform with Mr Blair.
The former Archbishop of Cape Town said the US- and UK-led action launched against Saddam's regime in 2003 had brought about conditions for the civil war in Syria and a possible Middle East conflict involving Iran.
"The then leaders of the United States [Mr Bush] and Great Britain [Mr Blair] fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand - with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us," he said.
He added: "The question is not whether Saddam Hussein was good or bad or how many of his people he massacred. The point is that Mr Bush and Mr Blair should not have allowed themselves to stoop to his immoral level."
Archbishop Tutu said the death toll as a result of military action in Iraq since 2003 was grounds for Mr Blair and Mr Bush to be tried in The Hague.
But he said different standards appeared to be applied to Western leaders.
He said: "On these grounds, alone, in a consistent world, those responsible should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague."
In response to Sunday's article, Mr Blair issued a strongly worded defence of his decisions.
He said: "To repeat the old canard that we lied about the intelligence [on weapons of mass destruction] is completely wrong as every single independent analysis of the evidence has shown.
"And to say that the fact that Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands of his citizens is irrelevant to the morality of removing him is bizarre.
"We have just had the memorials both of the Halabja massacre, where thousands of people were murdered in one day by Saddam's use of chemical weapons, and that of the Iran-Iraq war where casualties numbered up to a million, including many killed by chemical weapons.
"In addition, his slaughter of his political opponents, the treatment of the Marsh Arabs and the systematic torture of his people make the case for removing him morally strong. But the basis of action was as stated at the time."
He added: "In short this is the same argument we have had many times with nothing new to say. But surely in a healthy democracy people can agree to disagree.
"I would also point out that despite the problems, Iraq today has an economy three times or more in size, with child mortality rate cut by a third of what it was. And with investment hugely increased in places like Basra."
Human rights lawyer Sir Geoffrey Bindman told BBC Radio 4 the Iraq war was an illegal aggressive war.
He said a war crimes trial "should be and could be held on the basis a crime of aggression has been committed and the crime of aggression was starting the war.
"It's now almost certain that the war was illegal because it breached the UN Charter provisions which say that all member of the United Nations must refrain from the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said he disagreed with Desmond Tutu and Sir Geoffrey.
"The use of force is allowed among other reasons when the United Nations authorises it, and the United Nations authorised it by resolution 1441.
"The dispute between Geoffrey and myself would be whether or not resolution 1441 did or did not authorise war and we say that it did.
"Even that disagreement doesn't give rise to the possibility of war crimes, the world has very impressively over the last two decades come together and identified what they mean by war crimes; genocide, ethnic cleansing, torture and in a variety of ways brought people to trial for that" | Tony Blair and George W Bush should be taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the Iraq war, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said. |
37,187,571 | Patrick Kabele, 32, is accused of attempting to travel to Syria, contrary to the Terrorism Act, Scotland Yard said.
Mr Kabele, of Willesden, north-west London, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
He was arrested on Wednesday in Brent, north London, by officers from the Met's counter-terrorism command. | A man has been charged with preparing terrorist acts linked to Syria, the Metropolitan Police Force has said. |
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